Fairies, Sparkle, Dance!

 This year's dance show theme was Peter Pan and it was wonderful! They had so many extra practices, extended classes that made for a great show! I'd say it was the best one yet. They put a lot of work into their story, adding lots of Irish twists and making everything flow well together. The costumes were top notch (especially that purple sparkly custom made one!) and the window prop was awesome! Honey's not too sure about continuing with Irish Dance in the fall so I'm glad she had a really great show to finish on if she doesn't go back.

She got her hair washed early in the morning so we could dry and curl it before dress rehearsal and got all our glitter gear on and headed to the theatre. Since she might not do another, I got all my shooting done during the rehearsal and got a sneak preview of the show. I realized at the actual show, just how much of the story and detail that I missed while running all over the theatre to get shots. Watching something through the lens is not the same as actually sitting and watching! So glad I got to do both!

Grammie & Grandad came for the big day but we had to scoot home quickly afterwards to get the birthday party started! Grammie made all the fairy wings and everyone appreciated her efforts since most of us are not sewing inclined! For my part, I made all the hair ties. And by "made" I totally mean "cut a piece of cloth into strips". Hey, everybody's got to do their part right???

Grammie the Seamstress!

Honey's dance show is coming up and she's a fairy this year. One of the other moms found a neat idea for wings but was tied up with other costumes for her other daughter & the others in her group. Being the good daughter I am, I quickly offered my mother's services, so that she wouldn't have too much time to dwell on the boredom of her retirement! As you can imagine she was excited to be nominated for this tricky project involving soft shifty fabric that doesn't stay still while you work with it! Since she was already involved, it also seemed like a good idea to put in a request for a custom made dress for Honey while she was at it!

The dress was completed when we went for dinner on Sunday and Honey got to try it on and fell in love! She's going to win best dressed for sure! (oh wait, it's not a fashion contest??? whatever!)

Huge thank you to Grammie, she rocked it!

Christmas Prep

As usual, getting ready for Christmas was busy but one weekend was even more insane than usual for the kids' activities!

Friday am school Christmas concert

Friday afternoon hockey game

Saturday morning hockey game

eat lunch at mall-no time to go home in between

Saturday afternoon school choir performance

Saturday afternoon dance show

Sunday morning hockey game

By Sunday night we were toast but we survived!

In between games, practices, rehearsals, lessons and shows, we baked cookies, made candy and party mix again this year for the teachers' Christmas gifts.

Nanny & Grampy came for the crazy weekend, which worked out to be a like a buffet of everything they had ever wanted to see the kids do! they got their fill of games, singing, dancing, violin etc I think the only thing that wasn't going on was gymnastics but they caught some of that at their last visit so we're all good!

Showtime!

Hustling and bustling is upon us! Some activities are winding down (hooray!) and others seem like they're never going to take a breather! Art class is finished, gymnastics wrapped up tonight, only one more dance class, I think only one more week of basketball! Violin is still going though and their concert is in 2 weeks so there will be some practices for that! and of course hockey is unending because real hockey players don't take vacations! LOL

Today was a doozy! Lovey & Honey had hockey in the morning so Murray took all 3 to that so I could go to my class at the gym. Then we all got home and threw down some lunch and headed off to the high school theatre for their dance show. We zipped out of there and grabbed an early supper so we could get ready for Sweetie's gymnastics show and then came home in time to put them to bed! AND we skipped a party, so it COULD have been busier! actually, no it couldn't, the party overlapped the dance show so it wasn't really an option anyway.

The kids were pretty excited about their shows and are looking forward to their school concert next week!

 Doesn't everyone sit like this when they're watching shows?

Show Time!

 We went to see the school Christmas concerts and they were sooooo good! Their music teacher does an amazing job with all the groups. The songs are all cute & funny, the costumes are always simple but tie in well with their pieces. I think it says a lot about her that when the Boys Choir came out to sing, there were 30-40 of them in the group! I watched the first few file out onto the risers, then another row and they just kept coming and coming out of the wings. Their number was also fantastic but of course I think the grade 2's were the best show in town!!!

Honey & Sweetie were in the same group and they sang Reindeer Rap which was super cute and they were doing some funky moves up there. They lyrics were pretty fast but I'd heard them plenty in the last few weeks so I could make out the words.

Sweetie's in the middle row just below the big blank space. Honey's in the same row, to the far right below the last reindeer on top. She was lifting her sunglasses trying to peek out at the crowd to find us I think!

Lovey's class & some other grade 2's did "I wanted a dog" and she was so excited and could barely contain herself from telling us the funny ending (the kid takes his baby sister to the exchange window & trades her in for a puppy LOL).

Honey was nervous this morning when she was leaving for school but she had the best moves on stage as far as I could tell and was really into it. Sweetie was concentrating so hard on getting her words out that she forgot she was supposed to be busting a move up there!

As they exited the stage, they were madly scanning the crowd, trying to make sure we'd all shown up! We were too far back though and they couldn't find us. After it was over, we walked over to the school and visited them in their classrooms and told them we'd loved the show. As we were leaving we overheard another kid say "wow! your mom and your dad AND your grandmother came to see you!!??!? lucky!!!" Yep, it's official, we're freaking awesome!!! :)))