The girls had their very first dance recital since we took them out of dance a year and a half ago. We always told them that if they used it as play time we would take them out of dance and much to my dismay we had to follow through. The girls didn't listen well and were a bit out of control. We decided to put them back in after we moved to Logan. Luckily they have both been doing really well now that we put them back in. They both really enjoy dance and Kadence has finally started to focus a little more on it to which is nice. It snowed A LOT on the day of their performance so not many made it up to watch them. Rachel came and watched their dress rehearsal because she had to be to the airport to pick up Aaron during the actual performance and Jeff braved the snow to come watch the girls. Both girls were SO excited!
After they were done dancing we gave them gift cards to Buffalo Wild Wings instead of flowers. Its one of their favorite places to go and they were thrilled. (They were just frozen from the walk to the car)
We didn't realize that we arrived just after an Aggie game had just started so the wait time was about an hour and a half. It was Jeffs first time eating here, but the girls were too excited to go anywhere else. The girls said we should wait so....we did. The staff was so amazing and kept talking to the girls and telling them how beautiful they were. They told them there was a "find the snowman" game where you find all the snowman pictures around the restaurant and you get to pick a prize if you find them. That kept them pretty busy. They brought some fries for the girls because they felt bad they were waiting to eat. Really my girls were treated like absolute princesses and they were in heaven! Once seated the girls were given their prizes for finding the snowmen and then crowns to color. They ate great and got ice cream because it was a celebration.
Here's Shelbys dance, she is in the front left of the "yellow group"
(I'll upload later because it wasn't uploading)
Here's Kadence's dance, she is the furthest on the left
(This too wouldn't upload right now)
This was a pretty hard day for me. I mean I had the usual stress of figuring out how to put make up on the girls and get their hair done a certain way. Not just once, but twice because the dress rehearsal was the morning of the performance. Then I lost Kadence's skirt at the high school between practice and performance. David had to find a way in and find it to stop my panic. That was all fine and I actually didn't even get cranky with my girls...or David...which is a pretty big deal on days like these unfortunately. It was hard because I knew that this would most likely be the last dance performance for Kadence. She will be forced to quit dance in March and then won't be able to start again until January of next year. If we were to put her back in dance I know it wouldn't work out well. When you are little and can't move the same as everyone else, its no big deal. As you get older the fact of the matter is that you need to blend in. Dance requires you to move as one and to move the same. This is a fact. Kadence won't be able to bend her back which means she won't move the same. If they needed to crouch down in a ball, she couldn't do it for example. Because of this and her age I know that she will need to stop dancing. All of this coming right as she has decided to be serious about dance. She talks about dance all day. I feel horrible! I feel like I am crushing her dreams. I feel like I am stopping her from doing what she wants to do. I feel like a hypocrite because I've always told her she can be anything and can do anything. Sure, she can still dance. I know she will always dance, she loves it. She just won't dance on a team or in a group. I thought I was going to bawl my eyes out. For one, I get teary every time my girls perform anything. For two, I hated knowing that I might not get to see her dance on a stage anymore. I seriously prepared those who came before hand and told them to just ignore my sap fest. I didn't cry. I think it was in large part because my neighbors came to support Kadence and Shelby. They have been so incredibly supportive to us and our girls and we are truly blessed to have their family in our lives. It isn't that I won't cry in front of them, because I'm sure at some point I will, but because I could see the positive right in front of my face. Naomi and Chloe were SO excited to watch their friends dance. They were in awe and thought they did so great. To sit next to them and see their excitement and genuine love for my girls was incredible. To know that their parents care enough about my girls to spend an evening in December watching my girls dance was also incredible. I was able to realize that although Kadence might not dance, she has a great and supportive friend who will do things with her that she CAN do. It wasn't a sad thing to see her, but a happy one. I'm glad she has found happiness in dance and I know she will find happiness in something else.
