The Nutcracker

Today was a much anticipated day, second only to Christmas. Today we went to the Nutcracker. We were originally supposed to have gone a week before Christmas, however a crazy little thing called "weather" happened and coated the roads in so much snow that it would have been a treacherous trip. Luckily we weren't the only ticketholders facing such a dilemma and so the ballet graciously exchanged our tickets for another day. The only downfall being one very disappointed Girl, who'd been waiting practically all year to go - we took her last year and she loved it, at age 2 she sat through the entire show and was completely mesmerized. So the 11 day wait was excruciating for her and she woke up every morning, except for Christmas, asking if it was the day we got to go to the Nutcracker. I was so excited and relieved to be able to answer her question with a gleeful, "Yes!" this morning. We went with friends and had a wonderful time. It was Girls' Night Out - even Baby Sister got to go!

The Girl all dressed up and ready to go!

Dancing with her sweet friend 'A'

Posing with 'A's' Mom

Just hanging out with a Nutcracker

Showing us her moves after the show

Two little STARS!

Dim Sum Yum-Yum!

This afternoon we met up with friends for dim sum. It was the Girl's first encounter with the dim sum experience and she loved it! We've never been able to get her to eat so much meat at one sitting - pork-filled buns, chicken dumplings, shrimp rolls. You name it, she loved it! We couldn't get the food on her plate fast enough and she even gave the chopsticks a try although she quickly resorted to using her fingers.

Silence is Golden...

...until you realize that there are two little girls in the next room who are usually very loud and rambunctious when they get together and they've suddenly become abnormally quiet and still. So you go to check things out and this is what you find:

The above mentioned little girls chowing down on assorted homemade goodies (sugar cookies, peppermint bark, truffles, bon-bons, almond bark and no-bake cookies) that were under the tree and meant as a gift for one of the girls' parents. Totally busted and totally hilarious!

A few of my favorite things...

Here are a few of my favorite gifts from this Christmas:

This was a gift for Baby Sister from her aunt. The picture certainly does not do it justice, but it is the cutest pacifier attachment accessory from a company called Bink Link. It is made from wooden beads that resemble those candy necklaces that we all loved as kids. Seriously, how sweet is that?! (Pun absolutely intended!)

This is the doll that Santa brought Baby Sister. Seriously cute and soft. The Girl covets it.

This hat is from G'ma T and Papa Mo. Functional and adorable. A winter must-have!

This is one of my most precious gifts.

And this is the other.

Christmas recap

Despite the previous night's drama concerning Santa Claus, the Girl awoke on Christmas morning and seemed relatively unconcerned about whether or not Santa had made it to our house. She slept until just after 9:00 and then casually sauntered from her room into ours, climbed up onto the bed, stated that she was hungry and requested a piece of cinnamon toast. Ha! But once she made it downstairs and spied her full stocking she got excited and started shrieking with delight.

A ballerina leotard.

These pictures are out of order (Why blogger?! Why?), but as soon as she opened her ballerina outfit she had to put it on and then finished opening her presents in it.

After the whirlwind of gift unwrapping, we spent most of the rest of the day hanging out in our jammies relaxing, watching Christmas movies and playing with the Girl and her new toys. Getting dressed only in the late afternoon as we had invited our neighbors over for Christmas dinner. The evening was spent enjoying their company.

Christmas Eve recap

We spent Christmas Eve with J's family at his parents' house and arrived to find a fresh blanket of snow, probably 18 inches deep, covering the ground and every other horizontal surface. It was truly a winter wonderland and created the perfect setting for memorable holiday festivities - snowball fights, G'ma T pulling the Girl up and down the driveway in her sled and a holiday hunt.

Here is the Girl opening up a fairy costume from her aunt. She was so excited and immediately shed her clothes in order to put it on.

The gang posing for a picture after the Holiday Hunt.

The Holiday Hunt - similar to an Easter egg hunt but searching for a gift with your name on it and the ultimate goal of finding the reindeer prize, which the Girl happened to find.

The Girl wearing a Rudolph nose from the reindeer prize.

