The Show Must Go On!

So what, you ask, does the Dotson family do on cold Sunday afternoons? Well, it doesn't get better than this. Simone decided that she was going to put on a dress up show for mommy and daddy. We may have a singer on our hands yet...

And for the grand finale...

A Snowman At LAST!

Simone has been dying to make a snowman since before Christmas but we haven't had a big enough snowfall of wet packable snow.... UNTIL NOW! Last night's storm dropped about 10 inches of perfect snowman snow. The sun and mild temps had it melting fast today, but not before we were able to get outside and build this beauty. Officially, Simone's very first snowman. Her name(yes, it's a girl), as christened by Simone, is... Madeline
.

On the path right behind our yard Simone spotted instantly this snowman that other kids had built and knocked down. I guess you can think of it as snowman roadkill.

Absolutely Pinkalicious!

On the very last day of our Christmas break we trekked into New York City to see Pinkalicious the Musical -- based on Simone's ULTIMATE favorite book in the whole world. She has every word of the story memorized and she loved the show. I don't think she even blinked the entire time. Afterwards we got to meet the cast for pictures and autographs -- a real treat!
Simone with her Pinkalicious magic wand. It was like real gold to her.








After the show, we ate with the whole gang at a great little French bistro in midtown -- La Bonne Soupe. We enjoyed a very cozy, scrumptious dinner which included, of course, French onion soup. Simone napped the whole time. She was completely wiped out from all the excitement.

Blue Mountain Snow Tubing

After two days in the house we decided to take advantage of the new snow and take Simone snow tubing with her cousins. The family tubes were a real treat to be ablet to come down all together, although we also tested the single tubes. It was great fun and, of course, Simone preferred the fastest spinning runs possible.

Christmas Eve 2010

We continued our Christmas traditions this year with Simone appreciating more and more of all the holiday happenings. Everything about Christmas is magical when you are three years old.

Dressed for Mass on Christmas Eve.

Simone fell asleep on the drive to church and slept on the pew through the entire Mass.

Afterwards, we visited baby Jesus in the Nativity scene.

Opening her gifts Christmas morning.

This year Simone asked Santa for a red kitchen, some toy food and a Pillow pet. Needless to say, she did in fact receive them all for being such a good girl.

This year Simone was finally old enough to officially join the kids table for Christmas Eve dinner.

Simone with her cousins, sporting their Christmas hats.

And for the grand finale, a Christmas chorus...

We Froze the Grinch

We went again to the ICE show at National Harbor this year. And again it was impressive. We went on a weekend, so the lines were a little overwhelming --lesson learned. The theme was the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, which incidentally turned out to be one of Simone's favorite Christmas shows on TV. I think she watched it at leat 5 times this season.
The view from the balcony in our room.

Not sure who's grinchier--daddy or the Grinch? tough call.

Another year, another tree!

For the 8th straight year, we made the hike out to the tree farm to hunt the perfect Christmas tree. Once again, we scored a lovely blue spruce that we cut and drug with Simone's help. We started off with some hot apple cider and then made the climb and begun the hunt. After about an hour, we settled on one about6 ft tall and perfectly manicured.

It was a long drag back to the barn but Simone was a trooper both uphill and down.

And her reward was a peppermint candy that made her happier than any old tree ever could!