IT ALL BEGAN IN BETHLEHEM

 Cora was a Child of God in RiverPointe's Christmas Recital "It All Began in Bethlehem". The instructors decided to keep the recital short (due to everyone's many other commitments this time of year), so Cora performed ballet only (no jazz or acro), as only ballet and contemporary were included this year in the interest of time. Dress Rehearsal is usually really exciting for the girls and really chaotic for the moms, but things went much more smoothly than I expected and it was obvious to me how much Cora has matured over the years, as she was honestly perfectly behaved throughout the evening. Getting dressed up in full hair (that means GLITTER SPRAY to Cora!) and makeup (with "my GOOD lipstick mama", which also means GLITTER!) is so fun for her, but getting up on stage in front of everyone is the real treat and what she most looks forward to...

 My favorite thing about Dress Rehearsal is that I can stand front-and-center to take photos and video (so that I don't have to worry about it the following evening during the recital, when I'm either back in the dressing room or sitting far from stage). Cora is in the front row, slightly stage right (so, slightly left of center in the video).

 The 6-year-olds had a little extra instruction after they ran through the number to fine tune a few things and I thought they were so cute watching Ms. Bridgett's every move.

(Her little "lean and look" here reminds me of the ballet class scene during the finale of Center Stage)

 We were done by 5:30pm (only 1.5 hours for rehearsal? UNHEARD OF - though we did leave at intermission and forego being in the final bow, by her choice) and happily rushed over to the Hancock's house for her first ever sleepover. She walked out front of the auditorium and exclaimed "Oh mama look, it's like a barre!", then proceeded to show me some poses while I dutifully snapped her photo.

  After a very late night at the Hancock's (Stirlin said that he heard Cora and Emma still awake and talking at 11:40pm!) and lots of partying and sugar (but very little real food), it was time to do it all over again, for real this time!

I don't take photos in the dressing room (the instructors ask us not to, in favor of modesty and as a courtesy to other dancers who may not be stage-ready), but this one was posted online by a friend and Cora was included (and everyone was dressed), so I thought I'd share it. I was honestly pretty disappointed at the lack of rule-following this year... not to mention the rudeness of audience members during the performance - there was a LOT of coming and going from seats, sitting on the stairs (instead of the seats), standing in the aisles to photo/video dancers while blocking the view of those sitting, talking loudly, etc. Yes, I mentioned it to the instructors. Not sure what they can do about it, but at least they're aware.

 Here are a few photos that we took from our place up in the stadium seating:

And here are a few close-ups that our friend Elizabeth took for us (we forgot Jay's camera):

 (Oh my goodness, she was SO proud to show off her muscles during their "strength" pose!)

 I know I'm biased, and I also know that I say this after every recital, but we really are very proud of our little ballerina. She takes her lessons and performances seriously, really stays focused and in character up on stage, and is so graceful. She really is a beauty up there, and seeing the joy in her face both during and after a performance makes it even better! Other than getting to go up on stage and perform, the most squeal-inducing part of recital day for Cora is receiving congratulatory flowers from her daddy:

It was a good thing we took her flower photo during intermission (she was in the first half, so she was able to change and scoot out of the dressing room at intermission to watch the second half of the show) because she passed out in Jay's arms just 5 numbers into the second half...

While she was snoozing, James fidgeted next to me (he was sleepy too). I snapped a few other photos during the show of Mary, Gabriel, and Joseph, the Wise Men, and all the leads (including the shepherds). The "big girls" (as Cora calls them) did a wonderful job up on stage, and we were even treated to a solo performance by Ms. Bridgett (with her husband singing, which was really sweet).

 And that's a wrap until spring recital!

SLEEPOVER PARTY!

The kids had their first-ever sleepover last night (without mama and daddy also being in the same house, as we have done with Eli and Addy in California and Oregon) for Coltin's birthday party (Cora was invited as his sister Emma's guest). They had been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks, and while we were initially really nervous to leave them, all went perfectly and we'll definitely be doing it again (perhaps even on a rotation with the Hancocks, as it was pretty great having the house to ourselves all evening!)

The boys bounced around outside in the giant bounce house (ahead of the rain) while the girls stayed warm inside and harassed Emma's sweet little kitten Domino.

There was a bonfire with hot dog and s'mores roasting, more bouncing, movies, games (with teams: boys vs. girls, of course), a treasure hunt, video games, and lots of talking and playing. The kids were in very good spirits when we arrived at 10:00am the next morning, and we learned that James had pulled out his top right incisor!

