Finally...Izzy's Recital!

From way back in June. Here she is!

(Third Teddybear from the left)



(Dancer in the middle - 6th child in)

...and a month flys by!

Sheesh, nothing for the month of June. You would think I wasn't up to anything. Here is a sampling of what we were up to.

Bought a kiddie pool. What a pain too. Too small for chlorine, too big to dump all the time. Not the smartest purchase ever...but the kids *LOVE* it.



Cleaned up the yard. Last Fall we took out an over grown tree and last month I tackled some neglected garden beds. Cleaned up the rose bush. Added some annuals. Planted a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, and a raspberry bush and strawberry plant.



Got ready for...attended...and celebrated Izzy's dance recital. She had a blast! I have more to tell about the event but am waiting for the video to post at the same time.



Took a day trip to Black Creek Pioneer Village with our home school friends.



Rob took a week off and we took him to see the Stingrays at the Toronto Zoo. The kids and I saw them the year before without Rob.



Bought daddy Guitar Hero for the Wii. Turns out everyone but Rob really sucks at it. Still, the guitar-mote is very cool.



Cooking and baking up a a storm! Hard not to be inspired by goodies like fresh strawberries and rhubarb from the farmer's market. This became the first cobbler of the season. So yummy!!



Add in a trip to Splash Island, loads of play time with friends just out of school and some math work on the side and you have a pretty good idea of what June looked like for us,

Funny enough, this was the modified schedule of activities. I hurt my knee and had to cancel a trip to London with friends. We tried to slow down a bit last month. Almost succeeded too, lol.

Experiences of a virgin dance parent

There are many worlds that are foreign to me and nothing can be further out of my comfort zone than the world of dance. A seemingly benign thing, beautiful little children learning to dance. For the novice who neither participated in dance classes or knew others who did, I got one heck of a shock. Stage parents bribing their kids to dance better. Hundreds of dollars spent of costumes. Early photo calls for class pictures. 8am on a Sunday morning early. Two 5x7 pictures of my daughter for $40. Whenever I look at them I will remember the fight over her hair and make-up after I woke the poor child up for her early morning appointment. A line-up that began at 5:30am (I wish I was making this up) for a 6pm box office opening to purchase tickets for the dance recital(s)...at the low cost of $15/seat.

At the last class before the recital, the mothers were in the adjoining sitting room and laughing over all the money being spent with a high possibility of the girls getting on stage and doing nothing due to stage fright.

I was wondering what the heck we were doing there. Izzy just wanted to dance.


***Will post again in a few weeks about recital once I get the video back. She had a blast and wants to perform again! Maybe worth the headaches mentioned above.***

Worst Chorus Line, Ever!

I finally got to watch Izzy in ballet class this morning. Not without struggle, of course. Rob had to be at the bank for 2am to help oversee some changes to the website and that meant he got to come home to bed right before I shuffled the kids out the door. Alex brought a book (one of those Bones graphic novels which he finished in record time) and Izzy brought her attitude. As soon as we got to the studio she went into full prickly mode. She would not go into the class. She would not dance. She would not be happy that daddy stayed home. I finally coaxed her into the room only to have her sit on the sidelines and fix an icy glare on those who dared look at her. After the warm up one of her teachers, Miss Paige, claimed her hand and kept her by side for most of the routine.

The routine is something they are practicing for the end of year recital. It is a big deal. Costumes, big venue, tickets...the whole nine yards. The girls started up and I was caught between crying and laughing. It was so sweet and so funny all at once. The girls, when one (or rather several) weren't breaking the line to run out of the room were moving to stand next to their best friend of the moment, or leaving the room to go pee, or running up to the window to make silly faces at the parents, or just wandering off for no particular reason. It was quite a sight. They were sloppy, uncoordinated, unsynchronized and outright adorable. Luckily they have another 13 lessons before the big day. My heart goes out to Miss Paige and Miss Sidney. They are so good with the kids. It is like herding cats in that room. Moody and unruly cats. Izzy being one of their more difficult students. I hope they get paid well.

It was great to see Izzy. I have a feeling this may be my last visit to the studio before the end of the year. She prefers Rob taking her. Go figure. Alex was amused. He thought the kids were great. Though he was surprised at how chaotic it could be. Usually Izzy is the youngest in our homeschool groups so seeing a dozen three year olds behaving like three year olds was a shock to him. At one point Alex asked why one of the girls looked sick. Her face was all puffy and blotchy, tears in her eyes. She looked devastated. I just explained that in a room full of three year olds, there was bound to be some tears from time to time. Sure enough that little girl was right as rain minutes later.

Rob worked with a guy who would harass him (nicely) when we were expecting Alex. He once likened life with children to living with bipolar midgets. That thought crossed my mind half way through jazz. Seemed appropriate.

One Of These Moms is Not Like The Others

I sometimes forget that I am the odd one in a room. Many of my opinions and beliefs do not gel with the popular masses, and I am completely cool with that. In that vein, since most people around me are similarly minded (at the very least, respectful of the choices I make) I am often surprised by what I hear when out and about.

I took Izzy to dance class this weekend. I was dying to see her dance. She talks about it all week long, begging to go back. I met her teachers, fellow classmates and the dance moms. There was the mom yelling through the glass at her 3 year old for forgetting the moves they had practiced so faithfully. There was the pack of competitive moms, attempting to garner sympathy from one another over the wicked schedules their preschoolers had. I mean I could barely refrain from sneering or rolling my eyes. These kids (at least two of whom attend full day preschool) are being dragged from ballet and jazz to swimming lessons, gymnastics, skating lessons...etc. I mean really, does society really need such well rounded toddlers?

These moms were stressed and frazzled. They complained of fatigue, exorbitant costs and less than cooperative children. I mean, come on. Am I the only one who finds this absurd? Sure my kids do a lot of activities but we don't do school so we can take part in many activities and still have plenty of down time.

Sometimes I feel so out of place.

This one's for Izzy

Izzy specifically requested that I take her picture and put it on the computer. So I must or I will hear about it, loudly, tomorrow. Vain little one, she is.

Rob took Izzy to her first dance class on Saturday. I really, really wanted to go but was flat on my back in bed. Darned sinus cold! I did help her get dressed before she left though. She was so excited. A half an hour of ballet and then a half hour of Jazz. She came home all excited, showing me her latest moves (the butterfly - fluttering around the room and the castle - crouching down and tucked in) and the fantastic stamps on her hand.

The best part of all - the misty look on Rob's face when he got home. His baby girl was prancing around a dance studio, loving every minute of it. She was not one of the kids running out of the room or crying for a parent. A big deal for us seeing as she was the clingiest, shyest kid we'd ever seen just a few short months ago. She tip-toed across the floor, proudly, occasionally sending Rob an excited wave. He was so proud. I forgot how sentimental he could get sometimes. Almost as sweet as Izzy in her tutu.