St. Charles Park District Dance Academy Summer Mini-Recital
Mrs. Samantha's Intro to Tap II

Got a tough angle because the girls NEVER danced in single file - they were supposed to be shoulder to shoulder. Oh, well! Stage performances always bring out surprises! LOL Anyway, if you can see passed the girl in purple, who was making up her own routine (who normally was pretty still in class!), Lilly is actually doing the steps that were rehearsed. I had to giggle whenever she'd try to reposition herself so we could see her a little better. She has so much fun in these classes (and getting to wear makeup at the recitals is quite a perk, too)!

What a weekend!
- We celebrated the nearing of the school year with Roselle Park District's Bounce Back to School event. (Shawn's favorite bounce house was a human foosball game. Lilly's was a fun house designated for kids under 5.)
- We saw a great production Mary Poppins performed by Marquee children's theater.
- Shawn tested for his new karate belt. (See earlier post)
- Shawn and I got to accompany Lilly in a family art class at Gymboree.
- Raj held a clinic party at Pinstripes (bowling & bocce ball).
- I made donuts (for the first time), omelets, & bacon for breakfast.
- Lilly performed a tap routine in her dance recital. (See earlier post)
- We harvested the first 8 cherry tomatoes from the plants we grew from seed.
- Raj went to his favorite meat market (Ream's in Elburn). He BBQed for dinner.
- The kids helped wash some of the dishes.
- And to end a great weekend, Shawn lost another tooth!

Lilly's Interpretation of Frozen, Let it Go

https://youtu.be/ucZ0CtfDf1I

Lilly's world debut

http://youtu.be/fDFanmCIKQc
Raj & Shawn recorded while I was a parent helper back stage.

Saturday enjoying our home

This morning, I was able to shower and dress completely before Lilly woke up, which rarely happens. Shawn surprised me by getting up earlier than usual, but he entertained himself while I got ready.

We had pancakes for breakfast and then we played with Legos in the basement. Lilly showed off some dance moves to a musical airplane toy and worked hard to join in Shawn's Legos (or taste them). 

http://youtu.be/ADhAsPG1FaE

While the kids played, I hauled out a bin of Shawn's old 12 month sized clothes to see what Lilly might be able to use. I got really nostalgic seeing his old stuff and a bit emotional at the realization that my baby girl is turning 1 tomorrow! 

I'm not ready for this.  Sigh.

Later, Shawn asked if he could take a bath during Lilly's nap!? So, he tested the jets in our tub for the first time. Just a couple squirts of his regular baby shampoo/soap foamed up great. The water looked a little discolored once the tub started to fill up, but not as bad as the first time I turned these faucets on. (The water was so brown then that I didn't feel comfortable having Shawn bathe in it - he definitely would not have gotten any cleaner!) Raj and I agreed that it's probably a combination of those pipes not being used in at least 3 months (probably more) and simply being well water. (Even the cement on our front walk is slightly discolored orange in some places due to the well water.)

This afternoon, we took advantage of the sunshine and played outside. Even though it was still chilly, it was one of the nicest days we've had this year! A neighbor even came over to introduce herself and welcome us to the area. I wonder how many people we'll meet once the weather improves even more! 

It's so nice having a yard of our own to run around in. Raj and Shawn even played basketball on the driveway. Lilly loved going down the slide on the playset, though we're anxious to get it fixed up and in better shape with safer construction. (There's rust and rotten wood.) Baron was thrilled to spend so much time outside without getting too cold, though he was visibly sore when we came in. 

This evening, Lilly hit it right on the nose! Our noses, actually. She was pointing out our noses on command over and over. Her face showed her pride and excitement. We didn't even mind getting poked in the nose repeatedly!

 

 

It's Finally Friday

Abby arrived at 7:30 this morning.  About half an hour later, we were playing and getting ready for breakfast downstairs when we heard, “A dump truck!  A dump truck!” being squealed from upstairs.  Shawn’s awake!  He was very excited to see a truck from the landscaping crew parked in the island in the center of our cul de sac.  (It was actually a pick-up truck, but who’s counting?)

At breakfast, I opened the front and back doors to let some fresh air in.  It was a bit wishful thinking though, or maybe just too early in the day.  We didn’t even finish the meal before I closed the doors again because it was too cold. 

