Zamara turns 3!

I made cake pops for Zizi's bday party. They turned out really amazing (thank you Sharon for helping decorate them at 11pm at night!!!), but they were more work than I anticipated.

What do you think?

If you want to know how to make them go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXCm7XTKXRc&feature=fvsr. It is a great video and is easy to follow.

Tax Deductable Fundraising!!!!

First Ballet Class!!

Yesterday was Zamara's first time at ballet class. Her good friend, Kate, has been taking ballet since last fall and has loved it. In December we all went to see the Nutcracker together and ZiZi has been excited about ballet ever since. So we decided to give it a try.

First off, it was very cute to see a 3-year olds ballet class. They tend to roll around on the floor and look in the mirror more than they dance, but it was so adorable to see them in the class wearing their tights and ballet slippers. There were only 4 girls in the class and I think that helped to keep them focused.

I was so proud of our little Z. She was not nervous at all and just walked right into the room when class started. I think it helped that she had her friend Kate there with her who already knew the ropes. Her teacher was amazing and did a lot of fun stuff while teaching them some basic techniques.

Zamara was so proud of herself when class was over. We let her wear her "ballet costume" (as she calls it) home and while I was making dinner she danced around the house doing some of the moves she learned in class. Every few minutes she would come running into the kitchen to show me her dancing and then run back into the living room to practice some more.

So, I think we will sign her up for the semester and see how it goes. I am including some pictures of the big class.

Jesus Conversation!

At bedtime, once teeth are brushed and jammies are put on, we snuggle in the lazy boy rocker and talk about the day, pray, just plain snuggle.

The other night I was snuggling with Zamara and we were talking about the people we loved. I told Zamara that I loved Jesus the very best and she asked me "Why?" I said, "I love Jesus because He loves me and took away all my sins."

She asked, "What are sins?". I said, "Sin is when we do something naughty."

Zamara said, "Oh, OK" then asked, "He takes ALL our sins away?"

I said, "Yes. He takes all our sins away if we ask Him."

To this she said, "Actually, He only takes some of them away, though."

So we went on for a few minutes with me trying to explain that yes, Jesus does take all of our sins away. It was a very cute conversation and so purely simple that it almost brought a tear to my eye. She has also been trying out some new vocabulary like, "actually" and "though". She tends to add them on to almost every sentence.

The whole conversation was very adorable and I wish I would have had a tape recording all of it. These are the conversations I want to remember for forever.

More Braid Pictures

At the hair salon!

Today was braid day! I picked Zamara up early from school and we went over to Angie's Hair Salon to get her hair braided. A friend had won a gift certificate at a charity event and passed it along to us. Zamara wanted to have extensions to make her hair longer so she could flip it around her head.

She had a lot of fun. Karen gave her candy, washed her hair, and made her feel very pampered. It took about 2 and 1/2 hours. (whew!) Zi did so great. She sat there the whole time watching videos on the ipod. I think it looks so cute. I didn't get any "after" pictures, but will take some tomorrow morning.

It was all great fun. I love that Zamara is girly and likes this kind of stuff.

Christmas School Program

Last night was ZiZi's school program. It was so cute!! She did such a good job (very little nose picking-which was an improvement from last year). We have video too but I haven't checked it out yet to see if any of it was usable. It was kinda dark in the auditorium and the pictures didn't turn out so great. Well, enjoy!

Also, today is hair braiding day at the salon! So excited to see what Zamara will look like. I am a little misty eyed thinking about this being her first time to the salon for braids. I will post pictures and video soon.

Merry Christmas,

Laura