The Johnston 6: Recital Weekend! and a surprise visit from Mau Mau!

Last week was a busy week and we ended it with Avalyn's first dance recital Sunday afternoon. Thur. morning my mom (Mau Mau) came in town to surprise the kids for the weekend. It was so much fun surprising them, they were pretty shocked. Avalyn's reaction was priceless, she was silent with a huge smile and just started giggling uncontrollably. It was truly a blessing to have my mom here for the weekend.

Sat. was the practice for the recital. It was all a little overwhelming for Avalyn and extremely stressful for me. She was not thrilled with the comfort level of her costume and refused to wear the flower in her hair (this would not have been so annoying, accept for she was the only one who felt this way). Avalyn didn't do the first dance at practice, she just sat on my lap and cried. Her class had quite a break before their turn to tumble came (they were the 1st dance group), so we sat in the audience and watched the rest of the groups practice. After about 30 min. of watching the other dancer, she asked for her tap shoes and was ready to go- of course this couldn't happen because her group had already gone. She did go up for tumbling, of course insisting her shirt stay on instead of the top of her costume that was down at her waste all day. This gave me hope that the actual recital would go a little better.

The best I did with pictures on practice day. She was not in the mood and I honestly wasn't either.

My mom and I talked up the recital and had her excited on Sun. She eagerly let Mau Mau do her make up and we left the house praying she would get on stage. When we got there my mom took her in and put her costume on while I parked the car with Gavin (Cambria was at a friends house). She put the tights on (she refused at practice) and my mom got the costume on, of course she refused to take her tank top off and so we put the costume over it. The tank top was a battle we decided wasn't worth fight and let her be, along with her white head band in her hair. She was not happy when it was time to go on, but with me carrying her on stage (the curtain down) and sitting there bribing her with the present that she saw wrapped in the back of the car she went on and I ran off in hopes that she would stay. It worked, she stayed! She didn't do much dancing, but a little wiggling and she made it through the rest of the recital including tumbling and the finale. We weren't allowed to video tape or take pictures at the actual recital- it was too dark in there for my camera to work and we can buy a dvd (of course). She was so proud at the end of it and said that it was so much fun! I am looking forward to watching her next year, hopefully it will be a little bit easier for her when she is 4! She has LOVED dance class this year and she can dance as long as she wants to!

Mau Mau and Avalyn before the big show- still not in the mood for pictures.

After the recital, we picked up Cambria and decided to pick up Chinese food and go home to celebrate Mau Mau's birthday and Avalyn's dancing debut! Avalyn was thrilled to get her medal- she had asked for one, since Gavin got one from soccer, and my mom brought one for her (she hasn't taken it off since). When we got home she opened her surprise (a.k.a. the bribery tool- hey it worked) and was thrilled to see her swimming baby. The swimming baby has been a huge hit and we were impressed to see that she actually swims. Mau Mau opened her present and then we ate- yummy China Road! For desert we had ice cream bars and sang to Mau Mau. Happy Birthday Mau Mau, we LOVE YOU!!!

After we ate we convinced Avalyn to put her costume back on for some pictures. It is amazing what a little ice cream could do, I even got her to take the tank top off (I know that costume wasn't that itchy, she wore it just fine while we took pictures).