Bust it sista!

Finally it was "the big day"!

The day of the dance rectal.  

We have only talked about this for 4 months, everyday, usually 3 times a day it was mentioned,

and listened to the song everyday. 

It was all worth it for this performance.

I don't know what she was more excited about, the makeup she finally got to put on,

 the fact that her cousins we all going to be there, the stage, or the flowers daddy bought her? 

It is yet to be determined what was the top of the list.  

I was nervous about what was going to happen once the curtain opened, the lights dimmed, and the music started pumping.  Since the day before she wouldn't even show her daddy her costume she was so embarrassed. 

Boy wonder was I curious as to how she was going to react to the spotlight.  

Really should I have been surprised?  

 

She owned it!!! I am going to blatantly boast here for a minute. 

She rocked it!  (but I can say that I'm her mommy)

Sorry for the horrible camera work, first of all our video is a piece of hud,

and second I was laughing so gosh darn hard I couldn't hold it up. 

Check this out, Hello cleavage!!  She looks like a little Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.  

I have the best family in the whole world!! 

Really!

My brothers came and they along with their adorable wife's and kids

What grown men want to come to their nieces dance rectal?

Ok maybe it wasn't on the top of their list of awesome activities, but they at least put on a great act and told me they wanted to come.  I think it's because they only have sons, so they live there lives vicariously through us and count Liv as there daughter. 

It worked out perfectly that Jill and Greg were in town so they could come. 

I was so excited that Jill and my Mom could see her dance. 

(sorry J and Britt I didn't get a cute picture of yoru family)

Shake it sista!

This is where Liv and I have been spending every Thursday morning together for the past couple of months.

And I LOVE IT!

I swear it is the best entertainment all week.

There is just something about watching your child develop and see her personality when she doesn't think you are watching.  It's classic!!

I will give you and idea of what I mean as I explain these pictures.

See below that "pose" she is doing? Well that's what they do at the end of class, they each take a turn showing their bad selves off and their mad skills. 

Typically the other girls will do a cute twirl or toe touch.

Not Olivia, it usually involves a crab walk, yes I said crab walk, or jumping jacks!

She does a really good job of listening, (when she chooses to). 

She and one other girl are by far the youngest in the class, by at least a year,

but sometimes she watches the other girls and does what they do. 

Let's just say I'm used to hearing Mrs. Ali say "Olivia go back to your spot please"

She is a social butterfly already. In the first picture she is concerned about a owee that one of the girls had on her elbow that Olivia spotted from across the room and dashed to see her right in the middle of dance. 

The next picture doesn't show it well but she is shaking that booty.

Shake it sista.  Show em what yo mama gave ya!

So much fun and thanks Mrs. Ali for putting up with all of us!! 

Pretty Ballerina

We've been dying to get O in a dance class of some sort and finally we did it. I have to admit I think I was more excited than she was. That was until I took her for the first time, and let's just say we have had many a 2 year old battles since then to convince her that her ballerina shoes don't need to be worn while she's in the shower. And the leotard doesn't count as pajama's.


She LOVES it!! I wasn't sure how she would react at first. As a mother you know you usually have one of two options. #1 things will run really smoothly and you will be relieved or #2 the dreaded worst reaction, out of character, response will come up and you will find yourself quickly finding distractions to avert the attention off of your screaming child and onto something/someone else.

When we got there the previous class hadn't finished yet, so we watched patiently through the glass window. It literally was like a kid in a candy store for her. She could hardly contain herself from barging in and start break dancing. As her face was pressed against the glass, I thought ok we are going to be fine.

It was finally her turn and yep you guessed it, she booked for the class and the little tulip cutouts that they have where the girls are supposed to stand on in class. (we will get to that topic in moment). Didn't look back. It wasn't like you imagine for all those years as a mother where you child runs for about 10 steps towards something she wants so badly, then wait, she realizes she has forgotten something so much more important. A KISS FROM HER MOTHER, and she puts her mother's happiness above her own.

Nope it doesn't happen that way. Not even close.

So she ran into the classes quickly to make a new friend and makes sure she knows that she has new dance shoes as well. As I mentioned they have these cute cutouts of shapes and flowers that the girls are supposed to stand on while they listen to the instructions from the teacher. Well let's just say, Olivia is just like her mother and doesn't listen very well. Especially when someone is trying to tell her do to something. After about the 5th time I think the teacher was getting a little frustrated that O continually would randomly run up to her and share some tid bit of information that had absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH DANCE. I heard her once run up to Sue (the patient and adorable teacher) and say "look Mr Grinch is here with us" and then pointed to the air next to her. Speaking of Mr. Grinch he is now her new best friend and I think because of that friendship Harry Potter was kicked to the curb.

It was a great class though. They did all sorts of things with them. They tied ribbon onto sticks and let them be free. They tied little bells onto string that they would tie around their ankles to get them used to sounds their feet were making. It was adorable.