The Nutcracker Ballet

We have been extremely busy with Nutcracker Ballet rehearsals and I have volunteered to help with the costumes. She has had 2 full dress rehearsals and her last dress rehearsal is tonight before performing live tomorrow for several schools.  She is having so much fun and is very excited about the performances that start tomorrow, December 1 and will be every day until Tuesday, December 7th!!  They have 2 day shows both Wed the 1st and Thurs the 2nd  for local schools that come to The Forum.  Friday nights performance is special invitations only (casts immediate family) and then starting Saturday will be open for the public.  I know several of you are coming to see our cute little mouse perform on Saturday-- we can't wait to have you here. 

Let the Shows Begin...

Here is a sneak peak of our cute little mouse...

Student of the Month!

With the craziness of the month of November I am just now getting pics of Anna, who was named, "Student of the Month" for the month of October!!  A student is chosen from each class by the teacher for this honor.  Students are chosen for doing their best, having a positive attitude and behavior, and being helpful to others. 

She was rewarded by getting to eat lunch in the "bee hive", which is a special place for just the chosen students.  They get to watch a movie while enjoying their lunch and she received a goodie bag of candy for dessert.  They take a group picture of all the students for each month and the photo goes on the wall by the main entrance of the school for everyone to see as they enter the building!  We are very proud of her for her achievement!!

Anna's "Decorated" finger

My poor baby girl, Anna, slammed her right handed pointer finger in the car door Friday afternoon!!  She was getting out of the car and somehow closed the door on the finger and I am thinking when she did, she pulled it out and it pulled the fingernail completely off.  I will spare all the gorey details and end with an emergency trip to the doctors office where they removed what was left of the nail.  OUCH!!!  They bandaged it up good to help stop the bleeding and sent her home, with pain medicine!!  I will say that she has been a REAL TROOPER through all of it!  I was very proud of her for being such a big girl with it being such a bad injury. 

I told Steven that night, he was at work through all of all of this, I was pretty shocked by myself too!  You may have heard the saying, "you will react differently, when it happens to your own kids."  Well, that saying is DEFINITELY true, my mom instincts kicked in and nothing fazed me that afternoon!!  I get grossed out and a weak stomach so easily with the site of blood or injuries on TV let alone in person.  So for all the moms and dads out there who may be worried about what you would do if... not to fear- God somehow gives us the strength and knowledge on what to do to make our babies boo boo's feel better!! 

We do ask for your prayers on the healing process of the nail bed and that the nail would grow back properly (or even at all).  When I asked the doctor if the nail would grow back, she hesitated and answered with a "We hope..."  Also, with it being on her right hand (which is the hand she writes with) she will have an adjustment to make with it being so sensitive after we decide to take the large bandage off.  

Steven came up with the cute idea of tying a ribbon around it to decorate the bandage for it was so noticeable we might as well make it pretty!!  She liked the idea and she now calls the bad finger her "decorated finger."  We went to Walmart and bought a yard of ribbon in the colors she wears most so we can change it up a little.  She also refers to it as her ballet slipper finger- when I the ribbon just right, she thinks it looks like a ballet point shoe tied up!  Might as well make the most of it, right!?!

Party, Party, Party!!

Well, we are all still alive and well!!  I know it has been a while since my last post but we have had no spare time lately.  We have had Anna's Nutcracker Ballet rehearsals, ballet class, school functions, birthday partys, baby showers, Steven working his night job at UPS, my daycare job ---and this is just to name a few of the things that have kept us busy lately...  but I will say that while it has been tiresome at times, we have had a lot of fun doing most of it!!!

We've gone to not 1, not 2, nope not 3 -but 4 birthday parties that Anna's received invites to.  And YES, we went to ALL of them!  (Anna has become our social bug, can ya tell??!!)

The 1st and 2nd invites were to our neighbors/ friends 2 parties, 2 sisters with November birthdays had theirs at the skating rink on the same night one Thursday night.  Anna had only been skating one other time about a year ago, so we had them "lock up the wheels" so she basically scooted her feet.  She got brave and wanted to try "real skating" ... well, lets just say we didn't make it very far.  She held on to me slipping all over the place, she decided that it was much more fun pretending to skate.  : )  Will did go with us and at first was so excited to go to a party so he could get "CAKE"!!  Once he got there, he had much fun pretending to play the video games off to the side.  We did take time out "playing games" to get us a piece of yummy strawberry cake!

The 3rd and 4th parties she was invited to were friends of hers. One was from church and the other from her class at school.  They fell on the same Saturday and almost the same time!!  One was at 10 am and the other at 11 am.  Steven has weekends off so he was able to join us for these!!  We went to the 10 o'clock party and stayed for her to open presents, eat cake and then we were off the the 11 o'clock one, which was at our local park.  Will loved both of these as well because they had a blow up bouncy house at the 10 and he got to play at the park at 11.  Afterwards, nap time!!

NOTICE: Will isn't in any of the pictures--he was having so much fun, he wouldn't stay still long enough for me to snap one good pic!!  LOL!

