Celestina Ballerina

Even though May has come and gone, I'm still not done blogging about it yet! It was a busy month, filled with many highs and lows. Nathan had a fun, quirky, and successful birthday party. Lorelai finished first grade with flying colors. I held my springtime piano recital, and all the kids did a wonderful job. I also attended a couple of good-bye parties for friends moving away (including Brooke Wilde, my former counselor in the Primary presidency, and Liz Bennion, my former visiting teacher), and went to a couple of baby showers for some newer ladies in the ward. Lorelai and Coach Nathan were both kept very busy with soccer; this has been a very good team, and it's amazing what winning does for team morale (hee hee).

But wait! you ask, what about Celeste? Why, I'm glad you asked. First of all, my beloved middle daughter "graduated" from her first year of preschool. Some of the ladies involved in our co-op put together a mini "ceremony," complete with caps, diplomas, and "gowns" (really daddy's work shirts). Since I had massive pregnancy brain that week, I forgot to bring a shirt for Celeste--hence the grumpy-face in the above picture. However, someone else was kind enough to lend us their "gown" for some cute individual shots:

Don't ask me about the "monster face"--I'm not sure why she wanted to make it for these pictures. I hope she duplicates this look in her high school senior photos!

Oh yeah, there was a pinata and lots of snacks too. All in all, a nice conclusion to the preschool year. I am still trying to finalize a preschool for Celeste in the fall; I hope I can get something lined up! I think a paid preschool next year will be less stressful for me; I hope Celeste gains a lot from it as well.

 Besides her "graduation," Celeste also performed in her second dance recital at the end of May. Last year, she danced to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" in a sizzling white & black number. This year, she went more for the pink frills, plus she had a really cute hat to top it all off (which she didn't always keep on):

I am not the "girliest girl" out there, but it was still hard to contain my "squees" of delight, seeing all these cute little girls dressed up in their cute little outfits. And, of course, Celeste was the most adorable girl of all, because I am completely unbiased towards her in any way. Plus, her form has really been improving this year...check it out!

The theme for the dance recital this year was "Television," which meant most of the music was from television programs of some kind. This took many forms; the older girls choreographed dances to the pop music from shows like House and Grey's Anatomy, while the hula classes shook their booties to the Hawaii Five-O theme. Most of the Creative Dance classes (the 3-5 year old girls) chose themes from cartoons and children's programs. Celeste's class danced to The Muppet Show theme...to quote Kermit the Frog, "YAAAAAYYY!"

(hopefully I can get the video uploaded here someday; in the meantime, just imagine Celeste dancing to The Muppet Show theme)

All things considered, I think I liked last year's dance a little better...the choreography was a little more innovative (at least by 3-year-old standards). Some of that probably had to do with the kids in Celeste's class...most of them were beginners and had a hard time keeping up. To her credit, Celeste was a total champ and followed along with her teacher very well. I hope next time she's in dance (maybe in a year or so), she will be in a bigger class that offers a little more challenge for her. But all in all, we had a great time watching her perform in the recital; it is fun seeing our little gal act so big!