High Five for the Holidays, Part 1

 

One

I forgot to include these images, courtesy of Vacanva Photography, in my Nutcracker post, so I'm sharing them here instead. Ashley Siegert and her team always do a wonderful job for us, and we love working with her! (Stage photos to come...once I have time to look through the thousands taken.)

Two

We took a fabulous - though a little treacherous weather-wise - trip to Houston to see the girls' bestie Kara and friend Sophie perform in Houston Ballet's Nutcracker. (And yes, we saw two different productions of The Nutcracker besides putting on our show.) They did a beautiful job, and it was incredible to see them on this famous stage and as part of this nationally-known production.

Three

The kids and I made it to one of our favorite drive- and walk-through lights displays (sadly, we missed the other - time just got away from us this year) at the very beginning of winter break. It was a fun outing, though we missed Tom.

Four

And the Lads are off! 

The Lads lost FOURTEEN seniors at the end of last season, so they expect this season to be a bit of a rebuilding year. That said, they had decent showings at their first friendly match and annual alumni game and are ready for the Kilt Cup this weekend.

If you look closely, you can see that Will
is leading the pre-game talk in this huddle.

Post alumni-game - current and past Lads.

Will and Jeremy
(here's their cool history)

 

Five

Happiness Highlights

When you give three teenagers access to an
elevator and quite a few hours of nearly free time...

...they get an opportunity to flex their creative muscles...

...and you get endless entertainment and laughs.

Sweet Ashton drew this picture of Popeye for me.

Pretty fantastic for a 7yo artist!

She still reads the safety manual on every flight. *

And Will got to fly next to a puppers!

That's 39 bagels, purchased from our beloved
Bagels Forever in Madison. None of these bagels
remained when we left Madison to return to Texas.

My niece is ADORABLE as Cindy Lou Who!

Our kitties are so lucky to have such fun
friends to take care of them in our absence!

Seriously, Popeye loves a good shoulder snuggle.

~

* As originally told in September 2011 - Hallie would have been two years old.

Last month we traveled – via four-hour airplane ride – to Washington for a wedding. Once on the airplane Will required very little of his parents’ time and energy; thanks to his Leapster and a few snacks, we heard from him only when he had to go to the bathroom. Hallie was a different story, needing an endless supply of books, art projects, cartoons, and snacks to distract her from kicking the seat in front of her and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Toward the end of our flight, a restless Hallie desperately wanted Tom to read to her but was less-than-thrilled about the books in her backpack. At that moment she discovered the seatback pocket in front of her, pulled out the safety manual, and handed it to Tom.

Hallie: You read dis.

Tom: (Reads Hallie the entire safety manual while Hallie listens intently.)

Hallie: Now seen (sing) it.

Tom: What?

Hallie: You seen (sing) it to me.

For the remainder of the flight, Tom sang the safety manual – cover to cover – to Hallie. Now if you ever hear her singing about lifeboats or oxygen masks you’ll know why.