The Jones Girls

I received some awesome coupons from Party City and it prompted me to go online and check out their costumes. I went to their store today.  Boy did they have tons of costumes to choose from. I wound up purchasing some “kits” and I am going to be making their costumes and adding the kits. I had some awesome coupons and wound up saving $30 on the costume kits.

My girls are big time into bugs these days…lady bugs, bees, butterflies, centipedes, worms, ants, etc. They originally all asked to be monkeys and then they changed their minds and asked if they could be bugs for Halloween.

This is what they will be:
Savannah will be the Queen Bee
Amanda will be the Butterfly
Miranda will be the Bumble Bee
Maryssa will be the Lady Bug

The outfits will have leotards, tutus, tights, wings, antennas, boa fur on the cuffs and neckline and a puffy ball on their dressy shoes.   I will be doing some sewing and using my creativity to make their costumes.  I priced the pre-made costumes and they are outrageously priced.  So I am going to hand make mine and I think mine are going to be even cuter and 100% better quality.  

The girls saw their costume kits today which consist of the wings and the antennas.  They loved them and are so excited.

So I am stating to cut the 50% off coupons from Joann’s Fabrics and that will be a huge savings for me to do the costumes.  I can’t wait to get started!!

The girls have been learning how to emulate and copy dance routines from different shows like Fantasmic at Disneyland.   I have been thinking for a while that they would love to be in dance class.    The problem is with 4 girls in dance, it can be pretty expensive.

I got a coupon in the mail today from Savannah’s old Ballet Dance Studio, Adagio Dance. They are offering waiving the registration fee and offering a hefty discount for ballet and dance classes.

There was a schedule of classes included with the coupon and Pre Combo Ballet & Tap for 2-3 yo’s (triplets) and Pre Combo & Tap for 4-5 yo’s (for Savvy) are Friday nights 6:45-7:15 for the triplets class and 7:15-7:45 for Savvy’s class.  Wow, I could take all of them in one swoop, who could have planned that schedule any better?

Now mind you, I opened my mail at 5pm tonight so I just noticed that the time of the classes that are tonight’s classes are 6:45 and 7:15pm!!      I thought about it and called the dance studio and asked if I could bring the triplets down and have Ms. Jennifer, the dance instructor and owner, evaluate the triplets to see if they were ready for the 2-3 yo class.   I also wanted her to let me know if she thought Savvy could do the 4-5 yo class.

After I made the call, they told me to bring the girls down tonight if I wanted.   I am looking at the clock and it is now 5:50pm.  I have about 40 minutes for me to jump in the shower because I feel gross (it has been so hot and oppressive here) and also to get all 4 girls dressed up in the ballet gear and hair done.

I am running around with a vengeance and we managed to get to the dance studio at 6:50, just 5 minutes late.  Not too bad.    I had no ballet shoes or tap shoes for the girls and the studio said they have extras to lend people.   That was so cool!!   They were able to provide all of the ballet shoes and tap shoes for the 4 girls.  Yipee!!   I quickly get the triplets ballet shoes on and I walk them into the dance room.    I stay in there for moral support and observance for 5-10 minutes and then I left the room to be with Savvy who was watching vigilantly outside viewing through the one-way mirror.

One thing that impressed me about dance class on Friday nights is the classes only have about 6 kids in them and with my girls it made it about 9 kids in the triplets class and in Savvy’s class it was only about 5 with her in the class.  The waiting room for the parents was pretty bare and it made for a very relaxing and less hurried atmosphere.   The girls’ classes were the last classes of the day which made it less rushed and enjoyable for me.

Ok so back to dance!!  After 15 minutes of ballet, all of the girls ran out and I switched the ballet shoes for tap shoes.     You should have seen me, I was like a conveyor belt putting one shoe after the other…6 feet in all!! LOL!!

 The triplets quickly scuttled back into the dance room and tapped their little heart out.I had tears in my eyes.  I was so proud of them!!

I got Savannah ready for her class and she did beautifully in her class.    She has been out of ballet for about 16 months now.    She remembered most of her moves from her past and got to learn some new moves using new techniques.   She looked so confident and relaxed and had so much fun.

