I can't wait to eat, and cut down our Christmas tree, and eat, and decorate our house, and eat, and bake, and eat, and go see the Muppet Movie, and eat (popcorn, coke, and Junior Mints - Yes, I sneak in my Junior Mints - I mean, what kind of theater doesn't sell Junior Mints????), and eat.
But before I take pictures of all of that stuff and want to post them on here to remember, I want to post a few other things.
Last week, ML's dance class had 'visitor's week.' I took a few pictures of ML in front of her/ my/ my mother's/ originally my grandmother's vanity before we left.
I love the history of this set. I think about my grandmother getting ready for her teenage and college dates in front of this same vanity (she lived at home all through college. Ohio State was just down the street!) and it just makes me so sentimental. I have a picture of my mother putting on her makeup in front of this vanity on her wedding day.
Super cool stuff. We, the parents and grandparents, etc., got to come inside the studio and see our students perform the dances and moves they have been working on since August.
ML did very well. She kept telling me that she had to do 'a really funny dance.' Turns out it was her jazz dance. I guess the poor girl has been in 'pure' ballet so long, she didn't know what to think when they taught her the grapevine! Ha!
I do still love a good ballet position though:
She seems to like tap a lot.
By the way, THIS is what happens if you go shopping for Christmas presents right before you pick your child up from school.
She zoned in on it from the back seat like she has some kind of toy radar! :-)
The next day we dropped off our Operation Christmas Child boxes. This year I didn't let the kids go shopping with me - I just ran out of time. Instead I shopped before I picked them up from school and then dumped everything in a big pile on the kitchen island and let them pack the boxes themselves.
The next day was Thursday, the day of JR's Thanksgiving concert at school. I was lucky enough to have borrowed a lens for my camera from a good friend. I actually borrowed it for the Jr. High retreat I went on, but it ended up being a perfect week for a loaner! I photographed the retreat, ML's visitors week at dance and the concert with that lens. Many thanks David!
I would kind of like to know when I went from being the mother of a precious little child to being the mother of a frat boy????
And finally, we did something different this year for Thanksgiving. I made a mantle banner similar to one I found on Pinterest and then hung another string under the banner.
Each night at dinner we each wrote down something we were thankful for and clothes pinned it to the string. It's been kind of neat to see what the kids are thankful for! And funny to see their thought process. They went through each family member first. Then they were both thankful for Jesus. And then they moved on to the pets. Ha! I discovered that ML is very influenced by her brother, for whatever he chose to be thankful for, she was usually thankful for as well. So sweet in a way!
