Beauty and the Ballet

Love, Love, Love the ballet.  What a precious day with great friends.  We started here, at Sandstone Gardens in Joplin, Missouri.  I hadn't been there, and didn't know anything about it, but I'm SO glad we went-it was awesome! : )

It looks like a big house (and inside, it's so comfy and beautiful!)

And we are seated right away!

The doors are right behind Mary Claire.  You walk into the big kitchen and dining room, the kitchen is so homey-like being in someone's kitchen, and the dining room and all the tables are to the right.  You can actually see the refrigerators, ovens, stove top, and the people cooking-it's great!  No industrial cabinets-just tons of beautiful built-in wood cabinets, tons of dishes, lamps, I loved it!

This was outside the restroom-we had lots of time to look while the girls went to the bathroom together!

I loved this arrangement.  Everything was big with lots of sticks-seriously.

She was opening her gift from Angie and Andalynn-a nutcracker, perfect!  Can you see that humongous piece of chocolate layer cake with real cream in front of her?  Dessert had just come, and I had reason to fear-Death by Chocolate (code for Causes High Blood Sugar All Day).  But, it was absolutely wonderful, and it was a special day.

This is where we saw the Nutcracker ballet-the Coleman Theater in Miami, Oklahoma.

A day of nutcrackers! (don't know the man in the background!)

Sweet girls!

We went up to the balcony, and all over the theater to check it out.  See that pink coat?  That's Mary Claire's and our front center seats!

Glad to take my girl to the ballet.

In the ladies' room sitting area-she's right at home.

The balcony over the theater entrance-and the beautiful chandeliers!

I *love* this girl!

In our seats ready for the ballet to begin.

Afterwards, we got autographs!  This is Angie's cousin's daughter, Allison-she was fabulous!

The Sugar Plum Fairy!

One of the Chinese dancers

One of the cupcake dancers

One of the Gingerbread Dancers

Um..can't remember their titles.  They were awesome though!!  The girl in white had a true dancer's body-such muscles, and so thin and elegant.

See?  Even her back is beautiful! : )

Mary Claire with Clara-she did a great job, and kept that smile on through the entire show!

Another cupcake dancer-she even signed her name, "Courtney Cupcake"

The end of our evening-dinner at Fazoli's before we head home.

Precious, precious day with my girl.  Thanks for inviting us, Angie-we had such a sweet day!  We're safely home and blood sugar is almost leveled out after quite an amazing day of great food. : )  Here's a dancing video from Fazoli's while we waited on our food.  She was twirling, and I had to capture it.  Who knows when the dancing stops?

Christmas is Coming

Oh gosh-I had to post, because tomorrow I'll have lots more pictures to post! : )  I have to keep up.  Heehee
Today was a great day-a real train ride, a basketball game, church, some Tim's Pizza, and a fun evening at Target! (No pictures from Target!)

Thanks, Sandra for a cute picture with my boy!  This is before we left the station.

Another one of her awesome pictures!

This is the engine that pulled our train.  (Ignore the huge sign!)

He thought this was so cute-a miniature crossing sign!

Emily and Mary Claire sharing a seat.

A lady came along and showed us how to flip the seat back the opposite way-to make the seats face each other.  So handy! : )

I got to sit with this adorable confection! : )  This is Rose-Emily's baby sister!

Santa came to visit!

We didn't get the best smile.

My version of Ethan watching the trees and houses go by.

Sweet Nora!

Sissy after she found out they had hot chocolate for sale outside!

As we pull back into the station.  We were going slow enough it didn't distort the other train. : )

Aww..thanks for a great picture, Sandra!

My sweet kiddos.

I *love* this one!  (check out his hands!)

All around outside, they had games and miniature trains set up!

She was throwing bean bags through the holes in the tree!

This is the only one with both kids, but Ethan is down, and Mary Claire is super high!

Then we had Clay's basketball game!  We missed the first one while we were on the train, but we caught the second one-standing room only!

Ethan entertaining himself, "flying" in his space ship.

Clay in the herd (green, #12)

Under the goal as the basketball (very top) gets ready to swish!

