White Christmas

When K asked all three Santas she saw this year for a pink sled and snow and then she said several prayers asking God to bring us snow, I had no idea she would be getting her wish. For the first time in many many years we had a white Christmas. It was amazing, beautiful, crazy and overwhelming for me all at once. My sister in law, Heather, probably thinks I am crazy now. hehe!


Getting her first taste of snow. She had to taste the snow!



Wade, K and I, and Kyle and Heather got up Christmas eve morning (Thursday) at my mom and dads house in Dallas to a winter weather looking day with rain. No big deal! The weatherman had predicted rain all day so Heather and I made plans to finish a few more errands for Christmas. By noon though things had changed, it was snowing! It was not the small tiny snowflakes either. NO, They looked like the big ones you see up in Colorado or elsewhere. YEAHHHH!!! My excitement kicked in. I giggled and smiled like I was 10. I may have even felt like I was 10 a few times. Heather and I got ready and headed out while Kyle, Wade and dad did the same, a few errands. By the time Heather and I got back to the house four hours later the roads were wet, it was close to below freezing and the houses and yards were covered in snow. Gods amazing beauty at its purest for me! I love the smells, seeing everything white, the way the snow glistens and my favorite is that swhoosing sound that the wind makes hitting the snow. Oh I was a mess! giggling, giddy, clapping with lots of delight, a smiling fool! I am sure a few people wondered what I was on. Best of all though... K was experiencing the blessing of snow.







Christmas Day we exchanged our gifts, had breakfast together and by that afternoon K was ready to go out and play in the snow. It was a very sunny morning so the snow was melting quickly but there was plenty to play in. She had a blast having snowball fights and building a snowman with Wade and some local kids. She came in completely wet and muddy...only in TX.




My brother, Kyle, was scheduled to work on Saturday but because W!chita Falls got up to 10 inches of snow in some areas and we had heard from my aunt and uncle who left our house Christmas morning how BAD the roads were, we begged Kyle to not head back and wait another day for the roads to clear some more. It was a good decision on his part because we saw A LOT of stranded cars, trucks, vans, and semis on the side of the road or median when we all left together two days later.





What should have been a 2 hour trip into W!chita Falls for all of us turned out to be a five hour drive. Kyle has a truck so we thank goodness picked up some gravel and sand bags to weight his truck's back end down. Then we filled the tanks up. That was the best idea we had considering we ended up being in a two lane traffic jam half way there due to terrible ice and a wreck on the road. Oh yes, we sat in the middle of the highway for almost 2 hours. It was not that bad though...it's amazing how many people were out of their cars playing in the snow, using the snow for a bathroom break and walking up and down the highway. We made it into WF several hours later and we were shocked! The town was still and almost dead. I could not believe how much snow they had. If I thought the drive in to town felt like Colorad* then I must have landed there with all that snow. Let's just say in 20 years I have never seen that much snow in the town.

Wade had a wonderful time driving. He was wanting to have some fun on the snow and he got his chance. He was a wonderful driver though. Thank goodness for all those years and trips in Colorado. I felt very safe honey - more safe with you than on dry roads! Unfortunately we did not get to see all the cousins, aunts and uncles because it was 6 by the time we made it to town and we knew IF we were heading further North that night we had to make it a quick trip. We visited with my grandparents for almost 2 hours and headed toward Oklahoma. Another drive that normally takes an hour took almost 3 hours for us. It was a looooooonnnnnngggg day but we were safe and seeing more family.

We were finally in Ok!ahoma. On our next to last leg for the holidays. We will be spending five days up here before we head back to Dallas for the New Year holiday and then journey back home. By the way, if you have ever seen the movie four christmases...know that's our family plus one more christmas in four different cities. We go and travel like the energizer bunnies. Our first morning in OK we headed to Wades Dads house. I should have known heading over there with all the pretty fluffy white thick snow that the day would be filled with a few kids in the snow and snowballs fights. Who can tell seven kids under 10 years to stay out of the snow. It was certainly not going to come from me even though K was not dressed for a snow day. She was warm enough though with all the layers she had on. Poor thing, I think she has lived in three or four shirts the last few days. She has not complained but I wonder, does she feel like the abominable snow monster? Yes, it makes for lots of laundry too. (worth every smile and memory in my book though!)













