The Year She Found Out

This year, I worked so hard to make sure Camryn still believed in Santa Claus. She asked a lot of questions, and I expertly avoided answering them. I even sat down and asked her what she thought, giving her a safe way to tell me she had figured it all out. I was convinced she still believed.

Then after Christmas my adorable hubby was out front when the neighbor's dad asked what we had gotten for the kids. Kirt told him the kids got a Wii. The man asked where we had found one , since it's been so hard to find them. Kirt told him, "At Walmart." Camryn must have heard them talking because she corrected Kirt and reminded him that Santa brought the Wii. He played it off like he was forgetful and forgot that Walmart was out, so Santa brought one.

Then it happened. The man said, "You almost busted yourself!" And Camryn heard him.

Later that night after watching Fred Claus, she crawled on my lap and was crying. She said she heard the whole conversation outside and was sad. Kirt heard her tell me this and he got extremely upset. He felt so horrible that he had been a part of spoiling the magic. Camryn said it wasn't Kirt's mistake that tipped her off, but the man's comment afterwards.

I comforted them both and Camryn and I shared some giggles about how dad was only a few rows away from us at Walmart the day he bought the Wii. The kids had no idea that on his lunch break one day, I had put the stuff in the basket and Dad paid for it all and hid it. I told her she was a member of the "big girls club" now and she had to help keep the secret until Aiden found out.

My baby's getting older and is too smart for her own good.

An Expensive Lesson

I posted earlier this month that we went to Schlitterbahn's Hill Country Christmas with Baylie's dance team. The first time I felt it was a little overpriced, but the second time we decided we wouldn't be returning next year. The whole team was treated badly by the lady who schedules the entertainment.

Our director was told we would dance from 8-9pm. We arrived, and got the girls ready to perform, but the scheduler from Schlitterbahn said that we were to dance from 9-10 at night! Our director told her there's no way she would have signed 10-16 year olds up to dance that late at night on a Friday, that there must have been a mistake. From what I understand the lady was very snippy and wouldn't move the girls to earlier in the evening.

Once it was the girls' turn to dance, the girls only danced a few minutes before the power went out in the area they were in. After waiting for 15 minutes, our director asked how long they thought it would be until it was back on. She was told it would be 20 more minutes. At that point, she said she thought she would let the girls go on home, and the scheduler snipped, I think you'd better." There was no need to be so rude.

I think we all agreed that we not only wouldn't dance at Schlitterbahn next year, but wouldn't bring our families either. It was definitely not a bright moment this holiday season. How sad.

Christmas 2008

Why is Christmas so exhausting? Round after round of opening gifts and cleaning up in between each one. Whew! I needed a nap just to recover.

This year Santa brought the kids one gift for our whole family- the Wii. We've had a good time playing over the last few days. Who knew we were such competitive people?!

The kids each got a new Nintendo DS for their big gifts from grandparents. They've had their noses in them a lot since Christmas. We've had to ban them while walking through stores. The kids already have no sense of who's around them, and it's even worse when they play a game and walk!

To tell the kids about our trip to Disney in April, I had a puzzle made of a picture of the kids with Goofy. I had the words, "We're going back to Disney!" across the top. Actually, I was trying so hard not to get busted by the kids when I made the puzzle that I didn't notice that I wrote, "We're going to back to Disney!" Nice, huh? A little black sharpie fixed that...

The puzzle was too hard for the kids to do alone, so Kirt, Baylie and I ended up putting it together and just letting the kids put the words together. Camryn read the message out loud and Aiden's reaction was, "Can we play the Wii now?" Great... Not what I hoping for. I don't think I'll ever reveal a trip on Christmas again. There's so much hustle and bustle that it seems to get lost in everything around them.

Now that things have settled down, the girls and I are going to buy the Birnbaum for Kids book and chill by the fire and plan our trip. They are excited now. Maybe threatening to cancel the trip for lack of excitement helped? Of course, I would never do that. I might leave them home, but never cancel the trip!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with love, laughter and lots of desserts!

Pulse Dance Convention

This weekend the girls, my sister-in-law Carin and I headed up to Dallas for the first of Baylie's dance conventions for the year. We were excited about getting away, having girl time, and seeing all our favorite choreographers from our favorite dance show, So You Think You Can Dance.