I have to say, getting to the train on time-with two kids to bundle up (the high was going to be 43!) was a little stressful.  Totally worth it, but getting out of here was kinda crazy!  Ches had already left with Clay for his first game, and I was fielding both alone.  Not normally that hard-maybe it was all the mittens, scarves, coats, hats, etc.!
We did fine once we got there.  The kids were so excited-they just wanted to get on the train!  It was a great ride, except that Santa (our surprise) missed the train!  We drove right by him, and waved, then found out he was supposed to be on our train.  We drove down about two blocks, and stopped to wait for him.  He drove up in a little SUV with Mrs. Claus and an elf, and boarded our train!  Ethan asked about 15 times where his sleigh was, and I kept making things up.  He's pretty smart.  Then Santa got off in Lowell, and Ethan wanted to know how he was getting back to his sleigh! Ha.

Last night, I took Mary Claire to the doctor again, she was just sure she had an ear infection.  Enough that she wanted to go to the doctor right after school.  On a Friday!  She did have fluid, but not an infection.  We got a prescription, but we are only supposed to fill it if she wakes up with pain in the night or gets a fever.  I really hope we don't his this point!

Afterwards, we went to Wal-Mart to get a few groceries, and since I'm on the hunt for a Barbie Townhouse, I just thought I'd check.  I didn't have a good plan, but since we were there...  Of course, she wanted to look at toys anyway!  We got Ethan's favorite: the Cris-Cross-Crash and I got him a Thomas train set (like we need another..).  But when she found a Strawberry Shortcake Berry Cafe (like I used to have! and she's gotten rid of I might add..), that's what she wanted.  She said more than the Dream House!  Then she found this sweet fashion boutique, which she had to have!  Well..knowing how things disappear in front of my eyes, I got them both.  Yes, even with her.  I just told her to be surprised on Christmas morning. : )  Ches still wants to get her the Barbie dreamhouse-if we ever find it!

Clay finally did pick out some stuff at Target tonight-he's been adamant he wants this Lionel New York line train at Hobby Lobby, and hasn't picked ANY other thing.  He keeps telling me he's thinking (for two weeks now!)...  But tonight, he found a remote control car, a transformer, an Atari game (it's just the joystick, it plugs into the tv, and has 12 games!), a Lego Toy Story 3 train (which was out of stock!), a remote control tank that comes out of the controller (I know-confusing!), and other stuff not quite so important.  I'm just thrilled there is anything else.  I have to have a mom & dad gift, and a Santa gift at least!  I bought the Atari game thing, as I don't know if it'll sell out.  I guess they are older, and will be glad to know that they have something under there that they know about.  A big secret between us, if you will.  I don't know-maybe I want a little mystery to be gone.  I think the big kids already know about Santa, so maybe this way they see how we work-and they've both seen me buy for the others now too-I'm checking their secret-keeping-skills! : )

Ok, I'd better go to bed-it's 12:30am!  We are going to Missouri to meet Angie and Andalynn tomorrow, to have lunch and drive to Oklahoma to see the Nutcracker ballet!  Mary Claire is excited-she had a new dress she can't wait to wear, and I don't have a clue what I'll wear. : )  More pictures tomorrow!
Ps-what are you getting your kids for Christmas?

Keep a Child Alive

Hey ya'll!  Today I got my hair done, and since it was the last time before Christmas, it was GiFt TiMe!  : )  My favorite time, heehee. (really!)  I have been thinking about it for a while, and I have a guy who does my hair, so that's impossible, but he has this precious wife-and an adorable little girl!  So, I thought of them (sorry, Taylor).  I made a towel for their kitchen:

Not so impressive, but it was something for the grown-ups.

The real fun was for their adorable little girl, Stella!  I just love to make things, and to have someone to sew for-ahh..perfect! : )  So, I worked on a plan.  I had gotten her a bath towel (pink, of course!), then I set out looking for fabric to match.  It was a medium pink, not too pale, and not too hot-pink.  I found a great toile (pale lime skinny stripes and pink trees & people) with some lime green in it, so I used lime green embroidery thread.  I picked the dot font and applique, and here it is (I'd already folded it, so I don't have a good one just of the embroidery-that darn bow is in the way!):

I used pink for the bow (again-sorry, Taylor!), then I stuck their little towel in the bow too!

