Off we go!

Well, folks, just wanted to take a quick second to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We are off to FL today (actually GA first) and will be gone the next couple weeks. And you know me and blogging...I'm a slacker as it is, but definitely when I'm on vacation! So, there will most likely be no Christmas and New Year's hellos from us. But, be rest assured we'll be living it up in the sunny, warm south as we enjoy Ft. Laud. with my family next week and the Orlando area with Kev's fam. the week after. Can't wait!!! Hope ya'll have a great holiday and we'll talk to you in 2010! Adois!

P.S. I realize I never got a chance to post Nutcracker pics...but if you wanted to see some semi-professional ones of Hailey on stage check this out. I believe she's on pages 7-9. I love the one of her alone on stage waving :)

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/002075396135/iubtnutcracker09

A Few Fun Pics :)

A few quick pics to pass the time (well, actually time is passing too quickly lately...so maybe these pics will slow it down...I have WAY too much to do before we leave for FL this weekend and before Christmas arrives!) Anyway....above are a few, fun pics from Nina's visit. I LOVE the first one of Nina and her Fav. IN grandkids! It's a great pic of her...and especially great considering she had just recovered from her nasty GI bug. I'm so glad she came to see Santa with us...cuz I think it calmed Ash down after her scary encounter with the white-bearded man :) And the next few pics are of our first snow last week. It's a pretty "sad" first snow since we only got an inch or two...but actually I was happy about that. I don't miss the nasty blizzards of mile high snow that our friends up north in MI got as an early Christmas gift :) The kids saw the lil' snow we had and were VERY excited, and as soon as Shelby got home from Kindergarten they made (or rather mommy made) them two matching snowmen...a boy and a girl (for Shelby and Dylan). They turned out pretty good considering I am not an expert in snow art thanks to my warm FL heritage. Notice Ash and Nina enjoyed the winter activities from INside the house (very smart of them!) :) Though Ash did finally make her way out the door to check things out. Fun times! :)

Christmas "Joy" :)

Someone was NOT feeling the "Santa Love" yesterday at the mall :) Can you guess who? LOL! :) The white-bearded sweet old man scared the socks off our baby girl this year...poor thing :(

The Joy of Professional Photos :)

It's been a long time since we've ventured out to get the kiddos professional pics taken....but as with every Christmas I try to get their pics taken at Penneys in their Christmas outfits. I'm not perfectly pleased with the outcome, but at least there was no crying involved and the kids cooperated for the most part, which was good considering I didn't feel great all day. I'm ashamed to say I am almost 3 mos overdue in getting Ashley's 12 month/1 year pic taken....but I guess better late than never....anyway...here's the results....enjoy :)


https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0194124981JCP

Ginger Smiles :)

As you can see I'm pathetically behind on blogging, but that's only cuz we're astoundingly busy in all areas of life right now. Exhaustion is just the tip of it. So, in the midst of the jolly holiday season I just wanted to bop over to blog-land and post this cutesy pics of the Nutcracker Mother Ginger group taken last Monday at their first dress rehearsal (that I helped with). MANY more pics to come when/if I have time. We've been having a fabulous time with Nina here except she arrived here sick (upper resp) and as of last night now has a nasty stomach virus and has been puking the last 12 hours. So, if you could say a quick prayer for her and also for her germs to magically disinigrate so we stay well...that be great. We really need to be well for our long jaunt to FL next weekend (for 2 weeks) where we'll see both Steg and Gritz families and make yet another magical trip to Disney World. More to come.....

Nutcracker FYI

I realized last night that I failed to mention that Hailey is the 4th child (and final girl) out from under the big skirt. She is on the right hand side of the stage as you watch (and in the back to begin with). I know it's hard to see very much from the live feed as it's far away...but just remember she's the last one off the stage too...the one who pretends to giggle and wants to stay :)

Gotta go...last performance in 45 minutes. It's been a CRAZY weekend, but so much fun and Hailey's done great. More details and pics to come about all the good times and all the snafoos :) Thanks to all who are thinking of us and who have come to watch Hailey and who have watched from afar via the internet!!

It's Nutcracker Weekend!!!

Well, as you can probably tell by my lack of blogging lately this has been one CRAZY week! Between Hailey's 3-4 hour practices each day/night and being out til about 10pm (or later) every night thanks to those practices (plus our normal, busy schedule), we are all exhausted. Actually I think Kev and I are more exhausted than the ballerina of the house. But, no complaints here...all the hard work, late nights and busy rehearsal scheduling are this opportunity of a lifetime for our Hailey and I'm so excited to see her debut tonight as a Mother Ginger's Child :) I started a post on Tuesday about the adventure of being a backstage mom on Monday night (including pics)....but I have had zero time to finish it and might not til this weekend or next week. Things are just nuts. But, the good thing is Nina G. is here (as of yesterday) and the lil' kids are happier having some more down time (i.e. not being dragged to big sis' rehearsals :)). Anyway....so that's what we've been up to!

For all those interested and who are near a computer this weekend....here is the link for the live feed that will be showing all the Nutcracker performances (hopefully, it'll work this year).....

http://music.indiana.edu/iumusiclive/streaming/

It shows tonight at 8pm EST
tomorrow at 2pm and 8pm EST
and Sunday at 2pm EST

I estimate she will be on stage around 9:15pm on the evening performances and 3:30pm on the matinees. I'm not 100% on that. But, look for the BIG skirt and she'll be under it! :) And also in the finale.

YAY! Nina, Shelby and I are going to see it live tonight! Can't wait! :)