My little ballerina

T* has been in various dance classes since around the age of 3. She has always really enjoyed it, she loves to dance! It's been really neat watching her come into her own with regards to her confidence in dancing and the way she has changed with listening to the teacher. When she first started dance she was all over the place, talking, not paying attention, not listening, sitting outside the room I would hear the teacher call T*'s name more than anything else almost, it was kind of funny in some ways, and horrifying in others (oh my god, my child does not know how to listen, and can't do as she's told!). Now though, she is completely different, she's become this perfect little girl, never talks when she's not suppose to, always does as she's asked, tries her best. It's great to see, school has helped in that department a lot, so have all the other programs that she has been in.
Today she started a new dance class, it's the same teacher she had last year but in a different studio. The class sizes are a little smaller and the teacher is great ( I think it helps that she has two little ones of her own). I'm looking forward to seeing how this 'term' goes. It will be a new experience this time as the teacher is really focused, she works with them to make sure that they understand everything and they are learning all the proper moves. T* has done ballet with her before but this time they actually have the mirrors and the bare to work with. It's really cute to see these little 4 and 5 year old's doing all these ballet moves. I am so happy that we are able to put T* in these kinds of things, especially when she really enjoys it, so far ballet and swimming are the only 2 things that she keeps going back to. It's grate to watch her grow in both of these things. Today was cute as well because we got all T*'s new ballet stuff, her leotard, her new ballet shoes, and her new skirt, we are just waiting on her tights and her new dance bag. As I said, this dance class is a little different. We need to have all the proper clothing this time, no going to the department store, luckily we got discounts by ordering through the teacher, that and the store she uses has pretty good prices anyways, it's also not that bad because T* can use everything but the shoes for a few years. I love watching her dance anyways so it's all totally worth it, the look on her face is priceless. I can't wait till the recital at the end of this term, it's going to be great!

Game day

I have been waiting for a while now for T* to be old enough for us to play board games. We had a few little kids games that we played a couple times but I wanted to get the better ones. Now that she is 5 I figured it was time. She can follow directions and count and such so it now makes it a lot easier. Today since she wasn't in school I thought we would make a trip to Walmart and see what we could find. I lucked out, we were able to get 3 new games to play, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Pop & Go (pretty much the same as Sorry but has Dora on it), and Candyland. I never actually had any of them as a kid but loved to play them at friends houses. The games went over great! Because it was raining out R* wasn't working so the 3 of us were able to sit down together and play all 3 games. It took around 1 and 1/2 hours, but it was a lot of fun. T* had a great time, she actually won 2 of the games, R* won the last 1, but it was a great time. I look forward to playing many more games and finding new ones that we can try out as T* gets older. There are so many different ones to try. I'd like to get Chutes and Ladders next( I even saw a 3D version!), then when she's a little older I'd like to get Pictureka, it looks like another fun one. It's nice now that T* is a little older and we can get into things more.

Does this mean I'm a nerd??

As I have said many times before, I love reading! It's one of my favorite pass times. For a while now I have been trying to read Stephenie Meyer's book "The Host". I've read the Twilight saga around 4 times already, and I know I will read them again, they are that good. I kept hearing about "The Host" from different people, everyone told me it was a really good book and if I enjoyed her other books than I should read it. Every time I went to the library I looked it up, and every time it was out, always with holds put on for when it came back in. A week and a half ago was no exception, I'm pretty sure there were actually 10 holds put on it. I knew that was way to long to wait, I was thinking of just buying it so that I could finally read it, but then I noticed that the large print was in. I figured 'why not? It can't be that big, right?' wrong! The thing was HUGE! It was like walking around with an dictionary! I got a number of weird looks from people when they saw it, it was that big of a book. It was very much worth it though, "The Host" is an amazing book! It was just awesome, I couldn't put it down at all, I finished the whole thing in 2 days. Stephenie Meyer is an amazing writer and I can't wait till she writes something else, I know I have found another favorite author!

