Kate's Nutcracker week

This week has been extremely busy.  Lets just say that Thanksgiving is going to feel like a cake walk compared to Nutcracker.  Kate had rehearsal's, and performances every night this week.  It was all worth it though because she has had an experience she'll never forget.  I asked her on the way home from closing night if it was all that she thought it would be?  She replied "it was better".  I couldn't ask for more than that.  She was able to perform an adorable dance in a gorgeous costume, made really wonderful friendships, and performed with a live orchestra.  Probably the highlight of the whole week was when she met the Ballet West Ballerina Elizabeth Mcgrath who performed as the sugar plum fairy.  This wonderful Dancer came backstage to the dressing rooms and signed autographs and took pictures with the girls.  I couldn't believe it.  She went so above and beyond to be accommodating and be patient with all the little girls.  Kate didn't have a program to have her sign.  She wanted her to sign something more meaningful than just a piece of paper she'd loose, so she had her sign her ballet shoe (her shoes were a year and a half old and we need new ones anyway).  She has cherished those shoes and put them away someplace special.  I couldn't believe how truly wonderful and kind this young lady was to take photo's with the girls.  I'll definitely be following her ballet career, and try to take Kate to watch her perform.  What a wonderful example she is.  I was so proud at how well Kate did.  She had a more difficult dance for her age group.  She did great at it.  As if to make this week any busier she also had a voice recital.  Each year her voice instructor does a Christmas recital.  Kate performed "Here comes Santa Claus".  She did a great job especially since we didn't have a lot of practice time with all the nutcracker rehearsals.  As soon as she performed her song it was off to the opening night performance of the nutcracker.  Kate had for performances total. 

Being in the nutcracker was something that my sister Karyn had the opportunity to do, but I never did make it.  Back then it was just Ballet West that did nutcracker's and the competition was pretty tough.  Being in the nutcracker would have been an experience I would have loved to have had.  I'm glad Kate was able to do something so magical.  I hope she will be able to have this experience again next year. 

 Here is Kate's Ornament group closing night.  We discovered that one tradition with Clytie's nutcracker is that all the girls give a small gift to each girl in their group.  We found this out two days before the closing night.  So we had to scramble to think of something to give the girls.  With ten girls in her group it was like Kate had Christmas all ready.  She even had one little girl give out a nutcracker.  I told her thank you so much, and she replied "yeah, my Mom goes over the top".  I had to laugh because I'm imagining her picking up that comment from her father.  At least that is something Dan would say.  In this picture you can see each girl has a flower that matches their costume.  We were so lucky and we found a big bouquet of flowers at the store all in the exact same colors as the girl's costumes (blue, pink, purple, green, and yellow for the jokers).  I bought the bunch and took it home and individually wrapped them for each girl to take home.  They loved it.