High Five for Friday (12.9.22)

 

One

Our family's newest driver now has his own car! He contributed to the purchase, and we covered the rest of the cost as most of his birthday and Christmas presents. 

Will desperately wanted a small, used, manual transmission vehicle, so we asked him to find one. He first located one in Houston and it sold out from under him, but he - with Tom in tow - acted quickly enough when he located a second one in Austin and was able to drive it home the Tuesday before Thanksgiving...which was also my birthday. So for my birthday, I bought my son a car. 😂

Will managed to get his school parking pass the day before two-a-day soccer practices started, which meant that while I still had to wake up at 5:45am to make sure he actually got out of bed (he's slept through every alarm we've ever tried), I didn't have to drive him to school before 6am. Hallelujah!

Two

Our house is fully decorated for Christmas! Hallie and I did most of the decorating on my birthday, and then all four of us finished the tree the following morning. 

The kittens are living their best lives climbing the tree, breaking ornaments, eating fake pine needles, and dragging the tree skirt to different rooms in the house. Popeye also unwrapped a present by gnawing through the wrapping paper...and then also gnawing through the book's dustcover and the book itself. Needless to say, the intended recipient of said book will be gifted something else and no additional wrapped presents will be placed under the tree until immediately prior to opening. We all love how the house feels in December though, so no one is complaining about having to repeatedly pull the kittens out of the tree, off of the kitchen table, and off of any other surface where I've tried to store or hide anything related to Christmas.

One night's worth of havoc.

But so pretty...

...and so handsome.

Three

We spent Thanksgiving in Dallas with Tom's aunt and uncle; two of Tom's cousins; one cousin's husband, son, and sister-in-law; and Tom's parents. Our visit was brief and somewhat complicated (Tom and Hallie went Wednesday, Will and I went Thursday, Hallie and I came home Friday, and Tom and Will headed to Austin for a College Showcase soccer tournament on Saturday), but it was lovely to see everyone. I took zero pictures, but Tom captured these two:

Tom and Hallie made a stop in Ferris, Texas.

Hallie and Ben - look at his face as he watches and listens
to her read. The two of them had fun hanging out together. 

Four

The weekend before our Nutcracker, we - along with many of our dance/mom friends - traveled to The Woodlands to see another studio's production of The Nutcracker..."starring" the girls' ballet instructor, Mr. John (Reid). He did a fantastic job, and the girls LOVED watching him on stage.

Five

Happiness Highlights

They both arrived for a Sunday afternoon playdate
wearing - unplanned - the exact same outfit. And
then rocked out to Hamilton for two straight hours. 

I finally convinced Hallie that we didn't need to keep storing
her third grade flamingo habitat project. She agreed to get rid
of it, but only if I took commemorative photos first.

Same with the diorama of the water cycle.

Hallie and I love our "night walks" during the Christmas season.

Stay (as) little (as possible)...

Their friend Paloma came to visit over Thanksgiving break!

Molly (my parents' cat, who we fostered
about a year ago) LOVES the World Cup.

Chris (the elf) arrived, bringing with
him advent calendars and new pajamas. 

Stunning.
(Photo courtesy of Ari Jones Photography)

So proud of how hard she's worked to get to this pointe. 😉
(Photo courtesy of Art Jones Photography)

Happy weekend, friends! 

Stay tuned for all things Nutcracker next week! 😉