A real Ho-Down

Jamahl's class has been working on a square dance for the last three months. Wednesday night was the big performance at the Celebration of Learning. He was so excited! They had to be in the gym at 6:30 sharp and he thought for sure that we need to leave no later than 5:30! Keep in mind we live 5 minutes form the school! There was one bad part though and that was the required blue jeans to dance in. Jamahl HATES jeans. He doesn't even own a pair...he only wears wind pants. Cowboys however, do not wear wind pants so jeans it was, although he called them "boo" jeans! We were all so proud of him, especially when he told us what a big responsibility he had as the "lead couple". Oh, he takes things so serious. He did fantastic...and even better, he had a great time! Enjoy!

Ballet recital

Oh what an exciting weekend this has been! The girls have been taking ballet since September and this weekend was the end of the year recital. They have been working so hard and this was the culmination. The excitement level was very high as we did hair and got dresses for dress recital Friday night. This is the first time the girls have performed in anything or been on a stage. The recital was held in a venue that seats about 1000 people and it was just about full! Saturday morning, Grammie and Auntie Roo started doing hair early and mommy was in charge of getting everyone dressed. It was quite the undertaking but it was worth every second. When Abby first woke up on Saturday she shrugged her shoulder and said, "Well, it is just another day on the stage!" I think we will have a lot of performances to attend in the future. The girls had a very large fan club at the recital and it was so cute to watch them on stage. They were on the middle of performing when all of a sudden they started to recognize people in the crowd. Then of course they started waving and smiling at us all. I think that their class stole the show! It was a wonderful weekend to celebrate all of their accomplishments and how far they have come. I just could not get over that we have little girls old enough to be in their first dance recital. It seems like just yesterday that we were struggling to feed them. The scary part is that I know it will only be a short time before we are all gathering to do hair for the prom. Where does time go?

Sidney waiting backstage for their group to be called.

Keyan could not wait to be on the stage

McKenzy had the backstage jitters and could hardly sit still

The Prima Ballerina, Abagayle, was thrilled to be performing!

Their dresses were made for twirling!

I love this picture...all smiles, twirls, and jumps!

Ok, I have to admit that this picture is my favorite. She looks so great!

And than there is Abby and her gracefulness. Notice her hands pointed? She loves it!

It is tradition to present a dancer with flowers after she performs...as you can see, the girls were showered with tradition!

Our three days in Disney

I have SO much to catch up on so I guess I will just plow ahead..... The last week in April, right before Maddy came to join our home, Paul and I got a very much needed quick getaway to Disney. It has been four years since we have been away longer than 20 hours so we grabbed the opportunity and did not look back! My Mom and Dad took care of the kids and sent us off on our way. Mom thought that she could handle two nights and three days so when I booked our flights, I took advantage of every hour possible. We left our house Monday morning at 4:00am and returned in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Of course, wouldn't you know that we lost power the night before we left so we had to finish packing by flashlight and I had to repack my capris that I was going to wear due to the hairy legs that did not get shaved because we could not take a shower without power! We were so worried, but luckily, as we arrived at the airport, we called home to find out that the power had come back on. One less thing to worry about! We basically had most of Monday, all day Tuesday, and most of Wednesday. It was amazing. Many of you are laughing right now at the fact that we got to get away from the kids and we choose to go to Disney....well, those of you who know me well are not surprised at all but there we actually a lot of practical reasons to choose "the greatest place on earth". Where else can you go that you don't have to rent a car, you have hundreds of restaurants available, shopping galore, bars, great hotels, and stay on an "African reserve"? We decided to splurge and stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was worth every cent. I cried every time we saw the giraffes because it has been my dream to stay at this particular resort but I never in my wildest imagination thought I would ever get to do it. We stayed busy during the days and ended both nights relaxing in the hot tub. It was so great to have time with just each other in such a magical place. I won't bore you with the details, but we had a fantastic time! :) It came to an end very quickly but we were able to come back recharged and reconnected. There is nothing better! Thanks MOM!!!!