The Fairies of Pixiehollow

Alyssa has been taking dance for a little over 2 years now. She started out taking ballet and tap but now only takes ballet. (She didn't like the tapping anyway.) Every year, the studio puts on 2 big shows- one in the spring/summer and then The Nutcracker in November. This year they did The Fairies of Pixiehollow.

Alyssa and her classmates were Dewdrops. They started learning their routine in February! (We had several new girls join the class so they had to re-work the choreography a time or two.) I think this was one of the more difficult ones they've done thus far.

We had a bit of a speed bump when picture time came because the girls' costumes hadn't arrived. We had ordered them from a company somewhere in Chicago and had paid for a rush on the order. Apparently, there was a death in the company that slowed things down a bit. So, we got their costumes a week before the show!

The shows were on a Friday and Saturday. The first night (Friday) was the night that I got to watch it- along with my parents, grandparents and a few family friends. Alyssa was complaining that her leg was hurting her. So, we prayed and I told her just to rest until it was her time to go on and we'd see how she was feeling then. We had a while to wait... there was an "In Concert" portion of the show beforehand (basically, it's just a hodgepodge of different dance routines- totally irrelevant to the show). I went back into the dressing room during the intermission and she said she was fine. So, she went on!

The girls did really great both nights, despite the fact that they'd only practiced on the stage once. The studio that they practice in is a little odd-shaped so it was a little harder for them to find their places at first. But they did wonderfully!

After curling the hair.

Costume- check!

Make-up and eyes are on!

Now it's time to wait our turn.

Perler beads are a great way to fill the time!

The sequin mess...

We smeared peanut-butter on!

The sequins were attached to her forehead with eyelash glue and left a teal green color on her head. You could also see glue residue. Someone suggested using peanut-butter to get it off. So, we smeared it on, rubbed it in, and it took it all off! She thought it was hilarious!

Pizza Pizza!

Adam's been working swing shift since about February. It's been great for us, as we get to spend more daylight hours together as a family. The only downside is that I hate cooking dinner. Adam's not there to eat it with me and the girls are rather finicky. I keep saying that I'm going to start making "dinner" for lunch but Adam's been on 12 hour days for the last month and a half (which means he leaves for work at 5 PM, gets home somewhere around 6 AM, sleeps til 2 PM, etc.) so he's not even really with us during any refular mealtime.

So, the girls and I have started having pizza night once a week. (Except we forgot last week. Shhhhh! Don't tell Alyssa!) I found these really cute pre-made pizza crusts (there are 3- 1 for each of us!) and then we add pepperoni, olives, pineapple and cheese. It's so much fun to watch the girls make their pizzas! The pictures below are from the first time we did it.

Brushing on a little olive oil.

Alyssa spreading her sauce.

The cutest pepperoni's EVER!

Karli's.

Alyssa's "art" (it's Matthew)

Eating the olives...

The finished pizzas on their way into the oven.

This last picture shows the girls eating watermelon. Alyssa had been asking me if they could eat the watermelon straight out of the rind for a couple days. So, I figured, "what the heck?" I scored it inside the shell so that it'd be a little easier for them to scoop it out and then let them have at it. It was hilarious to watch them eat it!