Happy Mother's Day

For the first time in a couple of years, DH was home on Mother's Day. This meant that in addition to the lovely kid-cooked breakfast (this year was a scramble with eggs, sausage, ham, mushrooms, and onions), someone else did the dishes! And I got some lovely flowers :-)

This was the last day on the calendar for a while with nothing scheduled, so I spent several hours playing Lego Indiana Jones with B, then we had Chinese takeout for dinner.

Onward to performance week! Two dress rehearsals this week (actually four, but they all overlap, so I can only attend two), then three concerts this weekend.

Six Performances

Current mental soundtrack: random selections from Sleeping Beauty, by Tchaikovsky.

Just got back from watching B's evening performance. She did a great job, and it was fun to finally see her on stage for an extended period. When kids first start performing in ballets, they're usually on stage for about a minute, and then they're gone. The entire second half of tonight's program was Sleeping Beauty, and she was in the opening number (4:48 according to the track list the stage managers were given), then stayed on stage as background throughout the first half of the work. (Did a good job acting, too.) She has one more performance tomorrow afternoon, which I won't see because I'll be at the Voci concert.

Checklist for tomorrow (I have to remember all of this when I leave in the morning):

• Ticket for morning pre-ballet show
• Money for lunch with B (she's requested Bongo Burger)
• Campus parking permits for lunchtime parking ease
• Voci concert outfit (top, skirt, socks, shoes)
• Silver jewelry for concert
• Makeup
• Hair stuff (curling iron, styling creme, hair clip, bobby pins, etc.)
• Water bottle
• Music
• Snack for self before concert
• Shaker for possible use in one piece
• Caramel pecan brownies for intermission bake sale
• Dinner (t.b.a.)
• Warm jacket & scarf 
• Black top & black jeans for evening ballet show (assistant stage manager). Keep black concert shoes & socks
• Notes for ballet show

DH is on chauffeur duty--he will be dropping B off at the ballet school at 8:30 tomorrow morning, then returning there at 2:00 with three of B's friends and my sister. After he drives everyone home (including B), he and the kids are going to a party at a colleague's house.

Christmas is Coming

We had a nice, relaxing weekend, with absolutely nothing on the calendar. I played Super Mario Kart with the kids, and they also taught me how to play Rock Band guitar.

Now the holiday madness begins. This month, the family calendar shows 14 performances that we're participating in. In addition, we're going to see The Hard Nut, and B is going to her best friend L's Nutcracker.

Here's a look at our calendar for this week, excluding school & work (I'm pink, B is purple, and M is green):

Both B and I need to clone ourselves, so we can attend overlapping events. M doesn't have that problem, but we're still trying to figure out how to get him to the school dance on Friday evening.

Off and Running

B has been delivered to the ballet school for this morning's pre-ballet show (teaching assistants get to perform, too), and DH and M are off to fencing class, followed by obedience class. I'm picking up B for lunch at noon, then it's back to the ballet school at 1:00 for the afternoon show. This evening is S&P--come hear us!

The Beginning of the Season

I had a nice, relaxing weekend in Kansas City with my college friends C & M--just what I needed before the annual spring crunch begins. We stayed up late talking, had way too much to eat (including a lovely Easter dinner cooked by C's mom), and did a little shopping, mostly for the kids in our lives.

Yesterday morning I got up at 4:30 am CDT to catch a flight home, and finally finished my day around 10:30 pm PDT when I arrived home from S&P rehearsal. I couldn't stop yawning during the last hour of rehearsal, but I think I had a pretty good reason!

This is the beginning of the spring rehearsal & performance season at our house:

Tonight (April 14): M's school choir sings at educational foundation concert
April 18: Sacred & Profane House Music fundraiser
April 24: M's school musical (he's on tech crew)
April 25: M's school musical
April 26: M's school musical
May 1: B's school musical (I play in the pit, too)
May 2: B's school musical
May 15: B's spring ballet performance
May 16: B's spring ballet performance
May 16: Sacred & Profane concert
May 17: Sacred & Profane concert
May 23: M's school choir performance at MarineWorld
May 30: Voci concert
May 31: Voci concert

Plus two all-day choir retreats (4/18 and 4/25), a bunch of dress rehearsals for both choirs and ballet, B's birthday party on April 26th, and we have tickets to see Spamalot on Memorial Day weekend.

Off to Seussical rehearsal now!