Decorating

Well, Malie and I finally got around to decorating for Christmas tonight. I've never waited this long before! I have just been busy and when I'm not busy, I'm exhausted and haven't been feeling that great. But tonight I hauled the boxes out of the storage in the carport and got down to business. We don't have much room in this little apartment so I left some out and we haven't finished the tree yet. We have a small tabletop tree because there is no room for a real tree in here, of course. Tonight we just hung some special ornaments, like the flower fairies I get Malie every year since she was born, my Madame Alexander collection, her first Christmas ornament, two angels, and Gabe's ornament. We have an ornament on our tree for our Angel, Gabe, who died in May of '07 of cancer. He was a good friend of mine's little boy and I still miss him a lot. So that's all we hung tonight. I took some pictures -- forgive Malie's hair. She'd had it in a ponytail but took it out and it is just at such a crazy stage, plus it's so much like mine -- I never know what to do with it!! (Suggestions welcome!) Anyway, here are some pictures from tonight.

Now she dances.....

As I've written before, I was bummed that Malie didn't want to dance. Well I had it all wrong. It wasn't that she didn't want to dance, it was that she didn't want to dance at MY beloved dance studio! I swung by a more local studio today, also well respected, and picked up a schedule. They had a combo class for her to try today so we got some tap shoes and came back. (Our studio doesn't offer combo classes, just more of a "pre-dance" for that age.) Wow. She LOVED it. I think this is more of what she wanted. This class was based more on what the "big kids" do. They start out at the barre doing plies and tendues then across the floor doing battements, chasses and chaines. Wow. Her chaines need work, lol. She was turbo speed across the floor, but she was having a blast. The second half of class is tap and it has been way too long since I have tapped for me to tell you what they were doing. I know they did some flaps. That's about the extent of what I can tell you. But she LOVED it. This was her first experience with tap. Shoes that make noise? Are you kidding? She still has them on, she is sleeping in them. Needless to say, she wouldn't leave after class. And personally, I think she was the best at the combination. ;-)

Here's a little video of her from tonight. So cute!



It's a BIT of a bummer that she won't dance at my studio but I REALLY like this class and we are going to try another one on Saturday that works better with our schedule. It's also only 15 minutes away as opposted to an my studio in Costa Mesa. When she gets older we can always switch over to West Coast. If she still wants to dance. She really seems to love that gymnastics thing. I still need to put up some pictures of her from her gymnastics party on Saturday night but they all seemed to come out so blurry! I'll try and remember tomorrow!

October

I haven't written in awhile! We really don't have much new news. Just been doing our thing. I had my math midterm on Saturday and I'm not thinking I did that great. I am hoping for a B! I have been struggling with taking my math online. If I take it in a traditional classroom, it all comes back to me easily but online is difficult! However I love being able to do it at my own pace (somewhat). Malie likes school a little better now and really enjoys playing with other kids, which is something new. We go to a playground up by my dad's house and she is always trying to make friends with the other kids. It's very cute! Other than that, we are SICK of hot days and wish the weather would stay cool for good. I'm looking forward to taking Malie trick-or-treating for Halloween. She is going to be a fairy. We bought the costume at Dawni's store at the dance studio and it is sooooo cute! I keep meaning to rhinestone the wings but haven't gotten around to it.

Malie STILL won't take dance and that bums me out. She was doing so well at it for awhile but now she is afraid to go in the room without me and we can't make it to the Mommy & Me class. She still loves gymnastics though so I signed her up for a second class on Tuesdays. I love watching her at gym! She is finally okay with the balance beam although she won't go across the high one without holding my hand. But she is working on walking backwards on the floor beam and kicking her legs when she walks forward. Her favorite thing is flipping over the bar. She walks her legs up a mat along the wall and then I help her flip her hips up and over. Or her coach helps her swing round and round and she laughs hysterically. She is finally strong enough to hold herself up on the bar without help, even after swinging around. She can also hang on a higher bar and pull her toes up to the bar so that she is hanging in a sort of pike position with toes and hands on the bar. I wish I had a strong tummy like that! She points her toes and keeps her legs straight and the coach said she was very good at that! I'm so proud of her gymnastics abilities! I am still trying to get her to dance but it appears she really loves gymnastics. That will be okay with me, just have to get used to not having a dancing daughter, since I always thought I would! haha

Well that's what we've been up to, not too exciting. Hope all is well with everyone. I will try and get some cute pictures of Malie soon.

