Boys & Ballet

Dancin' Girl KK -


As you well know, I teach Ballet classes at the community center.  Now that T Bear is 3, I thought he should come take my dance class for a session.  I told Big D about my wish, and he said "No way, Boys don't do Ballet."  I argued that it is more of a creative dance class than ballet, plus he is only three!  After a pointless debate, we did not come to an agreement about T Bear and Ballet class.


T Bear knows very well that I leave him every Wednesday to teach dance.  I wanted to see if he would be excited to go and take a dance class with me.  I told him that he was going to be in my dance class in a few days.  T Bear said "Oh, am I going to turn into a girl now?"  I said "WHAT?"  I was sure that I had not understood him correctly.  He said again, "Am I turning into a girl now?"  I said "No, boys can take dance classes too, not just girls. Boys are great dancers."  T Bear said, "Oh, OK.  I want to take soccer too."  I immediately wondered if his father and been discussing things with him recently.


Since there was no resolution, I made the executive decision and took T Bear to ballet class on the first day of the session.  It was so fun to see his eyes light up and his little body get so excited about being in a dance class.  There was another little boy in the class as well. For me, as the teacher and now mother of a student, it was a little more difficult.  The class on a whole had a few students with some problems to manage.  


After 6 weeks, we had a 15 minute showcase for the parents to watch their little dancers.  It was the worst showcase performance I have ever seen.  The kids were all over the place.  It was like they had never taken a dance class from me before.  T Bear just stood there staring at everyone and then just started jumping during the dance.  I was so embarrassed and slightly frustrated.  The funny part is that so many parents came up and told me what a wonderful performance it was.  They thought the kids did great, and listened so well to me.  I was floored to say the least.  And truly the most important part is that the kids enjoy dancing.


I think T Bear had a great time, and Big D was proud to watch him in the end.  T Bear is signed up to take one more session with me, and then we will take a break from Ballet for awhile.


With love and grace,
-Ballerina Miss T

Lessons Learned

KK -


We had a great time on our cruise.  Here are some lessons learned from our first cruising experience:


-Bring more than 1 bottle of sunscreen.  We left our only bottle of sunscreen on our snorkeling excursion on the 2nd day.  At the next port, they only sold sunscreen with SPF 4 or SPF 8 (bronzer).  We paid a ridiculous amount for the SPF 8 and tried to hide our white Seattle skin from the bright scorching sun.


-Never bring young children.  We went on the cruise without our boys.  It was hard to leave them, but I am glad we did.  We saw other people with young children, and it did not look enjoyable.  Unless you do a Disney cruise, the atmosphere and entertainment are not suitable for young children.  I decided that once our kids are capable of going through a buffet line without any assistance, then they can come with us on a cruise.


-Cruises are great places to people-watch and meet interesting people.  We got a kick out of just watching people.  There was such a variety of people on the cruise.  The funny part is that even though there were 3,000 people on the ship, we still saw that "crazy" guy everyday on the ship.  We also met some fun people.  Our favorites were: older-couple-on-their-1,204th-cruise, 20 yr anniversary couple, cute honeymoon couple, totally fake boobs couple, and the nice TN couple who talked to us about BYU football, mormon missionaries, retirement, and raising kids.


-You will make friends.  We did not do the assigned dinner seating.  Luckily on one of the first nights we got seated next to a cute married couple from TX.  They were the Mary Tyler Moore couple.  We had a such a good time, that we ended up eating dinner with them every night.  We became great friends, and thanks to the miracle of facebook, we are officially friends forever.  Maybe we will do another cruise with them someday.


-Minimal clothing should not be an option for everyone.  This may sound harsh, but there were too many people wearing too little clothing.  We saw more unattractive skin than we would have like to have seen.  Yucky.


