big changes

What a week.

#1 big new item is that we launched Group Kick.  So glad it's finally here, we've been training and anticipating for weeks.  It was such a blast and a huge success.  I team-taught two of the four classes, one of which was so packed we couldn't have fit another person in the room.  I team-taught an employee "sneak peek" and it was fantastic.  Nerve racking, but fantastic.  So for our launch, I felt prepared and it was such a thrill.  After our initial launch, we have moved into a regular schedule in which I will be teaching Thursday evening and Friday morning.  This week is fall break so it threw us for a loop.  My Thursday class was very small, but my co-instructor (the "pro" of the group as she's the most experienced) let me run with it and teach the first half non-stop, definitely an extra level of intensity over our usual alternating schedule.  And my Friday morning class was great!  It was a good size class and I teach with my neighbor and good friend so I felt more relaxed.  So far, my feedback has been encouraging.  Comments were made that my cueing is great/well delivered (especially for a first timer) but that I tend to mumble off/ramble in instructing technique (not surprised, its a work in progress).  I also need to work on my confidence but that will improve with time as well.  I think in general, I'm more self-conscious than most people would think and I hate to admit but I crave verbal feedback/reassurance when I feel out of my element.  Group Kick is something new for me and I feel like I'm still creating my "character" as an instructor.  It's a different personality than dance or teaching or anything I've done before.  It's supposed to be street fighting tough, martial arts strong and authentic.  So it's different and challenging in more ways than one and I thoroughly love it.

So the same day as the launch, we got our #2 big news item of the week which was an offer on our house.  And since I was already on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, this news just added to it.  I ran through the emotions: the initial panicked "wait! are we sure?", the sedated "yeah, this is for the best" to the excited "this is what we want, bring on the next adventure!"  We mulled over the offer and concluded it was very reasonable, even generous when we realized we would pay nothing towards closing, it had no contingencies and gave a longer escrow period, allowing us more time to prepare for the move.  So we accepted the offer and are making plans to move in with my in-laws for a few months while we choose our next home.  And fortunately my mother-in-law will be back in the country soon so we can let her know we're moving in.  :)

Big news of the week #3 is Lovely.  Our sweet is little baby girl is walking!  We were visiting friends last night, bringing them dinner and admiring their brand new, not quite 5 pounds, 5 week old premie baby.  Our bigger girls were thrilled to see their older kids and played happily.  We chatted, catching up on all the details with one of my long term best friends.  It started to rain so they had to let their dog in the house and Lovely was fascinated immediately.  She stared at the dog, calling to her, cheering, clapping and bouncing.  She had been traversing the couch, regularly stopping, squatting for a toy and standing again (as she has done for weeks).  Suddenly she let go and crossed the room, perhaps a five foot distance to go to the dog and then proceeded to follow her around, patting and petting and chattering.  Today she has continued, mostly crawling but occasionally pattering those timid, unsteady but anxiously excited toddler steps.

In other news, Lovely is battling another ear infection and doing another round of antibiotics (last month was right ear and amoxicillian, this week was left ear and zithryomax).  Butterfly had her first field trip and we made it a family playdate (preschool requires a parent to attend) and all the girls loved it, especially the slides and hay ride.  More fun playdates with friends and the girls are loving their dance classes.  And today, Butterfly is currently attending her first college football game.  Daddy is chaperoning a YM/YW activity and took her with him for a special DaddyDaughterDate.  The unfortunate part is that we live in a predominantly BYU ward so it's a BYU game.  She was practicing her "Go Utes " cheer and I had to explain this was a different team and it's a good team so we would cheer for them unless they were playing the Utes.  Can't wait to hear what she thought of the game.  And how everyone reacted when Daddy helped her take her sweater off and realized she was wearing a Ute shirt underneath.  :)  (don't worry, its the black out game and she'll wear a black jacket over it the whole time anyway.)