A Dance Recital and Some Sushi

McKenna's recital went really well!! I had no idea that Miss Valerie actually owns her own dance company. McKenna takes dance through the community center and I knew the class was sponsored through a dance company. But I didn't realize that Miss Valerie owns the whole thing and has dozens of classes. She choreographed 13 dances and had different costumes for each and she did this entire recital by herself. I was extremely impressed!!

All went well but McKenna was very upset because she was not allowed to watch the show like she had hoped. They were to sit in the foyer until it was their turn and since her class was the 8th performance, she was really heart broken that she couldn't see all the dances. She actually cried a little until it was her turn. I saw her crying in the wings and I thought "Oh no. She has stage fright." So I went to see if they needed me to take her and Miss Valerie was holding her. She put McKenna right on the stage and McKenna instantly perked up. Big showy smile, got into first position and did a beautiful performance. After the performance, she sat with me so that she could see the rest of the show and then I brought her backstage for their grand finale.

She was quite the diva afterward. She got a single carnation from Miss Valerie and loved this so much that she refused the bouquet of flowers that Erick and I bought her. She told us "I already have a flower and those are too heavy!!" But she did graciously accept a bouquet and a mylar balloon from Auntie. She was pretty cranky by the end of the night but once we left the hall and got her some food, she was happy again and she had a blast watching herself on video (we have to edit the video for size and we'll share that soon.)

So all-in-all, it was a success. I think if she does another recital, I'll just ask Miss Valerie if she would either consider letting the dancers watch the show or if I can at least let McKenna watch the show because that was pretty important to her. Other than that fact, McKenna did a beautiful job on stage. She was without a doubt the youngest and smallest of ALL of the dancers that performed that night and as soon as the curtain opened, you could literally hear people all throughout the room talking about how cute "the little one" was. She melted everyone's heart. I was overwhelmed with pride just seeing her up there but to hear people gushing over her like that was a pretty wonderful thing for a Mommy. : )

Here she is dressed up before we left:


Showing us her final pose for the dance:



The girls in her class, practicing beforehand:


Holding hands:


Patiently waiting for their turn to perform:


Someone, peeking from behind the curtain, waiting for her chance to take her bow:


Receiving her flower:


My Mom took some great pics of the actual performance too. They're not in order so don't be confused when you see finale pics followed by more performance pics. She just did one dance and the final bow.

Pics of McKenna's dance recital

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Hmm, what else. I had a few kid-bits I wanted to journal about....

Oh, McKenna has her first imaginary friend. Her name is Wendy and she has to eat what McKenna eats and sleep when McKenna sleeps. The benefit of Wendy is that I can use her to my advantage. "McKenna, could you please show Wendy where we put our shoes when we're not wearing them?"

And the other night we went out for sushi. We always pick up a happy meal for the girls because McKenna is picky and won't eat anything on the restaurant menu. But Kyla is positively sick of chicken nuggets lately. She loves variety. Guess what she ate .... sashimi! She ate several pieces of raw yellowtail tuna!! She would actually try and grab it from Erick before he could eat it. She loved the stuff!! So I think even though Miss McKenna is picky, I have to try to find some variety for poor Kyla. The girl was beside herself with excitement that I gave her wheat toast instead of the usual waffle or pancake for breakfast. LOL!!

Oh, I forgot to share the Santa photo. Both girls did great. Kyla just stared at him in awe. McKenna told him that she wanted "a Dora cash register and a Little Mermaid mirror so I can brush my hair." She told Santa how old she was and how old Kyla was and that she loved him. We bought the obligatory photo which turned out cute but my favorite photo was one that Erick captured. It looks like Santa is telling them one of his secrets:



Well, that's all for now. Erick and I are having a sort-of date night tonight. Dinner and then Christmas shopping while my Dad and Cheryl watch the kids. I think I heard they might bake some Christmas cookies so the girls should have fun with that.