Both kids had pants problems today!  Must not have eaten enough at breakfast!  They’d be playing and look down to see their pants on the floor.  Shawn was even running around without them for a few steps before he even noticed it.  We decided to change clothes (or at least put on different pants) before going to Gymboree – otherwise, they might have climbed right out of them!

Listening to CDs on the way to Family Gym, Abby identified Mickey Mouse’s voice each time he sang a song.  Though it was a CD of songs song by Mickey and his friends, it turns out that most of them are by Goofy.  At Gymboree, the theme of the day was ‘Construction Zone.’  The kids made ‘cement’ by putting scarves and air bags into a big barrel, they filled ‘holes in a bumpy road’ by stuffing toys into the creases of a mat, they ‘hammered and sawed a leaky roof & painted the house’ using plastic sticks on a climbing structure, they ‘fixed a clogged pipe,’ by retrieving a huge pile of scarves from a tunnel, and they ‘turned on a faucet’ by climbing through the cleared tunnel.  Later, both actually participated in Freeze!  Towards the end of class, while Abby was catching bubbles in the air, Shawn was trying to pick them up off the ground.  When that didn’t work very well for him, he switched to purposely popping them with his fingertip.  Much easier!  Of course, Abby loved dancing to the music, and Shawn danced a little on his own today.  When Gymbo (the toddler-sized clown doll mascot) came out at the end of class, both of them gave him big hugs.  There’s part of a song that gives directions of how to dance with Gymbo.  One part says Gymbo’s tired and goes to sleep, so everyone lays down on the mats and pretends to sleep.  BOTH kids did it AND BOTH jumped up when we realize that Gymbo doesn’t really want to sleep.  Usually, I have to give Shawn more than a little nudge to get him to lay down and then it takes him a while to get up again afterwards – he’s too busy watching everyone else dance along to the music.  We stuck around for a little while after class was over to play in Open Gym, but we still needed to have nap time, so we didn’t stay very long.  Neither of  the kids were quite ready to go when I was and they kept trying to go back to the equipment and play more.  Sorry, guys!  We’ll have to wait until Monday!  (I did manage to schedule a makeup session from when we missed music class to go to Kiddie Klub Lane.  We didn’t get another music class, but we have an extra gym class next week.  Next Wednesday we’ll start with music,  stay for a gym class, then come home for lunch and naps – perfect!  I think they’ll be happy to have gym after music class anyway.)

While both napped, I opened the doors again.  It was just shy of 50 F, but the fresh air was nice.  Abby woke up and Bill came to get her shortly after.  When Shawn woke up, he asked if the boys were playing games outside, like yesterday.  He also wanted to “ride the bicycle with Momma” again.  How could I resist that?  So, out we went! 

Unfortunately, the temperature must have dropped considerably by that time because by the time we got to the park (the closer of the two near us), I was already chilled.  Grant it, walking with Shawn isn’t exactly expeditious!  We stopped along the way to check out each “fy-ah hide-nt” (a.k.a. fire hydrant) and mailbox in our path, not to mention the occasional pinecone and stick too.  Plus, he had picked up a football from the garage before we left and was practicing throwing it (which looks more like holding the ball over his head and then spiking it down to the ground) at least 2 or 3 times on each block.  When we finally got to the park, he climbed the stairs and went down the big spiral slide a couple of times before I figured we better start heading back before it got much colder.  (At the rate it took us to get to the park, it very well could have been dark by the time we got home!)  Another boy at the park arrived on a small, neon green and black bike that captured Shawn’s attention.  When he and his mom were leaving the park in the same direction as our home, it was pretty easy to convince Shawn it was time for us to go, too.  We watched the neon green bike peddle ahead of us until it was out of sight, but luckily it helped keep Shawn motivated to walk forward – we even passed a fire hydrant or two without him noticing.  The combination of watching the fancy bike and my resistance to let Shawn investigate every landmark on the way made the walk home much faster.  Still, he was not happy that I rushed him inside to warm up and get ready for dinner, rather than let him play outside on his tricycle or in his Cozy Coupe car.  They will be there another (hopefully slightly warmer) day, little man.