From the Way Back Machine

So these videos come to us courtesy of Aunt Mary, who unearthed them from her camera recently. They were taken on August 5, 2007, so Eliza was just shy of 10 months old. This first one shows her still in her bouncing as dancing phase.

And this one cracks me up for the "no autographs, please" kind of look (with a tiny head shake) she gives Mary when asked if she could say hi.

Don't you just want to squeeze her???

Cowgirl Eliza!

This past Wednesday was Cowboy/Cowgirl day at school. We were luckily able to borrow some costume pieces from "A Christmas Story" (Ralphie's cowboy vest and hat from one of the fantasy sequences) and thus created Cowgirl Eliza who is pink, purple, and sparkly as all cowgirls should be. And really just too cute not to share. Yee haw!!!!

Recitals and Pageants

Makes us sound like an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras, doesn't it? (I've never actually seen that show, mind you, but I think even the occasional preview sums it all up pretty well) We're not that extreme, but Eliza has had some fun in the last year performing here and there.

Last spring was her dance recital where she was a cupcake (Eliza is the third from the left, next to to the teacher).

This fall, her class ended their first unit of inquiry, Recycling, with a performance for the parents. It won't make much sense in the video...but it didn't make much sense even if you were actually there. So this video will make you feel like you were ACTUALLY THERE. Doesn't get much better than that, does it? (This was also my first run at using my iPhone for video)

This fall, we also bought a digital piano (which is not the same as a keyboard and is way cool) and Eliza started taking piano lessons. She goes once a week with another girl named Elizabeth and in December they had a little recital with the other students in Miss Rachel's school. She loved it. Lessons start up again today and apparently there will be a third little girl in her class. But probably not named Elizabeth too.

Our year ended with a Christmas pageant at a nearby church. We didn't mean to end up in the pageant - we were just looking for somewhere to go on Christmas Eve that wasn't the place we went last year. So we attended service the Sunday before Christmas just to check it out. It's a small church so as new people we were very conspicuous. The woman in charge of the pageant heard we had a five year old and asked if she'd like to be in it. I said she would love to and when asked if she would like to be an angel or a sheep, I didn't even blink. Angel. Definitely angel. So not only was she an angel, one of 12, she was the Littlest Angel, which meant her halo was different than everybody else's and she got to carry a star. Totally adorable, if I do say so myself.

Of course, all that angelic-ness can wear a girl out....

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year!