An Early Christmas gift

DK Royal Memorial Stadium where the Longhorns play football is in the background.

Conleigh received an early Christmas gift. She & I went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Radio City Rockettes last night. The show was at the UT Bass Concert Hall.   We were on row E. Row E!  Five rows from the stage. I don't think I've ever sat that close to a stage for anything. I bet there were 500+ people sitting above us in balcones. A friend in the neighborhood was forward thinking and bought tickets early as a group, so we got better seating at better prices! Aah. Feels so good.

We arrived about an hour before show time, so we looked at art. There were six levels of different kinds of art. I love to hear Conleigh talk about the canvas and the paints. The collages and materials.

 The show was awesome!  I loved seeing Conleigh's excitement and how she would light up and gasp with her hands over her mouth.  We were close enought that when streamers came flying from the stage, she caught some.  The music & dancing and costumes were just great!  She has been practicing her high kicks since we walked out of  the show. She is calling herself a Junior Rockette.    Afterwards we went to dinner at Chili's.  Her love language is definitely quality time, and we enjoyed mommy & Conleigh time last night.


I was beat when we got home and fell asleep at 10:10 which is unheard of for me.  Peter got a new phone and I woke up to him still messing with it at almost midnight.  Now I woke up at 5:30am. The vicious sleep cycle continues.


The guinea pig is still alive. Thank goodness. It is stressing me out!

Remnants of a gingerbread house...

Houston Christmas celebration

As in years past, we went to Houston the weekend before Christmas Day to celebrate the season with my parents and sister and her family. The kids wake up ready for their cousins to arrive.  It is wild how Spencer has grown up just since our trip to Florida in June. He is hanging with the adults more and not as into the play time.

Opening Stockings



I like this picture. Conleigh & Alex both looks excited and happy.



Alex love, love, loves his new 12th man jersey. He's worn it for the last five days in a row.

Conleigh was thrilled to get the Doodle Art book that she wanted.



Five good lookin' grandchildren.



Campbell got Belle's teacart. We've had a lot of tea the last few days.

These two are great play buddies.

We had a great time in Houston.

Look who's back at our house

 Yes, we volunteered to watch Dusty the class pet during the holidays.  It is stressing me out because the kids pick him up all the time & he hangs there. I think he is stressed out too by all the noise in this house!

Campbell's debut as an Angel

 We attended our last Christmas event at Spicewood Country School. Campbell got to be an angel in the reinactment of the birth or Jesus. Her line along with the other angels was,"Jesus is born in Bethleham. Go and see him!"




Most precious angels.



Campbell with her besties Keira & Ava. Ava was Mary in the story.

Daddy & Conleigh with our star.  We picked up Conleigh & Alex from school so they could watch Campbell in action.



Campbell with her teacher Ms. Sue & all her friends.



JOY

Look at our yard art!!!  This is actually taken at my parents house in Houston, but this JOY is now in our yard in Austin.  My sweet mom & dad made this for me. I love it.  Last Christmas I mentioned that I would love some wooden things for our yard at Christmas.  They listened, and look what they gave me at Thanksgiving!  I just love it, and now at our house, the spotlight shines just right, and you can see the star on the O reflecting on our house. 

I was nervous to leave it out this weekend while we were back in Houston to celebrate Christmas.  We returned last night and thankfully all was intact on the JOY front. Unfortunately and fortunately, our reindeer & Christmas tree yard art had been messed with.  Thankfully, both pieces were still there, but were lying on top of each other in the yard.  Peter said it looks like someone took them and then returned them.  We got home pretty late, so we'll get those back out in the yard this evening.

Not a creature was stirring...

Check the time stamp. It is quiet in our house. Only Campbell & I are here. The rest of the crew is already out the door for Chess club at school. Enjoy the quiet. 

Last night we hosted Peter's sales reps to a party at our house. It was fun and I think the reps & their families really appreciated it. Peter & I worked together on the food. We had prime rib which was devine. Anyone reading would guess that Peter did that part. He seasoned it, but I put it in the oven and it came out perfect! We also enjoyed fresh green beans, rolls and potatoes au gratin.  It was Paul's birthday, so another rep brought a cake and we sang and ate cake & ice cream for dessert. 
The kids played. Alex & Hayden, who is five, wrestled all night long. Thankfully, no one was hurt. They both had a great time and were sweat-y!~

Of course, yesterday was the day the roof was replaced so bang, bang, bang all day long. What a way to spend money. You don't even get to enjoy anything, really.

Today is the last day of school for the year. Alex went off in his pajamas and Conleigh looks beautiful in a pretty Christmas outfit. I'll go up later today & celebrate the holidays with their classes. Then, we are the lucky family who gets to bring Dusty (the class guinea pig) home for the holidays.  The kids are really excited.

After we say farewell to one of Conleigh's classmates at an afterschool party, we'll head Houston way to celebrate Christmas tomorrow with my parents and sister and her family.

The Nutcracker Spectacular

The kids and I went to see the Nutcracker Spectacular with our friends the Schultz's. I had taken Alex & Conleigh last year. Campbell was anxious to be a part of the fun this year.  She enjoyed it so much that she is already making plans for next year.  It is put on by a dance school and it sticks close to the Nutcracker Ballet, but has a few other numbers included that add a little pizazz to the show. 

