I Hope I Get It

This has been a very stressful week for both Nathan and Matthew. Nathan had auditions for “The Sound of Music” at the high school. Matthew had auditions for “The Wizard of Oz” at the elementary school. With all the preparations, auditions, call backs, and waiting, it was a nerve-wracking week for the two of them.

Nathan got called back, as a sophomore, to read for Captain von Trapp, a fact that put him in an unfortunate situation with some of the upperclassmen. He went to call backs, ended up reading for nearly all the male leads, and then got sent home long before most of the other kids. As such, he was pretty stressed. He was certain that it meant he was not going to be cast. I had to remind him that two years ago, when he auditioned for “The Lion King,” that he was also sent home early because the teachers already knew where they were going to cast him. That reminder didn’t help at all, of course, and he became a nail biter for the week.

Auditions for the 6th grade “Wizard of Oz” production were on Tuesday and Thursday. Matthew auditioned on Tuesday since we had Nathan’s piano recital early yesterday evening which meant that he had to wait for all the rest of the kids to audition before the cast list was posted. This is the first time he’s auditioned for a show and between the nerves before the audition and the anxiety riddled wait post-audition, he was pretty high strung all week. He told us that he made the teachers laugh while he was reading. Evoking an appropriate laugh from those casting is generally a good thing but although we told him that, it didn’t do much to settle his nerves.

Today was the big day-cast lists were posted. Nathan was cast as Max Detweiller, a part that is actually quite a bit bigger in the stage production than in the movie. He is really pleased and so are we. It’s a great coup to be cast as a sophomore and means the teachers are aware of just how capable he is. Matthew was cast as the Scarecrow, which is exactly what he wanted. He is really excited to be part of his very first show. Hopefully he will enjoy the experience.

I’ve done my share of auditions and completely understand how stressful they can be. I’m so proud of both Nathan and Matthew and how they are willing to put themselves on the line to share their talents with others. I know that my family and I have been blessed with many talents and I’m a firm believer that sharing those talents, using them in righteous ways, can bring joy to us and others. I often miss my past performance opportunities and while I’m hopeful that there will be more opportunities for me in the future, for now I’m enjoying watching my children shine.

He’s Doing the Mambo!

We have very eclectic tastes in music. Our iTunes library has a little bit of everything from plain chant to Weird Al Yankovic to Queen. Our Christmas playlist reflects our massive range of music preferences and contains selections that range from the sublime to the ridiculous. One of those songs that falls in the ridiculous range is a catchy little number by The Bobs called “Mambo, Santa, Mambo.” It was added to our collection last Christmas and has already become one of our upbeat favorites. We were listening to our holiday mix while we were in the car earlier and this song came up. When we hit the chorus, Malia declared, “On Christmas Eve if I hear Santa and he’s mamboing to this song I will freak out!”

Yup. Pretty sure we’ve messed up all our kids. But as I tell them all the time, normal is boring, right?!

Still the Perfect Birthday Present

It’s the time of year when we pull out our Christmas decorations and decorate the house…and the playhouse.

Party All Week Long!

This has been a full week. Wednesday was pie night. Thursday was Thanksgiving and the greatly anticipated consumption of the previously mentioned pie at my folks’ house. Yesterday Kevin and I went out to dinner and then to a Christmas concert by a choir that Kevin’s sister Connie sings with. And today was the annual post-Thanksgiving shindig with Kevin’s family. Every year we gather for a pot luck lunch, play games and do puzzles, and have a short musical program where any and all that so desire can share their talents. It’s always super fun and an event we all look forward to. Tonight, Kevin and Matthew are at the BYU/Utah football game…in the snow…and the crazy cold. The rest of us are hanging out in the warmth of home. Tomorrow we start decorating for Christmas. What a great week!

Hip, Hip Hooray! It’s Annual Pie Day!

Today was the yearly Thanksgiving Eve pie making marathon. It was a notable occasion because for the first time ever, we had four generations of female family members in attendance. The only ones missing were my niece Sage and her two darling daughters. I’m so grateful that these traditions are becoming beloved for the younger generations. Family ties are priceless and I’m glad that I can actually say that my sisters are also my friends. I’m equally grateful that Malia counts her cousins among her best friends.

And it was also a productive night. Yum! Pie!

My personal contributions to the pie smorgasbord this year were a cranberry orange custard pie (one that I tried last year and really enjoyed) and a pecan cream pie. I can hardly wait to try it tomorrow!

