Clara the Ballerina

Last fall Clara asked to do ballet.  We hadn't necessarily planned to put anyone in ballet, but she seemed really interested in it, so we started her in it.  Unlike most of the other activities we've done, this isn't a six or eight or ten week class, but instead goes through the whole school year.  We did a trial class with her, and she liked it, so we enrolled her.  It's on Thursday nights at 6pm, so usually I take her while Meghan cooks dinner, and then we all have a later dinner at home when Clara and I get back.  Normally parents aren't allowed in the studio, though we can watch on a monitor, but tonight was a special session that let parents sit in chairs in the studio to see the kids in person, so I was actually able to take some pictures for once.  Here the girls are in their warm-ups.

They do a lot of graceful, ballet-like things, such as moving around with these scarves.

They also sit as a group for some sort of verbal lesson and do other ballet-like things along the wall.  My ballet knowledge is somewhat limited, as I normally can't hear what they go over, so pretty much all I know is what I remember Julie practicing when she took ballet as a little girl when we were in Alaska, I think.  Maybe something about pliés and pirouettes.  And also what I've watched in the Nutcracker.  But that's it.

It was nice to be inside the studio today.  This is the normal waiting area, which consists of a narrow hallway with a couple hard church pews as seats, and one actual soft chair.  There are no windows into the studio, so the only way to see what's going on inside is the small monitor mounted on the wall.  So it's not the best experience, but for 45 minutes I can deal with it.  We've been doing this for a few months, and Clara is enjoying it quite a bit now (after being really shy and unsure the first couple weeks).  It's sort of funny to me, because the teachers are so refined, and many of the girls are too, and although Clara will do the activities, she bounces and spins all over the place, bursting with energy and a level of fun that you see on a playground but not normally in a ballet class.  But they seem okay with it at this age, so she's able to have a lot of fun while learning the basics of ballet.

Waffle House Again, and with Peanut Butter Again

Meghan wasn't feeling great today, so she stayed home from church.  I took the kids by myself, and since I didn't want her to have to make lunch (I could have made lunch, but she said she didn't want feel like eating much), I took the kids out to Waffle House.  We all loved it, as we always do.  Last time I discovered the magic of peanut butter chips on your waffle.  I know it was good, because I have a terrible memory for food (When Meghan and I go to a restaurant that we haven't been to in awhile, I usually have to ask her what I got last time and if I liked it.), but I definitely remembered that.  So I got it again, and it was delicious again.  The kids all ate plenty of waffles too, and it was a fun lunch out.

Dinner for Three at Garozzo's

Meghan and I had a date night tonight.  It's cold, so we wanted to go someplace with good, warm food, and we hadn't been to Garozzo's in awhile, so that's where we went.  It's Restaurant Week in Kansas City, and although Garozzo's is participating, we just went with items off the regular menu, specifically versions of the chicken spiedini, which is always good.  Joining us for our meal was a giant picture of some lady we couldn't identify.

Week in Review: January 15th

One morning this week I woke up to find the kids in Hannah's room. I asked them what they were doing and why they were sitting on the dresser. It was because Joshua was doing a "concert". I don't think they know exactly what that means because his concert consisted of shooting his nerf gun at the wall, but they realized it was a show, so the girls and accompanying posse of stuffed animals were in the audience area. Unfortunately, I can't allow them to sit on the dresser like that as it isn't exactly safe, but they had a good time before boring, safety-minded mom ruined the party.

Joshua had a lot of fun playing with a scrap of craft foam I was throwing away. He colored a "map" on a piece of paper and we taped the map to the foam so he could play with it. He had a lot of fun unrolling it, figuring out which way to go to find the treasure, and rolling it back up. He liked to secure it with a hairband while it was rolled up. I think he felt it made it more authentic.

The older two kids had a really good time making a path from our throw pillows and ottoman lids and hopping from square to square.

We had one super nice day this week and we went out to ride bikes. It was overall fun. Clara rode Joshua's old scooter a lot and really enjoyed it. Joshua had less of a good time because he wanted to ride his new scooter, but he hasn't totally gotten the hang of it yet since it only has two wheels, yet he didn't want to ride his old one because that is "too small" now since the kids in his class typically ride the two wheel scooters. Hannah was clear and proud that she is big enough to ride her own bike without being pushed now. She wants a big-girl bike, so I said maybe in the spring.

