Stripe Number 2

You are looking at one happy little girl. She stepped on the mat and earned herself stripe number two. She was so proud and has every right to be. I love watching her grow.

Such a ham!

First Day of Pre-K

Bittersweet. That's about the only way to sum up today. My big girl took her first steps into the educational system. We awoke rather early, ate breakfast, packed her lunch, and stepped out for a few, soon to be traditional, photographs.

This one makes me laugh. She was yelling "First Day of School."

This is an adult sized t-shirt I purchased and the intent is we will take a picture of her in it, every first day of school. Her Senior year I will have a collage of her growing into it. She was not thrilled to put it on as you can see. She just kept telling me this shirt is too big and "it's for you not me Mama." Poor kiddo. ;)

She discovered a box of magnetic toys...and that was all she wrote. LOL. I had to get into her face to get her to look up just to get a picture. When I said we were leaving... "Bye Mom." Didn't even break eye contact with the toy. *crushed heart*

Daddy had to tear Bubba away from the Mr. Potato Head box and the screaming and crying ensued. Poor kid was difficult to console, tried climbing into the back of the car and we had to tag team him just to get him in the car seat. Later on after calming down, under his breath, he mumbled "I miss Sissy."

I was able to go alone to pick Arabella up from school. Ms. Gann brought her to me, and told me she had a great day. She laid down for rest time with no incident, and she got a special hand stamp for her superior listening skills.

I could tell she had a great day and I loved getting one on one feed back from her teacher. Of course her first words to me were "Where's Daddy?" Oye! Once a Daddy's girl, always a Daddy's girl.

First Belt

Today was her second class, and it was fun to watch. We have to buy her some gloves of her own, the owners let her borrow a pair and they were three times heavier and too large for her little hands. But she held her own.

We definitely have to get her out of her comfort zone as she's being very timid and if she's not careful should could end up getting hurt. I've noticed that she closes her eyes when her training partner throws a punch or kicks the tombstone.

I understand it's going to take her a month or more to get the hang of things, being she's never done most of the tasks before. But she's definitely in love with her class. She's excited to be there and eager to learn even if she acts shy. I know with more practice she'll open up and start showing her personality in class.

I have to give credit to Ms. Davis for her patience with the only four year old in the class. After all a group of 5-7 years old kids isn't exactly an easy group to wrangle, and tossing in a four year old who has no clue what she's doing...well Ms. Davis, you are amazing in my book.

 

She was so thrilled to earn her first belt tonight. I know I look forward to her growth in karate.

Meet The Teacher

Another step closer to seeing my baby become a big girl. Last night was Meet The Teacher night. After the ginormous stack of paperwork we had to fill out on the spot (we also brought a huge stack that we filled out at home) the children were left in the classroom with the assistant so they could get to know one another. The parents traveled to the lunchroom to discuss important matters like tuition, holidays, and essentials.

After our meeting we returned to the classroom to find Arabella at the craft table all by herself. She was practicing with scissors. (I'm a bad Mommy and never let her try at home.) As you can see she needed a little guidance and Daddy assisted.

After a few moments Ms. Ky, her teaching assistant, approached us and let us know she did not leave the table the entire time we were gone. I have mixed feelings about this, as it means she didn't attempt to socialize on her own nor approach any of the other students. Ms. Ky did say that when the other students came to the table Arabella exhibited leadership skills. They would approach the table and she would instruct them on what they were to do at the craft table. Silly kid!

It's hard to believe our little girl is one step closer to "big kid school." I love my little monkey to death and cannot fathom that she's now old enough to attend school. ;)

Not much longer and she'll be graduating high school. :P

Lil Champs

After months of asking, we were finally able to make her dream come true. Last year as Bubba started Tiny Champs, Sissy was winding down on her second season of dance. The times interfered, which is why we waited to start Bubba. Now that we have this years dance schedule we were able to get her into a karate class. Not just any class, the Chief Instructor placed her in the 5-7 year old Lil Champs, rather than the 3-4 year old Tiny Champs with Bubba. She has already had two years of structure in dance classes and he felt that with her maturity she can handle the age difference.

Her face lit up the minute she hit the mat. I didn't get any pictures of her by herself, but I will most certainly this Wednesday as she earns her first belt!

Helping Ms. Davis demo for the class

She had the most graceful high kick in class... not sure where that came from? (Thanks Ms. Kim.)

She is really excited to continue Karate... now if dance would only start. I'm not sure how many more times I can hear "When is my stage?" or "When can I have my dance class?" Not much longer my dear...

I Never Tire Of Seeing This

Bubba has taken to falling asleep with his light on at night... I don't mind as long as he sleeps. It gives me plenty of opportunity to fawn over him and capture little moments like this. He'll only be this little once and I can't help but think back to when he was a tiny helpless baby. Where did the time go?

Rainy Day Fun

Not too long ago I found some leftover goodies from Aunt Erika and decided we needed to have something fun to do on such a gloomy day. Our first adventure ended up rather wet once Bubba started splashing in the water. But they had fun, so I suppose that's all that matters.

Hide And Seek

Mama, you can't find us!

The 4th of July and Some Fun

Picture Purge {iPhoneography}

July 4, 2013

Baby Girl helped me make cupcake cones to help celebrate with our friends.

July 6, 2013

We had put cranky Bubba down for a nap, and Sissy climbed up on dating. Completely and totally claiming she was not sleepy at all... it took her a whole two minutes to start snoring. LOL.

My phone startled her awake.

And we're back out!

July 9, 2013

Flexin' her big girl guns!