Meredith's Dance Recital

This weekend Meredith had her first dance recital! We started off the day of the recital with a dress rehearsal, so it was a long day, but she was a trooper! She had lots of fun at the rehearsal playing with her two best friends from class - we sat near the back and the girls made up their own dances to the other songs. They loved watching the big girls dance!

We squeezed in a quick nap and a very early dinner with Gigi, Grandma, and Aunt Katie.

Grandma has a great collection of Precious Moments that Meredith loves to check out when she goes to visit her house, so Grandma gave her this ballerina one from her collection. Meredith was really excited to go put it in her room right away!

Meredith's dance was very near the end of the recital, but she sat really well through the other performances (with the help of crayons and lots of paper!) After several dances, she would excitedly ask me at the end of each song "Is it time for my bear dance?" We even hit intermission before her dance. When the lights went on for intermission, Meredith's face dropped and she almost teared up, asking me "But what about my turn?" I quickly explained intermission and then we headed to get her ready!

Meredith and her friend, Averie

Me and my adorable Meredy Bear!

And the performance was great! She had a great smile and a fantastic bear face, of course too! :)

After her Bear Dance, we had to quickly get her ready for the big finale - the Daddy Daughter dance! The Daddies take the girls to extra practices for a few Fridays before the recital and learn a dance together - this year the dance was an 80s theme. I can't even express how cute this idea and the actual dance is. Meredith loved getting to do this with Neal (and so do all the other girls of course!)

After dancing on the stage, the Daddies carried the girls down to the back of the auditorium while the song continued and the big girls danced before heading up to end the dance altogether. I wish I could have gotten better pics of this during the dance, but this one will do!
My two favorite dancers!
Meredith with her very proud dance teacher, Miss Erin!
Meredith and Maddie with all their flowers!