I got a new shelf for near the front door and assembled it. Joshua wanted to help so I let him use the allen wrench to screw in a few of the screws. I thought I would have to go back and tighten them when he was done, but he did a really good job (better than I realized he was capable of) and I didn't have to do anything after he was done.

I am really excited about this shelf. We have major issues with shoes in our house. The kids each have 1-2 pairs they wear regularly, plus church shoes, slippers, rain boots, and snow boots. Which we really do need all those things, but when you have three kids, plus adults with a couple pairs downstairs at any given time, it adds up. And I like storing them by the door because I absolutely don't want shoes that have been worn outside walking in my house. We have a hanging shoe tree in the closet, but it is hard for the kids to use. So I got the shelf for kids' shoes, freeing up more space for the adult shoes in the closet. So far it's going well and looks ways better than a pile of shoes and is easy to use. I still want to get a boot tray because I don't really want muddy or wet shoes to go directly into the crates, but otherwise am happy with this solution.

A Kansas Day Date Day

Hannah and I had a date day today.  She had soccer this morning, so I planned to leave right after soccer.  She had a lot of fun at soccer.  They don't do the same activities every week, but this week they did her two favorites: the squishy balls (which they use to practice "big kicks") and the parachute.  Afterward, she got her two stamps that ever kid gets.

We then went to a Kansas Day celebration at the Johnson County Library on Antioch.  They had a lot of different organizations and groups with activities and booths.  Hannah got to search through a vat of sunflower seeds to find various trinkets that represent Kansas.  For example, there was a toy harmonica to represent Home on the Range (the state song), a small bit of wheat to represent The Wheat State, etc.).  She also got to plant sunflower seeds in a pot that she decorated and churn some cream to replicate a task that children used to do on farms.  There was also a big cake shaped like the state to celebrate Kansas' birthday, and some small cupcakes as well.  Hannah ate two cupcakes and would have eaten a hundred if I'd let her, as she loved them.  It wasn't the most fun date day activity we've ever done, but she still had plenty of fun, and the cupcakes certainly helped too.

We then went to lunch at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant in Shawnee.  But those pictures are on my camera, and for some reason I can't get them off it right now, so I don't have any pictures from it for the blog.  After that, we went to get a haircut for Hannah.  She just needed a trim, and we stopped by Great Clips since Brandy was working.

The Chiefs have a playoff game later today, so I meant to bring Hannah's Chiefs jersey that Halie gave her to change into after soccer, but I left it at home.  So instead Hannah just wore her plain white undershirt for our date day, but once we got home, I changed her into her jersey for the game, which we hope the Chiefs can win to finally end their long playoff win drought.

This Week in School

Week in Review: January 7th

This week at school, Joshua really enjoyed an activity of smashing raw almonds with a hammer. The teacher let him bring some extra almonds home to practice with. He was really eager to show Daddy, but he was so excited to smash them, they were all gone by the time Jason got back from his trip.

One of the things we decided to spend Christmas money on for the kids was Magnatiles. So far they are all really loving them (Clara also loves hot chocolate as you can see). It's really interesting because they play with them in somewhat different ways. If the interest continues at this level, though it may not once the newness wears off, we will probably add another set in the future because there isn't really enough for all three kids to play at the same time.

They also really enjoyed shooting their towers with nerf guns. With the girls, their aim is so bad that it really didn't matter. Joshua actually ended up making really strong towers because I told him if the tiles hit the wood floor, I would put his nerf gun in toy jail (aka our basement. Generally if they don't pick up their toys, they go to toy jail for awhile because I am beyond irritated when I have to pick up toys that they should be picking up) because that wasn't taking good care of the Magnatiles. He figured out how to make a tower that didn't fall when shot.

When Joshua was in the bathtub, he asked for bubbles. He had a fun time making his beard bigger and bigger. Finally he decided he was Santa and started saying "Ho, Ho, Ho".

Clara loves cooking. She got an apron (which is a little big) that I made as well as some cooking stuff for Christmas. Tonight she put on her apron and asked to help make dinner. I don't always let her help because some recipes are more conducive to kid-help than others. But tonight we were having black bean tacos, which is pretty simple and therefore easy for kids to help with. So she got to help and was super excited about it.