Prima Ballerina...

Oh my goodness! Will ya look at that cutie pie!! Madeline is taking ballet through Evergreen Dance Studio. Her teacher's name is Molly and as of the first class Madeline is in for some private lessons. She is the only 5 year old! It was so wonderful watching her. I started ballet at five and to have your child follow in your footsteps and love it as much as you do is a great feeling! She comes to all my dance team practices with me and dances around the house constantly! Who knows, maybe I'll coach her one day too!









Here are some shots of class before my batteries died. ENJOY!

School Changes!

Well, Madeline has changed schools! I had signed her up to go to Arthur Academy back in April and she's been 5th on the waiting list since. We got a call last Thursday letting us know she's now in! Arthur Academy in a charter school run out of Yankton School here in St. Helens. It is a public school, but has a limit on class size and a very structured and academic based curriculum. She is one of 24 kids in her class and now goes 3 hours and 15 minutes instead of 2 and a half hours. And she's loving it! She was having a hard time at McBride and I think it had to do with the size of the school and who knows what. She cried almost every morning I dropped her off, but was great during class. At Yankton she hasn't cried at all and can't stop telling me about all the stuff she learned during the day. It's been wonderful seeing her so happy! She has to wear a uniform though and it's messin' with her fashion sense lol
Miss Madeline starts ballet classes this evening so stay tuned for some pictures of my future ballerina!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Well, today was Madeline's first day of kindergarten! What a big girl! We live so close to the school it only takes a few minutes to get there. I'll admit... walking through the front doors and seeing the mass of other kids older than her kinda scared me a sec. But then I heard someone say the kindergarteners were in the cafeteria and noticed a much smaller and quiet group of kids and parents. Each teacher has a small cone with their name on it that the kids line up behind. The teachers come get the kids at 7:45 and they all walk to class. Madeline wasn't quite sure until she actually saw Mrs. Biggs. Then she grabed her hand and got in line with the rest of the class. She ended up holding the assistant's hand all the way to the class room. Enjoy these few pictures of her first day!

I picked her up at 10:30 in the front hall and it made me feel good to see she was happy to see me. On our way to the car though she started crying because she wanted to ride the bus home like all the other kids. I explained to her that we lived too close but she didn't care what the excuse was! She starts on Monday going everyday and as for now, is looking very forward to her first year of school.

It's September!

Oh how I love this time of year! Not only does school start, but the routine of things is so much easier! Last weekend was a busy one, just like the rest lately... Friday, well let me start with last Wednesday... Jeromy rushed home from a drug bust in Kalamath Falls to sign the closing papers on his condo and by 6:30 we were off to Kellogg Idaho to pick up Mr. Biggs (Madeline's name for our new Dodge Ram 3500) It's an amazing truck! I LOVE IT! Friday I picked Bailey and Melanie up from daycare and got Madeline from her dad's. The kiddos stayed the night while Dan and Stephanie celebrated their anniversary. Saturday was beautiful so I got the sprinkler out. What crazy kids!

After the kids left we headed to Hillsboro for The Simpsons Movie and sushi for dinner. We went right to bed when we got home because we had to leave at 6am for Bend for my cousin's wedding. Yeah, Bend... that was an adventure! After getting gas in Madras the check engine light went on... we didn't get to Bend until 10 and had 30 minutes for breakfast. The place was packed so we didn't get out of there until 10:45. The wedding was at 11 at Todd lake! At 11 my brother called and said they were waiting for us! Oh, I love my family! We finally got there at 11:20. It was gorgeous! We all walked down a trail behind Eric and Heather while a bagpipe played. It was great! They exchanged vows right there in front of the lake. And it was perfect! Of course I forgot batteries for the camera so I have no pictures! :( We had time to go back and check-in to the hotel (and take a quick nap) before the reception at my aunts cabin in La Pine. Cabin? Oh, no... more like a second home with a huge garage with apartment upstairs... it is huge! And of course, I got batteries on our way there and left the camera in the hotel room! Anyway, Eric made authentic Indian food and we all just relaxed and caught up. We haven't seen a lot of my family for awhile. It was wonderful seeing everyone at such a happy event!

On our way home Monday we stopped at Clear lake to go fishing and let Lucy go swimming. It was so beautiful there! We were the only ones there and it was about 80 and clear blue sky! This was Madeline's first time fishing... She lasted about 20 minutes lol.

There was a duck tormenting Lucy out in the lake! He'd quack at her and let her swim to within about 5 feet and then take off. He did this about 3 times! Lucy was going crazy and it was hysterical to watch!

We finally got home at about 6 and Madeline was bathed and sleepin' by 7:15. She was pretty tuckered out! Today she met her new kindergarten teacher and got to visit the classroom. Her first official day is this Thursday. I'll be sure to take a ton of pictures of that! Stay tuned!