Dance Recital 2011

Welcome to Helaina's dance recital! She did a great job. We have learned valuable lessons in regards to Helaina and her emotional needs lately. When she enters into something a little bit unfamiliar she gets a little bit "upset". She cries, and gets crabby and refuses to do ANYTHING that needs to be done to get things going. It happened on the first day of preschool, it happened on picture day for dance and it happened again today. The good news is that once she gets where she needs to go and sees that things are familiar she is JUST fine. Thank goodness for that! Today, instead of getting mad at her for it, I reached into my bag of teaching tricks. It is so easy for me just to get mad and expect her to just be the perfect child who is always compliant. Anyway, today I tied a beautiful pink ribbon on her wrist and told her it was a bravery bracelet and if she felt a little nervous she could touch the bracelet and feel better. IT WORKED!!!! Yippppeeeee! Of course, Breleigh had to wear one too! If you look at her wrist in the pictures you can see it. I figured oh well... the costume is too small anyway so she might as well have a bracelet on!
Isn't that a great jump? I love it! Jim took the pictures and I did the editing. I thought we got some pretty good shots. Love that ZOOM lens!
Breleigh was SO SO GOOD today. She watched, in awe, to all the dances in the first half of the show. She clapped and kept asking me if there was going to be another movie? I kept telling her it was like dancing with the stars. The recital started with a very good Lion King performance and she kept saying... "no more lions, lions all done?" It was so funny. In the second half she got a little antsy and didn't want to sit on my lap but we were sitting in an upper section with a little bar in front of us and she stood there and danced for the rest of the performances.
Our Lollypop girl!
The whole group on stage! Notice the length of Helaina's tutu. She is just a wee bit taller than the rest!



What a fantastic day! Helaina did great in her dance. Breleigh did great in the audience and we all had a great time.
Nana and Papa were not able to join us this year for the performance so as a surprise for the girls we were sent to Build a Bear Workshop for a special project. Both girls made dogs and picked out an outfit for them. Breleigh picked out exactly what Helaina picked out and wasn't interested in looking at anything else. It was hilarious! Helaina named her dog Auron (after Alex's dog) and Breleigh named hers Cute-ish. When the girl doing the stuffing asked her what HER name was... she said Cute-ish! That is totally a name that her sister would come up with! Hehehehehehehehehehe

Gift Giving

I don't have any pictures to support the random thoughts that will be included in this post. I have just been thinking a lot lately about gifts and gift giving.
Without a doubt my girls are VERY lucky. They have A LOT. They are lucky enough to be surrounded by lots of family who dote on them and also enjoy giving them gifts. They definitely don't "want" for much, if anything. (If you could see the playroom right now, you would totally understand!)

I had a conversation recently with some moms from the preschool about children birthday parties. We have not chosen to have the "pleasure" of hosting a kid party yet. Helaina just turned 4. We figure we have plenty of time for this, right? One mom made the statement that if a person brings a gift to her child's party then it will donated to a worthy cause. I have also heard other parties where the guests are asked to bring a charitable donation to a particular institution chosen by the child. I totally understand this idea. In this world of "over do" it makes perfect sense to teach your child not to be selfish when it comes to gifts. But, I have to wonder... If we don't allow our children to receive gifts from friends (small) when do we have the opportunity to teach them how to accept a gift graciously? For example, recently, my nephew had a very nice friend birthday party where he received a gift from a very sweet little girl. It was not what you might think of as typical for a little boy. Littlest Pet Shop! He really wasn't too thrilled with it but what a great opportunity for his mom to teach about being gracious when receiving a gift! When I give gifts to my girls I pretty much know what they want. I should, I spend a lot of time with them and they are pretty much clear on what they like! But, other people don't always know what they might like so learning to be gracious, no matter what the gift, seems very important to me.
I love buying gifts for other people! I love to spend time thinking about what I think will be "just right" for that one person. I want my girls to know how that feels too! Charitable donations are wonderful and should never be overlooked but bringing joy to a friend is also a good thing.... isn't it?
By taking my girls shopping for a birthday present for an actual peer I feel like I am able to teach them the value of gift giving ,of thinking of others, getting something for someone that you might actually want for yourself but choose to give it away instead.
Yes, my girls are involved in gift giving when it comes to their dad, and me and their grandparents but I don't think it really sinks in quite so far until they are looking at gifts that they would like to own! ( I don't think they really care too much to own a new knick knack)

I hope my girls grow up with these qualities instilled them. Being gracious and enjoying gift giving is huge for me. So, for those of you who don't want gifts at your child's party or are doing a charitable donation, I will of course honor that teaching. But this Mama is also always looking for ways to teach the joy of gift giving and graciously receiving gifts!


So, there it is... my random thought for the day!

A few favorites!

These are just a few pics I took today when they girls were all "Cute" for Helaina's Spring program at preschool. I need to do some serious editing on the actual shots from the performance so that will have to wait just a bit longer. Someone volunteered to take a picture of me with the girls today and jumped at the chance. I am NEVER in any pictures so what a special treat! Jim wasn't able to attend the performance but I have assured that his daughter did not disappoint! She was as animated as ever and only "talked out" once during the performance.
Helaina was "weird" when we were getting ready to go to school. She said the strangest things like" I don't want to go to school" " I don't want to wear my sailor dress" I don't want to do the program". She is NEVER like that about school. I think I finally figured out that she was nervous! I ignored her and once we got to school she was just fine. After the performance she said something to the affect that she was worried before but it was just fine. Too funny! I will have to remember that for future performances.