Finally, an update...

Geesh!  One would think that I could manage to get my butt in gear and do a little update now and then.

I think a life time of activities have occurred since my last post about Matthew and his ears.  The doctors were really great and his ENT doctor had him scheduled for surgery on November 15th witch was a huge surprise for me.  I didn't think that he would get in so quick but I guess having a little "history" does have its advantages sometimes.  The surgery went well and he was a trooper.  He didn't really do great coming out of the anesthetics all that well and was quickly given morphine for pain.  I was a little shocked to enter the recovery room to find out that he was so medicated and still screaming.  He screamed for a good 45 mins and the nurses were pushing drinks, Popsicle's, even pop.  Matthew would have none of it and really just wanted to sleep so I begged the nurse to let me take him home without the necessary fluid intake before discharge.  Once back home and with Daddy he gladly accepted the juice offered to him and took a nice long nap.  Dad had to stay home with the other kids and see them off to school so he wasn't able to be with Matthew for this surgery.  We have a follow up appointment with the whole cleft team once a month till March, back to being hospital busy for awhile I guess.

My boys Michael and Daniel have been busy with indoor soccer.  Daniel loves it, he has quite a talent for sports in general and has a blast scoring.  He's best scoring of the season was a game a few weeks ago with 6 goals during their 1/2 game!  He is enjoying school and tells his teacher all the time what a smart boy he is.  This little boy needs no confidence building and is quite the ladies man.  He already has a little girl (Paige) kissing him and wanting to hold his at recess.  What can I say, dimples are a girls weakness?? 

Michael however still struggles with soccer.  He likes the idea however doesn't seem to have the confidence and assurance that he needs to be able to stand up to those kids who tower over him or can out play him.  Teaching that is a huge challenge for me and I try so hard to encourage and support him.  Who knows what sport (if any) he will continue with.  Michael's asthma has returned as well as an allergy to peanuts.  I am amazed with how well he is doing in school.  He is so bright and I am so proud of him.

Rebecca has been crazy busy with Nutcracker again this year and preformed in 6 shows, and danced 10 different roles.  She is like the energizer bunny and just keeps going.  She love ballet still and is doing very well.  I am proud of her and enjoy all the time we spend together.  She has quite the personality and beauty to match her sweet spirit.  I can't get over how well she handles her brothers and is asking to start babysitting.  I have assured her that she can start babysitting as soon as she is old enough in a couple of years.  She is doing well in school however has struggled with friends.  I am sure this is that yucky phase that girls seem to go through at her age, its just hard to see her deal with it all. 

My husband and I just celebrated our 12th anniversary and did nothing special.  As in we both forgot until the day after!  We had a good chuckle and went on our way doing the usual family stuff.  I still say one of these years we will get away just the two of us, doing boyfriend and girlfriend stuff.  Don't get me wrong, we do date still at least once a month.  It's just different coming home to a babysitter and life rather than a holiday just the two of you. 

I can't wait to post some Christmas pictures so I will try to get back on here before Easter??? 

Busy life

I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted anything on here.  It would seem my poor blog has suffered some serious neglect this past year.  Yikes, time to get my butt in gear. 
Life in our home has been rather busy lately.  The kids are winding down the school year and it always seem to bring a whack load of extra stuff for me.  Tonnes of field trips, special lunches, class potlucks, memory books, soccer, ballet etude...  I am SO excited to have the kids home and ALL MINE for the next two months.  We get to "fly by the seat of our pants" and have fun.  Yippee!!

We do have a few things coming up that will effect our usually camp until we drop but we should get lots of trailer time and I can't wait.

Kid run down:

Rebecca
She has finished another year of dance and completed her RAD ballet exam with distinction.  This is the highest level you can achieve and I am so proud of my little dancer.  She still has such a passion for ballet and amazes me with her dedication.  She is growing up so fast and she is now sporting her first pair of "heels".  She still likes to spend lots of time with me and she is such a big helper.  She had her eyes tested again and she does require glasses.  So this summer we will be spending time looking for the perfect pair.  Shopping with her is sometimes not so fun.  Like a true woman she changes her mind a gazzion times before she settles on the finial option.  Sigh, wish me luck. ;)  She has an amazing desire to attend church and to read her scriptures.  I will often catcher her reading them and it makes my heart smile.  Rebecca also will clean and organize her room without me having to ask.  She takes pride in her book shelf and calls it her library.  She even makes her brothers sign out books.  She is starting to help me cook and likes to help me cut the vegetables.

