Anna's First Dance Recital

Anna had her first dance recital this weekend. She has been so very excited!! She had a rehearsal on Friday and she did awesome. I thought maybe she'd be a little shy or nervous, but she just went up there and happily performed!

We were all pretty proud of her! She kept telling us, "That was my very first time on a stage!"

Saturday morning Collin finally got his hands on Pepper. He has all of a sudden become a big time cat lover. His whole face lights up with joy when he sees Pepper or Max. He snuck up on her when she was on the back of the couch and pet her for a bit and then all of a sudden put his arms around Pepper and pulled her down onto his lap. He would tell everyone that passed "I'm holding her like a baby!" He was so incredibly happy!

Anna's grandparents and her aunt Katie and cousin Katrina all came to her recital with us. We started by eating at a restaurant together. Dave and I had a little gift for her.....

a new dance bag to carry all of her stuff.

After dinner we got her all dressed up.

Anna and her cousin posing together. They love each other so much!

When we got to the recital we ran into one of Anna's friends from church, Hannah.

Then it was show time!!! (Anna is in the middle.)

They danced to "Got No Strings" from Pinocchio and did awesome!

The end!

Flowers from Grandpa.

Even though the recital took three hours, Anna loved every minute of it! She either sat seriously studying every dance like below or was clapping and smiling. She would turn and tell me which costumes she loved and how much she loved the different routines.

Benjamin always gets a metal or trophy after his soccer season and when Anna started really getting into her dance class she kept asking me if she would get one after her recital. Her Daddy and I fashioned one for her  and she was so surprised!

Happy girl!

At the end of the recital all the dancers went up group by group and bowed for us. She was pretty excited to get to go up on the stage again and was so well behaved and gleefully clapped every time we did. (She's the second girl from her group from the left.)

My sister and niece stayed the night and spent the next day with us which was so great. We ended up eating dinner at a playground and I just had to capture a picture of the four cousins in their matching/coordinating outfits.

After a full weekend the kids were pretty exhausted. Collin likes to make piles in different places (the stairs, on a rug, a couch, etc.) where he collects any number of different items (clothes, toys, blankets, pillows, etc.). He did that this morning when I was doing school with the other kiddos. After lunch he climbed down from the table and silently walked over to the couch. I saw him relaxing there and just assumed he was watching a show (even though he very rarely does). Then when I looked again I discovered that he had actually zonked out right in the middle of the pile he created. He was so tired and slept over 3 hours!