Our Nutcracker, SWEET!

Get it?  The Nutcracker Suite?
Anyway, we made it.  Sarah did a great job in all 6 shows.  I felt like finally by the 6th show I was getting the hang of having fun and hamming up the pantomime on the stage for the party scene.
My hip is a WRECK from all the standing in my t-strap jazz shoes (they have a very slight heel).  I haven't had socket pain for about a month.  It's BAAAACK.  But I'm icing and hoping that return to normal life will mean the inflammation will go down.  Might be a cortizone shot for me after all.
But if I do the nutcracker again I'd like to do some actual dancing.  Maybe that can be my goal for when I am healed up!

Here are some pics to record  how amazing Sarah looked in her costumes.  She loved being a mouse.  She was also the biggest Bonbon, so this is her last year doing that.  She is already planning what she wants to do next year.

My Party Girl Gown and the cutest mouse.  The studio owns all the costumes, but my dress only had a top, no skirt.  So I went to DI and found this one for $8.  Pretty darn perfect.  

Sarah came up with some great poses!

The director, Miss Sue (she is my teacher when I take Jazz too!)

The mouse on set.  Sarah was the mouse who did a cartwheel onto the stage.  Cartwheels are not her strong point, but she got better and better at them each performance!

And the Bon bon!  

We had some great family come see us!

Instead of flowers after the show, I usually give the girls a nutcracker themed gift.  Libby chose this nutcracker for Sarah while we were at Disneyworld.  Libby was super proud of Sarah and shouted out her name just as she was heading off stage.  Sarah looked up with the cutest O mouth.  Everyone in the theater got a chuckle out of that one.  

It was Grandpa's first time seeing the show!  Grandma enjoyed it--like she does every year.  

Two more people saw the Nutcracker for the first time this year!  Derek has always had wrestling during their performances in the past.  I think he enjoyed it more than he expected to.  Ben's commentary was great (I watched the 2nd half with them).  He was super excited about the set for act 2 and exclaimed that he could "EAT THE WHOLE CASTLE!"  His favorite dance teacher was the sugar plum fairy, so he loved that part.  It got a titch long for him, but he endured.  

Sarah with her fellow Bon Bons and Mother Ginger.  (The Bon Bons come out from under Mother Ginger's skirt).  

Sarah with the Mouse King.  She had the important job of bringing his cape off stage after the Nutcracker kills him.  

The scenery for Act 2--that Ben wanted to eat.  

I love this little dancer!  It was fun to just spend some time with my middle child.  She is always so good and helpful, that sometimes she gets overlooked.  We even got to eat out together between shows on Saturday.  IHOP.  This girls loves pancakes.