Helen's First Ballet Recital!

This time last Friday, we were getting ready to watch our sweet 5 year old ballerina perform in her first ballet recital! I am very sad that I do not have ANY pictures of her in her costume!! I have purchased a CD that will have individual pictures of Helen, but right now I do not have any! I really appreciate that her teacher is very economical and that we borrow the costumes rather than buy them, but I never had my camera with me when she had it on and when I did have my camera, they had already helped her undress from her costume! Anyway, she had a blast and I don't think she stopped smiling ALL night! It was a wonderful performance....so honoring to our Creator and each dance truly shared the message of Christmas so beautifully! All of my pictures show the smile that was plastered on her face the entire evening! This first picture is after the recital was over and she received her flowers!

Posing for more pictures with that big smile!

Lillie was there to watch Helen!

Abigail and Kaelyn with Helen after the recital. Abigail was in two dances and the drama. Helen loves these girls!

Nana, Jill, Connor and Lillie came to see Helen. Papa was there, too....just not in the picture.

Helen and her friend Sophie posing with their flowers! Sophie is in Helen's class every Monday afternoon.

Helen with her biggest fans and supporters...Mom, Dad, Beckett and Will!

Granbob, Grankaki and Auntie Mame traveled a long way to come see Helen's ballet debut! So glad they could all be here with us!

When we got home, we celebrated with ice cream and opened Christmas presents from Auntie Mame since we will not be with her this Christmas!

Helen received a new pink "peace sign" lap quilt that Auntie Mame made for her! She is loving it!

One last picture of our ballerina posing in front of our Christmas tree!

She is already talking about the Spring recital! Such fun!

Free = $30.00 Shipping and Handling?

So, things are not always what they seem. Free is never totally free. I'm not a big Shutterfly fan right now. Yes, I know. I was singing their praises in the last post. That was my shameless attempt at trying to receive 50 free Christmas cards! However, upon receipt of my promotional code and at least an hour of time spent designing the card, I went to "check-out" of the site and do what I needed to do to get my free cards. Not possible. They are not nearly as easy to work with as I had imagined. I was surprised to find out that you cannot pick up your cards locally. "Snapfish" will let you download your creation and have it ready in a matter of hours at a local business. My Shutterfly cards would have to be shipped to me! If ordered yesterday, they could not guarantee that I would receive them before Christmas unless I paid at least $30 in shipping and handling. Free? I think not. Convenient? Not at all. Cute card? Yes.....but just not worth the hastle. After I gave up, I went to Walgreens.com and within 15 minutes had a new (smaller) card that is still lovely, found a coupon for 25% off my total and it will be ready to be picked up today!

You live and learn......

Shutterfly my Sweetie Pies!

One of my most favorite things about the Christmas season is receiving picture Christmas cards from family and friends from far and near! I even save the cards from the previous year until I receive the new card so I can look at how much the kiddos have grown and changed over the past year! Maybe that is unusual.....but that is just me! I also enjoy looking back at the picture cards that I have created of my children each Christmas and recalling the fun that we had making the pictures! This year, I'm trying something new! Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE cards to bloggers this year and I'm going to use them to help me create my cards! Here is an example of one of their cute cards!

I like this one because I could put an individual picture of each of my three sweeties and then one of all three together. There are many choices to choose from and the possiblities are endless!

You can look at all of their Christmas photo card selections here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards.

I use Shutterfly to create photobooks and they do such a great job! I'll never scrapbook again! If you want to see an example of a Shutterfly photbook, here is the link: http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books! 

I might even create a calendar for myself this year. I'm always looking for the perfect calendar....what better calendar could their be than one with my own "shutterfly sweetie pies" smiling back at me? Check out their calendar selection here: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/desk-calendars. They would make great gifts, too!

No doubt that one night in the very near future, I'll pull a very late-nighter and address all my Shutterfly Christmas cards to share Christmas greetings with you all! Blesssings!

Thanks Shutterfly!



Cousins

I am finally getting around to looking through tons of pictures that were taken of my three sweeties with their four cousins! This photo session took place well over a month ago! Not an easy task to get seven kiddos to all look and smile at the same time...but I think this was my favorite out of the hundred or so pics! Surprisingly, this was one of the last pictures that was taken that afternoon. They always have fun when they are together and this day was no exception!

