A Very Corpus Christmas

I am not going to add a lot of narrative because there are

A LOT of PICTURES

I am going to just let the pictures speak for themselves and you can figure it out for yourself what is going on.

Our Clubhouse Christmas Party with a Christmas Hayride

Christmas Eve

 shepherd's supper

Christmas Day

I hope eveyone's holiday was splendid.

The first of many (hopefully) Nutcracker shows

This evening Kelsey was a Cherub in the Corpus Christi Ballet Nutcracker performance.

It is so cute because the dads have to help.  The dads dress in all black and wear ski masks and they lift up their daughters and the little cherubs flap their arms and legs like snow angels.  Because the dads are in black you can't see them and so it looks like they are flying.  I loved it so much.

Here are the girls back stage getting ready.

This girl comes alive when she is dancing-she loves it so much!

I get teary eyed every time I see her on stage.  I don't really understand this.  I think part of it is because I know how much she loves it and part of it is because I used to love dancing so much.  She gets to perform next saturday as well but it will be even better next week because they will have a live orchestra next week. Ethan has a babysitter for next week also so I will actually get to enjoy it.  I can't wait.

A Ride On The Polar Express

We had our Ward Christmas Party tonight.  I was instantly in love with the whole thing the minute I walked in.  The theme was "The Polar Express".

As we walked up to the door they had a couple of the primary kids handing out a polar express train ticket.  The room was decorated so so cute and there was a big train for a decoration.  Unfortunately I did not get a good picture of the train but it was pretty cool.

Here we are at the party.

 The secret to a great party (in my humble opinion) is the little details.  I loved how they had these cards with the program schedule on the dining tables.  I also loved that we ate on REAL plates, not paper ones.  It was a nice touch.

 This is a weird picture, but what is happening is there was power point pictures while a group of readers read part of the Polar Express book.

 Then Matt and Dave played their guitars.  They played a medly of "We Three Kings" and "Carol of the Bells".  I am so glad Matt has such an awesome talent.  I think he is soooo sexy when he plays the guitar!

 Then Santa came and gave everyone a bell.  The kids were SO excited, of course.

 Cute pic of the kids, Santa is having a beard problem, haha.

 I really enjoyed this party.  It was probably my favorite ward christmas party I have ever been to.   I also think it would have been really neat to do a Polar Express theme but instead of going to "story time", "trumpets way", and "North Pole" go to places like "the wise men's tent" and the "shepherd's hill" and "the Stable".  Just an idea in case any of you thought this was a fun party theme.

When I got home from the party Juliet was in a smiley mood so I took the opportunity to take a few pictures of her by our Christmas tree.  I thought these ones turned out so cute.



Santa Clause is Coming to Town

I know this is all a bit early but I got an email from La Palmera Mall in Corpus Christi that Santa was coming in today in a helicopter and that there would be free festive activities happening this evening.  I jump on every opportunity for free fun, so here we go.

The first thing we did was get our faces painted by some very friendly (oversized) elves.

 We enjoyed walking around the mall looking at all the new christmas decorations and listening to the two live bands that they had playing at opposite ends of the mall.

 As we were waiting for Santa to arrive we watched a performance by the Corpus Christi Ballet.  They were promoting their upcoming production of the Nutcracker.  I took this picture because that Arabian dancer in the middle there is Kelsey's dance teacher and Kelsey was quite thrilled to see her performing.

Santa finally came.  The thrill and excitement and magical wonder on the kids faces made this whole adventure worth it.

 Next we went upstairs to the 2nd level of the mall to see Mrs. Clause and listen to her read a story.

Is anyone else disturbed by this?  Here we have Santa come escorted by a young and scantily clad woman in a christmas lingerie looking outfit while Mrs. Clause is upstairs reading stories to the children???

I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss the South Towne Mall Santa!

Not even SAINT Nicholas is a descent role model here!

All morals are GONE!  This City has gone to the crapper!

 At least the evening ended well with free cookies and milk and lets faceit, that's the REAL reason we went.

Just Because

Just Because

My kids are so so so

Adorable

Sweet sweet Juliet.

Will her eyes stay blue?  We will have to wait and see.

We just set up this toy for her.  We bought if for Ethan back in the day but he HATED it.  She likes it though, so at least we are getting our money's worth now.

I thought this one was a cute one of Matt and Jules.

This is not a great quality picture, but I thought it was so cute how Ethan had his tools in his pocket.

Awesome Hair.

 This is my Prima Ballerina.

Lets talk a little more about this girls hair.  Could she look any more like a Barbie?

Why doesn't my hair ever look that good?  She wants to grow it to her butt.  How many more years do you think that will take?

 T I R E D   Boy!  So exhausted he can't even eat his grilled cheese.

Love,

Andrea