my tropical baby

the bean's second dance recital of the summer was this past weekend, and it was really fun to get to see her up on stage doing her thing for more than one dance.  we got to scope out the theater the day before, at the dress rehearsal:

most of our time there was spent watching the lighting people run through all the tech-y stuff with each group of dancers onstage.  i was bored to death, since there was little to no reception on my phone, but at least the bean was happily occupied with her peeps on- and backstage.

and it was cool to see her in her full dance costume.

the next morning, i remembered just in time to do a little polishing on her fingers and toes:

and then i dropped her off for her call time at the theater.  a couple of hours later, with the hub, we returned with tickets in hand:

the recital was blessedly short, unlike the one we sat through a couple of weeks ago.  she and her classmates totally rocked the show's grand finale.  it was extra fun to see her dancing with the older girls this time, rather than sitting on the floor with the "tropical babies."

afterwards, she happily posed with her instructors.  she adores these girls, and they seem to return the sentiment.  the three of them are sisters, and they bring that feeling of family to every class.  we love them.

i managed to sneak this one in, too.

and now she takes a break from almost all of her classes as she prepares to head out to texas for a nice, long visit with her beloved grandparents.  by the time she gets back home, it'll almost be time to start second grade!  yikes.

little pearly shells

this weekend was really fun, and we kicked it off with something i've been really excited for - the bean's hula recital.  it's one of her most favorite activities, and i may be a little biased, but i think she's really good at it.

although i had the perfect dress to wear, i had to throw my new t-shirt over it.  it'd been gifted to all of the moms by the studio:

we needed to have the bean there an hour before showtime to get the rest of her costume and have some hair and makeup done.  this was good, because we managed to snag front-row seats right in the middle.

of course, while i was backstage overseeing the bean's preparations, they added a new row of chairs right in front.  luckily, MIL was on top of it and scooted us right up into the best seats in the house.  i'd have been pretty pissed had i come out and found that our perfect spots had been obscured by additional seating.  heh.  i guess maybe i am a dance mom after all.

meanwhile, the bean was finally seated in the stylist's chair getting her hair did.

she's been rather anti-photos lately, so i got a lot of faces.

but she relented and gave me a smile or two.

i love the flower in her hair.

then it was time to head out front for a few shots with the photographer.

this studio came to be because the owner's daughter has special needs.  after trying to take dance classes with her sister at several different locations and not being treated fairly, they decided to open their own with a teacher who refused to treat her daughter any differently from the other students.  they offer classes in different genres and are open to all ages and abilities, with a number of classes that focus on kids with special needs or disabilities.  it's still a relatively small studio, and so the recital was not too long - just six performances in total.  and it was really wonderful to watch the kids up on stage, all dressed in their costumes and doing their thing.  there may have been some onions being chopped nearby, and there was a lot of sniffling throughout the audience.  it was very sweet.

the hula girls performed last.

of course, i was dying.  and bursting with pride.  if you have three minutes to spare, here's one of the dances they did:

a final bow:

and that was that.

i can't wait to watch her continue on in class and learn more dances.  i'm kind of debating asking if she can move up to the next level - she's currently the oldest in the 5-7 year old class, and i think she could really benefit from being with the older girls.  we'll see.  she loves the kids in her class, so i don't want to ruin that for her.

see, i'm not a crazy dance mom after all.  

every day we're hustlin'

ugh.  the hub was on the phone with time warner for several hours on friday, trying to figure out why our wifi decided to stop working all of a sudden.  and then it didn't help that the first rep who took his call offered him the same service we already receive for half the price...and then backtracked because it was a "new customer" promo.  oh boy.  he doesn't get mad very often, but he flipped. his. shit.

it wasn't pretty. but in the end, our service is back to normal and he managed to bamboozle them into cutting a good chunk of our rate off.  i guess it was worth it after all.  poor guy.

the bean, on the other hand, had quite a busy and fun week.  one morning, we got up earlier than usual to take advantage of a free breakfast offer from mcdonald's:

super sassy during soccer practice in the blazing heat.

i'm trying to do a pantry clean-out, and put her to work making dinner and dessert one evening.  using a pizza crust mix we found, she put together a tasty entree:

and capped it off with a batch of salted caramel brownies.

she was invited to join her hula teachers and a few other students for a performance at a local school's open house.  while the kids waited for their turn to dance, they got their boogie on with the tunes the DJ was spinning:

and then got down to business.  it was really, really cute and i was so proud of her.  she really loves that class and it shows in her dancing.

then it was time for the first soccer game of the season.  this year, the field is a little longer, the goal is a little bigger, and they learn a new skill:  how to play with and be a goalie.

we ended the week with some quality time in lilcee's pool.

oh!  yesterday was mollydog's birthday.  she's ten years old now!

we love you, ya lazy, smelly goofy dog.