Catch up!

It's been an incredibly busy week! I know that I've already posted once today, but I've got a few more pictures (courtesy of my friend, MI) that need to be shared.

Thursday was a great day! We started with our second snow play date in three days, this time with significantly more kiddos. Sunny didn't last long in the cold this time, but the rest of the kids had a blast! There are lots of great photos of the day, this one in particular might be one of the cutest that I've ever seen!Here's Sunny's first and last ride on the sled. You'd think that she would have had a blast given the smile of anticipation plastered on her face, but she was inconsolable when she got to the bottom of the hill. Thank goodness she'll nap in her pack-n-play!After we wrestled ourselves away from the fun we were having, we hurried home to get ready for Sparkle's very first Christmas program. Her 4-5 year old class sang "Up on the Housetop."
After the concert, Buzz took Sunny home to sleep (he had to study for an exam anyway) and Sparkle and I went out for treats and to look at Christmas lights with our friends. It was a good, full day and we look forward to many more fun activities with our friends this winter!

Nutcracker

Today was a special treat! Buzz' sister and family took care of Sunny for the afternoon so that we could take Sparkle to the Nutcracker. Last year Buzz was super busy with school and didn't get to come; this year we made sure that he got to be part of the action. We met three other families from our small group for lunch before we all headed over to the ballet. The anticipation was almost too much for the girls and there was more dancing and prancing around the table than there was eating!

As usual, the fight scene between the Rat King and the Nutcracker Prince caused the most excitement and lead to the most questions ("He's only pretending to be dead, right?"). This year Sparkle was much more focused on watching the dancing and wasn't nearly as overwhelmed by the production of it all. I missed her spontaneous comments from last year ("Oh, wow! She's gorgeous!) and the excited bouncing on my lap. I suppose I'll get to experience that again in a couple of years when Sunny is old enough to sit through her first performance.

We were happy to continue this Christmas tradition and loved it even more because we got to share it with friends. Is there anything more precious than this bunch???

Snow Day!

We got our first big snow storm this year in early November, but we missed out on playing in the snow because we were preparing to leave on a two week trip. Today was the first time we broke out the snow gear and headed out for some fun! My friend was having some dental work done, so we had an extra little friend to help us make the day a success!

Sunny had a really hard time walking in her snow gear at first. She kept falling over and crying until someone picked her up and put her on her feet. Sparkle taught her how to eat snow, which made for some funny photos. At the end of the 45 minutes that we were outside, I had to drag her in kicking and screaming.

Sparkle insisted that I go inside and get her ski goggles, then proceeded to stick her face in the snow like an ostrich. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that little trick! She's been begging to make a snowman and even has a carrot nose picked out and set aside in the refrigerator... but she had so much fun playing that she forgot all about it.


We have a little hill in the yard that is sufficient for sledding and should keep the little ones happy for the next couple of years at least. Sunny loved it and charmed me into pulling her up and sliding her down at least ten times. Sparkle and her friend pulled her up just this one time, then decided it was too much work!

Spoiled!

(Most of) Our small group had an amazing time on Friday night. Another small group in the church wanted to do something nice for us: they had us drop off our kids at a beautiful house in the Avenues where they played games and had a tea party and didn't miss us at all. In the meantime, the adults got to go to a loft downtown where we were met by several more people who served us the most amazing dinner we've had in a very long time. After we had eaten, they left us to chill together while they split to go join the party with our kids. It was a great several hours with some of the people that we love most in this world and we're so grateful that we were blessed in such an awesome way!

"Mom?..."

"...What's closure?"

Thank you, Chicken Little, for bringing yet another word to my child's attention that she will ask the meaning of over and over (and over) because she cannot grasp the concept.

Photo of the Day

Deck the Halls

It took me several weeks to finish these (not because they were hard, but because I bought too much fabric and I'm a perfectionist when it comes to cutting things out), and I didn't even have them up for a week before Sparkle was begging us to decorate for Christmas. If you are interested in the project for next year, here's the link. They were pretty and I'll miss seeing them after all of that work!
Much to the delight of the kids, we pulled all of the Christmas stuff out and put it up the day after Thanksgiving. First we did the little tree in the playroom that's for the girls:
Then we decorated the tree in the front room. Here's Sparkle posing in front of one of her ornament clusters. It took me a lot of self control not to spread out the ornaments that she was carefully hanging all in the same spot. Believe it or not, I still haven't moved them. See, I don't always have to have things in perfect order! :)

Happy Holidays!!!