5 on a Friday: Ultimate Dance Bag Edition 22/52

 1. If you have a kid in competitive dance or have multiple kids in multiple rec dances with a big recital, you gotta buy the big wheelie dance bag with a clothes rack. I bought one at a local dance store, but you can find them all over the interwebz. The one I bought is super sturdy, and we leave it standing up in my exercise dungeon with all the costumes hanging on it when it’s not in use.

I pulled it out yesterday because, as you can see, the costumes were all jumbled up from dance picture week, and I noticed when I was doing hair and makeup that I was missing or running low on some essentials like brown bobby pins, gel, and various kinds of wipes (antibacterial, Clorox, makeup-removing, etc).

2. Big bag=MORE ROOM FOR RANDOM STUFF YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YOU NEEDED. I always have juice boxes to share and plenty of hard candy because Dorothy has some sensory issues with her costumes, but when she has a jolly rancher or a dum dum or something, she feels much better. I also have laminated style guides for each dance because I am extra like that, various heat styling appliances and deodorant for me because I sweat. A lot. I print out the list call times and dance times and shove them in my bag along with Dorothy’s team uniform for awards and at least 2 library books even though I never even make it through part of 1. I love not really needing a purse for myself since I have a giant dance bag. I can throw our water bottles in there, and I sometimes also toss in a tote bag in case Dorothy has a quick change, and I need to meet her someplace besides the dressing room with a costume and some emergency hair stuff or something.

Did I mention that I also bring a mirror?

THIS BAG IS HUGE!!

SO HUGE that next season I might add a collapsible stool!

3. Pack each costume in its own bag, and include socks, tights, and any other costume accessories. I think for next season, I want THESE garment bags with pockets, but for now I am just hanging up her stuff with the bags the studio sends her costumes home in.

This is her jazz costume and my favorite. In this bag is the leotard, gloves, hair piece, nude tights, and fishnet tights she has to wear. I will add her shoes to the bottom of the big pink bag later (she has a week of dance between now and the recital).

I am not going to lie. I had fun packing up all 6 of Dorothy’s and both of Minnie’s costumes and making sure every accessory was with the correct outfit. Like playing real life Barbies.

4.  You really don’t need very much makeup to produce a REALLY VERY INAPPROPRIATELY made up child.

Eyebrow pencil, liquid black eyeliner, mascara

Makeup remover for the inevitable accidents

Sparkly blush, neutral eye shadow, a few brushes.

(Of course lipstick! Dorothy’s studio tells us what color to get for each dance, and I think littler kids look better when they use a lip brush to apply it because the tube is too big for their little faces because kids really don't need makeup LOL for days.)

5. Other hack-y things

Ballet bun donut. This tiny one is Minnie’s. You make a high pony, pull the pony through the donut, and then sort of fan the hair out to cover the donut, smooth it down, and secure with a  rubber band and some pins.

 Rubber band cutter thing—-you will never have to yank out a hair elastic again

Pouch for dance earrings. Dorothy wears these for half her dances, and I always always put them in a jewelry pouch and put them in the middle section of this giant black makeup bag. (One side is makeup, and the other is hair stuff) (It is really hard to keep track of tiny earrings backstage in the dark).

Body glue— you never know when gloves or straps will roll down or leotards will creep up.

Travel sizes whenever possible!! Even if you have to restock mid-season

(The topsy tail thing is for when she needs a high pony with hair wrapped around the elastic. Instead of wrapping and pinning, you can use a topsy tail to sort of thread a piece of hair around the pony).

A little go bag of lipstick stuff and a compact, tissues, makeup remover, q tips, extra hair pins and rubber bands, etc, that you can have on your person backstage or away from the dressing room. Mine has Care Bears because why not??

FALSE EYELASHES. I have never in my life encountered these before last year when Dorothy needed to wear them for a couple of her dances. WHAT A TRIP. I like Ardell 110 because they are really natural looking. After extreme trial and error, I recommend clear adhesive (goes on white, turns sparkly, dries clear). The most genius tip I have, though, is to CUT THEM IN HALF and put half in the middle of your kid’s natural lashes. So that’s one eyelash row for 2 eyes. They look awesome and stay on WAY BETTER.

