Our Dancing Queen...

Ella had quite a weekend! It was her second and final dance competition of the year and she's pretty happy about that. I think, doing two different dances this year, as well as juggling kindergarten, Daisy Scouts, etc... is a bit much.

She's been asking to quit dancing and we've agreed that she can do that if she wants, but she had to finish the season, because her company was counting on her to be part of the two dances she had committed to. The only performance she has left, is recital in early June.

She just seems worn out and I think it may be time to take a few weeks or even the summer off and let her just have more down time.

But this weekend, she had dance fever! Miss Jessica chose Ella to be team captain for her "Bieber Babies" dance. (they alternate and take turns with the girls) This meant Ella would claim any prizes the mini company won for that dance. It was HUGE honor for her. Unfortunately, the awards didn't happen until 9:30 Saturday night. We were lucky to have a late start. We didn't have to show up at the convention center until around 2.

"Jesus Loves Me" costume was very sweet, but "itchy."

Things were running early, so she quickly dressed and practiced and performed her "Jesus Loves Me" dance with the lyrical group. Awards were a couple of hours later and Daddy was able to show up just before with her brothers, a bouquet of flowers, and some dinner!

Her Bieber Babies costume nearly led to Daddy pulling her out of dance... a little too grown-up.

She danced the "Bieber Babies" number around 7:00 and most of the girls left to go home. We saw her teacher, Miss Jessica and she told us it would be late and it was TOTALLY OK for us to go home and let one of the older girls claim the award, but Ella wouldn't hear of it! "MOM! I'm team captain, I have to be here!" So we stayed and watched, and finally ate our dinner and waited. Awards actually started a little early. I was afraid Ella would just doze off up there, because the awards can take more than an hour and they're just sitting on stage. But she did great! She danced and celebrated with the big girls from her studio.

When they called her dance out, she claimed not only a platinum trophy, but a big trophy for second overall high score in her age group! She was thrilled!

Look at all the hardware she got to bring home for the night and take for show and tell as team captain!

We also discovered she had her first loose tooth that night, so a big night overall for miss Ella. Still no word if she plans to quit dance. She was sick Monday and had to miss class... actually everyone was sick... but every time they perform, she has such a blast, she seems to forget about wanting to quit... at least for a little while. She does want to dance in her school talent show next month... so maybe she's not quite done yet.