Michael
He played another season of soccer this year and it was a rough go in the beginning.  After awhile he really has started to enjoy and have fun.  Its good to see him make new friends and all those worries of him not being social as a toddler are out the window.  He makes friends easily and has great phone mannerisms.  He has done really well in school this last term and finished strong.  He is reading at a grade 4 and 11 months reading level.  He loves to read and loves history just like his dad.  Michael has become such a great brother to Daniel and it is nice to see them play together.  It seems like the fighting and head butting between them has slowed down.  He loves his dogs and is convinced he's a great dog trainer. 

Daniel
Boy, where to start with Daniel.  He is my everyday joy, he is so fun to be around.  He makes me laugh and comes up with some humdinger things sometimes.  He also played soccer this year and had so much fun. He was the smallest little guy on his team but that didn't hold him back.  He quickly made friends and the bigger kids quickly started to help him and protect him on the field.  He was able to score in one game and was so proud.  He was always keen to play and would often ask me if it was a soccer day.  Daniel is getting ready for kindergarten in the fall and is excited to go to school with the older kids.  His uniform looks so funny on him as he is still so tiny.  He is excited to go camping and giggles every time we talk about going to the trailer.

Matthew
It's hard to believe that we will be celebrating his 2nd birthday soon.  He is doing so well and I am so thankful to have the support of the hospital.  His language development is doing really will and he talks up a storm.  He says; Mommy, Becca, Daniel, Michael, Teika, Drink, Blankie, Help me, Up, More, Eat, Stinky, Crappy, Car, Choo Choo, No, Yes, Coming, Lets go, and many other things.  We are working on building strength in his legs and arms.  He still tends to be quite week but things are getting better.  He is cutting lots of teeth and we are waiting for his bottom canine to complete the bottom row.  He is still missing two teeth on the top where his cleft is so that is still a mystery if he will or where he will get them.  There isn't any room so hopefully if they do come they won't cause too much problems.  He did get his formal allergy testing done and it was confirmed that he has a dairy protein allergy so we are now trying to get funding for a special milk for him. 

Me
I have been on a emotional rollercoaster the last little while and have had major problems to deal with.  I don't want to put it on my blog as it is quite personal and I don't feel this is the place to talk about it.  I have done allot of praying and was even able to attend the temple which helped allot.  I am feeling allot better about the issue and am still focused on bettering the situation.  In addition to this problem I was let go from my job.  That alone was tough and I still haven't really talked about it with others.  It just didn't work out which saddens me cause I really enjoyed the work, just not the juvenile behaviour that was going on in the office.

Crazy Campers!

Since the beginning of July the kids and I have been spending most of our time out camping.  It has been so much fun lounging around, swimming, walking, cooking smores, and bike riding.  We are frequent visitors to the petting zoo and the village store for ice cream.  It really has been an awesome way to spend the warmest days of the year. 

This week our whole family is here as Daddy is on holidays and the kids are enjoying every minute showing him all the stuff they have been doing.  With Daddy here he was able to watch Matthew while Rebecca, Michael, and Daniel went for a ride on Grandpa's boat.  They had a good time and liked it when Grandpa stopped the boat and they could jump in the lake and spend some time playing on the diving dock off the back.  Michael and Rebecca played around with the knee board but were still too afraid to try it out. 

Rebecca and Michael are quite the Skipbo players now and Becca has even beaten me and Grandma a few times.  All the kids got new bikes and are having a blast riding them around.  We got Daniel one of those Kinderbikes and he is so proud riding it all around.

Matthew is doing really well.  He is so funny and when he gets tired of being held we put him down and he plays on the gravel and dirt.  He has only tasted a couple of big rock by licking them.  I had him to his pediatrician last week for a check up and we were sent up to the Childrens to have some xrays taken of his hands.  He's having a few problems with some of his fingers so right now we are ruling things out. 

Spring Show

My little ballerina had an awesome opportunity to dance in Peter and the Wolf this past month.

She was excited to be in a "real dressing room, with lights and everything"!

Lots of time to spend playing with friends before she was to be on stage.

Here she is as a "Mushroom" on the second day of performing.

(I don't have a picture of her as a Little Bird.)

It was a great weekend and a fantastic production!

It's Great to be Eight!

In our faith children have the opportunity to be baptized once they have turned eight. 

Well in April our twins turned the magical age of eight. 

They were baptized by their Grandfather.

Rebecca got a new dress.  Michael got a new suit.

