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 This dress was originally made for Liesey three years ago.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...

58 years = 696 months

 October 29, 1950

Mom and Dad are observing their wedding anniversary today, but I don't think that they will take the time to do the math to see how many months they have been married, so I'll do it for them. (We Smiths like monthiversary numbers...) Six hundred ninety-six months sounds pretty impressive, eh? It seems as if it was just a year or two ago that we were celebrating their golden wedding anniversary, but I guess it was actually eight years ago. Wow! Tempus fugit.

2008

250

Today marks our 250th monthiversary. (I won't break it down into how many days of wedded bliss that represents. Suffice it to say, it's a long time! And it has been a BLAST!) Two hundred and fifty months represents a bit of a milestone, but I doubt if there will be any big celebration, especially since we are hosting the boys' high school Bible study at our home tonight. Oh, well.

It has been a lot of fun to commemorate our "monthiversaries" over the years. I am so thankful that our dear friend Karl coined the term for us back during our first year of marriage. He thought it was "sweet" that Mr. Smith and I celebrated each month of marriage, so he said something about it being a "monthly anniversary" kind of a thing, and then that morphed into one word, "monthiversary." From that new term we had our inspiration to keep the counting going. I believe that we have only missed celebrating one month, so that's not a bad track record.

I could take the time to write out 250 things I appreciate about my beloved, or some other mushy kind of a list, but I'll cease with my ++++++++++++++++++++++++ typing1111111 for now. YIKES! These additional keystrok+es are compliments of Jemima. Our kitty girl is sleepily lounging next to the computer, and she occasionally........... hit+s a key with her7777 incredibly large paw. It is too hard to type with her being on the keyboard, and I cannot bear to remove her from such a comfy location. CATS! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ (You can tell her key of choice is the plus sign. She is+ such a positive influence, or should that be PAWSitive? HA!)

When life gives apples...

...make apple butter!

Although we made the trip to Apple Hill a couple of weeks ago, the kitchen help has been slow to get to work on this seasonal favorite. The boxes of apples have been waiting patiently, and waiting, and waiting! In between running to and from the dance studio for Nutcracker rehearsals, this weekend was spent peeling, slicing, coring, cooking, seasoning, stirring, and canning lots o' Golden Delicious apples to make our annual batch of apple butter.

This time around, we experimented by using a fraction of the sugar that the recipe calls for, and the results were wonderful. Five out of five taste testers agreed that this is an exceptionally tasty vintage.

I am almost certain that I heard Helen T's voice echoing in my brain as I stacked the finished product on the pantry shelf.  I cannot make, eat, or even think about apple butter without remembering Helen. Oh, I probably shouldn't add our beloved neighbor's comment here verbatim, as I have to keep this blog "G" rated, but I'll give you a sanitized version. 


When commenting on a person's obvious lack of knowledge regarding a certain topic, in a mischievous tone she'd frequently say, "He doesn't know $@*! from apple butter." 

Even though Helen passed away many years ago, I can still hear her saying this and many other pet phrases; however, I cannot repeat most of those sayings in front of my children.

She'd be so pleased that I know apple butter when I see it. ;-)

What's up with the cups?

Okay, so these are just paper coffee cups from Peet's Coffee. No big deal, right? Well, to me it symbolizes time well spent talking with my boy. (These cups represent a whole latte love?? SORRY! I am just espresso-ing myself with a couple of bad puns. You should know by now that silly wordplay is always brewing in my head.)


On Monday and Wednesday morning of each week, MDS goes to Sierra College for an 8 AM math class. After class, he rides the Placer County Transit bus to The Galleria where he transfers to the "M" line for Roseville Transit. The "M" drops M. off at Peet's, which is one mile from our house. At this point, he can either walk home, or call me to come and get him. On the days I go to pick him up, I enjoy taking a few more minutes out of the schedule to drink a cup o' joe with my boy. So far, he is the only Smithling who appreciates coffee, so I have to take advantage of that!


Since classes started, we have been having a "coffee break" about once a week, and that might increase to 2X/week as the temperatures get cooler. :-) What a treat! I love hearing what my son is thinking -- it doesn't have to be a deep, philosophical conversation. Sometimes a good laugh can't be beat. I truly enjoy spending time with him, and I know that time is fleeting, so I am savoring these coffee breaks all the more. Of course, the time spent with my "mostest favorite" son is MUCH tastier than the brew...


No, I am not so sentimental as to keep the used cups -- they do get thrown away. My Millie-girl thinks I'm rather silly for taking a picture and posting this entry. She just peeked over my shoulder and cannot believe that I am writing anything related to that cup photo. Perhaps someday she'll appreciate taking a coffee break with me, too. I'll keep you posted!

Apple Hill

It was a perfect day to skip school and work so that we could head up Hwy. 50 to Apple Hill. Family tradition dictates that we must first go to O'Hallorans to pick pumpkins before heading across the road to see Bill and Felice for golden delicious apples. Our final destination is, was, and shall always be High Hill. No trip "up the hill" would be complete without getting to purchase FRESH apple donuts AND caramel apples; however, these taste treats are not to be consumed at the same time. Donuts are for mid-morning consumption, and caramel apples are for dessert later in the day. I know, it's a day FULL of a lot of sweet stuff, but it is too hard to choose just ONE treat.

Our lil' Smithling punkins picked their pumpkins...

I'm pickin' this one! :-)

Don't squash the squash...

Apple donuts are tastiest when warm, so I had to hurry up and snap the photo before too much cooling occurred. Obviously, self-control is one of the fruits of the spirit that Miss Millie is still working on! HA!

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." -Galatians 5:22-23