The New Nutcracker

We had a busy weekend! Jack had his first Reconciliation (or Confession) on Saturday, with "practice" on Friday night. Sunday, he sang at early Mass with his Singing Saints school choir, and then sang for the Franciscan Sisters in Amarillo followed by an evening at Mr. Gatti's. Rachael and I went to see the New Nutcracker in Amarillo Sunday afternoon, an event we had planned for a very long time!

If you are not familiar with the New Nutcracker put on by the Lone Star Ballet, you are missing out! It was actually featured in the Texas section of the November '08 issue of Southern Living.

Rachael was on the edge her seat the entire time. It was well performed, the feature performers were outstanding, the music (performed live by the Amarillo Symphony) was perfect, and there was plenty of acrobatics to enhance the performance. Rachael had her picture with a life size nutcracker and with one of the performers (who actually attends St. Anthony's School!)

Rachael is enjoying twice a week lessons through Lone Star Ballet, and who knows, maybe she'll try out for a future season of the Nutcracker!

Unfortunately, because of such a busy weekend and the distance, we were not able to attend our niece and cousin Georgia's christening in Reagan. But we were praying for her and all of our family who traveled to be there for her special day.

Pumpkin Parade

This post is a little late in coming only because I keep forgetting to take and upload pictures of Jack and Rachael's creations. We are very fortunate that we have a wonderful library and reading program at St. Anthony's School. Jack is a voracious reader and Rachael loves being read to. At Halloween, the school had a Pumpkin Parade where the kids decorated pumpkins as a favorite book character. This activity was optional but many participated. Of course, Jack and Rachael always jump at the chance to do anything that involves pumpkins AND paint!

Rachael created a pumpkin based on a book called If You Give a Pig a Party. This is a wonderful series of books that all of my kids have enjoyed through the years. She made the party hat (with a little direction from me), and there were balloons attached, but they fizzled long ago. She also did all of the painting after I drew the face on.

Jack's pumpkin was Indiana Jones from the Indiana Jones book series. He did the face, and we were lucky enought to find a pirate hat at Wal Mart during the Halloween season that we tweaked to look like Indiana Jones' hat.

I am finally able to get rid of the pumpkins as they've been sitting in my utility room all this time waiting to have their pictures taken with Jack and Rachael!