Cupcakes and football

Yes, cupcakes and football do go together. It's a bit of a stretch, but they do.

Sprinkles, the infamous cupcake bakery that has outposts in Beverly Hills and Dallas, was running a promotion this weekend in honor of the Cowboys being in the playoffs. Anyone who wore Dallas Cowboys gear to Sprinkles got a free cowboy cupcake. They offered their signature cupcake for the giveaway - red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and a blue star decoration on top to honor the Cowboys. Given that the cupcakes cost $3.75 each this was a pretty good deal. And since I am all about rewarding/bribing my children for good behavior with sugary treats, I used this as an incentive for Amelia and John since they each have a Tony Romo clothing item. We had never been to Sprinkles before (I can't really justify spending that much for cupcakes!), but I was curious to see whether the shop would live up to the hype. So after the cowboys disastrously lost their game we headed over to Sprinkles to get the free cakes.

I'll cut to the chase and tell you that Amelia and John were not impressed with their cupcakes. I was skeptical that they would like the red velvet cake but I told them that it was vanilla with red coloring for decoration to try and get them excited. The children didn't really buy my story and they didn't like the cake either. And to top it off they didn't much like the icing. Amelia, who is normally the icing girl, said that it was too sweet. Neither of the kids finished their treat.

I tried a bite of their lefetovers and I thought the cupcake was tasty, though I'm not sure it was enough to make me go back on a regular basis. Scott and I split a carrot cake cupcake and while that too was very good I'm not sure the cakes were worth the hype. In addition to the high cost, we had to wait about 15 minuntes in line to get the cakes so going to Sprinkles is an endeavor. The woman behind me in line ordered two dozen and her bill was almost $100. Yikes!

So on the way home in the car (before we tried the cupcakes) I mentioned to Amelia and John that all the Cowboys fans sure will be mad that the team had lost. Amelila surprised me then when she made the following comment: (chuckling) "Well, mom, then the loss will be good for them. They need to learn that life is not all about football!".

Her matter-of-fact comment caught me off gaurd and I laughed aloud. Amelia then asked what was so funny and I asked her where she had heard that statement, that life isn't all about football. She said that she didn't know where she had heard it but that it was true. I told her to go home and tell that to her dad and she stated, "Oh no, mom, I don't think dad would think that is very funny".

Fun with my camera

My lovely husband gave me a new camera for Christmas. I have been wanting to upgrade my photography of the kids for quite awhile so I planted very direct hints in the fall to Scott that a new camera would be most welcome as a Christmas gift if he were so inlined to give one. So lo and behold (not that I was surprised because Scott has always been thoughtful in giving gifts), I received my beloved Canon Rebel on Christmas day! Yea! And I took my beloved new camera to Arizona to gain experience playing around with this wonderful device.

The shutter speed is so fast that I can capture images like this - what a sweet smile on my girl!


And this image of John below - the boy rarely smiles so the rapid shutter speed really came in handy here!



And finaly a lovely photo of Amelia and John with their grandparents. I love this photo. Surely the point-and-shoot could have captured this, but I don't know if it could have been as well done as my new better-than-average camera.
Love it! Thanks, honey. I love my new camera!

Arizona

I shudder to realize how tardy I am in posting photos from our fun trip to Arizona after Christmas. But somehow life has gotten in the way of me having time for myself. Between being busy preparing for the new semester at work, recovering from Christmas at home, and dealing with extreme weather in Dallas (wind chills below zero - not fun!) and Scott's unexpected travel for work, this all has thrown the regular routine into a tailspin. But tonight the kids are in bed and I have a nice glass of red wine on the table and about an hour before I need to go to bed, so finally I have time to post some pictures.

In summary, we all had a grand time enjoying five days in the mostly warm and sunny climate of Arizona between December 26 and the 31st. The Texas Wilsons are all most appreciative of grandma and grandpop's generosity in sponsoring and planning this trip for our family. We were glad to have this time together with family in lieu of spending the holiday together. Our days in Tucson consisted of a few planned child and adult-friendly activities mixed in with shopping trips and outings to a local park and other activities to keep us all occupied. We enjoyed it all - from the kids' innocent excitement from seeing cactus for the first time on the side of the road, to the elaborate displays and exhibits in the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and other venues.

