The girls had their ballet photos recently. Leah loves wearing her snowflake costume, but it leaves a trail of feathers wherever she goes!
You can't help but smile at her.
Molly's ballet class will be dancing to Be Our Guest, so there will be 10 smiling Belle's dancing on stage.
More to come in June…
Molly had many activities this summer, including her first time taking tennis lessons. We’ve played a few times just in the family before, but this was her first time taking proper lessons. There were one or two rough weeks, but she ended up having a great time and doing great. Here’s a small taste of her mad tennis skills.
As Chad mentioned, the girls had their first ballet recital this weekend. Here's Leah and her class of little ducks looking incredibly cute at rehearsal.
Leah's definitely got the moves.
Here's Molly's class rehearsing their dance to "If You Believe" from "The Whiz."
On recital night, the stage looked the same, but the audience was a lot bigger. Leah's on the lookout to find all of her fans in the sea of faces. In fact, she wandered off toward the front of the stage at one point during the performance looking through the audience to find her family. You never know what will happen when you put a 2 year old on stage, but Leah did great.
Molly, with her dance partner. It's important to curtsy and bow before beginning the dance.
So graceful.
Molly loved every minute of dancing.
Did I mention that the girls had some fans?
Chad headed to gymnastics with Molly this week for the first time in a while, so he got to see lots of new stuff. Here she is doing shoulder touches in which she continually switches arms holding herself up and touching her opposite shoulder.
Here she's suspending herself above the pommel horse while a coach tries to get her to lift her leg even higher.
Flip-flip.
This was an interesting station. Molly would hang from the bar and lift her knees. Then her partner would set the block on her knees. She then has to hang there, holding her knees up to prevent the block from falling. She only lasts 5-10 seconds, but it was still impressive.
Chad checked out one of Leah's dance classes and snapped a few photos. These pictures are shot through small glass panes in a door, so they're not the best shots, but they give an idea of the class. Here's Leah paying attention to her teacher at the beginning of class.
They play a bit with musical instruments, like the maraca she has here.
They also play with stuffed animals, moving them around and placing them in different locations like on their bellies.
Leah's got her wand and skirt on and is getting into character in the fairy dance.
Leah loves to walk on her toes, which comes in handy at dance class.
I set up a playdate at Molly's gymnastics club for Leah and some friends to play. Leah always has to sit back and watch at Molly's practice, so she was super excited to get to play this time.
She knew exactly how to freeze after jumping on the tumble track.
Leah was only willing to get in the foam pit once. After that, she was happy to play with the blocks from the side.
Hmm, might not be the best snack idea.
Leah has been constantly dancing around the house since The Nutcracker so we decided to sign her up for a dance class of her own. Molly's studio has a Creative Dance class for 2 year olds, so we're giving it a go. Here's Leah ready to go to her first class and very excited about it.
But really, who needs a class when you've got these great moves? :)
Molly's last Nutcracker performance was in the Great Room in Historic Savage Mill. It was a much fancier venue than the first 6, as it is typically used for weddings and receptions. Molly's ready to go for the Children's March with her two compadres.
Promenade two by two.
One smiley mouse ready for the battle between the Nutcracker and the Mouse Queen.
One small victory…
followed by a bit of rest...
and a different mode of transportation.
Molly smiles so much during her performances. She really enjoys it.
It was another great show,
followed by flowers for all the ballerinas. Molly was thrilled!
Molly kept up her regular ballet class in addition to her Nutcracker rehearsals and performances. The last class before Christmas was Visitor's Day, so Grams, Pop, Aunt EA, and Aunt Caroline joined Chad and I to see what they did in a typical class. I believe this was their Superman stretch.
They definitely work on balance and posture. Here Molly is balancing a bean bag on her head while standing on one foot.
Molly loves ballet and has fun at every lesson.
Here's Molly at Nutcracker performance number 4, dancing in the Children's March.
The mice may not win the battle with the soldiers, but Molly did have a small victory along the way.
Molly's shaking her tail during the closing bows.
Three little mice.
Huddle up, mice.
Here are the girls in their Children's March costumes with their dolls from the show.
There are still two more performances to go. Check out the schedule if you are interested.
