Send in the Clowns

Iria and I got to see Keira's clown dance from The Nutcracker at an outdoor performance in Dallas.

 This might be one of our last outdoor winter performances for a while, so it was great being able to attend this one.

 

 

 

 

Candid Kassidy

Kassidy sent me a bunch of selfies last night.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Lukas!

Lukas turned 15 today, and has entered that phase where a parent is constantly surprised about how fast they are growing up.

 

Lukas Facts

Favorite time of day - Late night

Birthday meal(s) - A bean and cheese burrito from Chuy's

Favorite food -pho

Favorite restaurant - Chicl Fil-A

Favorite junk food - Dr. Pepper and spicey chips

Least favorite food - peanut butter and cereal

Favorite gadgets - his phone and the Xbox

Favorite video game - CoD Modern Warfare

Dream vacation - Jamaica

Favorite book series - Lord of the Rings

Lukas has a knack for humming annoying songs that get stuck in my head

Current CoD rank - Max level on XBox

Favorite TV show - Attack on Titan, Mandalorian, The Witcher

Lukas likes to listen to Hamilton

Goal for year - Better win rate in CoD

Best Friends - Aiden, Dave, everyone in his Sunday school class

Favorite memory from last year -New Years Eve at the Martels

Favorite animal - dogs

Future job/career - Game Designer or a chef

Lukas loves to prep whatever meat we are going to be eating for grilling or cooking

Rural / suburbs / city - rural

Favorite position in soccer - forward

Favorite class in CoD - Running sniper and smg

Birthday presents - fancy Nike sneakers (from Mom and Dad), CoD game (from Grandpa and Grandma) and Xbox gift card (from Uncle Peter)

Favorite weather - rain

Time travel - Future

Favorite school subject - Geography

Least favorite school subject - Math

Favorite thing to do with Mom - watch English murder mysteries

Favorite thing to do with Dad - watch nerdy TV and movies

Favorite thing to do with Lennon - play video games

Favorite thing to do with Katharine - talk

Favorite thing to do with Kassidy - play video games

Favorite thing to do with Keira - take family walks

Favorite season - Fall/Winter 

Lukas can is able to set Keira off with just a glance..

Which leads to an oft used quote "I kid, I kid!"

If the house were burning he would grab these three objects (people and animals not included) - XBox, headset, Xbox controller

Looking forward to in 2021- possibly moving

What scares you - heights

 

All Around the Ginger Bread House

 Iria is building the Ginger Bread House, Katharine is drawing it, and Sherman is trying to sniff it. Lennon is just there to scoop up any stray gummy bears.

 

 

 

 

Bad Cat

 

First Pair of Pointe Shoes!

Keira took her pointe shoe assessment with her ballet teacher last week and got the green light to go en pointe. Of course her best friend Jane passed the assessment, too. They were supposed to go en pointe in April of this year, but the pandemic kind of messed with the plan a little bit. So off we went to a local ballet supply store to get a special first pointe shoe fitting. The fitter told them all about how the shoes are made, why they are so expensive (yes, every pair of pointe shoes is still handmade), what the different parts of the shoe are called and how to take care of them.

Here they are warming up their feet to prep for all the different shoes they were about to try on in the course of three hours! Yes, you read that right. 

Keira tried on two baskets full of pointe shoes, different styles by different makers.

Here you can see her with with the pile of shoes that she narrowed it down to. She tried on each pair again with one of each on different feet, then switched them around to the other foot to check the fit on both feet of each shoe in the pile. She finally ended up with a pair of Grishko pointe shoes, model NOVA. Her ballet teacher Lyndette figured she would need a Grishko shoe.

Below we have Keira and Jane, two very happy girls!

Klyde Warren Park Holiday Performance

 Nutcracker performances might be cancelled this year due to the pandemic, but that doesn't mean the girls are not performing. Katharine and Keira both performed with Texas Ballet Theater School Dallas at Klyde Warren Park in Dallas. Keira was in the Clown dance from the Nutcracker, and both girls were in a modern dance together that they performed to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas."

Legos Disassemble

 Part of our moving prep involves disassembling all of the Lego sets that we have built, because there is no way that any of those would stay intact during the packing and moving process.

Funny thing is- it is actually kind of fun disassembling them, and we look forward to some snowed-in future dates when we can put them all back together again.

Almost an Angel (just not in the morning)

Kassidy played an angel in the church nativity pageant.

I am sure that Iria will send out notices when it is available to stream.

 

 

 

 

Scrimmage

Lennon's team scrimmaged today. 

He got one nice shot on goal, and a bit of exercise before returning home and starting up on the computer again. 

Despite all of the activity he is still pretty skinny, even though he had a quadruple decker waffle nutella sandwich before the game and then asked fro Chick-fil-A right afterwards. 

Where does it all go?

 

 

Ho Ho Ha!

 Lennon requested a blow-up Santa this year and Iria actually got one.

 

First box

 Are we moving this Spring? 

Most likely, but it is still not definite.

But in the meantime, we are starting to pack as if we are. 

Here is the first box!

Sneak Peek

 Yesterday Katharine and Keira were rehearsing a Christmas dance that both their groups will be partnering in. They took turns running out on the dance floor, and can both be seen front right and in the background when the other was front and (off) center.

 I took these pictures behind both my car windshield and the studio window, so not the greatest quality. I'm sure the dance will be great to see without all of the windows when they are done.

 

Isis and Osiris

Kassidy is working on stories from Ancient Egypt in school.

 

 

 

And Meanwhile..

 Our lazy dog lounges on the couch while our cat gets into all kinds of trouble.

Trees and Fleas

 We started to put up our Christmas decorations yesterday and Sophie was about as troublesome as expected, climbing the tree and pulling down ornaments.

We tried to block that off, but that didn't work. Now our only hope is for her to get bored of the tree. Not much chance of that!

And no, Sophie doesn't have fleas. It just rhymed well :)

 

 

Thanksgiving

 Our annual Thanksgiving tradition with the Martels survived another year, although most of them have now moved away. But Ray and Millie are still around, and with Covid curtailing all travel plans we had the pleasure of having the fr'andparents over.

 

 

 

 

New T-shirts

 Kassidy and Keira asked for a trailblazer shirt. Kassdiy asked for a Ruth Bader Ginsburg shirt and Keira wanted one to commemorate the women's vote 100 years ago. Her shirt features 5 trailblazing women in the fight for the vote: Amelia Jenkins Bloomer, Marie Luise Bottineau Baldwin, Sojourner Truth, Alice Paul and Frances Harper