Dress Rehearsal

Today is the big day. After months and months of practices and a really expensive costume it' finally time for Ainsley's recital. I'll blog about it tomorrow because I plan to spend the rest of the day enjoying the performance and the family that have gathered to see it.

Last night, we had the dress rehearsal. She was so excited because that meant wearing makeup!

I worked my butt off on her hair (which is far too short for a bun but I crammed into one anyway). Let me just say I am not a hair person. I never have been. But after 9 bobby pins and half a can of hairspray, we got this.....

Since the rehearsal was two hours long, I was the only one who went with her.

She loved being in the theater and seeing the stage.

She was the first one there for her class and as they streamed in, I realized...Ainsley is in charge. She was like the mother hen.

I loved being there for the rehearsal. Being able to see Ainsley interact with her fellow dancers and to finally be able to see her dance was so exciting. They practiced the curtain call first. It was a hoot, especially with the younger girls. Ainsley's performance is at the end of the show so we watched ALL the other dancers perform. She got a little antsy by the end but really did enjoy seeing everyone perform. I took a lot of pictures and tried to get some video. My hope is that today I will be able to put the cameras down and actually enjoy the performance. I feel such pressure to capture every moment of the day (the huge pitfall of parenting in this digital age) but I really want to see it in person instead of watching from behind the lens. I got a lot of pictures last night and will share them tomorrow. Suffice it to say...she's awesome on stage. I can't wait for the actual show!