Halloweeeeen!

Today Kali's preschool had a Halloween festival for all the kids.  We bought Kalissa's costume a looong time ago on one of my favorite bargain websites:  www.zulily.com  the entire costume was $8.99!!!  And that's about as much as I will spend on a costume so she was in luck!  *lol*  I tried to tap into my creative side and do a little face painting as well.  I think from here on out, I'll leave the creativity up to the real artist of our family -- Daddy!

I took the whole day off work and Kalissa was thrilled when I told her that I'd be staying at school with her.  She had been looking forward to today all week because her class had been preparing and decorating all week.  The entire Center was participating in the festivities and after doing class arts and crafts, the grand finale was taking the youngsters trick-or-treating to each building. 
Kalissa loved going to all of the different buildings and yelling out "trick or treat!" She especially liked visiting the ice arena. It's the only regulation-sized indoor ice arena in San Diego and when she saw it, she said she wants to learn how to skate. Uhhhh...okay, I'll have to remember that one because we are NOT adding anything to your schedule right now!

After trick-or-treating, the kids settled in for a nice friendly game of Musical Chairs.  Kalissa made it pretty far but then the unthinkable happened....she lost!  *gasp*  Her first taste at losing and she didn't like it at all!  To add insult to injury, it was her bestie, Madi, who beat her out!  *lol*


When the festivities were over, I took her out of class for the rest of the day.  We had lunch and then went to visit my job where Kalissa ran to each of the executive offices yelling "look at my costume!!" and "Trick or Treat!!" before I had a chance to stop her. *faints* After showing off visiting with the office gang for a little while, we headed home and my adorable lady bug quickly fell asleep.  We had a great day together and I'm glad I got to experience it with her!  I think I'll have to sign Daddy up for the next party...it's a shame for me to have all the fun!  *lol*

Ballerina Girl...

So right before yesterday's Los Angeles excursion, Daddy and I had the pleasure of taking Kali to her very first dance class.  We had originally decided to sign her up for tap/hiphop but our schedules changed a little and that class no longer worked for us.  Kalissa kept saying that she wants to be a ballerina and would put her arms over her head and twirl around so I gave in and enrolled her in a ballet/jazz combo class.  Shopping for her little dance clothes was soooo much fun!  Of course she wanted a leotard with a tutu but I thought that was a bit much so we compromised and got one with a skirt instead.  She absolutely loved the outfit as soon as she tried it on.  In fact, when we were in the dressing room she said, "Mommy I want to go out there!"  Out there meant into the store where everyone could see her.  And when we got home, she couldn't wait to put the outfit back on to show Daddy. 

So, yesterday was her first day of class.  I was expecting there to be at least 5 kids but there was only one other little girl there.  The class is open to 3-5 year olds. The other little girl is almost five.  The instructor was very patient with Kalissa who needed A LOT of help (the other girl had taken class before so she knew what she was doing)!  *lol*  This class is definitely not going to be a cake walk for Kalissa and is going to require me to dig into my archives of ballet class to practice with her.  This is a good lesson for her, that she's not going to excel at everything right out the gate and some things you have to work hard for to be good at.  And if for nothing else other than to not let her waste my money, she will work hard at being the best ballet dancer she can be!

I definitely won't be adding anything else to her schedule anytime soon though...she has dance and Spanish classes once each week and each of those classes require us to practice with her.  Daddy and I both work full time jobs and sometimes BOTH of us have to pull a 12-hour day.  So yes, adding to her schedule means adding to our schedules but look how happy she is!  We just can't resist...

But it's not all fun and games in the Whitaker household.  Oh no....we're still about those book smarts too.  She outgrew abcmouse.com and pretty much didn't want to use it anymore so I found a new website for her called www.studydog.com  She absolutely LOVES it!  I let her spend 20 minutes on it every day and she will CRY when her time is up!  *lol*  What I like most is the customized reports so I can see what areas she may be struggling in. Today's report is:

Earlier in the week she had scored "needs improvement" on "Beginning sounds pre-K" so I had her work on the lessons that would strengthen this area and now she's well within the "proficiency" range.  I'm really loving using this site as a useful tool in her development.  Hopefully it'll keep her interest for more than a month or two!

Gap Casting

Yesterday afternoon I got word from Kali's agent that Gap was having a casting in L.A. and that they'd love to see her in Los Angeles today!  We already had her Saturday planned...she was to go to her very first dance class this morning and then off to Gigi's for the rest of the weekend.  But how often is she going to have an opportunity to audition for Gap??  Maybe plenty, but I quickly jumped at the chance to take advantage of this opportunity!  A quick rearrangement of plans had Daddy and I taking her to dance class at 10:30 this morning and then Gigi, Brooklyn, Peyton and me whisking her off to L.A. to make it to the Siren Studios on Sunset Boulevard by 5:00 pm.  Today was a HUGE day for my little baby girl!  More on dance class later...

