Reindeer-licious!

Every time I look at these reindeer cupcakes I have to laugh. They are hilariously adorable! I knew I had to make them after I showed the magazine picture of them to Grant and he absolutely squealed with delight. Who thinks up this stuff? People are so creative...I'm glad that I can benefit from that. Christmas goodies...what fun!

Little Ballerina

Grace had her dance recital last Thursday. Her little class was so darling! They did a tap number to "Here Comes Santa Claus" and a ballet performance to "The First Noel." She has been dancing and singing around the house for weeks now, but the funny thing is that she only knows half of "The First Noel." This is the rendition we regularly hear:

"The first Noel the angel did say
hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm fields where they lay.
In fields where hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm sheep
hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel!
Born is the King of Israel!

The outfit chosen by her teacher for her class couldn't have been any poofier and Grace loved it. The matter of her hair was something I was stressing over, but Grace has come to the point where she regularly asks for a ponytail, which is no small miracle. Because her hair is so fine, that was about the only hair-do we could manage in answer to the teacher's call to have the little girl's hair done "cute." We put the pink bow that came with the outfit above the ponytail and she was as fancied up as I've ever seen her.

Pirouette, plie, de cote, and all that.

Grace and some of her "ballet friends" on performance night.

Hugs for our tiny dancer.

She was so excited! Thanks to everyone that was able to be there and to all the rest of you who cheered her on from afar.

O Christmas Tree

It has been such a blessing to have Heather and my parents close by. Living near my parents, especially, is an experience I never expected to have. For the first 9 years of our marriage we lived over an hour from Chad's mother and 3 hours from my parents, so now living minutes from Chad's family and mine is nice change. They can stop by here any time and we can do the same. We can also get together and do fun things, such as our 2nd annual Christmas tree excursion which ended with hot chocolate and gingerbread men at our house. Good times! I made peppermint whipped cream this year to top our hot chocolate with, which everyone really liked, and the gingerbread men are always tasty. I have to admit I ate an arm to go with my glass of water. Where is my self-control??

The victims...

The big debate...which part of the gingerbread man do you eat first? Whichever it is, that first bite is always accompanied by screams of "Ahhhh! Don't eat my (fill in the blank)!"

The grown-up table...ha-ha!

This year's beauty...what a wonderful, green, fluffy, divine smelling tree!