Tiny Dancer

Today was Tay's first day in dance class! I don't think I could have been any prouder. My little girl was up and dressed by 8:30 a.m., even though class didn't even start until 10:30. She just couldn't wait and I have to admit that I was just as excited and nervous. I knew it could have gone one of two ways. She was either going to love it, or absolutely hate it and scream the whole time. Luckily, she loved it! I got to sit in and watch her first class and yes, I was the dorkiest mom in the room with my camera out the whole time. I was ELATED that she wasn't clingy or freaked out. She did pretty good at copying the teacher too, but every now and then shed spin off on her own and spin around in the corner like Julie Andrews on a hill top. My heart just melted while I watched her. When it was all done she said, "I want to do it again!" And tonight when we said our prayers she said, "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for my spins." I really hope she likes it as much next week when I'm not in the room with her. But I'm not going to worry about that. Tonight, I'm basking in the memory of Taylor in her pink leotard, with her hair pulled up in a bun, twirling around, shuffling, and looking like the happiest kid on the planet. There's nothing more I want from life than for my kids to be happy and today my heart felt like it could absolutely burst.

Video below. Taylor is the one in the hot pink leotard. Thanks to Grandpa and Aunt Deb for the shoes and gear!=)

VIDEO at the barre

VIDEO

VIDEO

Sweet Summer

It feels like I have nothing and everything to blog about. We are SO busy it seems with swimming at the pool, story time at the library, field trips here and there and just hanging out with our family. There was one day last week when I was driving home from my mom's house when I looked in the rear view mirror to find Taylor fast asleep, with ice cream all over her and holding a balloon. Corinne was making sweet baby noises and sucking on a phantom pacifier that had fallen out a few exits back and I thought, "Wow. This is a good day." We've had a bunch of those lately.

4th of July was a fun day of swimming and eating, then eating and swimming. Grandpa Bruce and Nana bought fireworks and Taylor got to play with the sparklers with Daddy's supervision. There's nothing like seeing your child wave a stick around with fire on the end. I couldn't watch, overprotective kill-joy that I am, but she sure had a blast. Poor Nana was pretty tired by the end of the night. Taylor treats her like a life-size Barbie doll, dragging her around from one activity to the next.


The cake Taylor and I baked


We've been spending every Tuesday morning at our local library for storytime, or "Poor Mom's Gymboree" as I so often refer to it. Taylor enjoys it and it's free, so we go. It consists of a very librarian-ish librarian reading a few stories, singing a few songs, using the felt board, playing with the big parachute and doing a cute craft at the end. Afterward, we go to the children's section and read about a million books until Grandpa bribes Taylor with ice cream so we can leave. Taylor's never met a book she didn't like but it's a habit that I hope she holds on to. I know that every mom thinks their child is a prodigy, so I won't go on about how she's the next Bobby Fisher. But I will say that the kid is pretty darn smart. Just yesterday I took the girls for a walk up the street and we passed an old beat up camper. Taylor says, "Look Mommy, it says 'dolphin'." I stopped and looked and I think my jaw must have hit the sidewalk. It DID say "dolphin," and there was absolutely NO picture of a dolphin, it just happened to be the brand name of the camper. It turns out that one of the puzzles we do everyday has a wooden piece shaped like a dolphin, and in the spot where it fits is the word "dolphin." Word recognition. Crazy. I was ridiculously proud that entire evening.


Taylor insists on wearing her princess dress EVERYWHERE!










Corinne is growing at the speed of light and has started crawling/scooting backwards!!! I remember Tay doing that shortly before she started to actually crawl. Corinne will be 6 months this week and the time has just flown by. She continues to be a happy little baby who worships Taylor and laughs at just about anything she does. She is finally sleeping 9 straight hours before waking up for a feeding (phew) and is just a cutie pie. Her favorite toy is the remote control and she loves to just sit up on her own and play with Taylor close by.








I'll be 30 in a few short weeks. I hear it's the new 20. We'll see. One thing's for sure, my wardrobe won't be coming with me into the next phase of my life. Hard to believe, but I LOVE fashion. Please try to stifle your laughter. I love fashion magazines, TV shows and anything about fashion. Not that you could tell by what I wear. I have three t-shirts. A blue v neck, a pink v neck, and a green v neck. Sometimes I get crazy and layer them with tank tops underneath. You can typically find me in ugly Mormon "mom shorts" and flip flops. And to top it all off, I have my hair pulled back into a pony tail almost everyday of the week except Sunday, when I go all out and actually take a blow dryer to it. I wear maternity clothes when I get tired of my 3 boring t shirts. I'm a walking cliche of someone who used to have taste but let herself go once she had kids. But I went through all my clothes and bagged the pieces that are basically crap and am sending them to Salvation Army. Wes asked me what I wanted for my birthday and instead of giving the obligatory response of, "Oh, I have everything I want," I said, "CLOTHES!" And not just any clothes. I want adult clothes. Meaning I don't want to go to work at the Jr. High and see an 8th grader wearing the same shirt as me. (It's happened.) So we'll see if I get my birthday wish.


VIDEO. We dance to Aerosmith in my house. No lame kiddy music here.