Dance Recital

This whole week has pretty much been about Mollie's dance recital.  Tech Rehearsal Monday night, Dress Rehearsal Tuesday night, and finally the recital Thursday night.  We were happy to stay home all day Wednesday.

 Ben made himself a Kyle Busch cup with one of the leftover plastic tea cups from Mollie's party.

 Annie likes to sit on the counter while I'm putting on my makeup.  Last night she found Mollie's pink lipstick for the recital and helped herself.

 Sparkly hair and a ballet bun for the recital.

 Mollie wanted me to take pictures of her in different poses before each routine.  This is her tap costume.

 With CC friends Elin and Ada.

 Ballet costume.  Same leotard different skirt and accessories.

 With her church friend Anya.

 Mrs. Lynn asked us not to take pictures during the performance so that people behind us could watch the performance without cameras blocking their view.  The people behind us left early so I took a few pictures near the end.  Mollie is on the left end.  This is their Jesus Loves Me ballet routine.

 Waving at the audience during the Grand Finale.  Mollie is in the middle of her group.

 With her beautiful flowers that Nana and Grandaddy brought.  I forgot to take a picture with Nana and Grandaddy.  The kids were in a hurry to get to the ice cream party!

Mollie was excited to add her dance costume to her dress up box.  She had it back on this morning and was aplying plenty of pink lipstick.

I didn't video the actual recital but below is a video of both her dances from the dress rehearsal.

Tuesday

This is just what we did today.  Whew!  CC end of the year pool party and ballet recital dress rehearsal.

 Cannon balls.

 Since it wasn't 100 degrees outside, it was too cold for me to get in the pool so Annie and I snacked and visited while Ben and Mollie swam.

 Annie and Libby (who is 6 weeks younger than Annie and also goes to church with us) were playing peekaboo.

 Mollie jumping off the diving board.

 Swimming to Lily after she jumped off the diving board.

 Mollie loves Lily, who goes to church with us.

 Trying to get warm in the sun.

 Annie enjoyed a chocolate covered pretzel stick.

 Group pic.  Mine was super blurry so I downloaded this from Ramona's Facebook post.

 Silly faces.

 Ready to go on stage.

 They practiced the finale first.  You could tell that the lights really bothered Mollie when she first came on stage.

 End of their tap routine.

 Waiting to do their ballet routine.

The end of their Jesus Loves Me dance.

Friday to Monday

The movers arrive one week from yesterday.  Our final week here is going to be a busy one.

 It poured Friday afternoon but after the rain stopped we had fun playing in the puddles.

 Annie's first time wading in mud puddles.

 Fall down.

 And after you finish playing in puddles, you need a warm bath.

 Mollie wanted to sleep in sponge rollers Saturday night.

 Sunday morning curls.

We didn't find out until Monday when our movers were definitely coming.  They had given us a range from Friday, May 22 to Wednesday, May 27 so we went to church Sunday morning thinking it could be our last Sunday at First Pres.  Bonny sent me this pic of Mollie Grace's class giving her a goodbye hug.  We'll get one more Sunday before we move so this was just a practice goodbye.

 Ben reading to Annie Monday morning.

 Me reading aloud to Ben and Mollie Monday afternoon.

Mollie's ballet recital is Thursday night.  She has been looking forward to dancing on stage for months.  Monday night was the technical rehearsal.

Ben made the video below of Mollie's class dancing to Jesus Loves Me.

Going Away Party

I know it sounds strange that we hosted our own going away party, but Ben and Mollie wanted to invite all their friends over to our house to have one really big, fun afternoon before we moved.  They spent weeks talking about it and making plans.  We've shopped multiple stores for just the right tablecloths, plates, and other party accessories.  I let them make lots of the decisions and plans.

 Early last week we mailed invitations to our CC and church friends, then rode our bikes down the street and delivered invitations to our neighbor friends.

 Last night they worked together to stuff candy in the pinata.  Ben and Mollie worked out an agreement that Ben could choose the Lightening McQueen pinata if Mollie got to hit it first.

 I made Ben's cake.  Last year he had this same cake in yellow.  Kyle Busch's car is green this year.

 Mollie wanted beautiful flowers for her tables.  She and I went to Wal-Mart together and she picked out these two bouquets of lavender daisies. (She totally posed for this picture.)

Mollie Grace had a vision for how she wanted her tea party to look and she worked diligently to set it up.

 She was very concerned because there were only a few pick necklaces and every would want pink.

 She asked all the little girls (including little sisters of some of Ben's friends) to come in their favorite dress up clothes.  Mollie chose a mermaid costume, gloves, and Rapunzel shoes.

 Having cookies, fruit, and tea (lemonade).  We went to the Salvation Army last week and bought five small teapots to place around the table so that everyone could pour.

 While Mollie Grace was having a tea party on one side of the house, MawMaw was helping Ben's friends compete in a number of races.  They are getting ready for the 3-legged race.  Ben and Sam won.

 Relay race.

 Sack race.

 The girls making princess crowns.

 Egg and spoon race.

 Lauren had a very steady hand and flew to the finish line with her egg.

 Kenadie showing off the crown she made.

 Tug of war.

 The beautiful princess cake Mama had Mrs. Ginger make for Mollie Grace.  Just as we were beginning to cut the cakes and serve ice cream the 20% chance of rain became 100% chance of thunderstorms.  We grabbed the cakes, other food, and anything else that didn't need to get wet and all FIFTY of us ran inside (where Annie was napping). Annie's nap ended immediately and we all ate cake and ice cream.  Amazingly nothing was spilled on the carpet.  Most everyone was really good about eating on the hard floors.

 As kids finished eating, they gathered in the living room to limbo.  We turned up our favorite Beach Boys songs and round and round they went.  There were no rules or being out.  The limbo pole went lower and lower and they went under it any way they could.

Playing Blind Man's Bluff.

 Ben wanted to do the pinata so bad but I couldn't figure out how to do it in the house or on the porch.  But thankfully before all our friends had left (most were already gone), the sun popped out and we were able to do the pinata.

 This little fellow named William actually broke the pinata.

 It didn't all dump on the ground so I spilled it out for them.

 While we cleaned up, Mollie and Annie played in the mud.

This party would have been absolutely impossible without Mama, Nana and Grandaddy's help.  They came early and helped set up.  They stayed late and helped clean up.  All the stuff in the yard had gotten soaked.  Nana and Grandaddy wiped dry all the tables and chairs.