Dance filled weekend.

What a weekend!

We've been waiting for this weekend for months, and it's hard to believe it's come and gone now. It was everything we had hoped it would be and more. Rhianna had been invited by her dance studio to perform during the Kingston Hospice Charity event. The entire night was very impressive! They had some really great numbers from many different dance studios, but my favourites were definitely the two from Angela Maracle Studios. I'm a little biased, though. Hehe. First they performed an Avatar dance they were doing for comp (and now I wish I had that on video, too.. the kids were awesome!). The costumes and make up were so intricate for Avatar. You can see some pictures of the kids in costume on the Angela Maracle Studios blog. Then the school performed a version of Wizard of Oz called 'Trapped in Oz'. This was the one Rhianna was in, as a munchkin. She was a tad nervous going in, but I'm proud of how well she handled herself. She danced her heart out just like the rest of the AMS dancers! Here are a few pictures of my girl at home before we left. She wanted to go NOW! :)

Once that costume was on I could not keep her still. Who am I kidding.. she's never still anyway! ;)

My pretty little munchkin. ♥

She had her toes pointed perfectly, but I missed it by a few seconds!

A little while after these pictures were taken we took the hour long drive into Kingston. For the first half of the show Rhianna got to sit with Kyle, myself, my friend and fellow dance mum Leanne, and then a few other dancers. She was mesmerized through the entire half... I almost wonder if she blinked.

During intermission Leanne and I ran the five girls down to the change room to get make up and last minute costume changes done. Then the two of us headed back to our seats where we had butterflies in our tummies and our hearts were pounding because we were so nervous for our girls (who are the youngest of the group at 6 and 7 years old). In the end we had nothing to be worried about - they were both so awesome! We traded our butterflies and heart pounding for pride and tears of happiness.

I uploaded the video I took onto my YouTube channel... so if you want to watch it, feel free! Here it is! Rhianna is the second munchkin to enter from the left side. She cartwheels in, and then runs back out to grab another "brick" for the yellow brick road and cartwheels back in again.

After the show I managed to get a couple of pictures with her crazy make up on (and looking rather tired!). A big thank you to my friend Laura for doing the make up and false eyelashes for this newbie dance mum! ;)

Back home, clean faced, and crazy haired. This is what a can of hair spray and a bottle of gel looks like. ;)

Kyle said she looked like Shirley Temple. This made me smile since my Gramma loved Shirley Temple. It's been almost 17 years since we lost her, and I often wish she could have been here to meet my kids. Hearing Kyle say that made me feel like my Gramma was here with us. She would have been so proud.

This morning Tiernan, Rhianna and I headed back into Kingston again for a Hip Hop workshop being held by the Kingston Hospice Charity. The best part was who the teacher was - Jonathan Arsenault from So You Think You Can Dance Canada! We watch SYTYCDC as a family, so this was a huge deal for my kids. What a cool experience. I had a little chat with him, and he's a really great guy. He is so down to earth and passionate about dance. He worked the kids really hard and they were all exhausted by the time the class was over. My two did really well. I loved that Tiernan stuck super close to Jonathan (idol!) and tried his hardest. Rhianna had her swagger on, and shook those hips with all her power. ;)

Here's most of the AMS dancers who came for the Hip Hop workshop (minus two who showed up late).

Showing off their swagger stance. ;)

No pictures taken with Jonathan from my camera, but when I get a picture emailed to me, I'll post it, too.

As for dinners - they were nothing special on Friday or Saturday! Certainly nothing worth blogging about. Tonight, though... that's a different story. No recipe for this picture... this is mostly to make my friends and family jealous...

Kyle's cheese crepes! Those who have had his crepes know why this would make you jealous. As for those who haven't had them - we need to make dinner plans! YUM.

Funky Cold Medina!

(Don't ask.. it's playing as I type this out... getting my own swagger on!)