Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some chocolate turtles ... or chocolate suckers or chocolate covered oreos ... 
... or just some sweet little boy smiles.
We've done this a couple of years now. I love puzzles. Zaida wants to help so much. The pieces are quite small so it is a little difficult for her to really do much, but she sure tries. Look at this determination.
So, I think she enjoyed it. Or maybe it was all the cookies & candy we ate. The funny part was I asked her what her favorite part was and she told me the song "Link by Link" - which wasn't even in the play, but the TV movie version. 
I think this should actually say "(Day) 9 - Lizards Leaping". Zaida belongs to the 4 year old dance class at the "Leaping Lizards Dance Studio". She had her end of year recital tonight & she did pretty good. 
She remembered most of her dance. My favorite part of the night was during the finale'. Zaida and her class joined all of the other girls on the stage. They were supposed to walk out, bow and then say "Merry Christmas". As predicted, none of them remembered and they ended up just walking around and talking to each other. But, then Zaida noticed the crowd ... and she kissed her hand, blew it out to the crowd & then waved. She looked like a little rock star playing to the crowd. She is hilarious. And amazing. I am seriously proud of her. 
We stopped before we hit dance lessons, hence the ballet get-up.
Zaida initally didn't want to get out of the car. I thought it was because it was cold, but it was because she didn't want to get a picture taken.
I love this picture. Look at Robson ... he is either pointing out the "reindeer" or he is saying he is #1.
Zaida and I were talking about the "reindeer" and I was commenting on how big they were. I asked Zaida how big she thought they were and her response, "Thirteen ... or ... yeah, fourteen. Cause that's bigger than thirteen."
Her name is Rizella the Elf. 
I asked if Santa flew over on his sleigh & left it for her, but Zaida said that the box was magic. If you haven't seen these ("Elf on the Shelf") here is what it is. They are little elfs that magically go to Santa at the North Pole each night to report on if you are bad or good. Then they come back each night - sometimes in a different place in your home, so you have to find where they landed. Santa instructed the elves not to speak to us - and if we touch them we might wear off their magic, so we shouldn't play with them.
Quinn told us that the Japanese will bake a white cake. But, that's about it. I try to be pretty on top of things, but since we just had ice cream cake last night I don't think I am up for making another cake. 2 cakes in 2 days ... I mean, I am all for pigging out at the holidays, but there has to be some restraint, right?
And, as always, we had our favorite Eskimo with us - my Dad. 
Today was our Brazilian Christmas day ... Feliz Natal!
We went to Braza Grill (yum), Corey drank some of his fave drink from his mission (Guarana) and taught Zaida some Portuguese (obrigada - thank you) and ate some Dolce de leche ice cream for dessert (yum, again!). And, just so Robson isn't left out - we named him a Brazilian name. :)
