My Newest Teenager

Banana turned 13 yesterday. My baby is a teenager. I told Kearsdad that I've really been thinking of her as a teenager for a while now, but this made it official. I am so proud of the beautiful young lady she is becoming.

We celebrated all day! Birthdays at our house are a big deal. Maybe not always a big party and a lot of hoopla, but we make sure the person celebrating the birthday is made to feel special. I have a Happy Birthday sign that I bought for Kat's 3rd birthday party. I have used it every year since...on the night before each girl's birthday, after they are asleep, I hang the sign on their door. Sometimes I also put a matching one on the fireplace mantle. But since stockings are still up, I only decorated Banana's door.

We met Kearsdad for lunch at Banana's favorite sushi place. There she opened her presents from us...Kat gave her a dvd she's been waiting on, and we gave her the accompanying cd. Our big gift, though, was similar to Kat's 13th birthday gift...her birthstone ring. So pretty.




After lunch, Banana, Kat and I went shopping for a while, looking for curtains for her room. Grandmama ordered her new (grown-up-looking) bedding. After shopping, we stopped at Berry Berry Good Yogurt....mmmm.

The highlight of her day, however was a SURPRISE! We managed to pull of a surprise birthday party last night with the help of some awesome friends. I was reminded last night of how blessed we are to have friends who love us and love our children. The party was a hit, and she was genuinely surprised! Thanks to Junebug for helping me pull it together, thanks to MPBs Mama for an awesome cake, thanks to some special friends for helping us plot and scheme!







Happy Birthday sweet girl! I love you!

The Celebration of Jesus' Birthday

Katherine playing carols for us Christmas Eve afternoon.

My beautiful girls in front of the tree...used to be the tree towered over them...

All of us before church. I really like this picture.

Christmas day...the girls got iPod Touches. This is what they looked like most of the day.

Another view...

They also got the game Apples to Apples...fun game!

Ours was a very Merry Christmas. I hope yours was too. We are blessed indeed!

Christmas Dream

We just completed our first Christmas Dream experience with Ballet Magnificat! I cannot say enough what an amazing experience it was. From beginning to end, and all points in between, it was a blessing. When God prompted us almost a year ago to consider moving Banana to this Dance School, we had no idea what we were in for, or what we had been missing. This week, being a part of this production, brought it all together for us. Everything Ballet Magnificat is and stands for is centered around Jesus Christ and bringing Him Glory. I am so honored to be associated, even by way of my daughter, with this ministry. And I am thrilled that she is training under and influenced by such Godly men and women.

I cannot believe we had never seen Christmas Dream. It is magnificent. The Nutcracker doesn't hold a candle to this worship experience. Banana enjoyed it so much. She was a "Kingdom Kid"...such a cute dance! Below are a few pictures...all from dress rehearsal. Notice the bright colors, and the smiles on the girls' faces. The joy on their faces is real. It's contagious. I especially love the expression on Banana's face in the first picture...it represents for me the happiness she experiences in dance. The relationships between the girls and between the staff and the girls is priceless to me. For us, this really was a Dream.

Christmastime

It's been a nice December. We are done with school until after the New Year! We have completed Rejoice-our church Christmas concert/worship service. The music was beautiful. It really was worshipful. This coming weekend is Christmas Dream, and Banana is dancing. The differences between Nutcracker and Christmas Dream are too numerous to count. The music is the same. The story is different. Christmas Dream is completely focused on Christ. As is everything else. Rehearsals are wonderful. Our schedule for the week is wonderful. No rehearsal ends later than 5:30! No rehearsal is longer than 3 hours. I don't know what to do with myself! We can actually enjoy this!

Our low key December has allowed me to get the house completely decorated in a timely fashion and have time to really enjoy it. Thought I'd share a few pictures.









To top it all off, we have even had time for a Christmas party! The girls wanted to have a party, so I let them invite 2 friends each. We had cookies and snacks...and coffee and flavored creamers! That was a hit. I used my Christmas china and let the girls have a real party. They enjoyed eating and talking and then they played Christmas carol pictionary. That was a hoot! Here they are in front of the playroom tree...

Thanksgiving Pictures

Our little family Thanksgiving was so nice...We decided to go "all out". Banana wanted to use the good china and crystal. This was actually the first time the girls had ever used it! Isn't that sad? I guess I never felt like they were "old enough". Well, I decided that from here on out, nothing is off limits! I don't want to look back one day and wonder why we never...

