Tiny Dancer!

We had grand plans to hang out at the pool Friday night with my mom who was in town for Dorothy's dance recital.  But then a friend texted to remind us that the pool closed at 4 for a dive meet, and I was like OH SHIT, so I packed up the kids and took them swimming for a couple of hours.  And!  Dorothy swam in the 5-foot all by herself!  I just SAT IN MY CHAIR and watched her.  It was lovely.

But!  I felt like she really needed constant eyes on her, and I didn't really feel like getting in the water.  Do I had to sit RIGHT NY THE POOL in the blazing hot sun.  I have been avoiding the direct sun during peak hours to keep from getting disgustingly tan, but despite reapplying my sunscreen every 30 minutes, I got tanner in our short trip to the pool than I have gotten all summer.

When we came home, Dorothy needed a pedicure with 10 different colors because of course she did-- she has 10 toes, after all.

We started recital day bright and early eating scones and chocolate milk (her) and yogurt parfaits and iced coffee (me) before heading to the theater.

Once backstage, I made a perfectly normal toddler into a total Jonbenet.

And we were kind of early and had a million hours (what it felt like) to wait for Dorothy's first number.

Finally, it was her turn to go onstage!

Then we hung around for forever a gain and changed into her next costume and did the big hair that was supposed to come with it.

Getting hard to entertain a 4 year-old...

You can tell by the size of my forehead vein.

After the show!  Covered up in flowers from her adoring fans!

We didn't tell the grandparents beforehand that the recital was 4 hours long, but they found out for themselves.

The boys loved it, and they loved to see their school friends who dance at the studio.

She was really proud of herself, and she should be!

Also, that mermaid costume is my favorite favorite.

We went out for lunch (at 3:00, so it was more like dinner? or a really unfortunately late breakfast?), and Dorothy passed out and still went to bed on time!

And she has basically been smelling her roses ever since.

So the place where she dances is HUGE-- more than 400 kiddos enrolled in classes.  They have a really great competitive dance team, and the studio owner teaches yoga at the kids' preschool.  They just built a gorgeous building, and everything about it is wonderful.  The teachers know all of the kids and all of the dances-- so impressive-- the costumes are amazing; the songs and choreography are exciting-- I just cannot say enough good things about it.