Beautiful Ballerina

After a whole season of preparation, it was finally time for the big show! Lizzy has worked so hard to learn her ballet and tap routines for her end-of-the-year recital and about 3 weeks ago, it was show time! The whole fam, sans Andaddy because he had to work, came to Birmingham to see the production! They also came to watch one of the Soccer Studs games, but it POURED the night of his game and it was cancelled. Boo!

It was so great to have the whole family in town! We all met up for dinner Friday night and sat thru a fun game of 'Ask Caden & Lizzy how old they think we are.' Turns out they think most of us are ANCIENT!!! I won't call out any names but apparently if you're of grandparent age, you are skirting 100! :) 

Below is a combination of everyone's pictures, but I thought most of them turned out great! Here's sweet Lala making Elizabeth look incredibly gorgeous! 

 Those eyes...

 The only bun I ever had was shoved under a swim cap, but I understand that the perfect ballerina bun is a big deal for the ballet. She looked stunning. 

Her first darling performance. Unfortunately, you can't see Lizzy barely at all here. She is the very last dancer on the left hand side, but from our seats, she is behind the curtain. You can see her at the very end of this video for just a few seconds. This was such a sweet routine! When they are about 1 year older, it turns into a lot of booty shaking, which I discovered that I am not comfortable with. I loved these sweet, little innocent routines like the young girls did! They were precious.

(If you're reading this via email, click the title of this post to get to the blog and see the video of Lizzy's dances. If you click the square-ish icon on the bottom right of the video, it will pull up a separate screen and make the video big so you can see it better!)

Could this little group be any more girly and darling? 

Part of the cheering section!
Ya'll. Caden Rhea.
When the very first act opened, it was a group of probably 3 year olds in these majorly frou frou costumes. The audience started laughing because they looked so stinking cute! Caden looked at all of us and said 'don't laugh at them.' He was so upset with us for laughing at them because he thought it was mean. He is the sweetest child alive. So incredibly caring and tenderhearted. 

 This is not Lizzy's class but these were 'Annie's' dancing to 'The Sun'll Come Out'. The red wigs were too much!

I moved to a new seat so I could get Lizzy in the shot but then my camera cut off too early! Here's a little snippet of Lizzy's second dance. SHE DID AWESOME! She knew her routine so well and she really got her arms into it!! I loved it!! Lizzy's the first one in line, all the way to the left. 

 DO IT BIG, LIZZY!!

No doubt telling her something wonderful that would have left all the rest of us teary eyed. G-Daddy is an amazing man. We are all lucky to have him speak his goodness into us. What a blessing he and MeMommy are to us all. 

Isn't this adorable?? Beautiful girls!

This picture makes my heart swell inside. Such beautiful, loving people. It was amazing to be around each of these folks all weekend. It always reminds me how important family is. There is no love or bond like family. Nothing compares. 

Back to G-Daddy. He's a GRAND-DAD. Making laps around the house with two 5 year olds riding on him. We all treat him like he's 19- not 45! :) (Do I get brownie points for that?) I had him moving washer/dryers into my house the day before! He is the best!

We had such a fun day making a big fuss over this beautiful child! I am so very proud of her hard work and poise on stage! She did a phenomenal job and it was great celebrating her!

A few other pictures from our weekend. Pinkberry with momma on Friday. Cute pic of mom, right?! I love this woman. 

Typical day at our house. Light up princess dress, cinderella slippers, and an accordion. I love our life!

This little grinning monkey scored FIVE GOALS at his last soccer game!!! FIVE!! Way to go, big guy!! He had a blast this season and I can't wait until his next activity so I can capture all those smiles again! :)