Anyway...we put a table cloth on the table, and pulled out the linen napkins. Banana said "No paper." It was lovely. And fun!

idk hahaha

The other night my bff Junebug and I were sitting at dinner having a conversation. Or, rather, trying to have a conversation. It was made difficult by the children at the other end of the table. They kept texting us. Yes, texting from one end of the table to the other. They thought it was very funny. We just thought it was annoying.

That brings up the whole issue of texting. If you have a child between the ages of...oh, say 11 and 14, you'll understand this. If yours are younger, just wait. If your are much older, they may have passed through this stage before the advent of cellular appendages.

Recently, my bff Junebug and I talked about the texting habits of said children. Being good mothers, we read our children's texts from time to time. Not that there is much to tell, because we have superior children. Ok, so I am exaggerating, but all in all they are pretty good kids. Still, you have to stay on top of these things.

My oldest child, who, for this post, we will call The Informer, tends to have more wordy texts. Her's tend to be more informative. I don't worry about her because, as her name clearly states, she is The Informer. She tells everything. Sometimes she tells more than I want to know. If she ever does anything wrong, she tells me. Like the time she cut her hair in her 4 year old Sunday School class and came out of class crying to tell me. In fact, she still tells me about that time. But, I digress...

Then there is my other child. The Free Spirited Dancer. The Other-Half-Of-The-Entity-Known-As-The-Peas. Her texts are much more...shall we say...interesting? Amusing? And here is where I was going with this...(yes, I do have a point here). Here is a fictional example of a text conversation between The Dancer and one of her friends:

R U coming 2 church?
Ya. Ha.
Ha Ha
Ha Ha Ha
I no
LOL
Wat time?
IDK
KK ha
haha
ttyl
KK ha
haha

The above will only make sense to you if you have a child with a cell phone. That is really how they talk. Seriously. And that is the short version. What Junebug and I and our spouses can't figure out is why these children feel the need to insert "ha" into every conversation. Every exchange. But in self-defense, or retaliation, or as a result of the insanity to which they have driven us, the four of us have begun inserting "ha" into our own conversations, text or otherwise. So a couple of nights ago (late, like when we both should've been in bed but weren't) JB and I had this text conversataion:

Oh I so love that blog.
Haha Thanks. Ha. But now I've stayed up too late. Haha.
Ha
Idk ha

I should probably be embarrassed by that. But I'm not. I doubt JB is either. So, ha.

Images of Fall

I love the colors of fall...here are a few I found today.

Algebra

The other day, my Facebook status said, "Jeannie thinks it is unfair that algebra should be the bane of one's existance more than once in a lifetime." See, I hated algebra. I took pre-algebra in 8th grade. I was really bad at it. I think I may have ended up with a C. I attribute it to the fact that the teacher was terrible. I remember that she was completely uninterested in explaining it. Then I took algebra 1 in 9th grade. I was still terrible. I still didn't like my teacher. What is it with math teachers who don't want to teach math? This particular teacher acted like the act of showing up at school, not to mention teaching, was just too much for her. Again, I am pretty sure I made Bs and Cs. Probably mostly Cs. My math experience didn't get much better...except for Geometry. I did really well in Geometry. 100s. A+.

So here I am, nearly 30 years later, still suffering the ill effects of my algebra experience. And what am I doing? Algebra. Every day. Teaching algebra to my reluctant math student daughter. I will admit, it is coming a little easier to me now than it did then. But you see, God has a sense of humor. He really does. And he has gifted me with a daughter who thinks just like I do. And it is my responsibility to teach this stuff to her in a way that makes sense, and to try to convince her that it is important and necessary for life. Junebug will agree with me that those things are not true. No one really uses algebra. At least no one who is normal. I think Funandone does algebra in his spare time because he thinks it's fun. But Funandone also doesn't think wood floors are necessary, and he doesn't like onions. So what does he know?

Anyway, my days (or at least my mornings) are now consumed with trying to explain how to solve: 8(x-3)-5(x-2)=6 to a child who can't comprehend that 5 is really -5, and 2 is really -2 and therefore (-5)(-2) is really 10 and not (-10). Do you see my dilemma? And then there is the whole issue of moving the parts of the equation from one side to the other. Oh my. Do you move the x's or do you move the numbers and which one do you move first? And do you add them or subtract them? And if you subtract from a negative number is it more or less? Makes me want to run screaming from the room.

