Madelynn's First Dance Recital

As I am sure you can imagine...Madelynn's dance teacher mommy was very excited about her first dance recital. She had a great time, and did really well. We were very proud of her. 

Ready to leave in her recital shirt.

Waiting for her turn with her friends before Dress Rehearsal

Grandpa and Grandma came to watch her at Dress Rehearsal.

On stage getting ready to go for Dress Rehearsal.

Dancin!

Getting makeup on before the big show!

Backstage!

With her daddy before the Daddy Daughter Dance!

About to go onstage!

NEW YORK

So this year I got the brilliant idea that I wanted to take our Elite Company at the dance studio to New York. It....was....awesome. We fundraised like crazy and in April, 19 of us packed up and headed to NYC!

The girls/Amy and I at the airport (at 5am...)

Time Square

Amy's brother is an actor in NY, we went and saw him in "Forbidden Broadway"

We took the girls to St. Paul's house. There, we lead a worship service and fed breakfast to the homeless. This is us dishing up the plates. 

We all went and took various classes at Broadway Dance Center. I was fortunate enough to get to take a tap class from one of the "Tap Dogs". He was great!

Amy's brother is also a player in an improv comedy show. He was able to get us all in to see one of the shows. The girls felt so special, and since the players play in teams voted on by the audience...it should be pretty obvious who won this night. 

And last, we took the girls to see a Broadway show. We went and saw Newsies and the dancing was AMAZING. Loved it. 

The whole reason we went to NY was actually to allow the girls to participate in "Project Dance" which is an uplifting dance convention that gave the girls the opportunity to dance in Times Square. I don't have any pictures from that because I was actually taking mostly video during that time. But it was a very cool experience for the girls. 

Next year we are going to attempt to take the entire company to Disney World for their Youth Dance Package. Very excited about it and already getting started on the planning!

Happy Easter! (In June...sigh...)

Once again, behind...but it is the thought that counts right?

We spent Easter at my brother and sister in law's house. We grilled burgers and hot dogs and brought sides. The kids spent the afternoon hunting eggs and going through easter baskets that Grandma GiGi and Aunt Karah put together for them. Lots of fun!

Christmas at the Gaylord

One of my sweet parents from the dance studio gave us a weekend at the Gaylord Texan for their holiday celebrations. We had so much fun! We got to eat breakfast with the Shrek characters, meet the characters in a meet and greet session, and visit the Ice exhibit! 

Madelynn and Jeff and breakfast with Puss in Boots!

Eating her green Shrek inspired meal. She thought the green juice was a little weird but thoroughly enjoyed the fruit/marshmallows covered in green chocolate. 

With Shrek!

The hotel was decorated so beautifully for Christmastime.

She got an autograph book for the meet and greet and had a lot of fun getting the autrographs and coloring in it herself. 

Alex the Lion from Madagascar

Being silly with Shrek

She especially liked Puss in Boots...and I think Puss in Boots really liked her...

ICE! Exhibit - Madelynn was not thrilled with how cold it was...but Mommy and Daddy thought it was really neat! We got to bring my mom and dad too!

Loved that we got this opportunity! Such a fun memory for our family!

Holiday Part 2

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent's house with my two sisters and all of the cousins! We had a great time eating GREAT food, opening presents, and playing. 

We then came home and got ready for Santa to come. Santa got left over cupcakes from Christmas dinner because we were too busy to bake him special cookies... I don't think he minded. 

Shhhhhh.....Santa is here!

Christmas morning! Madelynn was so excited (and I think a little nervous) that Santa had come. She was so excited to get everything she had been asking for. It was so much fun seeing how happy and thankful she was. She is such a sweet girl. Also, you might notice a pot with something in it in the background...that is a pot of soup. Being silly, Madelynn asked Santa at the mall for a pot of soup along with the other toys she wanted. So he brought her some...