The Nutcracker

We attended our first ballet on Saturday. Our dear friend Lauren was performing in The Nutcracker. She did a wonderful job and we were all so excited to see her on stage. She is such a perfect ballerina! Her pretty face got a little covered up in this first picture.

We did have a great time and it was a wonderful performance but you'd never guess to look at these handsome boys what I went through before.........

First, I was so proud of myself because I started thinking ahead a couple of weeks ago, it goes something like this.

1. Check out all boys dress clothes or lack thereof to see what we need to buy or not buy for them to wear to the Nucracker..

2. Struggle with them for a few days to try on pants, shirts, belts, shoes..etc. to see what in their closet works and what doesn't.

3. Finally make a list of which boy needs what.. both pants, Alex Belt, Connor nice shirt, Alex dress shoes, Connor can wear his Merrels, ties...etc.. Whew..ok

3. Next, wait for Kohl's coupon to get the best deal on clothes, shoes etc.. because most likely the next time they need to dress up they will have outgrown some or all of this and we will start over at #1. So lets get the best deal we can.

4. yeah.. get a 30% coupon for Kohls! I'm doing so good, I'm even ahead of schedule!

5. Go to Kohls by myself, I prefer to do that and then take the items home for the boys to try on, much easier to bring something back and exchange it then to torture them by bringing them. I'm such a nice Mom :)

6. Some items work but not all.. do decide to bring them with me, Mark comes also,bless his heart.. exchange and return home. Still haven't found shoes for Alex though.

7. After "torturing" the boys to try on all their spiffy new duds.. (is it just a boy thing that they hate trying on clothes? I loved it as a kid..not so much now but that's another blog) Anyway we are good except Alex's pants are about 8 inches to long.

8. I ponder over the fact that we have a brand new sewing machine we bought about a year ago because I was determined to learn how to at least hem our pants which is somthing at least 3 of us in this family need a lot of. Well it's still in the closet and I think maybe I could sell it on Craig's list? Maybe I will never be a seamstress sewer person.. but arn't all Mom's supposed to at least know how to hem pants? My Mom did, Mark's Mom and Grandma do.. What's wrong with me?? anyway I'm getting way off track.

9. I think, I know I will call my friend Julie. She is a great seamstress and she has lots of free time. She only has 2 kids, and is working two jobs this time of year. And it's the holidays.. I bet she would be tickled to do me a favor..:)

10. Call Julie, she say's she can (yeah) .. I tell her no hurry because I am ahead of schedule :) and I won't need them for a couple of weeks. Thank you Julie for taking time out to help me in my time of need.

Okay so after ALLLLLLLLL of this, Nutcracker day is here and it goes something like this.. "Mooooooooommmmmmmmmm why do we have to dress up??? (They usually enjoy dressing up, don't know why not today?) "Do we have to take a shower????????" "We take showers every day!"..on and on........

Showers finally done.. I call my friend Helen (next door) and tell her we are all getting dressed up to go see our friend Lauren in the Nutcracker (I'm very excited) Could she please come over in about an hour a snap a picture of us..maybe to use for our Christmas picture....oh I'm thinking this will be perfect. No problem she comes through and says "just call me when you are ready" :).

Connor comes up the stairs with a wet messy head, Jeans on and a regular shirt.. I think to myself "This boy is not serious". I calmly say Connor why are you wearing that.. he can't figure out why it's not okay.. I'm baffled. He usually loves dressing up....what is going on with my usually smart cooperative boy? Back down he goes.

I go to Alex's room to check. I'm so proud. Even though his hair is dripping wet. He is actually sitting on his bed half dressed (including underwear! yeah..things are looking up). I notice that he has on a white shirt and really needs an undershirt.. we "discuss" this for awhile then I call in the big gun Dad who Alex will actually believe when HE tells him he needs an undershirt.. Then I come back, notice that Alex's shirt is buttoned wrong.. I nicely tell him. He fiddles with it.. I go to check on Connor.

Connor comes up.. I inspect. Still needs belt, and needs to put on his dress socks that I bought at Kohl's for 30% off and was so impressed with myself for remembering!
Oh and hair sticking up. When I remind him to comb his hair he replies "I already did". Okay.. then why is all messy??


Back to Alex.. I enter his room, doing pretty good except shirt still buttoned wrong. I tell him in a gentle way not to downplay how independent he's being and getting dressed and everything. He tells me it's not buttoned wrong it's the way the shirt is made.. at this point I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Anyway this goes on and on.. uh oh.. it's been an hour and Helen will be coming over to take our picture.. Okay everyone look HAPPY!! We go outside, Helen takes some pics.. by this time I'm mentally exhausted and look way to fat in the picture. Can I just use Mark and the boys in the Christmas card?? As I think to myself every Christmas. "next year I will be 30 lbs lighter and look great"..... yeah right!

Anyway, we had a great time and believe it or not it was worth it. By the way I wonder if the boys even brushed their teeth??

These are some of the pictures Helen and I took.