Long awaited Christmas Choir video

Due to a) lack of knowledge of video editing 2) a drive going bad over Christmas and iii) a general lack of time... it took over a month to get this video up. I regret touting it in the Christmas card, but hopefully Lea's gleeful twirls and Dan's ho ho hoing will be worth the wait.

Lea's Choir debut (edited down to 5 minutes from the original 34!)



Here's a video of Lea practicing the ballerina doll part. Grandma JoAnn took the video and did her beautiful hair when she was here for a visit back in November.

We had a wonderful Christmas. Here's a couple photos and a quick rundown of our December:

Lea shows her list to Santa

Family photo when we went to visit Santa

Lea in her own personal wagon at the downtown parade. We pulled Lea in the wagon and took the city train down town.

Lea a the parade

Aunt Sherry, mom, Uncle Scumfy and Lea at the parade

mommy, daddy & Lea at the parade

Mr. Potato Head at the parade

Lea shows off her gingerbread house that she made at school. Dan volunteered that day at school to help.

the Kindergarden gingerbread house

Our cardboard nativity. We made all our characters and wrote nice things that Lea did on pieces of yellow paper to make Jesus' bed soft with "hay"
Note the wise men in the back bearing "gifts." The angel backdrop came from girl scouts. My sheep are cotton on sponge legs. I don't know why Joseph & Mary have sponges on their heads, but Lea insisted they needed them. I guess that was the style back in Jerusalem.

Mommy and Lea make chocolate chip cookies. Lea has more fun than it looks like here.

Lea delivers presents to Grampy to open on Christmas eve.

Our little elf gets a few presents herself.

Dan made a mudroom coat rack for my mom. (I sewed the cushion and designed the thing). We had it wrapped in a sheet and no none knew what it was. We kept calling it the hippopotamus we got for Grandma. "Gee, Dan do you think needs something to eat? Does it get enough air?"

Lea leaves a cookie for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. We had to leave a lot of carrots because there are a lot of reindeers.

Grandma, Mommy and Lea got matching nightgowns!

Christmas day brought grandpa Dan and Aunt Teresa.

New Year's Eve we had a fire out front with hot chocolate, hot tea and roasted marshmallows. Then we played lots of Mexican Train Dominos and had sparkly cider at about 9pm as we counted down and sent Lea to bed. A lovely way to ring in the new year.

A hidey hole

There is a cabinet in our living room that Lea has hidden in since she
was able to walk. We keep toys there, but occasionally the toys are
tossed out and she curls up and closes the door. Seems pretty normal
for a kiddo. There is a familialy famous photo of me hanging out in a
large drawer.
What surprised me about the use of the hidey hole was how it was her
safe haven. Over Thanksgiving we were watching a movie "Secret of the
Kells" (suggested by a magazine, but not recommended by me - NOT FOR
LITTLE KIDS! but some cool animation. The snow flakes were little
celtic crosses... but I digress) ... so here came the scary part.
Large scary red Viking monsters came to over take and burn down the
walled abbey (there was no redeeming happy ending, most the people
burned and died... again NOT for kiddos). Lea leaped off the cozy spot
on the couch next to me and went and started flinging things out of
her hidey hole. She had trouble getting it closed and I felt urgency
as if the big red monsters were coming for us. I helped her close it
and she tucked herself safely inside until we told her the scary part
was over.
It was very cute and sweet and reminded me amidst all the mature
things she does, she is after all just five. I'm glad she has a safe
hidey hole just for her.

Halloween Recap

Well so much for unbogging the blog. Here it is December and I'm finally posting halloween photos.
So here's the quick rundown of how Halloween went for us (I think the photos tell most of the story anyway).

Lea decided to be Rosetta the flower fairy and we got her costume done early in October so that she could wear it to "Lea's night out" at Gymnastics. Unfortunately something she ate or a flu bug caused her to throw up less than an hour into the evening so she came home early. But she recovered quickly and the rest of Halloween went very well.

Mommy and Daddy had fun dressing up for Michael's party. Mommy was Tinkerbell and Daddy was Homer, though since the bald cap wouldn't stick to his sweaty head it was more like the FBI's bad replacement Homer when the Simpsons went into witness protection.

The week before Halloween Lea's school had a Character Parade. They could dress in costume as a character from a book. They were supposed to carry the book around, but Lea lost hers from the van to the locker. She didn't get in trouble. There were some very cute costumes on both the kids and the teachers.

Character Parade at Lea's school.

Lea and her friends the cat and one of many princesses

The kitty reads her book

They paraded through the school and then through the auditorium where parents were gathered, but it was hard to see and photograph so I snuck in the gym where they were lined up to go back to class.

Halloween weekend was also our nine year wedding anniversary. Unfortuantely Lea's tummy bug (nicknamed the Kindergarden Krud) hit Mommy hard and we spent our romantic weekend with me huddled on the couch with a 102 fever. But we watched a lot of movies. 

Grandma took Lea for the weekend and they weekend so at least Lea wasn't bored by sick mommy. Grandma's church had a Trunk or Treat where they decorated their cars and gave out candy in the parking lot. Lea and Grandma decorated Grandma's van. Grandma dressed Lea up like a cat for the evening and they had a wonderful time. Except Lea ate so much candy she actually told Grandma "I don't ever want to eat candy again." Then in the morning as she was grabbing a piece of candy she said "I didn't really mean what I said last night." 

Finally for actual Halloween everyone was feeling well. I dressed as Tinkerbell and Lea Roesetta the flower fairy. Our first Trick or Treat stop was Grandpa Dan's house.

