RAD (as in Royal Academy of Dance ballet exams, not the term from the 80's)

Last year Mikayla took ballet exams for the first time.

I was impressed with how much she learned and what a great boost of confidence it was.

This year, we required that all our girls take the RAD ballet exams.

The week before the exam, our studio set up a time for the parents to come in and watch the girls do all their exam work.

First, here are the photos from that day:

{yes, I got to watch all three girls' classes on one day...3 hours...proud Mommy!}

Mailee is a beautiful dancer!

She took her grade 4 exam.

Graceful girl!

Sisters looking on.

Mailee was most hesitant to agree to taking exams. 

I was so proud of the hard work she put in. It really paid off!

Bar work.

Character dancing!

Gotta love those character skirts!!

Mailee with her friends from ballet and their lovely ballet teacher, Miss Emma.

{Emma is Mikayla and Maddie's ballet teacher as well}

{JSYK...we <3 emma="" miss="" p="">

Mikayla took her Interfound exam.

She's worked so hard this year, I love watching her!

Lots of smiles this year, I can tell she's enjoying every second.

The Interfound girls:)

At the bar.

Mikayla is in the middle

They do part of the exam on Pointe.

Awe!

Beautiful dancer girl!

Maddie's class did not take the grade 2 exam, but they did "class award" which is like a mock exam.

So proud of my littlest ballerina:)

I made some new numbers for the girls at our studio to wear for the exam.

Everyone was pretty excited after working hard for months to be ready...

Mailee was up first on exam day!

Getting ready to go in!

Pep talk from the teacher...

Mikayla {giving me a silly face because I pulled my camera out} pins a number on Abbi.

You know that nervous feeling...

ready to go in...

Happy to be finished!

Topping off the day with new team jackets!!!!

The next day we were back at the studio for ballerina #3.

More loving encouragement from Miss Emma...

I really appreciate the disciplined element that exams have brought to dance in our home.

I also love seeing the girls encourage each other and share in a common goal!

If your daughters are dancing, find out if your studio offers the RAD program, it is well worth the extra commitment!

Mailee's 10th Birthday Party

Mailee's party was a blast.

Here are the details; first the people then the decor.

Mailee was really involved with all the details.

She made these adorable picks the week before the party.

So cute, hey?

Everyone dressed up, even the dads.

This cowboy, pirate and chicken were all great sports!

Mailee's friends looked amazing in their costumes and masks.

Mai Mai was so excited to wear her Marie Antoinette costume.

Her favourite parts were the hair and the fan:)

Little "pink princess" was so proud to wear her pretty dress and hold up her mask!

Us big girls got into it too.

Christmas Fairy, Flower child, prom princess and Lady Pink.

Somebody missed her nap time!

The spread.

I managed to keep this party free of sweets (with the exception of the cake)

Musical chairs was played more than once.

The girls were asking to play again and again.

Mailee has a collection of collector Barbies.

{Can you say that, "collection of collector Barbies"...?}

She picked these plates and napkins:)

Lanterns never get old for me.

I mixed it up by glittering a few of the small ones and adding some bunches of tulle.

I "swooped" tulle from one side of the room up to the other side.

This gave the room the "grand" feeling Mailee wanted.

We collected candle sticks and other items for a few weeks before the party.

Once we got them home they all got a nice coat of spray paint.

Pretty!

We bought some cheap plastic dress up crowns and wands from the dollar store and spray painted them too.

Mailee's birthday is the week before Halloween so we even spray painted a bunch of real pumpkins.

They looked amazing in gold and shades of pink!

See that cute pumpkin?

How about the candlestick?

There's also a soup can and another dollar store crown.

With a little creativity you can make a little into a lot!

We also glittered a bunch of white pumpkins.

They looked so fabulous!!!

Oh the glittery gorgeousness!!

A few candles got the glitter treatment as well.

Here's a close up of one of the lanterns.

This was also very easy and soo worth the effort!

Ooh!  Another fun thing that I'm so excited to share!

I bought those tacky number candles from the dollar store and glammed them up with gold glitter puff paint, rhinestones and beads.

I also added toothpicks to the bottom of each one so that they would stay in place on the cake.

They turned out so great.

I hope you'll take this idea and run with it.  This makes the possibilities endless as far as tacky candles made fabulous is concerned:)

These candles were the favours.

We found the adorable pink glass vases on clearance and took them to our favourite soy candle creator Granville Island Candles.

They filled them with the flavour of Mailee's choice (Cinnamon Bun).

Oh I also spray painted a few vases gold:)

More pretty-ness.

Looky what I found at Michaels...Gold glittery wrapping paper!

Have I ever told you that I love little details?

Thanks for looking!

I may have missed something, if you have any questions just ask!