Prima Ballerinas

Yesterday was picture day. No, not school pictures or run-on-the-beach-with-hair-blowin-in-the-breeze professional pictures. It was something even more scrumptious.

Ballet Recital Photos.

The recital is still two weeks away, but some truly evil dance studio conglomerate decided how much fun it would be to require parents (namely, moms) to corral their daughters at what felt like the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning and force them to sit still long enough so their hair could be pulled, pushed and pinned into some semblance of a bun. And don't even talk to me about trying to teach a four-year-old to close her eyes in the manner required to apply 70's powder blue eyeshadow (hint: closing eyes by squinting and scrunching them as hard as possible makes it incredibly difficult to even locate eyelids).

We survived the prep and made it to the dance studio, where our $15 sitting fee was snatched from our hands, the girls were whisked away and sequestered in a room with the photographer with the windows blacked out, and we did not see them again for almost an hour.

Once they all emerged, Miss Haylee proudly lead them into their studio (aka The Red Room), for a pre-recital performance just for us.

The vigorous routine required some serious warm-up, of course:




The girls lined up, the music started, and with brows furrowed in concentrations, our ballerinas showcased their burgeoning talent:



Don't worry, they still have 2 whole weeks to add the smiles. Just you wait for the big show.