It's over...

The Nutcracker is over for this year. It sure was fantastic! Lauren was so worn out come Saturday she fell asleep on the way to the theater before her last show...

However that didn't last long and before you knew it she had half her first costume on and was getting autographs from the other little ballerinas! I never did snap a photo in her other costume but when we get the video I will post snippets of it and that will be fun!

A big shout out to the wonderful people who came to watch on Saturday! Mark and Bonnie brought the boys Connor and Alex, all dressed up and ready to see their first ballet (see Bonnie's post) - they brought Lauren a beautiful bunch of Pink Roses and a goody bag to wish her the best!

And Lauren was kind enough to share a rose with Hailey. I guess sisters can be nice to each other every once in a while!!

I was lucky enough to seat near the Campbell's for most of the show and was totally impressed with the boys! Alex and Connor both sat still and watched the whole show - Alex with quite an intensity in his eyes! it was very neat for me to see! Since I had seen the show 6 times already I think I watched the boys more than the show!

Amelia and her mom, Beth, also came to watch on Saturday and blessed Lauren with a beautiful red rose as well! I took the cutest picture of Amelia and the rose before it was given to Lauren.

Again thanks to everyone who supported Lauren and came to see her dance. You have no idea how much that meant to her (and us) but mostly her. Many of you know Lauren to prefer not to be the center of attention or accept things from others but in this case she was in "her element" and she loved every minute of it! It warms my heart to know we have such wonderful, thoughtful friends!

How did I get so lucky? Actually, what I really want to know is if your all burnt out or gearing up for Peter Pan in June? (insert mommy giggle here)

I won, I won

I won something! Crazy ain't it! I love to read Shannon's Blog over at Muzbeecrazy! She is a great writer and her family stories are wonderful to read. Last week she had a give away from Pilsbury and all I had to do was comment (which I would have done anyway) and voilia...I got an email from her today and I won! What a treat! A little something to make me smile!


A great big thanks to Shannon for running the give away and great big YAHOO for me for winning! Take a minute and visit her blog - I know you will enjoy it!

almost over...

Last night went great! We got to the theater around, 2:45 call time was 3:00, and everything went fantastic. The shows were great! Lauren only had 1 hour between between last nights two shows to scarf down some food and get back into costume. We have send a great big thank you to all the wonderful people who have come out to see the show and support our little Lauren! Thursday Paige brought her daughters Heather and Nicole, Friday first show our whole family came! Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Brad and Aunt Anna, Hailey and Daddy! Friday second show Madison and Valerie (our neighbors) came as well as Alicia and Cailey (Cailey and Lauren took a hip hop class together last year!) and today Lauren's friend Amelia is coming with her mom and Bonnie and Mark are bringing their boys, Connor and Alex!

Lauren has felt so special having so much support from family and friends! It has been wonderful. Her last show is today at 12:30 and then, well, I have no idea what she is going to do with all the extra time on her hands! I am afraid it is sort of going to be like a Holiday let down..."now what do I do?" kind of feeling? Well, Lauren honey, you can start getting ready for Peter Pan in June!!!

We are going to buy our Christmas Tree today (always live never fake!!) and will put it up and string the lights tonight then let the girls help to decorate it tomorrow! I am really looking forward to that! Monday I need to CLEAN MY HOUSE...OMG it has suffered a major blow this week! I have managed to keep the bathrooms clean and the floors vacuumed but the CLUTTER, oh my the clutter.

I took some pictures of Hailey in her beautiful Christmas dress yesterday but those will have to wait to post. For now, I leave you with the flowers Grandma and Grandpa gave Lauren on opening night.

Opening Night

Phew...We made it. Our little ballerina is in bed before 11:00 and the show was FANTASTIC! I (of course) had tears in my eyes - if I may say so myself she looked absolutely beautiful on stage and SO HAPPY - honestly the look in her eyes was amazing!

Today was a "normal day" no crazy let downs, freaky fevers or need to super hero dads to swoop in! All went as planned! We did have to leave early for the show because of weather concerns - but the drive went fine and Lauren and I got to stop at Anthony's Pizza for dinner before getting to the theater. Anthony's is probably Colorado's closest thing to New York Style Pizza (I prefer Big Bills though) - Anyway at Anthony's the pizza is as big as Lauren's head...I promise

And yet this skinny minny can polish off the whole piece!

However I would not recommend the Garlic Bread with Cheese...Where's the cheese?

Back Stage on opening night, no nerves, no jitters just Lauren and her book...(and annoyed glance at mom for taking her picture YET again.

I can't take pictures or video during the show - but we do get to purchase a video. I am waiting till I see all the shows to choose which night I want a video of and when we get it I will post some snippits! Hopefully it doesn't take to long to arrive.

Thanks to Paige, Heather and Nicole for braving the weather and coming out to the show! Lauren was SUPER happy that the girls came down to see her backstage - she talked about it on the way home and I think it made her feel special!