It was such a special day, they even were treated to supper at Red Lobsters...just the twins and Mom & Dad.

Need something to do this weekend??

My daughter Rebecca is dancing this weekend in Jeunesse Classique Ballet's performance of Peter and the Wolf. I have been to a couple of the rehearsals and I am so excited to be able to see this, let alone have my little girl be apart of such a fantastic production.



So if you looking for something to do, please come and support our local young dancers!


This production is suitable for all ages.


Les Sylphides is the archetype of the abstract ballets that flourished at the dawn of the twentieth century: subline in its beauty and the delicacy of the dancers, it is more "poem" than "story": a simple depiction of sylphs dancing by moonlight with the poet.


Choreographer: Mikhail Fokin

Peter and the Wolf, also an early twentieth-century piece, is the beloved children's story told as an introduction to the musical instruments comprising the orchestra.


Choreographer: Bernard Courtot de Bouteiller


Saturday: May 15th, 2010 at 2:30 PM


Sunday: May 16th, 2010 at 2:30 PM


Wright Theatre, Mount Royal University


Location: 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Calgary, Alberta (map)


Artistic Director: Umran Sumen


Tickets available at College Ticket Center


Phone: 403.440.7770


Online: www.mtroyal.ca/tickets


Adult: $30


Senior, Student and Children: $20


Produced by: Jeunesse Classique Ballet Society

I am SO done with germs and bugs!

We have had quite the eventful house.  It started a few weeks ago when I happen to get yet another plugged duct.  (I'm pumping milk for Matthew since he is not able to breast feed.)  So take my word for it, if your doctor comes in and says she's going to use a large needle to drain out the infection...its going to hurt.  The bonus is it clears up really fast and doesn't hurt like a son of a gun.  ;)
Matthew had an appointment with his cleft team at the children's hospital.  Everything was going well until his ears started to drain clear fluid.  So after failing his hearing test again, they gave him some drops.  5 days later he had gross green pus coming out of his ear.  It happened at church so I decided to wait until the morning so that I could call his surgeon who put his tubes in to look at him rather than some one different.  The good news is tubes are still in place and everything is looking good. 
Becca had a cold with a mild cough.  She didn't get too sick and bounced back really quickly.  That's my girl, doesn't seem to miss a beat unless she is super ugly sick. 
Michael managed to one up his sister and got strep.  He then ended up have a severe allergic reaction to the antibiotic and ended up with hives covering his whole body and facial swelling.  The poor boy even had hives in his mouth.  He spent a couple of hours at the hospital getting dose after dose of medication to reduce the allergic reaction.  We got the lovely lecture from the  ER doctor that we need to call an ambulance the next time he gets a bad reaction like this.  I'm just hoping that he doesn't have a next time.   
Daniel must have been feeling left out of the loop of sickies cause he now has strep and pneumonia.  He is just in the beginning of his ordeal and we are waiting to see how bad his chest x ray is.  The poor boy is quite ill and spends most of the day on the couch with his monster truck. 
I can't leave DH out of the blog...he had his gout flair up in his ankle and has been limping around.  
I think that we have had our share now so I have spent the day cleaning like mad to try and rid our house of any remaining germs trying to hang out.  I would really like to get my hands on some of those CaviWipes, you know the super germ killer ones they have at the hospital.  They probably would be safer than my home made water/bleach spray bottle I carefully take around my house.  (I have dark blue carpet through out the house so I have nightmares about spilling it.  Can you imagine, YIKES!) 

Super Stars!

Rebecca is getting ready to take her RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) ballet exam.  She is in Grade one and is doing so well.  After speaking to her dance teacher last week Bec is more than ready and should do very well again this year.  Bec also got the highest Math test score this past week.  She was so proud and excited that everyone in the class clapped for her.  She continues so shine in her class at school and is so keen.  I love listening to her read to Daniel some evenings and she uses fun and cute voices to tell the stories.  Daniel just giggles and it's a great thing for a Mom to hear.

Michael's creativity sure does shine at home and school.  His art/math teacher is completely smitten with him and it shows.  He tries his very best for her and has learned alot.  I just love reading his weekly journal and the stories he write in his creative writing book.  He is excited to be starting soccer this spring and is SO excited for Cubs in April.  Every day he asks if we can go by his Cubs shirt and sash.

