Brookelyn's First Dance Competition...Now Updated with Professional Photos!

Saturday was Brookelyn's first dance competition.  She was super excited! Her first dance was a production number based on the movie Madagascar.  She was a lemur--isn't her costume adorable?!

Stretching before heading backstage.

 She did a wonderful job on stage! We were SUPER proud of her!

Here are some of the professional pictures of her on stage:

Up next was her small group performance to "How Bad Can I Be" from the movie The Lorax.  These costumes were so cute too!

Here she is with all the little girls in the dance and their "security" Braedyn and Sutton!

And, here are some of the professional pictures of her on stage performing:

Look at that one handed cartwheel!

The girls did an amazing job! They earned High Gold awards for both of their dances! It certainly was a long, crazy, stressful, exciting day--we were there from 9:15 in the morning until 10:30 at night--but it was so worth it! Braedyn even wanted to go back the next day!

Brookelyn Lost Her Two Front Teeth!

Brookelyn's front two teeth have been a little wiggly since Christmas, but all of a sudden they got really loose! First, it was her front right one.  She really wanted Mommy to pull it, but it wasn't quite ready.  So, that night she worked and worked on it.  By the morning, Mommy was able to easily pull it right out!

Then, a few days later, her front left one started turning dark and getting super loose.  Mommy told her to work on it over night and she would pull it in the morning like the last time. However, this time Miss Brookelyn twisted it right out by herself that night!

Doesn't she look adorable?!

Working on the Nursery

We have been doing some major room rearranging in the Bates' house to make room for the newest addition arriving in early May.

The baby will be taking over the guest room.  So, all the guest room furniture (which was mine when I was a little girl) was moved to Brookelyn's room.  And, Brookelyn's furniture was distributed between the baby's room and Braedyn's room.  (I'll do a separate post on Brookelyn's new room.)

One of the projects I tackled in the baby's room was a painting for over his crib.

I bought the painting from Rhea Lana (the local kid's consignment sale) but the color wasn't right.  So, I repainted the whole thing so that it would match the exact color green from the baby's room.  It took FOREVER! But, I am really pleased with how it turned out.  Oh--and I added an extra baby bird in the nest, since we will have three little ones in the house/nest now!

Two other projects I tackled were the baby's rocker and side table.  I found this HIDEOUS rocker on Craigslist for $20:

It was DISGUSTING! I probably used an entire canister of bleach wipes wiping it down.  Then, I sanded it and gave it three good coats of spray paint.  My mom helped me use the old cushions as a pattern to cut new foam for cushions.  Then, we covered the cushions in fabric that coordinated with the nursery.

For the side table, I bought these shelves from the Goodwill for $7:

After more sanding and lots of spray painting, I stacked them all inside each other to make a side table.

Here is a look at the final result of the rocker and the side table:

 I am really pleased with how they turned out!

 Here is a look at the crib.  We bought it off of Walmart.com! We loved the grey color.  The bedding is pretty simple and based off the crib blanket I also bought at Rhea Lana.  I added the strip of fabric to the bottom of the dust ruffle so it would coordinate with the rocker's cushions.  And, Allen found the light fixture, which I am in LOVE with!

Here is a closer view of the light fixture:

I am still working on the changing table and dresser and plenty of other things for his room, but we have a pretty good start!  More pictures to come!