The Nutcracker and a working girl

You can almost see Jared here. 

Jared's preschool invited the Charlottesville Ballet to perform The Nutcracker Suite and we happily attended.  The performance was actually on a day Jared did not have preschool but they sent home a flier inviting all kids enrolled in Tuesday and Thursday classes to attend with the other kids. I was so happy they did, it was really fun to take Jared and Lydia. 

The dancers performed quite a few dances. It was about 40 minutes so perfect for little kids. Jared's favorite performance was anything The Nutcracker performed and Lydia loved the "Chinese Dance." The Sugar Plum fairy was my favorite.  I don't know that either Jared or Lydia were inspired to take dance lessons but they had fun watching them. Neither of them has really ever expressed interest in taking dance lessons but they may just not know that it is a thing people do.

There were 2 other girls from his class that showed up and one of them was Mallory, Jared's favorite friend so he was super happy to see her on a not preschool day. I love that the Ballet came and performed.  They do quite a few community performances like this.  Tomorrow they are going to the library.  We went to the library today for their "Snow" theme story time. It was really fun with lots of great activities.  They read books and sang songs and had crafts to make.  We made an edible snowflake and threw snowballs.  They also brought out the large parachute and put lots of cotton balls in it for snow.  One of the librarians had made a sled out of a cardboard box and took kids on a sleigh ride.  It was fun.  Libraries are so great and Charlottesville is so fun!

I also started my new childcare job this week. I updated my profile on Care.com about 2 months ago and got "hired" just before Thanksgiving.  I am watching an almost 4 yr old girl (She turns 4 on Christmas Eve) named Samantha (Sam).  She attends preschool T,W,TH at the Waldorf School (which just happens to be around the corner from our house barely a 2 minute drive so great!) and is home on Mondays and Fridays.  So we go to her house Monday and Friday from about 8:30 until 4:15 when her brother gets home from school and then I pick her up from her preschool the other days and watch her from 2:45 until 5:00 - 5:30.  I was hoping for just 2 or 3 days a week not 5 but this seemed like the best fit for our situation.  I still have all of T,W TH mornings to do what I want and Lydia can take her nap. It doesn't conflict with Jared's preschool at all, it just fit well. I didn't really want a baby (cute as they are) because I still want to be able to go out and do things with Jared and Lydia.  Jared and Lydia had a lot of fun at her house Monday (it was weird to take them somewhere since Tanner always came to our house in Colorado) and she seemed to have a great time here yesterday. Her family seems very nice. I don't know that we are very similar but they are easy to get along with. I think it will work out really well.  It is nice to have another place to play especially now with the colder weather. There will be not so fun days but we are off to a great start and we are so relieved to have the extra money so we will not have to use our saving at least we have a better chance of not having to use any of our savings. Reading this makes me realize that I was pretty particular about what I wanted and am so grateful they picked me. I know that prayers are answered. I feel that prayers about finances have been my biggest concern since Mark and I have been married and we have ALWAYS had them answered. We have always been taken care of. It is such a blessing. We will ALWAYS pay our tithing!