you are the dancing queen, young and sweet...

You can dance, you can dance, having the time of your life...ooooooooo....
One of my biggest joys in life are Allie's dance recitals, I actually love the kids' music recitals too, but the dance recitals often make my teary, sorry but I'm just being honest. Allie has been doing dance since she was 3 - almost 4 and so we have attended many, many dance recitals, two a year for the past 8 years, wow.
This picture is of her first year, it was taken when digital images were brand-new so it's small and pixely but I love it, it makes me giggle every time I see it! Look at that cutie patootie little girl! It is always during Allie's number that I feel many emotions all at once, hopeless about how quickly she is growing up, shocked and amazed and how grown up she really is and what she's capable of, and chest swelling pride because of what a great dancer she is! Now I know that I am biased, but she just shines up there on the stage and you can just feel how much fun she is having, pure JOY on her face. Saturday was the Christmas dance recital, grinch themed, so cute and we had a huge cheering section. Both sets of grandparents came, lucky for my parents, Makenna also dances with Melanie (dance teacher) and lucky for Rich's parents, Charity and Joy dance there too! Lots of stones, one dance recital. We just love sitting with all of our family. We also love that Lauren and Natalie dance there too so their families are all in attendance! It's like a big class reunion. :) The recital did not disappoint, I thought all of the girls did such a great job and had a lot of fun. We always take pictures on the stage after the recital is over because the black curtain back drop is so great and the lighting is wonderful. This year they turned the lights off too quickly, so everyone has red-eye. Some day I'll get around to fixing that in Photoshop, but for now it's just too much work! Happy dancing queens!