Cookie Decorating Party

I had this crazy idea that I'd have all my holiday posts up before the holidays were actually over. Now, with this post, I think I've even passed up Epiphany. Details. Not much happens in January anyway, and well, I'm about to get darn busy with my class on top of being hugely pregnant (post about that coming soon) and working full time. So, might as well post as I can and leave the rest to, well, life. Again, details. Anyway, back before Christmas, we had the Dallas cousins over to decorate cookies. The kids really seemed to get into it, and enjoy being creative for a period of time. Then, they played together for a while longer, which they always seem to enjoy. I hope, as they grow, this stays the same. Here are some photos from the decorating party:

Ala the preschool cooking party, S had chef hats for all the kids.

The parents helped the process along...

Of course, if you cut out the middle to make a wreath, you had to eat the middle.

No wasting cookie!

Love.

See you soon.

Chinese Lantern Festival

 

Earlier in the month, we took advantage of the Chinese Lantern Festival being in town for another year, and decided to go check it out. I really meant to go see it last year, but somehow didn't make it. We picked a night that was fairly warm for this time of year, but the wind was blowing, and it was still sort of chilly to be out there. Nonetheless, the lanterns are beautiful, and we had a nice time checking it out. 

Those are pieces of porcelain making up the structure of that piece.


A detail shot.


Daddy and LM - having fun.


There was an acrobat show, too.


This young man was pretty amazing.




These girls were, shall we say - flexible.


OK, back to the lights








We paid the extra buck to walk out onto the boat.


















Of course, one of LM's favorites didn't light up -
a prehistoric elephant sculpture.








Beautiful exhibit, for certain.

See you soon.

Snowflakes!

LM doesn't understand why it has not snowed here in Dallas during Christmas. He seriously doesn't get it. We have had this conversation several times over - and each time I explain that first, snow is not guaranteed on Christmas - they are not synonymous - and second, snow in Dallas is very unlikely, any time of the winter. But, he remembers last year, when we were in Indiana, and there was plenty - PLENTY - plenty of snow!

So, we decided to manufacture our own "snow" and decorate our front windows at the same time. LM and I sat down to cut snowflakes out from paper, and shortly thereafter S joined us. I cannot tell you how relaxing and fun this activity was - something about cutting paper is oddly stress reducing. Ha! Anyway, the point is, we had a grand time, and the snowflakes look awesome in our front window. Here are some photos:

Oh - LM is wearing his "fireman pants" - last year's snow pants...

...they were a fixture for a few days.

Then Daddy got creative with the cutting...

Fun times.

See you soon.

Happy New Year!

Well, I cannot say I am sad to see 2013 go on with itself. It was not a horrible year, but it wasn't a great year either for me and my family. There was a lot of stress involved - a lot - and we lived through it, and we have good memories and things we learned too, but if we could somehow skip that kind of stress for 2014, I'd be OK with that too. Amen to that. 

And, I - we - are still immensely blessed people. And for that I will always be thankful. I mean, look at this family I have. How could I be more blessed? Seriously, anything 2014 brings, we will experience it together. And that will be a blessing too. 

Best wishes to you and yours for 2014.

Alexandra Skates at the Galleria

Earlier this month, we went out to the Galleria to see Alexandra skate as part of their Christmas ice skating spectacular. Going to a mall in December is not my idea of a good time, so you know this was a labor of love to go see her! The crowds were crazy, and we did not have a great vantage point, but we had fun watching her anyway, and I snapped a few photos:

There is part of the tree in the center of the rink, and a glimpse of all the people on all levels!

What was between us and the rink's edge...

The show was made up of some professional skaters

and students from the ice skating school.

Dancing Santas

Elves of all sizes, and reindeer too!

And ornaments!

There's Alexandra!

A cast of hundreds!

This was part of the action - they did not all fall down.

This particular skater seemed very talented.

At the end, Santa appeared, and there were pyrotechnics!

It was a nice show.

See you soon!

Symphony Christmas Program

We once again took the boy to the symphony's annual family Christmas concert. This year, though, he was really ready for it. He enjoyed it, watched the whole thing (about an hour) and afterwards talked about it positively. Imagine! Here are a few photos we snapped with our camera phones:

First, we enjoyed some lobby activities before the concert.

Is that camera on?

Then, we made it to our seats.

Family selfie. Hee hee.

Transfixed on the music.

Watching the princess.

When the soloist, Ava Pine, came out the first time, LM leaned over to me and said, "I didn't know there was going to be a princess at this concert!" Then, as she was wearing a beautiful strapless gown, he asked me, "Where is her shirt?" Ha. 

He also wanted to know why the organist was "playing backwards" - the organ is on the back wall of the concert hall, so she was facing the keyboards - and how she got up to her seat, which appears to be just randomly in the middle of the back wall...I explained there were stairs and a door you could not see from where we were that allowed her access to the console. 

Then, during the sing along, he "played" the trumpet.

LM was engaged in the performance, but any time the children's choir came on stage, he was completely motionless and enthralled. Little people like watching other little people, don't they? He also really liked it when the brass section stood up and played one feature piece. The brass instruments are definitely his favorite. 

And, at the end, it snowed!

Then, afterward, we had pizza at the 

"spicy pizza place with the pig" 

as LM calls it.

And he took a great nap.

So sweet.

See you soon!

Preschool Holiday Program

LM participated in a multicultural holiday program at his school. It was supposed to happen in an auditorium, but because of the weather, it ended up happening in this smallish room onsite. It was very hard to see, and the parents were all vying to see their precious little one. Here are some horrible photos. We actually have a video of the whole thing, but it's so large, we can't upload it. So, I need to parse it down into digestible chunks. Perhaps if I ever get that done, I'll share it with you:

Look carefully - you can see him walking in.

His good buddy Max is in front of him.

And his wonderful teacher Ms. Shaye is behind him.

And this was all I could sort of see once they were in place. 

With my camera in the air.

This was the side of the room...

Max's parents were just in front of us, trying to get a photo.

When all the rows of people moved the right way at once, we could see him.

This is how we got a video - S stood in the back.

The program covered all the holidays in this part of the calendar - Hanukkah, Christmas - both religious, Hispanic, secular and otherwise - and Kwanzaa. The kids had little things to say for each holiday, as well as a song to sing. They practiced the songs every day for several weeks, and LM really knew the words to these songs. He liked to sing them all the time, especially when we were driving in the car. And still, actually.

Another one of his teacher, Ms. Shaye, singing along.

LM was seated away from the rest of his class, in the front row, because he had volunteered for a speaking part. I guess none of the other kids wanted to talk into the microphone...and apparently my child has no qualms about that. Ha. He spoke about Kwanzaa, saying, "We celebrate the holiday by lighting candles every night." He did it just perfectly. I was so proud! And, still, when speaking into the little play microphone on our little play keyboard, he says this line. Because, of course, this is what you say into a microphone!

OK, so his buddy Harrison spoke about Kwanzaa too - right before LM.

Then LM got up there and belted out his line like a champ.

With such concentration. I was proud of him.

Maybe I already covered that part. Ahem.

It was fun to watch our boy participate in his first "program" of this kind. He is growing so fast, and I am trying to enjoy every fleeting minute.

See you soon!