First are a few photos from our excursion to the Pima Air museum, the third-largest airplane museum in the United States (I believe). We saw hundreds of old airplanes, ranging from fighter jets to passenger airplanes, all in the midst of the wide expanse of the desert. This was a very interesting museum.


Below are a few photos taken during our excursion to the Wild West town in Tucson. John and Jack make an adorable indian and cowboy, respectively! And Jack certainly enjoyed himself on the carousel with Laura and his cousins. Laura discovereed a great park near our hotel that had an elaborate playground for children in addition to the dozens of ducks and geese to feed in the pond. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon watching the children feed the ducks and play together.

And yes, by the end of the trip Amelia and John (and I think Jack too) got their fingers pricked on cactus. Despite repeated warnings not to touch the cactus, before the trip was over they both had minor encounters

with the cactus and small finger-pricks to learn their lesson - Do not touch the cactus!

Below is a shot of Amelia and John on a rock in the shallow riverbed in Sabino canyon. One of our favorite aspects of the trip was the time we spent in the canyon - spectacular scenery - see below.

This is one of my favorite photos from the trip...

Though the most popular one in our house might be the following. It's the Wilson family influence is all I can say about this.

Christmas Eve update

It's Christmas Eve and I should be in bed by now as it is 10:00 p.m. I should be preparing for the excitement of tomorrow but instead I am caught up in the holiday moment, trying to relax a bit, and savoring the last of my wine before retiring for the evening. Scott is playing old-fashioned Christmas carols on his laptop across the room and I am quite comfortable, so why not look through some of my photos from December?

Below is a photo of Amelia from last weeks' annual parent observation day at her ballet class. Amelia looks so grown-up here! The skirt is an added element to her ballet outfit this year. Amelia says that the skirt makes her dance better. :-) And I am just a sucker for a cute girl who asks politely for a treat when we go to the ballet store for our annual purchase of shoes.


Today we got a rare treat in Dallas - it snowed on Christmas Eve! The snow was unexpected and eventually the accumulation was only about an inch. Not much by northeners' standards but for Dallas this was a big deal. It was really pretty because the flakes fell for about six hours (a long time for Dallas!), but given that the temperatures were so warm a few days ago the accumulation of snow was pretty weak. But...I have personally never experienced a white Christmas before and I think this is fabulous! The kids loved it! They quickly learned how to make very tiny snowballs and then shove them in each others' mouths. No joke!

Later tonight the snow had accumulated a bit more. I am hoping that snow will still blanket the backyard in the morning as the children will be so excited!

The kids are super-excited about Christmas and Santa's impending arrival. Tonight we prepared our plate of cookies for Santa along with carrots for the reindeer, and Amelia was excited to leave this note for Santa with our other goodies. I love it and I think she is such a sweet girl for wanting to write this note on her own accord. Love the P.S., by the way. I think she was meaning good luck with flying because she thinks the snow makes it harder for Santa to fly, but still I think it is funny.

Merry Christmas to all! We are so blessed this holiday season!

God's nose

Scott and I went out Saturday night and the children stayed at home with Liz, one of their favorite babysitters. When we got home Liz recounted this story to us. A little background: John had a minor bloody nose earlier in the evening, which I suppose is what made him think about noses. And earlier that day Scott and John went to Home Depot to purchase a new garage door opener.

Liz: John came out of his room shortly after I put him to bed and complained that his nose hurt a little bit. I told him it would feel better after a good night's sleep. Then John asked me, "Liz, is God's nose as big as this house?" I said yes, it probably is. Then John asked me, "Is God's nose bigger than that place where you go to buy a garage door opener?"

