Olive's Dance Pictures

 Olive had her Tiny company dance class on Mondays at 5pm and Thursdays at 5pm. And ballet on Thursdays at 4pm. This was a struggle at the beginning of the year. She didn't love going and would cry and cling to me. That gradually lessened, but she never did like going to ballet. Her teacher was an older gentleman who smiled seldomly and whom we secretly called Mr. Stick-up-his-bum. He was very strict about their attire. Black leo, pink ballet shoes, pink tights, NO skirts or ruffles... he had to be able to see their hips... hair in a bun, NO WISPIES! We, as parents, were lectured about this regularly. I didn't really blame her for not loving his class but at least she had her friend, Posey, with her!

 This was her outfit for the song, "My Big French Boyfriend".

 She wore this for the dance to "Lollipop"!

She was invited to be on this dance team because her teacher from the previous year recommended her. We were told that 24 girls were invited out of 127 girls. I wasn't really anticipating having her do something so involved so young, but also didn't want to pass up the opportunity. In hindsight, it wasn't the greatest decision. Mostly because it nearly killed me. Driving her to dance, getting her to all the performances, competitions, extra practices, pictures, etc. etc on top of driving the kids to music lessons, baseball and school was the death of me. I had to wake Tanner up from his nap, drive to their school on Thursdays, park, get out and walk in to pick them up, make sure they went to the bathroom, drive her to dance, change in the car, eat snacks in the car, drop her off while she cried and clung to me then take the boys to either soccer or baseball. It was a loooooong year. I was stretched so thin. But every time I saw her dance, all that stress melted away. She shined onstage and had so much fun. I love to dance, so seeing her enjoy it too is a treat!

Not knowing how the professional pictures would turn out, I snapped a few more of her afterward in front of the studio. Her glam sure popped! I love this first one!

The professional ballet pictures were taken at a different time at the Chandler Arts Center, so we got a few with Posey afterward too!