When it comes to extra-curricular activities for kids, Matt and I have always leaned towards less is more. Nathan has played baseball in the summer, and we did one-month of gymnastics a couple of years ago, (I'm sure that's super beneficial right?), but that's about it. So, this year was a first for us. Ella and Adeline both participated in ballet from September through May.
They are officially ballerinas!
Ella has always wanted to do ballet. She loves to be graceful and beautiful and dance around on her tip-toes. I think I signed up for Addie though. Addie needed to learn structure, poise, and self-control. Gymnastics would have worked too, and I still think Addie might be more of a gymnast, but ballet seemed to be a better fit. The class worked well in our schedule, and both girls LOVED it!
It was fun to watch them learn new things each week, and we all made new friends.
The year ended with a recital. It was such a good experience for them to work hard at something and get to perform on stage.
Here they are on the day of their dress rehearsal and photo shoot. If you want it to be, this can become quite the big deal!
Fortunately the photographer didn't seem to mind a bunch of moms taking free photos!
Their performance and costumes are Rainbow Fish.
This is them with a friend from their class, Shailyn.
And here's the entire class, 7 total, getting ready for the group photo with their instructor, Miss Martha.
After some quick photos, they got to practice on stage with lights and everything to prepare for the recital.
It was a little rough...
So many costumes!
Friday, May 15 was the big day! The girls were so excited about their performance, I think they invited everyone they knew!
Each family was given five free tickets. Since we had an extra ticket, and because my dad knew it was such a big deal to them, he also drove down for the recital.
They didn't allow any photography or video during the recital, so unfortunately I don't have any to share. It was so fun to watch them on stage though, and they did a great job.
(We will be receiving a DVD from the studio. I'm sure we'll only watch that a couple hundred times!)
Here are the ballerinas post recital.
Matt presented them with a rose afterwards. They were on cloud 9 with excitement!
Finally, here they are with their teacher Miss Martha.
Since then the leotards and ballet slippers have been up in the closet. It was a positive experience and it would be great to continue on (though of course Matt did add up what it cost: 9 months= monetary commitment!). So, I'm not sure yet what we'll do next year.
Now the girls are mentioning they'd like to try soccer...
