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!