Daddy took the girls to their first "Daddy/daughter" dance. For a small fee, kids and grown-ups alike got to eat a fabulous all-you-can eat buffet of cheap chicken nuggets, plain white rice, and hot dogs. They liked the dancing part best. If you know Daddy, you know he is the dancer in the family, and the girls are already dancing quickly into his footsteps. He said for most of the dance he was the only parent out there with all 50 or so kids. It makes me so glad that their Daddy is so different than most parents. He is just such a kid at heart, and that endears him to so many children, as well as our own.
You can see A's growing gap in her teeth in these pictures. She looks a lot more "even" now having lost 2, and I've actually gotten used to her without teeth.
A's last dance class. She cried for a week at it being over. Her teacher is moving, so I decided that after their recital, we would stop. She got to go once a week for a year, so that will be the beginning and end of her ballet resume. I think it's every parent's secret dream to get to watch their little girls be in a dance class (or maybe it was just mine since I never did dance). I could not have asked for a better year, though. Her teacher, Miss E, was beyond qualified and just so lovely and gentle with the girls. We're talking danced "The Nutcracker" in Europe and New York, taught in big schools qualified. A. loved it so much, though, and I am just as sad to see it done. Maybe we'll find another dancing option for her in the future, but until then she can work on her salsa in the living room.
Miss. E. wanted everything to look professional for their recital. I actually think I should do her hair in this tight of a bun every day to keep J. from pulling it all out. They danced their ballet song in this pink leotard, and they got a "costume change" to dance their tap song. A. definitely has some ingrained talent at feeling a rhythm. They danced to "Conga" for their tap song, and the way she shook her hips had all the other moms smiling at practice every time.
There were probably 100 girls between all the classes, and they gave each of them the chance to come up and take a curtsy on stage by themselves after the show. I think A's was the best I'd seen. Had to get her flowers, too. :) We took her out to a base buffet for lunch afterward and all the little girls there just ogled over her outfit. Something about ballerinas is just so dreamy for little girls.
We left the 2nd born up in a tree while we were at the recital. Maybe someday she, too, will get all the rights and privileges that the first-born has received and she too will be enrolled in dance class.