Fair Day

I love the fall fair, other than the fact that I end up spending a lot of money. It makes for a great afternoon. This year we were able to go as a family with some friends and their two kids. I met D* about two years ago when we had our daughters enrolled in the same soccer program, we were the only two mothers that only missed one class each and since the girls got along with each other and we got along as well we started getting together for play dates, two years later and we all know each other and get together whenever we can.

Now that T* is getting bigger she is able to go on more of the rides. She has always gone on the kids rides but this year she was able to go on some of the "adult" rides, she was tall enough for the little roller coaster, the bumper cars (though I had to do the driving for that one), and even the tilt-a-whirl. It's really neat to see her growing up and coming into her own more, she has always been the type to try all kinds of different things and show no fear, and that hasn't changed yet. I love watching her face light up as she goes on a ride, it seems like the faster the ride the more fun she has. I'm looking forward to the day that we can take her to Canada's Wonderland again and she is able to go on all the rides, we did go once a few years ago, kiddie land was the best for her, she went on every ride possible (though waiting was something she didn't do to well). I love going to the fairs more though because they are a lot closer and not as much of a full day trip as Canada's Wonderland. I like checking out all the different stands they have and watching all the little kids run around. I love that they have games just for the kids, that way T* can play them on her own, it's more exciting when she wins a prize all by herself. Each time I have taken her to the Fall Fair we have found at least one 'carney' who is just really really nice. Two years ago the one 'carney' helped T* a gold fish, you should have seen her face, she was sooo excited. This year the 'carney' at the 'fishing pond' let T*, and my friends kids all play for the price of one and gave them all 2 toys each. It's so nice to find people like that, who seem to care more about the kids having fun than with how much money they can make. It's nice to know there are people out there who are still like that. After the fair we went back to D* and C*'s for a BBQ, all in all it was a great day, lots of fun. It's always great to be able to get kids together for a play date when you get along with their parents, it's like a giant play date for everyone!!

Another year has begun

This week my daughter started her second year of school. Senior Kindergarten already, it feels so strange to have a school aged child. I was able to get almost all of her school clothes for $230 at Zehrs, I love Joe Fresh clothing for kids, it's inexpensive and it lasts, it's also pretty cute stuff. I like all the clothing and so does T* and I don't have to spend a fortune on a years worth of stuff, even the shoes are pretty good.

Last year at school was great, it was a very small class (only 14 kids), the teacher was amazing, I honestly couldn't have picked a better teacher for T*'s first year of school. It's was a little strange to have 2 or 3 days a week all to myself with no child there asking for things to eat or something to do, for the first few months I honestly felt a little lost while she was gone. Eventually I got into the swing of things, I found I could get a lot more done without T* constantly wanting to eat or talk, and it was kind of nice to have the quiet. I did feel that all day at school was a bit long for a 4 year old but T* absolutely loved school, she made lots of friends and loved her teacher, it was really great watching her learn all the letters and numbers and start reading all on her own. It was really crazy to see how fast she was growing up. Now we are at the beginning of another year of school, again 2 or 3 days a week I am all by myself while she goes to school and learns. It feels like she is growing up without me in some ways. I am really happy to say that her teacher this year is just as nice as the one last year, we did meet her a few times before so it's not like she was a total stranger the first day of school. T*'s class is still nice and small (16 kids this year) and she is loving it already. Her biggest concerns before she started were "will the teacher be nice? and will her friends from last year be there?", again she did great on the first day. I do find that she is a bit cranky when she gets home but nothing some quiet time wont fix.

