Tiny Dancers...

We've been doing some serious dancing around here for the last week. It all started Saturday with Lily and Madeline's school winter performance...

Here's Lily with me and Wyatt before the dance recital. She did a French ballet piece. She was so cute!

All the kids with me.

Isn't Madeline adorable with her swim cap on! Her dance was a rubber ducky dance. Super cute!

Here's Madeline doing her dance. The picture of the dancing didn't turn out great. I think it's the lighting... All of the little kids were in a tub and they scrubbed their ducks and stuck out their feet. It was adorable.

These are the French dancers... At the end of their dance, they all sat down on each other.

Here's Lily in her ballet Folklorico costume.

Starting on Monday... Lily performed as a little mouse in Tapestry Dance Company's Nutcracker. It was called Of Mice and Music: A Jazz Nutcracker. It was so cute! It ran for 4 nights at the Salvage Vanguard Theater. This was the first year that Tapestry did a Nutcracker. The theater was very small and it only sat 50 people. All of the shows were sold out. Scott and I got to see it on Tuesday night and Dennis and Marcia got to see it on Wednesday night. I was a stage mom on the other nights. It was fun to hang out with all of the little kids. They were so cute!

Here's the group. We had coloring books and story books to keep them busy. The show only ran 1 hour, so it wasn't too long or too late. They were all good kids!

Madeline came with me on the last night to hang out back stage. She really wanted to be a mouse too. Next year...

Christmas Fun!

Here are some photos from the holiday activities that we've been up to these last couple of weeks... It's been so busy! I've had to take December just a day at a time. I really haven't been able to look at my calendar more than a couple of days at a time. Wow.

This is a picture of Scott and me just before we left for his company holiday party. We had a great time! It was a boat cruise on Lake Austin. Dinner was not served, but there were heavy appetizers and an open bar. It was really nice. We even got to dance a little! It was a cold night! I had planned to wear my holiday dress from 6 years ago (I was so thrilled that I fit into it!!), but it was a little strappy number that would have been cute, but not appropriate for the weather. It was a high of 47 that day and rainy. So cold rain on a boat (windy)... I got some new black boots and some cute leg warmer type socks, a black skirt and this sweater. I was warm and I felt cute too. Perfect!

Last weekend, Mike and Kristi and the kids were up for some holiday fun. There's a house in Circle C that goes nuts for Christmas. We went over there to check out their lights. The kids LOVED it.

Wyatt LOVES Ian!! I don't remember if I mentioned it before or not... When Ian was here for Thanksgiving, he and Grace spent the night at our house. In the morning, when Ian got up, Wyatt ran up to him and said "I Love you!". That's the first time (and only so far) that I've heard him say that. So precious!

We rode on the Polar Express! Here's a picture of Gwenny, Mitchell, Lily and Madeline.

Wyatt LOVED being on the train. He spent a lot of time looking out of the window!

About 1/2 way through the trip. Santa came through and gave each kid a train whistle. I'm not sure who thought that was a good idea... I think a train whistle as a departing gift is a much better idea. However, the kids LOVED it.

It was a big train. We tried to get a picture of all of the cousins together in front of the train, but Lily wouldn't cooperate.

All in all, it was a fun ride and we'll do it again, but probably not next year. The train depot is about a 45 minute drive from our house and the train trip itself is 2 1/2 hours. I think it's too long. We spent the extra money to get a climate controlled train car and I'm SO GLAD! It was actually a pretty warm day and the sun was shining in warming up our car. They had the sun shades pulled down on one side and the air conditioning on. It kept us comfortable. But, we walked around a little and visited the snack car. It was really hot in there. The other cars did not have sun shades and that made it pretty uncomfortable.

Madeline's Birthday Party!

Sweet Madeline had her 3rd birthday party on Sunday. We had a cookie baking party and it was a blast! I think Madeline partied harder than anybody else. She had so much fun!

Grandma Marcia made these adorable aprons for all of the kids at the party!

Madeline LOVES to play chase! She and the other girls were running circles through the house, literally!

Cookie madness!

Pinata time!

Sneaking a taste just before the cake was served.

Madeline and Wyatt decided to destroy the Pinata. I had little bits of pinata paper everywhere!

Family Time!

I hosted Thanksgiving this year, and we had a wonderful holiday. My sister in law was here (they live in Corpus Christi now), along with my in-laws and our dear friend Chris and his boys. There were 6 kids and 9 adults. It was great! I am so thankful that we had each other to celebrate with.

The kids made fruit turkeys as part of their dinner. Papa Dennis helped the kids to make their turkeys.

Scott took Lily and Madeline camping in the back yard. They LOVED it! They made it until about 5 am, when they relocated into the living room.

We found this in the corner of the kitchen on the floor... Madeline had decided her hair needed a trim.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Social Darling Frock

Have I mentioned how much I love Grosgrain?! This dress is incredible. This blog has inspired me to start sewing again... Check it out!

Social Darling Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Kids

Here are the pics of the kids from our photo session. I love them. I can stare at pictures of my kids all day long. Again, remember these are very low resolution, because I didn't want to spend all day loading the pics onto Blogger. Enjoy!