Prima Ballerina

This first year of ballet in addition to tap did wonders for Kiersten. She loved it. I think it made her feel like quite the little lady! : )

Well, with this first year comes the first time performing ballet at the recital. She did two numbers for ballet. There was the Bouquet Dance which was performed before the intermission. (Oh, an intermission is required when said recital is 4 hours long!)

I think it is the bun that adds some years to her…because she doesn’t look little when her hair is all done up in a grown-up fashion. I can give thanks now for this ritual of bun making we did each Friday before class. All that practice made doing her hair for the recital a cinch!

These are some of her ballet classmates- a slightly different bunch then her tap class.

You’ll find Kiersten on the back left next to the young gentleman. Enjoy! 

The Bouquet Dance from Jess on Vimeo.

The second ballet number of the evening fell just a few dances shy of the closing number. This meant dancing at around 10:30 p.m. The first night this didn’t pose too much of an issue, the adrenaline was rushing and she was excited. (Did I mention we got home at 11:15 that night?) The second night, however, you could see the tiredness in those small bodies. As you watch the video you’ll actually see her stumble a little. As I was watching I thought she might have twisted her ankle. She recovered nicely and I was happy to see she was only tired, not hurt.

These costumes were definitely more foo-fooey…more ballet style, if you will. Her partner in the dance came up to her and went, “Poof!” while jumping just in front of her making her own skirt fly up. The kind of thing you can only do in an outfit such as this. It was hilarious and gave us a good laugh.

Kiersten is standing next to her partner for this dance…the “Poof!” girl : )

I know these clips don’t do any sort of justice to what is it like to see her in person but I couldn’t let all her hard work this year go unshared. Here she is ladies and gentlemen…Miss Kiersten Girl in Spoon Full of Sugar! (Cue loud voice on speakers and envision the red curtain parting…)

Spoon Full of Sugar from Jess on Vimeo.

Dance, Dance, Dance

Dance is what consumed one of our weeks recently. Kiersten has an all class dance recital once a year. It is a bit to do. I don’t know how else to put it. On Monday there was practice, Tuesday a dress rehearsal of a full run through of the show and then Wednesday and Thursday the actual recital.

Just to give you a feel for this recital it ran from 7 until 11 both nights.

Kiersten took everything in stride and was quite the beauty. Her hair done up, costume and shoes on she was ready to go.

The first day of practice she leaned over to me and said, “Mom, I don’t really get stage fright anymore. That’s a good thing, right?”

“Indeed it is,” I replied.

This is our 3rd year in dance and our second big recital participation. Each year it is the same stage, same building, same dressing room, same side of the stage she enters, same…well, you get the point. All this has helped her feel at home and for that I am thankful.

Well, without further ado this is Kiersten ready to do the Polka.

These are most of the girls (sans 2 boys) that join her in tap class.

I’ll leave you with a view of the action. Kiersten is center of the screen for the most part. I tried to focus in a bit on her but you’ll see my videography skills leave a bit to be desired. I will say this video is better then a few of the ones to follow. It was a day of practice and I was able to be up close to the stage. : )

Polka from Jess on Vimeo.

“Look, Mom! No…..

training wheels!”

No training wheels! from Jess on Vimeo.

Isaiah recently mastered the fine art of riding a bicycle on two wheels instead of four. It was only a matter of time but trying to convince your children that this change is good when it hurts a little takes some time.  : )

We had been battling some rather unruly training wheels – they didn’t stay on the way they should. They would turn upwards with a little pressure from tilting too much and Isaiah was more than bothered by this. Trouble was you would have to ‘right’ the training wheels every so many feet. This got to be a bit much and my Beloved just told him no more and took the training wheels off.

I think it took Isaiah all of 2 or 3 days to learn. He was so funny about it though. I was out there with him a day or so after my Beloved had taken the wheels off and run behind holding the seat. I did the same only I let go before we were even halfway down the driveway and he went on his own pretty well (excluding the looking back over his shoulder at me part).

He went a few feet, had to put his feet down. We tried again. He was getting frustrated after going a little farther on his own. He said to me, “But Mom, I am not balancing!”

That made me chuckle. Had to tell him that was exactly what he was doing when I let go. Him riding without me holding him upright by the seat is him balancing. No balancing means no bike riding. He was so upset about not balancing. : )

As you can see he has mastered the fine art of riding on two wheels and is quite happy with himself. Now he is just like his big sister!!! Competition, sweet competition.