Then off to Richardson with the Brown and Harris families. We've Trick or Treated with them since Lea was born. Its been great to watch the girls grow together. We've gone from strollers going house to house, to coaxing them to the door and finally running off and leaving us in a their wadded wrapper wake. They kept up with the big kids for about a block and then we had to rein them in. Here is the initial rush to the first house.

Lea might actually be about to take off her with her wings.

Then we slowed to a more steady pace.

 
Our two red heads check their buckets.

At the end of about 3 blocks we made our way to their church where we loaded up at their trunk or treat. There were some great car decorations.

Taking a break to have one treat.

Tink & Minnie Mommies

One of the cars decked out in Dalmation fun. Even the car had spots.

The Brownie candyland car.

Then back to the house to feast. We just dumped the candy out and let the girls have their fill. Lea did not learn her lesson from Grandma's. She ate candy until she was sick again. I know, I know, that's what parents are for to save her from her self. We'll do better next year!

Our haul was better than any year past. It was a gigantic pile of candy!

And ooh so yummy!

State Fair 2010

We visited the State Fair twice this year (well I got to go 3 times because I snuck off with co-workers to have fried Frito Pie for lunch one day and ride the wild mouse roller coaster, but I digress). Lea got a day off school and a ticket to the fair as part of the Dallas school system so they had a Big Tex day (we did not go on fair day, nor did we use the ticket). The kindergarteners colored Big Tex and here she wrote her version of "Howdy Folks" There is something about this interpretation (HAOD FAOK) that makes my heart sing. I don't know why I find her writing so cute, but I love this Big Tex drawing.

Our first trip was on a Tuesday for 5 ticket ride night. Everything was about half price to ride. So we got a lot of Lea's rides out of the way. We were lucky enough to be joined by Becky, Gonzo, Hopens and Sherry (mere days before her trip to London!).

In this photo Becky, Sherry, Michael and me

In this photo Lea rides the airplane ride while the Singletons were way up on the Ferris Wheel.

Dan, Lea and I went to the kiddo midway while Becky, Gonzo, Sherry & Hopens took off to ride the Texas Star. It worked out perfect! It horrified me and they didn't need to watch Lea ride 5 rides, so by the time they got done Lea had ridden almost her limit of rides. No one was standing around waiting for anyone for any length. It was so easy and fun.

Lea on the Go Cart Ride. It went up and bounced. She giggled and had a blast.

Lea on the hang-glider ride. It was impossible to get a photo so I just videoed it. She rode this last year too. I asked if she wanted me to come on it with her and she said "No, Mommy I'll do this by myself."


The swing ride. This was too calm for Lea. She was actually bored on it.

By the time they got done Lea had one more ride to ride (Lea picked a Pirate adventure obstacle course that she loved) and we were off across the park.

We were in search of food. Hopens tries the fried Frito Pie. It was very super mega yummy!

Sherry before the Fried Beer (that was at the end of the night and not so yummy). She also tried the fried Frito Pie.

Gonzo taking our picture while Becky worked at the giant turkey let. She is quick to point out that Gonzo helped her eat the giant thing. In fact I think everyone had a small bite.

Dan got Fried Bacon.  I had fried butter - it was like the best fresh hot piece of bread you've ever had with warm garlic butter. It was fantastic! That was one of last year's big treats. We all grabbed something to eat and sat at a picnic table.

Then, we turned around and there was a parade! The starlight parade with light up floats and weird costumes on stilts. It was the most perfect timing. Unfortunately I said as much and as Karma took it out on me. I spilled a whole beer down my pants. But a little wet pants was a small price to pay for such a wonderful evening!

Ahh.. fair beer and good friends. We'll keep our beer cold and not fried.


Then on Sunday, Oct. 10 we went to the Fair for our big family day. Aunt Teresa came with us and we spent the whole day out there from about 11am to 5pm. Silly mommy forgot her camera, but on the upside I was able to just enjoy things without worrying about capturing the special moments.

We went through Lea's favorite Little Hands on the Farm. Lea's got that down pat. She knew all the little activities and waited patiently in line to ride the tractor. This year she could really pedal and did a great job on the tractor.

Lea also did the Pee Wee Rodeo where Lea got to lead the parade of kids with a spangly flag vest and carry the American flag. Lea participated in the barrel races where mostly girls run around barrels on a stick horse. Last year Lea got confused and threw down her horse and raced around the barrels. Her time suffered when she was forced to go back and get the stick horse. So we talked about what she would be doing this year and she really wanted a trophy. Well she was first up and she did great, but her time was second best so she did not get the trophy. She got a ribbon and we told her she was the only one in the whole group who got to wear the spangly vest and carry the flat. So she was ok with that. Its fun just to participate. Maybe next year she'll win first.

Lea and Teresa played two games. Teresa did the burst the ballon with a dart game and won a stuffed sheep. The guy at that game was very sweet to Teresa though she was a bit afraid of him because he was missing some teeth. Then together they played the Pick a Duck game. They each got a panda. We pretended they were brothers and on the way home in the van Lea & Teresa had their pandas pick places on the State Fair map to pretend to go. It was very cute!

 Dan had his sausage plate. I got spiral potatoes after waiting in a VERY long line. We all had ice cream before heading home. Lea got to play in the giant sand box as the very last thing and we all went home exhausted.

We love the fair and it gets more and more fun the older Lea gets. Next year I promise I'll bring my camera every time we go to the fair.