Proud of Our Veterans

Our elementary school does a Veteran’s Day assembly every year. They have the kids invite any veterans or active military members they know, the kids sing songs, talk about what Veteran’s Day is, share stories about the military members in their families and honor all those who have or are serving in any branch of the military. This year when the kids were asked to volunteer if they wanted to speak about a family member in the armed forces, Malia volunteered. I thought she was kidding until the note came home because it didn’t seem like something she would want to do. I was obviously wrong, and she called her Aunt Connie and Uncle Arrin whose son Zach is currently in the Marines and stationed in Okinawa. Although I know she was very nervous, she did a great job. I’m so proud that she recognizes what an important job her cousin is doing and was willing to share a bit about him with the entire school and all the family members who came to the assembly.

Matthew was part of the scout troop that posted the flags (he was actually the one calling the colors) and went to the assembly with me even though he has been at home sick for the past two days. He felt strongly about fulfilling the commitment he had made and really wanted to be there. He didn’t stay for the remainder of the school day, but hopefully he will be on the up and up tomorrow.

I’m so proud of Matthew and Malia, not just because of their willingness to work hard when they commit to things, but because they honor those people who serve in the armed forces. I’m so grateful for and respect those that have served and are still willing to serve and I’m terribly glad my kids are learning that same gratitude and respect.

No Tricks, Just Treats!

As I’ve said before, I think Halloween is fun. I mean, you get to dress up, have a themed dinner, run around the neighborhood way past your bedtime and then there is the candy…loads of candy. As an adult I don’t really participate in most of those things, but I really enjoy getting the kiddies ready to participate. This year’s dinner consisted of mummy calzones, the traditional brain J-ello and a new favorite, Franken-kiwi. Everybody loved those. 😊

Malia decided that this was the year she was going mermaid. She picked out the pattern and the fabrics and even told me that she needed wavy hair because that’s what kind of hair mermaids have. My sis Rachael gave me a crafting tip and I glued shells onto bobby pins to make Malia’s coiffure as accurate as possible. I think the whole thing worked together very well and even more importantly, Malia loved it.

Last year I had to talk really hard to even get Matthew to dress up. I think he felt like dressing up was a little boy thing and he very much wanted to outgrow the little and move on to the big boy. This year I didn’t need to do any convincing. He wanted to be Dr. Strange. After consulting a number of internet photos, we looked at many different patterns to find just the right style for his cape and vest, he selected just the right fabric, and we shopped women’s boots for his footwear since he isn’t in men’s sizes yet and little boy boots have a tendency to be covered with pictures of superheroes, turtles, etc. A trip to the DI and a perusal of Amazon for an accurate Eye of Agamotto completed his look. We were both pleased with the results.

After marching around the neighborhood for a while, Malia came home and dumped out her bag of booty for the yearly ritual of sorting out the stuff that will kill her. For the first time ever, I had a child end up with more in the “safe” pile. I was pleasantly surprised, and Malia was thrilled, of course. I suspect the reason for the shift is the fact that this year our elementary went nut free. The only place in the school where nuts are allowed is in the lunchroom. All the classrooms are nut free. The school has done some educating and as a food allergy mom, I’ve done quite a bit of educating as well. I think the end result is that more people are aware of how the labeling works, how many seemingly innocuous foods are dangerous for kids with nut allergies, and just how many people are affected by food allergies. But no matter the reason, I had one happy mermaid on my hands.

And then, all hyped up on sugar, my topless mermaid dashed to open the door for those who were still scouring the neighborhood in search of treats. I’m not sure why she decided to alter her costume from its original G-rating, but at least she had a flesh colored leotard underneath!

Matthew was less interested in the candy (which is pretty normal for him) and just wandered around the neighborhood with his friends. But I’m glad he took advantage of his last year of trick or treating to enjoy himself rather than trying to grow up so fast. He has no idea just how quickly time passes and in future years, I think he’ll be glad he embraced this one last bit of childhood. Plus, he was really pleased with how his costume turned out and he was the only Dr. Strange in the whole school!

Making Time for Jack

Our schedule has been a bit hectic of late. We managed to fit in a trip to the pumpkin patch last week but tonight was the first evening when we had time to carve them. Daniel has been so busy that he didn’t even choose a pumpkin this year so our Jack O’Lantern total this year is three. The kiddos went with mostly tradition designs this year. Nathan chose a scary pumpkin face and Malia selected a cat. Only Matthew strayed from the typical and carved a sports car. He got frustrated partway through due to the high level of detail and a few wrong cuts, but some toothpicks helped repair the slips and although he was not terribly pleased with the result, I think it turned out just fine.