Frosty the Snowman at Casa Manana and Smashburger

We celebrated the Christmas season with a magical performance of Frosty the Snowman at Casa Manana Theater with a group of our homeschool friends.  Casa Manana always puts on amazing performances for children and families.

The costumes, set, and acting was all great.  There was lots of singing and dancing to make the show extra fun.  

Casa Manana Theater is located in the heart of the Fort Worth Cultural District at 3101 West Lancaster Avenue.  You can reach them at 817-332-2272 or online at www.casamanana.org.  Frosty runs through December 22 and you don't want to miss it!

After the show, we talked about where we should go for lunch.  We only come to this area a couple of times a year so I wanted to try something new and different.  But the kids remembered that we first discovered Smashburger on South University Drive after a Casa Manana play a couple of years ago.  It's our favorite place to go for burgers and we've been to many other locations around DFW but they wanted to go to our "original" Smashburger for lunch today.  Who am I to argue?

Their food is fresh and delicious.  Of course the kids love getting a root beer float or milkshake with their meals.

Yummy to the last drop!

Last Swim Class for the Semester

Today was the last class for the kids' swimming lessons for the semester.  They are taking lessons at Aqua Kids and they absolutely love it.  The teachers are really great and my kids have always learned quickly here.  They follow a set curriculum so there is consistency with what is taught between the instructors and between different class levels.  The classes are only 30 minutes per week but I'm always amazed at how much my kids pick up in that short class time.  Parents get to watch through giant glass windows.  The kids learn techniques and practice swimming for about 20 minutes then they get to go down the water slides twice.  Then the parents are invited out by the pool for "parent show off" where they watch their child do what they learned in class that day.  

For the last day of class, they usually do a few more fun things.  Today they played around with balancing on a big floating board.

Nicholas swims about 15-20 laps per class and his instructor is working on refining his technique for the different strokes.  Here is a video of him swimming freestyle and back stroke.  Sorry I didn't zoom in as he swam farther away.  I was too busy watching him to pay attention to what I was doing with the camera :)

Rachel has made amazing progress in just these last few months.  She started in Preschool 1 and had not been in a pool without her floaties on.  Most kids stay in the same class all semester but she had to be moved to a Preschool 2 class mid-semester because she just takes to swimming like a little fish.  She will be in Preschool 3 for her next class.

Sorry I only caught the end of Rachel's swimming in this video below:

I hope to sign them both up for the next level of classes next semester.  But if not, we may sit out a semester and just take a 2 week camp there during the summer.

Lots of Bows

To keep Rachel's hair out of her face, I usually pull it back with a barrette that has a cute bow on it or a headband.  Rachel is totally girly and she loves all of her hair accessories.  Today she decided that if one hair accessory was nice then FIVE must be FABULOUS!

Icemagedon Lingers On

Yes, everything is still iced over around here!  It's been like this for days now!  I had to get out to go to a doctor's appointment in Plano and it was a little scary at times, especially when the thick layer of ice on my van's roof decided to suddenly slide forward and cover my windshield while I was driving.  But the sun should be out today and by tomorrow we should stay above freezing for a while.  Yay!

While I was out and about I ventured to a grocery store.  We had stocked up well before the ice storm but we were out of milk and a few other things.  It was weird seeing the shelves so bare.  Delivery trucks had not been able to make it in to deliver food to the stores.  I gathered a few things and headed home to find this snow diva all dressed and ready to go play in the ice.

We headed to a neighborhood playground to help shake the cabin fever for a little while.  Stuart pulled off the last of the chunk of ice on the van's roof.  Look how thick it is!

Rachel's favorite thing to do at a playground is to swing.  She certainly knows how to pump her feet to make herself swing higher but she still prefers to have someone pushing her.

Even Daddy and Nicholas caught a little air time on the swings!

I was a little worried that climbing would be slippery but it really wasn't.  Most of the playground equipment was dry and easy to climb on.

....or spin on as you'll see in this video below:

When we got back home, the kids were still playing with ice.  Nicholas discovered that the big sheet of ice on top of Stuart's truck was starting to slide off the back of it.  He just had to climb up in the bed and play with that.  You've got to check out our crazy child in this video clip below:

Ice = Hot Chocolate

So what do you do when your whole town is iced in for days?  

Drink lots of hot chocolate, of course!

And you must get EVERY. LAST. DROP.

Mmmmm, chocolate!

Stay warm!