The Jones Girls

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!!

I get everyone up at 7am and breakfast is over at about 7:25am.  Then I make Savannah is dressed, I do her hair, she brushes her teeth and I have her snack all put together.    I quickly get the triplets dressed and we are out of the house by about 8:15am.

I have to pack all 4 girls into the minivan before taking my drive to Savannah’s school.     The drive is only about 5 minutes from our house.  What takes the longest is waiting in line with all of the other cars.  If you can try to envision hundreds of cars dropping off their kids in one spot and doing it in about 15 minutes.  It is complete crappy chaos.   

I think they need to bring the buses back.    But the school district says there is not enough money in the budget.  How in the world can they have buses one day a few years ago and no longer do it now?  Sounds like mismanagement of tax dollars by the school district…that is a whole other subject and topic that really pisses me off…

Savannah has no clue where she is supposed to go.  So I had to park the car at drop off, leave the triplets strapped in their car seats in the car, and walk Savannah into the school and help her in line.   I just felt I had no choice.  I didn’t want Savannah getting lost, or worse yet, scared.  

When I got back to the minivan, I got yelled at by the school secretary telling me I was in a no parking zone, load and unload only.  I was ready to pull my hair off.    It is times like this when I wish I had some extra help,,,grandma around or somebody to watch the triplets for a few minutes while I take Savannah to school.

It is HELL going to that school in the morning.  I HATE it.  It is enough to make we want to home school.    It sucks!!

Picking up was ok.   The teacher told me Savannah has to learn to raise her hand when she wants to talk and not talk over the teacher.    I have this same problem at home, which is typical 5 year old behavior that needs to be refined and worked on.

She wore the cutest little outfit for her first day of school.   It was a dress with an oxford white shirt with a pink vest and pleated plaid skirt.   She wore white tights with patent leather  Mary Jane shoes.      Call me biased, but she was the best dressed little girl in Kindergarten…LOL!!

We drove to school and got there at 8:15am.   Class starts at 8:30am, but I wanted to be a little early due to parking issues.    They do not offer the kids to ride buses in our school district so all of the parents drive their kids or walk their kids to school.    It was utter and complete chaos watching 800 kids on arrive at school driven in hundreds of cars.    I am so glad that I got there early, as we still had to park almost 2 blocks away from the school.

I took a lot of pictures of Savannah her first day.   She had her snack in the brown paper bag and we dropped off our $60+ worth of supplies in her classroom.

At 8:30am the class bell rang and the Kindy teacher announced that class was beginning and to scram!!    The principal invited us for a meet and greet coffee in the cafeteria so I decided to go.  I was so teary eyed as I watched my first born baby walk with confidence and reassurance and make her first big steps as a big girl into her Kindergarten Classroom.   I didn’t let Savannah see me cry.   I cried when the door shut.  Then the principal wrapped her arms around me and walked me to the cafeteria where we all visited and had an introduction from the Principal and the PTA.

I picked up Savannah at 11:50am and the triplets were in the car with me.   Picking up wasn’t so stressful as it was only about20 cars picking up our kids.

One day down, three hundred days to go….

Congratulations our sweet darling for starting Kindergarten.   Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you for starting a new huge and important chapter in your educational life.

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!!