LilliAnn's 2nd Dance Recital.

Not only was last weekend our 5th wedding anniversary, but it was also LilliAnn's dance recital! I'm  thinking that we're going to have to start celebrating our anniversary later in the month from here on out because dance recital is always the first weekend of June. And with Thunder playoffs, this makes for a pretty crazy, exciting, and chaotic weekend! 

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Let me start by saying that LilliAnn knows her entire dance. They dance to the song 'Wheels on the Bus', and she'll stand up on the fireplace at my mom and dad's house and do the entire dance for us...facials and all! When on stage, however, she likes to try and run off the stage and let Ms. Darana run and catch her. She thinks it's a game. She did most of the dance on the second on-stage practice, but when dress rehearsals came around, she stood on stage and just licked her lips. Like this:

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I had put some flavored lip gloss on her lips right before she went on stage. NOT a good idea. She was way more interested in the lipgloss than doing her dance moves! 

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But she looked ADORABLE on stage and I know..."she just turned two." When it came time to do her somersault, she wouldn't do it either. Darana had to flip her over on the mat. Once again, she does somesaults by herself ALL OVER THE HOUSE! 

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Although this is LilliAnn's second year of dance class and second year in the Mommy & Me class, she is still the littlest one in her class and the second to the youngest. 

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This is a picture of LilliAnn's sweet cousin, Emma, that I took at dress rehearsals. I absolutely LOVE dancing, dance class, dance costumes, dance recitals...everything related to dancing!

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 After dress rehearsal it was time for the big on stage group picture of the entire Seminole Dance Company. LilliAnn was asleep and I had to wake her up to go on stage, so needless to say, she was VERY unhappy. Therefore, she ended up not even being in the group picture. Once again, I was disappointed and my mom reminded my that "she just turned two."

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 I was nervous the entire day of recital! I was praying that she would do the moves...or at least not cry or run off stage! Here she is in her recital t-shirt, ready to go! This year's recital theme was "Party Rockin'"

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 Jeb was so stressed out before recital! LilliAnn got silver spray glitter all over him, there were crazy dance mom's everywhere, the halls of Seminole High School were super crowded, and cans of hairspray, make-up bags, dance bags, dance shoes, dance costumes, snacks, and flowers were everywhere!!! He said, "This isn't going to work. We're switching to softball next year."

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 Right when we got there she was being really shy and serious so I was a little worried about the performance.

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I'm still breastfeeding LilliAnn and she mostly uses me as her pacifier these days. She especially wants to nurse when she is in an unfamiliar place or gets anxious. I'm like her "lovie" I guess! We've tried every pacifier in the world without success, but when my mom told her that this particular pacifier used to be Reid's, she was all over it! 

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 And to my surprise, it really worked! She didn't ask to "opu" all night during the recital events!

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 The girl LOVES putting on make-up and will be really still to get some put on!

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Pretty Princess

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 Her cranky diva look...

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 Good luck kisses from daddy before she goes on stage

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Thank goodness that a candy necklace and some cheese goldfish got her warmed up before she went on!

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Ok, so she didn't do the entire dance...but she did do the moves towards the end. AND she DIDN'T cry OR run off stage! SUCCESS for a "just turned two" year-old! :)

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 Her ending move... the "X"

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 "Well, of course, I'm going to do my somersault like a good girl Ms. Darana because I am such an angel."

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 "Nevermind...maybe next year."

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 A picture with my Mimi!

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 I had asked her what she wanted if she did her dance really good at recital and she told me a Tinkerbell. I had bribed her ALL WEEK LONG with a Tinkerbell! 

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 And she WAS NOT going to put that Tinkerbell down!

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 Showing us Tink!

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 Mimi got her a baby doll and some flowers.

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 This picture just cracks me up! Sooooo LilliAnn!

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 1 Year Later - LilliAnn 1 year, 2011 and LilliAnn 2 years, 2012

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We had a wonderful time watching our baby girl shake it (and stand) on stage and I couldn't have been more proud of her! I hope she continues to like dance, so we'll have many more years of our sweet little ballerina. LilliAnn, you'll always be mommy's TINY DANCER.