12 Days of Christmas, or Shows That Is!

At the beginning of the month the girls had 12 shows at their dance studio!  Yes, 12!  It may seem like a lot, but really they love every minute of it.  When it was all done they were very sad.  I, on the other-hand ,was exhausted and still have not recovered!  The theme was Holiday Hopla.  Em was in 6 dances and Lil was in 4.  It was amazing to see the difference in Lilly from this past summer to now.  She is so in to the entire thing!  Em, of course, loved it and did so well!  They also get to hang out with Avah and they LOVE that!  The good thing about being backstage is that you get to take some pictures.  I just told DeAnne's mom that DeAnne is going to have to have to work backstage one time so I do not have to email her all of these pictures!

Then there is Lilly.  This dancing fool will not take a picture where she is standing still, well, at least not in her costume!  

Now... more of her friends and poor Megan holding babies the entire time.  I can not do that anymore.  I always get headaches from holding babies too long...even when my own:)

 

There was even family that came to the shows!  Thank you Mia, Suz, Saigo, Grandma, Papa, Hannah, Nana for coming to a shows.

Then at the last show there was a guest..SANTA!  It was hilarious to see adults clap for the man and get so excited by his presence in the room during the finale.  Yes, there were a few kids in the audience, but the excitement was overwhelming!  As told by the pictures below Lilly threw a fit and Mrs. Brenda had to carrier her out.  Emma loved it and so did Drew.  There was even a picture taken of the Youth Co with Santa.  We provided presents for the kids which he passed out, but the pure joy to all was provided from the big man!  

Street of Lights

For the past two years we have loved to drive along a certain street near us.  This year was the third and we actually WALKED!  Well, Derek and I walked and the kiddos sat in the comfort of the red monster wagon.   Since we went during the first part of the week we did not get to purchase hot chocolate or tamales or have a picture taken with Santa at our car door, but for the first time walking/riding it was a lot of fun.  The neighborhood that we go down has some loops and can get confusing while driving, so walking just a block or two of it let us really enjoy the details.  The below house I had to walk up to, the front room and garage were insane!  Derek asked me if I would be like that one day with all of my Santas.  I said maybe!  haha

  

There were so many houses like this!  I LOVE it.  It really is the best part of my December.  Funny though, I doubt I would really ever do this to my own house.  Fun to look at, but not to actually have.

 

What I do not doubt is that my three bugs will never sit in the 'red monster wagon' again.  It makes me so sad!  You should have heard the laughs and comments we got about the bugs sitting in there.  But I wanted some cute pictures dang-it!  haha

Santa Please!

One day before I took the girls to ballet we had very important business to attend to.  Letters to Santa!  We usually sit down and have Derek write them for the kids and we walk them to the mailbox, but since the city was putting on a fun program where children could drop off letters to Santa and then receive letters back from him, we had to take up on the opportunity.  So I quickly wrote them for the kids and we headed over, placed them in, took a lovely picture, smiled at the staff, went to ballet and a few days later we got three personalized letters from the big guy.  They loved having Derek read aloud about what Santa was going to do on Christmas and how he was going to visit our street and so on.  Too cute!  Of course, we also did letters with daddy and they in their usual place on the fridge.

The letters.....

This is the first year that we are getting to the EXPENSIVE gifts.  I may have written that last year (I am not going to look it up) and I may write it next year and the next..but right now Drew wanting a DS3thingy, and a new bike..well that is $400 right there!  Em for the longest time wanted a bike and now she does not...woohoo!  It is crazy, crazy the funny stuff they wanted.  Em wanted a Santa hat and Lilly wanted yet another Pillow Pet , which I am sure she will just make a hole in and pull the stuffing out of again!  What is the saying that it is all about the giving?  I guess so, but every year it gets more and more expensive.  Oh, and I started back in Oct!

Cali Christmas!

I am not quite sure if I will ever get use to winters in CA.  Yes, I have lived here almost my entire life and as of right now would never leave....but really, tank top weather while putting up Christmas lights?  Something is just PLAIN WRONG with that!

The weekend following Thanksgiving we 'threw up' Christmas and now that I am finally done (it took me a few weeks to get done..not that I have a ton, but I am a busy lady:)) and we have started to put the heater on I am starting to think of Winter as being 'almost' here.  Seriously, we had the neighborhood over at our place watching TV, playing Wii, having a picnic outside, helping me unpack my over dozen boxes of decor, and I had to stop half way through the day because it got way too warm outside to continue.  So warm outside that I was cracking up at all of the males putting up lights and swearing they will all wait until Christmas Day next year to do so, due to the heat.  However, you know that their wives (and myself) will never left that happen!  haha!

Saigey! Look at Her Go!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT0udz-gZIk&feature=share&list=FLsTbObH2gKs0OudOp78GCGg

Take a quick look at our niece Saige performing at her holiday show this past weekend.  My girls were performing in their own show and Derek was working, but I happy to say that most of the Lee's were at her show to show support and love.  I attempted to puchase two tickets for Drew and I, but they were sold out!  I was very sad, but Drew did end up getting to go...sitting on grandma's lap.  From what I was told it was AWESOME and I can not wait to see the video once purchased.  The UTube video above was taken by her mom, Michelle.  She is such a cutie pie!

Fun of Youth!

How often do you hear about the Maloofs with the Lee's?  Really...all of the time!  My babies love those babies! I do not care if they are getting older or if we do not see each other like we use too...I just love having them here!  I love how Kenna is inbetween Em and Lil and that Drew loves Caden.  I really am still so sad how Jen and the fam moved 2miles away!

Anyways, the kids had a great time playing soccer, eating popcorn, riding scooters/bikes, looking for lizards, and of course eating PIZZA!

Of course, of course!

Handel's Messiah

 

Auntie Deborah had the absolute pleasure of joining the choir to sing Handel's Messiah.   I had no idea that it was an annual event at the RNL and now that I know it is, I will be going every year!  My Auntie is a soprano and to watch her sing such beautiful songs where the entire audience can sing along with them and to hear the excitement not only in the choir, but the audience,  well, I love it.  I cried!  The love for the spirit in the room was overwhelming.  Until next year!