Feliz Navidad

Yesterday was Hayden's last day of school before winter break. Her school had a little Christmas concert where all the classes were up on stage together to sing Christmas carols. She was really excited about it. She was thrilled to get to wear her special dress up skirt. Beforehand she told me, I can't wait till we are done so I can find you and smile at you. At the actual event, she managed to find me in the beginning and give a cute little wave. She did a great job and I tried to record some of the experience for Jason who couldn't make it. Turns out he didn't realize it was for parents, I'm not sure how that was his assumption, but it was. We're still learning I guess! I know I am since I learned that a preschool performance is one place you definitely should get there early for and take the front row for best seats for pictures and video!

The pictures didn't turn out too well, and the video isn't all that great, but it still shows you just a smidge of Hayden's debut performance!

can you find her? It's like a preschool version of Where's Waldo?!

Her class got to do "Away in a Manger" by themselves


Hayden and her class got the honor of playing the maracas for Feliz Navidad. I'm not sure why I tried panning the crowd, but you can see all the kids up on stage. Hayden loves singing this one this season. Sometimes I hear it coming out of her room at nap time which makes me laugh.



And to counteract the not-so-great quality of the pics and videos above here's one last festive Hayden picture from when we went to get our Christmas tree. She's really loving Christmas this year!

Parades and Trees

A couple weekends ago, we got our Christmas spirit going by picking out our Christmas tree and going to watch a local Christmas parade. Both Hayden and Eliza had a blast at these two activities. Hayden thought every tree at the lot was perfect, except for the one white pine (you know the one with a more pine-like, feathery branch.) Eliza just liked running around like a crazy person amongst the trees.
We were actually trying for a smaller tree this year but somehow ended up with one that was slightly too TALL for our nine foot ceilings. We did manage to pick a gorgeous tree and the girls had fun decorating it!


And if you wonder why it's so hard for us to get anything done around the house (like cleaning, or projects), it's because when you have something to do, this happens... PILE ON!

Then in the afternoon, we attended the Parkwood Christmas parade. It's apparently being going strong for a number of years, but was new to me. A good example of the new stuff I'm learning about Durham now that I've returned to my hometown. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was great! All kinds of things to look at, lots of candy thrown for the girls which they had a blast scrambling around to pick up, nice weather and easy access. We're definitely going next year!

The sirens on the firetrucks at the beginning were a little loud for Eliza.

I just thought this was funny. Who knew drug dealers needed boats in Durham County?Waving at the parade participants.

High-fiving Wool E. Bull.An Arabian princess. Because of course there should be one in the parade.

Scrambling for candy. Their favorite part of the parade.More scrambling, with their stash pile in view. One lady even dumped a batch of candy directly into their pile!

One of the high school bands.

There was even an appearance by Santa at the end but my camera battery died. We really did have a great time and will definitely try to go next year! Come join us!

Oh, and if you're wondering what Molly's been up to, while we've been working on Christmas spirit, she's been....

staring contemplatively at her dangly toys.
testing out the bumbo. (she's still not quite ready)
snuggling with Momma

and playing with her hands. They are quite fascinating and taste delicious!