Break a Leg!

Lovey & Honey were in the drama club at school this year and they put on The Wizard of Oz. It was weeks and weeks of rehearsals with a mad scramble at the end to get their production time down to the required 1 hour maximum. It involved lots of time during recess, lunch and sometimes they even got out of class to work on it, plus extra rehearsals a few days after school. Their teachers had to postpone some tests because over half the class was in the play and had missed some of the lessons for rehearsal. All their friends were in it, including Acorn as Toto! Sweetie was one of the few holdouts in grade 4!

They loved EVERY minute of it and were thrilled with the whole thing. Honey had requested a small part and ended up being the scarecrow and went to bed with her script at night fretting over learning her lines and the time limit issue. Lovey had her heart on being Dorothy but ended up being a guardian of the gate and learned her lines in no time and had no concerns whatsoever.

They ate, lived and breathed this play until the final performance and were sad when it ended. They presented it at a drama competition and won 3 out of the 7 possible awards. (best production, best costumes, best female lead).

It was a great experience, especially for the girl who always claims to be so "self-conscious". Their teacher worked so hard with them and really did an excellent job bringing out the best in all the participants!

Music Camp

There's a church around the corner that has great camps every summer. They're just in the morning and have lots of great themes. There's a craft week, a science week, VBS week, music week and a few others. We can't make it to them all but we hit several and they have a great time there. It gets the morning in and we still have the rest of the day free for visiting, chores, pool or whatever.

This was the first year they were home during music camp week and they loved it! Honey had a lead role in the play and worked so hard all week learning her lines. I couldn't believe how big her speaking part was! She's not normally one to be centre stage so I wasn't sure how this would pan out! She was a little nervous and spoke a bit quietly but the microphone picked up all her dialogue and she did great! She was so cute in her royal finery and you could tell she was having fun!

Lovey couldn't have been cast in a more perfect role. She was HILARIOUS! She got to be a musclebound guy who parades around showing off his physique and flexing for the crowd. As soon as I heard what her character had to do, I knew she'd be awesome and I was right. She owned that stage (so says the proud momma!) and the audience ate her right up!

Sweetie was most comfortable in the chorus and learned all the songs and also worked on the fabulous decorations during the week. The songs all had actions and she had it all down pat and looked great doing it. Every day she came home telling us of all the fun stuff they'd done that day to get ready for the show.

Grammie had to be away but Grandad made it for the big show and said it was well worth the trip!  We thoroughly enjoyed it ourselves. The youth director and her crew deserve a huge pat on the back for pulling this all together in 5 mornings!

High Falutin'

While her sisters were out for hockey last night, Sweetie got a last minute invite to a play at the theatre downtown! Boo had an extra ticket and no one to be her date so Sweetie stepped up! We got our supper done and started picking out an outfit. Sweetie called Boo to see if she was wearing regular clothes or dressing up and planned her attire accordingly.

Teena picked her up and they headed to the big city! The show didn't start til 7:30 so it was a late night and she almost fell asleep before it was over and was all curled up in her seat! She dozed all the way home and slipped into bed in record time! I was surprised this morning when she dragged herself out of bed and never had any whining at all!!!

Beanie Boo Town

These are all the rage at our house these days, they play with them all the time, they go almost everywhere with us, we can't go to bed at night until Waddles, Safari, Pepper, Slush, Coconut, Midnight, Cashmere.... and on and on, are all accounted for, tucked in safely and cozily.

They've been collecting for awhile, getting new ones for birthdays and Christmas and saving up for others. Every new addition is sooooo exciting! They dress them up, develop dramas to act out and do plays for us to watch with dialogue, lighting effects and costumes. Some of their little shows are quite creative and always entertaining! I love to see their imaginations working hard and watching what they come up with for a storyline and how they incorporate the characters.

More stuffed animals usually drive me crazy but ones they actually use and put down their DS, TV and laptop for, I like a lot better. So yay for Beanie Boos!!!

 

Grand Opening!

