Getting ready for Enchanted

This year, Natalie added even more dance than she's done previously by auditioning for (and joining) the new Loudoun Ballet Performing Arts Company as a junior apprentice! This was a big change from the way in which the previous ballet company was run, where dancers had to be 13 to join. It's been great experience for Natalie and her friends, even if taking up a ton of our time!

The ballet company had previously put on 3 shows/year, but the only one Natalie had been able to participate in was the Nutcracker. Being a junior apprentice meant that Natalie would be in the fall show - an original show choreographed by the company's artistic director. The show was called "Deep in the Forest", and the junior apprentices were in an opening number called "Enchanted".

The girls had many rehearsals for their first ever company performance, and we had a number of new things to prepare for. One was...curly hair! We've only ever done the classic "ballet bun" for ballet performances before, but the girls were supposed to have curly hair for this performance. As Natalie's hair is like mine, and will not hold curls done with a curling iron, I had to figure out what to do. I'd heard good things about these flexible curling rods, so we gave them a try.

The first time, Natalie slept in them overnight, and we used no product. Not a bad result!

 

Then I tried adding mousse and hairspray - that left the curls a bit crunchier than we both liked. Before the final performances, we hit on the right combo of wrapping the ends, a touch of mousse, and sleeping in them overnight. The result? Beautiful curls that held up all day!

Hair - check! Next up - costume. Natalie's group wore these gorgeous white Grecian-style dresses, which I had fun helping some of the other moms sew those pink flowers onto. 

Hair - check! Costume - check! Next up: makeup and dress rehearsal. The first dress rehearsal was run at the studio; I couldn't be there, but I got Natalie prepped before hand and a friend sent me these pictures. These girls are too cute!

Hair - check! Costume - check! Makeup - check! Next up: stage rehearsal! The week before the show, we had stage and dress rehearsals at the venue.

Then it was just about time! There were two performances of the show, and at that point both Natalie and I had the drill down pat. Natalie even started excelling at doing her own mascara, which works for me!

I figured out how to do her hair (in addition to curling it, these flowers and ribbons had to be added - without messing up the curls!). My friend grabbed this photo (without me knowing) of me doing Natalie's hair :)

And finally, here she is on performance weekend! You wouldn't know it, since she was such a trooper, but the photo on the right is from her final performance on Sunday when she was running a not-insignificant fever. Poor girl was sick for two days afterwards (it was quite the flu!), but she powered through and went on stage. 

 

The girls loved being a part of a non-Nutcracker ballet, and it was great to see them on stage. While I didn't do the stage photography for the show, I did bring my camera and took a TON of photos of the girls backstage...those are in the next post!

Another roller skating party!

We started off the school year with another roller skating birthday party - this time for Natalie's friend Bella. Since we hadn't been there in a while, the kids were very excited to go.

 Henry was excited to skate again, and this time really wanted to skate in real skates (not the ones that strap over your shoes). I rented a "roller" for him to hold onto as he tried it out, and off he went - with me right next to him while he figured it out (yep, I roller skated too).

And before too long...he didn't want the roller anymore! It took him a little bit to get the hang of skating and balancing, but before too long he was heading around the rink like a pro.

 

Albeit, a pro who had to learn how to keep his eyes on where he's going so as not to fall down!

As I mentioned, we were there for Bella's birthday (she's behind Natalie in the conga line below). Natalie had a great time with her friends!

Welcome to 4th and 2nd grade!

As has become our tradition, on the evening of the first day of school (August 24, 2017) we headed back over to the school for an evening photo shoot. I know I'm way behind on posting these, but as we neared the end of the first marking period I figured why not wait to post them and then talk about how great they're doing at school at the same time?

I can't believe they're in 4th and 2nd grades already! Time certainly flies...we started this tradition in 2nd and Kindergarten, and now Henry is where Natalie was then! They've grown so much.

 

The kids were great through the shoot, although they wanted to have some fun too. And who am I to not let their personalities shine through?!

What did I say about these kiddos rocking school? We could not be prouder of them both. Natalie earned all As and one B on her first report card; after getting a B all of 3rd grade in math, she earned that A this marking period! She is loving learning Virginia history this year, and has applied herself to math and reading so well.

Henry has earned all Os (Outstanding) in all subjects, and either met or exceeded expectations in all areas graded. He's even in a spelling group all to himself, top in the class! We are of course quite proud of him as well.

We've had a lot going on this academic year, with Natalie joining not one but two dance companies, my starting a new job, and the fact that there's more to learn every year (more homework, more tests, etc). But through it all, the kids have kept up with all of their school work and have done so well. We know we have a lot to be proud of. 

Final pool party of the summer!

Our friend Will hosted one last pool party at his house in August, before summer ended. Can you guess, from the photos below, what the hit of the party was?

Who doesn't love a giant inflatable rainbow unicorn?! This was a gift to Will from Kathy & Eric, after Eric broke the giant swan raft that Will had purchased. I think the unicorn was a bigger hit :)

There were other floats in the pool that were well used by the kiddos too.

The other big hit were the water shooters.

 What's a good target? Why, the unicorn of course!

 And then, what's a good target for the girls? Henry on the unicorn, of course!

As always, lots of fun to spend the day with our friends. Thanks for having us all over, Will!

Burnside Farms: Sunflower season

As I mentioned in my previous post, I took the kids to Burnside Farms to check out the sunflowers in August. I already highlighted my favorite photos that the kids took, so now it's my turn!

Many of the flowers were well above my head, which gave me the opportunity to take a few shots with the flowers backlit against the (white) sky.

I mentioned in my previous post that every party who pays admission to the sunflower farm also receives one sunflower umbrella to share. They not only protect you from the sun, but look pretty for photos! I had the kids pose for me in the aisles of the tallest sunflowers for a few shots.

We met up at the farm with Kathy, Eric, their girls, and Kathy's brother with his kids. Kathy and I spent most of our time taking photos, but she was nice enough to use my camera to take a few shots of the kids and I!

Of course the "pick your own" sunflower part is an additional fee (per flower) on top of the admission. So, we each got to pick a couple of gladiola stems (they were pretty cheap) and our favorite sunflower. The kids were nice enough to pose for me at the end, just before we left!

I particularly love Henry's sunglasses - or, more accurately, Natalie's sunglasses. Henry had forgotten his, and the sun was bothering him, and he's not too manly to wear Ariel sunglasses!