First day of swim lessons!

This last weekend we went to Daryn's sister Renee's house  house for a super party. MacKenzie turned 12, Shane graduated from 8th grade and Clinton became a journeyman at work. It was a very fun party and Rebekah loved playing in the pool with Daryn. I feel a little silly for not taking pictures, but oh well. I'm sure Jeanette has some great ones to share with me. :)

After that we high-tailed it back to Tucson for a birthday party for our friend Maggie. She's married to Arjay, who went to classes at NAU distance with Daryn. Funny connection:

I know a guy named Clay from my first year at UA - before he or I were married. Clay married Candice. Candice is Arjay's sister. Also, when Daryn and I moved back to Tucson, we were in a ward with Tania. Tania is Clay's sister. We met all 3 couples independent of one another, but it didn't take long to connect the dots! And now Clay and Candice live in MY sister's ward.

Back to this week, though. The party was great - Arjay make it a surprise party and got a ton of people to come. I'm not surprised because Maggie is such a sweet person. It's a bummer they're pretty far on the other side of town because their daughter Ali is only a few months younger than Rebekah and those two were ADORABLE playing together. Rebekah loves to play and make new friends! Also, their son is just 2 months older than Josiah. It's interesting that having kids the same age gives you so much in common!

Hm - something I didn't talk about when I wrote about Rebekah's classes: When we got to the ballet class and were waiting for the teacher, Rebekah went up to every girl and said, "Hi! I'm Rebekah. What's your name?" and held out her hand to shake theirs. It was precious. Some of the girls answered and shook her hand, but most of them were so shy (this is a class for 3-5 year olds) that they just buried their face in their mom's leg until Rebekah moved on to her next victim/friend. When she'd said hi to everyone, she went back around saying, "I'm a ballerina! Are you a ballerina?" This time she at least got head nods.

Let's see... I've been teaching Sunbeams a few weeks in a row now - I have a partner, but she's out of town. Before she left she offered to teach a couple weeks in a row, and I took her up on it because I was in Phoenix a couple times in that timeframe. Now it's my turn! I have 6 girls and 1 boy if they all come, but we're usually 1 or 2 shy. They're good kids - 2 of them have a few issues, but nothing that can't be handled. For some reason, lately Rebekah will cry and say she doesn't want to go when I talk about church, but she always has a wonderful time when we get there!

The next few weekends are FULL of activities, but we'll see how many I make it to: most of them are in Phoenix, and we're trying to cut back on trips up there - something we are rarely successful at! I know my friends understand if I don't make it to their parties, but I sure do love seeing them!

This evening is Rebekah's first swim lesson. It's 30 minutes long. I'll post some pictures or video later tonight.

I just want to say how excited I am that I've had so much time to catch up today! I've added pictures and videos to past posts, and the kids have been really good! I also cleaned Rebekah's room, got most of the dishes done, I'm working on some laundry, and now I get to go cook dinner.

I have ONE MORE fun post to share. Hopefully it will be up soon because it's a pretty great one. ;)

Practicing different kinds of kicks

Getting in and out of the pool from the wall (practiced on the ladder earlier).

Floating on her back

Wonderful Wednesday!

Wednesday was a fantastic day! Rebekah had her very first ballet and gymnastics classes. Our day went a little like this:

9:30 leave for Ballet
9:45 arrive! Wait for teacher.
10-11 Ballet!
11:30-1:30 Carrie's house
1:30 leave for gymnastics
2-3 Gymnastics!
3-5 NAP! (whoops)

I was hoping Josiah would sleep during Rebekah's classes, but he slept AFTER them both times. During ballet it wasn't an issue because I had the stroller and he was actually happy just sitting in it the whole time. Gymnastics was different. He wanted to explore!

We went to our friend Carrie's house for lunch, since she so graciously offered her home for us between classes this summer. Rebekah had a fun time, and so did Josiah until he got bit by a very tired and grumpy 2 year old. It was partly my fault that I let him down and didn't keep track of where she was. Whoops! His bruise is just about gone now, and no skin was broken.

The ballet room is a bit small. Ms Didi let us all come in and watch, but for the rest of the summer we will wait out in the hall. Unfortunately, there's no viewing window. If any of the girls have problems, Ms Didi will send them out to Mom until they are ready to come back in.

Gymnastics has a great big room with lots of equipment. Parents sit outside where there are benches and a large window.

For both classes, everyone will be allowed in on the last day of class to see the kids perform. We'll definitely bring the video camera that day! And Daryn's asking for the day off work. :)

Without further ado, Rebekah's ballet and gymnastics pictures!