I also keep mints in the makeup bag because I have to get VERY CLOSE to glue on lashes and do liquid eyeliner (badly— especially on the right eye)

Playing Barbies in real life is basically the TL; DR here.

I really thought things couldn't get any more chaotic over here, and yet…

 Hello from an orthodontist appointment I do not have time to be at but am at anyway because %$*# me.

YOU GUYS. I wrote that sentence YESTERDAY, and then, I don’t know— Minnie needed me in the ortho waiting room and then Coop came out from his appointment and then we went to Minnie’s dance pictures which lasted 90 minutes longer than they were supposed to and I never returned to my blog because I kept thinking pictures would be over any second but then they weren’t and I had to run home and grab Dorothy for her dance pictures, stopping on the way to snag drive thru dinner for Coop and then leaving him alone because he could not even with more dance pics and the big kids were lifeguarding at two separate pools and YIKES.

Suddenly, I was cleaning up breakfast messes at 8pm, is basically all I can say about yesterday.

Minnie had an absolute BLAST playing with dance friends and sibs and having a picnic outside the studio while Dorothy did her own thing and got herself ready for pictures inside. This was a necessity because it was WAY TOOOOO HOT in there for menopausal me— I sweated through my sundress during the preschool slot, and it was only 60-something outside. I helped Dorothy switch her hairstyle from the cool comfort of a shaded bistro table on the patio while Minnie crashed a glamorous 20-something college student dance teacher dinner and I made awkward convo with them.

Phew!

Coop and I thought it was a 3-hour tour and then found ourselves marooned for years at dance.

But we did get to see Serious Ballet Minnie

Also Cranky Hip Hop Minnie

This WEEK, you guys. 

And! 

I haven’t even started on the eleventy billion things I need to do before next weekend, which is both high school graduation AND Dorothy and Minnie’s dance recital. OMG. YOU GUYS.

One mind crushingly obvious thing I have been doing this week is  MAKING A TO DO LIST every day and actually do the things on it. I KNOW, RIGHT?! I want to stay in better touch with my planner this summer and do adult things like KNOW WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK IT IS most days (not even every day because BABY STEPS), and if I could just form the simple habit of making a list for the next day each night and touching base with it once or twice a day, I think I could meet this goal.

Yes, you guys, I did put makeup on my 3-year-old, and I liked it.

A Monday-ish Tuesday

 My coffee pot broke this morning when I needed it the very most. It was a Christmas present YEARS ago and is not even around anymore (it was a pour over brewer, programmable, etc, AND IT MADE POUR OVER COFFEE at the touch of a button and I will miss it forever). But! Have you ever tried to manage the task of BUYING A NEW COFFEE POT without HAVING ANY COFFEE FIRST? Omg. I hope Wirecutter does not lead me astray because I panic ordered their best budget drip coffee maker because I could not even contemplate some sort of investment purchase at 5 am. As you can probably tell from the caps in this paragraph, I did manage to drink a bunch of coffee thanks to my emergency Mr. Coffee. THANK GOODNESS.

Other things on my mind this Tuesday that feels like a Monday:

1. I forgot how much towel laundry I suddenly have when it is pool season

2. My favorite pool towels are from Costco in literally 2017, and I hope Costco brings out some new ones this season because they have holes but are still so giant and absorbent I cannot part with them.

3. I have a massage this morning, and I cannot decide if the necessity of neck and scalp massage is actually worth having greasy hair all day long, but maybe because my neck hurts? I need to book massage on weekend mornings or later in the day.

4. We have a kid pick up situation today that is an impossible logic problem and this is why my kids have phones when they’re in fifth grade. Finally, garbage parenting pays off.

Minnie is a total water baby

It was high 60s and windy yesterday, and she swam until her lips were blue and her cheeks were purple.

And! SHE DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE despite being freeeeezing. Ben took her back after dinner. I really think, you guys, that we will linger at the pool after her swim lesson most nights until it’s time to toss her in the locker room shower and bring her home already in PJs and ready for bed.

I, however, DID want to leave because I needed to stay close to Minnie, meaning I was standing in the water and getting splashed and IT WAS FREEZING.

Coop played with her until the first adult swim, meaning I could stand by the edge with the giant men’s shirt I wear for a cover up still on, but then he was too cold to even think about getting back in.

