Marina's First Dance Recital

This past December we signed Marina up for a tap/ballet class at a local dance school. This weekend she had her first recital at the High School Auditorium. The rehearsal was Friday night, which I was really glad for because I had no idea how the whole thing worked!

Several people came to see her Friday night at the rehearsal. Here is she with her Papa

Daddy was so proud of his little girl

They both look so grown-up in the pictures. It makes me a little sad.

There was a lot of waiting, which was really hard on the little ones.

"There was a Teddy Bear, named Freddy Bear". Damon, Caden and I had this song stuck in our head all weekend! Damon was STILL singing it before work this morning - I told him to knock it off!!!!

At home before the actual recital on Sunday

Lots of people came to see her - here she is with Nonna and Granny

Grandma and Grandpa Vonn from Shelbyville came too!

Here she is with all the little girls in her class . . . they are all so sweet!

More waiting!

Sydney is telling Marina and Maria that Emerson told her to "Shut-up". You might be surprised at how sassy the girls are already at this age!

The opening number was a hip-hop routine with all the students 7 years and younger. It was SO adorable! The little ones were just too cute trying to keep up with the older ones.

Performance time! It was almost 3:00 when they got on stage, and all the girls were tired from waiting in line so much - not to mention it was REALLY hot backstage. I had volunteered to be the backstage mom and had to keep them in "order" on a pitch-black stage before they went on. WAY hard. But they all did great!

Marina got a first-year trophy, so we had to line-up at intermission for that as well. She was exhausted at this point. Outfit change #3 in a matter of 2 hours!

I didn't walk on stage with her to get her award - I let her go by herself and met her at the other side of the stage. I heard the audience crack up though and found out later that she had walked really fast, grabbed her award and just continued walking in a matter of fact kind of way. Damon said it was so funny because she looked so grown up. Wish I had seen it!

Posing with Mamaw and her trophy

All in all, it was a really fun and exciting day! She starts gymnastics in a month, along with tap/ballet still, and we are hoping she will eventually choose what she likes best. Now we have a little bit of break before dance and sports start again, and I am really looking forward to the laziness of it all :)

Favorite Summertime Drinks

Summer is just around the corner and that means it is time to start making my favorite summertime drinks. These drinks are so tasty, and I look forward to them every year. In fact, I grow large pots of sweet basil and mint specifically with these drinks in mind.

Moji-tea

Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

Ingredients

1 quart water plus 1 cup, divided
4 tea bags, either Irish or English breakfast tea
1 cup sugar
12 sprigs fresh mint
3 limes, juiced

Directions

Bring 1 quart of water to a boil, turn the heat off and add the tea bags and let steep until cool. Place the sugar and 1 cup of water in a sauce pot over high heat, bring up to a boil to dissolve the sugar and then turn off the heat, allow to cool.
Place the mint springs in a large pitcher, add the cooled sugar water and cooled tea along with the lime juice, stir to smash around the mint in the liquids. Pour over ice and serve.

Italian Lemonade

Recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

2 cups lemon juice, about 12 to 15 lemons
2 cups Basil Simple Syrup, recipe follows
2 cups cold or sparkling water
Ice
Lemon twists, for garnish

Directions

Mix lemon juice, Basil Simple Syrup, and water together in a pitcher. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Pour over ice filled glasses and garnish with a lemon twist.

Basil Simple Syrup:

1 bunch fresh basil, washed and stemmed
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
In a saucepan combine basil, sugar, and water and simmer until the sugar is dissolved, 5 minutes. Cool, strain the simple syrup, and store in the refrigerator.

You might be thinking "basil in lemonade?! that is crazy!". Don't let that stop you from trying this drink. It is such an interesting, and delicious combination of flavors.

We often turn this into a cocktail by mixing equal parts vodka and lemonade. Because the lemonade has such a bold flavor, you can hardly taste the vodka at all. That can be good and dangerous at the same time :)

Since both recipes include a simple syrup, they are pretty sweet. However, the mint adds a nice contrast for the tea, and the tartness of the lemons balances out the sweetness in the lemonade.

CHEERS!