Although Will hardly smiled in any of the group pictures, he was caught with a sneaky looking smile in one of the pics!

My three were the last to have their pictures made and they were OVER. IT.

I love that Beckett is giving the, "just get this over with please" smirk.

Helen is giving the obligatory "cheese" smile because she was SO ready to break free and run over to play with the rest of the cousins.

And Will? Well, his expression just makes me laugh. If that isn't a "what you talkin' bout' Willis?" look, then I don't know what is!!

Needless to say there were no Christmas card shots of my kiddos made on this day! But it was lots of fun and we got some great pictures of these sweet cousins who love being together! Thanks to Ennette for taking the pictures and being so patient!

Girl's Day Out

When Helen started ballet classes back in August, I promised her that I would take her to see "The Nutcracker" at Christmas time. So this morning we went to a local community college to see a production of this Christmas ballet and it was wonderful! I have seen this ballet many times, but never through the eyes of my daughter and that was so special! She has been counting down the days and was awake at 5:45 this morning ready to go! Here is a picture of us before we left. She wanted to take her own Nutcracker with her to the ballet!

Helen posed with a life size Nutcracker in the lobby!

I couldn't take any pictures during the performance because I am always afraid that I haven't set my flash correctly, so I took this one after it was over. The entire cast (is that what you call the performers in a ballet?) came on stage at the end and the director took questions from the audience which was all school age kids. This part was really fun too! At the end of the question time, Helen got to talk with one of the ballerinas and she was thrilled!

We went to Cracker Barrell after the ballet and had a yummy lunch! As I mentioned earlier, Helen was up at 5:45 this morning, so she was wiped out by the time we headed home! Such a sweet sleeping ballerina! She has her first Christmas ballet recital next Friday, so check back for that report!

Thanksgiving Memories

This Thanksgiving we went to my aunt's home in western North Carolina. I meant to take a picture of everyone at the table, but this is the only one I got of our time together at dinner. Beckett and his turkey leg......

 My mom's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, so later that night we had birthday cake! Here is a fun picture of her blowing out the candles!

 I thought this one was sweet. Helen was explaining the pictures on her home-made birthday card for Grankaki!

 Grankaki with her grandchildren!

 Beckett and Helen had fun with my sister.(Aunt Susi) They don't get to see her very often, but always have so much fun when they do get to hang out with her!

 Susi has a cool I-phone with lots of fun games. Here is a picture of Will watching Beckett play a game on her phone! Sweet!

 Helen had my camera for a while and took all kinds of interesting pictures. I actually liked this one of Will because you can see the windows that are just his size and the beautiful view of the mountains from my aunt's living room! (Not to mention the adorable little boy!)

 My uncle was able to join us for Thanksgiving for the first time in a LONG time. In fact, he had never even met Helen and Will. It had been 7 years since we had seen him. Hopefully it won't be that long until our next visit! Here is a great picture of my mom with her sister and brother! I love this picture!

 My three kiddos joined them for a group picture! Love that my uncle is playing Beckett's game of giving bunny ears! Boys will be boys!

 We returned home on Friday evening. On Saturday, Sean and Beckett went to the UT/Kentucky football game, so Helen, Will and I got out the Christmas decorations, turned on the Christmas music and started decorating! Here is a picture of Will enjoying the Mickey Mouse ice skating rink that Marilyn gave them. He and Helen pull up a chair and just sit there and watch the characters "skate" all around the pond!

 On Sunday afternoon, we attended our hometown Christmas parade. Helen was all smiles as she filled up her Santa hat with candy!

 Helen and Will holding hands and watching the parade go by.

 I would be re-miss if I didn't share a few of the interesting parade participants. They never cease to amaze me! This guy was riding down Broadway in a recliner! He had his remote control and everything!

 The kids really liked this giant shopping cart!

 Last but not least, the big guy himself! Santa Claus!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and that you are anticipating the coming Christmas season with joy in your hearts!

A Thanksgiving Prayer

God our Father,

God our Father,

We thank You!

We thank You!

For our many blessings.

For our many blessings.

Amen

Amen

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Thanking God for our many blessings here at the Harper Hullabaloo!