Two weeks already...

That's how long it's been since my last post. Didn't I resolve to be better about this in 2008? (Maybe that's why I shouldn't bother with resolutions...)

Hmm...what's been going on with us?

- Madelyn has been working away at her dance recital piece, and I still don't really get to see any of her classes. Bummer. But they did schedule her recitals, and they are taking place May 24th and 25th. I'm so excited to see her! We had to order her costume a couple of weeks ago, and we got to see pics of it. She's going to be adorable! They're dancing to that old song, "Lollipop" (think "Stand By Me") and have frilly pink tutus. I don't know if I can handle that much girly-ness! LOL.

- I went out for a girls night out with my good friends Allison and Kristen this past weekend, and we had a great time. We went out for fondue at The Melting Pot and had the most interesting, relaxing night. No kids, a nice glass of wine, and yummy cheese, coq au vin, and dark chocolate raspberry fondue. Mmm, I'm drooling just thinking about it again! :-) As much as we all love to get our kids together - since they are all girls and are all relatively close in age - it was so nice to go out and just have some adult time without the 7 little princesses. Definitely gotta do that again sometime soon!

- Lyla is growing up right before my eyes. I can't get over how much she's changed, even in the past month. She's pulling up now, and even letting go and standing unassisted from time to time. She seems desperate to walk, and it all totally freaks me out because she's still not even 16 pounds! You look at her and think she's 5 months old or so, and then you see her crawling across the room, pulling up and trying to cruise/walk/stand. It's too funny. She's also eating more finger food, waving, and chattering away. She does her own little version of dancing when the put music on and go to town. I'm biased, but I think she's just adorable.

I need to post some videos and pics at some point, but for now that's all the news that's fit to print!

Back to School

It's been such a busy week with all of the fall/back to school activities! Madelyn had her first week of preschool at her new school, and even though she's been before I still had a hard time thinking about my little baby going off to do her own thing. It's still such a strange thing to get used to - even if only for 3 hours.

She did great on the first day, though she was a bit shy. By the end of the second day, her teacher told me she was "emerging as the group leader" and very chatty with all the other kids, often saying "Let's do this, guys!" or "Come on over here and play, guys!" (At our house, we often remind Maddie not to be a "bossy Gillis," which is a term her Grampy uses a lot. She's got no shortage of self confidence and has no problem herding other kids to go along with her idea of fun. The challenge for us will probably be to make sure that her "leadership" is constructive at preschool, and doesn't turn into something else...)

In other Maddie news this week...she started dance lessons! Very exciting for her, as she absolutely loves to dance and just perform in general. She's doing a one hour combo class of ballet, tap and tumble. I quickly realized though that I may be one of the only moms there that isn't really "into" it as a serious effort, if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally fine with her doing dance if that's what she's into. But at age 3.5, we're pretty much just letting her try different things and see what she likes. Last year it was gymnastics, this year it's dance, and I think next year will be soccer once she's finally old enough to take soccer lessons like Dora! But all of the other parents there had clearly been coming for a while, and had multiple kids in dance.


And speaking of doing things on her own...the dance instructors won't let parents anywhere near the dance studio, because parents are distracting. I asked (sort of jokingly...maybe with a hint of sarcasm??) if I would ever get a chance to see her and what she was learning, and the instructor told me yes... at the recital in June. I know Maddie is pretty self sufficient and doesn't "need" me for things like this right now, but it just put me so on edge to have her down on another floor, with a teacher she'd never met before, doing something she'd never done formally before...with no parent there by her side, even for the first class. She was a trooper and didn't mind a bit -- it was me who was kind of a mess. I guess we'll just keep trying it as long as Maddie is happy doing it, though. I'm sure I'll get used to it too!