Mad Dash in the Dark

The plan was all set early in the week. We were going to get our tree on Friday because it looked like the best weather of the week and we'd beat the weekend rush. How great would that be....get our tree early in the weekend, have all weekend to decorate the tree and house, what a great plan!

I noticed the weather cooperated and it was a sunny day as I was going about my day at home on Friday. I made my late afternoon call to Damon....oh, it doesn't look like he can leave work early, something came up....darn! OK, we can still make it, we'll just have to hurry! He finally gets home and we're all ready to go and then comes the "put your coat on and get into the car" and that's where we stalled yet again. Katelyn, you see, does not like wearing a coat. ALL coats are too puffy. We begged, pleaded, bribed and finally just put our foot down....put it on or you are not going. She fussed and whined but gave in. Off we went to Glenwood tree farms.

It was starting to feel dusky by the time we got there so there was a sense of urgency....we parked, hopped out and off we went in search of the perfect tree. In past years we have been able to find the perfect tree in under 10 minutes. This was not the case this year. We seemed to find something wrong with each one. It was getting darker by the minute and we are literally running all over. It was narrowed down to two trees and Megan cast the deciding vote since little miss K was still fussing about her coat. We did end up with a great tree, but it just wasn't the smooth sailing we had experienced in previous years. We were loading it into the truck when we suddenly realized we told my mom and dad we'd pick up a tree for them...Yikes, it was really getting dark now. We jumped in the truck and drove to a different area of trees. We hopped out and again starting running. This time we couldn't see the stumps as well...oops, we better not run anymore! In case you were wondering, it really is possible to pick out a lovely tree in the dark!

grumpy girl with her puffy coat

cutting down the tree

quick self family portrait (notice how dark it is...this is before we found my parent's tree)

all's well that ends well (all smiles after a candycane!!)

When we got home, my parents came over to celebrate St. Nicholas day and did our advent reading together. It's our family tradition to celebrate St Nicholas Day on Dec 6 (St. Nicholas was a real person and the idea of Santa orginated from him, I believe he died on Dec 6, kids put out their shoe outside and St. Nicholas fills the boot overnight). Anyway, my mom brought over their Christmas gifts early so they could enjoy them and spread the gift receiving out a bit (very nice idea!). My parents are so thoughtful and always go the extra mile to make everything so special for the kids....thanks Nana and Poppy!

We enjoyed the rest of the weekend by decorating the house and the tree. Katelyn loved her tinkerbell ornament and both girls decided they needed a turn to put the star on top!

Last but not least, I couldn't resist adding this cute picture of my mini me!!!

Let the Christmas fun begin!!!

Turkey Bowling

My sister Paulette hosted our Thanksgiving gathering this year. She is a great cook and has the gift of hospitality. Her home was warm and inviting and the meal was excellent! All the kids played great together, what more could you ask for??

After dinner and dessert (Paulette made the best chocolate pumpkin cheesecake!) we thought it would be fun to take the kids bowling, so off to Hazel Dell Lanes we went. It wasn't too crowded and we all had a great time!

Rhys was all smiles seconds before I took this photo...guess you'll just have to trust me on that one!

Our First Nutcracker....

Wow, what a weekend! What started out iffey, turned up all roses by the end! Megan peformed in both shows Saturday and prevailed through the snow last Sunday for the finale performance. Although the butterflies were going pretty strong before her first performance, she did great! (Even after getting a bit scared backstage when she got separated from the rest of the mice after their scene and didn't know how to get back to the dressing room....a back stage helper found her and brought my tear stained mascara smeared cutie back to me!) All the rest of the shows went just as planned!

One side note that was really special for Megan was meeting Megan S. (a member of the senior company dancers). She took to Megan early on in rehearsals and mentioned that several people thought they looked alike and she said she looked a lot like my Megan when she was younger. It was so sweet of her to send a nutcracker ornament to my Megan before her first performance!

Thank you so much to our friends and family that came out to watch....what a great memory for her (and me!).

all the mice with the mouse king

my lollipop before her first show

Her friend Kate got her this lollipop for being a lollipop!

cousins Jake and Casey came to watch

flowes from her daddy

Big Megan and little Megan

Megan with all her flower from her thoughtful friends and family

My Mouse has Recovered!

Thank you for all your prayers! Megan danced yesterday and last night! YEAH! She slept all night Friday with no further incidents and woke up yesterday with much better coloring and felt much better, but was thirsty and weak from no food. She SLOWLY ate some toast and took some small sips of water and slowly but surely, she returned to her old chipper self by mid morning. She made it through both performances with flying colors and LOVED being on stage and performing! Two shows down and one to go today at 3! We are so proud of our little mouse and lollipop!

My Sick Mouse

The show must go on. But it will have to go on tonight without my mouse and lollipop. We are all so sad to miss Megan's debut in The Nutcracker.

