Amelia's ballet

Amelia is taking her second year of ballet and loves it. At Christmas time, she invites the families in the watch the ballet class. Amelia has learned so much this year and is just....so beautiful. My heart is so proud of her hard work and determination. Video to follow (I hope!).

William's winter party

Let me tell you, the activities and fun have been nonstop around here lately!

I was able to attend Williams's winter party last week. Here is a picture of William and a few friends playing the game I brought. The kids had to use chopsticks to fill their cups up with marshmallows. The best part was they were all having such a fun time, they didn't notice there weren't any prizes for the winner.

I was very entertained by their creativity in accomplishing their task. They stabbed the marshmallows, smashed them together and used the chopsticks two handed. I was a little surprised that no one in his class was proficient in chopstick use. I was caught off guard when one of the students noticing the Chinese characters on the side of the chopstick turned to the newest student in the class who is from Mexico and said, "hey! What do these letters say?"

And then to me, "he will know what it says because he is from Mexico. Mexico is a different country."

I went ahead and took that teachable moment to talk about the general differences between Mexico and China.


All in all, we had a fun time and enjoyed ourselves. I had so much fun, I required a dark, quiet room for a few minutes when I came home to reset myself for the rest of the busy evening!

Pink boots

Gemma sure does love those pink rainboots! She wears them all the time and has found 2 of my hiding spots for them. I finally had to put them away in the closet up on the shelf while she was sleeping. The first thing she did upon awakening? Look for the boots, of course.

On a side note, here is the Christmas tree set up this year. The tree is up on an end table and no presents are out. There are about 12 ornaments on the tree and lights, which are not plugged in. Festive, no?

Snowy day

The kids loved playing in the snow! John was happy because he got to use his Christmas present early (he got a better snow shovel). I think he was happy too. The kids made snow angel, built a fort, tried to build a snowman (which didn't work out because they couldn't agree on how to so it), and did a little sledding.

Snowy Saturday

It snowed a week ago and the kids were delighted. Gemma in particular was enthralled with the snowy landscape.

Outfitting our family of 5 for snow play takes a little time and energy. Snow pants, gloves, hats and boots need to be located in the correct sizes for each person.

In my digging through the plastic tote that houses our winter gear, I pulled out a ton of stuff including some hot pink rainboots that are a little too big for Amelia still. Gemma was instantly in love. She insisted upon wearing the immediately. She stomped around the house, stumbling when the too big boots tripped her up.

I eventually located enough gear for everyone to go out and play, including Gemma. We had a pair of older navy blue boots in her size leftover from William. I got everyone dressed and out the door except Gemma. Gemma would not be separated from her pink rainboots. I tried multiple times without success. Finally, I took her own in her snowsuit and pink rainboots. They weren't as warm as the snow boots would have been and it was hard for her maneuver with the big sized boots, but she was happy as a clam!

Secret message

Amelia was working away when I walked through the room. When I tried to peek, she shooed me away. "It's a secret message Mom!"

A few minutes later, she came to find me with this message.

Sweet girl, we love you!

A 1st

William, Gemma and I got to attend William's winter wonderland festival evening at school. While we were there, William requested to complete a craft in the craft area. This boy has not once ever willing suggested a craft. Never. Not once. I was a little hesitant to buy the ticket to complete the craft due to his non crafty track record. He finally talked me into it and lo and behold: he completed his chosen craft without any prodding or cajoling from me. All by himself. So proud!