Thanksgiving weekend, Part 3: the Nutcracker

This year, I wanted to take Allison & Sarah to see the Nutcracker Ballet. And, since the Houston Ballet had discounted matinee performances on Thanksgiving weekend, I decided that it would be a great way to kick off the Holiday Season. I got some really good seats on the Orchestra level, and we had a great evening together. I have such fond memories of going to see the ballet when I was a child, so it was alot of fun for me to watch them watch the performance and enjoy themselves so much.

The picture above was taken at "Uncle Mark's" house, where we dropped Kimball off before the performance. (thanks Uncle Mark & Aunt Melissa!) We decided to take a quick picture of all of us in front of their Christmas tree, since the girls were all dressed up in their new Christmas dresses!

We tried to take some pictures of us in the theater, but my dumb old camera just doesn't focus when there's dim light. It's so annoying!!!!! So the pictures below aren't that good . . . but I tried. ( I know what I'm going to ask for for Christmas this year!!)

At the top of the Grand Staircase, there was a HUGE HUGE Christmas Tree.

Matt got a picture of Sarah standing in front of it.

And I got a picture of Allison showing off her dress during the intermission.

When the performance was over, we took the girls to the "Green Room" to meet some of the characters and get pictures and autographs from them. I used to do this, too, after I'd watch my Mom perform in the Symphony. Whether it was a Classical Concert, Pops Concert, or the Ballet, my brother and sister and I would go and meet the performers and get their signatures. Good times, good memories.

Here's the girls with The Sugar Plum Fairy.

She was so amazing (and pretty). Almost her whole performance was on her toes!!

Clara

The Nutcracker Prince

Thanksgiving weekend, Part 2: Ice Skating!!

The day after Thanksgiving was beautiful weather (70 degrees!), and we definitely wanted to take advantage of it and do something fun as a family. Matt suggested we try out a park in Downtown Houston called Discovery Green. I looked it up online and found that in addition to alot of fun things, they have an outdoor skating rink that's open this time of year. So we brought some gloves & hats and headed down there.

Allison and I skated, while Matt ate lunch with the Sarah & Kimball on the sidelines (and took pictures). I think that everyone had a good time. This was Allison's first time ice skating! One thing that made it so much easier for her was that she was able to rent DOUBLE bladed skates. So it didn't take long to learn how to balance and skate around on the ice. She had a blast! As she became more confident, she wanted me to skate BEHIND her, so that she could prove that she could do it herself without holding my hand. Typical.

Me and Allison, getting used to the ice. (Look at Allison concentrate :)

Sarah giving Kimball a lift, to see Allison better :)

Allison having fun on the ice.

Getting more confident!

Allison posing with her Santa hat

Sarah's handiwork with the camera: a snapshot of our 'festive Daddy!'

Thanksgiving weekend, part 1: decorating

For Thanksgiving this year, we had 2 families come over to eat dinner with us. So, to make our (new) house look a little more festive, we hurried and put up some Christmas decorations. Our huge, 12 ft tall Christmas tree is a major event to put up and decorate every year. Thanks to Matt's help and (also the kids), we got it done!

We were also able to use our extra 7 foot Christmas tree for the very odd space in our entry-way, which, in our estimation, was designed SOLEY for the purpose of a Christmas tree! I mean, it has a window, an outlet and everything you need . . .

Matt climbed up there (barely) with the help of our 10 foot ladder and I handed the tree box up to him. When the kids saw all of this, they wanted in on the action. So, Matt hoisted them up too. The girls, that is. Kimball was eager to go, started half way up the ladder, then stopped and said, "too high, too high!" (Not that we would have let him up anyway.) But that was definitely good judgement for a 2 year old . . .

Kimball turns 2

Ok. This post is WAAAAYYY overdue. Kimball's birthday was all the way back in September, BUT we never officially had a birthday party for him, and I was hoping to have some kind of event for him so that I'd have pictures to add to this post. However, poor little Kimball has fallen victim to lazy parents and so I've decided to go ahead & write this post without further delay.

I DO have a couple of pictures of Kimball opening his birthday book from Grandma & Grandpa Miner, though. So those will have to do. Here they are:

Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa!

Now, for the list about Kimball:

1. Kimball is the sweetest and cuddliest little toddler boy ever! He LOVES to give "huggies & kissies" to everyone in the family.
2. Recently, since it's become colder here, he likes to come into bed with Mommy in the morning, and warm up under the covers. Mommy, of course, loves it.
3. Kimball likes balls, cars, blocks and books.
4. His favorite show is Curious George.
5. His favorite movies are (in order) "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" (ya know, that animated horse movie), the animated "short movie," "Lambert, the Sheepish Lion" and "The Little Mermaid" (thanks to his cousin, Rachael)
6. Kimball continues to be a seriously picky eater. He has 4 main food groups: cereal, milk, Mac-N-Cheese, and Ramen Noodles. Oh, and he also eats scrambled eggs. That's about it. Some days, it's cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's quite rediculous.
7. Kimball likes to kneel down and fold his arms for family prayer. It's so cute, that I had to take a picture of it. (see below) He's so sweet and innocent!!
8. Kimball has recently started asking to go "poo poo on the potty." So, I have willingly obliged. He has now successfully pooped on the potty THREE TIMES!!! Wahoo!
9. Kimball is a true Texan. He Hates to wear coats, and today he REFUSED to go outside in the snow. I'm anxious to see what he does when we go to Utah for Christmas!
10. Kimball LOVES to jump! In typical boy fashion, he will jump off of anything that's a couple inches off the ground.