Where Are You Going?

A Light Snack

These pictures are not staged. This is the actual sandwich Peter made for himself after school on Monday. I thought it was such a good visual depiction of his teenage appetite that I took a picture. It's honey, soy nut butter, and chocolate syrup on whole grain bread, in case you were curious.

Last Day of School

We made to the end of another school year! Thank goodness. The next time we take one of these pictures, four kids will be holding signs.

On to summer adventures!

The Lob

Sophie hates brushing her hair and she really hates when I brush it. I told her if she didn't take care of it that we'd need to cut it short. She agreed, which kind of surprised me. Since then, she's been asking to get it cut short. That was months ago. I told her we would need to wait until the dance recital was over since they'd already told us the girls would need curly ponytails.

The end of the recital meant her hair didn't need to be long anymore. Guess what we did yesterday?

The before:

The after:

She loves it! I think it looks adorable. We looked at some pictures of little girl haircuts before we left the house and she chose a long bob, or lob. Though, because she's little, this still looks like a bob to me. And (hopefully) it'll be easier to take care of than her long locks.

Dancing Queens

On Friday night, after we got home from the recital, we washed the makeup from the girls' faces, but we kept their hair in place. I had used so much gel and hairspray that they only looked a little messy in the morning. A short time with a curling iron and hair product brought them back to performance ready.

The studio had informed the parents that the doors to the house would open every four dance numbers and we were encouraged to retrieve our dancers and bring them in to watch the show. They even provided one free ticket to each dancer to use themselves. In theory, this was a good idea. And I admit I'm glad the girls were able to see most of the show. But each time the door opening arrived, the house lights would come up too. Then a horde of people would go filing out of the theater. Entire families would leave after seeing their dancer. It was so disruptive and pretty awful theatre etiquette.

What was that? You want to know about our own little dancers? Of course.

They were splendid.

Phoebe glowed and was so graceful. She had practiced at home several times during that last week before the performance, and it showed. I got kind of teary eyed watching her on stage.

Sophie had so much spunk and personality, she was a delight to watch. I loved her whole dance, but my favorite part was at the end. When the song was over she curtsied, then proceeded to blow kisses the entire walk off the stage. The audience loved it.

We celebrated the hard work the girls had put in throughout the year by going out to dinner as a family afterward. They were both shocked that we let them keep their makeup on at the restaurant. Once we were home, we went through the process of washing off all the products from the show. Sophie's hair kept its ponytail shape even after the hair tie was removed, thanks to all that gel.

The girls are already looking forward to the next recital.

Broadway Babies

Tonight was the first performance of the dance recital! Phoebe was nervous beforehand, Sophie was not. We're seeing the show tomorrow at the matinee, so I didn't see the performance tonight. I took them backstage, then waited until their numbers were over. After they danced, both girls were full of energy and excitement. They loved being onstage!

Also, Sophie had the best curls in her class. It's good to know that more than twenty years after being in show choir, I still know how to make curls stick.

The Most Important Meal of the Day

Every morning Cooper asks me what he can have for breakfast and every morning I give him the same answers. I'm hoping he's more visual than auditory. I put this sign on the front of the fridge yesterday afternoon.

Guess what Cooper didn't ask this morning? So far, so good.

Footwear First

We went to the park this morning and our cute littlest boy wore shoes for the first time. He was totally cool with it and didn't even try to take them off.

Form and Function

When I came downstairs on Sunday morning before church I discovered that Cooper had built a stool out of Duplo blocks, because he could.

He was very pleased with his creation.

Five, Six, Seven, Eight

This coming weekend is the girls' dance recital. They're both excited. Last Saturday was the dress rehearsal for their cast. It was good for them to be on stage and get out some of their jitters. It was also my opportunity to film them. Phoebe changes her location several times during her dance, so I didn't zoom in and it's kind of hard to see. Sophie's is much tighter since I knew she stayed in the same area on stage. If you really want to see the dances (so basically if you're a grandparent), I'll send them to you. For the blog, I'll just share a few pictures.

Here's the best shot I got of Phoebe. I think her eyes are covered because she was trying to find us in the audience while the teacher worked on staging. At least you can see her costume. I'll try to get a better shot this weekend.

I got more pictures of Sophie because she went second and I had had a chance to delete some stuff from my phone, so I had room for pictures. She had a lot of spunk during her dance, which should come as a surprise to no one. She LOVES her costume.

We're looking forward to the show!