Merry Christmas From the Smith Home!!

See that frost on the roof top?? That's probably as close to a white Christmas as we're gonna get around here! It was 27 degrees last night.... And will be a balmy 62 degrees later on! Chilly, frosty, muggy, toasty, I don't care, I'll take it all! I'm just as blessed as can be, and I pray you are all enjoying your families and loved ones this weekend! We love you!

"The Rabbit and the Watering Hole"

Today was Ni'ke's play!! (Directed by a lady who works for the Santa Rosa Children's Theater). Ni'ke was an elephant, and a very prepared one, too I might add. She's been practicing for weeks, and I have to say, she was cutest little elephant ever! Her big floppy ears kept falling off the whole time, but she remembered to speak loud and clear! Hooray for you, Ni'ke!

She was very excited that David came to see her play and made a bee line for him as soon as they took their bows! Well done!! Bravo!!!!

Next spring Ya'shar's class is doing the Wizard of Oz, and I'm not sure what Rea's class is doing, but it'll be totally entertaining, I'm sure. :)

After-The-Show Congratulations!

A Little Walk Around

After Ni'ke's play was over we decided to walk around the school a little bit. We peaked into Ya'shar's classroom to see what he was up to - we didn't SEE him but we heard him... (C'mon, don't you spy on YOUR children??!!)

We tried to peak in on Rea, but they had curtains drawn and doors closed because they were watching the Polar Express. In their pajamas. And having a party. (Don't ya just love "last day of school Christmas parties"? I always did!) We saw Rea's back pack outside her classroom door with her slippers, it just cracked me up for some reason.

And I really like that tree. I like a lot of trees. So I had to take a picture.

2CE Ortho Christmas Party!!

Thank you, Tiffany for hosting a great little Christmas party for us!! And thanks for being such an amazing manager!! We love you!!!

OSU vs. Alabama!!!

Just a little bit of fun and friendly football rivalry going on.... :) (I don't think I'm as big a football fan as she is though, so Tiffany, you win!!) Check out those pom-poms! Hilarious....

"All I Want For Christmas..."

I don't know why, but this song just always cracks me up! I think I remember Alvin and the Chipmunks singing it back in the day, and that made it even more funny! Well, this version was particularly fantastic, but I'm a little biased, I suppose...

Rea's Christmas Program Story

(Can I just preface this WHOLE post and all the ones that follow with, "I really need to learn how to use my camera better or else get a new one." I can never get the lighting/flash right and I'm mildly irritated. Horrible pictures. (sigh) Must search for the owner's manual... )

Anyway...

I just love Christmas programs! I love everything about them! The music, the anticipation, the girls forgetting they're in public and lifting their sparkly new dresses up, all the giggly and silly antics, the boys with their hair partially slicked down and partially messed up with their shirts untucked.... Oh wait, that was just mine. But you know what I mean! I have some awesome memories of church AND school Christmas programs from my childhood, and they were just so fun! It's all very exciting!

I was not, however, planning on going to the exact same program (except for the change out of children) two nights in a row!! I remember groaning inside when I read the little memo the kids brought home from school saying, "due to the large number of children and limited space, the programs will be on 2 different nights and the classes split into Cast A and Cast B." Well there was a 50/50 chance that my children would ALL be on the same night, but we landed on the wrong 50. :) Rea's was on Wednesday, and Ni'ke and Ya'shar's was last night on Thursday.

I honestly didn't mind it though! They had their own special nights, and I now have about 2 dozen cute little songs completely memorized and forever stuck in my head. And here's what's truly great. For the past 4 years, they haven't had a Christmas program at all, and music was one of those really important things that we didn't want them missing out on, thus the switch to the different school district. I couldn't imagine them not getting the opportunity to sing in a choir or choose a band instrument to torment the neighbor's dog with or be in a play or try lots of sports!!

And after this week watching them dazzle on stage and be excited and practice for something special, we are even more happy that they are there.

I appreciated the music director, Mrs. Reed's, opening comments when she thanked the principal for "understanding that children need to know more than just their arithmetic and spelling words."

Here's to many more awesome Christmas programs, an enjoyable next 15 years of learnin', and my sweet little performers who made me smile so big, shed a few tears, and giggle with happiness this week!

We were hurrying not to be late, so we took some pictures after we got back home! After such a fun festive evening we HAD to turn on the fire place and have some hot chocolate!

The "lady in red" is Mrs. Davis, the kids' principal at Spring Creek. She has been so warm and welcoming this past month that our children have been going there! Thank you!!

Ni'ke's Solo! (the first 5 seconds...)

"On this night, let us light, 6 little candle fires."

Good job, Ni'ke!! We are so proud of you!!

Ni'ke Takes the Stage!

Ni'ke's Christmas Program Story

So we moved on to Day 2 of Christmas programming....

Ni'ke and Ya'shar's programs were last night, and boy were they excited. They had seen Rea in her program the night before, so now it was their turn to shine! To my surprise, I saw Ni'ke walking forward to the front of the stage, and she had a little solo to sing! HOW did I not know this?! For 3 weeks, she's been saying, "Do you want to hear the song that I'm going to sing?" and I thought she just meant "the song that WE are going to sing!

She did sooooo great, and no, no stage fright for this one.... NONE. She sang about 8 little Hanukkah candles, and we were sooooo bummed because as Daryle was video taping her, the memory card on our camera filled up half way through her solo!! Well we got the first 6 words though....

Ya'shar, My Shining Star

Ya'shar's Christmas Program Story

My littlest baby as well had apparently been trying to tell his mother for 9 days (according to Rea) that he too had a part in the school Christmas program. I'm sure I don't remember that conversation happening, but nonetheless, I was thrilled to see this little guy dressed up like a shining star for one of the songs!! He was so very cute and we were so proud of our shining star.... (Please, video, please cooperate and load!) I got a picture of his very kind teacher, Mrs. Mortenson, or "Ms. M" as he calls her!