Dorothy just sort of did this the whole time

On Sunday, Jack had drivers ed on the east side of town, so we all went along to stop him off in a bank parking lot where the driving instructors pick kids up (SO WEIRD), and we went to a Menards on the other side of town just for funsies because we know how PARTY.

And these days when I say “all” I really mean Ben, me, and the three youngest kids because Harry is WAY TOO COOL for us, and Jack usually is, too. I am crying on the inside, don’t worry.

I made DELICIOUS bean and veggie enchiladas this weekend with carrots, sweet peppers, tomatoes, sweet potato, chili peppers, and spinach (plus so much cheese) in the pinto bean filling. I ended up just sautéing all the veggies with cumin, garlic, chili powder, etc, before I added beans and rolled them up. Then I smothered them is sauce and more cheese and baked them casserole style. 

Also— thanks for the recipe comments on my dinner post— can’t wait to try!!

 

What’s for Dinner

 Ben is a pescatarian now you guys. This is fine with me— I am not a huge meat fan and only eat chicken because I can’t think of anything else for protein in salad besides cheese since eggs hurt my stomach (and so do avocados, olive oil, and some nuts).

Soooo, we are both getting more creative with our menu plans.

This week:

• Salmon burgers, corn, watermelon, slaw (yes, we sure did have this last week, and it was DELICIOUS)
• Grilled cod (?? Giant slab of frozen fillets from Costco), roasted potatoes, giant salad, snap peas
• Bean and sweet potato enchiladas, chips, salsa, guacamole, etc.
• Costco pizza
• Rotisserie chicken Caesar wraps (Ben is gone)
• Salmon/quinoa bowls
• SOMETHING WITH LENTILS. 

P!O!O!L!!!!!

 POOL SEASON!!!!!!!

Those three were the first kids in the water (always apply your first round of sunscreen at home) and got right back into their summer grooves.

Spirit fingers!

We order a pizza and a giant salad (with, honestly, a surprising mount of meat) first thing and could cross our first trash meal of the summer off the list before the season’s maiden adult swim. WINNING!

Cooper is too cool for a swim shirt/rash guard and also too cool to properly apply sunscreen because he uses a spray and NOT ENOUGH OF IT. Soooooo he is pretty burned on his shoulders and back— even his bro friends were giving him a hard time. Minnie has red cheeks. Dorothy has freckles (really cute ones) on her nose and cheeks, and I have a burned shoulder because I relied on Minnie to put sunscreen on my back, which was maybe not the best plan in retrospect. But! We were at the pool for 6.5 hours and put sunscreen on every single hour, so I feel like we get a solid B.

Dorothy and Minnie ended up eating this pizza all day long.

Dorothy decided she wants to join the summer league dive team and got herself 6 dives: front, back, back half twist, somersault, back summersault, inward.

Minnie’s bestie from preschool was there, and they played for HOURS and even hung out together by themselves at adult swim. Her friend was sitting in the snack area eating a corn dog like a regular person (which made us realize how very much we baby Minnie) and happily joined in for our kids’ second garbage meal of the day (another pizza! With fries!). She also shared her squirt guns with Minnie, and they were SO CUTE.

I wish I would have had someone take my picture in my mom suit because I truly think I found THE PERFECT MOM SUIT from Lands End. I liked it so much I bought it in purple AND black.

My dance mom friend came running over to me mid pool sesh to say THE SUMMER DANCE PLACEMENTS CAME OUT, and we ogled the list for quite awhile (luckily Ben was back from golf by then). But then! When I looked at the class schedule, I noticed a bunch of conflicts (as in classes meeting at the same time)… soooooo I still can’t plan because I imagine the schedule might change again? 

Ben and the boys golfed in the morning, which is adorbs, and they had a tee time for this morning, too, but it rained. And will rain aaaaaaall day.

Harry and Jack came on duty at 4 for their first lifeguard shifts of the summer.

But Jack still had a moment to take his little sister on the slide

We stayed from noon to 6:30 pm and ate TWO garbage meals plus all the snacks, and still it was not long enough for Minnie who was SO SAD to leave. (And slept from 7:15 pm to 6:45 am).

New slide! Same Dorothy!