It's Nutcracker Week! Because of COVID last year, there was no Nutcracker performance. The year before, they double casted with dancers sharing costumes and splitting up performances. This year there was none of that. So, Ellie and Marly performed in all the performances. Marly was in the reenactment scene in the second act....a quick mouse run across the stage so that meant she had to go to ACT II rehearsals and stay for the whole show. These kids are WIPED OUT! After clinic on Monday, a group went out to lunch at the Brick for my Birthday. My pal, Anne Marie treated me. Very nice. I volunteered for the Tuesday Act I dress rehearsal. Wow...in the basement of the Florida Theater with a bunch of mice and soldiers! It was an experience. Marly ended up with impetigo on her face (an infected cat scratch), which went so well with all that stage make up! Ugh. Thankful my friend, Lauren hooked me up with an antibiotic lotion. I hosted a womens holiday party on Wednesday during the day. It was so nice to see so many fabulous women and finally host a big soiree again. That afternoon I took Marly to her act two dress rehearsal. My friend, Tiffany saved me by bringing her home so I could meet Rachael, Tracy and Katie at Juliets for dinner before the show, Come From Away. It was stressful getting there (and awful service at dinner), but what an amazing show to see in the middle of the stress! Julie and I got to play together in a tennis match at San Jose on Thursday with a quick win. I helped sort race shirts for the fun run. That night was Phil's bank party. We dropped off a carload of dancers downtown on our way. Back to San Jose for the party. They did a nice job with fun conversation. We ended up with an after party in Mandarin on our way home. Tracy got me in with the homeschoolers to the school show on Friday morning. It was neat seeing Ellie, the soldier in the lobby before the show. I'm the mean mom who brought them back to school for the afternoon. Back that evening for another show, luckily they got a ride home after the first act that night. The rest of us had a quiet night in (with Yellowstone). Saturday morning we were up early for the Stockton Fun Run. The patrols raised a ton of money! Thank you to my parents, Cogent Bank and Terry Vereen for sponsoring our sweet patrol. It felt good to get in a run in the middle of the chaos. We had enough time to get ready for the matinee performance. Our family went to support the girls for this show. Yay for the fan club! Phil was not excited about spilling wine on his pants. They had the cast party that afternoon and then Lauren saved me by taking them back for the evening show and Melanie for bringing them home. Phew! Love that village! The Applegates had us over for a movie night that evening. Fun catching up with neighbors. Sunday morning, Ellie and I read and then instead of religion class, we all went to confession....can't think of a better thing to do when everyone was crabby and overtired in the middle of the craze! We went to my sister's for a family gingerbread house party. The cousins loved it (dogs, too!). Owen grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for all of us. It was nice to get together. That evening was the bike parade at the school. Our friend, Andrew joined us for the ride. We stayed a little later than I hoped, but we were still in bed at a decent hour. Wow! What a week! Here are the pics.