Summer Time Flying By, and other musings at 3…no…4am.

Is it already June 9th?  As in – it’s been over a week since I last posted that quip regarding Gloria Allred? Wow!  I can’t believe it.  The time is just flying by me these days. 

I have actually been mulling over removing the blog and revamping it. I LOVE my blog, don’t get me wrong, but for some reason lately I’ve started to feel a bit of concern over having the children’s names and pictures on the web. Frankly, I don’t think there’s anything I can really do about it now. I mean – it’s like a permanent archive now. Even if I delete it – pages are cached by Google and will still come up. What concerns me is not so much the fact that the kids pictures are all over my blog. It’s … hard to explain. Everyday people arrive on my blog and look at pictures of my children through search terms like, “little girls dressed up,” or “little girls and snakes” or “girls playing house” etc. And then I’ll notice, on my blog stats, that the same day someone searches for something obscure related to little girls – a ton of pictures of Claire or Hannah from last year, or year before last, are clicked on. Not like they are reading the blog post that goes along with them – they are just looking at the photos.

Perhaps it’s harmless – but I’ve noticed that it’s never photos of my boys that random people are clicking on. It’s always the girls. It’s starting to bother me. 

Maybe I should just privatize the posts with the children in them?  If you have the password you could see the post. That way my extended family can still keep up with the children but the general population of creepies *most likely* can’t. (I mean, they could hack it I guess.) 

Initially, I started the blog as a place to host some articles I had written about this or that. Then the blog turned into sort of a virtual scrapbook. I’m SO BAD at real scrapbooking – but I can post pictures online and tell the story that goes with them. And it was little – only my family  and close friends ventured here because really, who the heck cares what I have to say about anything?? But now the blog has grown and there’s a lot of lurkers and I just am not as comfortable with utilizing this method of communication in regards to my kids as I was before. 

I know my blog serves a purpose. 5,000 people a year come here to get my Low Carb Chicken Salad Recipe!  (OK NOT 5,000 – but seriously, everyday at least once that post gets a hit.)  I just don’t know if I want my kids to be splayed all over it or not. 

Thoughts? What do you guys think?  

In other randomness…my Gr. IV Teacher’s exam is this Saturday!  I am excited and can’t wait for it to be over. I know I’ll pass it. I hope I get a Pass Commended, just because that is the present standard of personal greatness so far. But I’d actually be happy with just a Pass. I’m eager to get on with Gr. V and become more *official*.  I am starting to feel more confident in my personal abilities than ever before and am ready to start branching out to other dance forms. There is something very edifying in knowing not just how to perform a step – but having control over it. I can’t wait unil I’m turing 5-6 pirouettes. That’s a few years from now, but it will be awesome. And this is why I can personally attest to the benefits of following a classical technique w/graduated syllabus in ballet class. Some students are really just naturally gifted. Others of us have the capacity but must work hard for the skills. That’s me. I need the structure that a fully developed ballet program offers. Speed, agility, strength, flexibility, and style are all fully developed through this Cecchetti program that I am working through. For example, 2 years ago, when I started this journey, I could barely keep up with the pace of the Gr. I syllabus. And now I’m doing many of the same exercises at much faster speeds with ease and control – and I really never thought, in Gr. I, that I’d be able to keep up with Gr. IV work. I remember watching a Gr. IV class and thinking, “Oh my. I’m too old to try to move my foot that fast in a petite battements!”  Now I speed through that exercise and Dr. T will say, “Slow down…..too fast….this is *only* Gr. IV.”  And that actually gives me great satisfaction!

More on all that later I think. It’s too late..er…early to get into dance pedagogy!

But – all that to say – I think I’m ready to start learning a new style of movement.  Last fall I attempted to learn Modern. If you were reading the blog then, you know THAT didn’t go very well. I did get an A in the class – but….it was hard. It was SO difficult. I can’t even begin to tell you. I found out a lot of things about myself from that one stupid class!  And then I changed my major. LOL!! FOR REAL!I have always thought that learning modern, jazz, etc, was out of my reach because I’m “too old”. Dance really is the young person’s game. But I came to realize, this year, that I can learn it to try it. I don’t have to master EVERYTHING!! So I am planning on picking up another modern dance class in the spring. My fall is already too booked with college, private teaching, an apprenticeship, and just being a Mom on top of all that. But I’m ready to break out of ballet and move to other styles. I will NOT be giving up ballet – but adding to it. 

I really wish San Antonio had an aerial dance facility. There is one in S. Austin, but I am unable to drive the hour up and back just for recreational fun! I’ve been totally excited about this form of dance since a friend went to work for a company in Chicago!

And to cap off this discombobulated blog post – I’m also excited to say that I know FOR SURE on June 18th – my baby sister is going to be induced and I will get to meet my new nephew!!  She *could* feasibly go into labor before then – but I seriously have my doubts. So does she. And I’m so excited for her and my brother-in-law. I can’t wait to meet this new little fella.  I love babies. I love them more when they belong to other people!!!