Rock Obana!

During Tuesday night's Presidential Election, I learned to never underestimate what my child is capable of learning. 

When Kalissa came home from preschool, I noticed she had on an "I Voted" sticker.  I asked her where she got the sticker and she said, "Ms. Janielle gave it to me".  I thought it was strange that the school Director would gave away her sticker but figured Kalissa probably asked her for it and left it at that. 

Later in the evening as the polls were starting to close, I flipped the tv to election coverage so as not to miss the election announcement when it came in.  The t.v. station flashed a photo of President Obama and Kalissa yelled out, "Mommy!  That's Rock Obana!  I choose Rock Obana!"  I looked at her in amazement and asked how she knew that.  She then said, "Ms. Janielle said, 'choose one' and I choose Rock Obana!"  Of course I then grabbed my camera  *lol*

From what I could surmise, the Director took the candidates' photos around to the classrooms and the kids got to "vote" for their favorite.  Kalissa says she voted Obama but Daddy found her name under Romney when he picked her up from school yesterday.  *lol*  I'm just amazed that she remembered such a difficult name and am even further amazed that she grasped the basic concept of the election.  I kind of felt bad that I didn't think to include her in on what's going on in our country...even at the most elementary level.   But hey, I'm new at this and whodathunk that a 3 year old would be interested in the election???

When the announcement was made that Barack Obama was re-elected as our President, Kalissa jumped up and down and did her woooooos!!!! to congratulate him.  She's never one to miss out on a celebration!

You Win Some....

After the Gap casting on 10/27, we were on pins and needles waiting to hear the outcome (okay, maybe it was just me!).  I knew the actual shoot was scheduled for 11/6 - 11/8 so I assumed we would find out pretty quickly whether or not she got the job.  Finally last Thursday I got the call that Kali got a call back.  I was sooooo excited!!!  Out of the hundreds (maybe thousands) of kids that came out, our Kali made a big enough splash to get a second look!!  I couldn't have been more thrilled! So we needed to head back to Los Angeles this past Monday for a 10:15 appointment.  *arrggghh*  The thought of driving to L.A. on a Monday morning completely stressed me out.  On any given day, that drive takes about 2.5 - 3 hours.  Add in Monday morning traffic and it could easily take 4 hours or more!  This means we would need to leave home by 6:00 am which means I'd have to get her up at 5:00 am to do her hair and get her ready.  There is noooo way this would turn out any way except BAD!  So after talking it over with Daddy, we agreed that Kali and I should drive to L.A. Sunday evening and stay the night.  That way, she'd be well rested and ready to do her best again!

The adventure was ON!  The callback was going to be at Pier 59 Studios in Santa Monica -- about 12 miles from L.A. so I booked us a room at a nearby Sheraton (I wanted this to be a pampering experience for her).  We had fun walking around the hotel and the hotel staff adored her...even giving us the "Starwood Preferred Guest" experience even though I'm not a preferred member. 

Monday morning came and I got busy with her hair.  Once it was perfectly styled, we headed down to the restaurant for breakfast.  Ummm...why was the bill $27 and I'm the only one who ate???  *lol*  I was smart enough to bring Kalissa a packet of oatmeal for breakfast because I know she's a picky eater.  Oh well....you can't put a price on memories, right?

We were making GREAT time and were able to take our time showering and getting dressed.  The studio was about 10 miles from our hotel so I figured we'd leave at 9:30 which would give us 45 minutes to arrive for her appointment.  I had packed one of my favorite Gap outfits for her to wear -- it was about 90 degrees on Monday -- and she looked absolutely adorable!

We hopped in the car at 9:30 right on time and everything was going according to plan....until we got to the freeway.  GRIDLOCKED traffic!  I was soooo stressed and broke all kinds of carpool lane laws!  *lol*  We got there with about 2 minutes to spare!  We only had to go 12 miles and it took 45 minutes!!!!  We waited a short time before it was Kali's turn.  She was SUPER amped up!!  I kept trying to get her to calm down without stealing her personality.  At 3, I guess there's no happy medium so borderline obnoxious was what she presented.  There was a big screen where her pictures popped up when the photographer took them...and they looked FABULOUS!  She was really photogenic, but the effort the photographer had to use was a bit too much, in my opinion.  She just wasn't taking his direction very well and there was nothing I could do.  After it was over, he gave her a big high-five and told her she did great but I had a feeling she wouldn't get this gig after that performance.  

So after about 10 minutes with the photographer, we made the long trek back to San Diego.  At about 6:30 that evening, I found out she was not chosen.  Funny thing is, I was kind of relieved!!  I did NOT want to drive back to L.A. the next day (but of course I would have)!!  I am officially OVER the Los Angeles market and have no intentions of taking her back up there for any reason.  I will still keep her active to local gigs but 6 hours of driving for a shot with the big dogs is no longer appealing to me at all! 

You win some and....then you don't win some.  I definitely don't felt like we lost this one.  It was a wonderful experience and I'm so incredibly proud that such a huge company like Gap even acknowledged her.  I couldn't be more proud! 

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!