Busy Weekend

Malie and I had a busy weekend this past weekend. On Friday night we went to watch Uncle Dave play for a little while at Espiau's. Malie had fun -- she danced all around and Uncle Dave gave her a microphone to pretend singing in. She loves attention! (...after the shyness wears off...) Saturday we went to Malie's friend River's birthday party. I had thought it was the weekend before and had headed out and then realized it was actually Saturday. She had so much fun. The kids watched Elmo, ate pizza, played pin the nose on Elmo, hot potato, had a pinata...and the BEST part was the jumper. Malie loooooves to jump. We were there for 8 hours and she spent most of it jumping. Malie's little friend Rebecca came to the party as well and it is so cute to see them playing together. I met River's and Rebecca's moms in a moms group I was in.
Sunday I got to go to a Pampered Chef show and pick out what I want for Christmas. Yay! I am excited to get my new stuff. After that I had to do some math homework (I always have so much!) and then study for my psych exam.
Today in class I found out I got 100% on my last test in psych. YAY!! This class is really easy for me and I love psychology. I wish I were doing as well in math. It's harder to do online than I thought!

Here are some pictures of Malie at the birthday party:

Recipes?

I am getting tired of making the same old stuff and I wondered if any of you other ladies out there that might read our blog had some great tried and true recipes you could share. I go through this every so often, revamping our "regulars". I have a VERY small kitchen so I try to keep the recipes I look for from being too elaborate. Right now I'm going through the South Beach Diet Quick & Easy Cookbook. A good friend of mine swears by it and I've tried a few recipes she's given me from there and they've been good! So any ideas? I'm changing dinner menus with the changing seasons I guess.

We Love Fall

I couldn't sleep tonight and aside from that, I was craving some "alone time" so I decided to write. I had a couple cute picture of Malie from Sunday when we were cleaning and decorating for fall as well.

I am LOVING the weather the past few days! It has finally cooled off some. But I heard it is supposed to be hot again the next 3 days or so. I hate that! I'm ready for jeans and long sleeves and cold nights. Fall is my favorite season. I love the fall holidays (and Christmas) and apple/pumpkin picking, the turning leaves, everything. So we hauled out the decorations on Sunday only to find that my wreaths are missing! I have no idea where my fall wreath or my Christmas wreath have disappeared to. Very mysterious.

Malie ended up going to play with Hayden over at my brother and Heidi's apartment but before that she helped me clean. She was pretty cute and actually somewhat helpful if I guided her. Let me just SAY.....she picked out her own outfit!









Malie stayed at Heidi and Brad's til 7:00 and when I went to pick her up, Heidi had fed everyone. She'd made a roast, veggies, and potatoes but of course Malie only ate one thing. This time it was the meat. So I had been PLANNING to make one of the turkey chilis I like to make (there's two I make that I LOVE) for dinner but there wasn't enough time and I just had some leftovers at my brothers house. Tonight I got to make the chili and it was soooooo yummy and smelled so good. I make chilis a lot in fall and winter.

So we are ready to kick off fall....now we just need the weather to cool off!

Malie's Birthday Party

We had Malie's birthday party on Saturday, September 13th. Unfortunately I didn't get invitations out soon enough and my family had planned another party that day for ALL September birthdays. I thought for a bit about just cancelling Malie's party and having her party over there but I didn't think that would be fair to the other side and I had invited some friends. So the family party was at 11:00 a.m. and Malie's party was at 2:00 p.m.

The day didn't go quite as I had planned. None of my friends came for one reason or another. Then ALL the tables in the park where taken up (except two) by one party and the another party was taking up the other two. I was so irritated because no one was sitting at those tables, they were just saving them. I wish I had just had the party at my grandparents, it would have been so much easier and cheaper! Next year if they do the same kind of thing, I will know. We will just have presents there and if she wants to see her friends we will go to Chuck E Cheese or something. I like having a party but most of my friends with kids live out in the Moreno Valley area and it is hard to get out here.

