Monday, May 14, 2012

Happy 1st Birthday, Gideon!

DOWN ON THE FARM

E-I-E-I-O! Gid-E-O is ONE! 
The Cake. 
Gideon's Smash Cake

The Menu: Pigs in a Blanket, Slop (potato salad), Cow Patties (mini burgers), Chicken Feed (chips), Hay (pretzels), Rabbit Food (veggie platter).
I made little signs for for the food. 
We drank out of Mason jars, and ate with "hankies," "pitchforks," and "shovels."

This is the sweets table. The cow bars are rice krispie treats and they , along with the caramel apples, went home with guests. The kids also drank from jelly jars. I drilled holes in the lid for a straw to through. 

The birthday boy
 
Checking out the #1 from the top of his cake
Tasting the icing

Oh, yes. This is gooood .
What fun! Happy Birthday to me!! 









Saturday, May 12, 2012

Happily Forever After

Calen has been involved in Children's Choir at church since he was in the first grade. Every Spring, they put on a play during the evening service. This year's play was called "Happily Forever After." As soon as he got the script he thought he might try out for the part of the "Knight." After looking through, he decided against it because that character didn't have very many speaking parts.

I take the script, list the characters, and then go through the script making a note of many speaking parts each character has. Then from there Calen narrowed his choice down to Sir Brags-A-Lot. Now, I must let you in on Calen and lines. He has been blessed with an ability to recall speech. He is constantly quoting movies, and he has been known to correct someone reading because they left out a word or read the words out of order. After reading through the script three or four times, he had the character down- even to the obnoxious bragging sounding speech.

We spent the following  weeks practicing about once a day. Danny and I spoke to him several times about the try-out process, reminding him that he may not get the part for which he tries out. A few days after the try-outs, the letter arrives, and as I scan down, I see that Calen did not get the part he had wanted. I continued scanning down, looking for his name. Found it! Calen has the part of the... Carpenter!?!

Now, the way try-outs work, is if you want to have a speaking/solo part, you have to try out. They try to give everyone who tries out a part. The bigger parts, usually go to the older kids (4th and 5th grade). Calen has the lead role- in 3rd grade. I was shocked and, at the same time, very excited.

I called Calen in to share the news with him, and he was very upset that he didn't get the role. We spent the following week talking to him several times, and try to explain that he got an even BIGGER role. That they really trusted him and thought he could handle it. He was still upset, and I said, "Calen, they know you can do it, you are playing Jesus. It doesn't get any bigger that that!!"

On Sunday, Ms. Brandy asked me about Calen and how he handled it, and wasn't surprised to hear that he was upset, and told us exactly what we had been trying to explain to him. When Calen walked in to try-out, he told them what part he was trying for, and they immediately wrote his name down next to the part. They knew before he started, he had most, if not all, of the part memorized. At the end of try-outs, as they were looking back over the paper, they realized that no one had tried out for the Carpenter. They decided to give it to Calen because they knew that he could learn all the lines. This was still a difficult concept for Calen to grasp, but he became very excited about it has rehearsals began.

Production night was wonderful. The kids all did an amazing job!!


Calen was embarrassed by all the comments and was ready to go backstage and change out of his costume. 








Catching Up with Old Friends

I had to laugh at my last post "March Madness." I thought March was crazy; I didn't even have time to post anything in April! After four children, I have come to realize that there is a transition period when an infant officially enters the toddler phase. It becomes all consuming and priorities are redistributed. Blogging became an afterthought, and it was usually after I was comfortably in bed. I believe after several weeks, this week will provide me with an opportunity to update my wonderful family and friends on what has been happening in our life.

In April, we were excited to spend time with dear friends, the Halls. Danny and Johnathan were in residency together, and his wife, Lisa, and I were great friends. Our families were the only two who started residency with young children, so this lead to an immediate bond. We have not seen them since graduation in June 2007! They were coming to our "neck of the woods" and we were in town to see them for the first time in almost FIVE years.
This is Calen and Eve (in the Snow White dress) the last night they played together in '07
And here they are 5 years later!

Also, the last time our families were together, between our two families, we had four children. On this visit, there were eight. The kids immediately bonded, and since it was late, they stayed the night with us. 

Calen, Eve, Josiah, and Allie

Josie

Danny, Jax, and Riley

Johnathan and Lisa hanging out with Gideon and Hunter

The kids spending a few more minutes together before the boys had to head upstairs. 
The kids keep asking when they are coming back; hopefully it will be for a longer visit.