Christmas outfits

Attempted to snap a few shots of the kids in their cute Christmas outfits back in December before heading down to Texas.. Marshall was being SUCH a little turkey. He was not very into the idea of sitting still for pictures, go figure. Ivy was just excited to be wearing her big fancy dress of course, hehe.. 

This is probably the best shot of both of them looking and semi-smiling, haha:

And yes, Marshall has food in his mouth in these last couple but they are my favorite out of all of them. Lol! Ivy sure does love her brother:

December fun

Just a few snapshots from December before our Christmas break...

Sam and I went to a Messiah Sing-a-long at a local church, here in town. It was SO much fun. Can't believe I've never been to one before! Definitely will become a tradition. :) My friend Jenny (and a couple of my high school students) were also there:

 

The local library that I take Ivy and Marshall to for toddler time throws a "Breakfast with Santa" every year. Ivy was SO excited for this event! Marshall was just there for the food, of course. lol! Sam was able to come with us, which was a nice break:

 

A different local church was putting on a "walk through Jerusalem" even for a few days. It was super cool! Definitely got us in the Christmas spirit. They even had live animals:

Then finally, the night before we left for Texas, we took a little stroll through the lights on LMU campus. You can see this tree from the road. It was so big:

 

Fall Recital

I had a voice recital last December for my students and everyone did SO amazing! I wish I had a copy of the program but cannot find where it ended up. Everyone did a solo and/or a duet with another student and I couldn't be more proud of everyone! Especially some first time performers who I think couldn't have done a better job. It really is so rewarding to see how far everyone has come since they first started taking lessons and I am so grateful for such hard working students! Most of these students have been with me for a year and a half or more and I sure am going to miss them when we move this coming summer!

Also, just wanted to document that we let Ivy stay up late this evening to come to the recital. I figured she is getting old enough to start going to things like this and wanted her to see what all the students who come for lessons are actually practicing for. She enjoyed it for the most part, when she wasn't asking to go potty, hehe.. Her favorite song was, of course, the "Rapunzel song," (two of my students sang "I see the light" as a duet). Couldn't get her to look at the camera, lol:

Marshall's Winter ONEderland

We had a fun little get together for Marshall's birthday a couple days after his actual birthday. I just had to do a cute party of some sort! It was tricky trying to do something on such a strict budget but I think it turned out super cute! Although, some of the kids thought it was a "Frozen" party. Haha! Oh well! Why not? A big thanks to my sister Kelli who helped me with some of the ideas and many of the decorations! 

Anyways, it was such a great party! A great big thank you to all of our close friends who came! Both my kids had a blast. Marshall was in the giggliest, most hyper mood. It was so so cute. I think he just loved having so many friends around to play with. And although he normally comes off as kinda shy, I think he was soaking in all of the attention, hehe: 

Waiting for the guests to arrive:

Lots of friends!