A Nutcracker Date with Ella

For the second year in a row, Lia opted not to go see The Nutcracker ballet with Ella and me.  As a result, just the two of us were able to go on this fun mommy-daughter outing together.  After a rushed morning and a quick lunch, Ella and I got dressed up and headed to Auburn to see the Evergreen City Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker at one of the high school's beautiful performing arts center.  As always, we enjoyed looking at all of the pretty souvenirs and trinkets on sale in the lobby before finding our seats and watching this wonderful ballet be performed by talented and hardworking ballet students.  I never tire of seeing this ballet each year--especially the dance of the snow flakes.  After the performance was over, Ella posed with a few of her favorite dancers in the lobby before hopping in the car and driving an hour north to Snohomish to spend the late afternoon and evening at the new home of my dear friend, Kristina, who just moved back to Washington after being gone 13 years.  She has two daughters who are a year older and a year younger than Ella, so the three of them have the grandest time playing together.  Overall, Ella and I were able to spend a wonderful nine hours together which is a rare treat for us and so needed by this middle child of mine who never can get enough attention!

Ella standing next to one of the beautiful tutus in the lobby.

Mother and daughter standing next to another tutu on display.

Waiting in the theater for the show to begin.

Ella posing with the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Ella standing with the lead Marzipan, Spanish, Arabian, Russian, and Chinese dancers and the ballerina doll that Herr Drosselmeyer brought to the family's Christmas party.

Santa Parade with the Girls!

Since Ron decided to take the boys camping in the freezing weather last minute, it meant that just the girls and I were able to go see the Santa Parade together.  Since I didn't have to worry about getting anyone there early to walk in the parade, we piled in the car a little after it started at 5 p.m. and drove downtown crossing our fingers that we would find a good parking spot.  After driving around for several minutes, we found the most amazing spot two blocks from where we always watch the parade and were able to work our way into the crowd to find a good viewing spot after the parade started.  We braved the low temps and enjoyed watching the lit up and decked out cars, trucks, and floats for the next hour or so.  We stayed until the girls' children's theater group walked by and then threw in the towel and headed back to our car.  We enjoyed stopping and talking to Lia's directors and some of her fellow actors from Descendants for a few minutes before heading home to host some of Lia's closest friends from elementary school for dinner and an Enola Holmes 2 movie night.  It was a very fun evening and Ella had the time of her life being included in the "big girl" party.

Since she is still little, Ella was able to work her way to the front of the crowd to watch the parade up close with the other little kids.

A picture of some of the very lit up VW cars that cruised passed us!

Our beloved NW Theater Lab group coming towards us.  Since Lia is helping out three times a week right now with their Rudolph production that is performing in two weeks, she helped decorate the truck today and made the sign on the front.

Lia and Ella wearing their fun, light-up accessories smiling for me as we were leaving the parade.

Ella's First Team Gymnastics Meet

After practicing really hard and putting in very long hours at her gym in Auburn, Ella's first gymnastics meet finally arrived today.  Her meet season runs December through March and there are six meets that she gets to compete in.  The first meet, called The Reindeer Games, is held at her gym every December.  Ella was so excited all week long and kept on squealing every time she thought about it.  Her Level 2 team had to be there at 2:30 today for a 3 o'clock start time and so I had to check her out of school two hours early to have enough time to take her home to get her ready before leaving at 2 p.m. to make it to Auburn in time.  I was able to leave home a napping Emmett with both Lia and Logan (who I had also checked out of school early since I had no way to get him home from the bus stop at 4 p.m.) and was able to just focus on Ella which was such a relief.  In addition, my mom offered to drive down from Issaquah to watch Ella compete.  We all pulled up into the gym parking lot at the same time which was a convenient coincidence.  My mom was able to find our seats while I helped Ella get dressed in her beautiful team leotard and warmup suit that wasn't ready for pick up until today.  Ella was so excited to put on her fancy, new clothes and to go out onto the floor to join the rest of her team.

The meet started at 3 p.m. right on the dot.  My mom and I got amazing seats on the second row and were comfortably able to watch everything from where we sat.  We watched Ella's team warm up for 30 minutes before the actual competition started.  The coaches then divided the Level 2 girls into small groups and they then rotated around the four events for the next two hours.  Ella started on the floor and then moved to vault, bars, and finished off on the beam.  She did so well on all four of her events and even scored a 9.2 on the vault which is her strongest event.  I was so impressed by how calm and confident she looked out on the floor!  When the meet was over, the judges tallied all four of their events and the top ten girls in each of the four age groups received a medal.  Since this was the first competition, we had no idea what to expect, so I was so surprised when Ella's name was called out from a huge group of girls to go up and get a medal.  She came in 9th place for her Junior B age group and received a beautiful reindeer medal hanging from a red ribbon.  In addition, since her overall score came to 34.9, Ella qualified for the State Championship meet at the end of the season since she scored over 34 points.  I was so impressed that she was already able to accomplish this goal at her first meet.  Way to go, Ella!  I am so proud of how well you did today and how hard you have worked all of these past months!  Your determination, hard work, and persistence have really been an amazing thing to watch these past six months.  You are so awesome!

