Sunday, May 17, 2009

Dancing Queen

Whew!! What a weekend!! Sorry I have been away for awhile. Our entire family was sick all last week =(. We had a bad stomach bug that would just NOT go away! But now, we are better, just exhausted from the busiest weekend!! This weekend was not only Claire's first ever Dance Recital, but my little sister Nicole's graduation. So we, and all of our family, have been running back and forth from here to Joplin all weekend!! I will post pictures of my baby sister, the College grad (OMG - I am getting old!!) later, but first I wanted to post all about my baby girl's dance recital!!!

To say that we are proud and thrilled to pieces with our little girl, is an understatement!! Last night was one of my proudest moments as a mother!! I won't lie, I cried and smiled through her entire performance!! What was even better, we were surrounded by all of our family that came out to see Claire in her dancing debut!! I bought 19 tickets, we took up almost 2 rows!! I grew up dancing all my life and had dreams of having a little girl that would love dancing as much as I did. So this was literally a dream come true for me and made me so happy to see that she was going to have this same interest as I did (and hopefully Bree too!).

Claire did so well with such a long day yesterday. We had to be at dress rehearsal 9am yesterday morning. This was her first time on stage and she did great! She came out and told me "I love the stage!" =). We were there all morning and then had to be back that night at 5. It made for a long day, but it was so much fun!! Her dance was called "The Sun Has Got It's Hat On" as the whole recital was themed "Fun in the Sun". Here are a tons of pictures of her before and after the recital. Of course, I did not get any pictures while on stage as it was not allowed, but I will try to get a video of her doing the dance out here soon. I know I am her mother, but I think she was the best (laugh at me Alyssa =)) and she did the whole dance, start to finish (even with a little girl a few down from her kicking off a tap shoe during the performance) and we were all soooo proud!!!!

Here she is all dolled up in tons of make up and her cute costume!




Dancing Queen and her pregnant Mama backstage - those brown eyes all done up and that outfit was WAY more than these pregnancy hormones could handle, I was a basket case!! I was pretty sure she would be fine and get out there and the be the star that she is =), but when I went to leave her backstage with her group and I told her "Good luck, we are all so proud of you!", those big dark eyes teared up and she started to cry!! She was nervous and need some calming down...I was losing it!!!! This is an exact reason why pregnant women should get at least ONE glass of wine!!!! =)

After the show - She had no idea that we all brought her flowers - when I say all, she received 8 bouquets of flowers!!! She was shocked and I love her expression in these photos!!!


Me giving her the cookie flowers Nicole left her - we were so sad that we had to miss Nicole's actual graduation that morning, but Nicole was so great and had no problem sharing her weekend with Claire! She even came back with everyone that night and came to see Claire perform and then drove back to Joplin for graduation festivities after Claire danced! We did not get a picture of her Claire - but we love you Nicole!!!

Proud parents!
Now all the family that came - Nonna and Poppy came...
Uncle Chad, Aunt Jennifer and Clayton and Caiden came!
Nana and Papa came...
G-pa and Brandi came...
Uncle Mitch and Aunt Brooke came...
Nina and Papa came...
Aunt Tara came...
One more picture with Mama...
Uncle Heath, Aunt Lane, and Sterling came...all the boy cousins and O did so great through a 2½ hour show!!
Poppy and Owen...
Proudest Daddy in the place...
Claire and her bestie Halle!
Claire almost passed out and Daddy carrying her and her MANY flowers!!!
I cannot thank all the family enough for coming out last night!! Claire told me on the way home "I cannot believe they all came to see me dance!". My family literally all went to Joplin Friday night for Nicole's Nursing Pinning Ceremony, back that night and then they all went to Graduation Saturday and made it back to Rogers for Claire's Recital. Yall are all the best family we could ever ask for or even dream of and we love you all so much!!! A big thanks to Tara for capturing all these amazing pictures for me, I know I can ALWAYS count on you!!


More posts to come soon!! I promise I will catch up on all of yall soon!!!!


27 comments:

Jillian said...

Thank you for all of your blogger help!! And I say it all the time but you have the cutest family ever and that last family (lane, heath and sterling) are pretty cute too:)!!

Madison Sanders said...

Claire looked like a little doll!

Those flowers were about to overtake her. :) I danced too when I was little. Your first recital is something you never forget.

Congrats to Nicole as well!

Beth Roberts said...

