Recital Week 2018

There is always a treasure trove of pictures from recital week. It's like Christmas. There are too many beautiful things and you can't appreciate them all. But here goes.

Freestone and Ptolemy: "Are you jealous of my goatee?"

"No, are you jealous of my sideburns?" You can't let a roll of masking tape just sit there, can you?

June birthdays. We're not the only family who had a crazy summer. Nikki and Clint have been all over Utah, Nevada and California for sports and family trips. Ryan and Jennie were in DC for June birthdays, hosting a massive event in connection with Jennie's foundation, Duplication Cares. She is a rock star with this foundation. It is really remarkable what she has accomplished.

It was just us and Michelle, Grandma and Grandpa, Jake to celebrate Golda and Freestone's birthdays.

I love the buck teeth. Can we just keep him this age forever? I love him!

Cori Connors did music once again for Clytie's recital. The most moving piece of the night was Thanksgiving, which Araceli was in. This was Araceli's last recital week. She took two classes this year, so she had class 6 days a week. She was very diligent and she worked hard. She made a lot of progress and accomplished all of her goals. But this is the end of her ballet road. It is bittersweet. I am happy for her to be moving on to other things that she. She  loves.

Vilina's Aunt Nicole and cousin Merufa were here all week. We had a great time over the weekend leading into recital week, and they were helpful in taking Vilina during that week, while we had so many balls in the air. I wish they could have stayed longer, and I wish we had had more time together. I really loved both of them and connected with them instantly. I hope we can see each other in theI really

These two were in the same class all year. I savored it, listening to their voices in the car with Flora, the three of them saying the funniest things in their kindergarten voices.

Xanthe was in Jennifer's class this year, her first year on point. She is a very strong dancer and has a lot of good qualities. I Marvel at how muscular legs and her body are. She looks great up there on pointe. I am I so proud of her for what she is able to do through sheer determination.

Melissa is a great teacher.

And so is Golda!! The modern teacher, Emily, asked Golda to take over her class while she had a baby. Golden would come home from college every weekend to teach the Saturday morning class. I think she loved it. A bonus for me was that Ptolemy and Vilina were both in the class so that was neat.

One teacher and four dancers in the recital, for a total of six dances to be staged and rehearsed, made me feel not left out at all, even though I wasn't teaching this year. I'm coming back next year though! Sarah asked me if I wanted to and I jumped at the chance. I think I have my head wrapped around the store and I have to spend a few hours each week teaching ballet which I sorely missed.

Ah, our beautiful girl.

Vilina, looking beautiful. Sometimes I just wished she we're back home with her family, she's so sweet and little. Her aunt Nicole told us some harrowing things about the Uyghers vs the Chinese government. Essentially, Vilina was born in Boston, where Nicole and her husband live, because of the one-child policy. As an ethnic minority, the Uyghers are subject to harsher punishment for breaking rules, so when Vilina was born, her parents left her in Xinjiang province with relatives for her first year or so. When they finally brought her to Beijing, they told neighbors that she was a relative from their province. They were afraid of people knowing that she was their daughter. Even though try technically didn't break the law, because Vilina wasn't born in China, they were still afraid of persecution.

Ptolemy was great! I think he has some talent. He and the other boy in his class got to dance in two casts.

The little carpool

We planned it so Nicole and Merufa could be at the recital.

Emily is one of the most gracious women I know. She always has kind things to say, and truly cares about people. She is understated, but always there when you need her. She had some kind words for Araceli on her last recital.

I love driving my kids to rehearsal! It was actually a pleasure not to be involved as a teacher this year. It was so easy just to show up at the right time and watch.

However, I was evidently worn out! Tziporah snapped pictures of me resting with her beloved Zebra Blankie. All the meal planning and driving was exhausting, but so much fun!! Remember, this was the week that Freestone's Bournonville friends were staying at our house. I loved every minute, but I did have to catch a snooze wherever I could.

What made the week possible was Xanthe. At the beginning of the summer I implemented an ambitious chore chart system. Each child had a clipboard with a list of chores on it that they could check off with a white board marker and then we would erase it at the end of the week and start over with a new list. the first week, I was very diligent, showing each child how to do the chores and going over the list with them each day. Recital/Bournonville week was the second week of the summer and xanthe had the kitchen Zone. She is a cleaning wizard. She gets right down to business and test everything immaculate. I was so grateful for her, I put her on kitchen duty for the rest of the summer. She doesn't mind. I think it is easier for her to have the kitchen every week then to adjust to a new list each Monday.

Araceli's second performance night was her last performance of her ballet life. I was at the Bournonville reception where Scott had stopped by briefly before going to the Browning center to see Araceli dance for the last time. He didn't want to miss that. I had been able to watch all of her staging and dress rehearsals, so I felt like I had closure by just seeing her first performance night. I felt good about it being the end.

Ptolemy only wished it were the end after the first cast! He was somewhat dismayed when he realized he still had a whole nother cast to rehearse and perform after the first one. I guess he had blocked that out of his mind. But he did end up having a lot of fun and feeling very important.

Our sweet girls. I sure missed Ruby this week.