Christmas 2012

We are fortunate to live this close to both sets of parents and were pleasantly surprised that each of them and my grandma wanted to come visit for Christmas.  I'm thinking the odds of this happening again isn't very likely.  My parents and grandma arrived on Saturday and Eric's parents arrived on Sunday and we spent lots of time just hanging out and catching up with each other.

 

Christmas Eve dinner

Santa and grandparents have visited the Winterbottom home!

Luckily I had been wrapping presents here and there over the month so it wasn't a big shore the night before Christmas.  I can only imagine how much time my mom spent wrapping since they brought a van full of presents. 
The girls weren't allowed to unwrap anything until all granparents were downstairs and ready to watch.  Lucky for them Santa and grandma left a few things unwrapped, as you can see we have to very happy girls!

 Very happy girls

 

 I don't know what she was looking for, but she must of had her eye on something in particular.

 

 Mom and her dog Mickey

 

 I love seeing all of the smiles.

 

Eric slicing up the ham.  We also had a turkey but somehow wasn't pictured!

 



 The night before everyone was leaving we had a little family photo courtesy of our remote control.

 Four generations of red heads!

 My parents, grandma, and the girls.

My grandma and the girls.

My grandma was having tooth problems the last two days at our house and wished she would have felt better and enjoyed it more. Glad she was able to make it to the doctor the same day they returned to Phoenix.  My only regret, we didn't get pictures with Eric's parents!  It was a great time having so many family members under our roof and hope against all odds that we can spend another Christmas here in Vegas.  It might not be the perfect place to live, but it's a wonderful having them only several hours away.

Gymnastics Winter Festival

Earlier this month the girls had a Winter Festival at gymnastics where each group got to perform some of the skills they have learned recently. Of course Etta got her cast a week or so beforehand so she was disappointed that she wasn't going to get to perform the routine her class has been practicing. Since we had already paid, her coach said she could still come out with the girls all dressed up and get a trophy, but that was it. We weren't expecting it but her coach ended up walking her out to the middle of the floor, did splits and waved to everyone. We weren't camera ready! Needless to say, Etta was happy for the 15 seconds of eyes on her.

Etta watching her class perform.

Chloe's class was so big it was split into two groups. The first group performed in front of the audience while Chloe, her BFF Riley , and the rest of the second group did some sit jumps on the tramp where we couldn't see. Then that was it. Needless to say I went to talk to the owner to set things right and she brought them out to perform so we could actually get some pictures. Of course we didn't get great pictures but it made the girls happy to see mom and dad smile and wave for them.



Waiting to perform.

Riley and Chloe

Fun Flipper Jrs.

At the end, everyone got a trophy and a chance to see Santa. It wasn't the best Santa, but the girls were happy none the less.

Happy Chloe.

Very happy Etta.

Chloe wasn't in the mood for pictures so we got Etta, Etta's BFF Mackenzie, and Riley.

Etta and Coach Ashley

The girls had lots of fun; performing, receiving a trophy, and seeing Santa just made their day. Etta's cast should be coming off Wednesday and she can't wait to hear if she can go back to gymnastics and ballet. I'll keep you posted.

Long Hair Short Hair

I've been growing my hair out for several years now with the intention of donating it to Locks of Love.  I thought I'd have enough to send in but my hair stylist said I either need to keep growing it out or send it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths since she wasn't going to go THAT short with my hair.  Locks of Love require 10 inches to donate for wigs and Pantene needs a minimum of 8 inches.  Well, of course mine ended up being 9 inches.

 

Before hair cut

After hair cut

I love the way my stylist (Melissa Sanchez at Centennial Hills Salon and Spa) did my hair.  Now I feel the need to go buy the special brush she used to style it.  Can I hold out until Christmas?  Etta is now talking about growing her hair out to donate.  What a kind heart she has.  It helps that she already has long hair. 

Greater Las Vegas Preliminary



I finally have pictures of the pageant I directed November 17th.  These are just a few of the several hundred that were taken.  We had 19 contestants and quite a few guest performances and thought it went really well; especially for my first pageant.  Let's take a look (I tried keeping it to just Etta and Chloe since I don't want to put pictures of other contestants up without asking):

 

Etta with the State Mini Miss and Miss

Chloe looking cute.

 

 Some sisterly love

 Chloe getting introduced.

 Etta being introduced.

 Etta, Chloe, and the State Tot getting pictured with the Tot group before interviews.

 Chloe did her hula hoop routine.  If you haven't seen the video, click here

 She gets up to three hula hoops!

 Etta performed twice, once during the baby competition and during the girl competition.  She loved it!

 

Now that I have one pageant under my belt I feel like the next one should be easier to do.  Etta and Chloe enjoyed helping out with the pageant and doing a talent on stage.  I couldn't have done it without Eric's help all day!  He took care of the girls while I was working on the pageant and he did lots of breaking down and cleaning up.  Luckily I don't have to ask him to do it again till next year.



Another Cast For Etta

As most of you know Etta injured her growth plate the beginning of June and was casted for that injury.  Her ankle has been bothering her ever since.  Even last week she sat out most of gymnastics one night since it was hurting so much.  I guess it's no surprise that she chipped her ankle when she tripped on a mound of dirt outside of school Monday.  It's a good time to let her foot heal this month.  We'll see if she's healed to start competing in gymnastics in January. 

The hardest part of this for Etta is seeing her friends going to gymnastics and ballet without her.  Sitting still isn't one of her strongest attributes!