Back log of the Birthday... and more!

Reese! Our resident lego master, and all around great guy turned 10 back on Dec 6th. He is always so excited for his birthday and each year plans way in advance ( we're talking Feb/or March here )  - He started out the morning in traditional fashion with opening his presents from family. This way, his day at school isn't spent daydreaming about all the cool stuff he'll be getting. We're so proud of Reese, he's talented, hard working and tries so hard in all he does. He loves getting good grades in school, building amazing creations out of Legos - recently has even been working on creating lego stop-motion videos that have been done with such creativity and humor. It's been so fun to watch him.

After school I took just three of his best friends, the girls and one of Audrey's friends ice-skating. It was nice not to have a huge group of boys to wrangle - especially since Sam was at work and wouldn't have been too much help anyway with his post-op knee. No skating for him. The boys had a lot of fun - it was for sure a noisy ride there and back but we made it!

Here he is, the Birthday Boy! How can 10 years go by so quickly?!

We're so blessed to have Reese in our family, we've loved each year and can't wait to see all the amazing things you'll do with your life. We love you Reesey!

Now for the local performances of the Nutcracker - Audrey was cast as a principal dancer as the snow queen, and also participated in her class numbers as a tree sprite (green costume) and danced in the waltz of the flowers. She did a beautiful job and it's been so fun to see her dancing skills grow along with her. I thought she was so cute with her icy makeup and her earmuffs on after the performance - what a pretty girl if I do say so myself.

Here's a few more pictures from during and after the performance - the one with the frowny face is pretty typical of how she looks after each performance because of how squished her toes feel right after taking off the point shoes. She loves it though and we're happy she's happy to continue. Elle tried ballet when she was three or four and it was a little too slow paced for her - but now after seeing so many performances this year she said she's ready to give it another try. Maybe for her we can throw in a little jazz dancing to put her high energy to good use.

 

PJ lovers rejoice

I think I've run out of ideas to title this post.... but the kids were extremely excited to each get a pair of footie pajamas this year. Thanks to Grandma Nyleen and Grandpa Ladd. Also, I'm happy that this will sum up our Christmas posts. This first collage of pictures was after we got home from Audrey's matinee performance on Christmas Eve. I thought Elle looked so cute in her dress, I had to get a picture.  These are the poses she came up with this time- Funny girl, but then I started making some cookie dough and fruit salad and she settled in to play by the tree. It was such a pretty day outside and it was so peaceful in the house; Christmas music playing, good smells swirling, I felt blessed to have my little girl playing next to me while I worked.

The kids were so excited to get started with our Christmas Eve routine. They even convinced me to open their jammies before dinner. I think it's getting earlier and earlier every year.

It was a bright and early Christmas, after finally hitting the sack at 3am, 6:30 comes up pretty quickly. Christmas is still my favorite holiday, even if it is a crazy amount of work. I love to see my kids so excited, and I love to see them get the things they'd hoped for. We don't really buy toys for them other than Christmas or Birthdays so I feel like this is my chance to do my best to spoil them. This year Audrey wanted braces. Yup, braces. Coincidentally, she apparently needs them. Not to straighten her teeth but to reposition her jaw. She's pre-disposed for TMJ and I thought this was just an orthodontist trying to drum up business, but as it turns out her jaw has become increasingly sore when she eats or even lays on her side. So, braces for the next two years, here we come!

One of Reese's current obsessions is a cartoon called adventure time. The cartoon features a young boy (who constantly wears a funny white hat with ears) and his magical dog and all of the crazy adventures they share. He wanted a hat just like on the show so I enlisted the help of my good friend Christie and we were able to make the hat into reality. Elle's requests were really simple this year, which was nice. She wanted a lalaloopsy doll and a play dough pizza maker. Easily do-able. Elle has also said she wants to start taking piano lessons. Rather than bringing my mother's childhood piano (which I look forward to having in our home at some point) into the depths of our basement, Santa brought the kids a keyboard. We'll see how it goes. I still have my childhood piano books and I plan to give teaching a whirl.

This year with Christmas being on Sunday it gave us the chance to go to Church. It was such a great way to celebrate Christmas and I loved singing all the Christmas hymns.

 We hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas season! Love from our Family to yours!

Finishing up at Capitol Theater

Well, with Audrey's 11 performances behind us, I think it's safe to say she's been officially bitten by the big stage bug. It's been a very busy and exhausting time (for her and me both) but she's built some memories that will last a lifetime.

                                  

Here she is in her "lady in waiting" costume. "The dress felt like it weighed 20 lbs" is what she said. She was cast for her grace, height and beauty. There were several playing her part in their early 20's. She didn't dance ballet in the show but did a promenade type of waltz around the stage and was also on the stage to keep watch during the sugar plum fairy's dance. She looked very beautiful and we're so proud of her!

The dressing room for Audrey was located under the stage behind where the Orchestra performs. So needless to say she's now extremely familiar with the beautiful, classic music. She also said while they waited she and her fellow dancer friends would wander the corridors underneath the stage, exploring and meeting other performers from the show. She also got plenty of exposure to the professional ballerinas and their beautiful dances.

My parents came and took all the daughters and grand-daughters of our family to see the show. It was so special to be able to share the show with my family. We had quite a few of us. Oh, and of course my cute brother Kyle came along for the female-charged outing. We made sure to pour on the love for him!

After the show we headed to the Gateway for some frozen yogurt. We showed up just about 15 minutes before the shop closed. To the attending employees' dismay I'm sure-but they sent us the message when they started blarring the song "Closing Time".....you don't have to go home but you can't - stay - here.

The Last show was on New Year's Eve. A matinee show. Our good friends the Hoopes came from Logan and my sweet friend Jessica and her family came. The performances on the 30th and 31st were converted into the "Nutty Nutcracker" which was a lot of fun. They throw in all kinds of crazy surprises and after seeing it so many times it was a fun change.

 It's been a fun Christmas break, now I think we're ready to get back to reality!