Half Birthday Angel

Sunday was Evie's half birthday and also a very busy day for us.  We went to church and then scooted off to midtown for a birthday party of 4 girls, all with masks and socially distanced cupcake eating. 

Then we had to come home and get ready for her performance of The Nutcracker vignettes.  They let each class do the choreography they had worked on for the movie, at the outdoor theatre at the Botanic Gardens.  Evie's performance as an angel was beautiful.

After the performance, we were able to go through the Botanic Gardens Holiday Wonders exhibit.  It was pretty chilly, but that didn't deter our angel.

Then, Granna and Grannadaddy (who had been at the performance with us) and Kathy and Rickie met up in our backyard on the deck for a socially distanced dinner and half birthday brownies.  Granna, of course, had a present for her that was perfect: an angel ornament with a June birthstone.

Seth and I don't usually give her a half birthday gift, but she said the only thing she wanted from Santa this year was an Elf Pet and for Siouxsie to get better.  Well, the Elf Pet is something you need before Christmas Eve so that the pet can help light the northern lights for Santa to find his way, so we decided to get that for her.  She had said just earlier when we saw Santa at the gardens that she wanted an Elf Pet and she knew we wouldn't be getting it for her because we don't do Elf of the Shelf, so this face is pure, 100% surprise.

Here she is blowing out her half birthday candle.

After such a busy weekend, we had a normal Monday and then on Tuesday she had ballet where she practiced her part as a sheep.  She had been only an understudy for the sheep because she'd had perfect attendance.  Well, let me back up.  She is a Lower Level 2 so she was only going to be an Angel in the Nutcracker this year, whereas the Upper Level 2s were angels and sheep.  They also rehearse for an extra hour on Mondays.  So it was a real honor when her teacher asked her to be an understudy for the sheep.  Well now, she is going to be in the show next Sunday when they do vignettes at the Botanic Gardens and she is so excited.  So after rehearsal, we went to the drive in where they were screening their Nutcracker Movie.  Granna and Grannadaddy met us there and we all enjoyed her debut on the big screen.

Dressed up in the Nutcracker dress Aunt Aimee sent, to go see herself perform in The Nutcracker Movie

Wednesday was a nice day so we decided after school to go to the new playground that was installed behind the school last summer.  They were finishing up when COVID hit so it's relatively untouched.  Only the kids whose parents bring them up the school have been playing on it, so it was neat to check it out.

Thursday was the first night of Hanukkah.

Last night was Grammy's birthday so we got on Zoom with her and Aunt Jill, Uncle Eric, and Aunt Madi.  Today we have pretty much been chilling at home.  Evie is supposed to do her show at the Gardens tomorrow as a sheep, but the weather forecast looks kinda questionable, so we'll see.