Firsts...

My kids are 5 and 7...and I was just about to the point that I thought there wouldn't be a whole lot of "firsts" to commemorate - like first steps, very smiles, first day of kindergarten...

Ok - so evidently I'm wrong. On Saturday night, our family had a first - a first bloody nose....and believe it or not, it wasn't my son. My daughter, A, got smacked....by her brother...and I wasn't even there to witness it.

Dear Hubby and the kids had taken a quick trip to Nonni & Pop's house to clear out of the house so I could finish up some Christmas cleaning and stuff (and a good excuse to watch the Dallas Cowboys game, since you can only see it on the NFL network if you have Dish around here)...the story I got was that on the drive there, A kept pestering W...and pestering...and pestering...and picking...and pestering some more. Dear Hubby has long said that one day, W will get fed up with it and A won't stand a chance. Her mental gymnastics won't save her. Evidently that day was Saturday. W got pushed too far and threw an elbow her way...and connected with her nose.

A tells her daddy that she thinks something is wrong with her nose...as she wipes blood onto her hand. Dear Hubby looks back and she has blood gushing onto her clothes and her coat. He hands her the first thing he can find to put pressure on it, calls Nonni and tells her they are almost to her house and for her to be prepared for the bloody nose. Nonni was prepared...they stopped the bleeding, washed all of the blood out, and I would have never known except for Dear Hubby telling me and for W's guilty confession. I'm not sure who was more shocked when it happened, A or W. So just when I thought my kids were old enough to not have very many "firsts" left, there it is...

Another first - last Wednesday, A had the opportunity to sing her very first on-stage solo. And she did fantastic. Her daddy pointed out to me that it would be her first opportunity to tell about Jesus through her singing (at least in a public setting)...and he had the great honor of accompanying her. She was supposed to choose a Christmas song to sing at Santa Land, an event here with lights and a huge tree and Santa & Mrs. Claus. All of her vocal teacher's students were singing...alot of the kids chose cute Christmas songs, like "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" or "Rudolph", but she and her daddy chose "Do You Hear What I Hear?" because it tells the story of the night Jesus was born through different characters. Getting prepared for the performance was stressful, to say the least, because her drama monster came out and took over, but once she hit the stage, it was clear sailing....and I have to say that her daddy and I both got a little choked up....her letting her light shine and using this love for music she has to tell about Jesus. Awesome.

Here's the youtube link to her performance...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YupnF2K1oT0

She also sang in her second performance with her little trio...here they are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t65T0yvsFSk&feature=related