A New Year of Dance

Mia started dance class at a new studio this year.  As much as we loved Studio 10 last year, we were not able to return because they were no longer offering Mia's class time and the other class time conflicted with Luke's soccer practice.

So, I went on the hunt for a new dance studio and discovered Dance Theater International (DTI).  Although they do offer other dance forms, their main focus seems to be on ballet technique.  Given that Ballet is the foundation for all dance forms, I decided that this would be a good place for Mia to be if she is to start out taking just one class per week.

Miss Alyssa, Mia's ballet teacher, is wonderful with the girls.  I think it's going to be a great year of dance for Mia.

East Coast Trip: A visit to Massachusetts

We headed up to Massachusetts for some cousin fun for a few days.  The kids loved spending some time with Jaqueline and Frederick.  Highlights included:

The Yankee Candle Factory

Basement play time turned Bounce House Disco (courtesy of Uncle James' DJ skills, disco ball, and plethora of strobe-light flashlights). 

Sweet Ballerinas

Mia has had a wonderful year of dance with Miss Lisa at Studio 10 Dance.  She just loves Lisa, all of the fun princess music that they dance to, and, of course, her fellow dancers and friends, Brinn and Paige.

Centennial Celebration

The SJCC had it's centennial celebration. It was a fun night of food and music on the golf course.

There "may" have been ginormous chocolate chip cookies involved...

...and a dance concert by Luke, who "may" have had at least one of said cookies....
***note:  this is the same kid who refuses to sing in his preschool performances.  Maybe we just need to give him a cookie ahead of performance time?

...and even after Luke's entire "show," Mia remained in the same place, eating her cookie.
***note: Kay in the background applauding for Luke :)

All in all, it was a fabulous evening

The highlight was the amazing fireworks display at the end of the night. The kids were amazed ... so were we! The best, closest fireworks I've ever seen. This gives you an idea of how close we were - they were right over our heads!

Tiny Dancer

Ready to go on her first day

Mia is taking her first session of dance class at Allegro Performing Arts this summer.  I'm pretty sure that, at this point, Mommy is more excited than Mia.  That being said, she was very ready to go on her first day, and although she tends to take a little bit to warm up to the idea each week, by the middle of every class she is in full swing.  So far, every week has ended with a, "Mommy, that was FUN!"

Stretching like the sun and hiding from the rain

Rain dance!

The first rain this season came in mid-September, and only lasted one night, but Luke took full advantage. He loved squealing, running, and dancing in the rain ... and he's still talking about it now and wants to know when we can do it again - hopefully the rain will come again soon!!!

"It's a Beautiful Day"

Luke LOVES. TO. DANCE. It's one of the things that he does most often these days. Such a groover ....