PARTY #1 AND 2

 PARTY #3

PARTY #4

 

Dress up WEEK!

Last week Anna had many costumes...  It was Red Ribbon Week (drug free) at school and they had a theme for each day of the week.  For Monday, it was wear red day--which she just wore normal red clothes, Tuesday was 20's day (which stumped me- I didn't know what to do until after the fact) Wednesday was 80's day!  This one, I had a lot of fun with!  I got on the internet and pulled up all the popular fads of the 80's and reminisced in my childhood days.  I pulled out a few things out of my own closet for this one, a bright blue shirt which for her was over sized and a chain belt and necklaces I've had for years, thrown in with some of her own things like bright pink leggings, a pink tank top, and her jelly sandals.  That morning she LET me tease up her bangs to where they were practically standing on end. I even made "wings" by spraying the sides of her hair and blowing it dry so that it would stand out!!  LOL  I did make her turn away from the mirror so she couldn't see what I was doing until the finished product was complete and when she finally saw it she LAUGHED!!!  She said, "I can't believe you actually wore your hair that way mom!!!!!"  I have to admit I laughed along with her because, looking back at it now-- it was a pretty weird fad, to think of all the money we could have saved on hairspray!!!

                                               

 Notice, she is still LAUGHING in the photos!!!

Thursday was 70's day however, that was the day her class went on a field trip so we didn't get to participate in that one, she just got to wear her new class shirt.  Friday was 50's day!  I again went on line and found some of the popular fads other than the poodle skirt of course.  We didn't have a poodle skirt so, I did the next best thing and got one of her black dresses with polka dots on it and put a tutu under it to make it full like they wore in the days.  I got one of her cardigan sweaters and safety pinned Steven's high school letter to it- to make the popular sweater the girls wore to say they had a boyfriend.  We put her hair up in a pony tail and tied it with a scarf (that I again- DUG out of the closet). 

                      She loved the pony tail!!  She is so used to having ballerina buns and never a pony tail. 

She even WON BEST DRESSED for the day!!!  I was so proud of my creation! (She was too because she was awarded with a goodie bag of candy!!)

Then Saturday the kids and I got bored that night and I decided to get them dressed up in their Halloween costumes and go to a local church for their Trunk and Treat. (Steven was working at Motion -doing their annual inventory and didn't get home till about 7:30 or so that night.)  Last but not least... Sunday.  We got all dressed up once again for our Sunday School class party.  We all had lots of fun at this party... chili cookoff, hay ride, fixing smores over the bon fire and we moms even took ALL the kids trick or treating to individuals on her street that she knew from the church.  Anna was so excited that she got to go trick or treating... this was the first year we have been.  We always do church activities for it is warmer and safer!

Will, Thomas the Train, was SO excited he got a Tootsie Roll -his favorite as well as his dads! 

 Anna, the Barbie Princess, headed to the next house

We were on our hayride, Will was more interested in where we were going. 

Ewww, I am done with dress up days for a while.  Thankfully! (but it was a lot of fun)

Candy Corn Cupcakes

OK, I will admit we have been busy around here!!  I am trying to get caught up from the last 2 weeks that I haven't had any spare time to blog.  (or much else for that matter)

The last Friday of every month Anna's class has goodies to celebrate that months birthdays.  So this month she got to celebrate hers and we decided to make cupcakes to take.  Now, they weren't any ordinary birthday cupcakes-- we had candy corn cupcakes!!

It is hard to tell in the picture but the bottom of the cupcake is yellow, the top is orange, and the icing is    white =candy corn cupcakes.  We topped each with a candy corn for decoration!  They were a hit at school and home- we got to keep a few here! 

Again, I do not take full credit for creativity!!  I saw this idea on a friends blog and liked it so much we had to try it for ourselves!

Weekly date with my son!

Since Anna has started school, Will and I go to Barnes and Noble at the mall for Story time with "Granny D".  He absolutely LOVES it, which thankfully both kids enjoy reading and looking at books!  It is a standing date that he and I have every Wednesday and we really enjoy our time together. (I am SO grateful that I am home during the day with the kiddos and am able to do fun things like this with them!  I am treasuring every moment that I can...)  This past Wednesday, they were to come dressed in their costumes so... Thomas the Train and I went!  He looked so cute dressed up like Thomas and of course after the story, we had to go play with Thomas the Train in the play area. 

Me, Crafty...Who knew??!!

1)  Well, I have to admit that I have Anna to blame for the new desire for doing things crafty!  Over the summer, she was all the time wanting to do a craft of some sort, so I would get on-line for some ideas.  (those of you who know me- know that there is not much to be said with me and crafts!)  Well, for Mothers Day she wanted to make something, so to the internet I went and I found an idea for Potpourri Sachets.  (What would we do with out the internet these days!!!)  Now, keep in mind that this is the FIRST thing I took on by myself!!  I thought it came out pretty cute, and decided to keep one for myself---the first one of course.  (It was the trial and error one...)