The day started out just fine. After a late night at dress rehearsal, Megan slept in until 8:30 or so and we did or normal lounging until it was time for school. I got her on the bus and dropped Katelyn off at my mom's so I could help with Megan's ornament party at school. While I was in her classroom, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, although she did tell me her tummy hurt one time, but thought she was hungry so she helped herself to some rich candy snacks.

The red flag went up when she informed me that she felt like she was going to throw up while we were driving to pick up Katelyn. She made it to my mom's with no incident. I didn't know what to make of it....was it nerves....was it something she ate?? She didn't feel warm to touch, so I thought we'd just press forward. She actually fell asleep in the car ride from my mom's to our house...another red flag. I scooted her upstairs to lay down, hoping she would sleep some more, but no such luck. She still appeared ok, seemed to be herself and was indicating that she was nervous about the performance. This is normal butterflies, right??

By 4:30, there was no pukey, so I made the decision we were going to go for it. We got some snacks and all our stuff together and were on our way to Camas by 5:30. It was dark and rainy. We were just about to the Mill Plain exit on 205 south when she said she "had that feeling" again. So I quickly dumped out my little gift bag type handle bag that was next to me and handed it back to her (keep in mind it's pouring down rain, I'm in major traffic) and with about three seconds to spare, the much anticipated vomit arrives. By this time I'm trying to merge to catch the Mill Plain exit while trying to assure her everythings ok.

My mind is going a million miles a minute....first thought....YESSSSSSS, I've contained car vomit in a bag........second thought.......I'm so sad, we will miss her performance that she's looked forward to for three months...........third thought....would you PLEASE let me over to get to this exit.........my fourth thought is interrupted by Megan crying and informing me that the bottom of the bag just gave out and now the neatly contained vomit is all over her lap and booster seat and car seat and floor....The last comment she makes is the icing on the cake....."See, mom, I told you I didn't feel good and we shouldn't have gone tonight....Nice, a heaping layer of guilt to top it all off.

Yes, she had told me she didn't feel good, but how many times do you hear this, and how was I supposed to know the difference between major butterflies and true stomach illness. It's so hard being a mom and making these major decisions!

So, we made it home without me puking from the car smell and my wonderful husband took car cleaning duty and I took clean up the ballerina duty. She appeared to be better but didn't give up the bucket the whole night. Before we headed upstairs to bed, she took a drink of water, apparently too much water. We didn't make it up the stairs without filling the bucket again. She's asleep now with her bucket next to her.

What will tomorrow bring? We have performances at 2 and 7:30 and Sunday at 3. I'm praying with all my might that she's well enough to dance in at least one if not all. I guess keeping water and food down will be an important component to our decision.

Want to know the ironic thing? As I was helping in the dressing room for dress rehearsal last night, I was looking around at all these giggly excited girls (probably around 35 or so) I thought to myself, what are the odds that one of these girls gets sick this weekend? It didn't even dawn on me that it would be my little ballerina! Ah such is life!

I'm so glad I snapped a few pictures of her in the dressing room last night, just in case. I have full faith that she'll get to perform at least once, but here are some cute ones, just in case!

She wasn't excited about being a green lollipop, but I think the color looks great on her!

Megan mouse with neighbor and friend, Kate

and with her friend from pre school, Devan (who happened to be her lollipop partner)

Please, oh Please God, make her well!!!!

School Days

Megan has settled in to a great routine at school. Afternoon Kindergarten is the best! She loves riding the bus and playing with friends. I've really enjoyed being in her classroom for a couple of the parties I've helped coordinate. Here's what she's been up to!

Here's Megan and her best bud Allison waiting for the bus

crazy hair day!

Megan's Thanksgiving Feast....she was a Native American and the other class were pilgrims!Gotta throw in some sister lovin too!

Baby Elephants and Bob the Builder

We set out on a Friday morning looking for adventure! Some might just settle with the zoo OR the Children's Museum, but why not do both?? Yes, a bit crazy! We started out at Children's Museum and met up with Aunt Lisa and Maddie and Marin. They have a Bob the Builder exhibit that is a lot of fun! We did the usual digger area, face painting and water area too.

Daddy would be so proud!

Mom....what is this thing?? I think it's a cow??!

We ended that adventure and started another one across the parking lot. We were in search of that cute little baby elephant!

but we've always got time for a quick pose on a goat!

When we first arrived to see the elephant, the mom and aunties were being very protective of the baby. They were shielding him from the paparazzi. Seriously, when the baby would move the mom and aunties would move with him. It was cute!

But then, they finally let him wander off a bit and play. Have you ever seen anything cuter???

Who could resist the elephant ear stand after that?? We sure couldn't! It was nice and warm!

Then on the way home we got stuck in really bad traffic, so we killed time by taking pictures of each other! Katelyn was asleep within minutes of our drive home.

Megan loves being the photographer!

What a fun day with my girls!