Nutcracker Fever and Christmas Field Trips

Anne as the Princess, a main character role

Out of necessity, this past week we were on break. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King always takes over our lives. It went more smoothly this year. Having only one child performer and tons of experience in managing this particular kind of adventure, does make a difference. Even though we were on break, the kids logged lots of school.

What They Accomplished ~

• Anne ~ 20 hours of Performing Arts credits
• Anne ~ 8 hours of Physical Education
• Anne ~ 2 hours of History (field trip)
• Anne ~ 2 hours of Home Economics
• Anne ~ 2 hours of Literature with our Movie Literature Club ~ Little Women
• Dean ~ 4 hours of Art, including Teen Art Lab
• Dean ~ 2 hours of Literature with Movie Literature Club ~ Little Women
• Dean ~ 1 hour of Math, using math games
• Dean ~ 2 hours of History (field trip)

Anne dancing with her long-time teacher, Giles.

My children have had an extraordinary experience with this dance studio. This year has been the same as in the past. Anne performed in seven roles this year -- as the ugly princess, cat, guard, elastic doll, pop rock candy, sailor and African sugar mask. After eight years of the Nutcracker, Anne now has performed in over half of the roles and many of the roles several times. She loves every minute of it. The pictures are a bit fuzzy; my camera can do only so much with the darkness and action. I do have some full-length videos of dances and hope to put them on YouTube and then here later in the week, but for now I will post a few fuzzy pictures and a clip from the bows. Even the bows at this dance studio are unique.

Anne second from the right as an elastic doll

Sailor (6th sailor from the left, wearing solid black shoes)

Anne far right front

Pop Rock Candy (Anne in free fall)

Anne front center with hands in the air

We had lots of other fun this week, too. We went on our annual trip to see the gingerbread house competition at the Grove Park Inn.

We took my father and step-mother to the Smith-McDowell House to see it decorated for Christmas. It was stunning.

This is a typical late 1800's mountain Christmas for an upper middle class family.

The cobweb game. Participants follow their assigned string color to get prizes.

We had a little bit of extra money that we didn't need to spend on homeschool curriculum this year, so we bought an annual pass to the Biltmore Estate. You will be seeing lots of photos from there over the next year. This week we took a quick hike and went out to lunch with the visiting grandparents at the Stable Cafe. Next week, we hope to take a tour of the inside of the house to see all of the Christmas decorations.

The back of Biltmore house off in the distance.

What a fun week!

Blessings, Dawn