StoryBook Ballet Dance Camp {Frozen}

Well, nothing like letting two weeks pass without updating the blog.  I wish I could say that it was just because we were so super busy that I haven't had the time to post anything, but unfortunately that's not the case.  Some crazy illness took over my body and I seriously spent 10+ days in a weird, fevered and fatigued fog.  I'm so very grateful to my parents who swept in like Rockstars and kept Sydney and Olivia at their house for an entire week while I slept and ached and tried to get better.  The poor girls got some version of my sickness {or I got a crazier version of theirs?} and ended up being put on antibiotics for ear infections.  So, my parents had to nurse them back to health as well.  But, naturally, they did that AND pretty much potty-trained Sydney, so...maybe I should get sick more often?  Uh, definitely not!

Anyway, poor Olivia missed out on a week of summer camps at Wee Blessings that I had signed her up for, but she DID make it to her StoryBook Ballet Dance Camp.  She did this camp two years ago and we absolutely loved it.  It was the Merida theme then, and this year it was all about Frozen!  {See two years ago here.  Trust me, you want to click that link.}  And, to make this year even better, she got to do it with her sweet friend, Brooke.

So, here are a few pictures from a day at camp and then some pictures from the last day where they did a little performance.

➹ Such a big girl, enjoying her Frozen treat on the first day. ➹

➹ Sydney just missed the cut-off this year, but we will FOR SURE be signing her up next year.  She was SO upset once she realized she wasn't going to be staying for the class. ➹

At the performance part of the camp, the teacher had each of the girls summarize the stories they had done each day and talk about the lessons in them.  Then they did five dances to different songs from the movie.  Two of the dances were choreographed and three of them were up for interpretation. ;)

➹ They made these tutus during one of the classes! ➹

➹ Silly girls.  Brooke is a total ham! ➹

Check out the video here.

Storybook Ballet {Frozen} from Amanda Michelson on Vimeo.

A special thanks to Grandma Irma and Poppa Peter who gifted this class to Olivia for her birthday!  She loved it so much, and really got a lot out of the class!

My Fierce Five Year Old

My Dear Girl,

A few weeks ago, you told your Nana that you couldn't wait to turn five because then you were going to be a handful.  {Meaning, showing your age would take all five fingers.}  Little did you know that you already are a handful.  You are feisty and spirited and quick to respond.  You are loyal and passionate and creative.  Your love for drawing and writing has grown leaps and bounds over the past year, and I am so proud of how much you have learned.  

Your sister looks up to you so much, and nothing brings my heart nearer to explosion than when the two of you are playing sweetly together.  Your latest thing with her is to crawl into the big chair in her room and read her stories before bed.  I have no doubt that she will always look up to you, and I hope that you always take the responsibility of leading and guiding her seriously.

Oh Olivia, we love you so very much.  We love listening to you sing and we love watching you dance.  And, while there are days where hearing you say, "Pretend you were my..." for the 100th time is more than we can take, we are always amazed by your imagination.  

Keep blossoming and growing and changing into the strong, brave, beautiful young girl you are becoming. 

Love Always,

Your Mommy

Favorite color:  pink

Favorite toy:  Pirate Fairy doll

Favorite Stuffed Animal:  Ellie the Elephant

Favorite Thing to Sleep With:  Pillow Pet Dream Light {Unicorn}

Favorite Fruit: Strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries

Favorite Cereal:  Cheerios

Favorite Breakfast:  Toast with butter & sprinkles {cinnamon sugar}

Favorite Lunch:  Quesadilla

Favorite Dessert:  Ice cream sandwich or Cool Whip

Favorite Drink:  Sprite {which she has had maybe 5 times in her life}

Favorite Animal:  Elephants, horses, and unicorns

Favorite Song:  Weightless by Natasha Bedingfield

Favorite Book:  The Ballerina Princess

Favorite Game:  Guess Who

Favorite TV Show:  My Little Pony

Favorite Movies:  The Pirate Fairy, Secret of the Wings, and Frozen

Favorite Thing to do Outside:  Swing on the swings

Best Friends:  Kendall and Brooke

What She Wants To Be When She Grows Up:  A unicorn or horse trainer

As is customary, I made a birthday slideshow for Olivia.  If  you've got an extra 15 minutes and love seeing {even more} pictures of her, this is the video for you!