And of course, what would the holidays be without delicious food?! My sister-in-law made these cute little guys.

We headed home just after 10:00 and the Girl had her eyes on the sky the entire drive home searching for Santa and his sleigh. She was completely crushed when we arrived home and there were no presents from the jolly fella under our tree. She thought Santa had forgotten about her. So sad! We quickly explained that he wouldn't come to our house until she was asleep. She high-tailed it up the stairs (she refused to even spend a few moments setting out a plate of cookies that she had made the day before) and to her room where she threw herself onto the bed and said that she didn't want to read any stories, she just wanted to go to sleep. She also ordered J and I to bed. After I had brushed her teeth and was headed for the door she requested that I bring her Rudolph nose. She wanted to wear it (it flashes) so that Rudolph could see the flashing light and find her house.

Merry CHRISTmas!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." - Luke 2:8-12

As Christmas day draws to a close, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope that your day was spent celebrating with those you hold dear.

Santa Baby!

On Tuesday we took the Girl and Baby Sister to see Santa. We were hoping that since Christmas was just two days away that the majority of people would've already been to visit him. However, this was not the case as we arrived to see a long, winding line. So we took our place and while doing so, J quietly commented to me that he was not going to be a happy camper if he had to wait in line only to have our turn come and the Girl refuse to talk or even glance at Santa let alone sit on his lap and do so long enough to get her picture taken. The Girl overheard him and cheerily chimed in, "But I like Santa." Hmmm, past years would prove otherwise. Both last year and the year prior just the site of Santa was enough to reduce her to tears and getting her picture taken with him brought her to the brink of hysteria. Last year it was a family picture and the year before I was in Santa's sleigh with her. Her first Christmas though she just looked straight at the camera and seemed quite content to be cradled in the crook of Santa's arm. And so as we creeped steadily toward the front of the line, J and I took to coaching a bit. We would distract her whenever there was a kiddo who didn't want to be near Santa and we would enthusiastically point to all of the ones who seemed to be enjoying their time with the big fella. After a half hour in line, the moment had arrived and it was our turn. The Girl approached Santa cautiously but she didn't object to sitting on his lap, she looked at the camera and smiled and when Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas she even answered him. It was just one word - "camera." I was completely shocked, an outcome better than I had even wished for. I was just hoping for a photo without tears! As for Baby Sister, she seemed pretty indifferent, although she did have a huge grin for J when he retrieved her from Santa.

The 8th Wonder

"The 8th Wonder, truly an architectural masterpiece for the ages." - Architectural Record

"Hailed as an artistic feat intricately combining snow and water." - Architectural Digest

What did your husband do today?! Mine spent 6 hours constructing an igloo for the Girl. His painstaking work began before the three of us girls had even crawled out of bed. Not bad for his first day of Christmas vacation, eh? Or as he put it, "An igloo that even an Inuit would be jealous of." As for the band-aid on the Girl's nose...she took a tumble down the stairs yesterday - from the top down to the landing a total of 7 stairs. Luckily she was unscathed except for a miniscule carpet burn on the side of her nose which she inisisted needed a self-applied band-aid this morning.

Holy Snowflakes!

It has continued to snow on and off for the past week, never really getting warm enough to melt anything and so we are in the midst of a winter wonderland. It will surely be a white Christmas this year, the likes of which we haven't seen in quite some time. All of the snow definitely makes the season seem magical and since we are not among those stuck at the airport trying to catch flights out for the holidays, it is a welcome element.

Proud Parents

Yesterday evening the Girl was in a Christmas program at her preschool. We got to the church, dropped the Girl off at her classroom and then headed back up to the sanctuary to wait with great anticipation. While we were waiting, J pointed out that, "We are sooo those parents." The parents that show up 20 minutes early, sit in the very front row and whip out 3 cameras to capture the whole thing for posterity.

The Girl's class along with two pre-k classes sang their little hearts out and eventhough it lasted no more than 10 minutes (anything more than that seriously taxes the attention spans of 3 and 4 year olds), it was so worth the 20 minutes of waiting and the serious struggle earlier in the evening when the Girl protested over the idea of wearing a Christmas dress and instead chose a sleeveless summer-print dress.

