Ballet Begins! (And a quick catch up)

Katie has been talking about "dance class" since she was 2. She has been dreaming about this day for a long time. After I put her little outfit on I told her,
"You're a REAL ballerina!"
She smiled and said, "I'm a REAL ballerina?"
"Yes!" She hugged me and said,
"Thank you, Mama!"

Sweetness.

'Course a ballerina outfit presents a photo opportunity in our house.



The Bug had to warm up first with a few plies. Then she struck her poses.







Andrew was so cute. He was standing there watching and then gave a sigh and said, "All right, I'll dance with her."
Like I had been begging him.
I hadn't even thought of it or brought the topic up.
But you can see by his face he enjoyed it. And oh my, it made Kitti's day.



They twirled and twirled.
Andrew is so sweet like that.


I love this.
Look at his face. :)
Fun over. This was right before he declared himself "done." :)



More posing.



I liked the band aid under her tights.



Sweet feet.



I love things that are Pink and fluffy.
Probably why I like peonies.



And then it was time to go!



True to Katie's nature she joined in and was confident from the start. She had been waiting for this moment for a long time and so there wasn't a moment's hesitation.
Just like pre-school, she was ready to go!



Sweet Gracie wasn't so sure at first.  Shannon ended up doing part of the class with her and then she had fun.  She just needed a little warm up time.



I think Katie has observed her middle brother enough to adopt some of his silliness. :)



The class did really well and the instructor said it was a great class. They were very attentive, she said it was very unusual.



There was bar work as well. Being serious ballerinas & all.



More pinkness.



The girls were given balloons. (That Mama accidentally released when I was buckling Katie into her seat. Ooops).



Our pretty ballerinas.
It was a wonderful lesson. The only hiccup is that they do Tap during her class as well (but not the first day), and Katie is emphatic that she does NOT want to do tap. ONLY ballet. We'll see how that goes.....

On to other things.  Matthew is always building, building, building with Legos.  He's really good at it and has such a passion for it.  Here is one of his contraptions.  A mixer!





He made chocolate milk for Andrew and Katie one night.  He builds things from his imagination that are impressive and can definitely read the lego instruction manuals better than I can.  He's very spatially oriented.  He did NOT get that from me. 

And as you read the next part, please know that I'm not trying to complain (though I do find myself complaining in real life sometimes and I had a conversation with myself today about stopping that!  I hate listening to myself complain about something that I can control and made a choice to do.)  But I really do want to record what life is like right now as it continually changes and this is where we're at.   I feel a little like I did the semester in college when I decided to take 18 credits (which being a chem major there was a lab in there that was a one credit class but 3 hours of time ~ I always felt lik that was so unfair).  And I was teaching two quiz sections of Chem 101 which meant teaching two 3 hour lab sections, holding two one hour quiz sections, and holding office hours plus grading two classes of labs/homework each week.  I was crazy busy.  I liked to push myself but I definitely felt maxed that semester.

I'm feeling  a little like that right now. Our fall schedule is ramping up and we add something each week as activities start up. (This week my bible study starts along with volunteering in the boys' classrooms on Friday afternoon ~ trading off one each week). Next week we'll add tennis in for Matthew once a week and we'll officially have something every day of the week including saturday and sunday.  We're taking a great parenting class on Sunday mornings at church that I'm SO glad we're taking it just definitely feels like a sacrifice of time adding in the extra hour at church when our weekdays are so full already.  But it's an important topic (Spiritual Parenting) ~ one that I know very little about and is the highest priority to Dan and I, so we really want to go.  Our whole small group is taking it, so that is really fun.

It is going to be a busy, busy year. By far the busiest we've had. Dan said this will probably be the worst ~ at least for a while...simply because of the 3 different school schedule logistics coupled with the activities. I'm just coming and going throughout the day so my days are very chopped up, and am continually transitioning the kids.  It's a little nuts and I didn't help matters by adding in activities. So please don't read this in a complaining tone ~ I've certainly had a hand in it and I know most parents feel this way. It'll be much better when November starts and Tae Kwon Do, Tennis and Soccer will all be over. It'll help a LOT. I'm just hanging on and trying to be as efficient and organized as possible until then.  I'm pretty much just always in motion right now.  Again, really trying to not sound like I'm complaining I know there are people who are much busier than me with far more responsibility (I always think of single working Moms ~ my hat is off to them!)  Anyway, I'm sure I'll figure out the best way to manage things after a couple more weeks and it'll be better.  That's how it usually goes with each new school year/change.

In other news, Andrew is adjusting so well to school!  I am both surprised and SO happy and proud of him.  I have not heard ONE word from his Kindergarten teacher (since her initial encouraging call)!  This is a first.  :)  I am anxious to go in on Friday and hear/see first hand how he's doing, but Andrew is reporting that he's making good choices!  I think he'd tell me if he was doing otherwise.  He is however, tired.   He has never had so much on his plate before.  He has Kindergarten, Tae Kwon Do twice a week and soccer twice a week (he LOVES it).  I wouldn't normally do two activities at once but the Tae Kwon Do is a 6 mo commitment and Andrew really wanted to try soccer ~ which I'm very glad we did.  It's a lot, but he is managing it so well.  Amazingly well, for our little guy.

I tucked him into the sofa one morning with a movie when we had some time at hom and just let him rest.  I am really, really proud of him.



He looked so snuggly in there.

And now, I need to head to bed as another week starts up tomorrow and Mon/Tues are my busiest days.

'NIght!