I think it's harder on the parents than it is on the kids, I know with T* she was totally fine with going to school all by herself last year, I actually had to remind her to give me a kiss and hug most mornings when I dropped her off. This year started out pretty much the same way, though she did ask if I could stay for a little while the first day, I didn't and she was totally fine with it, all her friends being there made that easy, today she just said goodbye and that was it. I always find it funny that so many parents look forward to the time when summer is over and their kids go back to school. That must come when they get older, I still miss her when she's not here. I do get a lot done, things that take forever when she is here take no time at all while she is in school, but I feel like I'm just killing time for the most part. I miss all her questions and the funny things she comes up with sometimes, I even kind of miss the noise. I did get to clean my car on Tuesday, it really needed to be done and isn't really something I can do with T*. I got to walk around the library slowly today without hearing "can we go now" every 2 minutes. It is nice to have the free time but I still miss her. I'm just happy that she totally loves school and has no problem being there. It's nice to know that while I kind of wander around wondering what to do she is totally content to be at school learning and playing with her friends. I just hope this love of school lasts all her life! Here's to a great year!!

Another year gone by

Just over two weeks ago my baby turned 5. I guess she's not really a baby anymore, as she likes to tell me all the time, but to me she will always be my baby. I still find it hard to believe that she is already 5. There are times when I look at her and wonder where the time has gone, I have been with her every day but sometimes it still feel like there are all kinds of things that I have missed over the years. It's scary how fast they grow, before you know it they start school, and I'm sure that it just goes by even faster with each passing year.

I have always tried to make her birthdays something that she will remember, something that she will enjoy. I want her birthdays to be special days, days she will always remember. T*'s 3 birthdays were huge affairs, tons of people, tons of food, tons of planning. There just seemed to be so much work involved. For the last 2 years I have tried to make them a little a smaller, so that there isn't quite so much money involved. Last year worked out really well, she a wanted a princess tea party, so we just invited a few girlfriends, it was nice a quite and easy. This year there was a little more involved. We have a lot of friends who have kids and it's hard to know who to invite and who not to. Then I always feel guilty when I don't invite everyone. It's just so hard. I try and make the birthdays about T* and not worry about the rest of it, I figure now that she is 5 it makes more sense to invite her friends and forgo ours. Still I always feel bad for not inviting everyone, (I would like to say sorry to all our friends that weren't invited this year, I really wish that I could invite everyone but it would just be too big) but really it's about T* and her friends. This year took me a while to figure out what to do for her birthday. I wanted it to be special, as always, and I wanted to do something with just T* and I and a friend for her. I finally came up with taking her to get a manicure and pedicure, I figured it would be something that she would totally enjoy (she is always asking me to paint her nails) and something that would make a special day. So on the date of her actual birthday, I invited a friend of mine and her daughter (a very good friend of T*'s) and we all went to get our nails done. I swear, it was the best idea I ever had, T* absolutely loved it! She must have thanked me at least 5 times that day for taking her to get her nails done, we had such a great time. It was great, they had her up in the massage chair with her feet getting soaked and everything, T* got to pick out the nail polish color, they put little flowers on her thumbs and big toes, it was awesome, they ladies were totally great about doing her nails. It made that day totally special that she got to do something new that she really liked. I think it's going to become a tradition every year now, it was really the best idea I ever came up with. I love finding things that mean so much and that T* will remember. I'd like to make it a tradition just so that through the years as she gets older there is something that we can always do together, and it will grow with her.

For the party itself, we invited family with children and a few friends of T*'s. There are just a few kids that she sees all the time so there weren't tons of kids, it was nice and easy, just a BBQ, though it was still a lot of work, lots of running around the week before and making sure that I had everything. It's funny, pretty much every year I plan to put out the kiddie pools and let the kids run around in them, I've never actually been able to do it though because each year I plan that the weather doesn't cooperate. I don't know what it is, it will be nice the whole week leading up to party day but the day of always seems to get cold or rain, unless the plan is just to stay inside, it's the oddest thing.

The birthday went really well though, the kids had a lot of fun and the parents enjoyed themselves as well (at least I think they did, everyone seemed to have a good time). There was enough food, enough for the kids to do, they all seemed to get along the whole party, so it went well. Now I have to figure out what to do next year lol.