Christmas!

Before the kids came down

Waiting on the steps...

The cats were SUPER excited about their catnip carrots

We watched them for a long time...

Paige's stocking

Owen's stocking

Cinnamon rolls were ready after stockings

So excited about his Cedi Osman jersey!

Paige in shock...I don't remember why

Pat looking like a Christmas catalog model

Wicked tickets and Cavs tickets! We're hoping the events don't get shut down before we can go!

Jamie provided month-long fun with our advent calendar

Fornite

Dinner-Garlic chicken, scalloped potatoes, broccoli

There were crowns in our Christmas crackers!

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve-we decorated cookies earlier in the day and the kids wrapped their presents. As night rolled around we got into our matching pajamas and decided to watch Christmas Vacation. It was the first time Owen and Paige had seen it and we only had to fast forward a couple parts. I don't think they were super impressed with it but there were a few parts that we all laughed at.

 

Cats, Cookies, Cards

Summary-

1. Of course we dressed up the cats

2. We decided to decorate cookies instead of gingerbread houses this year to ease the frustration

3. We played a game of Hearts

We got another scarf so both cats could look festive this year!

The new scarf came with a matching hat!

Pat always puts the most care into his decoration

Owen put a lot of thought into his too...

Mine. My gingerbread cookie was broken so I didn't want to decorate it

Paige's creations

A game of hearts. 

 

Hot Chocolate

I've been seeing pretty hot chocolate boards all over the internet so Owen and I stocked up on some items when we were grocery shopping and I put together my own, much smaller, version of one. It had cocoa bombs, white chocolate packets, 2 kinds of marshmallows, Pirouline wafers, candy and chocolate covered pretzels. I also added peanut butter and caramel syrups.

 

Covid

Well, we lasted a pretty long time without any of us getting Covid but it was bound to happen sometime! Paige got her second vaccine on a Monday and then that Thursday she had a sore throat and then early the next morning she was getting chills. We tested her before school and the results were positive. We had her isolate in her room, which she did a great job with but was not easy emotionally. Isolation meant she couldn't perform in the Nutcracker and would possibly miss Christmas as well. Her symptoms lasted less than two days so she had a lot of time to fill. Most of it was spent on screens but she also experimented with her hair, ate a lot of junk food, did a puzzle and made a lego set. She stayed in her room for 8 days before we tested her again and she was negative and we let her leave her room and join us! I was so happy to hug her again I was sobbing!!

It's not as easy to straighten hair as she thought

Family dinner time-tacos

Handstand!

Family trivial pursuit

Legos

Screens

So excited about a gift

Free to hug!!

 

Spirit Week!

Spirit Week at dance is always fun for the kids because they don't have much say in what they get to wear usually. Any day with a ballet class you have to be in a black leotard and pink tights. If you have a day with no ballet then you probably still have choreography which means you need to be in all black. But you can get crazy during Spirit Week. This year Paige got to participate in Candy Cane day, Santa's Helpers and Christmas sock day.

 

Nutcracker

Paige was picked to be a “party girl” for her role in the Nutcracker this year! It’s a part she’s always wanted to dance and she was so excited for the role! At the last minute they decided to have the kids perform part of their dance at the recreational Christmas show so Paige got a chance to perform twice in one day. The kids all did such a great job and I loved seeing Paige dance!