Maryland Bar Admission Ceremony

 If we can't be in Maryland for David's swearing in, the next best thing is a live web cast!  It started at 1130 EST, so we got up this morning and watched in our jammies while we ate breakfast!  So in the picture below, David is in the 3rd row from the front all the way over to the right in the lighter suit.  Isn't he handsome!?  Please pardon the horrible photo quality....  Best quote of the ceremony?  "Be like the instructions on a jar of mayonnaise:  keep cool and don't freeze!"  :)  Good advice for a lawyer.

The Russian Ballet Presents the Nutcracker

The girls and I had so much fun last night!  We went to see our first ballet, The Nutcracker!  We met my dear friend Giuliana for dinner at Baci in Healdsburg first - best restaurant ever!!  Baci means "kisses" in Italian.  On our way there, Ni'ke kept asking "Are we going to eat at Kisses?"   Almost as funny as Rea asking, "Do you think they'll have dough-nuts at the ballet?"   HUH!?!?  I guess that's the equivalent of popcorn at the movie theater or something...

 My pictures are a little out of order!  I won two more tickets to the ballet from the radio station after we had already gotten our four tickets.  So I asked my friend Daniella and her daughter Gabi if they wanted to come!  Gabi is on the swim team with the kids, and they were SO excited to see her!  Dani and I joke all the time that the three of them look like sisters.  (And somehow I have no pictures of Dani!!!)  But the cool thing is that no one was sitting by us, so after the intermission they came down and sat by us for the second half!

 More pictures from Baci!  Having dessert!  Gotta love cannoli!

My girls and me!

 Giuliana and me!  Thanks for such a fun and unforgettable evening!!! 

The Trombonists!

 Last night was Ma-lak and Rea's band  concert - it was seriously the funniest and most chaotic crazy concert ever.  We got there just as the first wave was leaving, apparently a couple other schools pooled together and had a concert right before ours!  No parking and nowhere to sit, and the kids all had to sit with their parents WITH their instruments till they were called up, and then they had to arrange and organize everyone and THEN they had the concert!  Hilarious.  The best part was every time they finished a song, all the kids stood up and started cheering for themselves, raising their instruments in the air like their battle swords!  HUH?!?!?  I laughed so hard - it was so comical and so fun!   Audience participation during "Jingle Bells" - all the parents had to get out their car keys and jingle and sing along.   (We let Ni'ke and Ya'shar do the honors.)  :)

 Last year Ma-lak played the baritone, and this year he decided to switch to trombone, which is what Rea finally decided on after changing her mind at least 6 times.  This year they were the only two trombone players except for one other boy, and they only had one baritone player!  This is something that has NOT changed in 30 years... When I played the clarinet in band, there were a gazillion flutes and clarinets, and like one dude playing trombone.

 What?!  Could it BE????  A family picture?!  YES!!!  How do I photo-shop in David?... Please note that Ma-lak has not smiled in ANY of the pictures.  He is apparently way to cool to do that.  I kept saying, Ma-lak, just smile like you do when you are just walking around being happy! Show some teeth!"  No luck...

My amazing husband, so cooperative with having his picture taken... (Thank you, my love!)

Ni'ke in a pose

 Waiting for the concert to start

Thankfully Ni'ke hasn't grown much - she is wearing her dress from last year!  I love that dress though, so I'm glad it still fit! Rea on the other hand is so tall and has outgrown everything she owns in the past 6 months.  Her dress is a size 14 girls!! She's only nine.... NINE!!!

Selfie shot!

We were so far away and you could barely see Ma-lak and Rea, but I just couldn't bring myself to climb out over a dozen people and fight my way to the front for a up-close picture. I stayed in my seat where it was safe...

Great job, Matanzas and Village Elementary Schools!!

Christmas Cookies, Anyone?!?!

Wow, the days and years are flying by so fast!  These young ladies are more than capable in the kitchen now, and there's nothing like having my girls baking with me, singing songs, and chatting about life, just like my sister and I did with our mom (still do!) years ago!

The cookies were delicious!  I'm enjoying a nice little four-day stretch off this week before I go back to work for a four-day weekend.  We have a lot packed in, though!  I have a final to do sometime before Tuesday at midnight, and tonight is Ma-lak and Rea's Christmas Band Concert.  And did I mention the girls and I are going to the Nutcracker Ballet on Wednesday!?  What fun adventures!! Pictures to come!

Hair Makeover!

 I love my long hair, but it was gettin' a little shaggy and it was time for a fresh change.  So I called up my girl, Sarah and she did exactly what I asked for.  :)  (Which is always a cause for anxiety with me every time I go get my hair done.)  Thanks for pampering me and making me feel so pretty!

And yes, it was 27 degrees this morning, and I'm wearing a tank top... Don't ask.