I am really behind in all of my posting so I have decided that this week I will make sure I catch up on all of the posts I want to get done.

Back in February I took some pictures of Hailey enjoying a nice snowy day.

Hailey and Rich all ready to go outside to play.

And now for some fun in the snow:

Last weekend Hailey had a Valentine’s Day Tea and her ballet class danced to a song called “Little Wheel.” It was soooo cute!

Waiting in line to go up on the stage.

“Two hands clapping in my heart…”

“Some kids sleeping in my heart…”

“A big truck honking in my heart…”

Listening to the audience clap for her.

Hailey enjoyed watching the other groups of older girls doing their dances too.

Cute little ballet shoes.

Here is a video of Hailey dancing.  She is the third one in from the right.  In order to get the video to upload we had to reduce the size of the clip and for some reason when we did that- the sound came out awful.  It doesn’t sound like this at all on my camera- but you can get the idea anyways:

Back in November Hailey started taking ballet, jazz and tap class once each week.  Every couple of months they have a watch week so that the parents can come into the lesson and watch what the kids are learning.  Since Hailey started about 2 months late I had missed the first watch week.  The next watch week happened the first week of February.  So Rich and I went to watch her class.  We took a few pictures of her class.

There are usually a few more girls in her class but some weren’t there during watch week.  Since I have worked with groups of 3-5 year olds I was pretty impressed with how well everyone cooperated for the teacher and how she could get all the girls to do the same thing at the same time.

We also took some videos of Hailey’s class doing a couple different dances.  But she actually has a recital for Valentine’s Day- so I’m going to wait and take a video of her dancing then and post that video sometime next week.

I was trying to get our house nice and clean today. We have company coming for dinner tonight so I was hoping it would actually stay clean once I cleaned it. So, I cleaned Hailey’s playroom and told her she could play with her toys- but to please only take out a few toys at a time. Then I went off to finish dusting the rest of the house.

Less than 5 minutes later I walked by the playroom and saw this:

At first I was a little annoyed to see the big mess.  But then I remembered this:

No More Oatmeal Kisses

One of these days, you’ll shout, “Why don’t you kids grow up and act your age!”
And they will.

Or, “You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do . . . and don’t slam the door!”
And they won’t.

You’ll straighten up the boys’ bedroom neat and tidy: bumper stickers discarded, bedspread tucked and smooth, toys displayed on the shelves. Hangers in the closet. Animals caged. And you’ll say out loud, “Now I want it to stay this way.”
And it will.

You’ll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn’t been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in the icing, and you’ll say, “Now, there’s a meal for company.”
And you’ll eat it alone.

You’ll say, “I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around. No demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?”
And you’ll have it.

No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti. No more dandelion bouquets. No more bedspreads to protect the sofa from damp bottoms. No more gates to stumble over at the top of the basement steps. No more clothespins under the sofa. No more playpens to arrange a room around.

No more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent. No more sand on the sheets or Popeye movies in the bathroom. No more iron-on patches, rubber bands for ponytails, tight boots or wet knotted shoestrings.

Imagine. A lipstick with a point on it. No baby-sitter for New Year’s Eve. Washing clothes only once a week. Seeing a steak that isn’t ground. Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap.

No PTA meetings or silly school plays where your child is a tree. No car pools. No blaring radios or forgotten lunch money. No one washing her hair at 11 o’clock at night. Having your own roll of Scotch tape.

Think about it. No more Christmas presents out of toothpicks and library paste. No more sloppy oatmeal kisses. No more tooth fairy. No giggles in the dark. No knees to heal, no responsibility.

Only a voice crying, “Why don’t you grow up?”
and the silence echoing, “I did.”

…Erma Bombeck

So instead of being upset with Hailey for the mess she made, I went and got my camera and took a picture.  Becuase all too soon she’ll be all grown up and I’ll miss the mess.