Here are some pictures from party day:

Malie's Birthday

Yesterday was my baby girl's 3rd birthday. In a way it's hard to believe it's gone by so fast and in a way it seems like she's been here forever.

The day definitely didn't go as planned. I had to get my car serviced and I thought that would be a simple thing that we'd slip into the day after I got out of class. I was going to drop it off at the mechanic and then my grandmother and I were going to take Malie out to lunch before we had to go pick it up. We had a very nice time at lunch (unfortunately I forgot my camera, I can't believe it) and Malie got chocolate cake for desert. I picked up my car and stopped by my mother's so Malie could open a present. She had a nice time there but then I realized something in my car sounded funny. I brushed it off, stopped by my grandmother's one more time to look at some clothes for Malie's birthday and went out to load her in the car. It wouldn't shift into gear. What a mess. I finally got it in gear, with the mechanic on the phone, and had to take it BACK up there. She was very fussy by now since it was nap time and we had to wait a bit while they fixed some strange wire problem. We finally got home and took a very late nap. The rest of the day was ruined. She woke up upset and threw a tantrum and then of course went to bed very late. Poor thing! So the day didn't live up to what I had hoped. :-( Oh well, at least she got her little party at preschool and we did have a nice lunch. I'm sure she will have a nice party on Saturday as well.

Audition Day

Well Malie's audition did not go so well. She woke up this morning to two strange men in our apartment delivering my new mattress and she was understandably very upset and the day pretty much went downhill from there.

She's been pouting the first half of this class and then participating the second half so I keep meaning to try her in another class with some younger kids. But then this week - she actually got kicked out of class! No good, since auditions were after that. She wouldn't even go in to the first hour. No biggie, the little ones were being looked at during the second hour. She wanted to go in when she saw the other two teeny ones -- 2 years old -- go in. So I opened the door to the studio...NO WAY! Siiiiigh. Oh well, what's a mother to do? I can't force her in. We stayed to watch and of course once they started dancing "my want dance class". Well it was too late by then. When the teachers opened the door to let the kids out, she tried to run in but auditions were over! She cried on the way home until she fell asleep. It was a MESS of a day. I really questioned whether she should do it and I guess I should've listened to the doubt. She wasn't ready. But those 2 years olds were sooooo cute in there! It was HILARIOUS. They have older sisters so that does help. Oh man, watching them do "jazz walks" across the floor was probably the highlight of my rotten day.

The day continued to go downhill after that with tantrums, a C on a timed math test due to said tantrum and other interferences, and other such goings-on. I didn't have a sitter for my cousin's husbands birthday party so......HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY to BJ! I hope he had a great birthday party and I wish I could've been there after a day like today.

There was one other highlight. Retail therapy...there's a store at the studio that one of the teachers and her daughter own called SanDance. They make the most ridiculous clothes and accessories, mostly for little girls. This picture does not at all do justice to the super cute outfit I got Malie for the picture I want to get done for her 3rd birthday.



Tomorrow can only be a better day, right??

Online Classes

Last semester I LOVED my online class because it was a late-start class and all it was was a CS class called "Using The Internet". Yeah REALLY easy!! So this semester, since I had the basics figured out, I decided to take two other online classes as well -- English & Math, two that could be pretty hard. But so far I am LOVING that they are online! Being a mom, especially single, and not having a lot of time (well I have a lot more right now) makes online classes so much more appealing! For instance I just spent the whole evening reading on and off while making dinner, playing with Malie, bathing her, and then putting her to bed (on the couch....but that's another story). Then while she was falling asleep, I did two of my English assignments and turned them in a day early! It's great! I still have a math test and a quiz to complete by tomorrow and Saturday, respectively, but again...I love being able to complete them on my time.

I may change my mind when it gets time to write my group paper for English ONLINE. I'm not sure how that will work. But I hate group projets anyway so maybe I'll like it better posting all our work on a wiki. All while we're writing three 8-10 page research papers on the same topic! And an extra credit paper I know I'll need for my A. This will be a tough class. I do have one other regular class and but it's a short one twice a week. It's manageable so far and my favorite subject, my former major -- psychology. I love everything we've learned so far and I miss it as my major but I know I did the right thing by switching.

Anyway, that was my little commercial for online classes.

