Our ballerina

Yes, Jessa is finally taking ballet and tap. And boy does she love it. We have all been really curious about the whole thing, but she is not terribly free with information. So other than the few peeks that we sneak using the mirrors during drop off and pick up, we have been in the dark.

The answer to our lack of information came this week: Parent Observation Week. Yes! We get to see her in action. Of course, David AND Bay are both out of town, so by "we" I mean me and Spencer. But that is OK. I have many cameras. . . (of course in order to video the whole thing my still camera work suffered, but I think I got a few good ones.

I was worried at first that she would be too distracted by all the parents (especially ME) to actually pay attention. But once class started, she focused and paid attention. And many of the girls were very distracted, so I was tickled that she was not (for the most part). My photos seemed to capture the times she was looking at us, but I promise this is not representative. Seriously, she is way more interested in how she looks in the mirror than anything else.

The first half of the class is ballet. They lined up and practiced their foot positions and pliés. So precious! Then they worked on the bar some. This would be the first distraction that we saw out of our ballerina.

Then they did a princess walk. So cute! Their teacher places an imaginary crown on their heads and they have to walk, with their toes pointed and arms outstretched without letting the crown fall. Jessa's did not fall, whew!

There was a lot of sitting around and waiting, though. The teacher likes to watch them do some of the moves on their own so she does not miss anything. Jessa took these opportunities to goof off a little.

The second half of class is tap. This is also lots of fun, although it is much louder. Not at all surprising, Jessa likes this noisy stuff!

They each got to pick shuffle step ball change or shuffle step hop step. Jessa chose ball change.

They always close each week with a mirror part. They have to pair up with a partner and the leader does a pose and the other one has to copy the pose. They were all so funny with the poses they came up with. I like this one a lot because Jessa and her partner's feet really do look like mirror images!

All in all, it was a great class and I am so glad I got to watch. I just hope that when David looks at the tape I made he will not throw up. Holding a camera steady for 1 hour while also taking pictures is hard. Oh and I also had someone climbing on me during much of the night, too. Speaking of someone climbing, want to know what sweet little brothers do during dance class observation?

He started out watching.

Then he needed to lay in my lap and rest.

Then he discovered the joy of mirrors.

Then he just grabbed his coat to get ready to get out of there!

We had a great time, and I must say that Jessa seems to really get a lot out of this. I am so glad! And if there is any question about her devotion to dance, look what she slept in last Wednesday:

Ballerinas and math

Jessa LOVES her ballet class. She has always been a dancer at heart. She sings and dances and puts on shows all the time. I was actually apprehensive about her taking a formal ballet or tap class. I did not want making it formal to suck the joy out of it for her. I needn't have worried. She can separate her "moves" from the "moves" that she learns in class. And oh yeah, she loves it. She likes the special clothes she gets to wear. She even thinks it is cool and special that she can only wear her shoes IN the class.

For her birthday, May got her a new ballet backpack and a new ballet sweatshirt. She was thrilled and could not wait to go to class the next day to put them to good use.

Here she is headed to class:

It was a special day for me, too. See, with our Awana class overlap issue, I have never gotten to stay and watch. Since the ballet room walls are all mirrors, the moms and dads can watch without the kids really seeing them using all the reflecting that is going on. But this night, I got to stay because Awana was cancelled because of Trunk or Treat at church. Yay, me!

I so enjoyed peeking around the corner and watching her follow the moves of her teacher. She did a great job.

I was so impressed with her.

I so loved the sweet looks on her face.

One night a few days ago, Jess and I were discussing ballet. She was telling me some of the names of moves and even showing me some foot positions. And then she thought of something that was clearly bothering her. She is all about counting now. She has a song that counts all the way to 100 and she is way proud that she can count that high. So in the spirit of her love of counting she said, "Hey mom, did you know that ballerinas can only count to 8?" At first I was not sure what she meant, but then it hit me - when you dance or exercise or even marching band, or anything musical, you count in 8's! Bless her heart, she was so worried about poor ballerinas and their inability to count higher than 8!