I don't run screaming though. (Well, okay I USUALLY don't.) I remember those teachers who didn't care and didn't teach. And I remember how much that made me hate it. And I remember how poorly I did in Math and how it showed up when I took the SAT. So I sit patiently, problem after problem, trying my best to remain calm and positive. I'm not sure how long I can maintain the facade.

Lucky for me, child #2 is a math whiz. Hopefully she will not require quite as much attention (although by then I'll have it mastered). She on the other hand, has other issues. Today she said this to me: "Mom, my lesson book says to read (history) to page 21. This section ends on page 22. So, can I just read to page 20 instead?" Yes, she really said that.

Happy Birthday Week!

It's the tail-end, last minute...but that's how life is lately. But before it is completely over, I want to say Happy Birthday to two of the three most important people in my world!

Kearsdad celebrated his birthday earlier this week, but I was negligent and didn't get any pictures. So here he is today at the adult end of the table as we celebrated Kat's birthday lunch. I may be late, but I want him to know he is the greatest thing, besides Jesus, that has ever happened to me and I love him very much.

Today is Kat's 14th birthday. Doesn't seem like it's been 14 years. I still remember all those feelings and emotions that day. What a precious blessing she is, to me and to everyone who knows her. I love you Kat, more than you will ever know! Happy Birthday, angel!

Disney-Part Two

Before April of this year, we had not been to Disney (or Orlando, for that matter) in 9 years. Our trip in April was the first one that the girls could really "remember". When we left that last day, it was with sad hearts, thinking that we would probably not be back for a couple of years. Much to our surprise, and delight, we got to make a second trip this year. Yes, I said two trips in one year! Thanks, very much, to Kearsdad's employer! He was chosen to attend a conference held at none other than the Disney Swan and Dolphin! And we got to go with him!

Here are the girls at the fountain in the lobby as we were checking in. The girls and I decided that the lobby smelled like Soarin'. Kearsdad said he couldn't smell anything.


Here is a view of the hotel from the walkway between the Dolphin (where we stayed) and the Swan. The Dolphins, as seen in the picture above, don't look like dolphins. They look like fish. Here is the information my good friend Junebug provided for me about the Dolphin and its' emblem:

The statues on top of the Dolphin hotel are not mammalian dolphins, but a stylized version of a nautical dolphin, a common symbol used on old world nautical maps. The design of the creatures is based on Triton Fountain in Rome.
Kat said she and JMatt decided that the real story is that the dolphins are magical Disney dolphins and that is why they look different.

We spent the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, in Epcot and the Magic Kingdom with Kearsdad. David, one of Kearsdad's "boys" got to join us Saturday and later in the week too! It was an extra treat to get to spend time with him. (He is attending school in Orlando. Rough life, ya know?)


While Kearsdad was in his conference during the week, the girls and I went back and forth between the pool (I will have to post a picture of the pool later), and the parks. We slept late, enjoyed breakfast, took our time, and had lots of fun.

There was, however one sad and traumatic moment. On Sunday (day two) about midway through the day, the unthinkable happened. There I was, sitting on the boat on the Jungle Cruise, when I reached for my camera. Something felt wrong. I looked down to realize the shutter release button was GONE! Not there! I panicked! I disturbed the whole boat looking around for the missing pieces. We found the button, and a spring. But apparently an integral part was still missing. There was no fixing it. I really almost cried. Instead, we ended up going back to our room for a little while. While there, I got online, looked up the missing part, found it, and ordered it! So now, that part is on its way. Not in time to use my camera in Disney all week, but hopefully we will be able to fix it. The rest of the weeks pictures are on my phone and Kat's camera. Not sure how good those will be, but better than nothing I suppose!

So...for now...here are a few more pictures from our trip BEFORE my camera died. I haven't loaded the pics from Kat's camera to the computer yet. More pictures to come...
(I am not sure what the fascination was with this phone booth...but we have multiple pictures of it from both trips.)

Test Track!

End of Summer

So, today is the official last day of summer. It's a beautiful day, not too hot, and I actually saw a couple of yellowish leaves on the ground in the back yard today. Fall must be on the way.

