Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Nutcracker









Three days before Christmas we had the extreme pleasure of taking Seleia, Elora and Amarra to the Keller Auditorium to see their very first performance of The Nutcracker. The girls know both the music and the story well and so the anticipation built for a couple of months prior to the big day! We got all dressed up in our Christmas dresses and the girls got to wear a smidge of blush and some shiny pink lip gloss. Even the walk from the parking garage, with music in the crisp, cool air and twinkling lights on the trees was exciting that night! We sat in the second row, right in the center, so after a very fun lecture on the history of the Nutcracker ballet the girls spent most of the time prior to the show standing over the orchestra pit oohing and aahing while watching them warm up. (Seleia developed a renewed zeal for violin practice.) You could feel the excitement emanating from the girls at each new scene Amarra could barely sit still as she waited for the mouse king to appear! Elora was downright giddy on the edge of her seat. Even Joel could not get over how much fun it was, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening with all of his girls. (And Melanie survived Dashiell's first babysitter.  Thanks, Lori!) And with that, a new Juhala Family holiday tradition was born!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 
(and from Elora...."God bless us, every one!")

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Nativity









This year our church held it's 33rd Annual Singing Christmas Tree. I had the pleasure of singing in the tree again, but it was even more exciting because our whole family got to participate! The last few songs are always accompanied by a live nativity scene, and Dashiell played the part of baby Jesus for the opening show! He was perfect, all sleepy and smiley! The girls were in all 5 performances, changing back and forth between being angels, wise men and shepherds each time. (Elora and Amarra spent the first show gathering hay and feeding their stuffed sheep....quite funny!)  Joel was a very proud Joseph and was very moved by having his whole family together celebrating the birth of Jesus (especially after all that we went through for the birth of Dashiell!). What a lovely blessing!

Monday, December 20, 2010

The Perfect Tree
















Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving we pack up our family and head up the mountain to find the perfect Christmas tree. Usually we can wander for ages before we all agree, but this year we found it in less than half an hour. What took forever was the fact that there was just enough snow hanging around on the ground to have an ongoing snowball fight as we wandered through the trees! The girls were so delighted! Everyone had their own favorite tree, from Charlie Brown style to simply ginormous, but in the end we compromised (Compromise, according to Fancy Nancy's Splendiferous Christmas, means getting the tree that Mom likes best. Fairly accurate definition!) on a beautiful 9 footer. (You can see Joel hugging it above!) Dashiell hung out, chillin' in the Moby Wrap, just happy to be there! Seleia and Amarra sung (or rather hollered) Christmas carols while Elora "helped" load the tree on the truck. Afterward we headed home while singing along to what the girls have dubbed "Christmas Radio" and looked at all the festive lights. We could not have asked for more fun!

Santa's Little Helpers


Meet Lily and Milly, Santa's twin elves! They're working hard to get ready for Christmas!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Best. Reactions. Ever.















 
Seleia Vaughn is at such a fun age. When she turned Eight she was so overjoyed by each and every one of her gifts.....as delighted by the coloring pad as she was by the nail polish!! No longer a little girl, but not quite a big one: the best of both worlds! She had a lovely evening of friends, fun and food to celebrate her eight little trips around the sun, and loved every minute! We are so blessed by her!