Dance Recital Weekend

Emily has taken dance (ballet and tap in one class) this year for the first time.  She has LOVED it.  She has been so excited about going to each class and has probably asked "is the recital this weekend?" 132 times over the course of the year.

Both sets of grandparents arrived on Saturday evening for the recital weekend festivities.  The girls were excited to see them!  Pastor Paul was out of town that weekend so Bert preached on Sunday morning and did a great job!  Here are a few pictures with the grandparents and the girls after church.  

*As a side note, I could get used to having 4 extra sets of hands to help get the girls ready and out the door on Sunday morning!:)  

Mimi's birthday was Monday the 25th so we definitely had to do a little celebrating after we ate lunch on Sunday!!  I'm so thankful for my Mama...she is seriously the best.  Happy birthday Mom!!  

Grandmama read some books to Emily just before it was time to start getting her hair and make-up ready for the recital.  She's loving the Fancy Nancy books these days!

Well the recital finally arrived!  And it lived up to the hype.  She had FUN!  

Here is our sweet baby in her ballet costume.  

Her recital was at Furman University...such a beautiful campus.  

She was very excited about getting to wear makeup for the first time.  

Emily and a few of her friends before they danced.  

Here are a couple on-stage action shots.  There were nine of them in their class. Emily is on the front row, second from the left.  

They danced to Beauty and the Beast for their ballet routine. 

After her first dance we took the kids outside and let them eat a quick sandwich before we headed back in for more dancing/watching.  

One of the mom's let the girls borrow her phone and when I looked over at them this is what I saw.  They were all huddled around watching some show as the waited to be called back.  I thought it was cute.  

A week before the performance I decided it was finally time to learn how do a bun or find someone who could do it for me.  I watched a few tutorials online and talked to a few people, practiced several times that week and finally felt like it met my approval.  (Emily is the third from the left.)  Now I need to master the french braid.  I have a feeling that is going to be a little harder. #girlmomprobs :)

Almost time to go on stage...

Emily's friend Blakely (from school) also takes from the same studio but they were in different classes.  They saw each other backstage for just a few seconds as Blakely's class was walking on stage to do their last dance and they both got so excited!

They got in a quick hug before Blakely had to go.  Sweet girls.

A few on stage pictures of their tap routine...

I loved her concentration in the picture below.  

Flowers from grandparents and parents and sisters for our little dancer.

After the recital we had dinner at Atlanta Bread Company.  Yum-o.  Loves these babies in our arms.  

Since the recital, this costume has been the outfit of choice.  They have had many opportunities to work on taking turns.  Hopefully the "new" will wear off at some point in the near future.:)  

Thanks so much to our parents for being there to cheer on our girl.  

We had a great first recital and are excited about more in the years to come!