Kinder Gingerbread Houses

The kindergarten gingerbread house decorating tradition continues.  Leo did it two years ago with his reading buddy.  Today was Serafina's turn.

Here are all the "naked" houses.  

 Serafina's class has 30 kids.  I think there are about 30 third grade reading buddies.  A few kids were absent but there was still a whole lotta kids in the room.

 Serafina was excited.  I'm trying to get her to smile like a sane person but so far no luck.

 Serafina's reading buddy is her real life buddy, Ana.

 Serafina managed to get icing on her face and in her hair.

 Here's her creation.

 Another crazy face from Serafina.

This was just as exhausting as last time, but it's so fun for the kids.

Chinese Doll video

Here's the Chinese Tea dance during dress rehearsal.  You can hear the director yelling at the dancers at the end.

Nutcracker Ballet weekend

It was an exciting, exhausting, eye-opening weekend.  After months of spending several hours each Saturday at rehearsals, the Nutcracker weekend was finally here.  It started with a Friday night dress rehearsal.  Serafina was so excited.  She was also nervous.  

Everything was a thrill, like seeing all the costumes hung up in the dressing room.  

And seeing the big stage.

There was a lot of waiting around but then the dancers needed to get in to costume.

She had three costume changes in the show.  Two costumes required black legs with black tights.  One needed pink legs and tights.  That's why she's wearing tights over tights.  

First dance was the battle scene between the mice and the toy soliders.  Serafina was a "little mouse" which means she only came out for part of the dance.  

Mice ready to go.

She was upset after the mouse dance at rehearsal because it didn't go well.  She is hard on herself and wanted to get it right.  

Next dance was Angels. 

The Snow Queen is a professional dancer and an incredible ballerina.  She was so sweet to the little girls and wanted her picture taken with the Angels.  

Then the Snow King wanted in on the fun.  

The last dance Serafina performed was Chinese Tea.  She was one of the Chinese Dolls.  This was her favorite dance and it is a very fun one.

Dress rehearsal didn't wrap up until after 10pm so I had a very tired little dancer on my hands.

We were back the next day for two performances.  Here are the girls stretching in the back of the theater while the pros and ballerinas on pointe warm up on stage.

One of Serafina's favorite parts of performing is getting to wear make up.  

The Saturday matinee brought out the largest fan support for Serafina.  Nana, Leo, Tom and I all watched the performance.  

Three of our friends brought their daughters too so it was a great turn out.  

After two performances on Saturday, we were back at it for two on Sunday.  Here's Serafina and her new friend Isabella watching the warm ups.  

The fact that I got Serafina's hair into a bun for rehearsal and performances is nothing short of a miracle.  

Sunday matinee brought out even more friends.

And the Sunday evening show was a date for Tom and I so we could watch our little girl and enjoy her performance.

She is already talking about doing the Nutcracker again.  She told me on Sunday morning that she wished that she could perform it 10 more times instead of two.  She absolutely loves performing and it really is great to watch her do her thing.  This wasn't easy on her or me, but I'm glad we did it.  I do think I may need to take next year off.

Christmas Cookie exchange party

It's been a little difficult to get into the Christmas spirit without a tree in the house or stockings or any other decorations.  I haven't been able to bake because my kitchen isn't fully functional.  But my mom was nice enough to let me invade her kitchen and make some candies for the annual Christmas Cookie exchange.  And my friend Aida was nice enough to host the party last night since my house isn't ready for guests.  

Here are the Pecan Pie Bourbon Balls I made.  They were very boozy and tasty.  

 I also made a Cookie Butter (AKA Biscoff, AKA Speculoos) Bark, though I mislabeled it Brittle for the party.  It was delicious and I had a couple people ask for the recipe.

 The guest list kind of ballooned and we had no one RSVP "no" so there were almost 20 women there and lots of treats.

Look at these cute cherry kiss mice that one gal brought.  

 In addition to all the school/PTA friends, we invited my old friends from my moms' group days.  It was wonderful to see Jenn, April and Cara.  Cara is pregnant with her fourth (FOURTH!) baby - a little boy to add to her trio of girls.

 Here's a picture of the kids this morning.

Sleep study results

Today Serafina had an ENT appointment as a follow up to the sleep study.  The study came back positive, meaning she is having several sleep disturbances per hour including apnea.  The recommendation from the sleep study doctor is to remove her tonsils and adenoids.  The ENT agrees.  

This family is no stranger to surgery.  Leo had surgery when he was just a little guy and Tom has had both knees repaired.  I've had more surgeries than I'd like to count.  But now it's Serafina's turn.  The procedure is out patient and won't happen until after Christmas.  She will need to be out of school for a week and not participate in activities for two weeks.  

The doctor is hopeful that this will help her sleep better and decrease her rate of infections.  I certainly hope so since I know having surgery will be pretty miserable for her (and me.)

Leo's YSI field trip

On Friday, two second grade classes headed into the woods for a field trip.  The kids were visiting one of the Youth Science Institutes in the area.  

I was one of the chapperones and here is my crew - Sebastian, Leo and Alon.  Sebastian was a handful and I spent a lot of time yelling "Sebastian!"  Alon is one of the quietest, most mild mannered kids I've ever met.  

 Here they are loading on the bus.  I asked the teacher in advance if I could drive separate.  After four years of preschool and a year of TK field trips, I've had my fill of buses.

 We arrived at the county park and it was beautiful and cold.

 Here's the whole class before a hike.

 My group broke off with a trio of girls to do some exploring.

 They found some newts, including one with five legs.

 They managed to be quiet enough of the trail to spot three deer.  This isn't one of the quiet moments.

 Happy field tripper.

 Selfie.

 The whole class.

 We went inside and the kids got some hands-on education about insects and spiders.

 Leo and Stella examining a specimen.

 Heading up the hill for lunch.  It was a fun and exhausting field trip.

 Today we drove to Berkeley to see our dining room table.  It's made from reclaimed lumber, like this...

 Once it's assembled, you can select the stain, which is what we were there to do.  Here are the stains.

And here is our table!  It's currently raw and "naked" but it should be done is a couple of weeks.  Tom and I were really pleased with how it is looking.  

Nana and the kids came with us and we tacked on more errands to make for a long day, but everyone did well and a lot got accomplished.

Santa!

We are still surviving in the half finished house.  We can't put up the Christmas tree yet but we are still trying to get into the spirit of the season.  On Tuesday, Leo and I set up the advent calendar.  

 Today we headed to the mall to see the big guy in red.

They look so huge on Santa's lap!  They had a nice chat with Santa.  The line closed after us so Santa could have a break and prepare himself for "Santa Paws" hour.  Apparently, one night during Santa's time at the mall people can bring their dogs and have a pet picture with Santa.  The dogs were already starting to line up when we were there.  It was interesting.  

Today the kitchen island was installed.  It looks really massive but I think it only seems that way because we've gotten used to the mostly empty room.