Holidays with Nieces

Kids and Christmas are just fun. Particularly the age of about 2.5, which is approximately how old both of my nieces are - Harlee and Mabry. Both girls had some holiday events going on with dance and school, so Andrew and I made as many appearances as possible!

My dance studio, Southern Dance Arts, performs in Alabaster's Christmas parade every year. Although Harlee is taking class, her group was just a little too young to walk/dance in the parade. However, as pretty much the studio mascot, she was still going to be a part of it. She really wanted to be a mermaid, but settled on being Baby Bear to mine and Andrew's Mama & Papa Bear. She was SO excited for the parade because there is a lot of candy being thrown and she was all about it. However it was really cold, and very windy. Trying to explain to a 2.5 year old that they need to stay bundled in the blanket is just not acceptable when there is candy to catch and running to be done. Pre-parade she was super excited and all over the place. By the time we were joining the parade and actually moving she was on the tired side. About 15 minutes in and she had fallen asleep on Andrew's shoulder. She ended up sleeping in the car of one of our floats and Andrew and I were just two random bears. (Oh, guess it'd make sense to say our theme was Fairy Tale Characters). From then on she was in love. Since that day she talks (a lot!) about Andrew and 'her Andrew.' Good thing she's so cute because I seem to have some competition. :)

After the parade, smiling and cold! Check out those pink noses and cheeks.

My guy is such a good sport. He knew it would mean a lot to me if he participated in the parade, and I'm so thankful for him. The deal was I could not post any pictures on social media, but I think the blog deserves some pictures! There were other dads around that made comments about what a good sport he was. Their wives were very impressed. We left figuring there would be a few more men participating next year after the wives saw whatt a trooper my Drewbie was!!

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Mabry had a dance recital and Christmas program at her school. I joined her 3 grandmother's and Shannon for this one. I actually was unable to see any of the show because there were a lot of parents in front of us and she is quite small. I'm sure it was cute. My sources tell me she didn't actually dance, but stood there looking overwhelmed. Sounds pretty common for her age. All those onlookers can be a little scary!!

After the program was finished we visited and took some pictures. After some tickling I was able to coax smiles out of her for the camera. (She loves to smile, but you know kids at this age. Getting them to do it for a camera is an entirely different story!)

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The next weekend we had the studio's annual Christmas recital. Sadly I was not a performer this year since I took the fall off to take care of wedding stuff. I worked backstage and kept Harlee instead. It was great to spend so much time with Harlee, but a little sad that all of my dancer buddies were in performance mode and I was not.

When the time for dress rehearsal came Harlee beyond excited. She did SO well. We was obsessed with her sticker on stage to mark her place. She danced, smiled and hammed it up. She is definitely Ashland's daughter. Her love of performing, attention and dance is undeniable. It's an understatement to say she stole the show!

Her classmates. Their song was about wanting a Hippopotamus for Christmas haha

Love my blondies

Can we talk about how cute this is? She was so excited Andrew came to watch her

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The Monday before Christmas Andrew was working late and I was bored, so I called Ashland to see if she had plans. She did not, so we made a sister/niece date night. I went and picked them up, we did a little shopping, then headed to my mom's to see Patsy! We had a great time running around, being crazy, looking for the cat, and even opened a few presents. Fun night and we got to surprise my mom with a visit.

Are you kidding me? Do kids come cuter than this?!? I would argue NO.

Big Smiles!

We love Patsy!!

After visiting with Mom we loaded up and started to head home. Harlee was having too good of a time and kept saying "Not JJ's house, Mommy." Not one to miss an opportunity to hang with my sister and Harlee, we decided to drive around and look at Christmas lights. Ashland and I are apparently professional lighting designers and critiqued the houses that had displays. It seemed like not as many people put up lights this year. After getting my December power bill, I see why. haha.

We loved the time spent with little ones this holiday season. The joy of Christmas is so much greater when you get to experience it with a child. Love my little girlies!!