Sascha's Holiday Dance performance

Sascha loves to dance. She loves going to dance class, and she absolutely adores her teacher Ms. Jackie. We've never had to make her go, it's always been something that she looks forward to.

Twice a year Danceology puts on a Recital show. This was a Holiday show, and we of course had to participate. For some reason Sascha doesn't like dressing up. She doesn't get excited about the costumes, it makes her nervous. As soon as we picked up the costume, she told me a few times that she doesn't want to go up on stage, which made me question why we signed her up for the performance in the first place if she is not going to be excited about doing it. Of course she really enjoyed it last time she performed in June, but we did have a hard time convincing her to put her balerina dress on. This time around a similar thing happened at the dress rehearsal. She saw everyone in their costume, but refused to put hers on. Luckily I was not by myself, and daddy came to the rescue. He didn't really give her an option, and put the pretty blue dress on her and she was fine with it. She twirled and danced with her friend Sadie, plus other dancer friends, and had a great time. At the actual dress rehearsal she also did very well and followed all of Ms. Jackies moves so we were excited to see her perform!

On the actual day of the performance, she once again seemed nervous, but didn't fuss about putting on her dress, she seemed comfortable in it now. Baba, Deda, Grandpa, Aaron & Grisha all came to watch our little dancer. Unfortunately we didn't get there early enough to get good seats, so we were pretty far away, but the munchkin did very well. She was a bit hesitant when I dropped her off, she really didn't want me to leave, but when I picked her up she was so excited. She yelled "Mommy, I wasn't scared! I went up on Stage and I danced!" We all told her how proud of her we were, and how awesome she did! Cameron was a total trooper as usual sat thru all the performances. After the intermission, we were ready to watch the Nutcracker which Sascha was very excited about. She watched the whole thing sitting on grandpa's & mine laps and loved it. Cameron fell asleep in Deda's arms, half way into it ... it was nap time and he decided that he had seen enough dancing.

I hope her love for dance keeps growing. We really enjoy these special performances. Besides being super cute because of the little 4 year old kiddos that are in them, I hope they teach her confidence which will come in handy in years ahead.

You can see Sascha is a bit nervous and is biting her lip in a few of these... at least her hands aren't in her mouth. :)
Most of these were taken at the dance rehearsal, only the last one was on the day of the performance posing with Taylor. Her mom was actually the one who told me about this studio about a year ago when we met at the library. I am so glad I took Sascha to try it out.


Since we didn't get to take many photos on performance day, we took these once we got home. Sascha does have a little bit of blush, and blue eye shadow on... she actually let me put it on this time. Her lips are red because she enjoyed a lolipop right before we took these. :) No lipstick for her yet, I was too afraid that she would smear it all over her mouth.

Instagram Photo post... Nov & Dec overload

So instead of saying how busy we have been and how crazy our lives are (it's that time of the year again), I am just going to say we've been having a LOT of fun. So much fun that I have an abundance of pictures I have been taking and instagraming on my phone. I will be blogging more about the holidays later.

Recap:

Cameron w/a prince hat shopping at Michaels, Sascha practicing for her dance recital, Sarah & Sascha shopping at Costco before the big birthday bash, kids with their balloon animals after the birthday bash, Sascha playing with her new toys, Sarah feeding Cameron, Sarah & Jeromey went race car driving, Sascha making a turkey with Daddy for Thanksgiving, Sascha helping us clean up the back yard, Aaron & Sascha at the movies, kids reading.

Sascha & Kingston at the pond feeding the ducks.

Having a bit too much fun trying on some winter clothing while shopping with a friend. Sascha at the park with Sadie and a huge cookie exchange with work friends.

Recap #2:

Sascha on her Birthday. Decorating cookies & Singing holiday songs at a Holiday Party & Cookie exchange, Sascha helped us decorate the house this year (she was very much into it). She decorated the tree with Baba and the Banister garland with me. A few photos from my bday. My coworkers treated me to a cake, and J and I had a nice dinner out at Burlap in Del Mar and then a movie.

Sascha and I made snowflakes out of white paper. Cameron at bath time, in the crib and at a breakfast outing. He 's such a happy boy!

Recap #3
Daddy takes Sascha on Go Carts. Holiday party @ Hals with a downtown view. Daddy's Birthday cake & sushi. Making a ginger bread house on Christmas Eve. Christmas day at Grandpa's house.
Wall of holiday cards which I love receiving every year.