School is off to a good start. So far, high school isn't nearly as scary as I expected it would be. The girls are moving along nicely and liking their studies. They are taking two "classes" this year with our homeschool group-art and science-and are really enjoying them! Anna begins ballet this week, moving us into a full swing schedule. I'm afraid I've grown quite lazy, and I'm a little worried about getting back into a routine. We'll see how I do.

Now, with all that talk of schedules and routines...we are about to blow ours. You see, we leave in just 11 days for ORLANDO! We are going back! I finally got over the fact that we got to spend a whole week there in the spring, never dreaming we'd go back so soon. Kearsdad gets to attend a conference there...at one of the Disney resorts, no less...and we get to go too! We'll do a couple of days at the parks on the weekend before the conference begins, and then the girls and I will spend the week hanging out, swimming, enjoying the resort, shopping, etc. for the rest of the week. And spending a little time with our Orlando-based Devore as well! So much for routines and schedules, huh?

Finally, I leave you with a couple of pictures of the girls with their little friends from down the street. They are also church buddies...and the girls are their favorite babysitters. They took advantage of the beautiful weather this week and took the boys down to the boat landing to fly their kite...

To Love a Book....

What could be better?

I love homeschooling, for many, many reasons. Some days I feel completely stressed. Some days I'm just too tired. Some days I wonder if I'm a complete failure. But then God sends something my way to remind me that He is my strength, that He has called me to teach my children, that nothing could be better (for us), and that through Him, I am succeeding. He did that the other day.

We haven't even officially started school yet. The girls began a science class that they are taking through our homeschool group, but we haven't started anything at home yet. I needed a little more time to get our home organized and my head on straight after our whirlwind summer. So, since we haven't begun, I haven't even experienced any of the above mentioned negative emotions. We still have a whole year lying before us like a blank canvas. How exciting.

But God gave me a sweet gift the other day. A little background first...Banana has never been a big reader. In fact, she has never had any interest whatsoever in reading. This truly made me sad because there is nothing better than a good book. I love to read. Kat loves to read too, and we enjoy our passion together. But not Banana. She has never had much use for books. I think it's her daddy's fault.

Early on in our homeschool experience this was a concern. Teaching Kat to read was a joy. She loved it...she loved books, she loved looking at books, she loved being read to and learning to read for herself. Banana, however, fought me every step of the way. She had no use for reading. Just didn't see why it was necessary. I really believe if she had been in a traditional school setting she would have been labeled "learning delayed" or some such thing. But I knew better. I knew it was a matter of personality and time. I had been assured by many wise parents who had gone before that patience and time were all she needed. So I read to her. I allowed her to move at her own pace. Eventually, I began to see her making progress. She knew HOW to read, she just didn't have any interest in it. Still, I didn't push. I let her read at her own pace, and I continued to read to and with her. As long as she was reading her own lessons and working independently, I knew that she was reading at an appropriate level. I didn't worry about it beyond that.

Her attitude began to change, however, last Spring. After a visit with a homeschool group to the Eudora Welty home, Banana suddenly expressed an interest in books! It was a miracle! God bless Eudora Welty! After that trip, Banana found a book she wanted to read and she read it cover to cover! And loved it! This was the book that she loved (and still loves):


So, fast forward to last week. I had gone to the library to get the girls the first books they needed for their history/literature study. I wanted them to go ahead and get a head start on the reading. Kat's book (Uncle Tom's Cabin) was available, but Banana's book (The World of Columbus and Sons) had to be requested from another branch. On Thursday, Banana and I stopped by to pick up her book. It is a fairly large, book. It's old, published in 1965, and looks like school books I remember from my early elementary years (ahhh....good memories!). Banana looked it over, and made a comment about it being old. I assured her that it was historically accurate. In the car, she began looking through the book, which surprised me a little. I didn't say anything so as not to alert her that looking at the book might be construed as interest.



That night I suggested that she begin reading a little of her book. The chapters are very short, and I showed her how much needed to be read by the time we begin school next week. There was a good deal of moaning and groaning at this suggestion, but I persisted and sent her away with the book. Later I asked her if she read the first chapter. She answered that she had read TWO! Wow! It got even better though.

Friday night I went into Banana's room to see if she was ready for bed. I found her in her bed, lamp on, and she was READING her book! Yes!!! She looked up and said to me, "This is a really good book! I know it's a history book, but I really like how it's written. It's very interesting!" I could have cried I was so happy!! To find my girl in bed reading a book was a wonderful thing! The only thing better than being a part of my children learning, is seeing them enjoy it!