Liv's Christmas Program

We just got back from the most amazing weekend away, but before I can tell y'all about that trip, I need to catch you up on last week!  {And, since I'm working on Christmas cards and Christmas presents and really want to watch Thursday's Scandal, this is gonna be quick.}

Olivia had her Christmas program on Monday night, so we got the girls all dressed up in their holiday dresses.  I got these dresses last year after the New Year {super marked down} and they've been hanging in our hall closet all year waiting to be worn!  I may have gone a bit crazy styling Liv's {hello, cream, red, black heart stockings and gold shoes}, but both girls looked and felt very stylish and that's what counts.

Liv's class did two songs and even though she had sung them for us at least 100 times, she looked as scared as could be up on that stage.  After they were done, David turned to me and said, "I think all the color drained from her face!"  Bless her heart.  {You can click here to watch her performance.}

MVI 0804 from Amanda Michelson on Vimeo.

After the show, we chatted with Santa and Olivia sat on his lap again.  Sydney wanted nothing to do with him and would barely take the candy cane from him.  Next year?

A Wild Time at the Zoo

Last Friday while my brother was in town, we took the girls to the Phoenix Zoo.  We hadn't been there in ages and my brother really wanted to film part of it and make a little movie trailer like he did with Olivia a couple years ago.  {You can see one of them here and another one here and another one here.}

It was a gorgeous day out and I had fun taking pictures with my new camera.  The girls were really well behaved and Sydney did a great job in her acting debut!  She even rode the camel for the first time!

A special thanks to Ryan for creating this trailer!

My Little Models

I'm sure I have mentioned it here before, but I am putting at least one picture of the girls {Olivia, Sydney or both} up on Instagram each day for the 2013 year.  We are 317 days in as of today and I've already posted 665 pictures of them with the hashtag #michelsongirls.  So, yeah, overachiever.

Sometimes I'm content with the pictures I take on my iPhone, but then I get mad at myself because I have an amazing DSLR {even more amazing now since my awesome husband upgraded our model as an early Christmas present!!!}.  So, I've tried to use that one a little bit more lately and have been getting the girls to show off their poses for me.

Olivia is obsessed with my Tar-Jay cowboy cowgirl boots because they "click clack" and so I finally had to get her a pair of her own.  They, sadly, do not click clack, but she likes them all the same.  {And, yeah, I couldn't get Olivia a pair without getting Sydney some too. Can you blame me?!}

So, in addition to being obsessed with the boots, I think she might have a little girl crush on Katy Perry.  We played her the Roar song a couple of weeks ago and that's pretty much taken over the Lennon and Maisy Ho Hey song request in the car.  Just about every day she asks me a new question about Katy Perry...where does she live? what are her parents names? can she come over for a play date? would she sing a special song with her for Daddy?  The other night we were in the car listening to John Mayer's Something Like Olivia {because, obviously...} and when I told her that the singer of that song was Katy Perry's boyfriend, her mind was blown.

I asked the girls to sing a little bit of the song {you can see them doing that in the previous few pictures} and I managed to get a little on video.  Unfortunately, Sydney got distracted by Magnum walking on the sidewalk and so you don't get to see her sing.  I'll try to get another version of the both of them soon.  {I'm working on our own little Lennon and Maisy duo with these two.}

Olivia Sings Katy Perry while Sydney Worries About Magnum from Amanda Michelson on Vimeo.

And, not to be left out on some solo pictures, here's a couple of my Sweet Sydney.  Oh this girl.  She is just the sweetest.  Have I ever mentioned how when she leans in to hug us, she almost always closes her eyes while she holds on...well, she does.  It's like she is feeling the hug.  She is beyond precious.