Our last few days in OK have been spent with Wades mom and Don. On Monday morning K and I headed outside while everyone else had a few errands to run. We had so much fun playing in the snow. Man, I forgot how much work it is to make a snowman and how much energy the snow can take out of you. We were both exhausted when we came in. I can say without a doubt that K has had many experiences with snow this year and she enjoyed every minute of rolling in it, jumping in it, having snowball fights or cleaning off the cars. I am very thankful our year ended this way and I feel very blessed that she had the opportunity.

A MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our family wishes you all the very best this holiday season and a very safe holiday too. We hope you have many special moments with loved ones, share some great food and are blessed in many ways. Lots of love and hugs to you all.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
The Adairs

Dancing Bean

K had a dance show on Monday night at LA Perf*rming Arts. This was her second time to preform a dance routine (she had another show after a one week class she took back in Jun). We enrolled her in a ballet class with her good friend Scarlett on Monday mornings this semester and she will be completing the class next semester too. It was just adorable watching all eight little girls between three and five years old dance for all the parents. K was on the back row with two other girlfriends, Scarlett and Bella. (K and Bella are also in the same class together at P*rkhills). They were the taller girls and they all looked adorable together! I think we were all very proud mommas.




Just a few weeks ago I was beginning to fear that she was not interested in dance and wondering If I was going to have to ask for a refund for the spring semester class but now I am almost positive that she loves it. I am wondering if part of her renewed excitement toward dance was taking her to see the nutcracker ballet. Did that motivate her and help her to want to be a better dancer? She did get in the car after the nutcracker ballet and say she wanted to learn to dance as beautifully as the girls and kids did.





K can certainly shake her booty and she knew most of her moves to her two songs before it was time for them or without looking at her dance instructor. Wade said after the show was over and I so agree, "she will either be a good dancer one day or a great cheerleader with those expressions and dramatic moves." She was very animated and really enjoyed herself. To my surprise she did not utter a word of fear. I did tell her earlier in the day that I was excited to see her onstage and she said "ON STAGE!" so I back tracked and said "no,no sweetpea. You are just dancing in your classroom with the chairs set up for parents to see you." Not another word was mentioned and she even fell asleep in the car on the way that night. Of course, I did see fear kick in when she first walked into the room and saw all the people and I got a little nervous she would walk out but she did it! I even think I had to find her off button or stop button once the show was over. That Adrenaline must have kicked in!

Santa in Steubing Ranch

K finally found the "courage" as she put it, to meet Santa today. She has really wanted to meet him this year and on two other occasions I have tried to take her but she would end up saying she was too scared before we were ready to go and rather than make it a big deal, we just let it go. I knew one day she would come around.



We told her yesterday after one of those attempts, that Santa was coming to our neighborhood for a quick trip today and that he was here to see all the kids with one of his elves. If she wanted to, we would take her. She thought about it and initially told us "no, I'm too scared" but as we drove home from church today she said, "let's drive by so I can see him." We did and she acted completely disinterested. Home we went, changed clothes and then...she said "can we go see Santa? I want to tell him what I would like for Christmas." So we changed again and up to the park we went.



Thank goodness for his sweet little elf because we told the elf that K was a little concerned and that this was the closest she had been to Santa before and she gently took her hand and said "if you want you can sit on my lap on the ground" and K agreed. YIPPEE! Then the elf gave her a goodie bag and asked if she wanted to shake his hand or sit on his lap..."No" K said "but I want to tell him something." Leaning over but not too closely she said "Santa, I really want a pink sled for CMas and some snow." Poor girl has asked for the same sled for 2 years now and some snow. I wonder how that will happen in this town, let alone in this state? Maybe we can take her to Colorad* one day soon. Then the elf asked if she would sit on her lap on Santa's lap and K agreed. As long as it was not her on his lap!