Meatloaf

For the past 5+ years, I have been all about my babies. My main focus has been Jessa and Spencer. I have taken care of David, the house(s), the shopping, the laundry, the many pets, etc., but we could be almost hermits if we were so inclined. I made our schedule. We traveled when we needed or wanted to. We did not have to get out of our pj's if we did not want to. We ate out or saw movies during the week. We were the masters of our time and fate.

Yes, we did preschools, but those are even flexible and many times not every day. I mean, I did not pull them out needlessly. But for example, when we moved into our house at Ft. Stewart after David got home, I did not rush to find them a new preschool. We took January off to visit with David and go to Disney, and no one cared. But that is over now. We are officially in real school, and we have a new life, a new schedule. Quite an adjustment, to say the least.

The school thing is only part of it. As the children get older, there are more activities that they become involved in. Finally, we are at a location at the right time for Jessa to take ballet. Everywhere else, we were too late to join a class. . . So I found a great place close to our new home, and we signed her up for a beginner class.

We are also loving being involved in our new church. Jessa loves it so much that each Sunday when we go to pick her up from the Children's Church room, she begs to stay. So it seemed to make sense to sign them up for Awana. We have never had the opportunity to do it before. Around us growing up, it was always at the Baptist Churches. And of course, I said, "If y'all need any help, let me know. . ." So naturally, I am a co-leader of the Cubbies, Spencer's class.

That's not too bad, right? 2 extra activities each week. Want to know the tough part?? The only class for Jessa's age beginners is Wednesday from 5:30-6:30. Awana is each Wednesday from 6:15-7:30. Hmmm. Do you see any problem with that?

Luckily, I have an awesome family and husband who agreed to help me out with this little scheduling issue. David agreed to pick Jessa up from dance class and bring her to church late so that Spencer and I did not also have to be late. The only problem with this is that David is always gone! Bless his heart! So I also have an awesome Daddy who agreed to step in and help when David was not around. And this past week, my Momma was also here visiting and ready to help. The phrase "it takes a village" comes to mind. . .

Last Wednesday, at 5:00, I took my precious ballerina across town to the ballet/tap class. I got her situated in class, and then Spencer and I rushed off to church. I was a nervous wreck because I had no clue how to handle this whole Awana thing. I felt so unprepared. But the light at the end of the tunnel was Momma planning to fix supper for all of us when we got back from our many activities.

The kids came to Awana and I got absorbed into the evening. About 6:40, I see a handsome soldier (aka Bay) carrying a sweet ballerina into her Awana class. Whew! Then the whole evening was crazy! Chaos! It was expected to be that way because it was the first night and everyone was trying to figure out where to go and what to do. 7:30 came and all the parents picked up their kiddos. But I had to stay to clean up, etc. We had paperwork to attend to and plans to make. By this point, both children are exhausted and rather ill. Spencer needed me to "holsha" (hold) him. Kind of hard to clean up and load the car and get ready to go while toting a 40 lb attachment. Jessa decided she did not want to go home with me. She wanted Bay. She even disappeared briefly (and scared me half to death) to find him. She then asked me to please call him to come and get her. We finally got out of there at 8:00! All the way home my exhausted children who had been going strong since 7 AM were trying to sleep. Not a good idea to take a power nap at 8 when I need them to eat, bathe and got to bed in the next hour. So I fought with them all the way home. Employing "mean mommy" techniques like rolling down their windows, turning up the volume, turning on the dome lights, and even singing along to the radio. They stayed awake, if only to curse my very name. Feel free to report me for this abuse☺.

We arrived at Bay's house to a delicious meal of meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, green beans, slaw, crescent rolls, and sweet tea. Jessa sat in her chair and cried and fussed until I made her go sit in the other room. Even despite her fit, I think that was the best supper I have ever eaten. I am so lucky to have such awesome parents. I could not have pulled off this marathon day without their help and support. Seriously, every time the day got too stressful, I would remember that Momma was cooking me an wonderful supper. I am glad that my parents did not think their job was over when I turned 18 or went to college or graduated from college or got married or had children of my own. . . I am so blessed. We all are!

AND, Jessa ate every bite of her supper in the car on the way home. They were bathed and passed out together in my bed by 9:15! Glad Wednesday only comes once a week - I need all week to recover. . . And this week, I will have to do it with no meatloaf.