Sydney's Ballet Recital

Sydney's ballet recital was May 16th, 2015.

Sydney with her fellow ballerinas.

Sydney and me. I've been told we look similar.

Sydney and Brian with the plant he brought her in lieu of flowers.

Cousins: Sydney and Lydia

Random Pictures from January 2015

I guess we didn't have any big events in January that required their own posts. So, here are our random pictures from January 2015.

This was just a random picture of my cutie Claire.

I set up this barricade outside of Ruth's room to keep her in there during quiet/nap time. As you can see, the barricade is still in tact, yet she is not in her room. Obviously she's a stellar problem solver and climber...and she's cute to boot!

Sydney holding a wide-eyed Claire.

Brian took the two older kids to the Idaho Stampede basketball game. They happened to get floor seats!

Brian and Wes at the game.

This day we went out and there were a number of for-real snow-flocked trees on our walk to the bus this afternoon. I always thought those painted Christmas trees were for decoration and I didn't know they actually exist. They're really cool!

Wes thought we should take a picture of Claire because she looked so cute with this spoon.

Wes and I were geared up to watch some playoff games. I definitely feel love for the Seahawks when they're winning! :)

We went to Aunt Megan's house for our monthly Sunday dinner and Sydney built this creation in the middle of the floor. She so badly wanted it to stay up, but obviously that's a rough task with kids all around. So Aunt Megan had the brilliant idea of taking a picture to preserve the structure's memory.

This is Wes with some of his classmates from church at the "It's Great to Be 8" baptism preview. It's a big year for Wes!

One night Ruth mentioned the potty. When we asked if she wanted to sit on the potty, she said, "Yes." After she did, I made a big deal and gave her a "potty treat". She sat on it three or four more times that night for treats. She still asks to sit on the potty every now and then, but I'm not quite ready for that transition.

Ruth often tries to sneak into Brian's office during the work day. Since the door is locked, she'll sometimes just talk to him under the door, or, this day she just sat there eating a snack. She sure loves her dad!

For a date night, we went to see my nephew play basketball on the Eagle High School sophomore team. So fun!

My sweet little Claire with Grandma Swensen (who was in town to watch Nathan play basketball and go to ballet recitals).

Sydney had her ballet recital and danced to "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miserables.

Me and my first ballerina.

Sydney can be so sweet to Ruth and take such good care of her. It helps that Sydney likes to cuddle and Ruth was willing to this day. :)

For whatever reason, Ruth spent much of this morning walking backwards. This is when I was trying to get to the car from the library.

Ruth is usually napping when I take Sydney to ballet, but Brian was out of town this day, so Ruth came with me. She enjoyed watching Sydney dance!

Claire was 5 months this day so she finally got to be added to the kids' growth chart.

When they were all 5 months Ruth was the tallest, then Claire, then Wes, then Sydney. It will be fun to see how that continues to change over the years.

Brian helping Sydney on the Wii while holding Claire. He's quite the multi-tasker!

Ruth gets busted every time she plays on the baby swing. I couldn't help but take a picture this day though, because she looked so comfortable and relaxed...and huge!

A cross-eyed baby trying her first food!

Claire did great with her first feeding. She seemed to enjoy her avocado!

Ruth insisted she hold the bag of Skittles we bought for the Superbowl party.

I adore this baby's bright eyes! There is so much light and goodness in them!

In a pinch, my gloves had to substitute for socks since I forgot to bring some for Claire on our walk to the bus stop.

Brotherly love. Wes decided to pick up Claire all on his own. He loves giving Claire hugs and kisses and often laments the fact that he can't marry her because she is soooooo cute. :)

Another quick swap...Claire had to borrow Sydney's kitty hat when I didn't bring hers for our walk to the bus stop.

Grandma Hanks was in town one weekend and we decided to venture out to Red Robin with the family. It was Claire's first restaurant experience.

Sydney's Performance Day

On May 18th, Sydney had her TaVaci dress rehearsal, ballet dress rehearsal, TaVaci concert and ballet recital all on the same day! Miraculously, the timing worked out for her to make it to all four events, but I was pretty stressed out about getting her to everything!

Little puppy dogs at ballet rehearsal. The ballet recital theme was "Peter and the Wolf".

Later that day at her TaVaci concert. Sydney has grown a lot since her winter TaVaci performance.

Sydney's cousin, Lydia, is on her left. How fun for both of them!

She still has to concentrate and watch the director pretty closely.

I was SO proud of Sydney for doing a solo in the microphone! She's getting more confident.

Anchors Away!

The only minor hiccup of the day was that Sydney's puppy tail got caught in another classmate's puppy tail at the ballet recital and they couldn't get it undone. Apparently the helpers on stage were supposed to help, but didn't. I felt so badly for the girls, but they were troopers and it didn't even seem to phase them!

Pink carnations from daddy!

Adios little puppy dog!

It was a bit chilly outside but a beautiful day to watch this little lady perform!

Sydney's First Ballet Recital

On Saturday, January 19th, Sydney had her first ballet recital. The theme was "Occasions and Disney Variations". She danced to "Baby Mine" from Dumbo. Her costume was more than perfect for her (light pink...her favorite color) and I thought it was the cutest one out of all of the kids' costumes.

 

Of course, Sydney loved her costume. She really loves ballet.

Plus, even at four...she totally has a ballerina body: tall and slender!

She was more than happy to have me take pictures of her backstage during the rehearsal.

She spent most of her time dancing around so I could take pictures of her.

This is a ballet pose she came up with.

Her ballet friends also joined in the fun.

Here's another sweet ballet move she came up with.

Then the ballerinas took a break from dancing and decided to color while they were waiting.

One more picture backstage before her turn on stage.

I watched from backstage during the rehearsal.

Later that same night, the kids performed. Sydney did a great job and knew all the moves.

Here's a good picture of Sydney following her teacher's hand directions...funny picture of the girl in the middle.

After the performance, Sydney got pink carnations from her dad. She loved them, of course. My dad always got my sisters and me carnations for our dance recitals growing up and it always made me feel so special!

Sydney with her mom and dad. This was actually the first-ever dance recital that Brian has attended. I think he enjoys have a little ballerina - and a daughter - more than he ever realized he would.

Lydia and Aunt Jennie came to watch Sydney's recital. Sydney was so excited to have Lydia there.

Sydney with her silly brother. This was the face Wes gave me when I told him to smile. He and Lydia were so good to sit through all of the performances when Sydney was only on for about three minutes.

Leaving the auditorium, Sydney looked pretty cute in all pink with her tu-tu ruffle sticking out of her coat!