Nutcracker Party

This year I was lucky enough to be able to take Ruby to Texas Ballet Theater's Children's Nutcracker Party. "Magical" doesn't even begin to describe the day!!!

The luncheon was complete with tables overflowing with candy, characters from the Nutcracker talking and dancing with the kids, a fabulous lunch (with a kid-friendly version of it for Ruby), and live music. She made some great new friends and got to have her picture taken with the Sugar Plum Fairy!

After the party, we went over to Bass Hall for the performance of the Nutcracker. I was a bit nervous about Ruby attending her first ballet performance, so I made sure that we were seated near a door and on the aisle. We had fabulous seats in a box on the orchestra level and it was the perfect location in case I had to rush a talkative toddler out the door. Much to my delight, Ruby slept in my arms through the first act. During intermission she woke up and made friends with all of the ushers in the area. I was keeping my fingers crossed for an uneventful second act as well. I couldn't have been more proud of her! She stayed awake through the whole act, snuggled up in my arms, and would occasionally point to the dancers and gasp, exclaim "wow!" or whisper "bow-a-weena". After the performance she got a lot of compliments on what a good little ballet patron she was!

Today was absolutely perfect. :)

Tis the Season!

We are really getting into the Christmas mood! It seems like we're going to Christmas parties left and right, and are having SO much fun! Ruby is at such a fun age - she gets so excited when she sees Santa, or if there is a potential to see Santa somewhere. She's catching on to the Christmas songs and will start singing occasionally. She is really verbal - talks my ear off all day long and I love every second of it! I've made the majority of my Christmas presents this year, so I've been pretty busy the past couple of months. I never really thought of myself as "crafty", so we'll have to see how well they are recieved!

Here are a few pictures from a Christmas party benefiting SafeHaven charities at University Park Village. Ruby had a great time mingling and dancing, until the Santa Cow from Chick-fil-a showed up. She really doesn't like people in costumes, much like her mother.

(Santa Cow is directly behind us here, hence her terror)

I've also been volunteering as much as possible with Texas Ballet Theater - either with the Special Events director or with the box office. I enjoy my time so much when I'm helping them out. Here is a picture of the fabulous box office (me, Kayleb, & Lee Anne) from the Nutcracker performance the other evening.