Smith Notes: everyday life & atypical situations: 16 Minutes

N8 & I just witnessed the cutest Christmas Program, ever! Eri's 3s class, along with other 3s & 4s performed their heart out this evening. Eri's school provided babysitting for siblings, so Leona was dropped off! And very willingly I might add! She was leaning away from me with great effort, once she realized her toy options! Something tells me we'll have zero separation anxiety when it's her turn to go to school. We then found our seats & realized very quickly, that we were sitting too far back to capture a good picture (see below) but it did not matter. We were trying to laugh as quietly as possible. Eri was one of the first to walk in & when he started smiling with his goofy grin & funny outfit, man, it was hard to not cry from laughing so hard!
Now if you can imagine the chaos in our house the minutes before departure. We tried to rush through dinner yet Eri did not want to eat his grilled cheese. The one night I want him to hurry up & eat so we can get ready to go!!! After that bit of ridiculousness, we rushed around getting dressed. N8 had just gotten home, so he was getting ready, while I was dressing Eri..yet once Eri realized he was wearing a dress shirt, he said he needed suspenders & a tie....tie!! tie!!! I had given a friend his tie because it was too small!! I grabbed some suspenders, but he wanted the train suspenders. So after he was dressed, he was so excited to go. But first, he wanted to look at himself in the mirror. He then said he needed the blower.....blower? blower....blower?? No, Eri, you don't need the hair dryer. We've gotta go!!! Meanwhile, during all of this rushing, Leona kept taking off the shoes that we kept putting on her & running around the house acting very silly once she realized we were chasing her to get her shoes back on!
The funniest part of the show, was all of the kids trying to find their parents. It was almost a chain reaction. As soon as one found their mom or dad, they'd wave, or yell hello. And then the kid next to them would try to find his family...and so forth. Once Eri realized he should be looking for us, his expressions were priceless! He went from casual looking, to slight concern, to some frustration to enthusiastic recognition, with his silly laugh, smile & wave once he knew we were watching.
So, after listening to the entire Christmas program (which lasted an entire 16 minutes!) trying to capture as much video as possible (yes, I was THAT parent, with all of the multimedia gear trying to capture it all), we went to Eri's classroom to pick him up. He was having so much fun with all of his friends. We then drove around the "older" part of Wichita Falls (the part with actual grown trees) and looked at all of the Christmas lights. It was such a fun night!