-You don't need alcohol to dance with the locals, but a little helps.  We were on a catamaran excursion at our first port.  We boarded a beautiful boat, and they handed us some cool fruit punch.  Then we went snorkeling in some gorgeous water, then boarded the boat again to go to a private beach.  They played music on the boat and handed out fruit punch again.  This time around, the fruit punch tasted different... it was a little "rummy."  It was rum fruit punch.  Next thing you know, I was standing with the local tour guides on the boat dancing my little heart out.  Let's be honest, I would have joined in the dancing without the alcohol.  I asked Big D later if I looked silly up there dancing.  He replied, "No, you just looked very white."


-The cruise ship will leave you.  At our last port, we got back on the ship 10 minutes before it pulled out.  We found out later that night, the cruise ship left 3 people in port Nassau, Bahamas.  We suspected that they may have consumed too much alcohol by that point.  Alcohol is served everywhere you turn on and off the cruise ship.


We enjoyed our first cruise.  Maybe we will do another down the road.  


-Miss T

Scenes from the Caribbean

Welcome Home T-chan!

Dear T-chan,

Welcome home!!! You did the responsible thing, AND you got a vacation in, AND now you are back with your two adorable boys. I'm eagerly awaiting stories and pictures.

While you were away I did lot's of things that reminded me of you:
Got my first bountiful basket!
Remember when I was with you when you got yours?

Ran in the Walk to Run 5k for Now I Can.
I wouldn't know and love this organization if you hadn't helped it exist! (I vote that we do it together next year, what do you think?)

Went on a hike in Rock Canyon. This is my MTC teacher.
Basically why this reminded me of you is because I thought of all the hikes Miga and Poppa took us on when we were kids, and you taught me girls camp songs before I turned 12...:D

Ate dinner with the younger siblings.
You know we talked about you. (Don't worry, ALL good things...you are such an amazing big sister to each of us. Seriously.)

And watched Newsies at the Varsity Theatre.
I will always think of you when I watch this movie. When was the last time you watched it? The dancing in it is fabulous and the music inspiring!


I'm glad you are back, and I hope you are tan, and I am excited to see you sometime soon...skype date? Lovies.
K-chan

The Responsible Thing To Do

I am at M&D's house right now, and I found this pic on their computer... not the best, but it will do.

KK -

Why is it hard to do the responsible thing sometime?   Here is where I am coming from.

I remember being around 12 years old when Mom and Dad left on a trip, just the two of them.  They told me that if something happened to them (meaning if they died), they wanted all of us kids to go live with the X family.  I was stunned that they had even thought of such a thing.  Why would they even think about them dying?  It was a terrible, terrible, terrible thought.

It happened again when I was a freshman in college.  Mom and Dad were dashing off on a romantic get-away, and they called me to talk.  If something happened to them (meaning if they died), they wanted me to quit college and come home to finish raising all of my brothers and sister.  Again, I was pretty stunned and thought it was just an awful thing to think about and talk about.

Now, I am a parent and Big D and I are leaving on a vacation just for two.  In preparing for this long vacation, we have had to draw up a will, and decide what will happen to our boys in case something happens.  When Big D and I talk about this, I want to revert back to my 12 year old self, and tell him this topic is to terrible and awful to even talk about let alone make a decision about it.  This is when I realized that Mom and Dad were just doing the responsible thing for their family.

It is my turn to do the responible thing for my family.  It still makes me sick to thing about the "what if", but we need to occassionally. 

We are all set to go now.  I can stop being a baby, and check off the box.  I have done the responisble thing.  Now it is time to sit back and relax and try to enjoy some much need husband-wife time.  I hope can not worry and talk about my boys the whole time!

Love you!

Talk to you in a week-

-Miss T

My Mother's Day

Dear KK,

I was scared to become a mother.  Deep down I always knew that I would be a mother, but when it came down to it, I was worried and scared.  I didn't know if I would like it or be successful at it.

Now, I am mother to T Bear and Baby Cub.  I can honestly say that I love being a mother.  It surprises me and sounds so cheesy, but it is true.  There are so many things to be learned by being a mother and there is so much joy that comes from being a mother.

