A couple of weeks ago, we all packed up from sunny California and headed to the middle of the country to celebrate Thanksgiving with my brother, Deron, and his wife, Kelly. Kelly is due to give birth in January, so we thought this would be our last chance to see her big and pregnant! Our mom came up from Texas too.
My brother and I cooked the dinner while the ladies watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. How is that for a twist on tradition? We had turkey, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato pie, and greens... all things Southern. Yum.
The first day we were in Chicago, it was raining and we did a little shopping. Clara Mae had on her cold weather gear, and got to play with a life sized lego Santa.
The next day, Thanksgiving, it actually snowed, and Clara Mae was so excited she ran around in the snow. We had to corral her to get her inside for the dinner.
For the past two years, our friends Molly and Tina have been taking Clara Mae to the Dance Along Nutcracker in San Francisco. This year, however, they were both busy, so we teamed up with one of Clara Mae's best friends, Gigi, and her Dad, Bob for a Sunday morning performance.
If you are not familiar with the concept of the Dance Along Nutcracker, it goes like this: The orchestra and dancers will perform some music and song, and then, at some point, a sign saying DANCE ALONG will appear and the dance floor packs with little girls in tutus, santa hats, tap shoes, etc... Its quite a scene to behold. As you can see, Clara Mae had to have a costume change mid-show.
We all had a great time. Below are some pictures from the event.
On Saturday, November 3rd (MY BIRTHDAY) , Clara Mae celebrated her fourth spin around the sun in her back yard playhouse. I began building this playhouse this Summer, but it was the deadline of her birthday that got me to finally finish the thing! Here are a couple of pictures of the playhouse. I am very proud of this structure as it is the first thing I have ever built of this magnitude. Special thanks to Edgar Blazona for designing this structure.
Anyway... when we were putting together the guest list for Clara Mae's fourth birthday party, we decided that this was the first party where we would not invite adults... well, at least not adults without children.
So, as a result, we had a far different party than in years past. By Noon, our back yard was crawling with ankle biters, while the adult parents sipped some delicious drinks. As you can see, all the kids were well fed, and Clara Mae had FOUR costume changes during the party. A great time was had by all.
The first day we were in Chicago, it was raining and we did a little shopping. Clara Mae had on her cold weather gear, and got to play with a life sized lego Santa.
