recital photos... part II

Finally the last of the recital photos...

For some reason, I didn't get a single good shot of Clara's third dance piece. Not sure what happened there.

So, it's on to the Sicilian Tarantella..

....another favorite...

... as I mentioned before, I love the traditional folk dances.
Oh... and in case you recognize the costume...
... yes, she wore this same costume last recital.
In fact, this is the third time she's worn this costume...
... since they performed this same dance in a competition/showcase in the fall.

The boy after the recital...
... waiting to give his sister her flowers.

Clara and her friend...
Clara and her flowers...
Checking them out...

The girls and their flowers...
... before we all headed off to our traditional post-recital dinner together! I was done taking photos at that point so I just left my camera in the car. It was a great evening out with friends! This year we had our own private room at the restaurant which made things really nice.

And finally, the view of the city as we drove back toward home...
It was really a wonderful day! We had our doubts that it was all going to work out as Alex had two shows that day... the last one ending just one hour before Clara's recital (his show was downtown, her recital was in the 'burbs). This was going to be cutting it close but then we got the email reminding us that the cast members were supposed to stay to help breakdown the set. At first we thought about getting a sitter for Alex, but in the end, we opted to ask permission for Alex to leave right after his show. Clara rode out to rehearsals around noon with her friends. I rode with friends out to the recital a little later and then Jeff picked up Alex and drove out with him... arriving with about 5 minutes to spare before the curtain went up!! Thank goodness for good friends and good traffic!!

the recital photos... part I

Yesterday was the big year end recital for one of the places Clara dances. It's always a good time. Her one class is a pretty tight knit little group and they so look forward to this day together... since not only do they get to hang out all day together and perform, but we always go out to a big group family dinner afterward.

First up... the Waltz of the Flowers from Sleeping Beauty...
Yes, this is the dress that nearly cost Clara her life the day before. But as you can see...
... we got it clean!!! That's the side above that she skidded down the sidewalk on the day before.

My color casts are horrible on all of my recital photos (please forgive me!).

Next up... probably my favorite dance and costume of Clara's.... the Ukrainian Dance (Hopak... had to look it up on youtube).








She really really loves the traditional folk dances (to be honest, so do I)... I wish her teacher did more of them!

Now to work on the rest of the photos!

the pre-recital photos

Taking a quick break from my photo a day posting project.

Yesterday afternoon we made an attempt at taking some photos of Clara in her dance recital costumes. The weather was definitely NOT cooperating with us! It had been warm (actually hot) and summer-like a few days before... but yesterday it was cold (50's) and raining. But since it was our only option, we had to make an attempt.

The first costume, the Ukrainian Dance costume, went well....






I LOVE that costume! I also love that they do the traditional folk dances in her class AND that they have traditional looking costumes.

Next up was her costume for the Waltz of the Flowers...


Notice how there are only two photos (and no photos of her other two costumes). Right after this last photo, Clara got the brilliant idea to run up the sidewalk and leap. Not the brightest idea under the best of circumstances but yesterday the sidewalk was wet and slick. I was just walking behind her so I saw the whole thing go down. She tripped as she came down, slipped and slid down the sidewalk on her side. Her pure white costume had a big wide stripe of dirt and grass stain down the side. I was nearly ill. Her teacher is crazed enough on recital day without adding this to the mix. So, we rushed in and immediately set to trying every stain removal technique we could find. Finally, by bedtime, we had accomplished our goal and had erased (almost) all of the traces of the "accident". Thank goodness it was only dirt and she hadn't hurt herself or ripped the costume! Hopefully I'll get some photos of the other two costumes when she's on stage today!

days 108-112

Okay... my excuse of the day is.... blogger was down yesterday when I went to post these photos :-) A long wait for photos you've already seen before, but I'm still trying to get caught up (or at least, less behind) on my photo a day photos.

day 108....
... fishing at grandpa's pond.

day 109....
... Wilson's Creek Battlefield.

day 110...
... Silver Dollar City

day 111...
... celebrating Alex's birthday at Incredible Pizza!

day 112...
... Liverpool Legends!

days 103-107

Okay... my excuse this time is this particular group of photos... not a very inspiring bunch... all cell phone photos (except one where there's no photo at all... sigh). But here they are....

day 103...
... cleaning out the ol' inbox... I should probably do that more often, don't you think? (phone)

day 104...
... Clara's colorful outfit (phone)

day 105...
.... my first (and hopefully last) missed photo of the year. I had a massive headache that day... to the point where I sat in the car and hoped to not throw up while my family ate dinner at our usual Friday night place. I had powered through until that point, but once we were all together and our day was almost over, I gave in.

day 106...
... Alex and Jeff got up early and ran the Race to Wrigley 5K. Alex had a personal best that day! (Jeff's phone)

day 107...
... ROAD TRIP!! The backseat crew on our way to Missouri! Mango wasn't part of the backseat crew for long though... she ended up as co-pilot up front (phone).

days 98-102

Sorry for disappearing for a few days... strep hit our house AGAIN! Poor Clara! But she's feeling much better now and life is getting back to normal (well, as normal as our life can be!).

On to the photos...

day 98...
... it was finally time for a haircut! My less shaggy, less red boy.

day 99...
... fun with the Juicy Fruit Sweet Talk app.

day 100...
... bike riding in the alley season has begun!!

day 101...
... forgot to take a photo until late... so here's a crappy phone photo of Jeff reading his Kindle.

day 102...
... forgot again until late... so another crappy phone photo... but this one is of my TV watching buddy... Mango!

days 93-97

day 93....
... pedicures! (phone)

day 94...
... the boys at the NCAA Final Four Championship game! (take by Jeff)

day 95...
... Alex and his brand new Nintendo 3DS!

day 96...
... Clara didn't have school (report card pick-up day), so while Alex was in guitar, we decided to check out the children's resale shop near-by. There she found a bag of American Girl Doll clothes... these are two of her dolls modeling their new outfits.

day 97....
... bedtime and I realized I hadn't taken a photo that day... so here are the kids, in Clara's room checking out her book fair purchases (phone)