Her Seventh Year

It's hard to know where to begin because I've been thinking about the day I'd be writing this post for quite some time.

I have filled this post with a ton of pictures because Princess has had A LOT of things going on the past week.
She had a dance competition, dance banquet, end of the year recital and her 7th birthday.

Dance life has felt crazy lately.

Her banquet went well. She got a little diamond plaque for completing another year with her SNS team.

She got to spend the evening with her favorite dance friend, J.

And she got to give hugs to her favorite Miss Cassie.
Cassie is the teacher who took Princess under her wing this year. She gave her the opportunity to do a solo and believed in her when Princess started to doubt her abilities. Cassie was sincerely an answer to my prayers.

This hasn't been the easiest dance year for my girly. She has worked really hard and at the beginning of the year, she was getting a lot of recognition and her confidence was high. But due to a lot of factors, some of them regarding home life and some of them regarding studio life, she started struggling mid-year. As her mother, this isn't an easy thing to watch. I have wondered a lot this year if I was making the right decisions for her by allowing her to stay in dance but her solo really brought back some of her sparkle that had gone missing and it was nice to see her feeling so loved and appreciated.

Anyway, more on that late...

Princess turned 7 this week and I had big plans for her main birthday present. I planned on redoing the kids' room while they were with their dad from Wednesday to Friday. I stayed up late each night painting and decorating and somehow, it all came together!

When P walked into the house after school, I told her I needed her to go look in her room.

She walked in and looked around for a good minute or two, commenting on how I had put a desk in her room, etc. before she asked where her bed was.
Ha! That was her expression when I told her the room she was standing in was no longer her room.

When she walked into what is now her room, she started jumping and squealing and pointing out all of the things she loved about it. Ninja was pretty excited too, since he shares a room with her.

I bought this doll bed because she had told me a month ago that she wished she could sleep with her AG doll but that it was too uncomfortable. So now they can sleep close to each other every night.

I did all the painting on my own but some of my awesome friends helped me decorate the walls in yellow and gray.

Then we asked P if she would prefer to do presents on Friday afternoon or after her dance recital on Saturday.
Of course, she picked Friday.

So it was time for presents from her brother and I.

Ninja got her some craft stuff and that baby unicorn. She has hardly put the unicorn down since she got it.

I mostly just got her clothes for summer since they were things she was needing.

But she did specifically ask for a maxi skirt "because that's what big girls wear to church" so I made sure to buy her one to go along with her other clothes.

A few more crafts and she was done opening presents!

And boy, was she happy!

After presents, it was time to go down to the QC Arts Center for the kids recital rehearsal. The fun part, or super duper not so fun part, about having BOTH of your kids in dance is having them in two different time blocks. We ended up being at the arts center for close to 3 hours on Friday night.

And naturally, Princess found creative ways to stay entertained.

Saturday morning, we woke up to celebrate the BIRTHDAY GIRL. We did breakfast and then we had to start getting ready for recital.

I woke up feeling all sorts of nostalgia. We have done recitals at Club Dance for three years now and Saturday was Princess' last recital with them. I haven't really opened up about this because I wanted to wait until after her recital but she will not be returning to Club Dance for next year. We have nothing against Club. In fact, Princess had some pretty amazing teachers there and she is sad to leave but this year really showed me that Club isn't the right place for her at this time. It was a struggle for her not to make the Allstars team (and let's be honest, it was a struggle for me as well) and then she struggled not feeling like she was a good enough dancer for most of the year---and this is where mom decision comes in.
Princess doesn't want to leave Club. She has friends there and loves her teachers. But I already teach dance at another studio and I believe it will better fit the pace Princess needs right now. She needs smaller classes, more positive and laid back environments, and a chance to breathe this year.
She will be on company at my studio which means she will be dancing more hours but she will be performing a little bit less than this past year and I think it'll be better to have her with me more often.

This wasn't an easy decision for us because really, Club has been her life. It is all she knows about the dance world. And after the recital, I started having second thoughts because we love the people we have met. But I know she will love the people at her new studio too.

Anyway, I know that was kind of long and maybe it seems silly but this was a big deal for us! It's exciting and sad and scary and happy, all mixed together.

My girl did amazing in her recital. We ended up being there most of the day since she performed in the 11:30am show and her brother performed in the 2pm show.

She got to spend most of the day with her mom AND her dad and since she struggles a lot with our divorce, I am happy she had the opportunity to have us both on her birthday.

Per her request, we headed to Texas Roadhouse after the recitals were over because this girl is a steak lover! She finished her steak and then asked if she could eat some of mine. And I was proud of her for being brave enough to sit in the saddle while everyone sang happy birthday to her.

