Yes, we still exist. We had major computer malfunctions right after Thanksgiving, so I’ve been unable to post. Well, I guess I could have, but not without pictures. And I’m pretty sure you’re more interested in the pictures than my ramblings. Speaking of ramblings, this will be pretty long so I can catch you up on our stuff.
The first big thing since Thanksgiving was a father-daughter date to Disney on Ice "Princess Wishes." Mike was soooooo excited he could hardly wait for the big day . . . right. Elena wore her Sleeping Beauty dress that Aunt Kim got her for her birthday. I’m pretty sure this is not bad photography, it’s really the Disney-induced eye glaze: "Must have $10 light-up tiara . . . must have $15 snow cone in commerative Ariel cup . . ." and on and on. Don’t pity Mike too much. I gave him the choice between taking her to this or the Nutcracker. Won’t be nobody hawking cotton candy at the Nutcracker.
As you can see, we are getting our money’s worth out of the tiara. Who needs a World Series of Poker bracelet when you can sport this kind of bling? Notice the laptop? Yes, our solution to having a computer on the fritz is not to make do and wait patiently. No, we run out and buy another one! I really shouldn’t comment, though, since I will benefit directly from the laptop. No more fighting for the computer at night.
On Dec. 2 I took Elena to Breakfast with Santa. It was at the clubhouse in my parents’ neighborhood (the neighborhood I grew up in). It was very cute. After eating pancakes and sausage, the high school singers sang a few tunes. Santa arrived and the kids went crazy. They had crafts for the kids to do upstairs and pictures with Santa downstairs. Elena is supposed to be making a bird see bagel for the birds, but you can see how she feels about leaving any peanut butter for the birds. I had a good little chuckle while we were waiting in line for Santa. You see, when we were in middle school and the early years of high school, the cool thing to do was to rent the clubhouse and have a party there. Parents that were supposed to be chaperoning stayed upstairs, probably getting schnokered. Kids stayed downstairs, put on some mix tapes and danced (mostly Bon Jovi ballads so you could slow dance). If you were really lucky, you found some space under a table in a dark corner and made out for hours. So here I am waiting in line for Santa, and all I can think about is Def Leppard and hickies.
Later that day we went to a local tree farm to pick out our tree. Here’s the one Elena chose.
So the tree’s up (not that one, obviously), the house is decorated, and we’re enjoying the season through Elena’s eyes. Everything is so fabulous and magical to her. I haven’t been this excited about Christmas morning in a long time, especially since we’ll have my parents around, too. We’ll definitely miss our Tennessee friends, though. And Donnie and Kim’s traditional beef tenderloin Christmas dinner. This weekend is a busy holiday weekend for us. On Friday I’m going out with my mom’s group for dinner in downtown Indy. Saturday we have Mike’s Christmas party for work. And on Sunday Elena and I will see "The Nutcracker." Only 3 more days of school after that, and then the fun begins!
On a final note, I have to share the scene I came down to in the kitchen this weekend. I’m not sure if it’s a Montessori thing or just her personality, but Elena is pretty self-sufficient in the kitchen. So I’m upstairs doing whatever, and she decided she’s ready for lunch. I come down and find her with a half-way respectable lunch set up for herself: some pepperoni slices, string cheese, pretzals . . . and what she thought was milk. She had pulled out a half-pint container of whipping cream and stuck a straw in it! By the time I found her, she’d downed about half of it! I asked her if it tasted a little different. "Yeah, but it’s gooooood!" She’s been preoccupied with getting to 40 pounds so she can get a booster seat. Looks like she found a pretty good way to get there before Christmas.