Here is what Alex thought towards the end of the show:

Hilairous!!!

The whole auditorium was  emptying, and my boy was snoozing.

The girls got autographs from many of the dancers. Here they are with the Sugar Plum Fairy

They boys made me laugh because they were looking for soldiers and mice to get autographs. When they couldn't find them, they went for these random folks dressed as a penguin and gorilla. 

Next year we may be ready for a new Nutcracker Christmas adventure.

The Live Activity

I love my boy. Last Thursday morning as he was eating breakfast, he said, "I'm so excited we get to do the Live Activity tonight."  Yes, we have participated in the Live Nativity at our church since Conleigh was baby Jesus in 2003.

This year, like last year, we signed up with our friends the Schultzes.  We all went to dinner beforehand and then got dressed like the three kings, angels, & shepherds.  Here's a peek at our fun evening.

I am thankful for a church that has the tradition of the Live Nativity. Each of our children has been the baby Jesus and they look forward to being a part of this tradition each year.

Gingerbread House

This is definitely our most impressive gingerbread house ever.  The key to fun is mom & dad make the house before the kids get involved. I read that somewhere and it made all the difference.  The decorating was a blast. We keep adding to it.

 This first picture is the back of the house.  You can see our (ice cream cone) trees.  Alex wanted to make a skiier,so we used one of our sugar cookies, made a mountain out of strawberry wafer cookies and used candy canes for the skiis. 

 Conleigh decorated this side of the roof. The blue frosting represents icicles.

 The third picture needs explanation, but I love the thought. Alex made a pond (the blue icing) and then put gummy bears in the 'water'.  he made a life preserver with candy and had a frosting rope that led out of the pond and more gummy bears pulling bears out with the rope.

Here is the front of the house with a candy cane welcome, and more ice cream cone frosted trees.

A slideshow to show what we've been doing, Part 1

Proposal

Alex: "Mom, will you marry me?"

Me:  "No, Alex."

Alex:  "Why not?"

Me: "Because I'm your mom."

Alex:  "Actually, it is becaue you are already married."

Tis the Season

We have had a great weekend so far. Friday night we headed out to Burnet, TX, for the Bethelham in Burnet. My parents came in from Houston and we met up with our dear friends the Schultz's too.  The line that we had been told about didn't turn out to be that bad. We got in line at 6pm and were done and leaving at 8pm.  The program is put on by First Baptist Church Burnet and they must really involve their whole congregation. They have real, concrete buildings and sets made. Centurions walking through and the tax collector grilling people, camels to touch, candles and baskets being made. There was a tavern and the Inn that told us how they were full and had to turn away a very pregnant woman and her husband.  The Innkeeper asked my mom if she had traveled far and she said yes. He asked where from, and when she said Houston, he asked if that was near Jericho.  The actors really stayed in character.
It was a great event to attend and brings Jesus' birth to life. Rather than just watching a Live Nativity,you are walking through the city of Bethelham and I felt closer to the experience than ever before.

This morning we enjoyed the Sysco Christmas celebration. The kids always love it. We got our faces painted, me included, had balloon art made, and the kids went down thejumpy slide about 100x.  We also had the traditional photo with Santa and gifts from him.  This afternoon Peter took Grandma & Bepaw on golf cart rides and we got our front yard in Christmas decorated order.
We all (adults anyway) got in a little shut-eye nap this afternoon. Then we hit it again and headed to the singing at the capitol in downtown Austin. We got to see Austin's bike Zoo which was pretty funny.

Since last night was a late night, we were pushing it to go to dinner after the Capitol outing.  We went to the Triangle and ate at Galaxy Cafe.  Alex slept through dinner and the girls were not on their best behavior.  I'm so glad my parents have been here this weekend. Tomorrow morning the girls will sing in the church choir and then we'll take a breather and, oh, I guess, get a Christmas Tree.  Tis the season, right?

Random Thoughts

We're getting into the holiday swing around here.  The Advent calendar that Grandpa Hardin fills with goodies has already started.  Our decorations are up and being enjoyed except a tree. No tree yet.  We have had a busy week.
I got to enjoy my bunko girlfriends on Tuesday evening, Wednesday is choir for the girls and then tonight Peter is out with his friends.  Tomorrow my parents are coming for the weekend. We're all looking forward to having them visit. We have a lot on the calendar for the weekend.
Campbell went whole hog on gluten at Thanksgiving and her sleep has gone rotten and her itching has flared up. I guess we hit something. It is so hard to do the gluten free thing and we have been lax this week. Sweet Campbell came in yesterday morning and said, "I had the best dream Mom. I dreamed we went to McDonald's and I got to eat wheat!" 
Conleigh is learning about Hanakkuh this week. Her teacher is jewish and is teaching them games and having them try some traditional jewish candy. She also said there are 2 other children in her class that do not celebrate Christmas. I'll be intersted to see if the kids hit on Christmas at all. It seems like all the other religions get some time for learning at school, but when it comes to Christianity, we get short shrift.  We don't have a Christmas tree at our elementary school due to other religions complaints, and we must call everything a holiday party rather than Christmas.
I'm tired. I think I'll hit the hey now.