The minute they started to sing, tears began to form and it was all I could do to hold them back. I was completely overwhelmed at how big the Girl looked up there on the stage with her little friends. Wasn't it just yesterday that she was no bigger than Baby Sister and I was cradling her in my arms?! We are so proud of her!

Check this out!

"What is this architectural marvel?!" you may be asking yourself. Well, I'll tell you. It is gingerbread gone bad! It's a gingerbread throwback to the late 60's early 70's when weird geo-desic shaped houses were a novelty and flat roofs were considered modern. If we could see inside, I bet we'd find a shag carpet in a lovely shade of rust and a kitchen outfitted with avocado and gold-flecked countertops. If only Hansel and Gretel had stumbled upon this gingerbread house in the woods. Surely they would've turned and ran rather than being enticed inside.

Despite my architectural background, this gingerbread house is the direct result of a frosting mishap and not an intentional design statement. My amazing friend baked enough gingerbread to create 5 houses. She generously offered us the gingerbread pieces to make one house, along with an assortment of candy for decorating and a container of frosting (again homemade) mix. It should've been so easy, my friend had done all of the work, all I had to do was add water to the powdered frosting mixture, assemble the pieces and let the Girl decorate. Twas not to be. Sigh. A combination of runny frosting (I'd improperly mixed it originally) and significantly less patience than was required, was all that it took to foil my dreams of the perfectly picturesque gingerbread house. I strayed from the original floor plan and resorted to the design-build method resulting in a gingerbread creation that I sadly told the Girl was not going to resemble the cute little gingerbread house of her friend 'A'.

Luckily, the Girl is impatient and so she said, "It's ok Momma." She was only interested in getting to the decorating part so that she could sneak candy. I'm pretty sure she ate more of the decorations than what actually ended up on the house. At any rate, my hat goes off to my friend for successfully creating several gingerbread houses that I can only dream about!

The Girl didn't care what it looked like, she was on a sugar high!

View from the back.

The front.

The candy sure did look pretty - good enough to eat!

Snow Bunny

This morning we woke up to substantially more snow, probably close to 4 inches. As was the case yesterday, the Girl was jumping at the chance to get outside and play in it. So J pulled out a sled and it wasn't enough for him to just pull the Girl around the backyard. The thrill-seeker part of him (and it is a very large part) just had to build her a jump too. But the Girl, who's character traits closely resemble those of her Daddy, L-O-V-E-D it. She took a fair share of spills but kept clammoring for more and was commanding, "Run Daddy, run!"

A frequent scene

Check out her air

"I'm ok Dad. Let's do it again!"

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

This morning we woke up to a dusting of the white stuff. The Girl was so excited that she just could not wait to get out and play in it. Directly after breakfast it was on with her coat, boots and gloves...she didn't even change out of her pajamas. Nor did we run a comb through her hair!

On another note. This afternoon, completely out of the blue the Girl stated, "I'm so glad I have a little sister now." Oh she can be just so darn sweet at times!

Say What?!

It all started on Monday when the Girl asked me, "Momma is today tomorrow?" To which I replied, "No, today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow." Probably didn't make a whole lot of sense to a 3-year old. Especially as every day since she has asked me that same question. But yesterday the conversation was extended to include:

the Girl: "Momma is today tomorrow?"

me: "No, today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow."

the Girl: "But yesterday you said that today would be tomorrow."

me: (completely dumbfounded) "Oh. You're right."

How do you explain to a 3-year old that today will never be tomorrow and that tomorrow will always be tomorrow? "Say what?!"

So to go along with this random post, here are some random photos from the past week.

I love Baby Sister's expression in this photo...kinda like she's just sent a right hook to her big sister's jaw.

A rare moment caught on film...er memory card, Baby Sister and the Girl both smiling.

The bib says it all.

Why does Blogger do this? In my folder the picture is oriented correctly.

How the Girl decorates a Christmas tree.