Memorial Day Weekend 2012-Dance Rehearsal and Thereafter

Let me get this out of the way. This year's show is not as spectacular as the past years we have been with Gold's. It is still great but lacking, something.

Every year, KC's dance school hold their recital on Memorial Weekend. Don't know why but I feel it ruins the long weekend for families. You see Memorial weekend is the unofficial start of summer. AND if you are New England-er---these days are rare and precious.

Anyway, I requested days off at my part-time job because I know it will be very hectic. Saturday is dress rehearsal day and you-can-take-pictures-now-because-you-can't-by showtime day. Which means, I need to be really be fast, which also means---it makes for a whole day of fussing and forced smiles.

I was unable to take lots of pictures like last years, but it is still fun. Again, KC did 3 dances--tap, jazz and ballet. Enjoy the photos.

The costumes are wicked expensive but all worth it! I just hope there is a way for her to wear it again. This jazz outfit is so beautiful.


Jazz costume

  I know my daughter loves dance. She may not be a natural dancer, but she does love it. That's what's important. Loving life!

all pretty girls

 She is a natural showgirl. Always smiling.


She always enjoys it

  My heart melts.... i know these girls will soon be beautiful ladies. If only I could keep her this way.


loving their dance and their last day in school

  They dance to the tune of Rihanna's umbrella for their tap dance.


Tap costume

 Their ballet dance number is absolutely beautiful. She loves her costume too. I am so tempted to buy the DVD, but for 32.00 buckaroos? So expensive!

Ballet

As you probably already know, we are always with the Llaga PE---my fave people in the world. Aside from my beautiful family, of course. Here are Preshie-Boo's photos. I can tell you, this girl is amazing! She will truly be a star. Cue....awwwww.

Can you say cute? She is the star of the show! In fact she can be the teacher.

 A true show performer. Her hat fell off and she went on to dance. That's our baby!

Rock it girl!

 Here she is in her ballet costume. I remember, my fave costumes of KC are always the ballet ones. Don't we all wish out little girls are ballerinas?


I love little ballerinas

 What did I tell you? STAR! Joshua and Precious loves each other. They may fight but they get along so well. I am just so happy my kids have cousins who are close by. I just hope AJ and Joie are so much closer in Boston so KC and them can bond. AJ is in Montreal and Joie is in Edmonton---both in Canada. Sigh. Please sister Babes and Ban, let us stay closer?

I'm a STAR!

Of course, we take this opportunity to spend time together. Dance rehearsal is a family thing-y for us. My 2 boys did not want to attend dance school this year so I did not force them. During rehearsals, Fridah commented that the hip-hop class is not as good as before, Josh said " Because, I am not dancing this year." Oh ha? Braggart much? As you can see Pherry is on his iPad. I don't care if he is really not paying attention as much as long as he spends time with us. Don't they look like Korean boy band members? The hair! Mr. Hubbs hate it!

Here is Preashie-Boo with my niece Fridah. Hmmm, I wonder what she is asking mommy? I betcha a book? NOT!

As you probably guessed, I took lots of pictures after the rehearsal. It was a photo-op for me because they have their cousin Lovely ( yup, that's her name) and Preshie-Boo. Lotsa prodding and lotsa bribing. Yes, they may be looking good on pics in this blog, but believe me---it's hard work! Hahahhahah.

KC was so tired, she does not want to smile --AT ALL. Nope.

But she smiles once they are outside, together. Cousins!

 I asked he if I can take a "few" pictures and she reluctantly said "ok, ok...mom, you are so embarrassing." Me? Embarrassing? When did that happen? I thought I was cool? Oh boy.

After I begged.... here they are. Can you tell they are excited? NOT!

 Ok, this is much better because I said it was the last one. NOW, they are happy.

Afterwards, we headed to Hingham, a charming upscale seaside community----- to Wahlburgers! We love this place. Cool music, chic interior, outdoor seating and yummy juicy burgers.... what's not to love? Did I tell you this is by the Walberg brothers? MArk Wahlberg, Donnie Wahlberg, anyone? WHat about NKOTB? You got it!


With cousin Lovely

  Uber chic with the hat, ha?

Just to show you how much we love this place... here...

Check out this charming fisherman's lantern lighting, couple that with smooth  music... yumm! I am not paid to endorse I swear.

My family likes going to Hingham Shipyard. It is very metropolitan chic but with cool breeze and clean open space. And the ships and the boats. You can just sit and daydream. Like we do. Sit. Daydream. Go home.

