Hallelujah Hop!

The Pre-K4 classes and the Kindergarten classes at Holy Cross have put on the Hallelujah Hop for the past 10 years. This year, the show was on April 7th at a local church in the evening. Since the performance didn't start until 7:30, John Michael and Clara got to stay at home with the babysitter (plus, they had been to numerous performances over the last 2 weeks and were going the next day to the performance at a nursing home). So it was a rare night out alone with Mommy & Daddy for Gracie.

Here she is at home, all dressed and ready to go and loving her outfit for the show:


(Yes, I survived the making of the poodle skirt. I'll be prepared for next year when I have to do two!)

Then it was on to the show. They have the kids come early so they can take pictures. We weren't quite as "on-time" as everyone else (who knew that you should really be there an hour early if you didn't want to sit pretty much in the back!). But we got aisle seats and I was able to take a few good shots during the performance.

Here are a few shots before the show, with the excited performer:




This is Gracie's class (morning pre-k4). Sitting next to Gracie is one of her good friends, Presley (with the glasses) and on the other side is William, another friend and the boy she dances with in the show.

Finally, all the pictures were done and the show began. Even though I had been watching rehearsals of it (and listening to the CD in the car and at home), it was still really neat to see all the kids up on stage in their costumes performing. Gracie wasn't nervous at all & really enjoyed it! She's not use to staying up much past 8:30 though, so by the end, she was pretty tired!


Here she is doin' the twist!


And this is her doing her part (as a dancer) with William. All the kids had a special "part" in the performance. It was really nice the way they did it. The kids all got a chance to show off their talents without being overwhelmed.


William giving Gracie a twirl - which was very funny, because Gracie is taller than William!


A happy girl after the show, skipping through the parking lot with Daddy.


One last treat for the night - ice cream at Dairy Queen!

And they all had to get up and do it again the next day at the nursing home. Clara was thrilled to go and watch and John Michael was pretty good about it, too. Then we all got to go to the malt shop for the "cast party" and some lunch!


A loving and patient sis, who knew the Hallelujah Hop almost as well as her Big Sis at this point!