Thursday, May 22, 2014

Ballet Season, 2014




We just wrapped another great season at the Cincinnati Ballet Academy. It was Josie's fourth year at the CBA and Bea's first year.  Here's the highlight reel.

Parent Observation Day - that's Josie right there in the middle.



This weekend Josie had her recital. They danced to the instrumental version of "Part of your world" from The Little Mermaid (video to follow when the DVD comes in the mail.)

We were all so proud of our tiny dancer!




It was at about this point that they hit the wall on group shots. Can you tell, ha?



Special thanks to Grandma Fifi and Grandma & DD who get gold grandparent stars for not missing a recital yet!!

.There was no shortage of energy for candid photos!










Josie was really lucky to have her bestie in her class this year!


Clearly both these girls are lucky they share a passion for performance. :)


Someone is VERY EAGER for her first recital next year!



And here are a couple more pictures of our beautiful little ballerinas, but I just can't resist.



This is Beatrice with her Petite Pas De Deux class with Miss Donna. Bea is really excited to get to take classes without me next year, but I will really miss my special Tuesday ballet night dance class with this little one. Some of my favorite memories of little Bea will always involve holding her little finger skipping & twirling around that ballet studio. 


This is Bea's little friend Ruby, who adorably photobombed the above photo. Ruby has been a special friend because she's the first little friend who didn't happen to be the younger sibling of one of Josie's friends. Bea talks about her a lot and I may or may not often have to pretend to be Ruby's mom when Bea pretends to be Ruby when we play "ballet class" at home. 

And I'll end with this fun watercolor version of Josie's class from parent observation day, because it's fun. And watercolor.



Monday, May 12, 2014

Mama's Day, 2014



Mother's Day this year was simple and sweet.  On Mother's Day Eve, Lou and I had a night out while the girls stayed at Grandma & DD's house. And while we had big plans for yardwork and productivity, instead we drank too much wine, ate truffle fries and beignets for dinner at 11pm and slept until it was just about time to go pick them up on Sunday morning. In other words, it was perfect.

Mother's Day itself started with a barista-decorated Starbucks surprise in bed then a trip to Xenia to see my Mama for Mother's Day and to head up to Yellow Springs for lunch.

The girls love their grandparents' house.


Walking under the dogwood tree in my parents' back yard brings back a lot of happy memories.

Before we left for lunch, Josie and DD surprised me with the super awesome new skill he taught her! Archery! Besides being awesome for obvious reasons, the other lovely layer here is that I was taught in this same backyard on the same bow and arrow --- that my dad was taught on when he got it when he was just 11 years old! How cool is that? Josie was a total natural! She's intense, that one.
Despite early morning downpours, it ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day. 

Having spent so much time in Yellow Springs growing up, it always gives me goosebumps to see my little girls running around in the same spots that I used to hang out in with my friends (way back when being a mom seemed lightyears away).



(Josie insisted it was too bright to open her eyes...stinker!)

After lunch we headed to Young's Dairy to do exactly what you do at Young's Dairy.


Everyone loves feeding goats at Young's. The priority for our girls is cuddling them!






















After a great afternoon in Yellow Springs and ice cream of course, we headed home where the girls asked me to sit on the swing and close my eyes while they showered me with surprises!










Perfect Mother's Day through and through.