Here is the view from Wahlburgers overlooking a portion of the marina. The unmistakably New England building is Alma Nove, a fine dining option here at The Shipyard--again owned by the Wahlbergs, named after their mom Alma. If you have the dough, head to Alma Nove, if you want to be in and out with great food, head to Wahlburgers. Deal! Guess where we are at? Wahlburgers!

Can't resist going to their quaint little shops. I love this kind of shops. Not your big box type ones.

After the burgers, we headed to Red MAngo. Our new guilty pleasure! They separate themselves from me and Mr. Hubbs. hmmp. I love their cousin bonding time!

Afterwards, og course they need to burn all that sugar---we headed to the kiddie park acroos from red mango. There is also a mini golf here but you ahve to pay. If you know me... that is a STOP sign. Hahahhahha. We had so much fun though. At this point, Mr. Hubbs was so tired, all he wanted to do was sleep so headed out to the car. Take a looksie how foolish we can be and what fun we had!

PreshieBoo showing off her strong legs. The girls were like, " oh, no... stop, that just doesn't look good neneng." They crack me up!

 Then they say, " come her na lang, we take pictures" and then start to giggle again.

 We had a lot of these moments. Poor Lovely carrying Karmina.  How I wish my friends and sisters are with me. I did not have cousins my age while I was growing -up that's why this is so precious to me.

 ...and these are the Llaga geeks. No girl or boy talks. They rather talk about Princeton and some nerdy stuff. Wait, they talk about some cartoon show and some Korean MTV. Not so geeky. Hahahhahah.

 Here is KC asking her "ah-tey" to massage her because she was tired dancing. And "ah-tey" Lovely oblige. Sweet. On a completely out of topic matter... can I have one of these adirondack chairs? My Gucci Sukey is centerpiece. Woohoo!

 The beautiful cousins.

 Can I make a confession? Me and KC watch Fashion Star. We think is dead (no pun intended) but we like watching stressed out people. Then I would chide her and ask her if she wants to be a model and she says, " designer, mom, I want to be THE designer. Look at those models." Snob? I think she will be a good designer if ever.

 "what you watching KC?" Here, One Direction. She is so in love with One Direction. I might just have to buy tickets if they have a concert here in Boston.

 Me and the pretty girls. She is only 11 but she is inching up on me already. Wow!

 Now, for the parting shot.... the Llaga cousins.

After the park, we dropped off Mr. Hubbs and headed to the mall so the girls can window shop. The boys went to Apple Store and poor me got stuck with Precious at Lego! Nope... I love being with Precious. She is a sweetheart. For real! Then we headed to Target where Precious goes, " Mamu, so you can save, you can buy me this book and not give me flowers after my recital." And who said I was going to give her flowers? Hahahhhaha. I was dead tired but still need to go to brockton to get sleepwear for Lovely so she can sleep over! Woohoo!

Then I was really tired. From 12pm-10pm with these kids and their energy? Even Hulk would give up!

Part 2 coming up!

Dance recital 2010

This is a long and overdue post.
As many of you know, KC and Pherry attend dance school. KC does the traditional ones---ballet, tap and jazz and modern hiphop, Pherry does hiphop with her. So, on Wednesdays, they go for 1 hour class with about 30 minutes drive to their school. Kc does her traditional dances on Saturday, she goes for 2 hrs. for those 3 dances. They attend Gold School in Brockton MA. It is one of the most respected dance schools in the South Shore. Their recitals and performances are really worth it. Why do you think we drive 30 minutes everytime just to attend the school? Simple---because it is the best! From their receptionists (they are sweethearts), to the teachers and the parents.

But as any other event, the dance recitals are stressful. The Gold School always slate their recitals on Memorial Day weekend. So, they had dress rehearsals the day before the performance, which parents can take videos and pictures. This is really frustrating, why? Well, they say it is your chance to do so, but then someone's yelling, stopping the dance, some kids are missing... and such. I understand it is a rehearsal but then they should at least allow a "no announcement-no interruption" after all those major corrections. Why does this matter too much to me? Because they do not allow you to take pictures and videos on performance day---which is rather good---but.... they sell DVDs and pictures that are way too expensive and so general--- like who want to watch an overpriced DVD for 2-3 hours to see your child dance for 3 minutes and may not even be focused?  More so, because KC and Pherry's hip hop performance were in the second show... I have to buy 2 DVDs! Isn't that a joke?  First of all, I have to buy 2 sets of tickets for family and friends to watch both performances ( KC and Pherry dance only the hiphop on the second show---nothing else) and now, I need to buy 2 DVDs---all for a whopping $60.00!!! Second, because they are put on the second show for the hiphop, we were basically there for a whole day! Hopefully, they can fix the schedule better next time. I stress--- no 2 sets of tickets and no expensive DVDs---please!