Small world...I had two friends graduate from the MSSU Nursing Program this weekend, too! (and I am an alumni from the same program, as well....5 years ago!!)

Claire is adorable! Where does she take dance?

Brown Four...Never a Dull Moment said...

You should be so proud of Claire...she did an awesome job! She looked so pretty in her costume and her hair was amazing! I loved the mother daughter photo...it's adorable!

alyssa said...

i'm not laughing at you silly!!!! that was so much fun!!! see you tomorrow!!!

Jessica said...

Now I'm crying!!!! You and Claire look perfect. Such great memories and so much fun.

Can't wait to see everyone tomorrow. Let me know what time and what to bring. Haven't seen you in forever and I miss you. This Thursday will be officially a month since I've seen you - I believe that's the LONGEST time frame ever!!!!!

Ashley said...

WOW these are the cutest pictures ever girl. She is so precious! ADORABLE!!!! Hope to see you this week! I miss ya! Glad you are feelin better... I really wish that I could have brought something to you, but I know I didn't need to get sick! I will make it up soon! ;)

Chelsea said...

Aww...Claire looks SO precious! Love the big yellow bows on her shoes. Sounds like she has a future on Dancing With The Stars?!?

Mrs. Heck said...

Omg, Rachel! Claire is SO adorable in these pics! And you look good pregnant!!! :) Congrats to your little sis!

Man, I've gotta get back blogging! We leave than less than a MONTH to MD! I don't know how you do it all (work, kids, parties, ect.) and still have time to blog and look so fab in every picture! :).

Lisa said...

WOW! how exciting for you and Shane and for Claire as well. Her face is priceless receiving all of her flowers. I think she is just adorable! What a proud family!!!!

CAMoore said...

These pictures of Claires first recital are a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e! What a fun day for her! (love the pics of her getting all her flowers)

I bet she was fab on stage!

Brooke Bertalan said...

Claire could not have been more precious. I am the proudest aunt ever!! I just knew it was all going to be over when the whole croud went crazy over that girl's shoe flying off, but it wasn't. You are right saying that she is a star!!!

Kim at Scarlett Boutique said...

Wow, What a weekend we had!! Yes, it was hectic, but worth every minute of it! There was no better way to top it off than to see our girl up there dancing like a pro!! LOVED IT!

USCEmily said...

Claire looks adorable! Dance costumes have really evolved since I was a dancing grape (I heard it through the grapevine) and a scarecrow (Wizard of Oz) back in the days of my dance career- all 2 years of it!

Kari Beth said...

so fun! claire is absolutely adorable :)

Tara Gibson said...

I still cant get over how great she did! I am sooooo proud of her! I want a little girl soooo bad now : )

amywelborn said...

Love the pics! I would cry pregnant or not!! I still tear up at my nieces when they dance!

See ya Thursday!

theluckiestmrs said...

She is so adorable! And, so is your whole family...I'm sure she felt so special with such a cheering section! ;) So sweet!

Bumpkin on a Swing said...

Such a pretty little thing, the smile is just like Tara's.....Think how busy you will be with two girls...

Naturally Caffeinated Family said...

A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.!!!!! what a great night! hope you all are feeling better too!!

Teresa @ Grammy Girlfriend said...

Love the pictures....I have enjoyed reading your blog tonight. Hope you will visit me...The posts from our most recent "grandparent Disney trip" are beginning, with a look into the eyes of my little guys from this "Grammy"! Also every comment counts as an entry for the May giveaway. (See Monthly Card Box Giveaway"!

morewineplease said...

Precious!!! She is a doll... and I know that proud feeling all to well, its overwhelming

In This Wonderful Life said...

oh my goodness!! Claire looks SOOOOO cute! That outfit is just adorable! She had a TON of fans there too. And you, you look great! That red dress is beautiful!

Maggie said...

OMG, I almost cried just reading about it, and I'm not even preg!!! That is the cutest costume I have ever seen in my entire life!! I love that yellow on her!! She looks so cute!!

And all those flowers!! You know she felt like she was on top of the world afterwards!!! Sooooo awesome!! Thanks for sharing that with us, Rach!!

Heather said...

Oh my word she is a doll!!! I love their outfits!!! So cute!!

LuLu said...

I tagged you with an award!

Ashley @ pure and lovely said...

oh my goodness look at lil miss priss! that is so sweet.