Ella Bella Ballerina

One day the girls and I were at Half Price Books and we stumbled upon a book called "Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella." I thought it was pretty funny, since we've always called Ella "Ella Bella", and Ella was (and still is) in the middle of a princess phase. So we bought it. We read it tonight before bed, appropriately, since tonight I really had an Ella Bella Ballerina...it was her first night of dance class!
Last month I bought a Living Social (love living social...and groupon...and try it local...and all those awesome deal sites!) deal for one month of dance class at Jennifer's Academy of Dance...which happens to be 3 minutes from our house. When I told her about it she was waaaay more excited than she ever was for wee ball or soccer or anything else. It's easy to see that Ella's current interests are in music, singing and dancing. Maybe the sports will come, but as for now we are just having fun watching her be excited about dance! We went to the Zappos outlet in Shepherdsville on Monday and were so excited to find both ballet shoes and tap shoes in her size! ($7.50 for ballet shoes, $16 for tap shoes...boo yah!) Her class is one hour long, the first 30 minutes being ballet and the last 30 minutes being tap.
All day she anxiously awaited class. Thankfully she took a nap beforehand and was well rested. She was so excited when we arrived and she saw all the other little girls running around in leotards and tights. (We found tights, a black leotard, and a silver tutu at Target, all very reasonably priced.) When it came time for class the girls were led into a room without parents. I wasn't sure how that would go, especially since two youngers girls had full blown, screaming melt downs right in front of her. I led her into the room, and the instructor said I could stay in the room if I needed to since it was her first time. I hung out by the door for the first half of class then worked my way back into the room with the other parents. But I had such a great time watching her...my only disappointment was that parents aren't really supposed to watch. I understand why, because it distracts the girls, but it is so cute and I want to watch!! :) For the first five minutes or so she didn't really participate, just watched very closely, sizing it all up. But after that she jumped right in and fully participated. She did great! One of the other moms who was hanging out in the doorway said that she was doing great for her first time. She smiled the entire time...which was a nice change after literally having to force her to stay on the soccer field this fall! Here are a few pictures of our Ella Bella Ballerina...