Start of Something New

We have been trying to find a structured physical activity for Madison to participate in.  She has really wanted to take dance.  We finally found a dance class that worked in our schedule and budget.  Thursday she starts dance class.  She will be in a combination class that will teach both ballet and tap.  We had thought that she would have class from 5-6 but when we got confirmation on the time it is really going to be from 4-5.  This created an issue since her bus doesn't get back to Gladbrook until 4.  Thankfully classes are in Reinbeck and so she will get to walk to lessons after school and get herself ready for class. She is so excited.  I am not so excited.  I am having to admit that she is growing up and is able to do things on her own.  I will have to get the boys from school and then go to Reinbeck to get her from class. 

Her teacher has a dress code of classic black long sleeve leotard, pink tights, pink ballet shoes and black taps with ties.  Once she gets that she can get a short sleeve leotard.  She is also allowed to wear a skirt and leg warmers.  Here she is in her dance attire.

Ready for Ballet

Ready for Tap

She says she can't wait to dance in her tap shoes. I am sure that the kitchen floor will get lots of use as she practices.  Hopefully this will give her something to look forward too and give her a positive outlet for her energy.

Home Improvement

A couple of years ago Greg painted the kitchen and dinning room and installed some task lights while I was gone with the kids to visit my parents.  We had bought the paint for the living room and parlor at the same time so we would have it in case we had a snow day or something.  Well the paint has sat in the basement for a while.  Finally after having the project in the works fro a while he got it finished.  This is what the rooms look like now.

The parlor is a bright yellow with blue ceilings and the living room is a brown color.  We also had really ugly linoleum inside the front door and had some to replace it with.  When he pulled up the old stuff it revealed a beautiful hard wood floor with little to no deep scratches.  I talked him into pulling up the carpet in the parlor.  He did and it revealed three spots that we will have to lay flooring in.  Right now they have particle board in them.  The floor also needs to be sanded down and refinished.  So I guess we have found our next project.

Small Accomplishmnets

This school year has already proven to be challenging.  Jonathan has homework every night and he doesn't really care for it.  He would rather come home and play not do more school work.  He is expected to study spelling and read every night.  Last week was his first spelling test.  I has so happy when he brought home his pre-test on Monday and had only missed three out of ten.  I thought for something that is completely new to him that was great.  By Friday he had learned them all and got them all right.  This Monday he also missed three but is working hard to get them all right on Friday.

Every night they are to read their AR book (Accelerated Reading).  These books are leveled and are based on their STAR test results.  They have to read them 3-5 times and then they can take the computer test over it.  On Friday he brought home his first AR book.  It was the Three Little Pigs and he was so excited to read it.  He tested over it on Monday and missed two so he had to retake the test after reading it another 3-5 times.  The second time he got them all right.  He is not used to taking tests nor being on the computer for something other than playing games.  I was so pleased with him and the progress he is making already this year.  Now he is reading The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss and doing very well with it.