Just Dance

 Well...I counted my chickens before they hatched and both the last week of school and the first week of summer have been jam packed.  Not to mention Ronny has been in Alaska since June 8th, so I'm still a little behind here... (try to read that last sentence without any resentment)...  Anyway - onto Elie's dance recital.  The one I had trouble watching through all the tears in my eyes from the cuteness!

I felt like such a pageant mom with full hair and makeup (for my 4 year old) for pictures, dress rehearsal, and recital.  But it's true what they say - she did look washed out up on the stage unless I put more makeup on her.

I could not have been more proud of her, honestly.  Elie had taken a page out of Cameron's book and been difficult and unwilling to do the dance for me on dance observation days or at home.  So the dress rehearsal was the first time I ever saw her dances.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  SO ADORABLE!  I can't even describe how adorable with words, and for some reason I can't even upload the videos here which is really frustrating because that's the best way to get it across....but I can show pictures....

Elie had three dances to perform.  The first section of the recital was themed "Candyland" so all the dances had a candy theme.  Elie's first "Creative Movement" dance was titled "Cotton Candy"....

Her second dance was a tap dance titled "Peppermint Twist"....

Then later in the recital her class joined another class to perform a very touching ballet dance in honor of a little 4 year old girl who passed away last year and took dance classes at the studio - "Ashlynn's Dance"....

Elie had been so difficult about going to dance the last couple months and I was getting so overwhelmed with everything going on, but the recital made it all worth it.  Especially for a mommy who's favorite thing to do was cheerleading/dance when I was younger, I imagine the feeling I had was similar to the feeling Dad's have when their son scores a touchdown or a homerun  (or the mommy's who played softball instead).  Elie just loved getting to see the older girls dance in the recital and see what she could do if she sticks with it.