On our drive home, Princess mentioned that we hadn't had cake for her birthday.
Little did she know our favorite Lenahans had been decorating their house and baking a cake for her as a surprise.

She got to help decorate it and it turned out super adorable.

She was so happy to be able to play with her best friend and celebrate the end of her birthday with her.
And I was happy and so grateful for all of the love that was shown to her.

I think my favorite part was when A covered D's mouth during the blowing out of the candles.

All in all, it was an incredible and busy and wonderful week. Celebrating my daughter and watching her participate in something she truly loves made it a happy day for the rest of us.

I am in disbelief that my BABY GIRL is 7 but I am so proud of the little lady she is. I love her so incredibly much and would not trade her for anything in the world.

Happy birthday, Princess.

Her 6th Birthday

 Petey turned 6 yesterday.
Yes, you read that right...SIX! I can hardly believe that my baby girl graduated from kindergarten and just continues to get older. I keep telling her to slow down.

Yesterday, her dad spent most of the day with her so I got to see her for her class party (The most awesome part about having your birthday on the last day of school is that they have a party for you---or at least that what it feels like.) and then we went out to dinner before her dress rehearsal for dance.

 She loved eating at Joe's Farm Grill (free birthday food!). And that face, oh my goodness THAT FACE. She has quite the little personality and I love her so much.

 She really looks so much older already. I know---impossible, right? I am just getting used to the fact that it has been six years since I became a mother. This girl is my life! I love her so much!

I love Petey's attitude. She is such a helper. She is a very selfless 6 year old and loves making other people happy.

Petey is emotional. She is very dramatic and although this gets hard for me to keep my patience sometimes, I wouldn't change it because this girl feels. She feels the good and the bad and I love that she is sensitive.

Since today was Petey's last dance recital for the year, I have been thinking back to this time last year, when she was anxiously awaiting try outs to see if she could make the dance team. I remember those days like they were yesterday and now she has finished a whole year and learned SO much!

 Petey has a gorgeous smile. I love seeing the twinkle in her blue eyes when she is really happy about something. I love seeing her giggle when she plays jokes on her brother or I. She is a pretty funny kid.

Petey is a little princess. She loves to do girly things. She loves getting her nails done, wearing lip gloss, and PINK. She loves Hello Kitty, Minnie Mouse, Tinkerbell, and My Little Pony. Right now, her favorite movie is Teen Beach Movie. We watch it once a day... {don't judge...}

Petey loves to tumble. She is always working on new tricks and every time the tv is on and I walk in the room, she is in some contortionist position. She almost never stops moving.

Petey is still an eater. My goodness, she is always hungry! She eats the most out of anyone in our house and it cracks me up.

Petey is on the verge of reading fluently. She still has to sound things out but it's a lot faster than it used to be. She can figure out almot any word she looks at.

Petey loves chewing gum! Seriously. She asks for gum all of the time! And she will chew it for hours if I don't make her spit it out.

I love my six year old so much. I can't imagine life without Petey in it. She keeps me going when I'm ready to quit. She is my helper and my buddy. I'm so glad she is on summer break because I love having her around.

Happy birthday, baby girl!!!

Roots 'N Boots Rodeo

 Saturday, March 9th, was a special day in our family. The little baby boy that first made me an aunt turned 8 years old and chose to be baptized! I am so proud of him and was so happy we were able to be a part of his special day.
I wish I had gotten a picture of him but we left right after the baptism to head to Petey's dance performance.
It had rained most of Friday and we were worried what the weather would be like because Petey was dancing outside at a rodeo.

When we got there, it was raining and the ground was muddy. Petey was freezing in her costume and I felt bad for her.

 My sister had literally moved her and her kids to AZ from CA the night before and we were all heading back to CA for a family vacation so we had her kiddos with us. We kept Spidey and K Bear busy with the Kindle while we waited for Petey's performance.

 Since it was cold, Spidey decided to put his blanket over his head. :)

 Eventually, I had to take the blanket off of Petey so she could line up with her class.

 It stopped raining FIVE minutes before they went on stage. What a relief! Petey was freezing but excited to be on the stage. I am so glad they didn't get rained on.

Here is the video of my princess dancing. They have only been learning this dance a little over a month and they're big concert is in May but I thought they did exceptional!


As soon as she was done dancing, we hopped back in the car and headed over to California for a fun week of family time!

All of the kids were excited to be together and our drive over was pretty uneventful, which is how we prefer it to be. :)

We had a TON of fun in Carlsbad but I'll split that up into a couple of posts since I took a million pictures.