Malie's Auditions

Malie had dance class as usual this morning. She only ever wants to take the last half of class. It is SO frustrating for both me and the teacher. The teacher, Miss Anna, asked me what I was going to do about fall registration. I asked if there was another class she could take but unfortunately the only other class is at the same time. So maybe in March when she's 3 1/2 we will try another one. I told Miss Anna I was frustrated because we had PLANNED to throw her to the wolves this year and have her competing but clearly she can't do that. Well then Anna turned around and said why not, just try it. Auditions are next weekend. When I brought Malie in, everyone asked if I would be bringing her to auditions next weekend. I said not likely, she wasn't behaving in class. One mom even offered to bribe her if I did, haha. But with permission from her teacher....I am going to try it. I just wish I had talked to the director about it first. I've takled to most of the teachers about it, except the one who will be teaching Malie's competition group. Usually there is no pressure with the 3 year olds -- Malie's group will be 20-30 something kids ranging in age from 3 to 9 (the age average has to stay 8 & under) and whether she goes on or not is not a big deal. It won't be that noticeable.

So I'm gonna throw her in there next week. I just know she will just stand there and do nothing. Yet in 8 months or so when we go into competition, it might be a different story......ooooooor not. Time will only tell!

Here's a little video of the group from last year. It's bad quality because apparently somebody's parent didn't want to pay the $15 for the good quality video.



Malie would just be one of the tiny ones that they carry or that runs to the front at some key time. They don't start doing the hard stuff til they're 5 or 6 or so. By the time you're 7 and 8....our girls look like this, hence why they start so young:



She can quit if she hates it. One of the moms of our top dancers (who took a year off 2 years ago) told me her daughter was EXACTLY the same way when she first started and one of the girls who teaches now said she remembers when J started and she sure did just stand there. Malie so loves to dance outside of class...now if only she'd dance when she was supposed. I'm really worried about whether or not I'm doing the right thing but she was dying to dance "on da stage" last year and with no pressure on her whether she has to or not...at least she can try it. Heck, she's probably not going to make it past the audition process anyway!

Frustration

This is an entry about ME! Well today was my second day of classes. I was desperately hoping to add my Bio 20 (Human Anatomy) class which started today. Unfortunately when I got there I found out it's 2 classes that meet at the same time and one has lab on Tuesday, one has lab on Thursday. I was there for the Tuesday lab class. It was standing room only. She had 3 spots left and I was 14th on the waiting list. I did NOT get the class. I REALLY needed this class -- it was a prereq for all my other science classes. After this semester, I only need science and one humanities class (French) before I go to nursing school. That's only 2 more semesters. Except without taking Bio 20 THIS semester that's most likely putting me back ONE WHOLE YEAR. I don't know how I am going to manage that. Malie and I are already barely hanging on with the me working, going to school and being away from her as much as I am, plus pushing her aside while I do homework, and besides that the money issue is tight. Putting myself back an entire year just breaks my heart. There has to be another solution out there...I just don't know what it is yet. Losing this class also caused major issues with my childcare situation but that's too complicated to explain. But at the moment...I don't have childcare either! So today has been a rough day.

Tomorrow I have my Lifespan Psych class, another required prereq for nursing, and then I will have to meet with my counselor and get this mess figured out! Other than I only have my last math class (yay!!!! I already looked ahead at all the assignments and it looks super easy) and a class I don't need for nursing but DO need for my bachelors for when I go back to school to complete my degree. Unfortunately it's a difficult English class and I'm taking it online so I'm kinda dreading that one. The English 1A class last semester gave me gray hairs and this is 1B. I hate English! I think I will just reuse my research paper and revamp it a little. ;-)

Well that is my MESS of a fall semester. So much for everything working out! Maybe in a week things will look a little more positive.

A "Beach" Day Before School Starts

Well tomorrow I start my fall semester of classes. A lot of things have been up in the air until this week so I am pretty nervous about it. This is the first semester I will be taking day classes in a long time and balancing that with a new job will be a challenge.

