Hip Crazy Blog Mamas giveaway

Yup, another giveaway! Another thing to be hap, hap, happy about or more appropriately "thankful" about. This time Angelina Ballerina and The Silver Locket is up for grabs at Hip Crazy Blog Mamas. The only requirement to this giveaway is to post a blog entry about dancing or mice.

It would probably be easier for me to write about Angelina Jolie. Last night I had a dream that my husband disappeared for 4 days and when he returned he was more interested in what Angelina Jolie was saying and doing in my dream than he was in me. I asked him this morning after I work what he found so appealing about her... he denied any attraction and then went on to list who i should be worried about. Oh, how thankful I am for such a witty husband. But I digress...

Dancing or mice... well I can not for the life of me think of a story about mice. I have vague memories of a pet mouse we had as kids who kept breeding more and more little blind gray mice. I am not sure how that whole cycle stopped itself. I just hope it had nothing to do with a toilet and a quick cold hearted flush from an overwhelmed and fed up parent... but i digress again. *sigh*

So dancing, it is. My daughter takes ballet. It is on Wednesday, sandwiched in between Tuesday and Thursday's Taekwondo classes. On Tuesday and Thursday I am dragging 2 children to Taekwondo... but on Thursday it is only Avery who takes the class. Her brother says its a "girl" activity. I had really hoped to raised a progressive boy but some of these notions they are just born with... like the sticks=guns thing. A girl would never think of that. My daughter, she loves to dance. She has taken the VHS tape "I Want to be a Ballerina" out of the library at least 4 times. She visits the library with her father semi regularly all excited about what she is going to check out only to come home with the same tape. But she practices being a ballerina when she watches this tape. She practice the ballet walk and the ballet run, as well as walking on her tippy toes.

Of course, we do not have to wait to the inevitable reappearance of this particular tape to watch ballet. Avery loves Barbie and all Barbie movies, but especially the ones where she or many replicas of her dance and twirl. The 12 Dancing Princess is one of her favorites. She decides which of the princesses she is going to be for that sitting and acts out her part in earnest. Who knew Barbie would help her to grow her love of dance, really who knew? Not me. But the DVDs are lovely. I admit to watching most of them through once. The animation is done very well and the stories are full of girls doing amazingly brave things. That doesn't stop my daughter from wanting to be "beautiful". I wish it did. I always make it a point to emphasize how smart and courageous Barbie is being int he movie. Maybe it will make a difference someday. I can only hope.

Avery has her first recital this Spring in her new dance class. She wants her older brother to join her on stage so she won't be so afraid. Which is very funny since Avery is not afraid of anything really. She is my little spit fire red head. But her brother gives her courage. His existence is a joy to her. She plans on marrying him. And just as she does not understand yet that she can not marry her brother, much to his chagrin, she doesn't understand that "boys don't dance" either. Ooooo maybe I am raising a progressive girl after all.