 

For some reason, my camera wouldn't zoom while I was taping. :(

Rebekah's Summer Plans

Rebekah is growing up! This summer, Rebekah will be taking ballet, gymnastics and swim lessons! I hesitate to admit my cheating here, but I'll be honest. Judge me if you want, I think my reasoning is justified. : p

So, the ballet class is ages 3-5, and the swimming flyer says "about 4 years" for the youngest age group that takes lessons without a parent in the pool. Gymnastics without a parent participating is 4 years old. I can't participate unless I get a babysitter for Josiah, and I don't like getting a babysitter pretty much ever. That being said, Rebekah will be among the younger children of her school year. Her birthday is such that children who are already 4 will be in the same class as her when she starts school - so, kids in these "age 4" classes during the summer are Rebekah's peer group. Her friend Heather who lives down the street had a birthday just 3 weeks ago. Rebekah is definitely just as mature and physically able as Heather, and Heather is old enough for these classes, so I decided that Rebekah is also old enough for these classes. That being said: I fudged her birthday on the papers so that I could get her into these classes.

The city has Swim Lessons set up like this: Daily lessons M-F for 2 week sessions at various pools across the city. Thanks to Tucson Police Department, The Red Cross is offering lessons at city pools for only $2/session! When I registered Rebekah for her classes, though, it was a little late and I could only sign her up for sessions 3 and 4. For sessions 1 and 2 I'm on the "wait list." The tricky part is that none of the sessions are set up by pool; the sign up is for the entire city, and you have to later go to the pool of your choice and sign up directly with them, listing your top 3 pools for where you'd LIKE to have your lessons. I can see how they're trying to share the lessons across the city, but it's also annoying to think I might be asked to go to a pool not near my home. :/ So, since I'm on the wait list for the first two sessions, I just need to go to the pool I want to have lessons at during their walk-in sign up days and get in that way, since there's no promise for who gets what pool. If I can't get her into lessons at the pool I want for the first 2 sessions, I might just take her to the other pool nearby, which is a county pool.

The county pool is offering lessons in 2 week sessions that run M-R, and charging $20. But, it's so close that I feel like I will not actually lose too much money, considering if I don't get in the city pool I want, I'd have to drive pretty far to get to another city pool for lessons!

So, Rebekah's summer schedule will basically be swim M-F (time TBD), and Ballet and Gymnastics on Wednesdays.

Originally, I didn't want to put Ballet and Gym on the same day, but the closest building that offers the classes is pretty far from us. I wanted to cut back on gas, so I needed to only make the drive out there once a week. Ballet is at 10am, and Gym is at 2pm. I wish they were closer together, but I figured that the building is on the same property as a very large park and the Tucson Zoo, so we can have a picnic lunch every Wednesday!

... Yeah, I know it's going to be disgustingly hot. : / This week I'm going to scope out spots and see if there's somewhere indoors we can hang out and eat our lunch. If not, we do have a friend who lives relatively nearby, so we're going to drop in and visit them each week, I think. We'll see how it goes!

Also, I know that Rebekah might be exhausted, so I need to make sure I remember to have the stroller with me so that she can nap in the stroller if need be. It's going to be interesting!

Which brings me to the shopping I talked about in the other post: We bought Rebekah some leotards - short sleeve, one pink and one black. And some footless tights - black and white, I think. I wasn't going to get the tights (it says barefoot or ballet slippers only for Ballet) but decided on the footless ones because I didn't know if she'd be allowed to wear shorts with her leotard - Daryn mentioned that in ballet they need to see their hips pretty well, though that's probably not as crucial for 4 year olds. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to dance. I probably should have called my friend Ashley before I bought anything! She has 2 of her little girls in dance, and she's a dancer herself. Come to think of it, I have a ton of friends who danced growing up and I totally should have given someone a call. Ah well. I still have a receipt and we'll find out on Wednesday if I made a good decision! :P

I will say, though: We were at Wal-mart and it was clear that the display was specifically for dance classes: They had the leotards (short sleeve, long sleeve and sleeveless), footless and footed tights, simple skirts with a little rosette on the front, slippers... all of it in pink, black and white. I was VERY tempted to get Bekah a skirt, but figured it was unnecessary and shouldn't waste the money - yet. ;)

Rebekah overheard me talking on the phone to get her registered for ballet, and when I got off the phone she asked if it was time to go to her ballet class. So cute! I hope she stays as excited as she is for this summer. I hope it all goes well. She's such a bright girl and I love the joy on her face when she learns new things. I'm looking forward to a fun summer!

Oh, in addition to Rebekah's classes, my friend and I split the cost of purchasing a Zoo Pass for the summer. Since Daryn now has Fridays off, we went to the Zoo as just our family for the first time ever this last month! (Yes I have pictures... to come another night) Anyway, I look forward to planning some fun outings for us on Fridays with Daddy. In fact, I think I need to make a list! Do you have suggestions for us - fun things to do in the Tucson area (or Phoenix area) with toddlers? We will definitely be headed to Brandi Fenton more than once, and Jacob's Park pool is open this summer, I hear that one is fun! Daryn's already talked about going up Mt Lemmon for some picnics. What else shall we do?

This fall: My baby's first soccer season! Daryn and I have talked about this day since before I was ever pregnant. <3