A Month? Really?

Could it really be a month since I blogged? The summer has been so completely full...time is just rushing past and I feel like I'm caught in a strong current pushing me forward. Full of good things, but too many good things. Last night I decided that next summer we will have to learn to apply the word "no" to our vocabulary. I don't like the feeling of rushing here and there, I feel like I've missed too much time with my family.


The upside, the blessing, is that I have spent a lot of time serving the Lord, learning about the Lord, sharing the Lord side by side with my girls. But we've just been on the go so much...I would like some down time, family time. I guess that's one of the blessings about homeschooling. While most will be sending their children off to school in a couple of weeks, we will be settling in. The school year is our family time. It makes it easier to spend the summer serving and traveling. I am proud of all my girls have done this summer. They have really had the opportunity to give and serve these last couple of months. I am so glad they want to do those things.

We have a couple more weeks of activities planned, then most people will be back to school. That's when I plan to intentionally do nothing for a couple of weeks before we begin our school year. A little down time. A little play time.

As I Remember Them

This is how Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett exist in my memory. Neither lived a life to be emulated. Actually, both were (and are) to be pitied. Sad lives, sad endings. But nevertheless, the images above are indelibly tied to my childhood and adolescence. Charlies Angels was a favorite. I remember going to my friend Liz's house, out in the "country" (actually, probably within Montgomery city limits, not urban at all) and we'd play Charlies Angels in the barn and pasture behind her house. We had walkie talkies and everything. We took turns being Jill (Farrah), even though I WAS the blonde and rightfully should have been Jill all the time.

I became aware of Michael Jackson a little later...a couple of years. My friend Tiffany and I played his "Off the Wall" album (a real album, you know) over and over. My favorites were "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" and "Rock With You". Classic Michael. A few years later, my friend Wendy became mildly (okay, madly) obsessed with Michael and "Thriller". I liked the earlier Michael better, but I heard my share of "Billy Jean".

Today, they are both gone. While I admired neither, I'm still a little nostalgic for the part they played in happy childhood memories.

Mission Trips and Swine Flu

What, you ask, does one have to do with the other? Everything! You go off on a mission trip, you bring home swine flu! Not me, luckily. But Kat and Banana and several of their closest friends!

Last week was our middle school mission trip. This is "my" trip, in that it is the summer event that I am solely responsible for. I get help, as needed, but I am in charge of planning and implementing it. It is my favorite trip of the year. I am usually more geared to older kids, but there is something about this week with the middle school kids that is special. You get a glimpse of what is to come. And this year was particularly special for a couple of reasons. First, this trip involved the group of friends that my girls have grown up with. I have known most of those kids since they were in preschool or before! Kat's very best friend, JMatt was on this trip. All of her girlfriends were on this trip.

The other reason it was special is related...for four years my girls have traveled with me on student ministry trips. They have been the "little kids", the "tag-alongs". They have hung in there and enjoyed themselves as much as possible. They have made older friends and lifelong memories, but they have always been on the outside. Last year was a little different for Kat, it was her 7th grade year and her age group went, but not her close friends. Her closest friends are all a year behind her in school (another story). So this year it was HER year! Banana was with us, and I am blessed to be able to say that Banana and Kat share a friend group. Now Banana's two "BFFs" weren't there, but she enjoyed the group of girls just fine. It was so special for me to see my girls fully enjoy this experience.

It was a good week. Relatively little drama. Most of the kids were very well behaved. We worked hard in the hot sun. We had the usual church van problems, including a broken van window caused by a the meeting of a rock and a weed-eater. We played hard, slept little, and ate good food (yes, good food on a mission trip). I witnessed some wonderful emotional and spiritual growth of two girls I have been praying for all year! I saw some incredible potential in some young men. I spent some special time with my high school helpers, some of whom will be leaving for college in a couple of months. It was a good week.

But all good things end....and ours ended with a bang. On Thursday, kids started "dropping like flies". First one with a sore throat and a fever...home she went. Later another (Banana, actually) feeling sick and tired and puny. And another, and another... Unbeknownst to me, two more girls arived home that night with fever. Around 4 am, Banana woke me up with a terrible cough and a temp of 102. By the time I got up the next morning I had a message to call CB (boss, aka student pastor). One of the girls had tested positive for Influenza A-possible swine flu. I needed to call parents. Ooops...let me call the doctor first! We were in his office by 2:30. Anna was positive for influenza A. Kat was positive (let me mention that Kat NEVER felt bad). I was negative. Another girl was postive too. There were a few others who felt sick but tested negative (false negative, I wonder?).