Daniel is such a good big brother.  I will often see him getting down on the floor with Matthew to play with him.  Daniel is now potty trained and is so proud of him self, he was so ready and trained himself.  Every morning Daniel packs his back pack and fills it with a few toys and his blanket.  When the twins get out of the van he always asks to go with them on the bus.  Daniel is so good about brushing his teeth, I swear he has his brush in his mouth every hour or so.  

Matthew is getting better with his development.  We are waiting for Early Intervention to come to our house to work with some of his delays.  He just started to put his fingers back up to his mouth this past week.  Matthew mostly plays with his feet, apparently they are the cats meow!  Matthew learned how to play peek-a-boo with his Grandma last week.  He has started solids and liked his rice cereal.  We tried oat cereal and that quickly became his favorite.  He is doing quite well with eating solids and shocked his speech pathologist and nutritionist.  

As for me, I am changing my life...for the better.  I have lost 16.5 lbs since Jan. 2/10 and if you find them, consider them a gift.  :P 

    

My Heros

M-masterful

I-imagination

C-charismatic

H-humorous

A-attitude

E-example

L-loving

R-reliant
E-energetic
B-brave
E-elegant
C-caring
C-curious
A-adorable

D-daring
A-adventurous
N-nailbiter
I-imaginative
E-elaborate
L-loving

M-mighty
A-adaptable
T-teeny
T-tenacious
H-happy
E-elect
W-willing

The Fantastic Four

Here are my four trick or treaters getting ready to head out the door.  We had quite the fiasco before hand as Daniel wanted to be Spiderman and Darth Vader.  As soon as he hit the first house he forgot all about it.  True to form Becca was the leader of the pack and ran to every house.  Daniel was keeping up the rear.  Not because he wasn't running, it was because he would stay for a visit at every single house.  It was quite funny.  After our hour out we came home where Becca had a good time handing out candy to the kids that came to our door.  This is my favorite part as we hand out all the contraband candy that came in the kids' haul.  You know things like suckers, hard candy, and gum.  These things always seem to end up in hair or stuck to my carpet so the get redistributed ASAP.  

Our week is hectic as Matthew and I have three appointments up at the hospital.  He gets to see his plastic surgeon again and the clinic pediatrician.  Here's to hoping that they are excited about his weight gain as our regular pediatrician is.  Matthew's surgery is coming up in 5 weeks so we have to make sure that he doesn't have any set backs in his feeding.  Right now he can't eat with his NAM in.  He's had a hard time with it since the appliance became uniform.  The gap in his gum-line is almost touching so there isn't a piece of acrylic separating the left and right side of the gum line.  Make sense?  I think the NAM moves when he eats causing some discomfort.   Hopefully the dentist will be able to fix it during our appointment with her on Thursday.  I am starting to see the end of the tunnel with his appliance and can't wait until I am no longer pealing tape off his face.  The sad thing is he sometimes doesn't even cry anymore.  It's like he has cheeks of steal. 

Bits

Matthew is now 8lbs 5oz. Come on everyone lets cheer!!!

Michael has an allergy to something and has broken out in hives all over his body.

Rebecca learned that she can have the office call home when she is "not feeling well".

Daniel is such a little character. I love how he sings and dances the whole day through.

My DH let me go to bed first last Friday night while he stayed up with Matthew until his next feed. I "heart" him!

I made banana muffins today and a homemade meal.

Matthew smiles and coos.

Michael calls his little brothers his little Dumplings, I am his big Tomato.

Rebecca is so keen when it comes to dancing. She even asked for an extra part in the Nutcracker. (No, I didn't encourage it. It was all her.)

Daniel held my hand and told me it was okay while my Dr. checked my section sight last week. Daniel kept saying, "It's okay Mommy. I'm here, I'm here".

My DH got the kids ready for school earlier this week while I sat and pumped for our Matthew. I love how much he supports my pumping.

I haven't cried all week.

A Week of Firsts

Michael and Becca had their first day of grade 2 yesterday. Becca was so excited she woke me up at 5:00am and wanted to get dressed. I convinced her to let me sleep and she laid on the couch until it was time to get up. Michael was excited to get to see all of his friends and was jumping to get out the door to the bus stop. When the bus came they both got on without turning to wave goodbye. My eyes stung a bit until I saw Michael (who had landed the backseat of the bus) turn and wave with a huge smile on his face. They have have grown up so fast and I find it hard to believe that they are in grade 2.
The only one not excited about all of this was Daniel. He was so upset that his sister was heading off. He wanted to go to and put on a backpack and everything. He was quite the little shadow yesterday and he seemed to always be under my feet. I hope to get to my ward Mom & Tots this week so that he can play and have something to do.
Matthew today had his first trip to an operating room. It wasn't anything major, he had a mold taken of his cleft palate for the appliance they are putting in next week. So happy birthday buddy, you are two weeks old today and have already had your first fast. He wasn't too impressed with the whole fasting bit. His doctor told me he was so good and only cried while the "mud" was in his mouth. Than after that he just looked around and was checking everything out.

