Learning to be a ballet mum

When I was small, dancing lessons weren't an option for me. I remember asking when I was small but my parents couldn't afford it - for a start, I'm one of four girls -  so it was off the agenda. I never got to experience classes, exams and preparing for shows.

So, when Missy Woo wanted to start doing dance classes, I was a bit lost. We are very lucky in that there is a lovely, small dance school that meets just around the corner from home. It's run by a lovely lady who is not pushy but great with the children and is universally known as "Miss Lizzie" (yes, even the parents seem to call her that!). Missy Woo started at class and I really didn't know where to start, but somehow, a spare uniform became available and we found ballet shoes so she was all kitted out. A few weeks in, we found out they were doing a show, and we bought her costume.

On the day of the dress rehearsal and show, I was asked to put her hair in a bun. Now, my hair currently is about the longest it has been since I was around Missy's age. I don't do things like that - I just about manage to put her hair in a ponytail of a morning for school and even then I struggle because she has a double crown. Thankfully, Lizzie - being a lifelong dancer - is an expert in doing buns and put her hair in a bun for me. Problem solved.

This year, the annual show rolled around and this time, Missy is in two numbers because she now does  modern classes as well as ballet. Costumes have been bought again and I was asked to put her hair in a bun once more.

I could have chickened out and asked someone else to do it this time, but figuring this is not going to go away, I thought I had better learn how to do it myself. In order to do my training, I did what I always do. I turned to the Internet! I spent Friday evening looking through several different videos on YouTube of people doing  a "ballet bun". What struck me was that the basic method was the same, but everyone had their own little ways.

This time, I figured I had better be prepared. A quick trip to the supermarket yielded some 79p hairspray and some grips that match her hair colour, to add to the bun net I'd kept from last year. I decided to do her hair at home so we weren't in a rush and there were no smug parents around doing theirs in 5 seconds flat. I went for the twist the ponytail then pin it like mad as it twists in on itself method. It actually took me much less time than I thought, and my first attempt stayed in place for the whole afternoon and the first half of the show until she had to take it out for her second number (which needed a ponytail.) So, I'm quite proud of that, given how ham-fisted I am.

And, in case you missed them - I've tweeted these twice - here is Missy Woo in her costumes ready to perform at dress rehearsals. First, her ballet costume for "Zip A Dee Doo Dah".

And second, her funky 70s costume for "Carwash".

I still haven't seen the full show as we're going today, but she was very excited to discover when she went to get ready for her first show that some of the mums that they were putting make up on the girls.

She's a proper little ballerina now. And me? I'm not quite a ballet mum, but I'm getting there.

A trio of cheesy grins

Do you remember a few weeks ago, I wrote about going in to school to have school dinner with the children for Mother's Day? Well, I forgot to share this picture, taken on my phone at the lunch by another mum, my friend Tracy and given a bit of a fancy edit by me.

I dunno where the children get those cheesy grins from! Do you think they were excited?

This is one of the last photographs I have of Missy Woo with her front baby teeth, and my hair is shorter now. This photo is already a memory to keep and to treasure, remembering times past.

Missy Woo's Spring makeover

I never realised how much Missy Woo considered that her long hair was part of her identity, until it was suggested to her that it be cut off (not by me). A case of lice that wouldn't go because of all that hair - lots of fine hair that hid the little beggars.

Missy Woo was horrified by the thought of being short-haired. "That's for boys," she declared and was visibly upset. I checked with my hairdresser who confirmed that cutting it short wouldn't solve the problem anyway. She also has a double crown which needs longer hair to stop her having the cute but babyish quiff she had in the first year of her life. I got uber-thorough with the head lice treatment and finally got rid.

Still, her hair was becoming a nuisance to manage. She was forever getting food in it and it was a nuisance to look after. I managed to convince her that cutting a good couple of inches off wouldn't make her look like a boy, and it would be easier to keep tidy. So, the first day of the holidays, off we trotted to the salon, something Missy Woo considers a big treat. Nothing to do with the drink and sweets she gets. Oh no.

Someone looks rather pleased with her new haircut, doesn't she? Long enough to look girly, but easier to manage.

Don't tell her the stylist actually took nearer 3 inches off the length. Funnily enough, her head feels lighter. 

And then, just to up the cute factor, the second of her two top front teeth came out.

A smile that says "Yay, the tooth fairy is coming!" 

Paisatges

I haven't taken part in The Gallery for a while, but when I saw the theme this week was Landscapes, I thought I'd have a go. After all, I have plenty. Then, I realised that most of my photos are stuck on the laptop that I keep meaning to fix.

But, still, I often put my photos on my Dropbox account and found several on there that I could use. Even better, I had one that I hadn't used on this blog before. I think. (Someone will now find this on my blog somewhere). It is of my favourite city in the world.

Barcelona.

This was taken from the top floor of El Corte Inglés in Placa Catalunya, the main square which is regarded as the true city centre and where the old part meets the new. It's also where the Ramblas, which marches up from the sea, finally peters out. 