Tomorrow we do it all over again - twice! 4:30 and 7:30 - call time 3:00! I can't wait (really I can't)

I surrender:

Today went a little like this:

Get girls up
Attempt breakfast but the little one refused to eat
Take Hailey and an exhausted Lauren to school
Run around house doing tons of little projects (you know them well)
Pick Hailey up from school
Run to AT&T to replace less than 30 day old phone with malfunction
Run to Printers to pick up shirt order that had to be sorted and delivered tonight
Try to convince Hailey to eat lunch (fail)
Get home; attempt to set up new phone on the fly
Start sorting shirts
Notice Hailey going downhill FAST
In swoops Daddy to the rescue
Watch Hailey sleep on daddy for an hour while I worked
Finish phone (but notice it has an issue too)
Take Hailey’s Temp…102.8
Call Dr. (we have been on the pink stuff since Friday – so this CAN’T be right)
Get appointment
Daddy went to AT&T to return my phone again
Take Lauren’s phone with me to the Dr. with Hailey
Daddy picks up Lauren and gets her an early dinner (rehearsals at 4:45)
Find out new Fever is just a virus on top of the other s%^7

Rush home, get Lauren ready, load shirts in car, set up new phone again, Leave Hailey kicking and screaming, get Lauren to dance, verify pick up time has changed from 9pm to 7:30pm, go home, get Hailey to bed, Send Daddy to pick up Lauren only to get a call from Lauren 5 minutes later saying they are done and it is only 7:00 (glad she has a cell phone) Call daddy and tell him to kind of hustle, realize when he calls about a snack that I haven't eaten 1 tiny morsel since noon yesterday!

Sit down, open Word, Type Blog Post….And this was just the abbreviated version!

Thank goodness for daddy. Now I am going to eat.

UPDATE: Just as I was going to toss the frozen out of the box TGIFriday's Chicken Wings in the oven Daddy showed up with fresh ones from the New Wing Place down the street...was he reading my mind? It was wonderful! needed more sauce but we had Wingman sauce in the fridge so it was perfect. Daddy, did I thank you yet?

Wordless Wednesday

It seems only appropriate, on the eve of Nutcracker opening night, to post this photo of Lauren's first dance recital. And yes she danced to "THAT" song!

And here she is, all grown up, in makeup and all waiting for her mouse costume back stage for Nutcracker Dress Rehearsals. (would someone please feed that girl!)

December First. Oh my. That is all I can say - The countdown begins today! Time to start the advent calendar, organize the gifts you have and figure what else you need, mail the Christmas cards, buy and put up the tree, wrap, wrap, make sure you have your teachers and household helpers taken care of, organize Christmas party for big sis school, plan trip to the mountains, wrap more – WHOAA – pull back the reigns, stop the presses – whatever it is we should do here…It is Nutcracker week! 7 solid days of Ballet began yesterday with a 4 hour rehearsal that ran so late I yanked my recovering sickling without telling anyone! Today just 1.5 hours – tomorrow 5 hours, Wed 4 hours, Thursday 2 shows, Friday 2 Shows Saturday 1 show and a DEEP breath to say wow, we made it! Amazing how ridiculously busy this can make a whole family not just the dancer! Wow.

Lauren we are so proud of you and can't wait to watch the show this week!!

We had a wonderful weekend with Grandma Mary in spite of all the ear infections etc.

Two sick girls and one very understanding Grandma!

We ventured off to the North Pole on Saturday in an antibiotic and Tylenol induced “feel good” drove 1.5 hours to be greeted by more snow and cold at the North Pole…tried to see Santa but the girls were SO NOT INTERESTED in talking to the stranger…we will have to try again at the mall soon. The girls rode a ton of rides – daddy and I had to participate on a couple with Hailey (too short to go alone) – Lauren dipped a candle at the hot wax station – well, the lady dipped a candle for Lauren who was too afraid of the hot wax to participate in this $3 activity! We froze our toes, posed by the North Pole itself and left approximately 60 minutes after we arrived! It was fun though! Just cold!

The girls just inside the park

Hailey on the spaceship ride

Lauren touching THE North Pole

Lauren on the teacup ride

Grandma surprised the girls with a movie to watch the day she had to go home!

We had many mega Wii bowling tournaments this weekend! Mary now holds the household record for 5 strikes in a row (and she did it 3 times!!!) I quit on a 235 had all strikes and spares that game and figured I would go out on a good note. Daddy and Mary both made it to pro status and claim the new ball you get messes up your game when you’re a pro! We had a fun…and could use a little flexal for the bowling shoulder! We are so glad Grandma Mary came to visit! Thanks for a great weekend and all the goodies you brought us!

Daddy got lights on the WHOLE house this year – so you can see them from all angles – we love the colored bulbs in straight lines along all the roof lines – looks awesome but with the unexpected snow we have giant ice sickles threatening to pull the lights down. UGH.

And Hailey, Little Hailey - What can I say...she has really been testing my patience (which I am almost out of and if you ask Lauren she will pry tell you I AM already out of) Hailey has been talking non stop and I am not exaggerating and she going to through a stage where NO means everything except NO, Stop means "keep doing that honey" and pretty much anything mommy says just can't be so she has to argue it to death and back again.

Hailey Doll, I love you but you are on track to spend a whole day on the second step...

Where is my time out timer?