Dance rehearsal and recital Part 2

So here are some more pictures from the actual recital. When Katie was getting ready, Mark and I looked at her and thought... can you name this 80's rock video?



Backstage mom:




Emma and Tiff before her "Sister, sister" tap dance (this was my favorite outfit):



The whole family after the recital (Juju, Nannie Kim, Uncle Richard, aka Mr. Wizard and Paw paw with Emma and Katie)




The whole family with Mark and I:

Dance rehearsal and recital Part 1

So, we had a long, long LONG weekend of dance, and all of the Carroll's are pretty tired. It started with a technical rehearsal Saturday morning and each of the girls had separate times they had to be at the river center. That was over around 2, then we had to be back and dressed for 6:30 for the official dress rehearsal. That lasted to past 10 and we didn't get to sleep until after 11. Whew!

Katie had 2 "quick change" dresses for the recital, so I decided to stay backstage with her, so our babysitter Tiffany stayed with Emma to help and entertain her.

Here is Tiffany and Emma before her April Showers ballet dance:




This is Katie with Victoria and Heaven before one of her tap numbers (Pennsylvania 6=5000):



Taylor, Kaylie (in Katie's other tap number) and Katie:



Meagan in Katie's ballet outfit and Katie in her Jazz number called "Newsies" (they are supposed to look like newspaper boys):




Katie and I before "Newsies":

Dancing (finally) winds down

So, finally, half-way through the summer, dancing is about to be over with the recital this Sunday. One of my greatest joys in life is watching Katie and Emma dance, probably b/c I took so much as a kid and have always loved dancing -and still do - much to my kids dismay! Heaven help them if some Salt and Peppa or MC Hammer comes on while I'm cooking! I can just hear them now... "Mom, stop it. You are so embarassing!" Anyway, a mom can't help but get choked up watching her kids do what she always loved to do. This week was our last dance class and both Katie and Emma got "Perfect Attendance" awards. We USED to get trophys, but Jean Leigh has trimmed down a little and now we get very nice certificates. Makes sense with the economy and all like it is.... but oh wait, how come I pay more this year for the recital fee, costumes and tuition? Ah, sorry - I sarchastically digress....

Anyway, here they are:

Now, with all that said, I am sad to report that Emma does not want to take dance next year. She has never liked it as much as Katie, and fussed a lot more about going to class every week. As much as I would love for her to continue to take, I hate "making" her go some days, and my checkbook would probably enjoy the cost of gymnastics much more - no more costumes and recitals. I'm not registering her right now, but we'll see what happens when Katie starts back in September.

The other day Emma expressed a desire to play T-ball, which I am very excited about b/c I wasn't sure about the whole sports thing after her "lack of enthusiasm" shall we say about soccer. We didn't do t-ball this year b/c of the complicated dance schedule. I'd love to see her play next year!

Wish us luck at the recital. I'll have some pics from that next week.

A day at LSU

As I mentioned earlier this week, Katie was at a camp at LSU this week, which she loved! So I decided to make a day out of it Friday. Friday is the only day Mark doesn't have baseball or football, so we ate lunch at the union and did a few things around campus. We went to the Clothing and Textile museum at the Home Ec building (which is really more like a room, than a museum) b/c Katie (and Emma, somewhat) are into drawing "fashions" and such. They have a tiny little exhibit there. Then we went to the Museum of Natural Science in Foster, which houses the stuffed first Mike the Tiger, and then by the Andoine museum on sorrority row when they have LSU sports memorobilia (sp?). Here are a few pics.

Mom and her girls outside the union:

Mike I:

The caption for Mark's thought is: "What bear?"

Katie and her future golden girl costume:

Mark and the 2007 championship trophy:

Emma swim lesson photos

Here are a few pics from Emma's swim lessons. Once again, we were behind an iron fence, so I couldn't get too close:

Here's the latest

Okay, so I started to feel guilty about not having updated the page in almost 2 weeks, but not much happened last week, and this week is crazy busy... but not neccessarily photo worthy. Emma is doing swim lessons this week, and I don't have any photos b/c... well I'm in parent prison during lessons. We're used to our happy-go-lucky Mrs. Juanita lessons, and since she "retired" from lesson s this year, we are with a new teacher. She is phenominal as far as covering the safety basics as well as strokes and such, but I little bit more... strict, shall we say, then previous years. Katie has learned through the level 5 red cross requirements and actually is diving (kinda). Emma is also doing well. The problem is that parents are banished behind an iron fence in the garage, and I haven't taken any pictures! Bummer, maybe I'll take some this week with Emma.

Katie is doing a Tiger Challenge camp this week at LSU on the human body... and loving it! (That's my little science nerd!) We carpool to drop them off, so once again no pictures!

We are finally wrapping up dance with the recital in less than 2 weeks, finally! I am going to be a "room mom" for Katie's class b/c of course, all of their dances are very close together, and I don't think our babysitter (Tiffany), will be able to change both of them. Katie has 4 dances this year, because she is in 2 classes, and her numbers are only about 5 apart in each act; and of course, emma's numbers are in between Katies! I think it will just be easier to stay in the back. Mark will record the show on the rehearsal night, so I'll watch it later. Chances are this will be Emma's last recital (not really her favorite thing!)

I'll try and get some pictures this weekend during father's day! Later!

My little Mary Lou!

It's no big shock that Emma does not have the love and admiration for dance as her older sister. Although she seems to be pretty good at it, I don't think she likes the structure of the class that she has had this year. As of right now, she does not want to continue to take dance any more. We are trying some tumbling now and she just started her first class tonight. They actually did quite a bit of stuff.

They did some things on the bars:








... and the trampoline:




... and the floor





I think the pace of this, is a little more her style. They jump around a lot, and its a lot less structured than her dance class. We'll see how it goes. Since Mama loves both things (dance and gymnastics), I like watching her (and Katie) do either!

Emma looses her first tooth!

.... so, while we were at the beach about a week and a half ago, I noticed one of Emma's teeth looked like it had moved around. Well, it was actually in the process of loosening and falling out, so about 3 days ago, she started working on it:





.. and she was pretty dilligent about it, but she wouldn't push it back to kind of break the front attached part:




2 nights ago, she and Katie were "playing" in the living room while I was in the kitchen and I hear her freaking out b/c she's got blood all over her face and hands, and her tooth is hanging on by just a tiny bit of gum (she had hit it on her fish pillow - remember the Bass Pro blog a few weeks ago!) Anyway, while I was trying to clean her up in the kitchen, she gets brave and just pulls it out! There was blood everywhere, hence the Rocky III picture below ("Yo Adrianne"):





After clean up (and we are licking our lips again, by the way):




She is so excited about her lost tooth, and doesn't quite understand why her new tooth isn't there already!

Quick beach trip - Part deux!

Same vacation, more pictures:

The girls love their pool time, and we had the pool almost to ourselves the whole trip, yeah!



Our little fish:

The view of the pool from our condo:

No oil here, yet!

I love this picture of Mark and his "little buddy"!

Our annual trip to the "shark store" for airbrushed t-shirts for the girls:

A friend from work suggested the Hangout for eating with the kids. Its great for families b/c while you wait for food they have a huge sand area for the kids to play on, with tunnels and such. They also have fooseball tables and places to sit with multiple bars and such. The food was just so-so, but very outdoorsy and relaxing to have a drink and such.