Sea World (with Santa & Snow Princess) Balboa Park, shopping, park and hanging out at home in our pjs and celebrating the New Year with ice cream and friends.

Sascha's 4th Birthday

My sweet baby girl turns 4! You have been talking about your birthday for days, may be even months. Seems like you were so excited to turn 4. On the day of, you showed everyone 4 fingers to let them know how old you are turning. We did have your birthday celebration 2 weeks early, so we celebrated big this year. On the actual day of, we got together at home, had dinner and dessert with family. Daddy was in New Orleans for business trip since he started his new job in Marketing, but he did his best to facetime us on the phone so that he was included in singing you a birthday song.
It all went by way too fast. 4 years! We happened to look through some videos of the last 2 years and I couldn't believe how little you were. How could I have forgotten those moments. Didn't they just happen? You are such a big girl now. I know I am going to keep repeating myself every year, but it's so true. You tell us you love us, every time we put you to bed. You give your little brother so many hugs and kisses that sometimes he can't handle them all. You are one loving and loved little girl.

Here are a few photos of you blowing out your candles on very bright flower cupcake sitting inside an apple turnover pie (Baba's idea... I don't know why we put your cupcake in it)
You are holding up my phone (that's daddy's face on it)



Opening your gifts... Cameron wanted to help


A few days after your birthday, we headed to preschool for a small birthday celebration. This is also something you were really looking forward to. We brought treats for the class and you had your special moment of holding the earth and walking around the sun 4 times representing the 4 years of your life. You seemed pretty excited about it and we watched in amazement how 24 kids all quietly sat in a circle together and watched without too much complaining.


You picked your little friend Sadie to help you pass out the bagels to the class.


We love you so much! There are so many things I wish for you, but most importantly I wish that you are healthy and happy! I hope you continue to grow into a confident smart and beautiful little lady.

xoxo,
-Mommy & Daddy

Holiday Card Tradition

Where did this come from? It's so American? I guess we started when Sascha was born, so here we are year after year trying keep our "Holiday Card" tradition going. I don't call it Christmas Card, I don't know why, but it makes me feel totally un-jewish if I call it Chrismas Card. Go figure.

Now each year I actually look forward to this tradition. I look forward to getting the cards from my friends and sending mine out as well. Yes, it becomes stressful, and I never have enough time to do what I really want to do, but at the end of the day I am glad we do it. It becomes a memory. Even the whole process of having the pictures taken, coordinating the outfits, shopping, and etc. I feel like I put more and more thought and work into it every year. And this year we even did our pictures early.

Lets face it... this whole family photo shoot is such hard work. Rushing around trying to get everyone dressed, looking good and ready! I felt like the dragon lady yelling and threatening, and you would think I would feel relief once we got in the car, but no... I knew the work had only began.

Of course the day we decided to do it, it's 80 degrees at the end of October so we are sweating, not to mention hiking in heeled boots is a ton of fun.

All for a perfect family photo! Or an adorable photo of the kids. I think I fixed Sascha's falling headband about 20 times and then finally gave up and took it off!

Not sure all the things we bribed Sascha wish to be on her best behaivior. She cooperated... sometimes, and sometimes not at all which made me even more frustrated. She wouldn't wear the shoes because she said they hurt her, luckily I anticipated it and brought another pair and then she wasn't too excited about posing with Cameron, and Cameron well he just didn't care too much for sitting, he wanted to crawl and get around, and eat leaves off the ground.

Yes this was hard work! The outcome... family photos... and Our holiday picture! To me, totally worth it.

Ideally I would have liked to have the family photo and then a photo of each one of the kids, but it didn't work out that way. I barely had enough time to send them out before the actual Holiday so I went with what we had.

I love their happy expressions here


A few more


The most challenging thing was to try and get a decent picture of these two together... here is Cameron receiving a kiss from Sascha.

Instagram photos post

Sascha thought it would be fun to wear mommys boots, beautiful clouds in the sky on my way to work, reading a book with a TAG - she loves those books by leap frog, Cameron on his 1st birthday decided he wanted to hold his own bottle, yummy cake, sea world for his bday. Cameron whipping up a meal in the kitchen & playing with Gills super fun bike toy.



