Nutcracker pictures

It was an amazing weekend. Watching the show today made this whole madness worth while. It had been a busy week shuffling the kids around for the rehearsals, but Keith and I made it through. The performance was incredible. What made the show so special was that there were so many kids that we've gotten to know over our 4 1/2 years here and watching them perform was such a treat.

I'm not even sure of the name of this little mouse. On the night of the first dress rehearsal, Megan was really scared about going out on stage and this little mouse came over and patted her hand. They have hugged at each rehearsal and performance since then.

The mice got off easy. Their tails are attached to their costume, so there is no trying to pin on a puff-ball to a wiggly behind. And they had those awesome hoods covering up their hair. After mulitple attempts by multiple different moms to unsuccessfully put Megan's hair in a bun, we made a collective decision that Megan could wear her hair down for the performances this weekend. Those darn ears! Saturday night they fell off on stage. Sunday I had them secured so good they weren't going anywhere, at least until she took them off right before her performance and they didn't get secured back on very well. They stayed on during the performance, but she did have to push them back into place once or twice.

We purposely got to the theater very early today. Today was the day that I got to sit and watch the performance and not be back stage with the girls. Megan and I had a long talk about it and then she showed me all around the theater. We asked Mr. Alex if we could go out on stage to take a few quick pictures. Megan was fascinated by the Christmas tree. I remember that was always one of my favorite parts, watching the Christmas tree get bigger and bigger.

Me and my sweet rabbit.

One of the stage hands offered to make the tree grow for Megan. Megan was so excited, she watched it grow and then shrink again. After a thorough inspection of the tree and the items beneath it, we were off to head back down stairs to our waiting area.

And this is how to keep a bunch of white rabbits from getting dirty. Beach towels and DVDs about princesses. We were strictly informed that there was to be no markers, pens, running, or anything else that could get them dirty. On Saturday night, I took Megan into the 'big girl' dressing room to kill time and we met all of the other dancers. Then we got to see another performance, the men from the show were sitting along the hallway singing Christmas carols, so we stood by and listened to them for a while. They were fabulous....almost as good as the Nutcracker.

Here is a shot of my handsome dates to today's matinee. All of Joshua's little girlie-friends from church ended up sitting behind him.

After the curtain call for Act I, Megan got to come out and watch the second act. She had to change into real clothes. On Saturday night, some of the girls got flowers after their performance. I didn't bring any for Megan, because I was planning to do that on Sunday. Clearly, I did not consider the consequences of having the only rabbit without a rose. So after Saturday night's performance, I took her into Safeway and told her she could pick out some flowers for Daddy to give her after Sunday's show. Of course, she picks out a dozen pink roses. So after the first act, Daddy gave her the flowers and she just beamed.

Daniel was mesmerized by the entire first act. Then in true Holloway male fashion, he and Joshua slept right through the second act.

It was a great performance. We are going to take a break from ballet until after the big move. We'll let Megan start it back up again when we get settled.