We had our Lenten play last night with the 3rd-5th graders. They did SO well! It was a really great show and it lasted about 30 minutes, well under my 40 minute prediction. I know there were pictures taken....I'll share if I ever see them. Katie was a cheerleader and did a great job! The kids even had flowers for me after the show - (a sly mom's doing I'm sure) - it was very sweet. I have officially been asked to direct next year's show as well and I'm looking forward to it. It was a fun experience.
Today is the last day of school before spring break. They have tomorrow and all next week off. I got an e-mail yesterday that this weekend Hans' mom will be in town and they would like to see all the puppies again. So everyone is getting together at a dog park in Minneapolis to see how everyone has grown. I think out of 9 of us, only 3 can't make it. It's our first dog park experience and it will be good to be with people who can tell us how to behave at one.
Who wants to bet on where Hans ranks in size? Do you think he's the biggest? I'll have to remember pictures for sure!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Last day of winter
Tomorrow is the first day of spring! So I fully expect the mounds and piles of snow everywhere (we got 3-4 inches more yesterday) to be all gone overnight, and tomorrow will be a warm, sunny 50 degree day.
Ok, can I at least settle for 30....and the snow can stay? Sadly, I don't even think I'm going to get 30. We may have to wait a bit for spring, but we got so spoiled last year with no snow by mid February that we forget what a true upper-Midwest spring is like. Can I at least hope for 60 by Memorial Day?
We have Will's parent/teacher conference tonight. I always look forward to those. It's fun to hear things about him that we don't get to see first hand. (The good and the not so good. Although everything has been great so far.) Katie's was last week and there wasn't much to say other than she's doing wonderful. She is in a 4th grade math class and a 4th grade reading class where they just got done reading a 5th grade leveled novel. She said that over the year she's noticed that Katie has her own way of doing things, and her own timeline for doing them. She doesn't liked to be rushed, but rather take her time. The teacher said that she gets her things done on time, but would just rather have control over when and how she works on it. Yeah....I've learned that at home too. It took me 8 years to see that....her teacher learned it in 6 months.
Lent is about wrapped up too and while that announcement normally wouldn't make it to my blog, this year it does. Do you remember when I posted a few weeks back about having to teach 50 kids about Lent each week? Well I've done 4 weeks of Lenten Education....and now we are about done. We'd get together for 10 minutes to talk Lent, then break up into groups because we were working on putting together a play for our final week. Well, the final week is here and the play is set for Wednesday night.
It's a simple one-act play (10 scenes), with about 50 kids involved as actors, props/sets, cheerleaders, dancers, etc. We had a dress rehearsal last night for 2 hours. It didn't go TOO bad....but holy cow was it stressful. Actually, to be honest, it was a bit stressful for me, but also equally exhilarating. It's kind of giving me a "high" to be in charge of such a production. As director I haven't had to do too much week to week so far. I have parent helpers who were running the scenes with the kids and putting the props kids to work making things. That all changed last night.
Suddenly I had to deal with microphone assignments/changes, assigning kids to deal with props and setting the stage for each scene, entrances/exits, costume changes, staging, creating a backstage, etc. It was a little overwhelming, BUT I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a good time. We are set to run through it one more time Wednesday, then we'll have a small pizza party followed by the real-deal show at 7:30. It makes me realize that our church may be a bit more into drama productions than other churches. :) Gee, 2 shows within 3 weeks of each other? And then this summer we have a musical camp for kids set up too. I guess we Lutherans like the overacting drama part of it all.
Ok, can I at least settle for 30....and the snow can stay? Sadly, I don't even think I'm going to get 30. We may have to wait a bit for spring, but we got so spoiled last year with no snow by mid February that we forget what a true upper-Midwest spring is like. Can I at least hope for 60 by Memorial Day?
We have Will's parent/teacher conference tonight. I always look forward to those. It's fun to hear things about him that we don't get to see first hand. (The good and the not so good. Although everything has been great so far.) Katie's was last week and there wasn't much to say other than she's doing wonderful. She is in a 4th grade math class and a 4th grade reading class where they just got done reading a 5th grade leveled novel. She said that over the year she's noticed that Katie has her own way of doing things, and her own timeline for doing them. She doesn't liked to be rushed, but rather take her time. The teacher said that she gets her things done on time, but would just rather have control over when and how she works on it. Yeah....I've learned that at home too. It took me 8 years to see that....her teacher learned it in 6 months.
Lent is about wrapped up too and while that announcement normally wouldn't make it to my blog, this year it does. Do you remember when I posted a few weeks back about having to teach 50 kids about Lent each week? Well I've done 4 weeks of Lenten Education....and now we are about done. We'd get together for 10 minutes to talk Lent, then break up into groups because we were working on putting together a play for our final week. Well, the final week is here and the play is set for Wednesday night.
It's a simple one-act play (10 scenes), with about 50 kids involved as actors, props/sets, cheerleaders, dancers, etc. We had a dress rehearsal last night for 2 hours. It didn't go TOO bad....but holy cow was it stressful. Actually, to be honest, it was a bit stressful for me, but also equally exhilarating. It's kind of giving me a "high" to be in charge of such a production. As director I haven't had to do too much week to week so far. I have parent helpers who were running the scenes with the kids and putting the props kids to work making things. That all changed last night.
Suddenly I had to deal with microphone assignments/changes, assigning kids to deal with props and setting the stage for each scene, entrances/exits, costume changes, staging, creating a backstage, etc. It was a little overwhelming, BUT I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a good time. We are set to run through it one more time Wednesday, then we'll have a small pizza party followed by the real-deal show at 7:30. It makes me realize that our church may be a bit more into drama productions than other churches. :) Gee, 2 shows within 3 weeks of each other? And then this summer we have a musical camp for kids set up too. I guess we Lutherans like the overacting drama part of it all.