Another day, another flat tire. No.I am NOT kidding. Construction work on our road is wreaking havoc with our old tires. This was the 2nd one that was completely shot in the last couple of weeks. I'm sure the city will feel badly for causing this mayhem, distress and expense and will compensate me accordingly in no time!

The tire still had quite a bit of air and the flat warning had just come on but when I got down to look at the tire, I could hear the air hissing out. I managed to get to a gas station quickly and pump it up and get us to the tire place before it lost too much air. Hello 3 new tires. Hopefully that will be the end of my side of the road woes... for awhile. When I was in a week or so ago, the manager said I should have some kind of award for most tire changes. Oh yeah, I'm special!!!

After that hiccup, we were on our way for groceries, much to the children's dismay and annoyance. Despite my best efforts to race through the store so we could go pick up Acorn, I, apparently, took "years" to get the groceries. I'm not sure why it takes me so much longer with 3 inquisitive helpers than it does on my own. Strange huh?

I gave them the option of getting something from the bakery for dessert for Acorn's visit. Honey wanted cupcakes, Lovey wanted mini cinnamon buns and Sweetie wanted chocolate chip cookies. A debate ensued until I cut it short. "Agree on something, get it and put it in the cart. You have ten seconds." I then counted it off, a tad on the slow side to give them a bit of an advantage but still a sense of urgency. FAIL!

Lovey ran and grabbed the cinnamon buns and said "Here!"
Me: you didn't agree.
Lovey: yes we did! 2 out of 3!
Me: that's not agreeing, go put them back.

A few aisles later I notice a sale on Oreos and tell them they get a 2nd chance but still a 10 second window. They had a package of cakesters in the cart in less than 5! Sometimes they learn quickly (but not as often as I'd like!!!)

Finally groceries were done and we picked up Acorn from her mom's office and headed home. They hadn't seen each other in over a month and the happy chatter and excited giggles were fun to listen to as we drove home.

For lunch they set up a "restaurant" and we got out candles, tablecloth, fancy glasses and serving dishes. The whole nine yards! I was "Chef Kiki" and I overheard some good customer feedback such as "these cheesies are just divine!!!"

After closing up the restaurant we took our latest dog, Rudy, out for a walk. It was pretty hot out so we didn't go too far and headed home for a swim. They splashed around for quite awhile and the lawn in that area mowed and a sweaty workout at the same time. Such a multitasker I am!

By the time Acorn's mom came for her, everyone looked pretty tired and that's a good way to end the day!

Productivity!

The kids are still enjoying working on their science kits and checking on their "grow your own crystals' kit. (no crystals yet but they're still hopeful but no longer checking every 20 minutes)

We went to see a play by a lunchbag theatre group. A fun Christmas present from our wonderful friend Shirley! The kids were quite excited to head to the theatre and we got to our seats and settled in for the show. The story was part traditional with a a few improv twists. They were fervently hoping that Murray would get pulled up on stage to play one of the parts but to his relief and their utter disappointment, he was spared. It had lots of silly parts that kept them entertained and amused and also had lots of audience participation but I noticed the girls weren't as in to that part this year. *sigh* They're getting older and not as willing to be goofy in public. After awhile they loosened up and did some of the stuff when we were cued for it but Honey was fairly reserved! LOL

When we got home, Honey whipped up a couple batches of candy from her Sour Science kit and gave us all samples. Then she & Sweetie helped Murray cut up apples for a big batch of apple sauce, yummmm! and good to have because I didn't get groceries this week and we're running out of fruit options!

After supper Grammie dropped in and visited for awhile on her way home from Boxing Day sale shopping. I thought all the busy-ness and activity of the day would have worn them out but they didn't settle down to sleep until after 10pm!!! This vacation schedule drives me nuts! Then they're sleepy in the morning and sleep til 8:30, then 9 the next day and then yesterday it was 9:30 before the last one rolled out of bed!!!!

Today I woke them up at 7:30, trying to rein in this runaway train of partying all night cuz I'm NOT cool with that!!! We were busy, got outside for a couple of hours for skating, played and ran around the house for a long while. We put them in bed at 8:30 but Sweetie was still awake at 10pm again!!! Gotta get them back on track before school starts again but we have some time.