Sleepover

Today I was at my brothers wedding. But today was Katie's closing day of pantomime. She chose not to miss it. She made the right decision, in my opinion. They had an amazing day. They went to watch the blue teams final performance and their principal bought every one of them the plastic light up tat (at £5 each, its no small gesture!) In the second half, Buttons does "shout outs"- the reds got one in the blues' show and vice versa. There's a bit where buttons comes and sprays parents who aren't singing with a water pistol. He came and found the juvs & sprayed them. The kids loved it.

Then they had a buffet tea party at the lovely cafe that we have been using to feed the kids between shows. She opens up specially and has been delightful. She was more than happy to host their little party & the kids loved it.

It was reds to dance the closing performance and they had an amazing show. For the finale, both teams went on. Reds wore their ballet tutus and blues wore the usual finale costume. There were big group hugs from Cinderella and Prince Charming. The pack down took a while but when all the others had gone, katie and her friend got to go see the tiny Shetland ponies that star in the show and both got to feed them.

They headed back to balletbuddy's house. I spoke to Katie as they were waiting for her mum to buy custard and bananas for their requested supper. She sounded to have such an amazing day but was a bit sad to not have mama. But they then went on to have a great evening- they asked to stay up for midnight and watched two movies. They did lots of dancing. They began to flag about 11.45 so they all danced manically until it was nearly time. At just before midnight the neighbours called on them and they had a little street party & watched the fireworks.

2016 has become notorious for some really terrible and sad reasons. But beyond those, for katie, 2016 has been the most incredible year of her little life so far. She's danced on stage at the London Coliseum, played on stage at the Royal College of Music. She's played the piano, including 2 Steinways, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, ukulele, accordion, fife, double bass. She's seen West End shows, orchestras, proms and made four trips to the Royal Albert Hall. She's seen the Bolshoi and English National Ballet dance Swan Lake. She's joined band and orchestra, got a distinction in her Grade 2 clarinet a year after starting. She's played her first solos. She's absolutely danced her tiny pink socks off. We've run together, travelled together, laughed together, dueted together. And the icing on 2016's cake for her (for both of us, actually) has without a doubt been dancing in pantomime this December.
2017, you've a lot to live up to..... bring it on!