Amelia as a Clown in the Nutcracker Ballet

Finally the big day of Amelia's performing in the Nutcracker arrived! 

She felt very loved by her family with her sweet Nutcracker ornament and flowers arriving before the big day.

 

Amelia was assigned to the 2nd of 5 alternating casts, performing in both the 1pm and 6pm shows. Their rehearsal time was set for 9AM on that Sunday morning with a call time of 845AM. So she and Patrick left the house just before 8AM; she and I didn't return home until 9PM that evening. It was a really long day for her, but we had talked and brainstormed a lot before the big day on ways to cope with the stimulation and stress.  She ended up picking out an audiobook and mostly wanted to relax in the car and listen to it between shows.

Having a treat with Dad between the morning rehearsal and matinee show. 

About to relax in the car with Mom between the matinee and evening show. 

We weren't allowed to take any photos or videos of her during the performance. She was required to be dropped off without any makeup or costume on and was picked up with everything removed. So we gave her an old phone to take a photo of herself in her makeup and costume. 

Photo that we could purchase from the ballet company

Patrick, Austin and myself watched her matinee show; I stayed for the evening show. It was pretty amazing to watch your kid live out her dream. Patrick and I were not even sure that she should audition, but she insisted that she have the chance. Even after she fell and was hurt in the audition, she went back into the room, determined to finish it out because "Mom, they won't choose me if I don't go back in." She handled her disappointment at initially being cast as an understudy much better than I had expected. And when they moved her up as a clown after the first rehearsal, we were all surprised. Then watching her perform in front of 1300+ people twice in a day was so satisfying after all.  It was all her and God's doing!

Performance playbill

 

First Movie in a Theatre, More Sewing Machine Work & Holiday Express

The big kids went to a story-writing program at the library. The high school study buddies came and worked with the kids to write their own stories. Then they read them aloud to everyone in attendance.

 

More sewing machine work

 

 

 

Austin had seen these Lincoln Logs at his school's used toy sale and BEGGED to buy them with his own money. He has loved playing with them. 

Ever since Colleen had the stomach virus and I declared this couch to be her quarantined space, she has declared it still as her own. She has her pillows just so and her stack of books exactly as she wants them. Be prepared to be yelled at if you attempt to enter her couch without permission.

The kids saw their first movie in a theatre! Our neighbors invited us to come watch Frozen II with them. We ended up at the fancy dinner theatre with huge recliner seats, so there was plenty of room. Austin spent most of the movie with his hands over his ears because of the volume and tucked right up against me because of the foreboding music. But after it was done, he declared he liked it. Amelia had fun with her two friends - Gowri and Stuti.

 

One of our favorite sitters, Trisha, works at a center for folks with complex developmental disabilities. She invited us to come to the Holiday Express performance that came to the center for the patients. The performance consisted of a huge multi-person, professional music group that sang Christmas songs and interacted with the crowd. She later told me that many of the members of the group have their own family members who are disabled. It was really interesting to see the auditorium that was designed for a 100% wheelchair audience if necessary. Amelia had Nutcracker rehearsal, so I took Austin & Colleen. They had fun singing the Christmas songs, watching the performers and meeting the characters who came out in costume to greet all the patients.

 

 

A different advent reading plan this year

This girl LOVES her makeup bag. If I'm putting on makeup, she runs to get hers. She has her own routine and it is very specific.

 

I took Colleen on a special date to a kids' indoor playground. I wish we had found the time to come sooner; she had so much fun! She did not want to stop to eat a snack or leave when it was time.

 

Unfortunately, she came down sick with a nasty cold later that afternoon (I'm pretty sure it came from CBS and not the playground). So we ended up doing a lot of baking (because baking makes us all feel better!)

 

Another round of sickness for Colleen & Mom = more indoor projects like sewing machine time and Kiwi crates and Little Passports. Patrick and I have joked that we live outside and play hard when its good health & weather; then we fill our time with art/building/creative/cooking projects indoors when we're sick or in poor weather. It's a consistent cycle of our years.

 

Our local firefighters came by with their Christmas fire truck and Santa.

 

First Snow of the Season & New Project

Colleen is still loving swim lessons and the few minutes she gets in the kids pool beforehand.

 

On this particular morning, we had our first snow of the year. I thought it was pretty interesting to see the snow falling on the closed outdoor pool area at our gym.

The kids were SO excited to go outside to be in the snow once Daddy got home. Austin BEGGED to go shovel snow. It was only a dusting, but enough to make everyone excited.

One of the most exhilarating feelings = watching your big kids get their snow gear on all by themselves. Without adult help. It sings of independence and freedom!

 

 

Also on this snow night, Amelia and I commenced a project that has an unknown completion date or status. My paternal grandmother had given the kids her sewing machine when we came through during our summer road trip in 2018. It had sat in its table since then (yes, about a year and a half), waiting for me to find the time to get it out and figure out how to use it. My grandmother had said that it worked just fine the last time she used it. 

On this snowy evening, I had been trying to think of something special that Amelia and I could do together since I had been a bump on the couch for so many days and had asked her for so much help while I was sick. So I thought we'd pull the machine out, read the manual and get her started on it. I didn't realize that it had not been cleaned.....maybe ever. I should have taken more "before" photos of the machine and the lint that had solidified into bricks inside of it. So Amelia got some brushes out and worked on removing all of the lint and dirt we could see. We thought we'd pop out a few screws and do a little cleaning behind a few plates and be good to go....but the inside of the machine was worse than I was prepared for. So we spent a little time on YouTube looking for tips on how to clean the machine.  We ended up watching a couple of videos made by a gentleman who restores these particular machines. He has produced 56 videos on how to take the Singer 404 machine apart piece-by-piece, clean it all, and then rebuild it. I was prepared to pay a sewing machine shop repairman to clean it for us, but Amelia insisted that this was a project we could do together. A special girls' project.  How could I say no to that?

 

So we have started slowly taking the machine apart and putting pieces into labeled bags, praying that we can put them back together once we clean them. It's hard to find time to work on it without Colleen insisting to have a front row seat and be involved, but we're slowly removing screws and learning about the insides of a machine. Amelia is gaining a lot of confidence and even predicting what the next steps will be. She seems to be enjoying it even more than an actual sewing project.

Austin got a trophy for Best Horse Stance for this semester at karate.

This goofy girl discovered that she loves deviled eggs. And wants hard boiled eggs "with those red spots, Mama" (paprika) on them as often as possible.

Patrick and I were invited to a surprise 40th birthday party for our friend Jen. Her family went all-out; there was a DJ and caterer and bartender and amazing decorations for the 80's theme. They asked everyone to come dressed up; some folks had the most amazing costumes. It was a fun night celebrating her and catching up with other friends that we hadn't seen in awhile.

Holly, Jen & Rose

Photo Booth photos