Let me insert here the girls' sleeping arangements. There were 4 positive flus, and 3 others who didn't feel well. That is 7 girls. These 7 girls slept in a little "cubby", an area of the dorm, with 3 bunk beds. How did 7 girls sleep in 3 bunk beds? Why, they pushed them together of course! 4 slept on top, 3 slept on bottom! Yes, if you ever wonder what is the best way to spread germs and cause a flu epidemic, it is by putting a bunch of girls in one bed!

In the end, we learned that the whole swine flu hoopla has been tremendously overblown! At least in our area, swine flu symptoms resemble a bad cold. The symptoms lasted no more than about 3 days. Like I said, Kat never even had symptoms. Banana was puny and feverish no more than 18 hours. Our doctor, as well as a couple of other health professionals told us that is what they have been seeing. I do know that there have been more serious cases, but compared to "regular" flu, this was nothing. We did observe the standard 5 day isolation aka go crazy in your house for 5 days. All four of us took Relenza. Everyone seems to be well now. It will give us something to talk about for years to come!

A mission trip to remember.

Recitals, Dance News, And Answers to Prayer

School is out, recitals are over, and I actually have a few days with no real schedule. It won't last long, but I am going to take advantage of it to try to catch up on this blog. I feel like I have really neglected it, but so much has been going on, I've been somewhat overwhelmed...and not quite sure where to begin. I still have some Disney news and pictures I want to share, but I'm going to start, instead, with Banana's recitals and dance news.

The dance news actually begins back in February. A discussion between Kearsdad and I about some family issues led us to begin praying about some specific things. Nothing real big, just things we felt led to pray over regarding the girls. We began praying for some particular things for Banana. I asked a couple of people to pray with me. Around this same time, rehearsals began for Beauty and the Beast, her dance company's spring performance. Within a few weeks, God began to move...

Up until this point, Banana had never complained about a dance rehearsal or schedule. She loved her classes and never complained about the heavy schedule. A few weeks after we began praying, though, that began to change. She wanted to be picked up early on Wednesdays because she was "tired of always being late for Bible Study" and she complained about the weekend rehearsals, especially on Sunday. She wasn't talking about her dance friends as often. All of this was a little subtle, but began to add up.

Then one week, as I was checking our weekly rehearsal schedule, I noticed that the director had scheduled a couple of older girls for a Sunday morning rehearsal. Bells went off. A line had been crossed. We knew that, eventually, Wednesdays were going to become more of an issue. But Sunday morning?? No way. Kearsdad said to me, "Do you think it is time we looked into moving her to "---" (a local Christian dance school). What he didn't know was that I had been looking into that very thing, checking out their website and schedules just out of curiosity. God had obviously been preparing us!

Now for the next step. How would Banana respond to that idea? She had been at her school for four years, in the company for two. She had friends, she was comfortable. Comfortable is a big deal with her. Should we wait? I though maybe so...after all, she was right in the middle of prepping for this performance. But that night, at bedtime, God nudged me. So I casually asked her, "What would you think of considering a move to "--" next year. She looked at me calmly and said, "Yeah, I think so!" What?!?!?! Yes, God, we hear you!

And so the decision was made. We completed our year, eventually telling the director we were leaving (but not where we were going). As the year wore on, we were reminded over and over what a good decision we had made. A couple of weeks ago, Banana went to the new school where we registered, and she danced for observation and placement. It was a very enjoyable experience with a result we were all very happy with. Banana is very much looking forward to next year.

So, last week she danced in her last performances with the old company. It really wasn't sad at all for any of us. Kearsdad's parents came over and got to see her dance for the first time. She also had friends accompany us two nights, and that was fun for her.


Here are Kat, LouLou and Banana after the last performance!

BMW got to go one night with us, AND spend the night in the middle of the week! Yea Summer!

On stage for the last ballet...



Sweet sisters! Kat is her sister's biggest cheerleader and defender!

She hated this dance, but I thought she was beautiful in the costume...and she danced beautifully too!

Goof off-waiting to rehearse the jazz piece.