Dancensation 2008!

(Grace and Hattie warming up before the recital)

This past Monday was the annual grand dance recital for Grace's studio. Dancensation 2008 turned out to be pretty great!

Grace, again, was in a pre-school dance class combo of tap and ballet. Of all the things that interest Grace, you'd think formal dancing would be the least of them. She is not a girly girl. She likes to dress like a tomboy, hates to have her hair done, runs like crazy from dolls, skirts, lace, and frills. She gets very upset when she has to do hair and make-up for the recital because "mom, I just don't look like myself." But, she has always loved music and has always loved moving her body, so maybe that's why she does like dancing. She actually absolutely loves it.(Grace and friends with their beloved teacher, Miss Allison)

I posted previously how I was dreading the very last day of pre-school because I thought she'd be so sad. She had loved it so much and the thought of not seeing her friends again seemed devastating. But, she walked out on the last day without a tear or a glance backward - totally fine. Not true with dance! She left the recital crying that the year was over. Funny thing is - she will dance again next year at the same studio, but left behind a pre-school and friends permanently. She truly misses dance lessons when she can't go and misses it all summer.

(Grace in the middle of a shuffle-hop-step in her tap number, Zippety-do-dah!)

For the recital, we left Hattie with our friends, the Dotys. We didn't think she'd last nicely through the long night of endless numbers, awards, and pauses waiting for costume changes. Good thing we did too - David and I barely made it through!(Grace's beautiful ballet bun)

Grace's numbers were both early in the program. Her dance teacher does this on purpose so that the little ones can leave at intermission. Not Grace! She is a die-hard dancer. She wants to be in the finale! So, for the second time, we have sat through the second half so that she could dance in the last number with the whole studio and get her ribbon. We picked up Hattie at about 10:45pm!(Grace groovin' in the finale number)

I have to say that watching Grace dance is one of the very few joys I get as her mother to see her really being a little girl - not just a little kid. During her ballet number, there is a part where the 4 dancers are holding hands in a circle. I started crying at this part both at the dress rehearsal and the recital. It was such a little girl moment and I just don't get very many of them.

You'll have to check out the flickr page for all the photos, but here are a few along with a video of her ballet dress rehearsal...

Tag, I'm it again

My friend Chris tagged me a while ago. I haven't done anything about it because I've been trying to think of new things to write about my boring old self. Here are the rules:

Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names; then goes to their blog, leaves them a comment by letting them know that they've been tagged and invites them to read your blog.

1- I have never sent a text message. Ever. I have received a few, but never responded. I actually don't even know how to do it. Since it takes me probably one whole minute to enter in a name to my cell phone contacts, I'm sure I will never be good at texting. You can text me, but don't expect a response anytime soon. This makes me feel very old-fashioned and out-dated.

2- I am a food snob. I haven't always been a food snob. In the last year, I have discovered that there isn't any actual real food in 90% of a regular grocery store- especially in the center aisles. The only food is on the perimeter as you walk through produce, dairy, meet, and bakery. I'm really not sure what they're selling on the aisles, but it isn't meant for regular human consumption. (that being said - I will still eat a sleeve of oreos on a Friday night in front of a movie - so don't read too much into this!) I am now addicted to a local farm market for produce and a Trader Joe's for most of what we eat. We were out of BBQ sauce last week and I was at our regular grocery store and couldn't bring myself to buy any because I know I can get it at Trader Joe's where the ingredients are actual food items and not high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. I am not a person who MUST HAVE the "organic" stuff. Being biology/chemistry major, anything containing carbon is organic, so I'd sure hate to eat something in-organic which would have to be made of some sort of metal or gaseous non-metal or radioactive substance. I just want actual food and I don't want hormones and chemistry experiments as major ingredients in what I eat! Having said this - I won't be snobby at your house. If I am served food in someone else's home or a restaurant, I will happily eat what I am served and I won't think about it one bit. If someone is nice enough to make me something and bring it to me, I will gladly eat it with a smile and I will be grateful for their generosity. If I am at a church or other social function, I won't bring my own food because I'm too good for what is being served. But, at my own house, I am a food snob.

