She's a Natural

Pearl begged us to put her in gymnastics all summer. But gymnastics is ridiculously expensive and really, out of my realm of knowledge. So as much as it pained me, I put her back in dance and added a tumbling class for her. 

Will she ever like soccer?

She is really, really, I mean REALLY good at dance. She is able to memorize the dance steps quickly and as shy as she acts at times, shines on stage. Maybe the fumes from a gallon of hairspray required to get her hair to curl and stay curled for her recitals have something to do with it? She's not quite as good at tumbling yet, but she sure loves her class and is learning a lot. I'm calling it a success if she can do a cartwheel at the end of the year... she'd be ahead of me! She has a great tumbling teacher who is super cute and Pearl is always telling me Miss Cecily is like Aunt Kimmy. I'm guessing it's because she is fun and a teeny tiny thing because they really don't look that much alike.

Her dance company performed at the Spooktacular Halloween Carnival at our Rec Center. Her class danced to "The Monster Mash." They wore these cute purple striped tights with a purple skirt. She looked B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. Yes, beautiful in all caps! I think she really liked getting all dolled up with curls, a ribbon, and of course makeup.

Not too shabby for a mom who looks like a frumpy wet noodle most days. Pearl was pleasantly surprised with my dance performance hair/makeup skills. Even if she was totally annoyed with me when I tried to get a few pictures of her before her big performance. 

While I {and by I, I mean Jeff, myself, and Cole} dread sitting through dance routine after dance routine, it sure is fun watching Pearl. And the moms who obviously danced themselves growing up because they were doing these crazy faces and wiggling their arms and hips and doing mini toe reaches while their kids danced. I was pretty proud because she was the only one in her class who did all the steps when they were supposed to be done. And as Pearl told me afterward, "with a smile on her face just like Miss Catie told her to!"

Her pose kills me!

She was so excited to swing her hair around! Look at that ponytail flip!

It might look like she jumped early, but I can assure you the rest of her class was one step behind most of the dance. 

I guess I can't complain about how ridiculously expensive this "sport" is. Pearl loves it and she's a natural.

After sitting in the stands for more than hour {you have to get their early for warm ups and to get a seat}, we decided to let the kids do a few of the Spooktacular games. There was only about 500 gazillion people crammed in there, in full costume. Luckily for us, two hungry kids {and one hungry dad} found the Krispy Kreme doughnut-on-a-string contest. 

Again, Pearl is a natural. If she ever wants to quit dance, I'm going to get her a job at the doughnut store.