El Corte Inglés is a chain of department stores - which is kind of a cross between Marks and Spencer, because it has a supermarket in the basement, and John Lewis, because it's filled with designer labels.  This particular branch has about 9 floors. The top floor contains a smart restaurant where we once had the most amazing lunch - half a lobster and half a chicken with rice for about half the price it would be over there. There is also has a cheaper waiter service part and finally a self-service cafeteria where we often pop for coffee. Every time we go, we have to visitt here and I just marvel at the skyline with the Palau Nacional breaking ranks with the Montjuic hillside. 

Just looking at this photo makes me feel like I'm actually there but as it's night time in the UK and not mid-afternoon in sunny Spain, I soon snap back to reality. And then I'm wistful because I want to go there again and we currently have no plans to do so. This makes me sad. Maybe one day. 

You can find some more great landscapes over by clicking the badge below.

Say what you see...

Where is this? 

Leave a comment and tell me! 

No prizes, just curious to know what you see. 

This is a one-off as I wanted to find a way to use this picture!

My awesome photo

Yes, that is the title, for that is the theme of the Gallery this week. The point is, it could be made into a huge canvas, for this is a competition.

My photography is not known for its skill and awesomeness (is that a word?) but I do have a photo on my camera which, although not taken by me, is still pretty awesome. It has featured before on this blog twice. I make no apologies for including it again because it is the favourite photo I have of one of my children. It was taken on a brilliant day for Monkey and Daddy - his second ever live game and a trip to Wembley to see Blackpool promoted to the Premier League. And yes, that still pains me to type those words.

So here it is. Possibly not awesome (although I suspect Blogger has done something funny to the photo in the upload, it does that occasionally) but I love it.

Find more awesome photos at Tara's Gallery.

Something I am proud of

Who or what makes me proud? I bet you’re not surprised to see my children below. It’s a bit of a gimme really, but I must tell you why, right at this moment, my children are making me proud.

The timing of the prompt for The Gallery couldn’t have been more apt. Two weeks ago, the children came home from school with a blank poster template. It was school council election time and they were seeking candidates. The children had to draw a picture of themselves or place a photograph in the middle and then write why they would be a good school councillor or share some of their ideas for the school council.

The Gallery: Shoes

I don't have pretty feet. I know some people think that all feet are ugly but mine are small (for my height) and stubby, as they are wide. Wide feet are a curse as new shoes are nearly always painful for a while.

And then, at age 11, I had an operation to straighten a bent toe. This appears to have been an inherited trait as both my dad and my granddad had the same thing. In straightening my little toe on my left foot, they broke the bone and sewed it to the toe next to it. My toe doesn't look "normal" at all and I don't like the nail. So, wearing flipflops and open sandals can be a trial as said toe doesn't look very pretty. As a result, I'm not really much of a shoe person. Even winter shoes are problematic because my little toe makes my foot even wider and it can make wearing new shoes even more uncomfortable.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

The Gallery - Black and White

I am not a very technical photographer. As I commented to someone only this afternoon, I probably take more photos with my phone now than I do with the camera. I like taking pictures but I am not in the finer details of it. I therefore don't do take many pictures in black and white, but thanks to the wizardry of photo editing software, I can turn anything I like monochrome. So, I've been looking through my archives, given as I'm enjoying child-free time this week and not spending too much time on the blog, fiddling with the settings and turning things black and white. After lots of messing around, I found this made the nicest picture.

Silent Sunday

Birth

As I mentioned in this post, neither of the births of my children was straightforward. Monkey's birth went on for several days, involving lots of wasted trips to hospital, extra visits for monitoring, an induction that was advised but wasn't necessary, a cervix that reached fully dilated then went backwards, a full bladder and a baby that covered everyone and everything within a 2 metre radius with poo as he made his grand entrance into the world.

So, when Missy Woo came along, I was hoping for a birth that was quicker than that, and possibly less dramatic. (I forgot the call for infant cardiac arrest at a critical moment... only to be told later that it had been a practice and there wasn't a baby in trouble at all.)

Silent Sunday

The Gallery - Vintage

I've touched on this story before,but for this week's theme of Vintage on The Gallery, I thought I would tell you the story of how I came to own probably the oldest thing that I possess.

When we were children, we had a few neighbours that we were quite close to. One of them was called Doll (short for Doris) who lived a few doors down the hill from us. She had married quite late in life and so didn't have children. She kind of adopted us (and we he) because my maternal grandmother died before I was born and my mum wasn't close to her dad. We used to visit them quite regularly, even as small children.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

My Grandad

I had a lot more to do with my dad's parents than my mum's. My maternal grandmother died before I was born anyway and although we did see my grandfather, my mum had had a distant relationship for most of her life, given that her parents divorced when she was a small child. Consequently, we saw little of them.

My dad's parents, on the other hand, lived less than ten miles away from our home, so we visited regularly. I remember going for tea and being made to eat ham sandwiches with mustard in them (which I hated) and being offered tomatoes, (which I also hated as a child). We'd get given arctic roll for pudding and my nan would cover it in evaporated milk. 

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday