Spa Day

For the girls 4th birthday, we went to the Nutcracker with basically our entire extended family. Well, one day the girls asked when they would see their little friends. So with a generous gift from Margaret and Bruce, we had our nails done on the Friday before their birthday. Ellison was sweet enough to be our guest. C & J were very excited and Ellison appeared to be as well.

When we got there, they had them put on these little spa robes. I should add that this was a spa just for little girls! I know! I am not sure if they wanted to take this picture.
Picking out their colors

Carly and Ellison picked the same shade of florescent pink and Joiner picked a darker version.

Soaking their hands in the warm bubbly water with rocks...Again, I know!

Ellison getting her hand massage

Carly getting her hand massage

Joiner getting her hand massage

Carly getting her polish. Carly wanted just polish. Ellison chose a glitter top coat, but not Carly! Have I mentioned before that she knows what she wants?

Joiner and her polish. Joiner also chose to have a flower jewel on her pointer fingers. Of course one quickly feel off after we left, but the other stayed on for a few days. She at least got to show the family.

Joiner's finished nails. If you look closely, you can see the jewels.

Ellison getting her top coat.

Joiner's blissed out spa look!

While they were letting their nails dry, they were served water in champange flutes. Of course they all thought this was the best part.

Cheers!

Relaxing in the little lounge area

Joiner

I thought I had a picture of Carly here, but on closer inspection it is Joiner again. They were wearing their cupcake birthday shirts and it is just too hard sometimes!

All three nails together. Just imagine how big those three sets of hand will be soon. Whew, where does it go!

Special Day

At Carly & Joiner's school they have a Special Day during the year. We chose to have theirs near their birthday. So on Thursday, Gigi took a day from her class and we were both the parent helpers for the morning. It was a great time and we all really appreciate Gigi taking time from kindergartners to hang out at preschool!

As I have said in other posts, the girls' school does a lot with UNC School of the Arts. Since November, their class acts out the Nutcracker almost each morning. They get different roles and to learn each part well. This knowledge was invaluable when we saw the actual play Saturday.

Gigi as Uncle Drosselmeyer and Carly as Clara
Fixing the Nutcracker that Fitz broke

Rocking the babies

Clara (Carly) asleep with the Nutcracker

Clara and the Prince watching the Sugarplum fairy
Carly loves to take part in the play, but Joiner is usually in the audience. However, on her Special Day, Joiner was the Snow Queen. She was really pleased with herself. You can see her in her class rocking the nutcrackers to sleep.
Joiner the Snow Queen and Gigi the Mouse King

Playing outside
We made a poster with 4 years worth of pictures of the girls to show their friends. They stayed together to do this and to have the cupcakes we brought for snack.
The 4 of us on Carly and Joiner's Special Day!

Bathing Suits and Mary and Joseph

Last week when we came home from school, both girls grabbed bathing suits that they wore as babies and put them on over their clothes. Then we played dance party in these crazy outfits! So funny! You can see Joiner has on a toboggan as well.

I was making dinner the week before last and I hear the girls come out of their room running. When I find them in the living room to ask what is going on, they tell me that they are Mary and Joseph and this is what I find.

Sad faces

Role reversal

A very happy holy family! Merry Christmas!

I did it!

I have been saying for years that I was going to do a half marathon. So this year, with Margaret as inspiration, I started training in September. On Saturday I actually did it! I ran 13.1 miles. In the freezing rain!! Yes, it was awful in the morning. I was really worried that it would be miserable, but it turned out okay. It was about 40 degrees and raining at 7:45 am when I was lining up. Thankfully, dressed in clothes from Jarrett and Miriam, I was pretty warm and dry. The rain stopped at mile 5 or so and it was a nice run. Thankfully, there was almost no wind, so it was really managable. My goal was 2 hours and I made it at just that. My first mile came in at 10 something and I was so bummed. I thought I had made better time, but I must have been pretty far back from the starting line. Thankfully, each mile picked up and I averaged a little more than 9/ mile.

Carly and Joiner were signed up for the Fun run, but the weather was so terrible that they went to get breakfast with mom and Margaret while I was running. They got to get shirts and race bibs, so they weren't too disappointed. We will find another 1-mile run for them to do. They had been looking so forward to the run, but they handled it well.

This is the 3 of us before the race. Coming into the finish line. I love this picture (Thanks Miriam) because I look so fast I am blurry! Not really!

The last corner!

They are full of pumpkin and gingerbread pancakes and they look sad...Why? I am very excited to be done! And I am now starting to feel cold. I couldn't get warm for hours after the race!

The YMCA where Carly and Joiner have grown up is who sponsors this Mistletoe run and they have a huge after party. So I found a dry shirt and we went in to see the music and, of course, the bounce houses. People were chowing down on donuts and pizza. I could barely eat all day. That is until we went to Margaret and Bruce's for dinner! We had yummy Indian food. I think I was scaring Bruce by how many servings I had!

Carly jumping down!

Joiner at the bottom

Thanks to Gigi and Margaret who helped me get to the race and stayed with the girls. Thanks to Jarrett and Miriam who followed the whole race, cheered, and loaned me clothes and an IPOD that has more than 40 minutes of battery!

Festival of Trees

There is a Festival of Trees that benefits Brenner's Children's Hospital. We went over on Saturday with Margaret, Leah, Ellison, and Ethan. It was really fun and the girls got to put on their old Christmas dresses. They had dancers and other acts and the girls really got into that part. Of course, we didn't go visit Santa.

Doing the Candy Cane Limbo

Face painting

Watching the show with Margaret.

Posing with the UNCSA Nutcracker tree

Our only picture with Santa

Visiting The Dancers And The Costume Shop

Carly and Joiner really go to the coolest school. It is next to the NC School of the Arts. This is the institution that will be performing in the Nutcracker. The classes have been studying the Nutcracker story and performing it for a few weeks. Last week we walked over to the school to see some rehearsals and to visit the costume department to see where the official costumes are made. I signed up to go because I like to go with the girls, but also because I love it myself!

Watching a rehearsal. The teacher is in front and he just reels off steps and they fall in behind. It is really amazing.

Carly in a trance when I could get her to look at me.

There was no chance Joiner would take her eyes off the show.

Carly

Ms. Othella showing us some of the costunes. They were so detailed. I can't imagine the amount of time each takes to make.

I love this picture of Carly

The Mouse costumes

They are watching one of the male dancers having his vest fitted. He was really sweet and waved at them and asked their names.

We Are Thankful For Belle

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were all up early to cheer Andy on for the Turkey Strut. You can't see it well, but he is coming up behind the guy in the green. He did really well. The girls and I have our race this Saturday, so we were sitting this one out and cheering for our "Speed machine!"

After the race we came home and enjoyed what turned out to be a really beautiful day. We played outside and the girls and Andy cleaned out the carport while I did my run. When I got back, both girls decided that they were thankful for the dogs. You can tell that Belle is really pleased. Zoie may be blind and hypoglycemic, but she was smart enough to sit this out.

I didn't take any other pictures of Thanksgiving, but it was a wonderful day. Gigi, Grumpa, Caga, and Gussy came and we had a wonderful meal. On Friday, we all headed to Raleigh to see my mom's side, the Nichols' family. There are 6 grandkids on that side now, so they all had so much fun together. My uncle took a great picture of us all, and I hope he will send it to me. Thanks be to God for all our blessings and family!