Petey's Dance Concert: Take 1

 If you are my friend on Facebook, I'm quite sure you're sick of hearing about my little girl and her dance concert on Saturday.
Since I danced for many a year back in my younger days (ha! I'm only 25.), I was excited when Petey showed an interest in dance. She took some classes last year at a small studio in someone's garage but this year, she was ready for the real stuff. Ok, I'm totally kidding. She's not some professional-looking little dancer but she really does love what she does and I'm very happy that she loves it so much! So we decided to put her at a bigger studio and see how she liked it.
So far she has done fabulous. She seems to be picking it up really well and talks about trying out for the SNS team next year. We are big fans of Club Dance and Petey loves her teacher, Miss JaNae. Actually, Spidey loves her too! He always talks about Miss JaNae and says that she is his teacher too.

In one of Petey's classes (her SNS team prep class), they got to be a part of an extra performance before their holiday recital. Of course, I was excited that we would get to see her perform one of her dances twice.

Petey has been anticipating her performance for weeks and finally, Saturday was the big day.

We woke up and started on her hair and make up. She looked so cute but WAY TOO OLD with that make up on. It totally made her day since she is obsessed with make up these days.

 I snapped some pictures of her in her dance costume before she performed.

 Aside from her shins being covered with bruises, this is my favorite picture of the day. Isn't she just gorgeous?

I also had to get a picture with her friend, Scarlette, who is in a different class and performed that morning also. I have known Scarlette's mom since junior high and I am so glad that she referred us to Club Dance. Like I said, we absolutely love it!

Last, I've posted the video of Petey's performance. She is third from the end. She was a bit nervous when they got on stage but we thought she did excellent! I was so proud to watch her perform with the group and know most of the choreography.

I was on my Youtube page and watched the video of Petey's dance recital from last year. Here it is if you'd like to compare the two. What a huge improvement!



On a funny side note, I need to get a video of her practicing her dance at home. Spidey has been watching her and he actually knows a lot of the dance by himself and does it around the house, even if she isn't there. I love my littles!!!

And that's how Suze sees it.

Petey's first dance concert

Today was a very special day in our home. Miss Petey started taking dance lessons back in September and had her first dance concert tonight!
I may have turned into one of those crazy dance moms and gotten a little too excited but don't worry, I tried not to go overboard. I'm just so happy that she has had such a good time and loves going to class every week.
Being the crazy mom that I am, I had a dream about her concert last night and decided yesterday how her hair would be done. I know I shouldn't admit this but that isn't the first time I've planned out hairstyles days in advance for her. I think I have an addiction to doing my child's hair! :) She was happy when I put the curlers in so she would have curly hair (which is funny since her hair is already curly...I was just doing it to make her feel more special). :)

Then, before it got dark outside, I put her in her costume and we went outside for some pictures. Isn't her costume adorable?

I am so luck to have such a smart, pretty little girly! She makes us so happy.

Sass.

I wasn't quite sure whether I was going to put make up on her. Boss is actually the one who brought it up and asked if I was going to and I told him I wasn't sure if it was appropriate. He said it was just for her concert so I got to try out some make up skills on her. Just mascara, blush, and lip gloss.

She actually looked way too old and I'm glad we don't ever let her wear make up. A 3 year old should look like a 3 year old!

She is so full of personality. :) I love this little girly of mine.

Finally, it was time to head to her concert. She was really excited and would not stop talking about how she was going to dance for everybody.

Here we are waiting for her to go backstage before the concert.

If you listen to the beginning of the video, the teacher announces that they are going to do their dance a second time. Well, she is correct. This is actually the second time they did it for us.

The first time, Miss Leah (in the video), was standing behind the curtain and all of the girls looked nervous and just stared over at her. Luckily, the owner of the studio decided they needed to do the dance again but with Miss Leah standing with them and dancing.

Petey was such a ham and did really well but kind of got side tracked and kept staring at the other girls. :) She's only 3 so we expected that. But as you can see, she was great at singing the words and she did really great waving and smiling when she walked off the stage. :)

After all the dancers were done, they all went on stage together.

As you can see by the build up of crumbs on Spidey's jacket, we kept him well entertained with food so he wouldn't cry during the concert. :) That's called being prepared!

Petey was so excited that her friend, Tessa (who I sometimes babysit), was in the concert as well.

Mia, Petey, Ranie and Tess (Mia, Ranie, and Tessie are sisters) after the concert. They all did such a great job.

Petey with Miss Leah and her friend, Holland. I'm so glad Miss Leah was their teacher. Petey loves her and loves going to class.

To end our fabulous night, Boss had his last final and is officially done with another semester of school! I am so proud of him and the hard work he does for us.

And that's how Suze sees it.