Julianna's 1st Ballet Recital

Julianna's very first dance recital was last Friday.  She has been going to class for months and the recital was finally here!  She got her costume weeks ago under strict instructions for it to hang in Mommy's closet.  Can't imagine why?  Finally on Thursday she got to wear it for dress rehearsal.

I had no idea how much goes into these things!  I was never a dancer (my sister was but I didn't pay that much attention).  When the teacher said they need to have their hair in a tight bun my stomach dropped.  What?  Have you seen Julianna's hair?  Wet hair and a LOT of hairspray worked like a charm.  She wouldn't take her hair down.

Friday night I think she was a little nervous but our neighbor was also in the recital so that helped.  She was excited to see Ella's costume.  Ella was very sweet and held Julianna's hand backstage.

The performance went well.  She smiled and did most of the right stuff.  They each had a partner that they danced around.  Julianna's was pretty clueless so Julianna kept telling her she was not doing it right.  But it was all as cute as you can imagine.  At some point they give out a video of the entire recital.  Parents are not allowed to take pictures or video.  It's awesome!  You can just focus on your kid and not getting the perfect picture.  However, I did take a video of the rehearsal.  It's a little crazy and the lighting on Julianna is not great.  I loaded it on my YouTube site.  She is in the back row first dancer on the left.  The one who keeps checking to see if she is on her green sticker.  We are very proud of our little ballerina and I am sure we have many, many, many more ballet recitals in our future

Thanksgiving

First I don't think I can talk about our Thanksgiving week with out saying WAR EAGLE! 

Around here the kids get out of school for the entire Thanksgiving week.  So I try to do fun stuff.  They always, always, always pick Chuck E Cheese.  We also went to a trampoline place called Champion Kids.  Grace was sliding down into a foam pit.  I can't believe what a little daredevil she is!

Finally on Wednesday Aunt Lyndsay came to visit.  She was up bright and early to run the Atlanta half marathon.  Of course that morning was the coldest day we have seen in a while!  25 degrees is not normal for us!  But Jake and I braved the cold to cheer Aunt Lyndsay to her finish.  We were very proud of her!

For Thanksgiving dinner we decided to split the meal with our neighbors.  It was so nice to pop down the street and only make half the meal!  And the kids played and had a great time.  Grace ate 3 helpings of corn, some turkey and kept coming back for a bite of roll.  She is just too cute! 

Finally to wrap up the weekend we went in search of the perfect tree.  3 Christmas tree lots later we found it.  Jake was so excited.  He loves to get the christmas tree!

Yesterday we decorated the tree.  Brian was a little late so I thought it would be a good time for a photo shoot.  Sometimes they just all smile at the same time and I catch it.  I love a cute pajama picture!

Jake's Thanksgiving Play

On more proud parent moment was added to the very long list on Thursday morning.  Jake's kindergarten class had their Thanksgiving play.  A couple weeks prior Jake came home with a note from his teacher saying she had selected Jake to be the narrator of the play and could we please practice with him.  We were very proud of him for being such an excellent reader.  Inside I was thinking lots of pressure!  This play was 5 pages long and he had most of the words!  Turkeys just had to say "gobble, gobble, gobble!"

Of course, we practiced at home and they practiced at school.  And on the day of the play he was awesome!  He read every word and didn't stumble over words or get flustered...as I would have!  It was lots of fun to watch all the kids do their part.  Jake's best bud, JP, was a pilgrim.  He was so cute saying "Land Ho!"

After the play they served refreshments.  The teacher made sure they knew to serve their parents first.  Jake picked up a donut and asked if I wanted it.  Then we went off to the school book fair so he could pick out some books for us to read.  Great day with Jake!

Santa!

Tuesday was our annual visit to see Santa.  Yes, it isn't even Thanksgiving yet but its never too early to get into the Christmas spirit.  After all, Julianna has been picking out all kinds of things to put on her Christmas list since the summer.  I hear "Mommy, can you please tell Santa I want this?" pretty much every time we go to a store.  Luckily she doesn't have Jake's razor sharp memory.

So off to Phipps Plaza we went.  Jake spent hours on his list for Santa.  I told him he could only ask for a couple things so he had to figure out what he wanted most.  So he wrote just 3 things on his list when we got there.  I don't even know what one of them was (Santa might have tough time with it).  But he is playing basketball so he asked for a hoop.  Julianna said "I just want a dollhouse."  Easy!  However when we were leaving the Santa area she found the dollhouse of her dreams.  If you look closely you will see it is the display window at Tiffany's.  She was oohing and ahhing over the dollhouse and even called Jake over to see it.  Funny I just see big fat gorgeous diamonds but she sees the most beautiful dollhouse.

When we were waiting in line I could kind of see the writing on the wall with Grace.  We got closer and her little arms got tighter and tighter around my neck.  I tried to pull her off to get a picture (Yes! I would have been totally fine with a crying picture) but it was NOT happening.  She is a strong little thing!  So...I made my mom, who constantly nags me about being in the pictures, a happy camper.

Then Grace and I made a quick exit and Jake and Julianna went over their lists with Santa.  I asked Jake what they talked about.  "Well, my list of course."  So I asked what Santa said about his list.  "Santa said okay...so that means he is going to make me everything right?"  Good grief!

Happy Halloween!

It was a very fun week for the McNeely family.  We started the season off with a visit to the pumpkin patch. Grace enjoyed the pumpkins the most I think.  She kept hugging the pumpkins and trying to pick them up.  They each wanted their own pumpkin so we managed to find 3 perfect pumpkins.

Nana came to visit on Tuesday.  All the kids were very excited to see her.  Lots of fun was packed into her 3 days visit and I think she had a fun time (with the exception of the stomach bug she and Julianna picked up).  Sorry about that Nana!  The first night we carved pumpkins.  Can you believe Nana has never carved a pumpkin?  And for her first one Julianna chose Jasmine.  It turned out great!  The picture is blurry and not so great but Julianna was thrilled!

Wednesday night was our annual Trunk or Treat at church.  I have no idea how we would have handled it without her!  We each took a kid and around we went to the various trunks.  Grace caught on quickly and held her little hand out, took the candy and dropped it in her bag.  She was very pleased with herself!  But I managed to get Julianna smiling with Nana and its definitely on my list of favorite pictures ever!

Thursday, Julianna and Nana were out with the stomach bug but Julianna rallied for some trick or treating.  Nothing was going to stop her from running around the neighborhood, getting candy with her buddies Lily and Hadley! In typical boy style, Jake ran around the neighborhood and was finished in record time.

It was a great night!  And thank you so much for coming to visit Nana!  Happy Halloween from Captain America, Snow White and Minnie Mouse!