Dance Recital 2015

Another year of dance is over!  Whew!  It was quite a year this year with costume issues and last minute changes to the tap dance ending.  The theme this year was 5, 6, 7, 8!  All the songs were numbers or involved time.  Ella's tap dance was "9 to 5" and ballet dance was "Yesterday Once More" 

First performance was Friday night which didn't start until 7 p.m. and made for a VERY late night for all of us.  I was the chaperone for this performance, which turned out to be a lot of fun.  The only downside was that I lost my voice!  (Not because of yelling!) I think it was a combination of the weird weather which went from SUPER humid to freezing in a matter of hours plus the crazy loudness of the locker room with all those little dancers!! I tried to keep them busy with color sheets, singing and playing tops.  :)  

Waiting backstage before the ballet routine (it was almost 10 p.m. - they were so tired!!)

Jay and aunt Annie attended the Friday night show, so we snapped a quick picture before we headed some to get some sleep for the busy Saturday!

Saturday night....

Ella napped in the short trip to school for Saturday night's performance - 

exhausted from the late night Friday night plus the family birthday party!

 Can you spot our little office worker??  :)  Front left.

 Blurry...boo 

 But her facial expressions make this former dance teamer proud!!

By next year, I promise to get a better camera to capture these dances better!  

The blurriness is driving me crazy!!

We were able to get in the Synergy photo booth this year!

 

Hoping for another great year of dance next year!

Ella's 6th birthday party #1 (the family party)

We have been celebrating Ella's birthday for a few days!  

Saturday the 30th we held a party for our families with lunch and treats!  She had a good time!!

It was a royal celebration with Sophia the First and her rabbit friend Clover.

A bunch of pictures from the day....

 This picture is probably my very favorite!

Chase and Ella are BFF!  And I totally LOVE Ella's little pose - just practicing her princess poses!

 We had a giant Sophia backdrop for our photos this year

 Props were ready to go!

 Our gift to Ms. Ella this year was a new bike - she really needed a bigger bike 

Hoping we can learn to ride without training wheels this summer!!

I'm cruisin'....

Lunch this year: BBQ chicken sandwiches with the fixings, ham/pasta salad, potato salad, chips and Cheetos and a delicious pretzel dip!

Treats this year - per Ella's request, Sophia the First cupcakes, ice cream and a super cute (and yummy!) popcorn fancied up Sophia the First style!

 

 

Want to make some of this yummy popcorn for your next party?  First, pop some corn and give it a light dusting of salt.  Second, melt some candy melts in your color of choice (got mine at Michaels).  Third, lay out the popped corn on a baking sheet and pour the melted candy melts and then mix it gently to coat everything evenly.  Fourth, add sprinkles!!  Let it dry and then put it in something to store.  Warning - it was VERY popular and will not last long!!  Enjoy!

I'd just like to say that the dessert table looked SUPER cute, but I was so busy I forgot to take a picture - BOO!  Just trust me, I didn't serve the cupcakes straight out of the plastic container from the store - I promise.  :)

Next up - DANCE RECITAL!!

Memorial Day weekending

Memorial Day weekend this year was a family affair!  Ella and I headed to Worthington on Friday afternoon after Ella got out of school.  Jay headed north to Morris on Saturday.  We were in Worthington for a first birthday for Ms. Lexi, Ella's little cousin, and Jay was in Morris for a wedding reception!  Too bad it rained on and off for all of us, but we were still able to get away and have a little fun.

Kaila and Ms. Lexi before the birthday party got in full swing!

Have you ever tried to get a bunch of kiddos to take a selfie?  Well....it was more difficult than I thought it would be....

 So just smoosh all of the above pictures together and you get each of them looking at the camera!!  HA!

Because it was a holiday weekend, there was a car show in town!  My dad showed his corvette so we headed out to check out all the festivities!  We even got to check out the Spomer Motors  garage with all kind of super cool memorabilia.  Took this picture of the kiddos with a car more their size!

It was a busy but fun weekend!

Fieldtrip - MN Zoo

I was able to chaperone Ella's kindergarten field trip to the MN Zoo in May.  We had a small group, so we were able to move throughout the zoo pretty easily and got to see almost everything!  We started the morning with an all-kindergarten viewing of a film in the IMAX about the Galapagos Islands....umm...I wouldn't recommend it, especially for that age group.  I thought it was kind of boring, and Ella started crying in the middle because it was scary when they were showing birds eating crabs.  Lovely.

But after that, it was a great day!  The weather was perfect and the girls in our group got along well and had a good time too!  The highlight was the farm, which is ironic considering we all live in Farmington and can drive around to see farm animals pretty easily!  But, other favorites were the penguins and the Gibbons!!  (those are the creatures that we all think are monkeys in the Tropics Trail that like to make LOUD calls and entertain us all!)

Whoo hoo!  A fun day at the zoo!

A lot of catching up to do

It's been a long while since I have updated this blog.  Lots of things have been going on, and that is partly the reason I haven't really had a chance to sit down and pull together a post.  The month of May has been a whirlwind.  We lost a family member on Mother's Day, which has been a shock to all of us and getting used to a new normal.  It is a reminder of how precious life is and to spend good quality time with those you love.  

Let's switch gears and talk about some lighter things shall we?  

We got together at Ella's elementary school late April to attend Ella's Kindergarten Program!  She practiced her songs for weeks and loved every minute!  They did great and it was fun to see all their hard work pay off!  Trying to get a good picture was a disaster, so this is what I got!

After the program, we all headed to Ella's classroom for a snack and to visit!  

Grandma Deb and Grandma Jolyn came along with us!

And then it was May 1st!  May Day!  Ella got a little "basket" with a sweet new water cup and some fun outdoor toys to enjoy this spring/summer!

She is growing up!

 

We had a neighborhood garage sale somewhere in the beginning of May and Ella had to head out to search for some treasures!

She went to a princess birthday party at our dance studio for her good friend Julia.  They had a great time and it was fun to get dressed up at Elsa and have an "Elsa" braid!

Our tree in the back was in full bloom and was gorgeous in person!  

The wind picked up a day after I took this photo and then most of the blooms were gone!

For Mother's Day, it was a really low-key kind of day as we were all a bit down and tired.  We headed out to lunch at a local spot because I wasn't up for heading anywhere fancy.  Lunch left much to be desired, but oh well!  I didn't have to make anything, so that's a bonus....

 SELFIE!  :)