American Idol Camp

We got a flier in the mail back in the spring from a dance studio in Frisco advertising a number of camps they were doing this summer. We thought about signing both girls up for one, but goodness they’re pricey! They had an American Idol camp that emphasized singing and dance that I thought Ellie would like, so we signed her up! I had no idea what it would be like exactly…

Turns out they go from 9-3 Monday through Thursday and spend the week learning a group song and dance as well as practicing a snippet of their own SOLO song along with some art and play time. There would be a play/performance at the end of the week. I wasn’t sure Ellie would do the solo song. She’s outgoing, but she definitely has a shy side. She came home from the first day and LOVED it. She was so excited about her day and had so much fun. We had a task that night which was to select her solo song. We were supposed to send her with two choices. She and I talked about it, and we decided to go with Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty (1st choice) and Time of Our Lives by Miley Cyrus. They chose the first one, so we got her to practice at home all week. She wouldn’t practice with her teachers, though, so we had lots of talks about being brave and James and I kept our expectations for the performance low!

She was also supposed to have a costume of some sort. They emphasized not going out and buying one, but Ellie was due for another dress up dress anyway, so I told her since she was singing a princess song that we could go to the Disney store and pick out a dress for her to wear. (I was really mean and told her we’d return it if she wasn’t brave and didn’t sing her song. Rude, right?! I didn’t mean it…) At first she picked a yellow Belle dress (the Sleeping Beauty dresses weren’t in yet), but then she changed her mind and wanted the Cinderella wedding dress. Um, a little over the top for this little show, but I let her get what she wanted. The joys of motherhood….

So, without further ado, I give you Ellie in her first American Idol performance! The little girl next to her was a friend who went up there with her to help her be brave. :) (Listen closely to Emma at the beginning – how sweet!)

 

And here was the group song. You’ll see that we were having some issues with our little veil, so we weren’t SUPER focused on the dancing part. This is just the first half or so, but you get the idea. The last half is very similar:

And for your added enjoyment, here’s both girls singing the song earlier in the week. (We played the song a LOT around our house this week!) This one comes complete with 3 year old nose picking and all: