Firsts

This week the girls started dance.

I have never seen 2 kids so excited about anything before!

After a couple of years of introductory lessons, Brie is into "real" dances. She has chosen to take tap dance and is absolutely thrilled!

The day we bought her tap shoes was very exciting indeed. I do have some video of her testing them out, but for some reason I have trouble uploading videos from my camcorder. So it just stays on the tape instead.

As for Ella?

This is her very first year in dance. She is dreaming of possibilities, as you can see from her picture. She is in a small group with only 3 dancers, although one of the kids is her very good friend from Music Pups and preschool.

I too, am experiencing some firsts this fall...

I have taken on the fun job of being the preschool music teacher. We are working with the MusiCanopy program, which was created by the makers of Music Pups. Ella's preschool has 22 kids so I was quite nervous for our first class on Tuesday. Little did I know that I had nothing to worry about. The kids and I had a complete blast together! I have already heard several positive comments from parents too, which is always encouraging. I think that I will enjoy this year with these energetic kids.

Plus I also began my U of R classes. I have mentioned before that the classes are a satellite feed that I watch at the regional college here. The classes I am taking are all introductory courses: Intro to Psychology, Intro to Women's and Gender Studies, and Intro to Social Work. Unfortunately I am the only one registered here for all 3 of my classes, which means those 3 hours each night are very quiet and lonely. I think John is getting tired of my constant texting during the breaks!!

Televised classes are a neat experience for those who are unaware. Both classes that I have attended so far have approximately 100 students that are offsite throughout the province. Some like me, are doing this alone, and other sites have 20 students. The students that actually live in Regina have to deal with the cameras in class, and pushing the button for the microphone to pick up their voices. Us that are offsite have to "phone in" to ask questions of the prof. I got to experience phoning in yesterday. The first time threw me off as the satellite feed has quite a delay, but I was less nerdy the second time around. At least I hope I was!

I have a head start on a couple of assignments already. Actually I just received my first library book request in the mail today. It's quite fun learning how this distance education process works. I'm not too sure what the second semester will hold for me yet. The 2 classes offered that I would need for the social work program require more credits than I will hold by January. I will try to get special permission from the department heads, but if that doesn't work then I may be doing some online schooling through another university. I realize that I am thinking about this way too early, but my "J" personality needs to plan ahead!!

The girls are handling a babysitter well too. She is a good family friend that just passed her babysitting course in the spring. So far she has only needed to be here until John gets home at suppertime (my classes run from 4-7 pm) but next week she will need to feed the girls supper, as John is on the night shift. Well at least my slowcooker will finally get used more often now!

Piano lessons just started up again today. Definitely not a first, but Brie is going to start learning how to read music this year. And so will I.

So it will be a busy busy year, but I am looking forward to the progress that we all will make.