Anna B, Unplugged

I think we've driven everyone nuts with Anna's hula-dancing, but she decided to favor us with a performance of her favorite tunes from her Christmas program a few weeks ago, and I recorded it.  And I love it!

Christmas Day 2013

 Santa came!

 John and I woke up first.  John was showered and ready for work by the time Anna woke up at 6:30.  Anna came into the family room, saw her Princess Elsa dress, grabbed it and ran into Will's room yelling, "Get up, Will!  It's important.  I got a princess dress!"

Will wasn't impressed with the dress, but he was thrilled to see his hermit crabs and other gifts:

Underwear!  So silly:

Will enjoyed Henry Huggins and Ramona, so I'm hoping he'll like Ralph, too:

Will picked out a stuffed dolphin for Anna:

Anna and Flipper, Will and Three-Tip:

He also got her a Princess Anna doll:

She was sooo happy.  Lots of hugging....

...that turned into wrestling, as hugs around here tend to do:

Will opened his gift from Anna, a Legos Contraptions kit:

Then Anna gave Daddy his gift, specially chosen by her:

She and John share an affinity for dried mango.

Anna offered to go ahead and taste test it for him:

We had a nice lazy day.  John went into work for a few hours, then came home and I went to the hospital for rounds.  Then we had brunch with baked grits and bacon and my variation on Santa's punch.  In the afternoon, John and Anna played with her new Hello Kitty bat and ball:

And everyone except Will went for afternoon runs:

I still cooked a big dinner....because I love to!  Ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, and sauteed brussels sprouts, yum!

Hope your Christmas was equally wonderful, and that your stocking was not filled with too many of these:

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Man, I am just falling off the daily blogging wagon.  John and I were both asleep in the living room by 9 pm last night.  We might have stayed there all night, save for a patient phone call around 10 pm that roused us up.

So I think I left off at Christmas Eve.  Mama and Missy departed a little before lunch, after being my babysitter so I could do hospital rounds (twice!).  The kids and I had a lazy afternoon of cookie baking:

They cut them out, I did the piping, and Will did the M&M's and sugar pearls.  They were cute, if not especially tasty.  (I am just not a fan of sugar cookies.)

We then went to church for the early service.  The children's choirs performed Christmas Around the World as the Peanuts Gang, and Will was Snoopy:

He didn't have to speak, just gave Lucy a slurpy kiss:

Anna performed with the preschool choir.  They were part of the Italian nativity; according to the program, in Italy all sorts of people and animals join in the nativity, so we were supposed to dress the kids as tradespeople, animals, etc.  Anna was a chef with an apron and wooden spoon:

The wooden spoon wasn't too much of a distraction, but it did pose a challenge when she tried to do the motions to the songs.  It made me giggle:

In front of the Chrismon tree:

And back home in front of our tree:

We drove around and looked at Christmas lights for a little while, then donned PJ's, put out the cookies and milk and reindeer food, read the Christmas story, and went to sleep!

Grand finales

The end of the school year also signaled the end of the kids' spring sports.  (If you don't mind calling Anna's dancing a sport...)

Will and John practicing before the last T-ball game:

Little sister keeping herself entertained:

Will and his coaches (really awesome coaches this year):

I finished teachers' gifts just in time--tote bags from this tutorial...

...some cute notepads from this Etsy shop...

....and gift cards.  Since I'm pretty sure that's what teachers appreciate the most. :-)

Last day of school:

Anna had her last dance class at the Little Gym:

On the last day, they performed a little routine for all the parents.  John recommended that I post the videos, because he said the still pictures make it look like Anna is more accomplished than she is.  Which is true.

Here's the tap dance video:

 

After the tap routine, they went into the gym for gymnastics, which is Anna's favorite part of class.

Anna finally conquered the beam:

They finished with a ballet routine:

 Of course, the finish is the main thing.  Anna did a prolonged and very thorough bow:

Then they got their medals!

So shy!

Group photo:

So stinkin' cute. :-)