3- I have a recurring dream that I've been having for years. There are variations, but basically, I dream that I have not been to math class for an entire school year and it is now time for graduation and I am going to be short my math credit and I don't even know where the math classroom is to go talk to my teacher and work things out. This is a really stressful dream and usually happens when I am under stress too. I had it last night again. I often think about what it might mean. Today in sacrament meeting, a member of our bishopric told us about an almost identical dream that he has and his conclusion was that he is unprepared for something. I don't know what I'm unprepared for, but apparently, I stress about being unprepared!

4- I am broken. This is what David tells me. I have scoliosis in my spine which means that my back is all gnarly and put together wrong which makes the rest of me not quite right too. I also have lots of joint problems. I can truly tell you if it's going to rain because my knees ache. I'm not bothered by it most of the time, so I don't seek medical attention. At least David is nice and gives me lots of back rubs...

5- habits? do I have to confess? probably not best to do when you don't know who reads this! (and when you DO know who reads this!)

6- I rode my bike for the first time since getting pregnant with Grace. We went on a family bike ride on Friday. I don't mind biking with Grace as a partner. She's just like me - goes slower downhill than up! David, on the other hand can get pretty frustrated with me which is why I don't ride much. Now that my bike has been dusted off, I'm hoping to do more rides with the kids.

I'm not going to go to your blogs, so we'll see who really reads this. Tag, you're it! To: oh, honestly, do I even have 6 friends? If you want to do it, be my guest :-) The person who is really fun to play tag with is Hattie! She will run up to you at the most unlikely moment and tap you and say "tag" and run away. It is really funny.

Grace Graduates

(Grace's pre-school class - she is on the left, one row back)

Grace graduated from pre-school yesterday. It was a really special day for her. She has loved her year at pre-school and has really enjoyed her friends and her teachers there.

(Grace receiving her flower from Mrs. Ray, her other teacher there is Mrs. Reardon.)

They did a really simple program with the kids singing a few songs and then called each one up to get their little rolled up diploma and a flower. Then, they got to eat some yummy snacks and play with their friends. (Grace riding trikes with Colin - yep, he's in a suit!)

We also were able to take home a portfolio of things they have been doing all year. She had drawn a great family portrait as well as many drawings of her first-loves, Thomas the train, and her dog Velvet. She also wrote some funny little stories and had a nice little journal that they had been keeping about their curriculum. The last thing they did this year for science was to raise a batch of salamander eggs. They got to watch them hatch into tad-pole stages and then finally mature into (almost) adult salamanders.

(Grace looking at the salmanders)

Now, I know to some people, the idea of a graduation ceremony to mark the end of pre-school seems pretty silly, and to me, it used to seem silly too. But, after the tragedy that my friends have just suffered, that their little daughter died last month about 3 weeks shy of her second birthday, things have been brought into sharp focus for me. No longer will I think that little things like pre-school graduation are silly. No longer will I think that I'm taking way too many pictures of my kids. No longer will I think that some of the milestones are just what everyone does, so it's no big deal, right?

Nope, every milestone and each joy throughout the day are cause for celebration and notice. Now, I don't think that pre-school graduation is cause for renting out a banquet hall and getting dressed in black-tie, but it is very noteworthy. Right now, in the present, it is the most important thing in Grace's life. And so, it is most important to me too.

I am so proud of my little Gracie and of all she has done this year. I know that she will be very very sad tomorrow when she has to tell her friends and her teachers good-bye. (smartly - they do graduation on the next-to-last day, so that the kids can still have one more normal day to play and say good-bye) I know that she has GREAT things ahead of her and I am very grateful to her pre-school teachers for giving her such a positive experience to jump-start her into her school years.

Here's a little video of them singing. It was really hard to see her because of where we were sitting, but you can see her peek out every once in a while. You can also see her 3rd teacher in this shot, Mrs. Burke.

Happy Father's Day

...to the father of my darling girls, to my Dad, to David's Dad, and to my Grandpas...

(Grandpa Earl - David's Dad)

Thank you for raising me and helping me to raise my own kids. Having been a Daddy's girl growing up and now seeing my own girls turning into Daddy's girls, I know something about what makes a Daddy so important.

