5 on a Friday: Dance mom things

 Can you even believe that the regional dance season is behind us? All Dorothy has left is a recital (Minnie too!!) and a week-long trip to Navy Pier in Chicago for nationals at the end of June. A few dance mom things:

1. Everything is better when Dorothy does her own makeup. All I am here for anymore is false eyelash assistance and the some hair help and to tell her she is beautiful.

Thank goodness I signed Minnie up for team auditions this summer because I need to be needed again.

SHE EVEN DOES HER OWN QUICK CHANGE PONYTAIL

I DO still have to help bobby pin her bandana and attach it to her hat ad then PIN HER HAT TO HER HEAD via a hair ball we are supposed to make at the very top of her head. So there's that. (Also this is easy to do if it's the first dance of the day but brutal for a quick change. At one of the competitions this year when the kids only had 2 dances to change costumes and hair, 3 girls lost their hats mid-dance and as the dance captain (a mom who is in charge of any props and of making sure everyone is dressed according to the styling directions and gathering all the kids at the call time) for that dance, I knew it was all my fault.

2. We are going to have to buy a new dance bag because Dorothy's is ripping. It has had 3 hard years, so I guess it's been a good purchase. I might also get a Hulken bag for peripherals and times when I do not want to be lugging the whole huge bag. I have been saying for years that I want to upgrade her garment bags, too, but so far I just keep using the ones the studio sends us home with.

But! This bag has lived a long life, and we have appreciated her.

3.  Dorothy has fun the entire time we are a competition, rom the stage to the dressing room, to the hallways.

Last weekend was her last regional of the season, and we even had fun as a family

4. My favorite dance mom friend moved to another studio, and I haven't found someone I enjoy snarking with in the same way, but! Dane weekends are also really fun for me because it's lovely to spend time with people we have known for years at this point who are all in the same weird boat.

Just imagine Minnie on the mini team next year and all the new friends we'll both meet!

5. Every season, I get so used to the dances and costumes that is heard to imagine what the next year will look like. Dorothy is not trying out for tap this summer (so she says right now...), and I will miss it-- but this is her least favorite costume because it is so tight

My favorite costume is lyrical-- it's just so pretty

Dorothy likes all her hip hop costumes the best because they are so comfy

Next up: recital, followed by nationals in Chicago :)