While she was in class, the triplets were running around the waiting area like my little banshee monkeys.  I had to remind them to be quiet to not disturb Savannah’s class.

It was amazing to see my parade of 4 pink ballet princesses, fluttering about in their tutus and laughing and giggling like little angels.    My 4 girls won the hearts of their teacher, Ms. Jennifer and also all of the other parents.

So I negotiated a discount rate with the owner.  I think the dance will benefit all of the girls in the following manner:

Amanda:   This will improve her sense of balance, strengthen her core and help her posture.

Maryssa:  She is pigeon toed, her feet point inward.  The shoes and the exercises will help align her feet to be more forward and hopefully help her overcome her pigeon toe.

Miranda:   She does not take direction well and easily gets distracted.  This will help her learn and follow direction in a group setting as well as keep her focused.

Savannah:   She has bilateral coordination issues and muscle tone issues which were inherited from me (so sorry Savvy!).    In the past when she was in dance, it offered her good therapy to help her promote good coordination and muscle tone.  

The nice thing about all of this is all of the girls have no idea it is therapy, it is fun, fun, fun!!

I just can’t stand unreliable babysitters.   Sabrina called me 2 hours before she was supposed to be here and CANCELLED.   She was supposed to babysit so I could take off to go to Savannah’s Kindy Back to School night.    I couldn’t bring any of the kids to this, it was parents only.   I tell you it is so hard to find a good and reliable babysitter.    Just a couple of weeks ago a babysitter cancelled on me 2 hours before I was supposed to be somewhere and I couldn’t bring any kids with me so I had to cancel the event.    That babysitter emailed telling me that I hurt her feelings and gave me a lame excse.  I emailed her back and just said…I am hurt too…Take Care.    Ugh…I am so disappointed in the new generation of kids growing up and how they handle responsibility.    Definitely is very concerning to me.

I couldn’t find anyone with such short notice.  So I called my very last resort, our next door neighbor Sid.  He said he would but that I needed to get back home right away.  Thank God for Sid!!

In the classroom I sat at Savannah’s desk.  She sits close to the front of class.  I check ed out her little name plate and what was inside her desk.  It was so fun to get acquainted with my litle girl’s school life!!   

On the Savannah’s desk I noticed someting…She had drawn me a portrait of herself and there was a little note that said the drawing was for me to keep as a keepsake of her fist Kindy self portrait drawing.  I teared up.   How precious…

I listened to her teacher, Mrs. Tarbell, go over the curriculum and expectations of her Kindy students and what we as parents can do to help our children do a successful job in school.

I wrote a little note and put it in Savannah’s pencil box so tomorrow morning when she opens it up she will see mommy’s special love note to her.  I drew a fish and wrote Love, Mommy and then wrote the word fish on the bottom of the fish.  It was done in orange crayon (her favorite color…like Nemo!!).

Afterwards I walked around and soaked in the whole classroom.   There are little stations for groups of kids to participate in.   A reading room which has a bunch of soft pillows, oversize stuffed animals comfy chairs – what a great little mini library for the kids.   There is a listening station with microphones and the children sit around a table and listen to the headphones and follow the reader with the books.  This will help the children learn to pace when reading.

I learned that the children will have library day every Wednesday and get to check out their own book.   Every Friday they have Music day and go to choir in the multi purpose room.

The goal that Savvy and her classmates have to reach by mid November is to count to 10 and know numbers up to 30, know upper and lower case letters by sight, sound, out of order and to be able to put the letters in order.  I have already been doing that with Savvy with flash cards so she is right on track – yay!!

The only negative that I don’t like about the school is drop off in the morning.  They want me to drop Savannah off and let her find her way to a line amongst 800 other kids and not get lost.  That scares the dickens out of her and me.  I walk her every morning to make sure she feels safe and to reassure myself she is not lost nor scared.

I planned and coordinated a tour for my La Habra Moms Club with the La Habra Heights Fire Station.

I made homemade spaghetti and meatballs for dinner for the fire station.  I also brought all of our baked goodies that we made last Friday.  The firemen were so excited!!

