Tiny Dancers...

My girls have been looking forward to this past weekend since September...it was Dance Recital Weekend!!! They both love dance class and the stage is the highlight of the entire experience. Recital weekend is brutal because we have rehearsal on Thursday night and recital on Friday and Saturday nights. I started doing hair around 4pm, and the girls were not done with their evenings until after 10pm each night. I know how exhausted I get and I am not even dancing(although, trying to go potty with tights and layers of tulle and trying to squeeze in photography sittings between dances and trying to get huge plastic hats to stay in place could be considered a sort of 'Dance of Chaos' that lasts all night long)! I REALLY loved the theme this year...it was 'Celebrations'. Each dance represented a different holiday. Ashlen's ballet dance was for Friendship Day and she danced to 'The Best of Friends' (remember, from 'The Fox and the Hound'...I loved that movie as a kid because it always made me cry....'We'll be friends forever', 'Yeah, forever...'). Her tap dance was for May Day and she danced to 'Tisket a Tasket'. Isabel's ballet dance was for Easter and she danced to 'My Easter Bonnet'. Her tap dance was for Veterans Day and she danced to a song about wooden soldiers. Here they are relaxing in a bubble bath before the big rehearsal:It took me an hour and a half to do their hair the first night, but by the third night, I was down to less than 50 minutes for both heads of hair! I think I missed my calling because I LOVED doing their hair!

They loved it slightly less:

Did you notice I forgot to have Ashlen take off her white undershirt before I started? I had to cut it off of her when I was done doing her hair...she thought that was hilarious. Here is the finished product...Isabel was wearing hats in both of her dances, so her hair looks a little strange without the hats:

I was taking pictures of the girls before a dance and when I was done, I heard Ashlen telling Isabel, 'Let's do an ATTITUDE!'. I quickly snapped their 'attitude shot'. It is one of my favorites, but it makes me nervous for Ashlen's teenage years because 'attitude' came pretty easy for her. Isabel just looks like she has to pee:

Here is a prettier pose:Here is Ashlen with her best friend:And here is Isabel with her best friend:

Here is Ashlen doing her ballet dance:Before the rehearsal, Isabel kept telling Ashlen things like "It's okay to be nervous" and "If you forget your steps, just look at your teacher". Other than a little confusion in finding her place on the stage (okay, a lot of confusion...she finally got it figured out by the third night), Ashlen did great! Isabel came to sit in the audience to watch her...she was so proud of her little sister...I honestly think she felt the same way I did because she just gushed and giggled about how great her sister was on the stage:Here is Isabel doing her tap dance:And here is Ashlen in the audience:Ashlen couldn't resist a little wave at the end of her tap dance:

My parents came to watch the recital Friday night...here we are after the show:If you missed the big night, don't worry!!! I ordered enough pictures for everyone and I ordered the DVD of the show...it is hours of entertainment! (More emphasis on 'hours' than on 'entertainment'...)