Baby Steps

I let the my 7.5 year old kids ride their bikes outside in the front without me today. I sat in the family room, watching them play and have a good time. I couldn't help but laugh at myself when my eyes filled with tears of joy and sadness. Where did my little twins go? I swear it was just yesterday that they took their first tiny steps. Now it seems like I'm the one taking the tiny steps of letting them grow up.

I am so proud of these two.

Monkey Business

Here we are under the three week mark until I can finally have this baby in my arms. I was so scared in the beginning and now everyday that he's "baking" I ache to have him here. I can't wait to have him in my arms safe, and where his doctors can rule out the bad and hopefully leave us with some good news.
Last Saturday Becca and I were playing with him when he turned himself around. It was painful but fun to share this with my daughter. She was laughing so hard that I didn't have time to really feel the effects of this monkey. However, I am sure that he used his feet against my "ahem" to launch this acrobatic maneuver.
My ultrasound this week went just as planned. He is hanging in there and still looks stable. I still have to go back every week and it helps my sanity to know he's okay. The amniotic fluid is holding so hopefully that won't be a problem again.
I had them take a look this week to make sure he hasn't wrapped himself in the umbilical cord. I haven't been able to sleep since Sunday when it dawned on me that he may be strangling himself will all this turning he's been doing. Lucky for him it doesn't seem to be around his neck.
He was able to out smart three techs and a doctor and wouldn't hold still long enough for them to get one of the heart measurements. I am sure that he has figured out the program and now just waits for them to start taking a good look at this ticker. It's kind of funny except the more he moves the harder the techs look. This means more time laying flat, more time they're pressing and pushing on my belly. The last two weeks I have had to take Tylenol just to get the muscle pain under control.

My bags are packed...

Well not my bags but I did do the packing. I dropped my sweet little girl off at her Aunties house today to be taken up to Edmonton to see the Jonas Brothers in concert tonight. Her Grandpa bought all of his little granddaughter's a ticket to see them and my sister was the lucky one chosen to be the parent to take all 7 kids by herself. Afterwards Rebecca will be heading out to the trailer with her Grandparents for a few days. It is pitiful how much crying I have done today. I can't believe that my little girl is going to her first concert and that she will be away from my until Sunday. I can't wait to talk to her tonight and hear all about the concert. She has floor tickets so I'm hoping she won't get trampled!

My boys have been fighting over the one and only Bumblebee transformer in the the house. We have others but they are not the same as Bumblebee. So last night after listening to a week of crying I bought Daniel his very own. The peace that over swept the house was amazing. Both boys are content and they have spent the day playing together without fighting. It has been the best $14 I have spent in a long time.

Our ultrasound went well earlier this week. Our little gift is happy as a clam and still is scoring high on the apgar test. He is showing no signs of heart failure and his heart is still going strong. I got to see his sweet little face, he did have his hands in the way but he was kind enough to move them a bit so we could see part of his cleft. He is weighing about 4.5 lbs and looks good. I am anticipating his birth so that we can iron out the remaining questions surrounding his health. I still continually pray/beg for miracles. I'm not being greedy. I know that some of his problems won't magically disappear but I am hoping that they well be better that what they predict.

I saw my doctor today and I am doing well. They seem to be surprised that my blood pressure is creeping up. It seems like a no brainer to me. My kids are out of school, my little girl just left me for a few days, the baby we're expecting is sick, our vacuum broke, our dryer broke, our brakes in the car need to be done, it's hot... I could go on and on. I think I deserve a little high blood pressure. (Oh, and its not that bad. 128/89)

Noise

My house has been filled with the laughter of all three kids since Thursday. It has been so nice to have them home and enjoying being here. Daniel is in his glory cause his big brother and sister are here to entertain him. Michael builds space ships out of his Lego, one for him and one for Daniel. I can't help but fall into a puddle of mush watching these two boys play. They are so much alike and it is hard to believe that we will be adding another little man into this family. Rebecca is my light. She is such a big helper and begs to do things around the house for me. She cleans the front closet, arranging all the shoes nicely. She likes to cut the vegetables up for supper. She helps me put away the laundry and even changed Daniel's clothes and diaper for me. I am sure that this won't last forever, but for now I am grateful.