On Mother's Day, we were eating lunch when Big D suggested I open a gift from my own mother, Miga.  I unwrapped a book titled, Boys Should Be Boys by Meg Meeker, M.D.  T Bear loves books and asked what kind of book it was.  I told him it was a book for  me to read that would tell me how to be nice to my boys.  T Bear said, "Oh, like not to put me in time-out."  I quickly corrected him, and told him even nice mothers put their boys in time-out when they make bad choices.  

Later, we were sitting on the porch, trying to get some Vitamin D, when Big D suggested that T Bear say some things he loved or liked about Mommy.  The first thing T Bear said was, "I love Mommy because she is going to read that book about how to be nice to her boys because Baby Cub and me are her boys."  Wow.  What is he trying to tell me?  Regardless, I did start to read the book immediately.

Although I am enjoying being a mother, I am not amazing at it.  I make mistakes.  There are times I have no idea what I am doing or should be doing.  I look around and see so many amazing mothers.  Every mother has a unique situation and set of skills or talents.  Mothers are amazing for different reasons.  I hope that someday I can do at least a few amazing things for my boys (hopefully that book will tell me how).  Until then, I will just shower them with hugs, kisses, (time-outs), food, toys, clothes, work and a lot of love.  

With love,

-Miss T

Chocolate Milk.

Hey Miss T,

I may or may not have gone through an entire gallon of chocolate milk in...the past 5 days.


I may or may not have just purchased another gallon at the store tonight.

Do you think you can guess what this must mean? I think I can.
It's going to be an awesome week.

Love you. KK

My Hat Goal

Dear Miss T.
I have great news. I have done something you will be proud of.

Would you like to see?


I wore my hat!
How do you feel about that?

I feel great and totally chic (pronounced "sheek" in case you didn't know, because I didn't know that's how you spell it)
So it's my goal to wear it once a week!

Thought you might like to know that. Thanks for helping me set the goal. Thanks for helping me GET THE HAT!

Lovies.
Aunty KK

Survival Mode

What a picture!  Not flattering for any of us.

KK-


We have been in survival mode around here.  Big D left for a mountain biking trip in Moab last Wednesday afternoon.  I have been on my own with the boys since then.  We did alright for the first couple of hours (like 4), then we entered survival mode.  


Survival mode means this:


-I don't cook.  We live off of cold cereal, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, PB&J, yogurt and the bag of M&Ms you gave me last week.
-We watch a lot more TV than usual.  T Bear loved being able to watch unlimited episodes of Diego.  
-We leave the house for no reason, only to get out.  I either wandered around Target or walked the neighbors with no particular destination.
-We don't leave the house because we had nowhere to go at times.
-Bedtime varied.  On days I was exhausted, bedtime was early.  Some nights bedtime was late, because we were having so much fun.
-I take Unisom to sleep.  It's weird but I don't sleep as well if Big D is gone.
-We talk about missing Daddy.
-I don't clean the house.  


We did venture out to Stake Conference for church this morning.  I was originally just going to stay home, but then I realized it was going to be a long day if we did not get out.  I had some friends willing to sit by me to help me with the boys.  The 2 hour meeting was long, and by the end we were not doing very well.  There was only 10 minutes left in the meeting, but I decided I had had enough.  I scooped up the boys, left all of our toys and activities scattered on the chairs and floor, and left.  Both boys fussed and cried as I carried them out.  Sally was nice enough to clean up after us since we left in a hurry.  I felt no need to apologize, only to say we were in survival mode.  Luckily, I have great friends who have been willing to step in and help me many times.


Now we are down to only 11 hours and 34 minutes until Big D comes home.  Oh, and I can't wait!!!! He definitely deserved a trip away.  Now we are ready for him to be back, so we can go on with our normal lives.


-Miss T


*Afterthought* How do you single moms do this?  How do you 'student' single moms do this?  How do you "work a bazillion hours at a job' single moms do this?  You must be amazing!!!!