5 on a Friday: Things I have been doing instead of packing even though I leave TOMORROW

Jack goes to nationals for speech tomorrow, and HE is totally packed-- dry cleaning, snacks, and all. I WISH I WERE JACK. Both of us will be gone a week, and only one of us has his shit together.

But!

1. Minnie and I went to the children's museum (and she got another Pride cookie-- these are THE BEST and only available-- at a local coffee shop--through the month of June).

2. We went to the pool for dinner on Dorothy's last day of school (with a friend) and then went back again the next day. I HATE night pool when it's busy with the after work crowd. I LOVE nanny time in the afternoons, though, when it's just me and the girls and a few kids and sitters.

3. The girls and I drove Coop to dive on Thursday and stumbled into a Night Market, which was awesome because we've never been to one! We got dinner (Milio's for Minnie; Chipotle for Dorothy, and Forage for me) and ice cream (for the girls **sad trombone**) and then gawked at all the people and merch at the night market. We walked all the way to the Capitol and didn't even notice how far we'd gone. Minnie insisted upon buying a "foot bracelet"

4. I forgot I had acupuncture, but then they were able to fit me in an hour later and THANK GOODNESS. I didn't actually exercise that day because I ran out of time because the laundry situation escalated REALLY FAST, but I did wear my vest to walk the dog 3 times (15 mins each) and made sure to do a hill and ACUPUNCTURE is the FREAKING BEST.

5. I spent $30 on random baskets at the Dollar Tree and FIXED SOME PROBLEM CABINETS. I have no befores, but you know they were bad if these are the afters.

About that gray hair...

 The thing is, it's not all gray. Just my left side. So here I am with a center part:

And here I am with a side part:

Kind of wild, yes?

Other things of note:

EVERYONE HAD THEIR LAST DAYS OF SCHOOL

And I? Am a green smoothie person now.

9th Dance Recital Weekend!!

We just celebrated our NINTH dance recital weekend at Move Out Loud! NINE YEARS! I cannot even believe it. 

You can check out recitals past through these links:

 2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

The night before dress rehearsal, I realized the dance bag was a disaster 

We had an 8:05 am call on dress rehearsal day, which meant I had to get up BEFORE 6

Which gave me plenty of time for a dog walk

HOW CUTE IS MINNIE in her tutu?!?! Also I did the BEST ballet buns all weekend.

I bought this maxi dress on a whim without trying on and did not realize there would be so much boob.

I was also caught off guard by all the gray hair. (I am going to go gray and see what I think before doing any more color)

We ended up being a teeny bit late and the girls basically ran straight onstage at the fancy recital venue

Minnie had to practice her curtain call dance in ballet clothes and tap shoes and then throw on ballet shoes to be the third dance of the show-- and we made it!

OMG OMG OMG her serious little face

She got a trophy post-dance-- a highlight for sure.

She also LOVED sitting in the theater and watching the other dances.

She and I got to hang out with Dorothy in the backstage quick change area all show, and it was super fun, as usual.

Costume number 2:

SHE WAS SO PROUD after her 2 dances.

We went to our favorite coffee shop for pride cookies (they only make them for the month of June, and Minnie talks about them all year long)

And had time t pose in matching peformance t-shirts.

Before heading straight to a baseball tournament to see Cop play and welcome my mom and Steve and Ben's parents, all in town for the recital.

I decided that show day (over the lunch hour) called for the big snack guns: SNACKLE BOXES

On show day, the kids have to stay backstage the whole 2.5 hours, so there's no time to go watch dances, and it gets kind of busy in quick change. We brought snacks and also small blocks and those art cards that you scratch off to reveal colors underneath-- all big hits and fun to share.

We arrived stress-free and in great spirits

And pretty much stayed that way the whole show

We met up with the fam after the show in our usual spot

(Dorothy did great, BTW-- I just focused on Minnie because Dorothy has next week to dance all 6 of her dances again)

(these are the only pics I have of her, and she took them herself)

Ben discovered a new use for the dance bag

And we all enjoyed a lovely lunch before everyone went home

And then there was more baseball-- Cooper pitched to clinch the final game, and we were Very Nervous

Cheers to a great recital weekend-- we already cannot wait for next year.