I am heading off for another ultrasound tomorrow. I am excited cause my sister who is due three weeks before me is having one done just before me. I am so excited for her and her family to be welcoming this little lady into their home. She is such a good mom to her boys and their new addition will be so loved by her older brothers.

My ultrasound is basically to monitor the baby for signs of heart failure and to make sure that our little gift is happy and enjoying his time in hotel mommy. We met with the Dr's at the hospital and they told us what to expect after he is born. His name should be Charlie cause he is holding a Golden Ticket into the NICU. Hopefully his stay will be rather uneventful and that he will be able to come home quickly.

Driving Hazzards

Driving my van around the city with my three kids in the back usually goes without any problems. We go to and from the school, bus stop, trailer, ballet, taekwondo, and to do our many errands. Today was no exception. We got to Taekwondo without any problems and while Michael was doing his class I headed to the area Subway for a tasty pizza sub loaded with jalapenos. This happens to be the tastiest thing I have had in quite sometime and I can't get enough of them. Maybe it's the nitrates, cause they have the same effect on me as my ever coveted 7-11 hot dogs.
On the way home I got the strongest indigestion I have yet to experience. No it didn't come from the food, it was my two 7 year olds in the back of the van. My sweet little innocent Becca asked me, "Mom what is puck"? I couldn't believe my what my ears were hearing from my little lady. It was then Michael who joined in and said "Ya Mom, what does puck mean". So I explained that this wasn't a nice word and it was a swear word that we should never use. ( I am sure that it goes without saying that the word wasn't puck, but another four letter word.) I told them that it didn't really mean anything and people who use bad words say it. I asked where they had heard it and sure enough, it was at school. I told them how happy I was that they asked me what a word ment before they started using it and now that they know what it means they arn't to say it. Becca was sure surprised that it was even a "badder" word that stupid or shut up.
I wasn't and still not prepared for my kids to start to loose that innocence that I have tried to protect them from.
Needless to say, I still have the indigestion.

New Year = New Blessings

So many little things happen in our lives that always forget to write them down or blog about them. Lately by the time I get around to heading into bed I am so exhausted that I can't even think straight. I am sure that it has everything to do with this pregnancy but I can't help but feel like I've lost control. I hope things return to normal in a few weeks, until then I will just keep surviving.
Everyone had a good Christmas in our house, we went to the pageant, ate a tone of food, welcomed Santa's offerings, etc. Cesar was off extra days so it was nice to have him around. It's not very often we all get to spend so much time together, it was nice.
Over the holiday we found out that we are expecting another baby. We should be welcoming this little one sometime in August. I am still finding it hard to believe that I will be the Mom to 4 kids. It just seems so surreal. I am excited and can't wait for my ultrasound next week to see exactly when he/she will be coming and to make sure all is well within hotel mommy.
The kids are doing so well in school. I can't believe how smart they are, I am very proud of my little scholars. Daniel is just being himself. This kid can make us laugh like no other.
Time for me to head off to the couch, breakfast isn't sitting to well today. ;o(

'Tis the Season

Nutcracker has come and gone and it was such a fantastic year. Here are a few picture of her in two of her roles. This picture is of her teacher, Ms. Mimi (Grandmother) and Rebecca (Seraphim). All the girls are downstairs waiting to be lead by the wonderful volunteers to the wings.

Here is Rebecca getting ready to dance her favorite role, a Royal Guard. This was something that she was asked to do by her teacher. There were many comments from the other teachers on what a good Royal Guard she was. She was so happy to get to do this that she gave it her all, the look on this little sharp shooters face was priceless. I don't think there was ever a practice that she missed the music cue to shoot the Mouse King.

Here is Rebecca with two of the other Royal Guards all finished and getting ready to head back to wardrobe.

This is a picture of her very scary stage make up. It isn't as bad as some of the leading roles like the Sugar Plum Fairy or the Snow Queen, but it does look real odd when you are standing next to them. She was so happy to have the "bigger dancers" make up that she was showing off her little red eye dots. Silly girl!

She did dance another role but I wasn't able to get any picture on that day. Which is a shame cause she had the most perfect ringlets and was absolutely stunning. Really she was, and this isn't just a bragging mother talking here. (Okay, so this post has been a bit of a brag...but with a daughter like this, I have a right!)