Gloomy Day

 

It was a gloomy day but the rain finally arrived - rain, drizzle, misting, mix of everything.. at one point, the eye actually passing right over us.  The gloomy weather fit the gloomy mood inside - just thoughty, nothing major to do so my mind wanders... 

 

But then a ray of sunshine when a friend stopped by with a little gift - a congratulations on my job and "thinking of you" gift.. so sweet... 

Dance

 Dance Day has arrived - Nora and Rose are both taking dance this year and today was their first day (I'll leave out all the other nitty gritty details of our day) and these little dancers... oh they were so cute.  The dance studio did some renovating this summer - adding a smaller 3rd studio room in the back for the 7yr and under classes.  They took out the observation windows and put cameras in each with TVs in the front so you can watch all the classes going on at once.  It was all very new but Rose was so excited to be going (such a relief from the upsets of earlier this week) - when Ashley (Nora's teacher) brought them back there, she had them wave at the cameras.. so cute! 

So here she is.. Miss Rose.. danced and wiggled...

played Ring around the Rosey...

Stretched...

Did her butterfly stretches...

Princess walked with her wand...

Did the Freeze dance..

Danced some more...

Even got to wear fairy wings...

Before running out as she called "Mommy" coming down the hall.. so happy!  Such a sweet face..

Then under a beautiful blue sky...

We headed back to the dance studio after school for Nora's class..

She doesn't look excited, does she? :o)  HA! 

She has moved up to the next level and actually rejoins some of her friends from her "Rocking Robin" class a couple years ago.. she was so excited!  They did some ballet, tap and then finished up with Jazz...

Nora stood watch over the video feed of Nora's class..

The skies had definitely started to darker come evening..

and then some open house fun at Sonshine School ...

Our first day with the kids  is Wednesday..

Take 2 But One Down

 Day 2 - still tears and screams of "I Want Mommy"... but they lasted less and she seemed to have fun once she got busy with other things - and once they pulled her (literally) off me...so we'll see how she does next week on her first official day of school...

 When I came to get her from the room, she was dancing and twirling and so happy... baby steps for sure!

 Once home again, she wanted to play Barbie (with Mommy), play dolls (with Mommy), bake cookies (with Mommy)... I definitely had a little shadow that was trying to make up for all the lost Mommy time from the morning..

 Then the big girls came home and after snack and homework, we headed out to piano..

 I was on the ball with dinner ready when we got home since we had a quick turn around to head out to soccer but then the biggest one commented that she was cold - after a quick temperature check, the rest of our evening plans went out the window - she to bed and the others to a bath after dinner.  Never a dull moment!

We Made It

 We made it through a very unsure day - sent Emily out the back door to walk to school... walked Nora in for the last time as she wants to do it herself from now on... but getting back in the car to head out on our next adventure, I found this on the magna doodle in the car... an "I love Mommy" note from Nora (she ran out of room for the y so it's on the bottom) .. definitely needed that to get through the next few hours! 

 A sniffly Rose and I headed out for my 1st teacher workday today - lots of uncertainty with how she'd do, especially since she wasn't feeling that great!  When we got there she was so excited,... until she realized that I wasn't staying in the room with her.. so through our meetings I kept hearing her crying, second guessing if we can do this... if she'll adjust and do ok going to school a year earlier than the other two... having the teacher watching her having her pop in and say hi and then as she continued to cry others saying that she'll be fine and going in will just make it worse... I know all the right things to do but when it's your own in there crying it's a different story - but slowly and surely the crying slowed and she got busy, ate, and played some more... so by the time we were all done (4 hours later), she was so involved in the dollhouse she was playing in, that the teacher had to call her a couple times to show her that I was there.  Whew!  She kept saying "I love you" over and over which was so sweet but she said she had fun so we'll see how she does again tomorrow for day 2 or workdays before her 1st day next Wednesday! 

 So these smiles help remind me she did ok - a little rough around the edges -but ok... just her voice is all scratchy still from crying.. but hopefully that will ease some as she gets used to it! 

Soccer Mom

 I felt like the epitome of a soccer mom today - toting around chairs, water bottles, snacks, balls.. thankfully Morgan kept Rose at home today for our first run through of back to back practices at two different fields. 

 The weather was perfect most of the time, cool breeze, cloudy... although the sun peeked out enough to give me a little sun and now Nora is sporting little sun circles under her eyes.. we'll be better prepared next time..

Soccer Days

 The first week of school has come to a close and with it .. the beginning of soccer... they had the kick off tonight where the girls met their coaches, got their uniforms and met their team mates.  They will have their first real practice tomorrow... the girls were really excited although we ended with our first injury of the season when the ball hit Emily's nail, direct hit, bent it back and broke it(the nail only thankfully) and a nice bloody mess.. so after a long crying ride home we iced it and trimmed her nails to start again tomorrow.. whew! 

Almost Done -Week 1

 Well, Day 4... almost there ... almost done with the first week of school... after a rough night with 2 of the 3 girls.. we were up and heading out the door... Emily actually liked the boots I got her yesterday and wore them to trek across the field in the morning..

 Switching shoes once she got there..

 Nora was a tad sluggish this morning - thinking the long week and new experiences were getting to her.. she was slow this morning most likely due to the fact that she was up at 2:30 this morning with a bad dream..

 Then it was just me and this one.. we did a couple errands, ate lunch with a friend (so good to catch up!)... then home again..

 I made a flower arrangement with a vase I brought back from Florida - it's my "Steve" vase. :o)

 Went over some goodies I bought - boy, have I missed buying beginning of the year school stuff... that was fun!  Although the last time I did it, I didn't have to keep a toddler restrained so she didn't pull down every last border display in the store..

 Then we played outside... watching the hummingbirds going crazy, trying to catch butterflies, listening to the blue jays.. it was my last "serene" moment for the day until now..

 The big girls came home... Rose ran across the field again to meet them - so cute!  We went down to the bus stop to get Nora, a quick playdate for Nora with her buddy from next door, ended in tears because it wasn't long enough (welcome to school weeks!), littlest sister bothering big sisters during their craft making time, quick dinner, early bedtime (littlest out by 5:25, middle out by 6:25!)... I'd say they are pooped and worn out from our new schedule!  Thankfully tomorrow is Friday...