Confirmed! First Communion!

Today was Nathan's Confirmation and First Communion day! He was pretty nervous about it, although everything went off great. Mass was at 5p.m. and last about 1:45.

Grandma & Grandpa Steffan came to town early to take us out for lunch to celebrate (cudos to G&G Steffan...they were in GF on Wednesday night for practice for this event, again on Friday night for Hannah's recital dress rehearsal, and now again today...wow!). Uncle Gary, Aunt Annette, and Cousin Darek came to GF from Devils Lake. Uncle Brian, Aunt Latana, and Cousin Chay drove up from Fargo for the event, too (yes, Bri/Latana/Chay were in GF last night for Hannah's recital, too...road warriors!).

Nathan picked St. Michael the Arch-Angel as his patron saint and was thrilled with the statue Sandy found for him (see the pic of Nathan with his certificates). The statue created some discussion with the kids, specifically the devil under St. Michael's left foot (not quite in the picture).

Nathan: Cool! St. Michael the Arch-Angel defeating the devil!

Tyler: Why is the devil naked??

Me: I guess St. Michael beat the pants off him.

Hannah: And his shirt and socks, too.

Nathan's pretty happy being a confirmed member of the Catholic Church and able to take communion.

He's also a tired boy. All three kids are. Been a long weekend and tomorrow is the first day of the last week of school. Hard to believe that Nathan is going to be a 4th grader and Hannah is now finishing kindergarten! They're growing up too fast!

Deja Tutu

Last night was Hannah's Spring Dance Recital. The Pasley Ballet School practices all school year long for one night of recital. Hannah was in three dances this year: Ballet ("Somebody come and play"), tap dance ("Twist and Shout") and Jazz ("Sugar Sugar").

I was amazed at Hannah's classes and their development. This really struck me when I saw one of the 3-year old classes dancing. They are really cute in their tiny tutus, but none of them really know what they are doing. In one case, a little girl just stood on the stage with her arms crossed and a mad look on her face. The entire dance she just stood there, mad and upset. If anyone was dancing, they weren't dancing in time with anyone else on stage. They're really cute, though! That was Hannah's class a couple years ago.

This year everyone was trying to stay in time and dance along with everyone else. Everyone danced and most of them actually remembered the steps. I was impressed.

When Hannah danced her jazz dance, no one on the stage swung her hips more! I was so proud.

I used my new smartphone to take a video of her first dance...then I accidently deleted it.

I used my new smartphone to take a video of her second dance, too. I wasn't sure if Hannah could see us (Uncle Brian, Brother Nathan, and myself) sitting in the front row. She made eye contact a couple of times, but there didn't seem to be any recognition. I waved. Hannah got a big smile on her face and then blew me a kiss, right in the middle of the dance! Wow! She could see me after all!

I didn't take a video of the third dance due to memory limits on the phone.

For some reason I cannot find the video of the second dance. I don't think I deleted it and I hope to find it. I'll post it as soon as I do. I think the phone might be smarter than I am...

Special commendation to Sandy: Sandy listened, over and over, to Hannah's dance tape, writing down the dance steps and running Hannah through practicing them countless times to make sure she knew her stuff. Sandy also sewed alterations on Hannah's costumes, suffering a number of finger pokes (Sandy really, really doesn't like sewing). Sandy also volunteered to be a "backstage mom" for Friday night's dress rehearsal...a tough job of organizing all the girls in the class to be on stage on time, ready to go, providing snacks, taking little girls "potty," etc. (I didn't even mention how many times Sandy spent over an hour each time rolling Hannah's hair in curlers.) Sandy really knocked herself out.