Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful that we got to have so many family members gathered here in CA for our Thanksgiving celebration. Our company came from near and far -- Washington, Arizona, Oklahoma, Indiana, and the Bay area. We had a total of twelve at our house for dinner, and everyone had a hand in the meal preparation. 


We enjoyed all of the traditional favorites, with a few new offerings added in for good measure. The 23-pound bird was the focal point of the meal, and THANKFULLY, it was roasted to perfection. Even with an attempt to not overdo it, we all somehow managed to overeat. I guess there was simply too much good food.

On Wednesday, Millie, G-ma, and Robin teamed up to make homemade noodles. It looked like a photo op. to me, but then again, everything gets photographed at our house.

Say, "Cheese!" or "Noodles?"


Bring out the aprons -- everybody gets put to work.

Daddy/Daughter pose

Hail, hail, the gang's all here... except for me, because I'm hiding behind the camera! :-)

First course, of course...

M. played a few pieces on the piano, and he also pumped out a
few piano rolls for our after dinner entertainment.

Mr. Smith was thrilled to have his mommy here from OK. She just celebrated her 87th b-day on the 23rd, so that's yet another thing to be thankful for. Cousin Linda came over from S.F. to join in on the fun in Roseville.

The dancing/performing part of the Smith family is off at rehearsal today. The opening performance of The Nutcracker is Saturday at noon. All that hard work is about to pay off... Of course, I will be there for that very first show along with the rest o' the Thompson/Smith clan, sitting a few rows back, center stage. It's going to be fun -- no doubt!

Dancin' & Surfin'

The show must go on -- again!

It's the same location, same time, same dances, but it's just a different day. And there are a few different cast members thrown in the mix to keep things fresh. :-)

After yet another public appearance at "Fountains at Roseville," several ballerinas came over to our house for pizza, salad, and Italian sodas. Oh, and they also ate some of M's almost famous chocolate chip cookies. Yum! They had enough time to mattress surf a few times before we had to load up the "ballet bus" and head to the studio for more rehearsal.

More Great Publicity

The homeschooled cast members of The Nutcracker played "hooky" two days straight. Well, they did go to school. It was a preschool, so I am certain that counts as an educational day. Right?! HA!


Our group was invited to do a presentation of dances from the ballet for three, four, and five-year-olds. Liesey read aloud to the children, and with this being her 2nd and 3rd times doing so, she just about has the story memorized. It was sweet to watch the young children stare in wonder at the bright costumes. Thursday and Friday's "events" went relatively well -- okay, so we did have one or two little things go wrong. Oh, well!!! Each time we do this kind of public appearance, we learn a little more of what works and what doesn't. It's all good. See, that's where the "educational" value comes into play.


I am not sure who had more fun -- the little children, or the big kid dancers! We have decided that even big kids never grow up too much to not want to play dress-up.


Millie loves her beautiful costume. This dress was originally made for Liesey three years ago. No one has worn it since then, so Millie is thrilled that she gets to wear her big sister's dress.

What a couple of "dolls!"

Several children at the preschool (and their parents) told the dancers that they wanted to come to see the full show, so I guess we accomplished our mission of spreading some Christmas cheer, and generating a few additional ticket sales. Our "crew" represented PTB beautifully. It's amazing that these "inadequately socialized" homeschoolers even know how to behave in public, let alone perform on a stage for an audience. Hmmmmm... (I know, I know, I shouldn't be sarcastic, but I just couldn't help myself.)


We have one more publicity event tomorrow afternoon, and a very full weekend of rehearsals, so it is going to be a busy couple o' days. The opening performance is only a week away! You know what that means -- right? I'll be taking and sharing more pictures of the Smithlings and Mr. Smith. (You have been forewarned.)

The next stage...

Saturday was full of tutus, books, and fountains. That's sort of a strange combination, isn't it? Allow me to explain.

Part of my volunteer responsibilities with Placer Theatre Ballet is to coordinate publicity events and appearances for our dancers to promote this year's Nutcracker. I have spent several hours over the past couple of months scheduling events. It's been fun and quite rewarding. I have a total of seven publicity events on the schedule. It's going to be a busy time over the next few weeks, I guess. 