Our first stop was to have dinner at the American Girl Bistro and Boutique. This was our second time to visit the store and I think I could visit 10 more times and it would be just as exciting for the girls and me. Carin and Camryn

Baylie and me

After 3 hours of dreaming of Christmas gifts and eating we had to hurry and get Aunt Carin out of the store. I think she was starting to see pink everywhere!

Saturday's first session was with Shane Sparks. Baylie's not a big fan of hip hop, but she was still excited to learn from someone we'd only seen on our shows before.

Next up, Mia Michaels...

I'd have to say that she is the main reason I was so excited about this convention. We've always loved her work on the show and for Baylie to take a class from her was such a huge honor.

Baylie with Mia Michaels

Camryn with Mia Michaels

After lunch, the girls learned kind of an old school hip hop with Dave Scott. He was so hysterical. I thought he was really great with the kids and kept us moms laughing. Come on!

Tyce Diorio was our last session of a long, tiring day.

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At the end of the day there was a Dance showcase and all I can say about that was thank God for the cash bar and friends! Those two glasses of wine really helped me through some of those sad message songs the other teams performed. I wish we could have skipped the show, but we were all meeting at the end of the show to get a group picture with the Pulse staff.

After tumbling into bed about midnight, we were up early, but not as happy as the day before! We were so tired.

Laurie Ann Gibson was the first teacher of the day. She was very good with the kids too. Camryn thought it was funny that she kept calling everyone "muffin". More hip hop... Baylie was starting to tire of hip hop, but she's a good sport.

Guess what was next? That's right, HIP HOP with Shane Sparks! The girls were starting to lose energy and seemed tired, so I decided that we would leave after Tyce's next session. That meant we missed Cris Judd's session, but I was okay with that.

Baylie with a few friends

On our way out the door we made a quick stop at the bathroom where I spotted Kitty Carter, from Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: The Making of the Squad talking outside the door. I took a sneaky shot of her, and Baylie went and asked for her autograph. We chatted about the show, and thanked her. It was a nice end to fun, exhausting weekend!

Hill Country Christmas 2008

This year Schlitterbahn has a new Christmas display called Hill Country Christmas. Baylie's dance team was invited to dance twice at the event. We brought the whole family and planned to enjoy a little holiday cheer.

The lights were gorgeous, but I'd have I was really dissappointed in the whole thing. It was very expensive to get in (I thought they should have offered a discount for season pass holders.) and there wasn't a lot to do. There weren't very many vendors and the ice skating was $10 for 45 minutes, per child. The picture opportunites were okay if your children were interested in Santa or guy in a Rudolph costume.

Well, at least this is one thing I can cross off my list as something I prefer not to make a holiday tradition for our family.

Wassailfest 2008

Every year, on the first Thursday of December, our town has Wassailfest. The main square's blocked off and all the lights are on. The businesses set a table out out the sidewalk filled with little cups of wassil for tasting. There are old-fashioned carolers walking the streets and one spectacular dance team (if I do say so myself) dancing to Jingle Bell Rock.

Baylie dancing...

This year it was especially cold and the dance team spent all the time between dances huddled around a heater the director brought. Poor things! It's not very warm in those Ms. Claus dresses- but you never would have known they were freezing while they danced. They're a great bunch of girls.

One of the historical hotels in our town had a horse-drawn carriage out front. But, we didn't have time to take a ride with Baylie dancing.

There was also an old Wurlitzer playing Christmas songs.

I love having this as one of our Christmas traditions every year. I just know it'll be something the kids think about when they think of their childhood.

The Nutcracker Ballet

Last week we went to see the Nutcracker Ballet.

For the past two years, my friend Abbie plans this great field trip for our homeschooling group. I love to go each year. It really makes it feel like Christmas.

This year was even more special since it was Abbie's birthday. We also got to sit on the front row right in the center! Afterwards we went to lunch with Abbie and Taylor and enjoyed some time with good friends.

I'm not so sure Aiden thinks the ballet was so much fun, as he kept sighing and asking where we were going for lunch, but he survived. I don't think we'll take him next year. I'll have to give him a break and let him hang out with dad or grandma.

Merry Christmas, everybody!