Peeking into Nutcracker 2011

I don't have many photos as the camera battery died. It's charged now, though! I hope to get photos tonight during our last dress rehearsal.

Evyn comes out as the Rat King and lands facing the audience.

Out comes the phalanx of soldiers lead by their trusty Lead Soldier, Ethan.

Ian's supposed to be wearing the Nutcracker head here, but it's being fixed. He and Evyn are having their epic battle here. Evyn's quite the jumper!

Festival of Trees

Amber and her Senior Performance Team members performed their Christmas number to "Cool Yule" for the visitors to this year's Festival of Trees. I forgot both the camera and video camera. I am relying on the generosity of others for videos and photos.

The girls will perform this number prior to both performances of Nutcracker on December 10 and 11 at the Admiral Theatre in Bremerton.

Amber is second from the right in this photograph.

Combined Federal Campaign - Ian's Swing Number

Ian and Alexis have been working on a swing number and last night they presented it for the first time in public at the Mountain View Middle School in Bremerton. Their teacher is Christine Luders and they both dance with her Dance Driven teen ballroom team.

They were at a Combined Federal Campaign fund raiser and they were one of the demo teams. There was also a country two-step competition.

I can't seem to put the video on the page here. You will have to copy this link and put it into your browser to watch it.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hf3E-ycYqzk

My Baby is 16

I can't believe my baby is 16 years old. When did he grow up? It really seems like yesterday when he was lining his books up in his bedroom, or the Tupperware containers in the kitchen, and crawling around the living room and stopping to pick the fuzz from between his toes, coming by to help with his baby brother, and next baby brother, and wanting to hold his new baby sister, wanting to learn to read, learning sign language, wanting to go to school ...

Now he's taller than I am, can cook, do laundry, and teaches himself in school on a daily basis. He amazes me with his athleticism in dance and drive to do his best in school, band, and dance.

I miss him being little, sitting next to me, reading to him his favorite stories, over and over. All the Froggy flip open board books, which I ended up memorizing.

I miss his little giggly face, which has become such a handsome big, beautiful smile.

I love you, honey, very much, and I am so VERY proud of you.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart. I wish you many blessings and that God smiles down on you the rest of your life.

Bremerton High School Homecoming

Ian and Samantha (Sammie) have been friends since they took dance lessons together at Academy of Dance in 2005. After we left the school, she has been the only one who has remained in touch with all our kids. They have been very good friends.

This year Sammie was going to quit dancing altogether, but her ballet teacher sat down and had a long talk with her and convinced her not to quit. Part of that was discussion was about learning to do new things and that formed into partner work. Sammie called Ian and asked if he'd want to take private lessons with her in ballet to work on partner work, her grandmother, (my friend Maxine), would pay for it.

They have been taking private lessons now for almost a month.

Then he got a message from her asking if he'd like to go to the Bremerton High School Homecoming, as friends. Both are very grounded kids. Maxine assured me on several occasions that this was absolutely only as friends. Sammie's parents initially told her no when she asked to go to homecoming. But, when she told them she was asking Ian to go with her, they were happy to let her go.

I was only able to take three shots before they left. They all look the same, so no need to post more than one here. Sammie looked stunning in her dress. Her heels brought her up to my height! She looks so tall and elegant here. Ian took along his iPod to take some other photos this evening. Not sure how many he'll get or if he'll get any. If he does, we will post them tomorrow.

I am so glad they have remained such good friends.

Maxine said they were going to stop by Sammie's dad's store (game card shop) in Bremerton before heading to the school tonight.

World Heritage Merit Badge

Amber has been working on her American Heritage Girl World Heritage Merit Badge. She had to select three countries to learn about and chose Italy, Belgium, and France. One of the requirements was to make a meal. She chose to make Italy her lunch menu, dinner her French menu, and breakfast the following morning as her Belgian meal.

Making pesto from scratch.

Amber is mixing the pesto in with the fucilli. It was a very tasty meal ... but MY was it garlicky!

It was a nice idea to have toasted chibata bread with our noon meal. It helped to take the edge off the garlic. She melted some cheese on top. It was crunchy and yummy.

Lunch

Dinner was from France and these beans were amazing! They weren't fresh from our garden, but they were fresh from the store. Nothing frozen in this meal. All fresh ingredients. Roasted slivered almonds topped the beans. YUM!

Potatoes au gratin were a fantastic side. I had forgotten how much I really enjoy them, too. I remember Mom making them when we were kids. Brought back delicious memories.

The main part of the evening's French menu was pear pork. It was very tender and very tasty.

Dinner

Bananas flambe was dessert. Best left to Dad because of the fire. It didn't taste as amazing as it had in the past. But, maybe that was just me. However, it could have been the banana liquor, too.

Flambe!

A little glow.

Breakfast the next morning was Belgian Waffles with a fruit compote topped with homemade whipped cream. Yummy :)

Pottery Wheel and Painting

We showed up at Claywerks and she showed the kids their pinch pots, completed after their final firing. Then she said they needed to paint their coil pots. Kids and I were not happy. We had planned to do all the painting/glazing at the end, paying for one full day in the studio where they could finish it all. She appeared to be cutting corners as if she didn't want to get the clay out. Two still needed to do figurines and all of them still needed to throw pots on the wheel. I told the kids they needed to paint their coil pots as quickly as possible. THEN she brought out their slab pots, which still had not been fired. They were still green ware. She told them they could paint those using a different glaze. Ethan was too nervous to paint his, as his was pretty precarious as it was and she had already repaired it between our visits, as it had fallen apart already, but would be more stable after firing.

This is Ethan's coil pot. A dragon ... of course.

Evyn's slab pot, which he's being very gentle with as it's green ware, will be a pencil box when completed.
Ian's slab pot was a mouse and cheese figurine and container.
Amber is working on her slab pot, which was a butter dish.
Their completed coil pots.
Amber finally got a turn at the wheel. She seemed to be a bit of a natural at it. I don't know how much the teacher actually spent with her and the completed pot.
Done!
Ethan was on his second time trying to produce something, and Ian was just beginning.
Evyn was working on his figurine. He was making a solid item, and the teacher didn't want him to do that. She wanted it hollow on the inside. Of course, she didn't tell him that.
Ethan's second bowl.
Done (some help from the teacher!).
Ian was doing a great job. I thought it was going to be a cup, but he ended up with a very nice bowl.
Evyn making final touches on his figurine.