I wrote parts of this post weeks ago and never hit publish. It was going to be really hard to say Ella has decided not to dance this season, so I was trying to be extra careful with my words. It can be hard to share about your life, while also holding moments sacred and trying to protect your daughter's feelings -- all at the same time. As luck would have it (more likely divine intervention coupled with dramatic thirteen year old feelings), I registered Ella for her eleventh year of dance this month. It's going to look a lot different than the last seven years have, but I'm so grateful that I get to watch her on stage again this season. I had been writing this post in my head for almost six months and still couldn't find the right words to describe what I was feeling. It's not that ...
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Recital Recap | Nine Years
I'm drafting this post in August of 2019, despite the fact that these photographs were taken in June of 2018?! My only excuse is that I was pregnant and who knows why these were never edited and shared on the blog. I realized it when I was drafting a post about this year's dance recital and couldn't find these photos to link. I'm back dating the post so that it goes back where it's supposed to be, but I figured I would offer a disclaimer since it will probably show up in your feed reader when I press publish! Since it's been an entire year since this recital happened, I'm not even going to try and recap what we were thinking or how things went. I am thrilled that the photos from this year were so beautiful and that I managed to get a photo of every costume in front of the backdrop. That ...
Recital Recap | Eight Years
Just like that, eight years of dance is in the books. I have to do the math sometimes and Josh and I regularly argue about exactly how long it's been, but Ella just completed her eighth season of dance and her fifth year of competition. Like every year before it, recital week is exhausting and tear inducing and one of our favorite weeks of the entire year. She danced a minimum of four hours a day for the week preceding recital day and then managed to pull off eighteen dances in eleven hours across three performances. It makes me tired just typing that. Of course, every year I think we can't add one more thing and on the way home from dress rehearsal on Friday she told me she'd like to try the beginner's clogging class. Here we go again. Since she performed so many times and I took ...
Weekend Update | May
Would you believe me if I told you I packed my camera for our weekend trip, but didn't take it out of my bag a single time? There is always a pull to document every single moment of every important event, but there is an even bigger part of me that just wants to relax and enjoy our time together. Although Ella and I spend many days together because of dance, it is a rare occasion for us to take a road trip without any other companions. We did split a hotel room with two other dancers and their moms and, obviously, we were with a huge group for most of the weekend -- but we spent more one on one time together this past weekend than we have in a while. It was nice to have no other obligations or responsibilities and just enjoy watching her dance and letting her have control over our ...
Weekend Update | March
This past weekend was a sight for sore eyes. We had a lot going on, but it was so much fun and I got to spend it with my favorite people on the planet. Life has been so busy lately that I feel like we've all been passing each other in the hall, but not getting to spend any quality time together. This weekend was the exception and I tried to soak it up as best I could. Friday \\ I took the day off after a few brutal weeks in the office and it was exactly what I needed. I went back and forth about being productive and being lazy, but I found a happy balance and had a wonderful day to myself. I organized Ella's dance bag (a secret obsession) over coffee and my dad built a fire for me before heading out to the barn. I got all of my housework done, a few blog posts written and cooked a ...
Lights Up at The Summit | 2016
I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet and I should probably keep my holiday shenanigans to myself (at least for another week), but I couldn't help myself! Not to mention the family posts have been few and far between for the last several weeks (thank you moving and unpacking), so I thought it was time to pop in with something a little more family-centric. For the second year in a row, Ella's dance team was invited to perform in a parade at our local outdoor shopping center to usher in the holiday season. They have a huge lighting ceremony right before Thanksgiving, along with a parade, faux snow, and fireworks. She has had plenty of extra practices the last several weeks and was finally ready to show off all of her hard work this past weekend. It made for a crazy Friday afternoon, since ...
Recital Recap | Seven Years
Sometimes it's hard to believe she's been dancing for seven years and other days it feels like we've been doing this forever. I feel like every year, we learn a host of new things. We get better organized, more efficient and more confident with every day of the season we conquer. If there was anything new we learned this year, it was that these girls are our family. Dance moms and daughters alike. I never expected for Ella to fall in love with dance or for it to monopolize a significant amount of our time and budget. I certainly never expected to fall so seamlessly into a group of women who love my girl like their own and who step in at a moment's notice to pick up my slack. Recital day started like any other. I got up hours early and downed a pot of coffee while mentally cataloguing ...
Competition Season
If you read my two posts about Chattanooga or follow me on Instagram, then you've probably realized that we are in the thick of dance competition season over here. On the off chance you haven't noticed the ridiculous number of sequin filled selfies, then consider this your formal announcement. Ella has been dancing for almost seven years and this is her fourth year to dance competitively. I feel like I need to tell you that this isn't something we pressured her to do, because people seem to assume that dance moms are living vicariously through their children. We started her early because she wasn't in school or daycare and we figured she needed some sort of structured activity with other girls her age. It didn't take long to recognize that she had natural talent and that she loved spending ...