We began the morning at Barnes and Noble for a storytime event -- our very first public appearance of the season. Liesey got to read The Nutcracker aloud to a small, but captive audience of four and five-year-old children. Our dancers taught the children a few basic ballet positions, and then performed some of the dances from the ballet. We had to transport 24 costumes to these events, so that's where the tutus come in. And I guess it's pretty obvious that B&N is full of books. Right?


Ballet and BOOKS are two things that this girl loves, so it only stands to reason that books about ballet are the best -- even if they are written for young children.

Good friends are a favorite thing, too!

So where do the fountains fit into this entry? I'm slowly getting to that part.


The dancers had the opportunity to show off their fancy footwork on the community stage at the area's newest shopping center, "Fountains at Roseville."  We decided to share nine pieces from the ballet. It was 78 degrees and oh, so sunny -- perfect November weather. We had an appreciative audience, so the performers had a blast. All of these beautiful costumes got packed into my car, and are now hanging up at my house until we need them for a repeat engagement at the same venue on the 22nd.  After the performance, we shuttled a carload of ballerinas to the studio for a long afternoon of rehearsals. They were not complaining, as they all love to dance, all day long!

So what's the next stage? I will take a group of 8 dancers (all home schooled cast members who are able to skip school w/out penalty of death) to a preschool on both Thursday and Friday for similar presentations. And, yes, I'll be attending these storytime events, too! Wheee! 

"Dr. Stahlbaum" and a beautiful ballerina enjoyed the picture perfect day. And isn't that a perfect picture?  Mr. Smith served as our emcee for the show, so he dug out his cheeriest Christmas tie. He doesn't have one with a nutcracker on it, so perhaps we need to go shopping to look for one to add to his wardrobe... Nah!

Ballerina Field Trip

Every field trip starts out better when a visit to Starbucks is the first stop. Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Mint Chocolate Mochas were the drink of choice. Me? I prefer a plain ol' decaf. drip... I know, that's pretty boring. 

Ten ballerinas and four moms headed to Davis to the Mondavi Center to see a matinee school performance  -- ABTII performed a classical piece from "Swan Lake." Beautiful! The second piece was from Jerome Robbins' ballet "Interplay." Jerome Robbins is best known for directing & choreographing the Broadway version of "West Side Story." It was easy to spot some similarities between the two works, even though what we saw was classical ballet. The dancers in ABTII range in age from 16-20, and they are obviously very gifted dancers. 

Millie, Madison, Kennedy, Liesey, Jenny, Chloe, Ruth, Kayla, Megan, and Naomi attempt to strike a pose all at the same time. It didn't really work, but that's okay.

Let's eat!

We drove back to Sacramento & stopped for a late lunch at Center Court.  (Since this restaurant is in the shopping center adjacent to Mr. Smith's office, a select few from the group went over to say hello to him. He was definitely surprised to see his girls!)

We finally managed to get a group photo where everyone is looking at the camera AND smiling. We were indeed blessed to get to spend a day in the company of such wonderful friends. Also, it's ALWAYS a treat to get away from pencils, papers, and school books, but it's back to school on Friday. Thankfully, the weekend is almost here.

Raleigh Court Costume Parade

Raleigh Court did not see much trick-or-treat activity, but that's okay. Several neighbors gathered on the Turner's front porch for an impromptu court get together, so everything turned out just fine, and we all stayed dry once the rain showers began. I believe we had about six groups of kids come through the 'hood, so we are left with too much candy, leftover bubbles, and Play-Doh!

"Slash," Obama, and Friends made the rounds tonight... YIKES!

Our paper "boy" and sailor went over to a friend's house for the evening. I snapped their photo before they left -- too cute! Liesey is wearing clothes that I wore in the 1980s and her cap is one that used to belong to Leslie T. -- I know he'd be proud that his hat is getting put to good use. Millie is recycling her tap recital costume. She's frugal! And oh, soooo adorable.

Before they left, the girls visited a few of the neighbors and met up with pretty pirates and witches. Next year I think that we are going to plan a court party instead of waiting on trick-or-treaters who never show up. I guess all the kids on the court are getting too old to go out and beg for candy...