hailyorange

Is there any need to describe Haily's personality in words? These pics do it perfectly!

mykaorange

Hey! Don't give me that look until you're 16, miss!



This is how our little photo session began. And so, out came the lollipops and promises of girl movie night if these two bathing beauties would throw a couple of smiles my way.

bathrobes, curlers & cheeks

Here are my girls fresh from a bubblebath with their fuzzy butterfly robes and heads full of curlers! And their smiles make such cute cheeks- Myka's gotten so skinny and her cheeks aren't as full as days past, but Haily's got Momma's body type- and that means she'll have plenty of cheek for years to come! So soft to kiss!

myka krystianna

My first little girl. My Myka girl. She is such a sensitive and intuitive child. I love how she loves me. I am her favorite, she only cries for me when there is something wrong or if she gets a scrape...I love being that person for her. It is so hard for me to imagine a future time when she will undoubtedly not feel like I am her favorite person. So at least I have now, today, where she is with me all the time, asking questions, wanting to help and telling me her thoughts and feelings so candidly. Myka Krystianna...my redheaded, blue-eyed girl.

ymca dance recitals- part 1

Me and my intermediate jazz girls! They danced to "Groove is in the Heart" by Dee Lite.



My beginning jazz teens! They danced to 'Disco Science' by Marwais.



Here is Miss Laura and her creative movement class: Ravon, Myka, Oliver and Haily.



Here is Ollie sandwiched with two strawberry sweet tarts.



Backstage waiting proved to be a challenge for the littlest ones. But Haily was fairly cooperative...



Check out that orange tutu! Orange is 'the color' these days.



Here are my intermediate modern girls. They all helped to collaborate on this dance with the exercise moonballs. Their dance was set to 'Flexibility' by Depeche Mode.



(I just like this shot with all the cute legs in tights and bare feet...)



The staff started off each show (of which there were six) and here is this dark and blurry, yet awesome shot of my friend and colleague, Angel, in a huge grand jete!



Miss Jaime, me, and Miss Rachel prepping for the ballet section.



Papa Eric and Grandma Janine came up especially for the recitals and the girls thoroughly enjoyed having them. Here they are relaxing between shows outside the Y with their favorite guy, my Dad.



So cute, my girlies! This was part 1 of the pics- my Dad is sending me a disc with all his stuff. And of course I am compiling a short video to download with actual footage of the dancing!!

prom beauty parlor

Modest prom was the other weekend...and so we had a beauty parlor at my house! Fun! Haily and Myka were very attentive and helped get my laurel, Felicity, all dolled up.



Let's see...we did rollers for ringlets, nail polish, hand massages, evening make-up with black liquid eyeliner, red cheeks and lips and double coats of very black mascara.



Her good friend, Dana, also my YW, came along to help paint her finger and toenails spankin' bright red! While Felicity's nails were drying, Dana also painted her cell phone so it would match her whole ensemble.




Tada! Isn't she lovely?!! She said she had a great time...

stephen sondheim+tim burton=

I thought I was a musical guru...and then at Christmas time, while in California, my Aunt Melodee told me about Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, ya, I had never heard the score or read anything about it, so I am not the expert I thought I was!- heh, heh. It sounded grisly and demented and therefore interesting (I have this thing with scaring myself silly, I read books about serial killers and then wonder why I can't sleep well for months at a time)...anyway...yes, Sweeney Todd, the musical by Stephen Sondheim, is a work of melodic genius. This thrilling musical follows the french theatrical tradition, grand gignol: a type of theatre show that is dark in nature, includes murder and has a melancholy ending. The score is hauntingly original. It's sarcastic yet often poignant lyrics are woven perfectly into it's intricate melodies.

So, the other night Aaron rented the Sweeney Todd movie directed by Tim Burton starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonhem-Carter...and I'm hooked! It is Tim Burton at his best. I believe it was nominated for different things, but took home the Oscar for Art Direction- and Johnny took the Golden Globe for Leading Actor. Oh so fun! A couple of songs from the score that have stuck with me over this last week are ' Johanna', a ballad about a young, beautiful girl, and 'Green Finch and Linnet Bird', sung by the character Johanna. But most of all...for me... the most lovely and sad song is hands down 'My Friends', sung by Todd and his admirer, Mrs. Lovett. Oh! It is so fun to find music to love and listen to over and over! (And now I am closer to being the musical guru I fancied myself to be...I'm such a dork, geez!)

this was me...

I wish... but that is how I felt as I performed with a wonderful group of dancers all weekend long. First was a Friday night show at Barefoot Studios of Tacoma in part of their 'Train' show. And then a location performance at Union Station downtown. And of course, my camera is broken! Anyhoo...it felt really cool to perform...even if I didn't quite look like this Fosse diva, Ms. Rankin.

container strawberries

Our neighboor, Janine Moore, is quite the gardener, she grows anything you could think of in her large plot. One day while visiting with this lovely woman, I noticed a set of containers growing strawberries in one corner of her yard. Perfect! I can plant things in a container- I know how to do that! So, my girls and I had a little fun out in the sun yesterday and started our own little straweberry garden in a big, metal bucket. Myka was quite engrossed by the idea of planting strawberries, she was so helpful. Haily was more interested in finding worms to play with in the dirt. While digging, the girls found an old crusty key from the olden days... I told Myka, maybe it unlocks a secret door hidden somewhere here at our house...