Friday, March 11, 2011

Love these Moments

Today's recipe for FUN and LAUGHTER: Kids in Jammies (ALL day), special play time on mom and dad's bed, and a fun cartoon playing on the TV! Who would've known it'd be such a SWEET success?! I think my MOST favorite thing in the whole world has become the interaction between these 2!




Gotta LOVE jammie days...and happy kids!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Show Week!

Annabelle performed so well during SHOW WEEK at The Little Gym! She was a little scared of the Balance Beam and Uneven Bars, but she ROCKED the FLOOR ROUTINE! We practiced her floor routine skills every day in order to prepare her for the big performance, and she did wonderfully! I know I'm a little biased, but I would venture to say she had the BEST floor routine and BEST "Ta-Da's" in the whole class! :) My mom and Josh would agree with me, but they're a little biased too :) She was so excited and I LOVED watching her.

The Little Gym was such a great start for Annabelle; she had such caring and animated teachers (Miss Kim and Miss Claire), as well as a great little class with LOTS of tiny good examples running and monkey jumping around :) Annabelle was someone new each and every week during the semester (Ariel, Jesse, Rapunzel, Fern, etc.), and her teachers just smiled and played along (Miss Kim would LOVE it when Annabelle was Fern). Unbelievably she actually allowed them to call her "Annabelle" during her performance without ONE protest--I call that a SUCCESS!

I'm glad she had so much fun in this program, and that she got such a wonderful head start on basic locomotor skills...although the playground time she logged last summer could've played a HUGE role in that too! I suppose one complemented the other, and it all worked out! I am so happy to see that she is now incorporating all of her little tumbling tricks into her dancing--you should see this girl dance in the kitchen to "I See the Light" from "Tangled!" She's got low level movement skills to boot, as well as some impressive strength and musicality--aaahhhhhh I could watch her for days! Stocky gets all excited when she dances too--he squeals and bounces until I start dancing and turning with him! If only our hallway and kitchen were bigger! :)

Here are some pictures of her big performance day, which was also her LAST day with Miss Kim, Miss Claire, and The Little Gym :( So sad, but so happy Annabelle gets to attend dance class now!


All ready to go!















What a GREAT day! Her mommy, daddy, Grandma and 2 cousins, Paige and Daisy, were there to cheer her on: "Go Annabelle! Be the best one!"

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Dance Class!

Annabelle started DANCE CLASS! She's been so excited and has been waiting SO long to start! She has been in Tumbling class at The Little Gym, and she LOVED it, but it's no secret that she's been super-duper anxious to attend her own dance class just like her cousin Paige. She had to wait until she was 3 1/2 to begin Virginia Tanner's Creative Dance program, and it has been well worth the wait. Her teacher, Mrs. Joni, is darling with the kids, has TONS of experience, and LOVES what she does. I knew I wanted Annabelle in the Tanner Dance program, and I was so excited to hear they have a satellite studio pretty close to us! I called and asked if she could come try a class before we signed up, so we got her ready and off we went. Unfortunately I just wasn't too impressed with the instructor, so I came home and checked out some other class/teacher options. We went the following week to Mrs. Joni, and haven't looked back since --she was perfect and Annabelle came out dancing in the lobby with a big smile on her face. What a difference! I knew it was the right place for her and we LOVE going each week. It's a bit of a drive, but I actually enjoy it quite a bit. The kids nap and I get the time to listen to the radio, eat a snack, and relax--it's nice. And when I see Annabelle come out of class dancing, skipping and leaping through the dressing room and lobby with her friends, it makes me so happy. I'm excited she has begun this amazing journey and I can't wait to watch her grow and progress! Here are some pictures of her 1st day!






The Wonders of Warm Showers

Once upon a fussy day, daddy thought Stocky would like a warm, relaxing shower before bedtime. Well, daddy was right...


ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz.....Nighty night Baby Stock...

Primary!

Annabelle started PRIMARY!!! I can hardly believe it...sniff sniff :)
She was so excited to be a SUNBEAM and couldn't stop smiling the whole morning!
Annabelle is in the Sunbeam C class with Brother and Sister Devore.
I also started Primary! I was called to the Primary Presidency and I gotta say I feel pretty blessed to be in there with her. It's going to be a fun and exciting year for us!

She chose her "Plum Pudding" dress for her 1st week :)

Sledding!

Annabelle had so much fun trying out the new sled Papa bought for her! She went down a TINY hill a few times and then had to call it quits because it was just too darn freezing :) Isn't that how it always goes?! That's ok, I'm just happy she got to get all decked out in her snow clothes and sit on her sled. To be honest, I think that's all she needed as well because she loved every second of it and didn't complain when she had to come in! Gotta love SNOW days! Ohhhh...and she picked out the BLUE hat, PRINCESS boots, and gloves herself--pretty darling taste in clothes wouldn't you say? :)