Sunday, November 22, 2009

We Had a Ball at the Ball

When Leila was four, I started the annual tradition of taking her to a very large ballroom dancing competition held every fall. It's an all-day event. We go in the morning and spend several hours watching, I take Leila home, and then my mom and I get dressed up and go back for the evening televised competition. This is something I look forward to every year and was so happy to be able to add Kara into our little ballroom tradition this year. Kara loved it so much, she did not want to leave. She barely moved watching the dancers and the beautiful gowns. Next year, I'm buying her tickets to the evening event, too. It ends well past midnight, but I think she'll love it! And if I can get Mia to sit still long enough, she'll get to go to the daytime competition next year, too.

It's hard watching ballroom dancing without adding up the expenses in your head... lessons, ballroom gowns that cost thousands of dollars each (yes, they do!), costume jewelry and hair accessories that run hundreds of dollars each, custom-made dance shoes, hair, make-up, spray tans, airfare and hotels for all the competitions across the country and around the world. It is super CRAZY expensive!!! I will not be signing up my girls for ballroom dancing anytime soon! And I will never make it in the ballroom world. Nolan and I tried lessons early in our marriage and I got in trouble with our instructor every single lesson for not letting Nolan lead. No, I'm not cut out for ballroom at all. But, I love to watch it!

These are all dancers in the "under 21" competition. Oh, they were GOOD!!! And their parents are broke!!! LOL

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And please forgive me for the poor photo quality of the picture below, but I just had to prove that Leila and Kara were actually there. :)

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11 comments:

Jill said...

Nothing short of BEAUTIFUL Michelle! I can only imagine that Kara was in awe...I sure would have been!
What a nice tradition to have for the ladies....I cannot wait 'til my girls are old enough to do something like this with me!

day by day said...

What a fun girls day out, Michelle! Sounds just lovely!! The pictures are just beautiful! How sweet that Kara loved it so much!!

Rachel said...

What a fun tradition!

I just noticed your holiday shots of your girls on teh side - great pictures! They all look beautiful!

Rydley said...

What a totally fabulous idea! My girls would love that!

I took lessons with Joe too and got into so much trouble for not letting him lead that we had to quit the class because we both hated it so much! Yes, better to watch!

a Tonggu Momma said...

Lovely! The dancers all have wonderful frames. (Yes, we took ballroom. I even took it in college.) What a fun idea for you to take your girls there.

3 Peanuts said...

Please forgive me as I am just putting 2 and 2 together and now I know who you are! I get confused between blogger and facebook and who is who sometimes. I need to bookmark you and come visit more often. Your story has really inspired me tonight!!!

Kim

Courtney said...

What an incredible event. I bet the girls will have memories of this for a long time!

Anonymous said...

Michelle,

Thank you for your sweet note. I am just glad that all is well and I hope your business venture is going smoothly:)

Things are actually going great. My mom has her good days and bad days (today was a good one), so please keep her in your prayers that Friday will be a good one!

What beautiful picture of the ballroom dancing - you have quite a talent through the lens my friend! oh - and I can assure you that is NOT what Evan and I will look like Saturday night;)

Hugs, Ashley

Shanti said...

Wow, those pictures are gorgeous! Looks like SO much fun!

Stacy said...

Michelle,

Gabbie and I flew out last Sunday night and there was a group of about 10 people who were dancing while waiting for our flight. They were all dancing together! It was quite a sight at the airport! I'm assuming they were at this competition and were on their way home!

Sharon said...

Stunning! What a cool thing to do. Great tradition!