She once again faced a fear and I am so proud of her. It may not have been on Santas lap but I am all about being a cautious person so it's okay with me. I'm not one for forcing kids to sit on Santa's lap just to get a picture. It's just not worth the stress and the meltdown for me. I am also not about pushing a natural instinct because fear of others is not always a bad thing. We should trust those instincts.

After all her courage she got a free cup of hot chocolate with marshmellows
Thanks to the nice HOA staff and St*rbucks. They also had apple cider and cookies out for everyone too.

*~*Merry Christmas*~*

The Friendly Beasts of Christmas

K's school had their annual Christmas program on Thursday. I look forward to this program every year at P*rkhills. I think mostly because it is purely Christmas to me. Singing songs, being joyful, watching the story of baby Jesus, hearing the sweet voices of children and all the excitement. It brings back so many memories of my youth and singing in the church choir, the school choir and performing alone on stage for Christmas programs. Love it all and miss it!



This was K's third year participating in the story of Jesus and the Friendly Beasts program at P*rkhills and she has grown so much each year. When the kids are two and three years old they get to stand up on stage and sing a song or two with everyone and then they take their seats and watch the Pre-K children perform. This year was K's year to perform since she is in the Pre-K program.



Ms Bonnie, the music teacher at P*rkhills does a wonderful job preparing them for this show and working with them. She must really be on the ball because she has around 45 to 50 Pre-K kids to get ready for the performance and around the same number of two and three yrs olds as well to teach a song or three to. It is quite a large program for such small kiddos and they all do so well. It is just adorable watching them too.



K was a candlestick this year. She wanted to be a donkey (horse in her mind), a cow or one of the other animals but her teachers, Ms. Kim, Ms Karen and I were concerned if she would be able to handle one of those roles because of the individual lines and her voicing her concerns when practicing. We decided together that being in a group setting with several other kids would hopefully ease her fears a little more and help her for future events too by boosting her self esteem.



K was not crying the morning of the show but I can vouch for her nerves. It is soo funny to me that she gets nervous because she always performs so well. (Although I am not sure why I cannot understand her nerves because I can remember my legs shaking while at Ms. Texas one year. I can recall my chest breaking out in red patches at many other events too. And, I loved being up there preforming whatever just not in front of sooo many people). K makes it look as though she is not nervous at all, you'd never know she was nervous unless she mentioned it to you.



Our morning began with her in our bathroom getting ready and practicing her lines, sooo cute to. She came in saying "We shine for Him," "We shine for him," "We shine for him..." all the while her hands were moving in a circular movement to shine for him. I casually asked if she was excited and she said "yeah but I am nervous too mommy." I told her that she would be onstage with all her friends and many of the other kids would feel some nerves too and that was okay because we all get nervous at times but it is how we handle those nerves that matters. I reminded her of all the times she has performed, so to speak, and how well she did each time and I asked her to try to remember to take a few deep breaths and if she would say her line so mommy and daddy could hear her in the audience. She said, "Ms Bonnie wants us to say them loudly and clearly." I said that is exactly right honey and I know you can do that. Boy do I. I also told her that her teachers would be near her and if she forgot for a moment her line they would be there to help her so please ... no worries baby. You'll do great!



Most of the kiddos get excited about putting on a show for their families and I am so proud of them but I am even more proud of those few that are scared to death to be onstage in front of others and they still get up there and participate as asked. I know of two kids in K's class this year and a few others not in her class that were either in tears most of the morning getting ready for the show or very vocal about their nervousness and still nervous during the show. But, they were troopers and stood there on stage and preformed as asked. I am so very proud of them. They are predominately only 3 and 4 years old when you stop and think about it.



To my candlestick, You shined very brightly baby! You spoke loudly, clearly and showed us your charisma. I was thrilled and proud to be watching you and I so hope we have many more performances. I love watching you. You are growing up so fast and I am so impressed with how you face your fears - that fills my cup of respect for you. Way to go girl!



For the grandparents, Wade got it all on the camcorder so you can see the show too. I know K will be eager to show you. If we can figure out our new camcorder, we will upload a short clip from the full length version just of Ks part as a sneak peak. We do have a few more pics too, mostly of her friends from class. K was running around after the show wanting a picture with all the classmates she could find.

Merrry Christmas all!