1. Adam and I went to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet's new production of the Nutcracker last Friday! The old version, which ran for over two decades, had costumes and sets designed by Maurice Sendak. The new version kept the children's author tradition by hiring Ian Falconer, creator of the Olivia books.
Do you see Olivia in the mural on the left? We really loved the new costumes, but missed some elements of the old production. The way they made the tree grow wasn't nearly as cool.
Hooray for date night! There's a Melting Pot in walking distance to the theater and we had planned to have chocolate fondue there after the show. When our fantastic babysitter let us know she could come over earlier than we'd originally agreed on, we changed our plan to cheese fondue before the show instead. Definitely not recommended. Even with a reservation, The Melting Pot is just way too slow if you have somewhere to be afterward. We repeatedly reminded our waiter that we were going to the ballet and would have to leave at a set time, but only half of our order came in time.
2. On a very gray and rainy Saturday, we stayed home to bake cookies for the girls' teachers and Adam's coworkers. We made gingerbread men, chocolate mint cookies, and jam thumbprints. Cooking with my children is much easier than it used to be. Partially because Claire is old enough to mostly listen to directions and pour things without spilling. And partially because I've actually grown in patience.
3. That evening, we took the girls to the holiday carousel at our outdoor mall and then to a drop-off childcare event at their Kindermusik studio. It was a rare opportunity to have them both out of our house, so we very anti-climatically went home to clean the garage. It may not have been the most exciting evening, but certainly made me in particular feel much less stressed. Now that Claire doesn't usually nap, it's harder to tackle projects like that during the day and, of course, hard to summon the energy once they're finally tucked into bed at night. As we drove by our favorite burger place on the way home, we couldn't resist stopping for dinner. Much better than the pb&j we'd previously planned on!
4. We didn't do anything besides read a few favorite picture books to celebrate St. Lucy's Day and Our Lady of Guadalupe. We did remember to wear pink for Gaudete Sunday, but forgot to take a picture. We were asked to bring up the gifts at Mass, always an exciting occasion. Our parish is so welcoming towards families with young children. Even though Claire and Maggie are far from well-behaved, we get comments every week about how adorable they are. I think the fact that we make the effort to dress nicely helps - somehow it's easier to ignore the toddlers climbing under the pew if they're wearing matching dresses! But mostly it's just that our fellow church-goers and pastor are very, very kind. These cards are waiting in the pews each week - we saved this one from a few months ago because it was Claire's first attempt at drawing people.
5. I gained two pounds at my prenatal appointment on Monday. Wearing heavier clothing did the trick, so my doctor is holding off on the late-term ultrasound for now. In somewhat related news, my favorite leather boots bit the dust this week after three winters of wear. Since I am quite short (and have very short legs, even for a short person) and not exactly thin (I wear a size ten) I had a challenging time finding wide-calf boots that would actually fit. Thankfully, this Naturalizer pair came to the rescue. I just think it's frustrating that the medical profession expects someone who has to scour the internet to find boots that will zip should gain at least twenty-five pounds during pregnancy!
6. I am so looking forward to a two-week break from kids' activities. We really don't do that much. Claire isn't in preschool, just a few classes (Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a cooking class at our community center, and Kindermusik, which they both attend). I learned my lesson about scheduling two activities in one day. We have our church playgroup on Wednesday mornings (which I lead), then we'd grab bagels for lunch at Panera, drop Claire off at cooking class, and run over to the library to return books and pick up holds. Especially as I became increasingly pregnant, I was so exhausted by the time I got them both down for nap/quiet time at 2:30. Claire loved going to the class and Maggie really enjoyed one-on-one library time, but I'm glad we won't be continuing it next semester. (They'll both be taking gymnastics on Saturday mornings instead.) Every time we went to the library, Maggie stopped on this bench outside and asked me to take a picture!
7. Adam's work randomly had Elsa and Anna at the main cafeteria all week, along with live reindeer and ice sculpting. We met Adam for lunch there today and Claire was literally jumping for joy upon seeing Elsa in the flesh. I love that his company is so family-friendly. Well, at least his department. He got a month of paid paternity leave when Maggie was born, but over the summer they changed their policy to three months of paid leave. Can you even believe it? I'm still pinching myself.
3. That evening, we took the girls to the holiday carousel at our outdoor mall and then to a drop-off childcare event at their Kindermusik studio. It was a rare opportunity to have them both out of our house, so we very anti-climatically went home to clean the garage. It may not have been the most exciting evening, but certainly made me in particular feel much less stressed. Now that Claire doesn't usually nap, it's harder to tackle projects like that during the day and, of course, hard to summon the energy once they're finally tucked into bed at night. As we drove by our favorite burger place on the way home, we couldn't resist stopping for dinner. Much better than the pb&j we'd previously planned on!
4. We didn't do anything besides read a few favorite picture books to celebrate St. Lucy's Day and Our Lady of Guadalupe. We did remember to wear pink for Gaudete Sunday, but forgot to take a picture. We were asked to bring up the gifts at Mass, always an exciting occasion. Our parish is so welcoming towards families with young children. Even though Claire and Maggie are far from well-behaved, we get comments every week about how adorable they are. I think the fact that we make the effort to dress nicely helps - somehow it's easier to ignore the toddlers climbing under the pew if they're wearing matching dresses! But mostly it's just that our fellow church-goers and pastor are very, very kind. These cards are waiting in the pews each week - we saved this one from a few months ago because it was Claire's first attempt at drawing people.
5. I gained two pounds at my prenatal appointment on Monday. Wearing heavier clothing did the trick, so my doctor is holding off on the late-term ultrasound for now. In somewhat related news, my favorite leather boots bit the dust this week after three winters of wear. Since I am quite short (and have very short legs, even for a short person) and not exactly thin (I wear a size ten) I had a challenging time finding wide-calf boots that would actually fit. Thankfully, this Naturalizer pair came to the rescue. I just think it's frustrating that the medical profession expects someone who has to scour the internet to find boots that will zip should gain at least twenty-five pounds during pregnancy!
6. I am so looking forward to a two-week break from kids' activities. We really don't do that much. Claire isn't in preschool, just a few classes (Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a cooking class at our community center, and Kindermusik, which they both attend). I learned my lesson about scheduling two activities in one day. We have our church playgroup on Wednesday mornings (which I lead), then we'd grab bagels for lunch at Panera, drop Claire off at cooking class, and run over to the library to return books and pick up holds. Especially as I became increasingly pregnant, I was so exhausted by the time I got them both down for nap/quiet time at 2:30. Claire loved going to the class and Maggie really enjoyed one-on-one library time, but I'm glad we won't be continuing it next semester. (They'll both be taking gymnastics on Saturday mornings instead.) Every time we went to the library, Maggie stopped on this bench outside and asked me to take a picture!
7. Adam's work randomly had Elsa and Anna at the main cafeteria all week, along with live reindeer and ice sculpting. We met Adam for lunch there today and Claire was literally jumping for joy upon seeing Elsa in the flesh. I love that his company is so family-friendly. Well, at least his department. He got a month of paid paternity leave when Maggie was born, but over the summer they changed their policy to three months of paid leave. Can you even believe it? I'm still pinching myself.
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You are awesome.