Friday, March 8, 2013
week recap
The play is over and went well. We had a lot of main characters sick though. Willy Wonka lost his voice and had to have someone sing for him offstage. He did his on lines though. I think I mentioned that the guy off stage that we had helping us was from the dinner theater - nope, I was wrong. He's actually from the Guthrie! So we felt very lucky to have that much talent off stage. Saturday we had two shows and Katie and I showed up at church to discover that Charlie had awoken and lost his voice as well. It was agreed that the guy offstage would read his lines AND sing Charlie's songs. I think he also sang some Wonka songs as well.
By the Saturday night show things were better voice-wise. Everyone sang and read their own lines. (Yay1!) However, by Saturday night we also had 3 cast members sick to their stomach....."Violet Beauregard" (the blueberry girl) was feeling very sick, "Verruca Salt" (the spoiled girl) had thrown up, and "Augustus Gloop" (the boy that keeps eating) threw up minutes before he had to go on stage and sing (and eat) for his big scene. Then "Uncle Joe" started to feel sick too...so we decided to keep a bucket on either side of the stage and we had mothers roaming around with ice cream pails....just in case.
By Sunday everyone was feeling much better, although tired. Katie escaped all sickness, but I came down with a stomach bug late Tuesday night and into Wednesday. I'm finally feeling much better today - pretty normal. Although, I don't think it had anything to do with the "backstage bug"....because of the painful stomach cramps I had, I think it was more associated with something I ate.
Oh well, all better now. Katie has a big birthday party tonight for one of her friends. She is to go to her friend's house at 6 pm....everyone is to bring their snow gear, their iPod (seriously), and a stuffed animal. She gets picked up at 10. Yes, that's right, 10! While Katie is at the party, I think Will and I will head to the rec center's free family carnival and give John a few hours at home to himself.
We are due to get rain tomorrow.
By the Saturday night show things were better voice-wise. Everyone sang and read their own lines. (Yay1!) However, by Saturday night we also had 3 cast members sick to their stomach....."Violet Beauregard" (the blueberry girl) was feeling very sick, "Verruca Salt" (the spoiled girl) had thrown up, and "Augustus Gloop" (the boy that keeps eating) threw up minutes before he had to go on stage and sing (and eat) for his big scene. Then "Uncle Joe" started to feel sick too...so we decided to keep a bucket on either side of the stage and we had mothers roaming around with ice cream pails....just in case.
By Sunday everyone was feeling much better, although tired. Katie escaped all sickness, but I came down with a stomach bug late Tuesday night and into Wednesday. I'm finally feeling much better today - pretty normal. Although, I don't think it had anything to do with the "backstage bug"....because of the painful stomach cramps I had, I think it was more associated with something I ate.
Oh well, all better now. Katie has a big birthday party tonight for one of her friends. She is to go to her friend's house at 6 pm....everyone is to bring their snow gear, their iPod (seriously), and a stuffed animal. She gets picked up at 10. Yes, that's right, 10! While Katie is at the party, I think Will and I will head to the rec center's free family carnival and give John a few hours at home to himself.
We are due to get rain tomorrow.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Give and Take
There's a lot of give and take to Will's relationship with Hans....
Will can rest on Hans....
Hans can rest on Will....
Friday, March 1, 2013
Pictures from rehearsal....
I have some pictures from the Tuesday night's dress rehearsal. I know when they were from because I can gauge the date by how high the "bump" in my hair was...and this wasn't very high. :)
Katie is up behind sitting with the group of girls.
You'll notice that "Charlie" needs a shave before opening night....
And here's Katie again....up behind, with a red lollipop.
Here's me with my "son" and the reporter interviewing us after we have found our winning ticket.
...mid-song....
....and here, well...I don't know.
Weekend
Tonight is opening night - very exciting. Last night's dress rehearsal went pretty well in most areas, but tonight will be great. The biggest drama this week has been around Wonka himself. The actor playing him came down with a mild case of laryngitis on Monday night. Tuesday he rested - didn't sing or really speak lines during rehearsal. Wednesday he went to the dr and got some sort of steroid treatment, then last night he rested and didn't speak or sing again. He told me that his voice was pretty good last night, and if it continues to improve he'll be able to speak the lines.
What about singing?
Well, that's a big strain on the voice, so they have brought in a professional actor - not 100% sure where from...could be the dinner theater if I heard correctly. Anyway - he has played the role before and was there last night to read lines and sing while John - our Wonka actor - was up on stage. It was ok, but confusing because the new guy was not used to our timing or stage planning that we had already done. I really hope our guy can do it all, but we'll see how it goes. I remember last year when I lost my voice during the play it was a good 10 days before I could say anything.
Katie is also not feeling great today - so she is staying home a few hours to rest. I don't think there's too much affecting her though because she seems to be feeling great when it comes time to go on the iPad.
Stay tuned for pictures - they were taking them last night during Act 2. I should have some soon.
What about singing?
Well, that's a big strain on the voice, so they have brought in a professional actor - not 100% sure where from...could be the dinner theater if I heard correctly. Anyway - he has played the role before and was there last night to read lines and sing while John - our Wonka actor - was up on stage. It was ok, but confusing because the new guy was not used to our timing or stage planning that we had already done. I really hope our guy can do it all, but we'll see how it goes. I remember last year when I lost my voice during the play it was a good 10 days before I could say anything.
Katie is also not feeling great today - so she is staying home a few hours to rest. I don't think there's too much affecting her though because she seems to be feeling great when it comes time to go on the iPad.
Stay tuned for pictures - they were taking them last night during Act 2. I should have some soon.
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