European History

This year, instead of doing a Christmas program, the second grade classes decided that they would put on a show about all of the geography and ancestry work they have been doing.  My daughter, having almost entirely European heritage (25% Danish, 25% Italian, Lots of German and English and a dash of French), got to participate in the European portion of the show.  She even got to go down center stage with two friends and say the only non-group speaking part in the show.  They did a great job, as did the three second grade classes.  Here she is with her friends in all of their glory:

The Star of the Show

It's my daughter's job every year to put on the star atop the Christmas tree and this year was no different.  This is a great time of year to establish traditions and this is one of ours.  I will be sad when she's too big for him to lift up there.

Best Tree Ever

We wandered around the tree lot, looking for our perfect fir.  Was it this one? No, too spindly.  Was it that one? No, it's lop-sided.  How about that one? Nope, there's a big bald spot on it....

 Then out of no where, the kids (plus a friend of my daughter's) carried across the lot this nice douglas fir.  They picked it out themselves and with their enthusiasm at it's peak levels, how could we deny them?  It was, after all, a pretty nice tree.  So they carried it up to the counter, then out to the car all by themselves, pleased as punch to be the primary contributors to our decorating decision.  Who knew they could be so strong?  Now if I could only get that kind of enthusiasm about taking out the trash...

Merry and Bright

I just love a good children's Christmas production at the church.  The worse it is the better it is. There is no ruining it for me.  I love it when the kids do great and I love it when things go wrong.  It reminds us that we are all human and fallible and covered in His grace.  This year the kids did a wonderful job performing in the church choir and although my daughter was right in the middle row, singing her little lungs out, my son decided it would be a good time to try to wiggle those loose front teeth out of his mouth.  As it turns out, he was unable to wrench them free of their captor gums but in the mean time everyone else put on a great show.  In his defense, he his the youngest of the group and it was past his bed time so he (and his two kindergarten buddies) was pretty sleepy and absentmindedly looking around instead of singing.  Oh well, it was adorable and I wouldn't have it any other way.  By the way, kudos to my good friend who's son spent the better part of three songs with his shirt up over his shoulders, playing with his belly button to the delight of the crowd.  He is a another little charmer :)  At least they both stayed on stage and didn't fall asleep!

My Beautiful Nieces

They are obviously not little girls any more.  Haven't they grown into beautiful ladies?  My sister just sent me this picture this afternoon and I miss them terribly. 

Character Counts

Congratulations to my darling daughter for being chosen for an award for her outstanding character.  They chose a girl and boy from each class and the character trait they were exemplifying was "respect".  Well done my darling girl.  We are so proud of the person you are becoming (shown here with Daddy and with the principal).