Ava Ballerina!

Ava recently had her first ballet class, and it went great. Well, technically it went great for 40 minutes and downhill after that, but seriously, who schedules toddlers for hour long classes?!?! Anyways, we've been prepping her for ballet class for weeks, talking it up and letting her know that she would be going in by herself and I would be watching her through the window. All our classes up until now have been mommy and me type classes where I attend with her, so this was a big step for us that we wanted her to be ready for. She did GREAT!

Getting ready to head to our first class!

 Waiting anxiously for the class before to get done so she could go into the studio!

They teach the little ones through a story & this was the beginning of the story that day!

Looking for "mommy alligator" (part of the story)

Stretching her sides!

Getting into position :)

OMG I die!!!!

Twirling! AWWWW!

She was the only one doing the backbend right :) That's my girl!!!

Unfortunately I didn't bring Ava's tap shoes to her first class (they do tap the last 15 minutes), so when the other kids put theirs on, Ava got upset and things started going downhill. It wasn't long before she wailed, "I want my mommmmmmmmmy!" in the saddest little voice, so I joined her inside for a few minutes. This may have something to do with why I got a call suggesting she join a class for younger kids, since the one we were in was for 3 and 4 year olds. We took them up on that offer just for the sake of less stress, so we'll be joining our new class this coming week. I can't wait to watch her some more!!!

Ballet Austin's Hansel & Gretel

Have I mentioned how obsessed with the ballet Ava is? Ever since we took her to The Nutcracker back in December, she's talked about little else.
Maybe she will grow up and pursue a mfa degree! She wants to wear tutus, her ballerina pi's, and ballet shoes every single day, and I'm happy to indulge her - it's pretty adorable.

Anyhow, I found out last Tuesday that Ballet Austin was doing a run of Hansel & Gretel. At just under an hour in length, along with some of the scarier parts (attempting to bake Hansel in the oven, specifically) being modified, it was the perfect show for kids, and so I immediately bought tickets and Ava and I spent the afternoon this past Saturday having a girls day at the ballet. So awesome.




We got all dolled up, and headed downtown to the Butler Dance Education Center that was recently erected on W. 3rd Street. The facility itself was gorgeous, and the performance was held inside the intimate Austin Ventures Studio, holding about 100-150 people and allowing everyone to have an amazing seat. We were in the fourth row, and sat next to the most delightful elderly couple who just thought Ava was the cutest thing ever. I'm biased, but I tend to agree :)

Here's Ava and I inside the studio (Pardon the blurriness, the older man was taking the photos after being specifically told not to - thank you, sir!!!):




I know the pictures are awful, but the memories are amazing <3 I was so born to the mother of a little girl!