Mele Kalikimaka

We had a merry X-mas. Santa knew exactly what we wanted: we spent the day at the pool and beach with not too much sun.  We can't make it past 8.00 before falling asleep exhausted.

write a commencement speech or upload pics? I think I'll upload pics

Sophie had her first ballet recital the other week. Frankly, she was the most gifted dancer in her class. I'm surprised the teacher didn't come find me at the end of class to tell me that Sophie needed to go to France immediately and enroll her in proper ballet classes. 

Please notice in this picture how she is standing on the line at attention unlike the rest of the bad children who seem to be lost in their own worlds.  Sophie is ready to amaze us all with her grace and beauty. Go Sophie.

In this second picture, notice her poise and lovely arm positioning. This girl is ready to dance the Nut Cracker, if only it didn't scare her so much. 

the man who made us sick

Here's a pic of Sophie and Santa. Frankly, I'm a bit mad at the guy. His illness torpedoed our house. However, he seems to be making Sophie happy so I'll forgive him this time. And on a somewhat separate note, that girl is totally filling his lap. She's not so small anymore.

snowshoes

This morning Sophie woke up early as usually. However, today we were both sick and needed all the sleep we could get. I sent Sophie off to go play. When I got up I found her making herself a pair of snowshoes. Such a clever clogs.

you know your destination is remote when...

Yesterday Sophie went to a b-day party at a friend's house. It was pretty cool because it was a geodome house and I had always wanted to see one on the inside. I was told the week before that it was going to be a small gathering. I think I know two of the reasons--see pic 1 and 2. We drove at least 5 miles on a gravel road before getting to this dirt road. Their driveway was longer than the distance from our house to Sohpie's school. Iphone maps just gave up.

Thanks, Santa, for that "special" gift

We visited Santa Tuesday night after driving all day back from DC. When we arrived, all was well. Santa was there to welcome us and we did arts and crafts until it was our turn. As we were waiting, one of the women who works with Santa told me he was sick today. Fantastic. 50 kids, sitting on his lap and he's sick. Of course, you cannot tell a child that she can't sit on Santa's lap because he has a cold. But at least they could have provided some hand sanitizer or something. I'm guessing many of these kids, like Sophie, had a special gift from Santa this morning: coughing and sneezing. I too am a recipient of Santa's love. Thanks, Santa.

b-ball

I took Sophie to a women's b-ball game. We had a ton of fun from dancing for the dance cam to cheering to get some swag. Sophie suggested she'd rather be one of the dancers than the players.

The worst thing ever

We were having a snack of popcorn and orange juice in front of the fireplace before bedtime. She first got grumpy because I took the drink and popcorn and put them there and didn't let her do it. I told her she could take them back and bring them back herself. Then I told her if she spills any, it's all over. And then she spilled the juice and then lost it. tears everywhere saying, 'it's all over.' I told her to just pull it together, stop crying and eat her snacks before it gets too late. Our fun, sweet snacky time, has turned into a messy cry fest. Not fun for anyone. Then she wanted more orange juice. No, not after she's just spilled it. She still had 1/2 a glass. Then she declared this was the worst thing that has ever happened to her. Then I make her tell me exactly what has been the worst thing. "Not having enough orange juice." The overwrought drama was too much and made me break into a lecture about how that was not a real problem. Not having any orange juice is a problem, not being able to afford snacks is a problem, being cold in winter because you can't afford heat is a problem. She actually seemed to reconsider her situation. She finished the rest of her snack and happily went off to brush her teeth and then fell asleep.

new princess passport

Talk about the passing of time. Sophie's 1st passport will expire this spring. The picture of her is when she was about 3 months old and fairly useless at this point. We got it because we took her to Mexico when she was about six months old. I told her we needed to get another one for her soon. She asked if it was the passport with the eagle on it. I told her it was. She asked if her new one could have a princess on it instead. I don't think the state department would look kindly on that suggestion--it really sort of goes against what our country was founded on. But that was too complicated to explain to a sleepy child so I just gave her a kiss and told her I'd ask.