Can a 3 year old ice skate?

To continue the "Going North" vacation/holiday experience, I thought it would be a good idea to go from the snow to the ice skating rink. Since Jade handled the snow so well, she should be great on the ice, right? My friend Sarah (who brought her 4 year old son Coen) started out by saying, "I hope they last more than 5 minutes." In my head, I'm thinking, "I hope we can get them off the ice." Needless to say, she was much closer to being right than I was. I believe Jade made it around the rink twice, which did take about 45 minutes.

This is exactly how our two trips around the rink looked. I had some bad back pain.

Sarah and Coen make it look like its so easy... (Don't be fooled, I think he's hanging onto the wall.)

Coen showing off his skating legs and his "It's a Snow Day" T-shirt.

Here Comes The Snow!

The plan was to go to the mountains so Jade could see some snow. The day before the mountain trip it started snowing in Portland. We thought for sure it wouldn't stick. But it kept snowing, and snowing and snowing. It stuck, and we were able to play in the snow! And she LOVED the snow. It was her favorite thing and she did not get cold for one second.

Here's Jade posing in her new snow gear.

This was the snowman we made in the afternoon, but the picture was taken when we went back outside at night and there was more snow. As you can see the snowman got snowed on.

Here's Jade making a snow angel.

Here is Jade with snowman #1.

Again, making a snow angel.

And here is snowman #2. Bigger and Better! He is also sportin the Mazatlan hat.

Jade posing in her ski bib.

Jade and me posing in our ski bibs. Mine is actually my dads. But, it kept me warm.

"Up" with the Rogers.

On December 25th, Jade and I took a trip to Oregon to spend the holidays with family and friends. I didn't take many pictures, but a few times I did pop open the camera. The first time I opened the camera was because of these two thumbsuckers below. The Rogers came over after Sunday morning church, had lunch with us at one of my favorite restaurants "Red Robin". Then we headed back home to watch "Up" in the basement.

Here is thumbsucker 1 to the left - Jade and thumbsucker 2 to the right - Coen. Also, if you look closely you will notice each is holding their blankies with their other fingers. Pink for girls, and blue for boys. But Coen's blankie is called, Mikey. I believe.

Here is Coen allowing Jade to love on him for a little bit. He is smiling though... For now.

Here are the Rogers! And poor Eli that is probably miserably hot from the furnace.

Grandmommy and Jade.

Santa came to Ballet!!!!

So its typical, but I'm a little behind. I figured I would update a little every couple days, since after my 10 day trip, I have lots of pictures to share. But first, I'm going to start with the visit from Santa to Ballet practice.

I love the little girl to the right. She is such a cute dancer.

Jade dancing. Somewhat similar to dog paddling.

Gaby showing her graceful dance moves.

Jade is opening her present from Santa!

Here's Jade and her best friend/neighbor Gaby.

Above is a group picture including Santa and the teachers. Jade is on the right in the front row. Her best friend Gaby is in blue second row second from left.

All I want for Christmas...

Dennis took Jade to meet Santa on Friday. And boy was she ready. She was so excited, she even practiced what she was going to ask him for.

Here is a picture of Jade with Santa. She was not scared, shy, or timid. She was determined and excited. She asked Santa for "a black doll, a purple watch and a computer." I am pretty sure that Santa will not be bringing the computer. When I asked her to describe the computer to me, she described a desktop!

"Here Comes The" Flower Girl!

This weekend was a BIG Cardoso Family event. Jade's Beautiful Aunt Jessie got married and Jade was privileged to have been asked to perform as the flower girl. She was super excited because we told her it wasn't just a flower girl, but a flower princess. And of course, being a girly girl, she loved the dress. I don't have any wedding pictures, because I too was honored to have been asked to be a bridesmaid but I was able to take some fun female bonding/prepping pictures.

The morning started with a typical trip to starbucks, her ordering her chocolate milk, and me my decaf, grande, non fat, light whip mocha and then we walked over to the nail salon. I was in desperate need of a pedicure and I figured since she was with me, she should get her nails painted, if she wanted to. At first she didn't, but when I promised her that it wouldn't be a man painting her nails, she happily obliged. I took her to select a color and as usual she initially reached for pink, but then she changed her mind and asked for white. You will notice in a few of the pictures, her VERY white nails. Her toes match too, but there were no pictures of them. She was so good sitting through the entire painting process and being very careful not to smudge the polish. Actually, she was SO GOOD that entire day! Anyway, here's some fun pictures.

Notice the beautiful white nails.
A perfect shot of her jumping in the air with excitement to be wearing a princess dress!

The Beautiful Bride.
Some of the fellow bridesmaids. There were nine total, so a few are missing. Jade is being held by her Aunt Kelly with her Aunt Kristen to the right. The other three young ladies are life long friends of Aunt Jessie.

Jade's 3 Year Pictures!

Here are a few pictures from Jade's 3 year old photoshoot.

My fairy!

And Bonnet off...