The Nutcracker Ballet

The Little Miss and I had girly time a few weekends ago and we went to ballet! It was our very first time seeing the Nutcracker and we both enjoyed it. The San Jose Center of Performing Arts has a children's matinee which is a shortened version of the original Nutcracker. It is only ONE hour instead of the usual 2.5 hr performance. It was great for the kids and we plan to go as a family next year. I personally think I could not sit through the entire 2.5 hour show so this version is perfect.

We have been reading the Nutcracker story since it was one of their Advent countdown books and in the book (if you don't know the story) there is a Mouse King...(which dies) and on the drive down Little Miss specifically said "I no like the Mouse King mama...He scary" So when the Nutcracker & Mouse King were out greeting all the kids in the lobby she was NOT very happy to see him! She ran straight to a corner out of the way for him to pass.

Near that corner she ran to was a long table with tons of Nutcrackers, snow globes and christmas decorations. I really wanted to buy one for her but $12 for a new nutcracker is just outta Mommy's price range especially since we got the exact same thing at RiteAid for $3.99! No joke, the were the same thing.

As we waited for doors to open for our seats we grabbed a little snack from the concession and they had the cutest bags of cookies that we both ate up, chocolate covered shortbread YUM! Overall the ballet was great and she did really well. She was VERY excited anytime Clara (the main character) would dance on her tip toes, she would say very loudly "she dancing on tippy toes mama! yook yook!" (yook=LOOK) It was the cutest thing and a very fun day spent with my Little Miss.

Can we Build it?...yes.we.can!

A few weeks back when Cousin B was visiting we got each of the kids their own Gingerbread house kit from Costco. The best kit in my opinion if you are not willing to bake and shape things yourself. Tons of frosting and candy and you not only get a house, you get a christmas tree and TWO gingerbread people for $9.99!

Daddy helped the Little Miss and she basically ate a ton of candy while Daddy did all the work

I helped the Little Man who did it all on his own

And Cousin B got help from his Daddy. The kids had fun sampling all the candies and making a mess with frosting. Clean up wasn't too bad and I'd say the gingerbread decorating was a success!

Look Grandma Ely!

The kids are really excited about our newly decorated Rudolph car. They were giggling and wanted to show Grandma Ely what it looked like. Tah-dah! Daddy thought it was cute but for some reason he refuses to drive the car now.... I wonder why that is?? We copied one of our Clarin cousins and purchased this lovely car costume from Party City. I'm not sure if the Rudolph mobile will see Christmas since Daddy will be ducking down when we get funny looks from other people driving by. I will admit to feeling goofy for driving with it because I crack up everytime I get in and out of the car...but it sure does make our chirstmas songs in the car sound 100 times better!

ETA (edited to add): The poor Rudolph car no longer exsists...Daddy removed the antlers over the weekend and now we just have a red nosed car without the ears. Bah Humbug! LOL

Build and Grow

Once a month Lowe's has a FREE childrens workshop where you can build a little project with your kids. Each child recieves a free apron and earns a patch for the completed project. This past month both kids got to build a wooden snowman that can serve as a picture frame or giftcard holder.

Little Man was a pro and knew what he needed to do since it was his second time attending. As for the Little Miss, it was her first time but when we turned over the hammer to her she went to town!! She would keep pounding and pounding with the hammer but probably hit the actualy nail only 1 or 2 times.

With a little guidance both kids finished their projects safely and enjoyed wearing the cool goggles and using the mini hammers they loan out.

They each earned their Snowman patch for that day and mommy will be sewing it on for them soon. Some kids who attend these workshops come with aprons FULL of patches. Some are even running out of space. I'm sure both Little Man and the Little Miss will be filling up their aprons because Daddy is so excited about these workshops that he has already signed them up for the next two!!