Majority of these were taken at a park next to my parents house. It was later in the afternoon, and the light made everything glow, it was chilly but so beautiful. It really felt like Fall. The kids had a blast. Sascha is obsessed with the monkey bars and Cameron really enjoyed going down the slides for the first time. As soon as we put him back up to the top he would scoot down on his own and want to go. Such a fun afternoon!
Sascha put her animals under the blanket so that they can sleep. The hot air balloon was descending right next to their preschool when we happened to be there to pick Sascha up. The kids were beyond excited and all ran up to see it.

Hurry Hurry Step Right up - Big Birthday Bash for Sascha's 4th & Cameron's 1s Birthdays

To say that we have been looking forward to this Birthday party would be an understatement. We have been planning it for months!

Of course it looked like the weather was not going to cooperate with us, and I would check the forecast almost daily the week leading up to the big day. Finally the day before it still told us it would rain, and we started to think about plan B, but got super lucky. Although it was cold that day, the rain held out on us. It was only when we packed up the last car when it started to sprinkle. How awesome is that?

Daddy gets the credit for coordinating the catering which was delicious, and coming up with a Fall Fair/Carnival theme. We wanted something that would work for both girl and boy, so it was perfect. I knew we wanted to make it memorable with small details, so we started thinking of what kind of games we would want for entertainment, and it went on from there. It turns out I really do enjoy party planning. Yes it can be stressful and hectic, and I did get butterflies in my stomach on the day of, just like I used to when I was a little girl, and was looking forward to my own celebrations. This was so worth all the hard work!!! And I loved how everything turned out.

Here is the invitation I designed.

First off I could not have done it without the help of my family. Both my parents and sister were there the day off to either pick up food/cake, help set up, clean up, or babysit.

Jeromey of course helped with the ideas and games, but my biggest helper in planning was his awesome cousin Sarah. We love you!!! She just ran with it. I don't even think I mentioned that I needed the help (and boy did I!), she just stepped right in and did. She gave me so many great ideas and helped me put together just about every detail for the event. Also J's aunt Maria (Sarah's mom) put together the cutest matching shirts for Cameron and Sascha with the number 1 and 4 on them embroidered with their names and Sarah completed their outfits. The party would not have been the same without her there, and we so love and appreciate her coming all the way from Florida to be there to celebrate the kids birthdays, and spend time with us. She was also my designated "photographer" which was huge because now with all that said and done, I have some awesome photos to remember it by. It was so so special, and we will always look back on it with fond memories.

I won't go into too much more detail on everything that we did, and let the pictures speak for themselves.

The party was a big success, and most importantly I think everyone really enjoyed themselves, and had a great time. We had face painting, and balloon making, and carnival games. Sascha refused to get her face painted, not sure if she was just overwhelmed or trying to be difficult since she had her face painted last year for her 3rd birthday at Legoland. We didn't try to have Cameron's done, because I am not sure a 1 year old could sit still enough for it, but the balloons they loved and played with them for at least 2 weeks after the party. I have never seen such awesome balloon making especially from a kid, everyone was very impressed! Carnival games were a big hit, and every child got a little prize at the end. Sascha choose "Tramp" from the movie "Lady and the Tramp", and she also choose a little "Pooh bear" for Cameron. Sascha got her Rapunzel cake that she wanted (no it didn't go with the Carnival theme, but this is one thing she was very particular with and ask for multiple times... and I definitely didn't want to disappoint her). And Cameron got cupcakes with little carnival guys on top.

The look on Sascha's face was priceless when she walked into the room all decorated. Her mouth dropped open and she was in awe.

The photo booth was so much fun, and especially awesome since everyone was so willing to participate, and be silly. Also it was a great way to be able to get pictures of all the guests who came.

The Details.
Welcome sign was made by the very talented artist named Sarah, as well as all the labels and props. I made the Happy Birthday Banner. :) The table "center piece" was a popcorn cup with a windmill (I learned how to make them on You-Tube & and large loli pop) The goodie bags were stuffed with some Carnival toys and had a Thank you label on them.


Fun times and memorable moments





Being silly is way more fun than being serious! We love our friends and family. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for celebrating the birthdays of the 2 most important little people in our lives


Here is a big THANK YOU to everyone in attendence. I got an idea for this from one of the Family magazines a few months before and thought it would be really cool to try out. Sarah helped line up all the toys and gifts that the kids got after their party to spell out the words "Thank You" Later on, I had Sascha pose to make the letter Y and the easiest thing to do to include Cameron was to make him the bottom of the exclamation mark. Would have been cool to have it done without the magic of Photoshop, however who was I kidding ... Cameron would have never sat still with all those toys around!