Dancing Queen

This past Thursday, Meg had her first dance recital. We take a mommy and me class every week and she really loves it. We have been working on her dance "I Love You Santa Clause" for a few months now and she really knew it. We would sing the song at home a lot and she would practice. When I would try to get her to do it for Grandma and Grandpa or for Dave, she would get shy and embarrassed and would not do it, or would go and do it in the corner where no one could see her. It was really funny. As the recital came near, her teacher told us that we may be surprised because the little girls usually love the fact that everyone is watching them and they will perform, even if you don't think they are going to. I bribed her with a Dinaco helicopter and that did the trick. My parents and grandparents came to watch her. They had it at a local middle school and the auditorium was packed. When we got in, Meg couldn't take her eyes off of the girls dancing on the stage. I thought that she was getting stage fright, but come to find out, she was really into dancing. When it was our turn, she got right up on the stage and performed. She remembered all of the steps but got a little distracted at the end and was bending over looking through her legs when she should have been doing something else. Oh well, what can you do? I was very proud of her though. She did such a great job. I think dance is something we will keep her in. She really seems to like it. We will try and get the video of her dance up soon. It is so cute!

Meg with Grandma and Grandpa.
They gave her flowers after her performance.
She was so proud.

Meg and her friend Chayse. They loved all of the attention they were getting.

Lights at Temple Square

On Saturday, we went to see the lights at Temple Square with Jim, Sarah and their kids. Meg was SO excited to be with her cousins and was especially excited to be in her snowsuit. We pulled it out of her closet and put it on her and she kept raising her hands in the air and shouting, "Snow!" (We hadn't even left yet.) It was a really cold night but Dave brought his jet boil camping burner and made us all hot cocoa. People around us were asking where we had bought it. We could have sold it and made a few bucks, but it was nice to have to be able to warm up a little. Meg wasn't very interested in the lights but wanted to run around and eat any snow that she could get to. She loved following her big cousins, Zach and Leia, around and wanted to do everything that they were doing. It was a fun night and was nice to be able to hang out with the other Alvords.

Jocelyn, Zach, Meg, Leia and Annette

Dave making us cocoa. I felt like we were homeless or something.

Gus had a great time and seemed to stay pretty warm.
His cheeks were so plump and rosy.

I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas....

Tonight for Family night I had the genius idea to go and see Santa at the mall. I don't know why, but I really didn't think it would be very crowded and I wanted to get Meg and Will's picture with the same Santa that we have in years past. We get to the mall and the line is SUPER LONG. At this point I was still excited about the whole plan so Will and I got in line and Dave took Meg and walked around the mall, rode the carousel, rode the escalator a few dozen times and came back to see that I was only about 1/3 of the way through the line. They left again and came back to find me about 1/2 of the way through the line. I think that they should make a rule that anyone who does not believe in Santa should not be allowed to sit on his lap. It was getting ridiculous because I thought Santa was on a break because the line wasn't moving at all and then when I would look to see what was going on, some teenagers would be sitting there chatting him up. So, we finally made it to the front of the line, we get our kids on Santa's lap, take a quick picture with the phone and then we were on our way. As soon as Meg gets off of Santa's lap he says, "It looks like I have a wet knee." I was horrified to find that Meg had peed her pants sometime when we were in line and had gotten Santa's leg all wet. I felt so bad and apologized but all that I got was a glare from Old Saint Nick. So, needless to say, we'll be lucky if Santa gives our home a visit this year. What a night!

Gus is crawling!

Our little guy finally figured out how to crawl yesterday. He has really been thinking about it a lot lately and has spent many hours on his hands and knees rocking, but yesterday he decided to take the plunge. Everyone always says that life gets so much harder when they are crawling, but I am excited and am really happy for him. He seems so much happier now that he can get to where he wants to go. He has been changing so much lately. He now has six teeth (one more soon to come). He is showing a little attitude too. He and Meg got in their first fight the other day. He was sitting next to his basket of toys and had it propped up so he could easily reach inside. Meg came from the other side and pulled the basket down. He was MAD and tried to pull it back. It was so funny. I guess I got a little glimpse of what's to come. We're so happy that he is learning so many new things. Way to go Gus!

Light the Night

In the South Jordan City complex (where Dave's office is) they host "Light the Night" where they light up the big Christmas tree and all of the lights around the towne center after everyone counts down. We went last year and thought it was a lot of fun. We went again this year with my parents. We ate at The Pie for dinner and headed over to the ice skating rink just in time for them to turn the lights on. We heard Santa coming on a fire engine and Meg got to sit on his lap. She is not scared of Santa at all and when asked what he is going to bring her, she always says, "CANDY!" That should be easy enough. It was a pretty cold night so we didn't stay long, but it was a lot of fun hanging out with my parents.

Fun with Grandma

On Monday, Meg went to my mom's house for her special day. My mom usually comes and picks her up, but we wanted to go to a boutique so I took Meg to her house. We went to the boutique and I planned on leaving her at my mom's house when we got back and then I was just going to go home. On the way home, Meg became VERY grouchy. She was whining and crying about us singing a song that she didn't want us to sing, etc. I finally asked her if she wanted me to go away so that she could have her special day with grandma alone. She said yes. How mean! So, I left and my mom said the she was happy the rest of the day. My mom bought a gingerbread house that she and Meg were going to put together that day. From what I heard it was a very interesting experience. My mom said that she couldn't put the candy on the house faster than Meg was taking it off and eating it. Meg even requested that my mom pipe the icing directly onto her tongue. Meg is just like her dad in the way she loves candy. She will do anything for one little M&M. The house turned out very cute though and Meg was very proud. She would tell Dave and I, "I maked dis candy house" as she picked icing off of her little house. Thanks mom for being such a fun Grandma. Meg obviously loves her special time and doesn't want anything to ruin it...especially me.