it's SAINTSATIONAL!

Last weekend Renée went to a birthday party for a couple of her best friends. It was a cheerleading party, and 4 of the SAINTSATIONS were there! It was also our first "drop-off" party! We dropped the girls off, they learned a dance, and then we came back for their big performance. They all wore white bottoms and were given matching shirts and pom poms for their performance. They were adorable...

The camera man seriously cracked me up! He weaved through the girls the entire time...I can't wait to see the footage! And now, this little baby says, "Who Dat?" {well, less who dat and more whooooo....same thing though, right} every time she sees a pom pom. Of course, autographs followed--on gold paper plates :)

And a group shot. They look like official jr. saintsations to me!

what?

when did i get old enough to have little girl in a maxi dress!? i mean, she can wear "big girl" sizes now! {i'm not saying that she won't be squeezing into a 5t to match hazel} but i mean really!? that's big!

finally...

We did finally get to see the ballet performance on Sunday afternoon, and the kids came too.

Hazel got to see her first ballet--which she throughly enjoyed! Well, until the end when she just started yelling "mom" {she likes to yell. a lot.} and yes, she can be heard yelling for me in the video. She's just getting a head start making her presence known in the company. Renée was there as well--she watched intently and decided which dancer she would be when she was old enough to be on that stage. She always chose the smallest little dancer.

and these 2 little boys gave up on the ballet and started playing cars in the grass--that's evan anna's little boy. aren't his curls to die for!?

and of course, our group couldn't watch a performance without teari

ng up a time or two or more...it didn't help that they did lots of our old dances. they did a great job, but, of course, we did them better! we tried to pick out which girls had on our old costumes {many of which were made for us, which meant our names were written on the inside:)} until next time girls...

ballet under the stars!

The night started out great...outdoor reunion before the performance. We saw LOTS of old friends and thumbed through LOTS of old pictures! Of course, "the poster" {not pictured because anna stole it :)} was front and center. I guess it's safe to say that we are known for our picture taking obsession! Back in the day, we had to hold each pose for FOREVER because, of course, we each had to take one with our own camera. Thank you digital!

The poster is giant and it's a collage of pictures of only us from the many years of our dancing memories! we made it for Ms. Linda the year that we all graduated--well, actually the same year we did the secret dance, right Jill? {Jill remembers EVERYTHING!!} I don't know, but we love it. Ms. Linda made us all a copy, and mine hung in my room until Orum and I got married. The original hangs on the studio wall. It's truly a masterpiece :)

Remember Lori, in the purple and black dress? She's famous. Our group was in the Senior Company when "Ballet under the Stars" was created, and she was the model for the set. Her silhouettes are on top of the stage frame!

We reminisced about our days at the park. The girls now have an air conditioned cabin to serve as their "back stage." We had to crouch behind those black stairs--that little "wall" wasn't there. I think it was prettier to just see the water behind the dancers, but without it there were a lot of challenges...like army crawling to get to the other side of the stage :) During the day performances, we all laid out on beach towels in our leotards. I think we definitely had more fun!

As soon as the performance started, so did the rain. They did one dance. The dancers fell. They took an intermission to dry the stage. They used everything possible--the mops that were props for a dance, towels, even a leaf blower! As soon as it was dry, it started pouring! The performance was cancelled :(

Luckily, I had a few umbrellas in my car! They all made fun of me, until they needed one!

Our party was moved in to the car...hoping that they rain would stop. It didn't.

We were supposed to have dinner under this amazing "tent!" Instead it just made a pretty spot for the rain to fall, and we ate in the lodge. Yes, very exciting.

Anna told us all that our hair looked horrible. I don't think it was that bad--it must have been the umbrellas!

Joe Istre and us--above.

Anna performing therapy on someones's toe--below. {showoff}

Did I mention that there were a lot of tears that night? They were spontaneous. No one was immune, but Anna had the most! I think mostly, at least for me, it was because our dancing years were so wonderful! Full of great memories, with great people--doing what we loved. I mean, I love my life now, but I loved my life then too! It was special. It's a time that can never be recreated. I hope that my girls will have the same experience with dance as we did!

{I promise not to be the crazy backstage mom}

I think Anna was condemning softball here...her daughter Evan prefers softball to ballet. Saddness.

Ms. Linda, Joe, and us! The after-after party occurred at Ms. Linda's house--just like the good ol'days! Only this time we came when she was already awake instead of 6am, and sadly no doughnuts were involved.

best weekend ever!

Last weekend the Twin City Ballet Company celebrated it's 40th anniversary...which meant a reunion for me and my best girls!! These are the girls that I saw 6 days a week for countless hours--we danced together, ate together, got in trouble together, and even practically slept together! They were the first people I saw on Saturdays mornings from the age of 10! These are the girls that I will LOVE forever!!

