Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A new nutcracker tradition

This year we finally took Josie to see the Cincinnati Ballet Production of The Nutcracker. Tickets aren't cheap and we were finally convinced she could make it through the whole show this year.  Each week we've been watching the dancers practice for The Nutcracker at the studio when Josie is there for lessons - so it was really fun to see the whole process from beginning to end. (And next year Josie will be old enough to try out. EEP!)

The Nutcracker totally exceeded our expectations. Holiday magic all around!!!









Holiday Happenings by iphone

Yea, it's true that not everything in this post is directly related to the holidays, but it's also true that the holiday spirit has a way of taking over the whole month.  Everything just feels that much more special. There's a little more magic in the air. Here are some phone photos from the month of December.

First...some random stuff:

A sweet note from Josie: "I love you because you do show love"

Holiday Home:

Bea has figured out how to color and save her work on the iphone:

Josie is working on mastering the world famous DD Thumb Trick:

Favorite decorations surface:

The first ornament of year gets hung:



"Hi My name is Josie. I wanted to help my little sister. I helped her put her pajamas on. Yesterday. Not today."

Baking, baking and more baking.



Holiday favorites emerge:

Warm drinks become the norm (tea before bed):

Bedroom tree:

Spice Mice:

Beautiful morning:

Long days & early bedtimes:

Ballet season in full swing:

More baking:


And more mice...this time with whiskers!

***
One of the special holiday happenings this month was our trip the holiday train show at Krohn Conservatory. It's so beautiful and the trains never disappoint. I left my camera batter in the charger (grrr) so I only have phone pics (double grrr).













We discovered a new coffee shop in Mt Adams:




 This month our wonderful new neighbors through a "Meet the Schneiders" potluck  (no offense wonderful old neighbors, we miss you). The girls were SO excited that they were literally dancing down the street!


 There are seven girls under seven on our little street. Needless to say it was a a blur of dancing, spinning, twirling little girlies. It was such fun, and we really have such a wonderful diverse set of families on our street.

Earlier in the month we had some snow flurries - nothing stuck to the ground but it was still enough to hold the attention of two wee ones out the kitchen window (especially Bea was beginning to think snow was just a myth).


Oh I just couldn't blog about December without including a "stinky." These little guys are everywhere! Hear me - everywhere!

The girls have started the annual holiday steamed milk tradition. And stuff like this just cracks me up.

And we published two more papers - which made for a busy but rewarding month!

And then some really bad things happened in Connecticut and it sent shockwaves across the hearts of all Americans. And that night as Louie and I stood in the kitchen counting our blessings, this happened:

And Josie & Bea were off to Xenia & throwing up an X is exactly what you do to celebrate that.

We celebrated the season with a trip to Crossroads for Awaited with our dear neighbors the Chacons.



And every night we went to bed to this.

We got new gear from great friends:

And made holiday surprises:


And cuddled:

And then the presents started rolling in. 'Tis the season to be jolly.