Dance recital day!

 It has been a big couple of days for Dorothy.

First of all, the pom pom camp she had been participating in all week had an end-of-camp show for parents, and it was WAY CUTER than I dreamed it could be.

 And then!! The moment she has been waiting for since her last dance recital.  DANCE RECITAL DAY!

It dawned like any other: library books and curlers (LOL-- I WISH she'd wear curlers every once in awhile-- so cute!)

 Ben drive us to the theater because that's what he did last year, and in Dorothy's mind, that's what he needed to do this year. She insisted we have second breakfast at the same coffee shop we visited last year, but she did deviate from the blueberry scone she had in 2017 and get a giant pink donut instead,.

 I was FREAKING OUT at this precise moment because I opened the tickets that we bought in MAY and never looked at to find that I had bought them for the 3:00 show, not the 11:00 show.  OMFG.  And!  According to the Internet, the theater only had 2 tickets left! (Harry and Jack thought for a few minutes that there was a scenario where they wouldn't have to go to the show at all, but, alas, a nice box office lady swapped out our seats, and it was fine.  I WAS SO RELIEVED.

 DO you think this coffee was big enough?  I wasn't sure.

 Cheers!

She was clearly bubbling over with excitement:

After our quick stop, we went back to the dressing room (before the coffee shop we went there first and staked out a space because damn!), and I joined the throng of moms doing crazy adult things to their child's hair and face.  And let me say right now, I can see how tempting this is because kids look fabulous with makeup on because they have THE BEST SKIN and where do we sign up for pageants?

 Dance 1 hair:

 READY TO ROLL!! (If you are going to be putting makeup on a tiny face, I recommend without hesitation a lipstick brush.  I bought an ELF one at Target for like $2, and it really upped my makeup game).

 After the first dance, we had a few minutes of downtime, but that was basically our only moment of rest because once it was time to get ready for the second dance, I barely had time to tidy our makeup station before the finale.

 Dance moms! In the parent viewing area before the first dance (which was the second number of the whole show!)

 Doing hair for dance number 2:

 Can I just say overnight rollers are the way to go!  If Dorothy has longer hair before next year's recital, I am going to try these, but for now, the plain old foam overnights are our go-to.  Way less trauma and effort than a tiny curling iron (which we brought just to be safe).

 Ready for ballet! (Except for lipstick, obvi).

 I mean, as long as I am in a room full of mirrors, why not redo my own hair, you know?

 Bunnies!

 Lining up for the finale dance!

 Meeting her fan club after the show!

 They all brought her flowers!

 She was SO PROUD of herself, as she should be!

 She told me we were having a girl day even though the boys were there.  Which, TOTALLY.

 We went straight to the Terrace for beers and ice cream, stopping for Subway on the way.

 It was ninety freaking five degrees!

 She wore the unicorn headband for HOURS.

 We had to move the party inside

 Double Jacks!

 And!  Bonus!  We saw 3 Bucky on Parade statues

 We closed out the night with a barbecue

 Where Dorothy free-danced to whatever song came on the speaker

 And got so filthy we had to take everyone to the pool for a night swim on the way home.

Yay, Dorothy!  Yay, summer!