Dance Costume

The other week at dance class Tori got her costume for the recital. We tried it on to make sure it fit and so I could pin the sleeves to sew them on. Tori just loves it and didn't want to take it off. She insisted I take a video of her dancing in it so she could watch and was very disappointed when the batteries ran out in my camera so I couldn't take any more videos. She has LOVED doing dance this year and it has been so much fun to watch her get better and better these past few months. We can't wait for the recital!

Moline Zoo

So, John had some time off work and we decided to go to the zoo in Moline, IL. Tori and I have been a few times, but John had never been. It's a small zoo, but really nice and the perfect size for Tori. It also still has a lot of the major animals - like lions, elephants, giraffes, etc. and since it is a small zoo you can get pretty close to the animals. As you can tell from the above picture of Tori in front of the Elephants. Below are the giraffes and what Tori likes to call a "BYU cougar". The lions were actually quite active while we were there and we got to hear a couple roar at each other, which was pretty cool.

Seeing the animals is always fun, but feeding the animals has always been one of Tori's favorite things to do. Above she's feeding a goat and below she's feeding some swans, ducks and fish.

We thought these tulips were really pretty, but John had an impossible time getting a good picture of both me and Tori - this is the only one where we both have our eyes open.

The zoo also had lots of statues to climb and pose for pictures on.

And Tori's absolute favorite part of the zoo is the train ride that takes you around to see all of the animals.

Tori thought the butterfly chairs were really cool, so she wanted a picture in them, too.

Soccer

So, Tori is on her first soccer team! It's just a little month and a half long league for 3-4 year olds, through one of the rec centers here. She just loves it. She loves talking about her team (team name is Galaxy) that wears yellow. Below is a picture of her team. Her friends Siri, Andrew and Seth are on the team with her (I think she is more excited about doing something with friends than she is about actually playing soccer - which is fine with me.)

Below are a few pictures of her on the field and doing drills with her team. The games (they don't actually keep score) are really quite funny to watch. There are a few kids who really know what they're doing and are quite good, but the majority of them just run around in a pack. Tori is getting better each time. The first game she would just stand there unless the coach told her what to do. She has now progressed to running around with the pack of kids, but she is still more interested in playing with the kids than actually kicking the ball. This last game for awhile if anyone fell down she would stop and fall down with them and just laugh. She always seems to be having a lot of fun. I'll have to get a video of the next game.

At the end of each game the kids on each team line up and give each other "high-fives". Well, Tori has a hard time with this - she always looks super awkward and confused, and tries to walk around to the other side of the line. I didn't understand why this was hard for her, until I remembered that she is left-handed and she would much rather be giving "high-fives" with her other hand. I guess we'll have to practice doing right-hand high-fives before the next game. :)

These are some pictures of her and Andrew watching the game together and waiting for their turn to play again (their team has 10 kids and they play 5 at a time).

Some random pictures

These are just a few random pictures that we have taken lately. This first one is of Tori all ready for church on Sunday and I just loved her smile (and her dad particularly likes this dress on her).

The other day Tori and I went to the Children's Museum in our mall and it was "Circus Day" - so they gave each kid a clown nose. She loved her nose and thought it was very silly. She also loved getting her face painted and the balloon hat they made her (she gets a big kick out of this kind of stuff). She still gets really excited over the smallest things so it is a blast to do anything with her.

So, our church time this year is 11:30 to 2:30, which pretty much makes it so Tori can't get a nap on Sundays. This is really no big deal, since I thought she was starting to give up naps anyways. However, since it gets light earlier now and therefore she wakes up earlier in the morning, she has started taking naps again (probably about 5 days a week). On Sundays, we just have her do "quiet time" in her room after church. The last two Sundays this is what I have found when I go in to tell her she can be done with quiet time. I guess church just wears the poor little girl out.