Dance Recital Time

It's that time of year again.  I had quite a scare again this year when Grace would not dance even one step during dress rehearsal.  She had been promising me for months that she would not run off stage this year- she didn't- she stayed on stage, but did not dance!  I lost it and she got quite the "chewing out" from mom about how she had better dance in the actual recital.  I even used the guilt card about Grandma and Papa coming and how sad should would make Papa if she didn't dance.  Nice mom huh?  Anyway, she did it and actually did GREAT! I took her out on the stage before the show started and she played and danced around for a while, so she got comfortable and it was all good after that. Here is her "Puff the Magic Dragon" costume and her teacher Miss Nicky Wagg.

Marin was in 4 dances that night! This is her first one which was a jazz routine. She also had lyrical,  tap and hip hop routines. She did great, but wasn't super confident since she didn't get to do the dress rehearsal because she had a school music concert at the same time!

Marin, Paige and Grace before the show (Paige is wearing the same costume as Marin's 2nd dance- a lyrical one).

Our adoring fans- Papa, Ben and Dad. Grandma stayed in the audience during intermission.

Papa and his girls!

My adult tappers performed that same night to "Get Happy". I always get to dance with them too, so that is fun for me. They did a good job and they were so excited to be in the recital. Yoshimi and Naoko (on the far right) are both going back to Japan in a month, so this was their last big dance thing with us.  For some of the ladies it was their very 1st recital ever.  My two little girl classes were the next day. One group danced to "Vacation" and my froggy girls danced to "Almost There" from Dinsey's Princess and the Frog.  So cute!  Marin was my backstage helper.  She is always so good with the kids! They love her and I love having her there with me.

Orange County History

The 3rd graders did a play of sorts last week about Orange County.  Each child had a few lines and as a group they sang fun songs.  The whole thing was super cute and I actually learned a bunch of stuff I didn't know about Orange County.  For example, the county name was decided in a poker game, originally they wanted Anaheim to be the county seat, but Santa Ana won out.  I learned how cities got their names and much more.  Ben did a good job on his line and actually smiled, sung and spoke clearly. 

Grace actually took this picture of Ben and me by herself!

What Did You Do on Memorial Day?

We did what we do EVERY Memorial Day- we played baseball!  This year Ben played on one of the All Star teams and did well.  They won 2nd place in their bracket.  The Irvine Pony Memorial Day tournament is now the largest Memorial Day tournament in the whole USA.  There were so many teams that we actually used almost every baseball field in the city!  I love this picture because Ben just LOOKS like a baseball player to me- don't you agree?

While Ben played for days, Justin umpired.  He actually umped 16 games in 3 days!  Exhausting, but he made bucks!  I need a loan I think :).  We have teams from Mexico come up each year for the tournament and Justin brought some old Irvine Pony All Star stuff he had and traded the Mexico teams for these jerseys.  He was nice and got one for himself and one for Ben too.

Amber spent LOTS of hours earning money too.  She worked the snack bar at Harvard park, and had a good time hanging out with cute guys.

Marin and Grace were not to be left out, so they spent a whole evening and day playing "Toddlers and Tiaras" a kid beauty pageant show.  Maggie Hall slept over and they kept Grace up until midnight one night dressing her up in all kinds of costumes.  The game continued the next day and this was one of her favorite costumes, "Jessie the Cowgirl".

Diamondbacks Win!!!!!!

Ben got to play on a great team this year for Pony baseball.  It was his first year of kid pitch and he had a great time.  Mostly he played 1st base or catcher, and left field once a game.  There are good years and then there are great years- this one was great.  The families were awesome and he made new friends along with learning more about baseball and winning!

The Diamondbacks tied their first 2 games and then proceeded to win all but one game for the rest of the season!  It was very exciting to watch and we all had such fun.  We went into the play-offs with big hopes and the boys played great.  In the final game, during the 4th inning, Ben was playing catcher.  A ball was thrown to him just as someone was sliding into home and the sun was right at eye level.  The ball brushed off the top of his glove and landed on his left cheekbone.  He went down immediately and grabbed his face.  Within a few seconds there was swelling right under his eye and he was in the dugout with an ice pack.

By the next inning he was out on the field ready to catch!   I couldn't believe how tough he was.  He would hold his face in between pitches and then keep playing. He caught for 3 more innings (we tied up the game and had to play 1 extra inning), as well as hitting a double and a single after his injury.  Ben's coach was trying to talk him out of going back in, telling him it was just a game, and he didn't have to play, but he wanted to be part of the big game.  They won in extra innings!  Here is the black eye right after the game and a day later. What a tough boy!