The Nutcracker

As many of you know, the whole McDonald clan had roles in the Nutcracker this weekend. It's just Maddi's dance studio's production at the local high school, but it's still nice. Maddi was a tumbling jester in the party scene and Cade was a party boy and Brett and I were party parents in the party scene. Brett wore a tux and Cade and I had lovely outfits from the olden days. Cade actually looked pretty cute in his knickers. I felt very frumpy in my dress and shawl and Maddi and Cade thought I looked hilarious. Makes me happy that I wasn't a mom in that time period.

The tumbling jesters minus one who wasn't there yet. Back row left to right, Maddi and Jennifer. Front row l-r Ellie, Emily and Juliana. I couldn't get a video or pics of their dance because it was part of the party scene that we were all a part of.
If you are familiar with the Nutcracker, the jesters are part of Uncle Drosselmeir's toys that come to life. Maddi is showing off her pose on her box that she gets pulled out on. Her partner Carsyn stood behind her like a posed doll and they stayed posed until they were brought to life to show off their tumbling and dancing. It was really cute.
In the second act Cade is a gingerbread boy and Maddi is a rose petal. Brett had a hard time letting Cade wear the bonnet. The gingerbread scene is so cute with mother gingerbread with the big table skirt and the kids crawl underneath it and then come out and run around and do a little dance. My pictures of the mother gingerbread with kids crawling out didn't turn out well.




This video is a quick clip of Maddi's rose petal scene. She is the second one in the line of the three little girls.

Both shows went well and the kids had a blast. It was a nice family bonding time and something the kids will always remember.

6 on Saturday

Here are 6 things that happened in our house this week:

1. We had our first sticking snow this morning. The kids were thrilled to get out the snowsuits and snow boots and play in it.

2. Cade asked me if we celebrate "Harmonica" (Hanukkah)

3. Our neighbors hired a company to put lights on their house and Cade saw them putting them up. He begged me to ask them to come over and put lights on our house. I told him it's really expensive and Daddy can put our lights up for us when he gets time. That night when we were going to bed he told me we really need to call the company to do our lights and it doesn't matter if it takes all of our money to pay for it, we can even use his college money! I said no sweetie, we need to save your college money so you can go to college. He said it's the holidays and decorating and celebrating the holidays is more important than going to college. He's only 5, so there is hope that his perception of college will change.

4. Maddi was the "special person" in her class this week so she made a book about herself to share, took her favorite toy, etc. Her class made her a book of "warm fuzzies" and each child wrote something nice to her. We read it last night and found out love is in the air in first grade. Just about every boy in her class drew her hearts and rainbows and wrote "I love you. You are pretty." Maddi is boy crazy herself and she has been writing warm fuzzies to each of the kids who have been special person so I asked if she tells everyone she loves them. She said no and was blushing and said she can't believe so many boys are in love with her. How sweet is that? The girls wrote things like you are pretty. You draw good pictures. You are nice. Let's just say that when Brett read the book it confirmed his decision that she can't date until she's 35.

5. Along those same lines, Maddi noticed a month or two ago that Cade has never kissed her and so she thinks he doesn't really love her. Cade refuses to kiss her and will give her hugs but for some reason he won't kiss her. Well, yesterday was the big day. Cade kissed Maddi on the cheek! I don't know why he finally gave in, but it sure made Maddi Girl happy and now she really believes that he loves her.

6. And finally, a video of the kids enjoying the snow this morning. I'm getting fancy now that I know how to upload videos, huh?

The rest of the weekend

Cade and Omie are hanging out on the bus ride to Macy's downtown.
The old Marshall Field's (Macy's now) has awesome windows for Christmas. This year the theme was the Nutcracker which is perfect since the whole family is in the Nutcracker this year.
Cade is a gingerbread so he was posing with the gingerbread window scene.
Then we headed over to Millenium Park to see the bean and everything else the park has to offer. This was an attempt at a family photo.
Another attempt at a family photo at the Signature Room for lunch which is on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building.
Cade and Maddi showing off the skyline views from our table.
Santa and a Reindeer made from Legos. We stopped at the Lego store and American Girl for the kids to pick out a gift for each other for Christmas.
Friday while mom and Bob went to the city for an architecture tour and the Art Museum, we did some shopping and decorated the tree.

Thankful for family

Our first adventure with Omie and Bob was to the Children's Museum on Wednesday.
Bob as helping Maddi build a cross in the woodworking area. I helped Cade build a car. It's pretty scary to let kids go with hammers, nails, drills, saws and sandpaper, but we all came out with all of our fingers in tact!
Maddi was having a blast playing in the bubble area trying to make the bubble as tall as her.
Next stop was the Colonial Cafe for a kitchen sink for me, mom and Bob and the kids had colonial clowns. Notice Maddi and Cade are wearing their jackets to eat ice cream indoors.
Our last stop of the day was Cade's gymnastics and Maddi's hip hop dance class. It was a fun day for the kids both young and not so young.

A clip from Maddi's Thanksgiving Play

The Radio City Rockettes

Last weekend Maddi and I had a Girls Night Out with Emily and her mom and grandmother. We went to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular and ate a nice Italian dinner after. Maddi and Emily were thrilled to meet a real Rockette after the show and get her autograph.
The theatre was so beautiful and was decked out for Christmas. It really got us in the Christmas spirit. The girls enjoyed the dancing, but their favorite part were the three elves (who were dwarves). Maddi couldn't believe she saw REAL elves.
Future Rockettes all decked out in their Christmas outfits waiting for the show to begin.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Maddi was a little Indian at the Thanksgiving play in her classroom. It was very cute and she did great with reciting her line in a nice loud voice. We were very thankful to have my mom and her husband Bob here with us to celebrate Thanksgiving. We played tour guide and took them around to see all the sights and sounds of Chicago. Pictures to come soon.

We were also thankful that we both the Cowboys and the Aggies won their football games and the Aggies on the basketball tournament (whoop!) and they were even on TV up here so we could watch them. Brett gets so upset when he can't get the games because they have other local games on. Happy Thanksgiving!