We called ourselves the "Sensational Six!" Meet Anna--back in the day she was in charge of applying makeup for every performance! {that is after the age that we could convince our mothers that we didn't need them to do it anymore :)} oh, and plucking our eyebrows! random you say, well you have to get creative when you are stuck in the studio for HOURS each weekend. I mean we weren't in every dance...we did have a little downtime while we were there!

The two girls above are Jill {left} and Lori {right}

Jill graduated high school the year before us, but the year after when we decided that we must perform a surprise dance for Ms. Linda at our very last recital ever...she came back to dance with us! Baby blue spandex dress, bun, and all!

Lori is in NYC now--still dancing! I think we are all slightly jealous, you know just a little :)
This is me {of course} and Jenny! I was the resident bun creator--a little challenging at times. Jenny's hair was often that short, and then there was that time I chopped ALL of my hair off--like so short that the back of my neck was shaved! Fake hair was involved.

Jenny like to unnecessarily make fun of herself to make us laugh. Her comments were always witty, but NEVER true!! {NOT EVER!} Some people say we look alike--hey jill remember that time you hung up on Jenny because you thought you saw her, but really it was me?!

{oh, and look at that cute little boy in the background...playing so quietly with a pencil, paper, and play-dough!}

Our reason for meeting---don't judge us. They are delicious, and your mouth is probably watering just looking at the carcasses.

Elijah decided to feed his dinosaur a little dessert--apparently it only likes tall blondes! This is Katie she didn't dance with us, but she was at every performance. She's been adopted into the group!
And another picture of jill because she is ALWAYS ready for a picture!

More to come...there's the reunion, the ballet, the after-party, and the every famous after-after-party!

roller derby!

The kids went roller skating party last weekend. They got to skate for the first time ever. Sure, Santa brought skates two Christmases ago because it was the ONLY thing that Renée wanted that year, but they usually only skate on the shag run. It provides a lot of resistance--not like real skating! They were a little too sure of themselves when they hit the rink! Renée was able to skate around the rink after a little practice on the little practice pad. Elijah did MUCH better on the carpet, but in true "cool boy" fashion he decided to hit the arcade games. Luckily, they were all in demo mode and he didn't realize that he was supposed to actually insert money.

the big turnaround!

Hazel FINALLY has a view of the world from her carseat! She LOOOVED her infant seat {until last week} and since she's so little {still well within the weight/height limits of her infant seat} I was in no rush to turn her around. Sometime last week she realized that if she grabbed the top of her infant seat she could twist her entire torso around to look at me. I don't know how she did it, and I don't have a picture. But believe me, it was crazy to see!

Yesterday, after screaming at the sight of her nice-comfy-perfect-for-napping infant seat, we headed to Babies-r-us, and left with this! She thinks she's BIG now, but at least she still LOVES her baby rattle--which she now keeps in her cup holder.

brunch!

Last week was spring break, but Renée's was longer than Elijah's...so after we dropped him off at school we decided to go to brunch! Yes, I realize that McDonald's doesn't usually qualify for "brunch," but she was in charge. It was fun to just have a girls' day...pancakes, giggles, and a quick trip to the grocery store.





Renée has been "teaching" Hazel lots of signs...I have no idea which one this is, but Hazel ALWAYS acts like she is sooooo interested!

{just don't tell Renée that she will soon be too tall to fit in this car!}

what to do with Easter candy...

Take it for a ride, of course...at least that what Elijah did!

Excited much?

Tomorrow is Elijah's first campout--a father/son campout. Orum took him to the store earlier today to get his gear. I left the house for an hour, and Orum put him to bed. This is how I found him--foam mat and all.

I think he might be excited...maybe just a little.

the hunt!

We hunted eggs a couple of times on Easter Sunday, and everyday since. Renée and Elijah were pros, but it didn't take this little girl long to catch up! She ran around with her little basket like she had done this many times before. She even managed to find a couple of eggs on her own, and they were hidden--not just on the ground in plain sight!

This little girl was forced to find eggs that were not pink, since there was only one. Of course, she made it her mission to find the only pink one, but who could complain about color when there's money inside!?

And this boy LOVES hunting eggs so much, that he orchestrates a couple of hunts a day! The only problem is...he tells Renée that he will hide them for her, but then he starts hunting them as soon as he hides them! He claims that the "forgot" he wasn't supposed to hunt AND find, but he just can't resist!

See...all by herself! Such a big girl.

And that concludes the hunt...until we do it tomorrow...all over again!