 Unfortunately, the rain this morning thwarted Coltin's plan to spend his Pokemon party outside bouncing and "catching" monsters, but the party guests created Perler bead Pokemon (and MineCraft) characters, and enjoyed the cupcakes just as much without with energy expenditure ;-)

  (Poor Jacob is so patient with these little girls... and they totally take advantage!)

And then we were off to get ready for the recital!

(The good news/bad news for the day being that the Christmas parade was post-poned. Good news because nobody wants to parade in the cold rain and it meant we could go home and rest after the recital instead of being out for another 2-3 hours. Bad news because we already have other plans next weekend and now Cora won't get to dress as "Norway" on her school's float... Oh well, she still gets to keep the Elsa Coronation Gown costume I bought her for the occasion, so she doesn't mind.)

RWOP DIRTY SANTA 2016

 Every year in December, our running group gets together for a potluck Dirty Santa Christmas party filled with mimosas/poinsettias and limericks (they've been writing them on long runs for years, and some of them are pretty good - next year I'll try to remember to video some!) This year, our 2-hour pre-party run got rained out (we run in the rain and we run in the cold, but we don't run in the cold rain), so we started the party at 6:00am. Indoors.

Cheers to 2016!

 The Loot:

 Once the drinks had been flowing for a while, the stories got sillier...

 Then it was time to hand out the "galaxy" running shorts that the girls bought Mack for his birthday (which is tomorrow) and sing him Happy Birthday. He is famous (in the way that my high school cross country Coach Anton was) for wearing very short running shorts, even in the cold (he just wears gloves - sometimes he even sports shorts and gloves without a shirt...) So we decided to get him a fancy pair (he only ever wears blue or green), then took it a step further and all bought "cosmos" Sparkle Skirts to "match" him during the Blue Marathon in January. He was very touched (though he says the best part is the birthday card, which I made to say "Coach Mack, we think you're out of this world. Happy Birthday from your girls!" And he'll happily wear those shorts (he said they were the perfect size - he tried them on, but that he has some at home that are even shorter, which we find hard to believe since this pair has a 1" inseam...)

 Told you he tried them on... silliness ensues when you're a few mimosas in...

 But honestly, how many (almost) 73-year-olds do you know that can get away with shorty-shorts? We promptly challenged him to do a push-up and he made us all (well, all but CrossFit Amy) look bad by knocking out a dozen perfect-form push-ups without even gettning out of breath. And then those of us who regularly do 4 rounds of push-ups at our Wednesday track workouts shut our mouths and silently vowed to start doing them at home on the off days too...

 There was some champagne bottle tipping. And "Dirty Santa" present-cracking-into. And some stolen daiquiris from the break room fridge (of the accountants office - why did they have a gallon of daiquiris in there anyway?!)

 And even a quickly formed plan to celebrate Jay's 40th Birthday with a Beer Mile event...

 And then it was time to wrap it up and get on with the rest of the weekend's festivities.

 Back Row: Mack, Robert, John (JP), Chris (Tank), Lee, Tom, Jay, Maria, and Mac

Bottom Row: Denise, Lori, Katie, Jennifery Lynn (JL), and Amy

(We are missing Francine in the picture because she had to jet off to work, but she's pictured above, and Terry because he was out of town for work, or in bed sleeping and ignoring our calls...)

SITTING WITH SANTA 2016

 Tonight was ERDC's 2nd annual Tree Lighting Ceremony and Caroling (with cookies, candy canes, and hot chocolate, oh my!), followed by Pictures With Santa (which they've been doing since 2011). The kids knew that "Santa" was just one of Santa's "Helpers" (not an elf, because they are busy making toys and keeping watch over kids from fireplace mantels...) here to visit and find out what one thing they wanted most for Christmas, so he could go back and tell the REAL Santa. James has known for weeks that he would be asking Santa for the Lego Dimensions Harry Potter Team Pack, but Cora was unsure... First she wanted new makeup (because I took her other makeup away after two incidents of it being used over carpet and her making a giant mess - until I reminded her that mama could take that away just as easily, and that she could have her original makeup back if she just followed the rules about keeping it in her bathroom...), then she mentioned more Calico Critters (which we didn't think she had been playing with much, but she assured us that she IS and that she LOVES them), and finally at the last minute decided to ask for a "Zuma Kitty" (AKA a Zoomer Kitty, which we had to look up, and which has a very high price tag... hmmm...)

 (Cora kissing the reindeer in front of "Hot Rod")