Still excited for Christmas

The Christmas spirit is alive and well in our house. As Amelia gets smarter and learns more in school she understands how various academic subjects apply to real-life. This comes in handy when needing to subtract whatever the date is from 25 to announce each day just how many more days we have to wait until Christmas! Amelia's daily announcements combined with our advent calendars are helping us all to count down for the holiday.

John and Amelia participated in a Christmas story pageant at church a couple of weeks ago. This event involves all the youth of the church, from high school age down to the three year-olds. Amelia has participated before but this year was John's first to don a costume and march to the front of the hall as part of the nativity scene.

It's hard to tell from the photo below, but John is dressed as a dove. The picture doesn't capture it, but he was really a cute dove! And he was really funny while onstage with lots of adults staring at him. I was sitting in the second row (close to where he was) and he kept whispering in my direction, "Mom, can I come off here and give you a hug?" I would mouth the word "NO" back to him, and he would try again. After a dozen times asking he settled down and watched the program, likely wondering why on earth he and his sunday school classmates were all propped at the front of the room. Each class was a different animal, and Amelia's first grade class were dressed as donkeys. The chilren and adults sang Christmas carols, and the adults especially enjoyed seeing the chidlren all decked out to illustrate the Nativity scene.

This past weekend I participated in the Dallas White Rock half marathon, my last run for 2009. I was pretty excited about this race as I have never run this half course before. The event also includes a full marathon and relay races in addition to the half, so the crowd of runners is large - a huge race unlike any I have participated in before. I had a great time!

But that's not the point. The point is that the photo below is indirectly relevant to the story. I had to go downtown to registration to pick up my materials the day before the race and the kids were along for the ride. I had never been to the Dallas convention center before so I didn't know that there is a large conglomeration of steer statues arranged in a public art display in front of the convention hall. I think they are designed to resemble a steer run, or whatever you call it when a bunch of steers are herded together. The kids were not happy about posing with the steers, but I thought this square was cool enough that I wanted a photo. It was more impressive in person, if you can imagine 40 steers barreling down a hill in the middle of downtown. Very Texas.

Then the night the race was over Scott and Amelia hosted their Y Princess group at our house. This is the group of ten girls and their dads that gets together monthly for fellowship and an activity. The December activity was decorating ornaments and Christmas cookies at our house. I set everything up, which was easy sinice Amelia and I had made the cookies earlier in November when the boys weere out of town, and then John and I were forced to leave the house for nearly two hours so the dads and girls could bond. It was a Sunday night, between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m., and I found it challenging to come up with something to engage John in something interesting during this time. As we were leaving the house I asked him whether he would like to participate in numerous different activities - go to a restaurant, drive around and look at Christmas lights, etc., none of which seemed to excite him. It was nearly dark outside (and cold to boot), so going to a park wasn't an option. And it was late enough on a Sunday that an indoor playground at the mall wasn't an option. I was confused and my legs were tired from the race and all John could say was "PLEASE, can we go to Chuck E Cheese?!?" And I steadfastly said no to this, as I can't think of more places I dislike more than Chuck E Cheese. The chaos of a hundred kids running amok and the noise and the lights from the games make me crazy. Especially on a Sunday night when I an happy but tired and all I want is to relax with my boy and a beer.

So what I decided to do which is COMPLETELY out of character for me, was to take John to Dave and Busters. I dislike Dave and Busters just about as much as I dislike Chuck E Cheese, but I thought there would potentially be a couple of advantages over Chuck E Cheese. One, it was a Sunday night at the more adult-oriented facility, thus less unsupervised children running amok. Two, I was hoping it wouldn't be too crowded because it was a Sunday night. Three, they have a bar, so beer was an option. So I suggested it as an option, and John was thrilled! He was SO happy, and was more adept thatn I thought he would be with playing some of the games. Of course most of the games at D&B are geared towards adults but with my help John managed just fine. We raced cars and motorcycles and even a jet ski, and at the end I convinced him to play two rounds of old-fashioned skee ball with me. For $10 worth of tokens, plus the cost of the beer, it ended up being a nice evening for both of us. Below is John on a motorcycle, staring intently at the screen.