I "painted" the kids hands with fabric paint and with Steven's help, laid it flat on a piece of white fabric that was previously cut out.  With the other piece of fabric, same size as one with kids hand prints, hot glue the two pieces together - leaving a opening wide enough to get your potpourri in.  Once filled with your favorite scent, hot glue the opening closed.  Now, keep in mind this was a first for me so I did not do anything else to mine.  The idea on the internet said you could stitch around the edges for decoration but chose not to press my luck.



2)  Another little idea we came up with is, this vase of flowers.  We have given several of these because they are so cute and pretty easy to make.  They were also fun to color with Anna!

 All we did was print out some coloring pages from a website we like to go to, colored and cut out the flowers.  I then hot glued them to 2 to 3 pipe cleaners we braided together.  (I would recommend 3 pipe cleaners to support the weight of the flower and so you can position them how you want.) Arrange them into a small vase and tada... Pretty easy and fun to give!!  (and they never die like real flowers!)  


3)  This week, Anna and I put together a little sweet treat for her teacher at school.  (We of course made one for her daddy too--he loves these.)  Now, again--thanks to the internet, I got the idea from someone else and tweaked it a little to our liking.  So I don't take full credit...

4)  We picked up a pumpkin after being at Pumpkin Hollow, in Piggit, all day last Saturday.  (pics to come soon!!)  Anna picked out a smiley face and we went to carving it.  Lets just say that she did NOT enjoy the process of cleaning out the pumpkin!!!!  This is the first year we got one due to this very reason, I don't really like cleaning out the Yucky stuff either and Steven said "no way, you are on your own".  I did have her do a little so she could say what it was like, take a look at her response...

                                    She thought it would be fun and just before she "dug" into it...

                                             She realized how slimy and yucky it REALLY is...

                                                        She grabbed a big hand full of it and...

                                      Yeap, she started crying!!!  To say the least, mom finished
                                                          cleaning it out......... YUCK!!!

We did get a really cute finished product out of it!  Anna named it Princess Ava - where that came from I don't know.  LOL 

                                          Princess Anna with her carved pumpkin, Princess Ava

                                            Yes, Princess Ava is even wearing earrings!  LOL

I am excited to report that Anna and I have a couple of cute crafty ideas already up our sleeves for Thanksgiving and Christmas so more to come on those soon...  We don't want to spoil the surprise.

Precious Moments

We have all heard of the saying "Distance makes the heart grow fonder."  Well it is really true with Will and Anna!!  Poor Will misses his sister while she is at school and this week has definitely confirmed it. 

Anna was sent home early from school Tuesday of this week with a fever and they thought she might have strep throat. Thankfully, after taking her to the doctor we found out she did NOT have strep but just a virus.  She was home sick for the remainder of the day Tuesday and I told Will that Anna was not feeling well and we should just leave her alone (she was in her room asleep). That evening when she did come out of her room he was SO Sweet to her and asked her how she was feeling, "are you better Anna, I sorry you sick."  It truly was precious that he was so concerned about her. 

Wednesday, I did keep her at home to make sure she was completely well and to prevent spreading whatever she had.  We started the morning with the 3 of us cuddled up in bed watching cartoons and talking.  Anna decided she wanted to play her Leapster. Will wanted to play so she taught him how to use it and they did a few things together on it.  They played ball together, they even took turns with toys in the car.  What was really heart warming is when out of no where, Will just walked up to Anna and gave her a big hug and said "I love you Anna!"  She then returned the hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek and responded with a "I love you too, Will."  These were just a few of the many precious moments they have surprised me with lately!!  They are the sweetest kids ever, in fact I caught myself thinking "these are not the kids I am used to!"  Most brothers and sisters argue, fight over toys, and bicker over every little thing.  Well, over the summer when they were together all day every day- that was them!!  Now with Anna at school, Will is just glad to have her home when she is.

 They were playing together...

 Cuddled up on the couch watching a movie together...

Awwww,  two sweet kids!!

Anna in The Nutcracker Ballet!!

We are SO excited for Anna as she has been cast in this years production of The Nutcracker Ballet!!  She has waited 2 LONG years to be able to audition for it.  (They require you to be 5 years old by the audition date and she was a whole 10 days shy of being 5 last year!)  She will be a "little mouse" and we begin rehersals this Sunday afternoon...  more to come on that later I am sure! 

 By the way for those who would like to come and see our "little mouse" in The Nutcracker the show dates are Dec. 4, 6, and 7 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, Dec 5 at 2:00.  She would be so excited to have you come and watch it!!  (Let me know if you are interested in coming, what day & I can go ahead and get good seats the day or so after they go on sale.  It has also sold out on certain days before.)

The beginning...

Well, this is the first of many to come!  I never thought that I would start a blog of my own until my sister in law, Belinda, made a deal with me that she would start one if I did... At the time, I thought no way- I wouldn't know what to write.  (I just enjoy reading everyone else's blog to keep up with what is going on) However, the more I thought about it the more it grew on me.  

So for all of our out of town family, I hope to keep you posted on all the action here in the Brown family house!