It took an hour to sew it!  Remember it stitches the outline, then I place the fabric, then another outline, next I trim the fabric, and finally it does the pretty stitches.  Then really last, it stitches out the name-this is a great font with tight stitches, so it took about 25 minutes for the name.  These are not things I can whip out (actually I don't know how long it takes until I load the design in my machine!).  I was so happy with it!  (if I'd had a daughter named Stella I probably would have kept it!)  Here's a close up:

Scrumptious!  Now, my kids need one..don't yours?

My hair always takes most of the day-I think it's because I don't go in till 10, and he didn't rinse my color till after 12!  I was starting to worry that my hair would fall out, I have to say I got a little stressed.  He doesn't use a dryer, so it takes at least 40 minutes to process.  It's a little darker this time, but I always complain about my roots, so I think he's trying to blend it, but keep me light (impossible, I know).


Anyway, after that was errands, more prescriptions and some fabric/thread at Jo-Anne's (I'm really liking that place!).  I can't find the stabilizer I love, so I'll have to order it online.  I hate that I can't buy it locally, since I have to use it.  I always have to make sure to have some for back-up!  I'm actually making three cups to sell this week for teacher gifts!  Someone saw the SHS ones, and liked them.  I'll take pictures of them when they are finished.  I think I'm doing zebra, polka dots, and maybe something sophisticated...like leopard (heehee).  I'll show you.  It's a good thing I keep my camera by my desk and sewing machine.  I like to take pictures partly because I forget what I've done, and if I have a picture, I can remember!  Two Christmases ago, I did over 70 designs for cups/tumblers, and I've totally forgotten what fabric/thread I used.  Even my little jump drives (USB portable drives) stop working after a while, and I lose my designs.  I have 8 now, but only two work. : (  I'll have to figure out how to harvest my stuff...

In other reality news..there was a small incident on the bus today (just a naughty joke about a wiener), but we got mad, and I'm not letting them ride for a while.  I'll call the school tomorrow to complain about the dirty joke-teller, but both my kids heard (thank the Lord they didn't know what the boy was talking about), and they are too young for that junk.  I am always a little sad they don't want me to pick them up anyway.  I like the pick up line, and getting the kids, and I really like the 15-20 minutes of reading in the car!  I just won't do it if I'm home!

Our phone isn't working (and our internet is only half-working!), so we are having it serviced tomorrow.  They were kind enough to narrow our window of be-home time down to 8:00-3:00 (from 8am-7pm!).  Umm..I have a life!  I have to take Ethan to gymnastics, and then pick up the kids (heehee) minimum.  I guess I'll leave a note with my be-back time?  Crazy.  The phones are hilarious (if you don't need them): you pick them up, dial, and hear non-stop dial tone.  And if someone calls the house?  You hear them, but they can't hear you.  Hard to have a phone conversation with no sound. ; )


I really hope we get it cleared up!  For the first two years we lived here, we could hear our one of our neighbors' conversations, but they couldn't hear us screaming that we could hear them!  It finally got fixed (or they heard us?), so we don't know what's up at their house anymore. : )  I really like my phone-it's a connection to the world, but my cell phone is the one I can't give up!


Today is a big day.  First day of Hanukkah (light your first candle!), the 55th anniversary of the day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person (which sparked a boycott, and changed the rules! You go, Girl!), and World AIDS Day (text your favorite celebrity's name to 90999 to donate $10 to the Keep a Child Alive Campaign, see BuyLife.org or here for story)..we have to realize how blessed we are to live in a healthy country with sanitary water, food, and social rules against abuse.  We value life (most of us do), and contribute to the good of the world.  Oh, praise the Lord for the peace we've earned, and the peace we owe.  Please help us give life to others.  We have no future if we can't help others.

"Service is the best anti-depressant" : )