Ok, so now the venting is over. We went to the dress rehearsals with my "mommy arsenal". Ponytails, costumes, shoes, makeup, bobby pins, safety pins, gloves, fans, hats, bodysuits, nylons and the school checklist. All set to go! We arrived there a little late because I was not familiar with the place---am not used driving there because Mr. Hubbs usually brings them--- which that day for some reason he decided to go fishing!

If you are surrounded by little girls and boys in beautiful colorful costumes, it is very destressing for me. Those little bumblebees and ballerinas are just too cute.

Here's me doing my "mommy-is-not-stressed" job.

She missed the tap dance rehearsal. But here she is with the Spanish Nutcracker ballet. If you ask me, they are live dolls. The girl in the middle would be a star! She is an awesome ballerina!

This is a video of their Spanish Nutcracker ballet

Here she is in her jazz costume. They have this boy in this class that is awesome! I think he is a star!

Here's a video of their tap dance performance. Watch out for that little boy.

Isn't he a natural?

While waiting for her dance routines as well as their hiphop dances, I took some photos which I believe describe the chaos and beauty of parenthood.

I have to ask 4 times to take this picture. They are such happy girls they can not stop talking to each other and like they have not seen each other for a very long time.

Needless to say, I do not want to be their teacher. Teachers are the most patient.

Despite the high cost of their costumes, I truly love seeing the girls so beautiful.

... and how could your heart not be happy when you see this?

For our lunch, we went to McDonald's and scoured the townsquare to get those silly bands. Nothing! Good! They are way too expensive. We went back to practice and waited for their hiphop. I think is is more tiring for me to wait than to actually do my mommy job. I was so glad I did not bring Joshua with me because then he would have been bored and driving me nuts. After all the craziness, we got our second wind by late afternoon. We did a little "happy pictorial". Here are the photos:

Then, we went crazy looking for tap shoes. KC has the superb ability to lose everything, in a moment. I kid you not. We went to 2 dance stores and unfortunately because of the upcoming holiday, they closed early. My last shot was at the mall for Payless Shoes. They carry dance stuff but I was very sure they did not carry tan tap shoes. I tried and of course they did not have any at all. They offered to order it for me but the performance is the following day. Since I was at the mall already, I went for a quest of the "Magic Bun." It's this little gadget that makes making a bun so easy. I saw it on one of the girls and her mom said I could find it at Claire's. 

 Boy, they have different kinds. I got Hairagami brand which turned out to be very difficult to work with specially with KC's long limp hair.

Here's the hairagami one.

 But this is the easier, more user friendly one.

These are my new bestfriends. Putting KC's hair is a breeze. No more fighting. Hahhaha.

Here's how it looks.

 

We went to Justice ( KC's favorite shopping destination) and got a few bargains. I love this bag and hat with the scarf.

We got this flower print blazer. Since it is with hint of greens and blues, KC loved it. The dress is chiffon and so soft. I think we got them both for only $10.00. Yes!

 I did not find any tap shoes. I contacted Margie ( one of the nice receptionists in school) if she can find me on the lost and found bucket. So off to rest and sleep for the big day tomorrow.

Recital day is a family event for us. As with other families, it is the culmination of a year long  dancing, practices and the saga of beautiful art. For my family, I am always excited to see them on stage, whether it is something they accomplished in school or extra curricular activities. I try to let my kids participate in activities but not to the point where they are so exhausted.

I invited family and friends to come watch with us. Even my mother-in-law who had a stroke recently came. My close friends came too. The show as always is very impressive. I loved how they only let late comers enter in between dances. Of course there are still "divas" who insist to be seated when they wanted, but the volunteer parents and students were very good in telling them not to disrupt everyone just because they were late. Over all the show was great! Here are the pictures we had AFTER the performance.

My in-laws

Good friends Sol and Stephen

Tita Sol and Tita HG congratulating Kuya Pherry

Vinceter is the sweetest. He always take time to take beautiful pictures of my family.

My beautiful princess

My first born is growing up so fast. Here is ChristoPher ryan

KC is always irritated when her hhair is up. She likes it down and loose

Mr. Hubbs may not say it so often but he is more excited and proud than me, everytime

I cherish moments like this 

Proud parents, yes we are

... and proud little bro. This Fall, Josh will be doing hiphop too

Here are random pictures I took during the chaos.

... and the day ends in barbecues and beers with family and friends. I believe everything is more fun and enjoyable inspite of the chaos and body aches when you are with friends. I do this every year and yet it seems to be a new thing everytime. The chaos, the missing bobby pins, the unironed dress, the missing hair accesories, the missing shoes------ and on and on...