I can't remember the cause for this photo, so let's just call it a cute photo of the kids playing around on the couch one night before bed.

And last but not least, Amelia our special snowflake. Amelia's teacher hosts a Christmas play for the entire elementary school. They are the only class to put on a Christmas play so we feel special for having been lucky enough to be in Miss Savage's class this year. The show was quite impressive, as it included six songs, dancing, a plot with Santa and elves, reindeer and snowflakes, and a cute story to match. Amelia did a good job as one of the five snowflakes and she did an even better job as one of the narrators of the story. In the photo below she is posing proudly after the performance was over.

After the Christmas play I went back to Amelia's classroom for her class Christmas party. I noticed that all the kids had letters to Santa posted on the front of their lockers, which Amelia later told me they made as a project during computer lab. Amelia's letter is cute and quite business-like - short and to the point!

Enjoying the Christmas season

Getting into the spirit of the Christmas season has finally begun at the Wilson household! Hooray! After returning from our tropical Thanksgiving earlier this week it was time to put the scarecrows in the garage, pitch the pumpkins, and catch up to our neighbors in decorating for Christmas over the weekend.

We got in the holiday spirit by starting off our weekend attending the Dallas Christmas Children's Parade Saturday morning. What a fun event! A good analogy to this parade would be to scale down the Macy's Thanksgiving parade quite a bit but with the same elements. Dallas' parade was filled with dozens of marching bands, inflatable balloons, floats, clowns, etc., just on a teeny bit smaller scale compared to the larger parades that are on TV.

The Dallas parade is a huge community event that draws about 400,000 people downtown each year. We purchased bleacher seats in advance so that we wouldn't have to arrive before dawn to secure seats on the curb. And while we prempted the seating issue in advance, what we could not predict, nor prepare for, was the COLD morning we had in Dallas today. The internet weather sources said that the temperature when we left the house was about 28 degrees, and with the wind chill I would guess that the temperature never got above the 40 degree mark all morning. We bundled up with layers beneath our heaviest coats and hats and mittens for everyone, though it was still chilly for all of us. Luckily, our seats were in the sun so that helped a bit.

We rode the DART train downtown, (public transportation) which pleased the children immensely as they thought this was much fun. Once we got to the downtown stop, we walked several blocks until we found our parade seats. Downtown is decorated for Christmas!

We only waited about 15 minutes in the bleachers before the parade started, and during this time we all had the chance to warm up in the sun a bit.

Below are a few shots of our favorite parts of the parade. This elf balloon was one of our favorites!

These white horses are beautiful!

John and Scott look great in this photo!

And check out Amelia on the DART train on the ride home! Is she posing for the camera, or what?!? That's a santa sticker on her cheek.

Oh, and I forgot to mention thus far an essential ingredient to making our day in the cold as smooth as possible - the incessant bribing of our children with sweet treats. We encouraged them to "keep warm" with doughnuts before the parade, and John weaseled his dad into buying him cotton candy after the parade. The photos tell it all. I obviously have nothing against feeding our chidlren incredible amounts of sugar, so long as it works well for our plans that day. Ha ha.

Once we were home, the rest of the day was focused on decorating the house for Christmas. We put up all the decorations inside. And then tonight, after the kids had dinner and weere ready for bed, we decorated the tree with our ornaments. I really like our Christmas tree. Besides the beautiful ornaments that my mom has sewed for us, the rest are largely ornament projects from the kids' preschool classes, which are adorable in their own right. Add to that the ornaments my mom saved from my youthful days, and we have a nice, casual, perasonalized Christmas tree. Every year I try to get a nice photo of the children posing nicely in front of the tree, and wouldn't you know that (as is typical) Amelia posed beautifully and John refused to cooperate. This is the best of the best. But the kids had fun decorating, which is really all that matters.

Amelia took the camera session a bit further and posed excessively after the dual shot. I love this photo, as it captures her enthusiasm for the tree-decorating session.

This was a good first day of the Christmas season for us - can't wait to feel the spirit more as the month goes on!