Ella dressed in her new team uniform and ready to go at the beginning of the meet!

Ella standing with the group of girls that she was assigned to compete with through the different events of the meet.

Ella getting a pep talk from one of her coaches, Bree, before starting her first event on the floor.

Ella waiting for her music to start.

Completing a backwards roll.

Ella leaping...

and doing a handstand...

and a bridge.

Ella waiting for the judge to signal to her that she can start her routine on the beam.

Ella doing a pull-up pullover...

  and then finishing her pullover.

Doing a cast...

and a back hip circle.

Ella smiling at me while her group walked by the audience on the way to the vault.

Ella starting her beam routine.

Ella doing a passe...

and a t-lever.

and a handstand into her dismount.

The Junior B girls standing on the blocks after getting their medals.  Ella is the one on the far right.

Ella smiling for me after getting her medal.

Ella standing on top of the medal ceremony blocks after the entire meet was over!

An Early Snow Storm

Since it rarely snows here in November, I was shocked to see it on the weather forecast last weekend.  After a light snowfall on both Monday and Tuesday, I thought that the snow storms were over since I didn't watch the news again once the school week had started.  So, much to my surprise, I couldn't believe it when the snow started falling again on Wednesday afternoon right as school was getting out.  It snowed all evening long and we had about three inches of snow on the ground by the time we went to bed last night.  Although it was supposed to snow on and off throughout the night, it sadly did not and so we woke up to the same amount of snow this morning.  Luckily, school was cancelled and so the three younger kids and I went out to play in the snow in our yard and then to go sledding at Lia's junior high school up the hill with Poppy and Daisy.  Although the roads were clear enough for me to take Ella to her piano lesson this afternoon, Logan's chess club and soccer practice were cancelled and so the kids enjoyed a twilight session playing back out in the snow with the neighbor girls until dinner time.  I just loved having this little break from the rush and the roar of life this time of year and for the chance we had to enjoy some early winter snow during the Christmas season!

One of my all-time favorite things is how beautiful Christmas lights look when there is snow on top.  Since it so rarely snows here before Christmas, this is a sight I barely get to see.  As a result, I had to walk up my road last night to take a few pictures of two of my neighbor's trees covered in Christmas lights and snow.  They looked so magical!

The white lights with white snow on top.

Emmett, Logan, and Ella heading out into our untouched backyard at 8:30 this morning.

Ella and Emmett making snow angels.

Ella and Emmett admiring their snow angels once they were done making them.

Emmett taking the sled down our slide.

Ella doing one of her all-time favorite things--eating snow!

Logan making a snow man.

Since there wasn't enough snow on the road to sled down, we tried sledding down the skinny strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk while walking up the hill to Lia's school.

Since there wasn't much snow on the ground, the snow on the sledding hill didn't last long once multiple sledders show up.  Luckily, we were one of the first groups there and got some good runs in before the hill got overrun with people. Here is Ella flying down the hill.

Logan's turn!

The kids climbing back up the hill.

Logan and Emmett taking a turn.  Emmett was so brave and was totally unfazed by how steep this sledding hill is.  Much to my chagrin, he even went down it a few times by himself.

The boys coming to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

After the sledding hill got really crowded, I decided that it was time for us to leave since I worried about Emmett surviving on this big hill with lots of kids.  So, I left with the boys and Ella stayed behind with Poppy and Daisy and their dad.  Apparently, after we left, their dad rounded up a large group of kids to make a giant snowman in the school's football field.  Here is the impressive picture he sent me after the snowman was finished.

Lia's Student of the Quarter Award

After two school years of recognizing zero students, Lia's junior high school brought back the "Student of the Quarter" program.  Fortunately, Lia's history teacher chose her as his one 9th grader to be recognized for her performance the first quarter of the school year.  As a result, we were invited to attend an early morning ceremony in her library today at 7:30 a.m.  Since everyone was already up and at it, I dragged the three younger kids with Lia and me into the dark and cold morning.  We found an empty table in the back corner of the library and happily watched Lia and several other students be called up one at a time by their teacher.  Lia's teacher read out loud the kind words that he wrote about her and that were printed on the front of her certificate as she walked up to get it.  I am so proud of how hard Lia worked this fall juggling school with seminary, cross country, and her play while managing to maintain straight As the entire time.  Way to go, Lia!  You are such a superstar in my eyes!

Lia holding up her award after the ceremony was over.

 A close-up of Lia's award.

Trimming the Tree!

After picking out our Christmas tree in the rain yesterday, we gave it a good day to dry out in the house before gathering around it tonight to decorate.  The kids and I had a good time going through out large batch of ornaments and decorating both the children's tree in the foyer and our family tree in the living room while listening to Christmas music.  I love this tradition as it always helps to feel like we are officially kicking off our Christmas season.  I am so grateful for a husband and four children to share this special time of year with.  Here are some photos of our festive fun tonight.

Ella decorating the children's tree with the help of her AGD, Corinne.

Emmett sans shirt hanging up one of his ornaments.

The kids and I gathered around the family tree.

The kids decorating away.

Logan showing me his pearly whites while hanging up another ornament.

Lia hanging up a star way up high.  It pays to be tall from time to time.