Today Malie and I went down to Balboa Island to visit a store called The Sandpiper, a variety store. My family has stayed down on Balboa Island for as long as I can remember and the Sandpiper has been in business since the 1930's. We have become friends with the current owner, Gail, and we wanted to "say goodbye" to the store. She will be opening a new store on the island but it was very sad to say goodbye to this installation on Balboa Island. It is so unfair that they are having to close. Although it was really sad that they were leaving, we had a nice visit. Gail let me have some Christmas decorations for my porch and a ball for Malie that her daughter Sierra, who is close to my age, tossed back and forth with Malie in front of the store for a long time. Malie LOVED it. I also got invitation for Malie birthday, which I really need to get busy on! It's in 2 weeks! Hopefully I will get those out this week, otherwise we'll save them for next week and you local family will hear about it word of mouth. Anyway, after we stocked up on things from The Sandpiper, we did a little more shopping on the Island (I got a bathing suit, yay!) and headed home. Overall it was a really nice afternoon, a great close to summer.

Here are some pictures.


Waiting to have lunch outside Wilma's Patio.


Playing catch with Sierra inside the Sandpiper.


Another cute one.


Her new princess crown.


Mommy & Malie walking back to the car.



Pushing her princess in the stroller

It was a really nice day. We'll stay up tonight to watch the Closing Ceremonies and then here to hoping this week goes off without a hitch!

Dance Class

Malie has dance on Saturday morning. I've been really bad about taking her but lately I've been trying to make sure we go since we might audition for the competition team next year and she doesn't listen in class too well. If she sticks with it she will be following in her Mommy's footsteps although the kids are waaaaaay better these days than they were when I was dancing.

She had fun today but wouldn't listen the first part of class when they were doing a little routine to Do Re Mi. Once they started doing more dancing, instead of standing in one place, she was a lot more into it. She is the youngest in the class at 2 1/2 -- it is all 3 and 4 year olds. They take some kids (like mine) who have been connected with the studio a long time or have older siblings, into whatever class is convenient for parents or whatever. I also don't have to pay tuition. :-) So that's nice.

I forgot to bring my camera to the studio but we took some pictures on the porch of Malie showing me some of her moves.






Her new thing is doing her splits. Need to work on those hips but she likes to do those a lot. I think she just started doing them from watching the "big kids" for so long. Too bad Mommy can't take a good picture.

The Olympics

Malie and I have really enjoyed watching the Olympics. Or "limpits" as she calls it. I don't let her watch much TV although I do let her watch DVDs -- she's not exposed to as many commercials and such that way, in my figuring. Plus I can choose what she watches - somewhat. I've learned that that is not quite true. At almost-3 she has very definite opinions about what she does and does not want to watch and her dad and I do not agree on the television policy so she has strong favorites!!

Anyway, in the evenings, we have been watching the Olympics together. I find myself really looking forward to this time when she starts out jumping up and down and eventually and curls up in my lap and we both can watch in amazement. Of course the gymnastics are her favorite because that's all she ever talks about anyway. But she has taken to the diving as well. They go on much past her bedtime but I have been letting her stay up and fall asleep on my lap some nights, like when the women's gymnastics are on. Although it is a break from routine, I am hoping it does not throw us off completely. It has been a nice bonding time for us since it seems as she gets closer to 3 she is really fighting bedtime. I hope she enjoys watching the Women's Gymnastics All-Around tonight - she is decked out in one of her "nastics" leotards and ready to go -- little does she know she has to get her jammies on before it even starts. Maybe I will let her sleep in it for one night.

Gymnastics Class

A little update from tonight -- Malie is still struggling at gymnastics. She loves it so much and wants to go every Wednesday and Friday but then is too scared to even get on the higher beam. At first she was fine with everything but it seems like every week she is more frightened of this or that, even the pit. I guess I will leave her in it for awhile as long as she keeps wanting to go. She loves the bars. I wanted to see if I could post a picture of her in her leotard before class.



Not the best picture but we'd had a long day!

I'm A Follower

Well I'm a straggler, a follower, and I'm just copying my cousins. They all have family blogs and while I just have a tiny little family, I went ahead and made a blog if anyone would like to keep up on the lives of Malie and me. I'm not sure how good I'll be at keeping it up but hopefully I'll remember to post a lot of pictures because those are the best anyway. So.......enjoy. For now, we are off to gymnastics. I wish we could take pictures there, it's great!