4 | December | 2014 | Calm and Chaos: Life with kids

When I was taking the pictures off the camera for the holiday concert post, I realized I hadn’t taken the Thanksgiving pictures off yet either. Opps! So, here is a slightly belated Happy Thanksgiving post. :)

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. The weather forecasted a Nor’easter for Wednesday, so we decided at the last minute to drive Tuesday night. We packed up and headed out around 7pm, which ended up being great. The kids had some fun car time, then they fell asleep and Alan and I enjoyed some grown up time too.

At my parents house this year things were so calm. The kids and the dogs have all matured and gotten more comfortable with one another, so everyone enjoyed a calm, happy visit.

We enjoyed the first real snowfall of the season.

Eve in the snow. I love how the flash reflects off the snow flakes!

I do not love how I have no ability to remove redeye from my pictures. I need to figure out a new photo… process, I guess. The boy is kind of cute anyway. :)

Snowy devils

What’s vacation without a little iPad time, snuggly on the couch.

Eve was in charge of appetizers this year and did a phenomenal job of getting me and Rosy to do all the work. She’s tricky like that!

I realize I don’t have many pictures on my camera. I take fewer and fewer with my camera these days because the quality isn’t as good. Pictures on my phone come out better, usually, but I can’t save/store them like I can with my camera pictures. Alan promised to help me come up with a solution to this first world problem. In the meantime, lots of my phone pictures end up on Instagram… also down the side of this page. :)

The kids had their holiday concert this evening. I always enjoy seeing all the kids. I miss being at school every day. :) Eve was over the moon excited about this event. She has been singing and dancing and talking about it non-stop. She even asked for a new outfit, which I bought for her, and it’s been hanging in her room all week, tempting her. Tonight she finally got to put it on!! :)

Lex, on the other hand, was doing great until last night when he suddenly decided he was too nervous and wouldn’t participate. We had a nice chat last night and he came up with a plan to talk to his music teacher at the dress rehearsal. I reminded him that she is a professional performer and might have some advice about stage fright. He asked me to email her too, so I sent her a heads up that he would be asking for advice. He came home today feeling good and ready… almost. The solution they came up with was reserved front row seats (ended up being second row, but I’m not complaining!) for us and if Lex got too nervous he could leave the risers and join us in the audience. He liked the plan, but ended up too nervous to even get on the risers. I feel so bad for him and his fears. His classmates were encouraging (he had trouble in the dress rehearsal and at last year’s concert, so they know about fears) and the teachers were encouraging, but he couldn’t do it. He ended up sitting with us and enjoying the show from the audience. We all enjoyed Eve’s enthusiasm!