NUTCRACKER 2006

I am pleased to say that the Nutcracker 2006 is now over. My life can now resume a semi-normal pace. Okay...well after the holidays. :)

Tuesday 12/12/2006
This started the marathon. We were to be at the Holiday Star early to get make-up on the kids, get their costumes on them and take the cast photo. Of course....the photo was nearly an hour late. But the end result will be awesome. The orchestra left a little, okay A LOT to be desired. Someone in the string section was flat....VERY FLAT! They allowed the kids to sit out in the audience and watch the performance. I was the room mom for the boys (small boys) so I only had one child, my sweet Gabe. He sat with Aria and watched the ballet intently. While he was on stage he hit every cue that he needed to for the acting part. (For the kids their age acting is 99% of the scene) He did amazing, as did Aria (6) and Nadia (7). Lind say-becca did awesome. The bon bons were so excited that they were FINALLY going to get to dance our from under Mother Ginger's Skirt. (they have never gotten to come out from under the skirt) Well, no one warned them and the first girl tripped over the Pole at the bottom of Mother Ginger's skirt and literally ALL of the bon bon's piled ontop of each other. *I* was in hysterics. It was priceless. Second time a little girl in the middle came down and the rest came. I was again laughing. It was really quite cute, third time was a charm. By the time we got home the Twins were SO wound up Darren decided to cuddle with them on the couch while I went to my mom's to nurse Fa yet h. (Fa y eth was staying at gramma's as was Hann ah)

Wednesday 12/13/06
First show 10am. Be there at 8am. Doors locked until 8:30am. I sat in the car and did the Tw ins make up. They looked so funny with make up on. Get in. Take Lin dsay-to her dressing room, dressed her, got her settled. Headed out to get Ga be ready. We were completely ready to go by 9:ooam. So, Ga be and I ventured out to explore back stage. We found out way to the window where we could see the parking lot. Ga be was counting school buses. We found our way to the mezzanine. We decided to come back and watch the show from the mezzanine. LOL 9:45am headed down the the green room to get his scarf for the begining of the scene. 9:50am waiting...... 10am rolls around we are waiting for 1 last bus to be seated. there were around 2700 people there. Mainly school kids. Asked Ga be if he was nervous, he asked me, "No, should I be?" Nope buddy you are all good. We went over his "cues" and before I could even ask he told me in order what the cues were. Kara and I decided to watch from the back of the audience. So we gave our children to their "Party Parents" and off we went. They did Awesome!!!!!
Ga be and I snuck out the the mezzanine to watch the Mother Ginger scene. It went off without a hitch. The kids did SOOO good. They were so cute and best of all they just had fun! What more can you ask for.

I loaded the kids up into the car after the show and we headed home. The twins slept for about 2 hours in the car. Thank goodness it was a nice day and I could leave the doors open to the car at my moms house. (They live in a cornfield)

The 7pm show went well. There was a crew there. Gra mma, Gra mpa, Han nah,, Fay e th, Da ddy, Aunt Bec ca, Aunt Shel ley, Uncle Jo hn, Za ne, Oli via, Dar en (our friend) and Gran dma Ha rt man. It was an awesome show. Everyone did great and had fun. When it was over Ga be wanted to go out and do it again.

Thursday 12/14/06
Getting out of bed was rough this morning. LB and G wanted 5 more minutes. Of course as we were walking out the door we got the call that the small party kids could come in a bit later. Too late for us. We hung around the house. Ga be was complaining of a headache.

10am show was the best of the 4. Heidi got the crowd very pumped up and their cheer for the dancers and the energy was awesome. After the show we decided to head home, have lunch and take a rest. Gramma was going to do the evening show. Gramma picked the kids up at 4:30pm and they were on their way. G abe continued to complain of a headache and of being hot. (These are 2 of his major signs of increased ICP) He got ready and headed onto the stage. Lets say about 4 minutes into the performance Gabe went to sit on the couch during the party scene. ***From here on out I am retelling what I have been told as I have been spared witnessing this event first hand*** Ga be leans over the back of the couch and proceeds to vomit on the stage. Luckily it was close enough to the stage right curtains that they were able to continue with the show while cleaning it up and most people did not notice. I immediately noticed that he was no longer on stage and I flew backstage. I was not suppose to be able to go back stage but I went anyways. He at first did not want to go back out and when I asked him if he wanted to participate in the finale he said yes and he wanted to finish the scene. We busted butt to get him changed but did not do it in time to go back on for the scene. He did however take his final bow during the finale. He is such a strong amazing little boy. He had a severe headache and had been incontinent 2 times in the past 24 hours so I think his pressure was up too much.