We survived last weekend...and then some!

Well, the title of the post says it all.  We were on the go-go-go since last Thursday, when Madeline had her dress rehearsal.  Caleb lucked out with a tennis lesson during the rehearsal, so it was just the girls and me.  I snapped a few photos at the house before we left.

 We were there a wee bit early.  So I snapped a few more photos of Madeline waiting to go back with her class.

 This year was the first year that we did not have general admission for the rectial; we actually had assigned seats.  And I was away at a tennis tournament one weekend when I asked Patrick to go to the studio to buy tickets.  Well, I had no idea when I asked him to do that that seats were assigned.  Thankfully, he got to the studio "late" and purchased tickets pretty high up in the middle.  My telephoto lens appreciated that. lol  Honestly though....it did because even those seats were a wee bit close for shots of the whole class.  So I quietly got up and sat myself in the very last row, all by myself.  Score!  Madeline performed both Friday night and Saturday night.  Her class did a ballet number to "Love is an Open Door" from the Frozen soundtrack.  It was sweet.

Since the children's program was included in the rest of the recital, they did their curtain call right before intermission.  Then they were dismissed.

 Saturday started early (as in dark-before-the-sun-rises early, not bright).  Patrick took Caleb to his tennis tournament, and the girls and I joined them after his first match finished.  His tournament will be a completely separate post because it's too much to include with this one.  Suffice it to say that after three matches, we all (my sister's family included) came back to our neck of the woods for the Saturday evening performance.  After the show, I had to snap a cousin photo.

I also snapped a quick photo of Madeline with her friend Jenna, who also happens to have an older brother named Caleb and is also homeschooled.  Much in common?! lol

Anyway after Saturday night's show, we all headed back to the house for some food and swimming.  I actually had to kick my sister out the door because Caleb had to get up early and head back to his tournament for Day #2.  Still, it was a fun night filled with lots of laughter and memories in the making.

Well, Madeline, you make us so proud.  You definitely love being on the stage.  And we love the beautiful dancer you are becoming.  Keep up the hard work!  We love you!

Winter recital

This year the dance studio Madeline attends decided to include the Children's Program in with their larger Winter recital.  Instead of wearing decorated t-shirts over their leotards and performing at the studio, they wore costumes and joined some of the older girls at a local school.  To say that she was excited would be an understatement.  

 Her class performed a ballet number to "Let It Snow".  She also performed in an opening scene with a few of the older girls and then helped out with their props.

Caleb was gracious enough to use my phone to capture a video of the performance.  (Madeline is second from the left. Also, please ignore my camera clicking away in the background. lol)



Of course she loved receiving flowers after her performance, and the fancy dinner on the water that followed wasn't bad either.  

We love you Madeline!  You are a joy to watch. :)

She dances

We just got back from a whirlwind week visiting family in Connecticut and helping our niece Lydia celebrate her 8th birthday.  What an incredible trip we had, and I took a ton of photos to prove it.  I had been meaning to get a blog post up before we left, but, obviously, that didn't happen.  So here it is, better late than never.

About two weeks ago at Madeline's dance studio, they held parent observation day. Last year, we had hardly any observation days. So Patrick made sure to finish work early to be there. I also had my camera handy and snapped a few photos. We are so proud of how much Madeline has learned since beginning dance when she was almost four years old. She's great at listening and learns easily. And she certainly loves to perform!

Recital time!

A rainy afternoon following a dance recital is one sure way to get some photo editing done quickly. lol  So I'm getting these photos up quickly, for a change.  Anyway, as has been the case for the last three years, it has rained on dress rehearsal day, which was Thursday.  Oh, that's so fun to get my daughter in costume and attempt to stay dry while toting around my camera bag and other children.  Anyway, I snapped a quick photo of my beautiful dancer with her new smile before heading inside.

This year's Children's Program was titled "In a World of Make Believe".  Madeline's class was Sophia the First, while the other classes were Minnie Mouse, Ariel, fairies etc.  I adored their costumes this year (which were so soft!) and the choreography for their two routines. The girls did such a fantastic job.  It's so heart warming to see their progress each year.  I thought I would share videos of her performances from the dress rehearsal.  So that is why you see a big orange bucket (due to the roof leak).  I sat up in the balcony this year, thanks to my new 80-200mm f/2.8 lens and couldn't have been happier.  And thank you to Caleb who used my phone to videotape his sister's performances.  (Madeline is second from the right in front for the first video and second from the left in front for the second video.)

As you can see from the videos and my photos, I took the liberty of adjusting the magenta colored lights shining down on the girls to achieve more natural looking skintones on them.  Sorry lighting guy.

As you can see from the last photo of Caleb with cousin Josh, my sister's family was able to make it over for the recital.  Oh, that made Madeline's day!  We only had time to grab some ice cream together before they had to head back to their neck of the woods, but we cherished their time with us, though brief.  I think my sister was tickled to be off camera duty this year, all thanks to my new lens.  Hopefully, we'll all get to see each other again next weekend, as Caleb will be playing in a tennis tournament right near their house.  Speaking of tennis, I will play catch up there soon.  After my last blog post, my wrist actually started feeling better again.  So I'm back to normal. Yay!