(Grandpa Lyle - my Dad)

Mostly, it's that they think you are the most beautiful, smartest, best person on the Earth and they tell you so until you are convinced they are right. (great - Grandpa Primmer)

Both Grace and Hattie are absolutely in love with their Daddy. We have missed him all day because of all days, he had to work a 12 hour day today! Finally, though, he is home and they have played all night together. Harriet learned how to say "Happy Father's Day" today and said it to her Daddy and both of her Grandpas. Grace was highly disappointed to have to sing in sacrament meeting without anyone there to sing to, so now she is begging us to go sing her song to daddy.

(great - Grandpa Hal)

We send happy wishes to all the dads we know. We hope you had a really great day.

growing up too fast

(pictures are from riding Tink last week)

Last Friday, I took Grace to her Kindergarten preview. Are you kidding me? I have to start going to school again???!!! The school year has never sat well with me either as a student or as a teacher. Now as the parent of a student, I can feel all those old anxieties and pressures building up before it even begins.The biggest shock to my system is that I have a kid old enough to ride the bus to school. I'm sure I will be standing on the corner of our road crying in September when the bus pulls away.

I am very excited for Grace though. She has looked forward to riding that bus since we moved in. It has picked up the kids across the street every morning for the past 3 years. Even Hattie looks for it every morning now. (we get 2 buses - one at 7:30 and one at 8:00am... they use to wake us up, but now we are awake MUCH before they arrive - thanks Hattie!)

I do have to say though, that Grace is probably not going to be stimulated much by the kindergarten curriculum. She will love school because she just loves doing all the school kinds of things. But, from what we saw at the preview and the things in the classroom - it is going to be a big repeat of pre-school. I'm sure glad I didn't send her to more than one year of pre-school!

For a kid who can count to 200, do simple multiplication, and completely read books, write just about anything, and knows more geography than I do, even the toughest curriculum is going to be a tad disappointing. (I hope I'm wrong, but...) She was already bored with the assignment they did last Friday. She was also really nervous to be there and had a big fidgeting fit. I'm sure her teacher took one look at her and pinned her for the ADD kid who doesn't want to do their work. On the contrary - Grace has the longest attention span for doing things and once she is comfortable, she will hopefully stop fidgeting! Still, being a teacher, I know how these things go. I just hope she's given the chance to prove her stuff before being judged. (don't we all wish for that?)

My other big girl, Hattie, has gone from a 50 word vocabulary to being able to say any word ask for anything with a word, or identify anything with a word in just a matter of weeks. She's also started speaking in 2-3 word "sentences." The talking just doesn't stop. I vaguely remember wishing for her to just use a word, any word, to ask for what she wants. Oh, yes, she asks for what she wants, and she doesn't stop asking until she gets it.

Some of her favorite things to say are:

"more doggie treats"
"nee nee" which means naked. she thinks that anyone without at least short sleeves and long shorts on is naked. She points at people on tv, who are totally clothed, and says "nee nee." At least she's modest! She's got the Mormon standard down to a tee already.
"froggy jump"
"wuvoo" love you
"_______ toots" she uses this for any of us in the house - she's very good at describing all of our bodily functions. can't wait until she does it in front of someone who we'd rather not discuss it with!
"hattie" she finally learned to say her own name, and it is adorable to hear. she still can't say Harriet though.
"gacie" for Gracie
"my_____" she now knows what is hers and says "my baby", "my doggie", "my juice."

There are dozens of others I'm sure, but those are the ones that pop into mind right now.

Her other big girl moment happened a few days ago when she was running around naked and started calling to us from the bathroom. I said "what Hattie!" as it was at least the 10th time in as many minutes that she wanted something. I went in there and she was proudly standing in front of her potty chair and pointed to it and said "pee pee!" Yep, she did it! She made some pee pee come out in the potty! She has been trying to do it for weeks and can't ever make it happen. She hasn't done it since, but we are encouraged that she at least knows what to do and that it is the right thing. We had a major dance party over Hattie's first pee pee in the potty.

Like I said - growing up too fast. My toddler is somehow on her way to kindergarten and my baby is talking and going potty.