Avaree's Winter Dance Show! :)

The weekend before Christmas, Avaree had her FIRST dance performance! She performed a 90-second routine to "The First Noel" at United Dance Academy's Winter Show at Martin High School! She could hardly WAIT to get on the stage! :)

She had to wear mascara, blush, and red lipstick! I went very light on all of it, but she still looked so grown up to me!

 Her show wasn't until 7pm, and that is a LONG time to wait for a four-year old, so we started doing her hair and makeup around 4pm because she just could not possibly wait another minute! 

`

 Avaree loved the pink skirt that they got to wear for the show! She wore it over her clothes for the next two or three days! She slept in it too! :)

 Avaree didn't actually go on stage until the beginning of Act II (around 7:45), so Felicity was already done with the day and ready to be asleep. We took her in her jammies, but Daddy still had to stand up with her while we were waiting for Avaree's turn! 

 I took Avaree back stage to go on, and she was just giddy with excitement! She could hardly wait! :) She did SOOOOOOOO good! :) You could tell that she really knew the routine! We were sooooo proud of her!

 This is a shot from before we left! :) 

 Hair spray and all, it was still hard to get her hair to stay in a bun! It will be easier when it is a little longer! :)

 Posing with her sweet friend, Claire, right after their performance!

 Family picture! :) She loved her flowers!

 A picture with my girl!!!!!!! :)

 So proud of our girl! I can't wait to see how much she learns between now and her recital in the Spring! :) She loves, love, loves to dance! :)

Family Time at the Gaylord

After Daddy completed his course work two Fridays ago, he spent all of Saturday at church preparing for a combination of our youth musical and the adult musical! Then, Sunday was "The Hanging of the Adult Musical!" It was awesome.  Sunday afternoon, after some Mexican food (YUM!), we headed out to celebrate with some MUCH NEEDED family time!!!!! :)  We took the girls to the Gaylord! Someone blessed us with an AMAZING rate, and we were able to stay overnight! We spent that afternoon/evening just walking around the hotel and watching the trains, and the next morning, we took the girls to ICE!

Everyone was just happy to have time with Daddy!

I've never been to the Gaylor during Christmastime, but it is BEAUTIFUL! Avaree looooved the trains, and Santa's shoes! ;)

She got SO excited every time the train would come back around!

We were all tired, but we managed to get a few pictures anyway! :)

…and then tickle monster Daddy got everyone excited before bath and bed! haha!

I let the girls open their matching Christmas jammies, and they looked so cute! :) 

It wasn't the most restful night (on top of many non-restful nights), but Daddy took the girls to breakfast at 7am, and then Mommy got TWO MORE HOURS of sleep! And, when I finally got myself to breakfast, there was a hot coffee waiting on me! Merry Christmas to me! :)

Then, we all got dressed and headed out for ICE! I wore Felicity in the Bjorn for about three hours that morning! She did great and still loves to be close! :)

Avaree told us at least a dozen times that this was the "BEST HOTEL EVER!" :) 

She couldn't believe there were so many Christmas trees! :) 

She wanted her picture taken in the present! :)

…and we had to go say good morning to the trains and shoes! :)

Group picture while we were waiting on Daddy to meet up with us after taking our bags to the car!

:) Sweet baby! 

Ave wanted a picture with the Nutcracker!

…and she loved the "snow!"

While ICE was amazing, I will say that I wish I had known that the big coats provided were not going to be enough. Next time, I will bring ear muffs, gloves and scarves for all! Avaree had a big coat, but she was still freezing, and Felicity had her own coat, and was also inside my big coat, so she wasn't really cold, but I was freezing because my coat had to be open on top so that I could wear her and button her in my bottom half. Anyway, it was a neat experience, but definitely know what to do differently next time!

Avaree loved the ballerinas!

I loved the New York area!

The manger scene was amazing!!!!!

Our family pic! :) Brandon bought it for me because I loved the memory! 

…and we ended our adventure with a trip to Target and Chick-fil-A! We had two happy girls! :)

Felicity can sit up in the buggy now! Big girl!

So thankful for family time! We came back home, and Daddy took Avaree to see FROZEN, and then we all went to Avaree's dance class before coming home to have dinner together! It was the most time we had spent together in ages. Loved every second! :)