best. weekend. ever.

family, friends, dancing, fun, laughter, tears, giving, receiving.  this weekend was busy, but i'll start with this sweet girl...



this weekend was the ballet recital that almost never was.  the dress rehearsal got canceled at the last minute on friday because of the terrible storms that destroyed many areas of the southeast, and what we now know is a raging infection invaded poor abby's ear and almost kept her out of the performance on saturday.  after much praying, she woke up feeling well and chipper the morning of the recital, and she was thrilled to be able to participate in the dance with the rest of her class.



but if abby was thrilled, izzy was ecstatic.  that girl wants to be a "balleweena" so bad she can't stand it, and she was soaking up every minute of the hour-long recital.



this year's recital was called "the joy of the lord", and it was a circus-themed production.  abby's class - the "acrobats" - started their performance with a bang.  if you look behind abby in this picture, there's a little one upside down in a handstand...



...and abby whipped out a cartwheel to add to the excitement.  (please tell me you can see her tongue stuck out in this picture.  she's like her momma in that there's a direct line from her brain to her mouth.  brain concentrates, tongue emerges.)



no offense if you're one of them, but there are some CRAZY parents at these things.  i'm pretty convinced that some of them camp out at the church the night before the performance to get the best seats.  it probably looks like the apple store when a new iphone is released.  a friend of mine somehow scored a seat on the front row and she was gracious enough to offer for me to piggy-back off of her awesome view.  it made for some pretty darling pictures when abby saw me...





but these are some of my favorites...






until next year (when we have two balleweenas)...