Dance, Dance, Dance!

 If you haven't noticed by the uptick in my Facebook posts, we have had many big events happening. I'm way behind in blogging it all, so this one is all devoted to dancing, in some form, and Victoria. 

Almost a month ago now, she went to prom with her prom "squad" as the group quickly became close and they hung together in the days leading up to prom and then afterward. You may also remember the cute "promposal" that Jack did at Senior Night for track. 

My mom and I got to sneak a peek at the girls getting ready and when the boys arrived to pick them up. We followed them to Mill Race Historical Village where we took group pics and I had to contain my excitement at all the cute couples. 💓

It took Victoria, my mom, and me to get the boutonniere to stay on right, but his was the only one that stayed on the whole night!

Each one of these kids is one of Victoria's really good friends, so it made it extra special and fun!

They went to dinner at Ford's Garage, which offers grill and food items similar to Applebee's, and then to the dance. Instead of going to a big party after the dance, they opted to go to Mallory's for a movie instead, which I was happy about. When Victoria returned home just after midnight, I was shocked and pleased. It being on a Thursday night probably helped with the earlier arrival home. The seniors were done with school by then, but there were a couple of juniors in the group, so they had to go to school the next day! 

A week after prom was Victoria's last dance recital. Since she has been dancing at Dancin' Feet for 15 years, this was probably the hardest "final thing" for me. 15 years is a long time! They highlighted the seniors with a picture video of them at the beginning and a segment where each was highlighted by how long they've been dancing and what they're going to do next, plus acknowledgments for all the teacher and family support. When I went to take her lunch in between recitals and before volunteering at the bake sale, I was already losing it and broke down. Luckily, that ended up being the biggest emotional moment for me, besides just getting teary-eyed later while watching her dance. We had some friends come and watch and when I'm around people, I tend not to be as emotional, so that was good. They kept me calm and level-headed!

This is when I lost it.

Senior highlights. Victoria was the Tinman.

James Bond contemporary.

Tap Company

Jazz

Senior number. It was Old McDonald and was hilarious! Victoria was a pig.

Jason was in the Dad's dance again.

Grandma fan!

Fans!

Dance buddies

We didn't get a family pic there.

This was why: Jason was coughing like crazy and had to wear a mask, except when he was on stage, Austin had an ear infection, Erik had just broken his pinkie, Kai was still in her cast, Victoria broke her toe, and I was just exhausted!

We ordered the dance DVD (thanks Gramms!) so I didn't record the dances at the rehearsals or the recital, which we're not supposed to then anyhow, but I recorded some of my favorites from the DVD to my phone so I could put them here (I know- weird and backward). There will be one more dance event to go to in a couple of weeks at Nationals! (Here are a few of her 12 dance numbers, plus the Dad's dance because it's awesome!)

A week after the recital, Victoria and I went to see Taylor Swift! You may remember that her Christmas gift was the tickets that somehow Jason got, even though everything crashed when all the "Swiftys" were trying to buy tickets. They were very affordable too! A quick background on T. Swift for the grandparents: this was the Eras Tour where she featured songs from all of her different musical eras. There are many of them. The thing to do at her concerts is to dress up as from one of her eras, or a combo. Victoria helped me find a top that represented the Reputation Era. Also, my top was bejeweled, so it went with one of her songs. I got it from Plato's Closet which actually had sections of the store dedicated to the concert and I only paid $8.99 for it!! It totally reminds me of my Grandma Joyce. She would have worn something like that to church! Victoria got a skirt and decided to wear one of her dance costumes as the top and sunglasses that represent the Lover era. It was very fun!

Of course, the dance costume is a little different when you're going out in public, but she still looked sweet and innocent😇

The concert was super good, just as everyone has said. Girl in Red was one of the opening acts, one of Kai's favorites, so we enjoyed that part for her. For the main concert, everyone got lit-up bracelets that were connected to the music and lit up at just the right times in different colors, too! In the song Lovers, somehow the bracelets lit up in the right places to make heart patterns at either side of Ford Field. It was amazing!  The dancing, the music, the special effects and props, the costumes, and Taylor's supporting dancers, singers, and the band were all fantastic. It was a great show. My one complaint is that Swiftys are too excited to sing way too loudly! My eardrums were about to explode because at parts of songs they were all screaming the words. At times I almost couldn't hear Taylor, but she must have had a pretty good mic.

I was a zombie the next day, due to lack of sleep for my old bones, but it was worth it. I had different Taylor Swift songs in my head for the rest of the week!