I took the girls and we met up everybody at 3:45pm today.    They had a really neat presentation of how they put on a firefighter uniform from the boots to the jacket to the air tank,etc.    We learned some facts about their outfits…like the jackets weigh over 20 pounds and with the total gear it is close to 50 pounds!!   They have rescue alarms that beep louder and louder if a fireman is in trouble and needs to be rescued in a fire.    Then all of the kdis got to try on the jackets and the hats.  They had a ball.

All of the kids got to tour the firetrucks and sit inside.    They got to flash the lights and the sirens.     My girls thought it was a blast.

The fireman gave each kid a goody back with crayons, coloring books, stickers and each kid got their own fireman’s hat.  So cool!!

We set out to go to the L.A. County Fair today.  They had a good deal, $1 per adult if you arrived 10am-1pm.  We were on the road at 11:30am and still stuck in traffic at 12:30pm with no end in sight when we would finally get to the fair.

So we ditched the scene and decided to go to a park.    We ventured over to the Fullerton Arboretum.

What a beautiful place.   It is an amazing botanical garden with lots of water features, bridges,and water falls.  The girls loved looking at the fishies in the stream and made friends with the ducks and turtles at the pond.  

There were so many different areas of botanicals – woods and forest, fruit trees, flowering trees, vegetable gardens…so much to look and see!

This was a fun way to spend the afternoon.  It is free but they do accept donations so we were happy to give them a $3 donation to support such a beautiful place in our community.

What a beautiful day it was today!!

I had a free coupon for 10 people to go bowling.  I called my girlfriend, Nubia to come join us and she brought her 2 kids down and we met up at Whittier Bowl today.

What a great bowling!!  We had a blast!!   Savannah is doing really well learning to bowl.  She crouches down and pushes the ball with both arms.

I am still using the ball ramp with the triplets but for a few sets I did have them crouch down and push the ball with both arms.   I helped them of course.

Miranda’s ball was slow moving and stopped at the beginning of the lane so I thought I would go out to the lane and get it.   The minute I stepped my foot on the lane I slipped and fell hard.    I had no idea that they was the lanes!!   Oh man, I hit really hard and my arm is really sore from the fall.   Next time, I am going to have an employee go get the ball for me.  Ouchie!!

They all had lots of fun and bowled all 10 sets.    I had crayons and coloring books to keep them busy as each girl took turns bowling.

Afterwards we went to Red Robin.  I had some coupons for free Kids Meals that the dentist gave the girls on their dental visit a few weeks ago.   So everyone had a free lunch.    Poor Maryssa and Amanda were so wiped out and they fell asleep on the chair in the booth.

On the way out everyone got a balloon.

What a great day for activities that were FREE!! YIPPEE!!

I planned a really fun field trip for my girls and for the La Habra Moms Club.  We had a huge turnout – about 26 kids and 15 moms.    We went to Red Robin, a restaurant that specialized is gourmet hamburgers and good food fare.

I arranged to have each child get a tour of the kitchen and how the restaurant operates, work with the chef to make their very own made to order burger, and then they all received all sorts of goodies like free gift certificates, keepsake cups, coloring books and crayons.

They had a private room all decorated for us.   There were balloons tied to each child’s chair.  It looked amazing!!  

Poor Maryssa was so wiped out and fell asleep eating her burger while sitting in the booth with the other girls.  I had to lay her down on the bench in the booth.    The event started at 2pm and my girls got to sit down and eat at about 3:15pm so I guess Maryssa needed to take a catnap – LOL!!

The kids got to sit down and have lots of socializing with each other while enjoying their full burger meal with fries and a drink for a negotiated discount price of $3 a kid.  Each mom ordered their own lunch.  I negotiated some free kids meal coupons so I was able to get my girls and my burger meal free.   I thought they were very gracious to our La Habra Moms Club.

Some interesting facts that I learned from our host that gave us the tour of Red Robin – the 1st Red Robin opened up in Seattle, WA in 1969.  They now have over 500 restaurants nationwide.  

The big informative fact that I learned is that they use FRESH ground beef daily – never frozen.  They chop their vegetables fresh every morning for each day.  They hand slice their cheese and luncheon meet with an electric slicer.  It doesn’t get better than this and for now on I will be supporting Red Robin and recommending them to everyone for a good and wholesome meal.