Our Ladies-in-Waiting...

The teen choir didn’t actually sing, but danced to Ring My Bell from the musical Hairspray.

Veronica was happy that the adult choir both sang and danced several songs. She especially liked singing Don’t Stop Me Now. She would have loved to have had a speaking part, but had to be content this year with a single line.

Our Little Zombie...

In addition to being a lady-in-waiting, Ashlynn was also a zombie. See how she was transformed from a beautiful princess into a scary zombie.

First came the scissors to tear up the lovely dress that we’d bought several years ago at a flea market that neither girl had ever worn. Then came dirt from the yard.

Between acts, the transformation was completed with the make-up and fake blood.

Backstage with the Kids...

After rehearsing every Sunday from September until the end of November, Ashlynn and Katy were ready to get on stage for the five real performances. As part of the teen choir, they started out as Ladies-in-Waiting.  

Veronica opted not to be a Teen Angel in the school’s production of Grease so she could be in the adult choir of Cinderella instead. Little did she know that she’d have her own fan club consisting of 10-year-old Kasper. 

Not surprisingly, Veronica often had a camera in her hand.

Behind the Scenes at the Panto...

Rather than having a part on stage in this year year’s Panto, Jimmy was supposed to do the lights. At the last minute, he was switched to doing sound instead, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

I went to the Thursday night dress rehearsal to play photographer; I managed to shoot 660 photos! It was especially fun to take photos before the show actually began because the Ugly Sisters were especially goofy.

Jenny directed hubby John’s non-traditional version of Cinderella: Shaken Not Stirred featuring James Bond. John was excellent as one of the Ugly Sisters.

Veronica’s Drama Performance...

Part of Veronica’s GCSE Drama grade is based on a performance devised by  looking at the above prompt, the painting Parsifal 1 by Anselm Kiefer in the Tate Modern in London. Apparently, the kids never looked up the history of the painting which is about the birth of the hero in Wagner’s opera based on the legend of the Holy Grail.

Instead, Veronica’s group performed a 18-minute piece called Negative about a girl suffering from schizophrenia. Veronica played Good, Izzy was Bad, Fergus was Dad and Ellie was the teacher. They each helped write portions of the script and kept journals of their work, which in total will count for 40% of their final grade for the two-year course.

I was happy to get to watch their dress rehearsal, but was shocked to watch Veronica commit suicide on stage. I’m clearly biased, but thought their performance was the best of the seven groups we saw that night. You can see it for yourself here.

Our 7th Anniversary in Holland...

Our anniversary in Holland fell on Thanksgiving this year. Veronica set up this family self-timer photo in front of our new house. Normally we go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary, but the timing didn’t work out for us to go until the end of December; you probably saw my post a few weeks ago of our highs and lows from the past year.

Veronica put together this collage starting with the photo taken at the airport when we arrived in Holland in 2005.

It’s Party Time...

It is impossible not to love Jan and Bob!

The Marines definitely know how to party and so do Johanna and Jan!

The dance floor was a bit small, but that didn’t stop Jimmy from enjoying getting down with Leslie.