We were supposed to dress her in Gap brand clothes and luckily she has plenty of Gap clothing and shoes to choose from.  Since it was 90 degrees today, I opted for her floral sundress and pompom shoes because she loves to wear dresses so I knew she would be in the mood to model this outfit.  We arrived at the Siren Studios at about 3:30 and amazingly only waited about a half hour before it was our turn with the photographer.  Kalissa wasted no time turning on her charm and the photographer seemed to be quite smitten with her.  He showed her how his camera worked and even let her snap some pictures.  I thought I was being helpful with telling her to let him take her picture until he turned around and motioned for me to zip it.  *LOL*  Oooops!  My bad! ....I promise I'm not a Stage Mom!!  *lol*

Kalissa did GREAT!  I couldn't have been more proud!  I don't know if she booked the job but if she didn't, it certainly won't be because of her performance.  She twirled and worked her dress and took his direction very well.  Brooklyn was behind the scenes snapping pictures of the whole shoot!  I'm so glad she was there and thought to do that!  My mind was in lala land watching Kali perform.


After Kali's stellar performance, we celebrated with icecream and then trekked back down the freeway to Gigi's house so Kalissa could finish out her planned weekend with them.  We got our first real casting call out of the way......still waiting on Disney to call any day now.  *lol*

3G

Oma is back from her Alaska excursion and came to visit Kali yesterday.  Kalissa spent all morning asking, "Is Oma coming over??"  and when she finally arrived, Kalissa was thrilled.  Oma came bearing gifts for her so that made it even better in her eyes.  *lol* 

Oma's schedule had been that once she comes back from Alaska in October, then she's here until next May. But this time, she's only here for a week and then she's going to St. Thomas for 6 weeks.  So I suggested we head over to Presidio Park to take some "3 Generation" photos that she can take with her to St. Thomas.  I love Presidio Park...it has so much character and beautiful photo opportunities.  Here are some of the pictures Daddy captured.

These pictures were long over due but it's probably best that we waited because Kalissa's now at the age where she had a ball participating.  Afterwards she did her own version of "modeling" and people passing by were cracking up!

Kalissa Rae -- always the crowd pleaser!  *lol*

Dedication

Earlier this year, I wanted to go through the process of dedicating Kalissa at our church, The Rock.  A dedication is not a baptism, it's just Daddy and I making a commitment to raise her with God in her heart and a promise that we will live our lives as an example for her.  In order to participate in The Rock's Dedication Ceremony, we were required to complete a 5-week parenting course that is given at our church.  We had never had any 'formal' training on child rearing and didn't really know what to expect.  The course turned out to be very informative and helpful to us.  We found out that we are on the right track with a lot of what we're doing and how we are disciplining Kalissa and we also found areas where we can improve and most importantly, learned how we could improve these areas.

Last Sunday, 10/7/12, was the day of the Dedication and in preparation, we had to write a speech to Kalissa and read it to her during the ceremony.  I was a bit nervous about doing that because I'm not very good at public speaking and Daddy said I had to participate in the reading.  *sigh*

The ceremony was not held in The Rock.  Instead, it was at the historic North Chapel on Liberty Station which is just a few yards away. 

The Woods family drove down to witness the ceremony which started at noon.  The church was filled to capacity with the friends and family of the 30 or so children who were being dedicated along with Kalissa.  One look at the program and we realized that we were 2nd to dead last due to the order of progression being alphabetical by last name.  *aye yi yi*  How were we going to keep this girl still and quiet for about an hour so close to her nap time??  The answer was, we weren't.  *lol*  She ended up dancing in the aisles and going from my lap to Daddy's lap and back again over and over.  Good thing this was a childrens' event or I would have been straight embarrassed!!  I shouldn't have even cared because babies were crying and most of the kids were just as antsy or asleep, so she was in good company....but she should still act like she has home training whenever we are out.

Pastor Darren Carrington, The Rock's Marriage and Family Pastor, lead the ceremony.  Finally, it was our turn and Daddy took charge, like the head of the household that he is : )   He didn't make me say a word which allowed me to stand by his side like the obedient wife that I am  *tee hee* while he read our speech to her:

Lord, thank you for blessing us with Kalissa.  We are very fortunate that you chose us to be her parents.  We pray that You will continue to bless us with the wisdom and patience needed to raise her, and guide her to the path that you have prepared for her.  She has truly been a blessing to us in every way and we will do everything in our power to raise her according to Your Word, and allow her to grow and be a blessing to others.

Kalissa........ your mother and I will always be here for you.  We have made the choice to participate in this dedication ceremony to announce before God and everyone here, that we are dedicated to raising you according to God's teachings.  Your mother and I want the very best for you and will continually strive to equip you with every tool that you will need to succeed.  In addition to our family, we have chosen your God family to help provide you with examples of love and family bonds.  We promise to live our lives as a model for you to know love, respect, and Godly obedience.  Our sincerest hope for you, is that as you grow, your relationship with God grows, always keeping Him first in your heart and mind. 

Your mother and I love you very much.     

Instead of taking in the words, Kalissa was entirely focused on the microphone that Daddy was talking in to.  She kept leaning over and saying "whuuut" into it, which everyone got a kick out of.  *lol*  When Daddy was finished she asked, "What about me??"  Again, lots of laughs from the crowd.  She's just a ham!

I like how Ariel captured the photo of him helping me down the stairs.  He's such a good hubby and a great example for Kali of the type of man she should look for in about 30 years!!!

After the ceremony we all had lunch at a Japanese buffet...all you can eat sushi, dim sum, noodles, rice, etc. etc. etc. 

The perfect ending for a perfect day!