Scarlett's Dance Debut: SOTE Dance Recital 2014

Scarlett's first ballet recital was quite the production.  After a full week of rehearsals (!?), it was showtime at the historic Kessler Theater!  Scarlett's ballet teacher (Ms. Lisa) and her husband own the Kessler, an art deco style theater built in 1941 that was previously owned by Gene Autry and is just a few minutes away from our house.  The theater has seen some rough times through the years, including being hit by the famous 1957 Oak Cliff tornado and suffering a devastating fire in the 70s.  Then it was abandoned for over 30 years before Ms. Lisa and her husband bought it in 2009 and returned it to it's original glory.  This is also where Scarlett takes her weekly ballet classes.  Chris and I have seen a few musicians here in the last few years, and it's a great venue with awesome acoustics and a really intimate feel.   

Note the marquee -- it was a sold out event as well as SOTE's 15th anniversary.  ("SOTE" stands for Studios on the Edge, because the original studio was literally down the street from us on Edgefield before moving to the Kessler.)  

View of the crowd from the upstairs balcony where BB and I enjoyed the show on opening night.  There were two shows (Friday night and Saturday afternoon) because it's a small venue.

Our beautiful ballerina after the Friday night show.  As soon as we found her on the stage after the finale she was waiving her hands around frantically saying, "Everyone else has flowers!  Everyone else has flowers!!  Why does everyone have flowers?!?"  Thankfully, her Daddy was waiting for her outside with flowers.

Leighton and Scarlett.

Mommy and Scarlett.

This is the staging area where the youngest dancers hung out during the show.  The picture doesn't do it justice; it was a madhouse.  Chris and Grandma had backstage duty for the Friday show, and BB and I took over for the Saturday show.  For some reason, there were very few moms backstage on Friday night, so Chris and Grandma basically found themselves in charge of all 9 ballerinas from Scarlett's class.  Their duties included getting them back and forth to the theater for both their dance and the finale, lipstick and hair touch ups, snacks, potty breaks, and entertainment.  Both Chris and Grandma came home afterwards and promptly had a well-deserved drink.    

Playing an iPad game with Vera while waiting to go onstage.  See that bun?  That took me days to master.

Scarlett, Leighton, and Vera backstage on Saturday.

The whole class (Scarlett is third from the left).

On the stage after the Saturday performance, which was attended by Grandma, Paw, Chris, Max, Aunt Brenda, Jennifer, and Cousin Jordan.  Scarlett got even more flowers this time thanks to Brenda and Jennifer (plus more flowers from Daddy; a girl can never have too many flowers).  

Max and Jordan weren't too keen on having their photo taken.

Beautiful ballerina.

And here's a video of the performance from the dress rehearsal.  Presenting "Somebody Come and Play" from the 3-4 year old SOTE ballerinas!  (Scarlett is the third one from the left.)

King Pins

Memorial Day at the pool got rained out this year, so we headed to the bowling alley instead.  We were unsure of how it would go, since bowling with a two and four year old had potential disaster written all over it.  But they loved it.  Gutter bumpers in place, an awesome hot pink ball secured by Scarlett, and a snazzy green ball snagged by Max, and our little bowlers were ready to roll.  (Roll verrrrrrryyyyy veeerrrrryyy slowly as it turns out, but ready to roll nevertheless!)

Scarlett's first try:  right down the middle!

Getting tips from Daddy on how to pick up a split.

Max's first try with a little help from Mommy.

Max tries to pick up a spare.  Looking good, Max.

Note that two frames in, Chris was losing to a two year old, four year old, and 39 year old.  Your intramural championship bowling teammates would be hanging their heads in shame, Chris.

Getting some tips from Daddy (although maybe he should be the one getting tips from Max based on the score ...).

Purple haze.

 Waiting for the ball to come out of the shoot was nearly as exciting as bowling itself.

Max only had the patience to watch for so long since his ball was rolling at a glacial pace, and he'd often make a mad dash back to our table before his ball reached the pins (a bowling alley employee actually had to go out and rescue Max's ball a few times when it came to a complete stop midway down the lane).

Setting up her shot.

Nice shot, Scarlett.

Picking up the spare!

Max waits for his ball to make it all the way down the lane.

Scarlett joins him for emotional support (I'm telling you, it was a seriously long wait).

So long, in fact, that Max needs a break.

How sweet is this spontaneous sister hug -- you can do it Max!!

Field Day!

During the last week of school, the "big kids" (PreK3 through kindergarten) had a fun-filled Field Day (say that fast three times).  Scarlett's class was the red team, and they did great. 

The first event involved filling a bowl with water, racing across the filed with it on your head, and dumping it into a bucket at the end.   

Next event:  Horton Hatches the Egg (the events were all Dr. Seuss-themed).  (Translation:  popping a water balloon by sitting on it.)

Merritt, Riley, and Scarlett taking a water break.

Next event:  How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  (Translation:  pick a number, race across the field to find a brick in the bag with the corresponding number, then run back.)

Scarlett kept the boys in line while waiting her turn.

Girl talk.

Next event:  Kangaroo Sack Race (didn't catch the Seuss-themed name on this one).  

Next up:  the obstacle course.

Final event:  Thing 1 vs Thing 2.  (Translation:  Tug-of-war.)

First, the two PreK3 classes went head to head.

Hard to say who won since everyone ended up on the ground.

Next, Scarlett's class divided up into girls versus boys.  There are 4 girls and 9 boys in her class, so Miss Andrea helped even things out by giving the girls a hand.

Girls win!!!

The whole class with Miss Jennifer (filling in for Mrs. Mona while she was out) and Miss Andrea.  



One last huddle.

Go team!!!