Princess Tea Party

There is a Tea House in Hazel, KY (about 10 miles south of here) called the Magnolia Tea Room and every so often they host a "Princess Tea Party". They serve a fruit tea, and little sandwiches and tiny desserts for princesses. They teach you the correct way to drink tea, eat your food and proper table manners. Bridget and Katey, and Claire and I went one Saturday afternoon to bring out our inner princesses. We had a great time and enjoyed all the frilly, lacey, pink, pretty decor and Christmas decorations and ate lots of yummy food - shaped as little flowers and other shapes. We even got to wear feather boas provided for the occasion - though Claire got a little itchy and didn't want feathers in her food - picky girl. The girls even got to take home a little tea cup and saucer for a souvenir.

Breakfast with Santa

The Murray Women's Group has a "Breakfast with Santa" event every year where the kids come and do some crafts, eat a good breakfast and get to sit on Santa's lap. Claire was very excited. Rachel, not quite as excited, since Santa still is a bit of a frightening character. She also was not too into the crafts, but she is always into the food. We ate a yummy breakfast of muffins, rolls with ham, bananas, apples and juice. Claire then made a few Christmas crafts - photo frames, bookmarks and cards, and then visited Santa.

Claire really takes her art work seriously.
And always has beautiful, creative work to show for it.Rachel didn't have much interest in the crafts, but liked climbing on the chairs and checking out the decorations on the trees.

It was then off to see Santa and let him know what they wished for this year for Christmas. Claire loved Santa and told him all her ideas. (Every time I asked her what she wished for, it changed, so I'm not sure what this Santa heard.) (Claire looks so much like me in this picture, that I could have been convinced that this picture was taken in 1976.)Rachel on the other hand didn't want to get too near the old bearded man with the deep voice even if he did have candy.

Claire's First Dance Performance

Claire's dance class also performs for a nursing home at Christmas time each year. Each class does a little dance or two and they sing a couple of songs. Claire really did surprisingly well...especially with not much practice. I was a very proud mom!
It was not quite that organized, but it was sure fun for me to watch.

All of the classes joined together to sing the songs. Claire's friend, Ali, is in another class, so they go to sit by each other to sing.
Claire was not shy about sitting up straight and belting out the songs.
Jonathan (Ali's brother) and Ali are friends from church (and Ali goes to the same dance teacher, but a different class)Here is video of Claire dancing if you can watch it! I definitely think it is great!

Christmas Photo Shoot

We went to have Christmas pictures of the girls taken at a little Wal-Mart studio and Claire did great. Rachel did okay as long as she was with either Claire or myself, but photos of her by herself were just not happening that day, so I decided to do our own photo shoot at home with the girls to get their individual pictures. Once again, Claire was very excited and did great.
She had a ball doing it!
And she was a very patient, good poser for an amateur photographer.

As you can see, Rachel on the other hand, was once again, not very excited. I even tried to sit by her while Claire took the pictures. This is one of those attempts.
I finally got her to sit by herself, but she still would not cooperate.
I thought we were going to make some progress...


It even looked like we were going to get a full face shot with no hands in the way....
And my hopes were lifted even more when I saw a little smile start to emerge...
but alas, it was not to be. Those were the best we got that day. Well, we'll always have these memories.

Murray Christmas Parade

Claire's dance school always has a float in the Christmas Parade, so she was very excited to participate. She got to ride the float with a friend from church - Ali. They got to throw candy to the kids on the side of the road. Even though it was a cold day, they couldn't wait to get started.

Rachel and I walked along side the float. She was not excited to participate in this manner to say the least.
Only a sucker made this activity bearable.
Claire took this pic of Rachel and I getting ready to go.
About half-way through the parade, things started to get a little colder.....they began to run out of candy....
and they were just about ready to be done.
Rachel was much happier to be in the warm car.
And all the excitement just wore Claire out!!
Claire even made the newspaper the next day. (It's a little difficult to see here, but she is in the picture on the left, the third person from the left.)

The Way To Enjoy a Kiss

Rachel tried a Hershey's Kiss - and at first glance looks as if she really enjoyed it. If you will notice though, most of the kiss remains on the plate, but she certainly did enjoy the texture and ease of spreading it on her hands and face.

Relief Society Christmas Dinner

We had a really nice, relaxing, enjoyable Relief Society Christmas dinner this year if I may say so myself. We had a really great turnout - about 25 women or so, compared to the usual 8 or 9 that usually come to our activities. What great women we have in our ward.






And even a little man surrounded by all these women. (Sorry Jackson, I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture)