first day of nutcracker

 i'm so tired but have somehow survived a full day of nutcracker work. chanda and i were at the theatre at 10:15 this morning for a dress rehearsal.

we first had a breakfast of steel cut oats and tea. morgana held down the fort while chanda and i left for the theatre (stopping first in the laundry room to put several loads in). morgana stayed home until babysitting in the afternoon, and then she met me at the theatre for chanda's show.

 the call was for ten am but they didn't begin the dress until noon!!! this is so absurd. the communication was obviously poor between the person handling the scheduling information and the director of the show. it was not fun hanging out for two hours with twenty party scene children, ten mice, ten four year old christmas trees, and ten five year old little chefs. 

 obviously the costume person was overworked and didin't have time for repairs. my friend ro (short for rose marie, isn't that a pretty name?) and i stepped up to bat and we sewed up the huge tear in this pink tulle tutu. it was not an easy task and i was proud of our work.

ro had another project to do right when it was time for lunch break. her daughter and several friends threaded six needles for her before going out (she has a terrible time threading needles).

i couldn't leave her to hem this monstrosity of a dress all by herself when everyone was leaving, so i sat down and quickly stitched around to meet her halfway. she was not happy to do such a slap dash job. she likes to sew herself and appreciates careful work. sometimes, however, costumes just get thrown together.

we met the girls at cafe mille feuille. morgana calls it milly filly, which i find much easier to say.

it felt good to get out of the theatre and walk around. being so long inside without windows causes one to feel as if it's nighttime, but daylight was still there for a few more hours.

it was a wonderful show and chanda did a beautiful job dancing. here's a bit from her tech rehearsal on thursday:

i am so tired now and need to get some sleep!

nutcracker tech and a birthday party

 after the craft fair chanda had a nutcracker tech rehearsal. i went along as i had signed up to help out with the little ones and to man the front desk where everyone signs in and out.

 early dancers warming up . . 

the three claras . . 

we have another tech tomorrow night and then a dress rehearsal thursday . .

and then after the tech rehearsal this evening . . we went uptown to a birthday party! (what a crazy night!)

 it was so nice to arrive at the party where there was a delicious dinner waiting for us (chanda and i were both very hungry!)

(everyone had eaten already so we took a few pictures first as two of the guests had to leave) . .

 my friend is an amazing cook and had made pasta, filet mignon, turkey breast, beet salad, green salad and a wild rice salad.

 for dessert there were six different flavors of ice cream.

we did manage to make it home before midnight so our coach didn't turn into a pumpkin (and we were fortunate to find a parking spot right in front of the apartment).

and then there was a nutcracker rehearsal

it's getting dark so early now. i went out around 4 pm to see if chanda's nutcracker rehearsal needed additional moms to help out.

 having a snack . . kale salad.

they actually ended early today and i helped with contacting parents of the little gingerbreads to come and pick them up.

dress rehearsal

 it's hair curling time again. last night i rolled chanda's hair up and this morning we tried to finish drying it. some curls were a little too straight, but most came out nicely. she had dress rehearsal this afternoon at noon, with a call time of 10:30 . . i mean 11. my call time was 10:30 since i was helping. we got there somewhere in between . . it was difficult getting out this morning. thankfully, greg made our sandwiches and i picked up a tea along the way.

 there was a three hour break before the evening show so chanda came home to eat and take a nap . . then she was off again and i stayed home to do laundry and make a bone broth, chicken soup and banana bread. and then korrina came home with a stollen from her old restaurant, the austrian one with the famous chef. i just had a piece with ginger chamomile tea . . really good!

st. nicholas' day

today was a rainy st. nicholas' day. chanda spent it in ballet class and rehearsal from 9:30 to 5 pm. it was a long day for her. i worked there from 1 to 4, making sure everyone signed in and handing out t-shirts that families had ordered.

it often got quite noisy while everyone was waiting to go upstairs to practice their part. there were "teacups," gingerbread, flowers, soldiers and mice. and there were some tears shed by little four year olds who just wanted to be at home (who wouldn't when you're four?).

the view out the window was wet but pretty.

there's actually a lot of construction going on in the neighborhood. you can see one of the cranes in the picture on the top right.

 i finally remembered to put up the december countdown candle.

and chanda and i celebrated the second sunday of advent since i'll be visiting my sister in connecticut to help my parents settle into their new apartment (greg was at a sports bar watching the florida state football game against georgia tech, and korrina was at work). we sang a few songs: people look east, jeanette isabella, good king wenceslas. tomorrow night they will go to an advent spiral that the anthroposophical society hosts. it's organized by a lovely lady who used to teach the girls in a waldorf handwork class when they were very young.

waiting for nutcracker rehearsal to end

 today i helped monitor the little children in the nutcracker rehearsal. one little girl did not like the loud room filled with jabbering dancers at all and i had to call her dad to pick her up. she was only six.

 our friend isabella reading her book after dancing as a soldier.

 passing the time . . 

chanda said it went pretty well . . they have time to fix things up. it doesn't open until the second weekend in december.

this evening i'm getting ready for chanda's birthday by wrapping her gifts and putting out the birthday ring. we'll all have breakfast together in the morning.

snow rehearsal

 every saturday night chanda has "snow" rehearsal. it's the ice skater sequence from the nutcracker she's in (waltz of the snowflakes). it's one of my favorite pieces in the show with the dancers in beautiful midnight blue skater dresses (long). they dance with lanterns in their hands . . which chanda says is not easy. (in rehearsal they keep their hands in a leg warmer "muff" to get used to not having their arms for balance . . ).

eating her sandwich . . i also tend to get goodies from the local bakeries: prune danish from andre's (a bit of a walk) and sour cherry cobbler from corner cafe (just up the block).

 being good and finishing her italian language lesson on duolingo.

i usually have peppermint or earl grey tea and work on my knitting . . since i had the computer along, i also did my german lesson.

chanda's new ballet school

 chanda has been attending ballet classes at the joffrey ballet school, across from our library.

her teacher is irene hogarth-cimino, whom she really loves. morgana's ballet teacher even had wonderful praise for irene, calling her one of the best ballet teachers in nyc.

while she was in class, i visited with our friends elsa and isabella. isabella's birthday is september 23rd, the same as my sister's. i knitted her a lace mohair scarf with knitpicks' aloft yarn, and we gave her a book on tape: miranda the great by eleanor estes (one of our favorites, of course!). she's nine now.

morgana put in a dvd to practice her flowers dance. the tschkovsky music is different from recording to recording. she played a movie of the dances patrelle's version that chanda's rehearsal director had given her.

chanda got a little silly here, and i couldn't stop laughing (except when she jumped on the floor too hard and i worried about our neighbors complaining).

dinner was leftover lentil soup with bionaturae gluten free pasta and parmesano.