Jack shared his Oreo cake with Jane Baird. She enjoyed it!!! Our second week of dance was even better than the first! Alan was able to join us and he took pics while JB and I danced. The little ones are so cute in dance class. My child doesn't listen and completely does her own thing. She cuts in line and refuses to take turns. I feel kind of bad that she does that, but that's kind of appropriate behavior for her age... I love how she goes after what she wants and won't let anyone stand in her way :) I hope that determination sticks with her throughout her life.

Picking out her sucker.

Walking on tippy toes

While all the other dancers are practicing their tippy toe turns, Jane Baird is checking out the support beams!!! And I saved my favorite for last. The look on her face makes me smile. She absolutely loves dance and I'm so glad that I get to join in on the fun!!!

Piggy tales, a slap in the face, and dance class

Friday morning Jane Baird wore piggy tales to school. She looked so cute! When I picked up Jane Baird from school this afternoon and her teacher told me that she slapped one of her friends in the face. It wasn't like a little slap, but rather one that could be heard from across a large room. She had to go to time out and when the teacher asked her if she slapped Janey Kate, Jane Baird started crying. I'm glad she was remorseful, but so sad that it happened. Tonight after dance class we sat down and made an "I'm Sorry" letter for Janey Kate. Tonight was Jane Baird's first dance class. It was so much fun for both of us! We started by stretching and then played with a parachute. They little ones walked on their tippy toes around the room and bunny hopped. After that the kids went to a gymnastics area and crawled through tunnels, hung on a bar, and did front rolls. Next we headed to a long trampoline and Jane Baird got to run around and jump. The kids got to jump off the trampoline into a huge foam pit. That was Jane Baird's favorite part. She wanted to do it over and over again. I have to say that she was definitely the bravest one in the group. She would jump without even hesitating and didn't care if anyone was there to catch her! After the pit, the kids went back into the dance studio and played with ribbons and learned a few steps. The class ended with Dora stickers and suckers!

Finally catching up!

This pic was taken on my phone in Target last weekend. Jane Baird was so sleepy so I found her a big fluffy puppy dog to use as a pillow and she almost went to sleep in the shopping cart. She is so sweet!

Funny picture! Jane Baird and Jack were watching this robotic monkey in the toy section in Target. It was doing all these crazy things and Jane Baird was making faces at it. It was hilarious!!! Still watching the monkey. Every kid that walked by stopped to stare at it! Jane Baird "helping" me in my classroom... August is half way over and I'm just now finding some free time to update my blog!!! August has been a busy month so far. I went back to work on August 3rd. My dad came over that day to keep Jane Baird at our house. Jane Baird loves her Pops (or Pop Pop as she sometimes calls him) and they had lots of fun together. That was my first time away from her all summer. Sad day for me :( Jane Baird started preschool on August 4th. She had some separation anxiety the first day back and it was very hard to leave her. I cried in the parking lot after dropping her off because she was so distraught when I handed her over. Her teacher, Ms. Jenny, sent me a text a few minutes later to let me know that she was playing happily with the other children which made me feel much better. Day 2 was much easier. Absolutely no tears from either one of us. She waved good bye as I was leaving. Jane Baird is loving school. She has been called "the social butterfly" by her teacher. She has two other kids in her class this year and she is no longer the baby of the school. I'm sure she enjoys the other children in her class, but doesn't enjoy sharing attention with the others! Monday was the first day for the new kids to come. They all napped in the same room (Jane Baird has never napped with anyone else before) and Ms. Jenny said that Jane Baird talked to the other girls during the entire nap time, keeping everyone awake. None of them got any sleep!!! I can so see her doing this :)

Lots of tears on the first day of school :(

2nd day of school with no tears!

Last weekend was the Tax-Free weekend so we went shopping on Saturday. We invited my mom, dad, and Jack to go shopping with us in Cullman and Decatur. We shopped all day and were ready to drop by the time we got home! I bought Jane Baird some adorable clothes for this winter and also found another great bargain at a consignment shop in Cullman. (I found a beautiful heirloom Strasburg dress for $8.00!) I'm getting good at this bargain shopping stuff :)

Jane Baird on the ride home. She was so tired!

I spent all week getting my classroom ready with no air conditioning! It was a miserable task, but I had it ready in time for Parent Orientation on Aug 5th. Since we worked late for Parent Orientation, we got off early on Friday and I got to spend some great quality time with my sweet girl. Monday, August 9th was the first day for students to come to school. I have 18 precious students in my class. I just love them all and I know this is going to be a great year. The fist week of school is always the hardest and the longest because you have to start from scratch with routines and procedures...I thought Friday would never get here!!! Friday FINALLY arrived and it was time for a much needed break :) Today Alan left for Miami, FL so my mom, dad, and Hayes invited Jane Baird and me to go shopping in Birmingham with them. We did a little shopping and had dinner. Hayes loves Moe's so we ate there after stocking up on the Buy One, Get One deals at the Publix in Greystone. Jane Baird and Hayes had cookies at the Publix bakery and I was afraid that would spoil her dinner. While waiting on dinner, Jane Baird had some M&M's (her new favorite candy)...she was starving and not behaving very well so I gave her a few. A few minutes later she was digging in my purse for more. When her quesadilla arrived, she wouldn't eat it....however she wanted the chocolate chip cookie that came with her meal. So for dinner she had a sugar cookie from Publix, M&M's from Mommy's purse, and a chocolate chip cookie from Moe's... I'm trying to win Mommy of the year ;) Actually tonight was the first time she has ever had a cookie and she just tried her first M&M last weekend. She hardly ever eats junk food so I guess one night won't hurt! And I almost forgot to mention our new washing machine! (Yep, I'm excited about a washing machine :) I got tired of waiting on Alan to fix ours and I wasn't really sure if it could be fixed. I always said that if we ever had to buy a new one that I would buy the very best...so we did. I got a Whirlpool Cabrio. It's the largest capacity washer on the market. You can wash like 30 large towels at once! We can do all of laundry from the entire week in two loads...whites and colors! Now the only problem we have is our dryer is not big enough to dry the entire load of clothes. I guess I'll be putting the Whirlpool matching dryer on my wish list! Jane Baird begins dance class on Monday...well its a Mommy & Me class so I guess WE begin dance classes on Monday. We bought this adorable dance leotard, tights, and ballet shoes a few weeks ago. She looks so cute in it! I doubt I'll be able to take pics of her on Monday b/c I'll probably be chasing her around all evening! Hopefully I will be able to get at least one or two :)