Dance Showcase

Serafina's dance studio had planned a showcase in January for all the competitive teams to perform their routines for family and friends.  Then omicron made it unsafe for everyone to hang out in the theater for several hours so it got posted to this past Sunday.  We were originally supposed to all go to Tahoe this weekend, but we had to send the boys on their own.  

Serafina needed to be at the theater at 9am so she could warm up and they could have a full dress rehearsal.  

The show started at 1:30pm, and we brought Nana along to see her dance in-person.  This was the first time for her since the recital in June 2019. 

Here's a proud dad! 

The showcase was fabulous, and even though I've seen almost all the dances before (some more than once), it was great to see all the kids perform.  My kid was especially spectacular, of course!  She gives it her all every time she steps on stage and it's absolutely delightful to watch. 

Here are some backstage selfies she took. 

 

Sunny's 12th B-day Party

On Saturday, Sunny celebrated her 12th birthday by going to an escape room.  This sounds stressful to me, but Serafina said it was fun. 

I was proud of her for joining the party since Sunny goes to a different middle school and Serafina only knew a couple of the girls, and those girls she hasn't seen in two years.  She said everyone was nice and she had a good time.  I'm so glad she can celebrate with Sunny in person.  Sunny's birthday party two years ago was the last party she attended before COVID hit and turned our world upside down. 

 

Happy birthday, Nana!

We always feel so lucky we can celebrate birthdays with Nana since there were so many years that she lived far away and we didn't always see her on her birthday.  

 She makes 72 look good!

2/22/22 Hike

 The kids have the whole week off.  We don't have much planned, and today was a little overcast and cold.  I still made the kids go on a short hike with me and the dog.  We've been there a few times before and we like it because the dog can be off-leash to run around like a lunatic. 

Weekend hanging with friends

Leo was invited to his friend Vivian's 14th birthday party.  She was having it at the local bounce house place, which seemed a little odd since these kids were way too big for it.  The last time we were there was six years ago for a five year old's party.  But I guess there is something to be said for teens wanting to recapture the silliness of their youth.  My cousin had her 16th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  

Here are the party people: Miles, Vivian, Hadley and Leo.  Leo doesn't know why he posed that way.  Miles and Leo were actually in Transitional Kindergarten together almost 10 years ago! 

Serafina's friend Mia came over on Sunday and I had them come with me to the elementary school while I let the dog run around.  Serafina liked showing Mia her old stomping grounds and they played on the playground. 

And here's Tom with his favorite friend taking a break from an intense game of fetch.  Just kidding.  Mousse is a big goofball about fetch and just wants to hold on to the ball forever. 

 

Spotlight dance competition

Yesterday, Serafina and I headed to the Spotlight competition.  Here's a shot with her lucky charm "macaroni".  I can't explain it; just the strange things sixth graders do. 

Made her stop for a picture before heading to the dressing room.  We ended up having plenty of time because the competition was running very late and she was one of the last routines to perform. 

Here's a backstage selfie.  The competition was held at the performance arts center at a high school.  The dressing room was the theater's green room. 

 This morning we had to wake up at 5:45am to get on the road to drive 40 minutes to be at the high school for her call time.  Their dressing room was in the choir room and she was on of the first routines to perform.  She did three more dances today, but we didn't stay for awards because we were both really tired.  We'll find out how they did and hopefully get some pictures from this week. 

Audition poster

Serafina's dance studio posted this promotional image on Instagram to hype up the competitive team auditions coming up in March.  They picture they used of the hip hop team includes Serafina.  I got very excited and sent her a screen shot.  I've circled her here since she's wearing a mask and may be hard to spot.  

The next day I pulled up to the drop off line at the dance studio and Serafina said "oh, I'm on a poster".  Of course I jumped out of the car (even though it was the drop off only line) and made her take a picture with it.  She was extremely embarrassed but that's my job.  

She said there were a bunch of them hanging around the studio too.  You know I'm going to ask if I can have one after the audition date has passed.