My first dance recital

As you know, I've been taking dance lessons at school every week. Today was our last class, and we invited our parents to come see what we've been doing. Mami and Daddy were very excited, and I was thrilled to have them there. Here's some of the stuff we did:
First, we started off standing on our Xs, like we always do. (And of course we're all in our dance outfits!)

Then we had to do some stretching. Side to side...

...and our legs, too, of course.

Then we lay on our backs and stretched everything. (Note that I, however, am on my stomach... Whatever works.)

Then we did a little yoga pose to stretch the back muscles.

And we limbered up our toes.

And practiced balancing on one foot. At this point, I claimed that mermaids can't stand on one foot because, well, they don't have any feet, so this was an exceptionally difficult task for me. But I did the best I could.

Then, the fun began! We lined up by the wall and waited for our turns to do the steps we've been learning.

First, I got to chassé with Aner:

Then Savannah and I flitted like butterflies:

Then we practiced what we called a jazz walk (but yea, it looks pretty much just like the other two, doesn't it?)

And then we got to show off our routine, which we've learned to a Beach Boys tune:

After that there was some free time to run and leap.

Mami and Daddy loved my show, and the other parents did too.
I am one happy ballerina today!

A morning at the spa

This morning after our snack, Daddy and Lela had some errands to run, so Mami and I headed off to Spa WFR. (That's the spa in the "Ward Family Room"...) I decided I needed a manicure and a pedicure, so we got everything ready on the floor. Boy was I excited!

I helped Mami with some of the filing, because I'm very particular about the shape of my nails.

And then when I was all painted, I had to sit and dry.

Look, aren't my fingernails pretty?

And now I'm just chillin' in the recliner, enjoying the leisurely spa morning.

How we handle the rain showers

Baseball caps!

Cute, huh?

After the party and the presents...

... come the Thank You notes!
Mami made some cards and I got to color them in.

I worked hard to make each one different, using the colors I thought each person would like best.
I hope everyone likes them as much as I liked my wonderful birthday presents!

AND I had fun coloring them and writing my name (on some of them, I gave up after a few signatures, that was hard work)!

Fresh ink

I got me a new tat this weekend, what do you think, blog fans?

Happy Birthday to ME!

I can't believe the day finally arrived! I'm four years old today! I came running in to Mami and Daddy's room first thing this morning shouting, "It's my birthday! I'm 4!" and insisted on opening my presents then and there. My sister Lela got me a Snow White costume, which is all I'd said I wanted for weeks. And Mami and Daddy got me an Ariel costume. What a Disney kind of day!

Grandma and Granddaddy came over for some bagels this morning and to wish me a happy birthday too.

Silly Lela, she really got in to her cream cheese! (Can you see it on her eye?)

And then after a short rest (ha ha, no napping), it was finally time for my party. We had it at the Florida Museum of Natural History, and invited all my friends from my class and a few others too!
I was there to welcome my friends as they came. Sometimes I even greeted them before grabbing the presents they generously brought for me.

Everyone got to make a name button for themselves, even Lela.

And there were coloring activities with drawings of all kinds of fish. (Our theme was "Something Fishy" because it goes so well with my Little Mermaid obsession.)

We also made shark fins for ourselves and put them on our backs. They paired nicely with the fishy party hats Mami brought, too.

I refused to wear my fin, but did wear the hat for a little bit.

Then our party leader, Ms. Gwen, told us about sharks and fish,

and then took us on an adventure through the museum. We got to see all kinds of fish (and fishy related) exhibits.

There were exhibits about diving for fish.

And about the cultures that live on fish.

And then, finally, it was time for cake! Mami lit the candles on Ariel.

And Daddy and everyone else sang Happy Birthday to me! I thought that was great, I looked around the room and yelled, "Thank you, everyone!"

And then, blogfans, we ate cake!

Boy was it good!

It was a fabulous (but exhausting!) party. And, I got some amazing thoughtful presents from my friends. Funny how most people know I'm in to princesses, how do you think they knew?

And so, blogfans, this four year old reports having had an absolutely amazing day. Happy birthday to me!

My birthday cake!

Blogfans, you know my Mami is in to making me cakes, right? Remember for my 2nd birthday I had an Elmo cake:

And for my 3rd birthday, I had a Dora cake:

I bet you'll never guess what kind of cake I wanted this year... Yep, a PRINCESS cake! I decided I wanted Ariel, so Mami (good sport that she is!) agreed.
Just so you can see some of the work that goes in to these things, this is what it looked like out of the oven. Do you see any resemblance to Ariel? Nope, me neither.

Of course, flipped over it's a little better. But there's still not a whole lot of detail visible, and for the non-artistic types like Mami, this poses a bit of a challenge!

But she did the best she could, and here's the final product. Ariel looks a little startled, and kind of like her lips are melting, but Mami has promised not to quit her day job in favor of cake decorating, so it's OK that it's not perfect.

I can't wait to eat it at my party with all my friends tomorrow! Which part do you think I should eat?

An early birthday present

Nana sent me a birthday present and she told Mami that I was allowed to open it a day early. So pretty much the first thing I did this morning was just that!
The card has a cute dog on it, which prompted Lela to say "Arf! Arf!" all morning, and me to recite the line "Look who's turning 4!" all morning.

There were two fabulous gifts, which I ripped right in to while Lela watched jealously.


I can't tell you what it was, since I enlisted Lela's help to put it to good use. You'll have to check her blog to see!

The many faces of Resli