Denver- American Academy of Optometry

One of the reasons we opted for the performance of The Wizard of Oz to be November 7 was that Ethan and I were headed on a little trip the following week and I thought maybe my parents could come see the show and then stay to watch the kids.  They are so amazing that they did all that for us. It meant so much to the kids (even more to me) that they got to see the show.  And we are so thankful for their kindness in taking care of our kids for us.

Ethan and I set out on Tuesday November 11 for Denver.  Thankfully we checked the weather before we packed our bags!  It was a cold one!!!  Ethan is lucky enough that he doesn't have to go through security like the rest of us civilians so he had to wait for me while I stood in line... then funny enough after my bag went through the x-ray machine it had to be searched... they found a butter knife from a mess kit that Bryant found one day and we just tossed in my purse.  Whoops!

Then we got some airport food.  It was actually really good and too much money compared to what I was expecting.  We were excited to get away together!

Yeah, cold just doesn't do it justice.  It was sub-zero cold!  Coming from 70 degrees to this was painful!  Our first night we sat in the hotel lobby/dining room with a friend and a bunch of his friends and ate our complimentary meal.  Then we faced the cold and walked to the convention center so Ethan could get checked in.

In the morning I was happy to let him walk alone as I stayed warm in the hotel and enjoyed the view. I texted this to my dad and he said, "I'm glad I'm here."  Good call.

I spent most all of my time in the hotel writing (working on a novel for NaNoWriMo) but I did sneak out to have lunch with Ethan the first afternoon.  Friday the weather improved considerable (like all the way up to the high 20s!).  We met my best friend from high school and her hubby (who works downtown Denver) for some lunch.  It was so much fun to catch up with them!  We were dating and engaged at the same time way back when.

Later that afternoon I met one of my good friends from optometry school.  We went and explored an art exhibit.  It was really interesting art.

This was my favorite, its a car made entirely of cardboard!

This newspaper 3D art table was pretty incredible as well.

Terra and I walked to a bookstore and bought our kids some souvenirs and then to the convention center to meet our husbands and they both decided to stay for an extra late class so we sat and talked. It was so nice to hang out again, its been way too long!  I think we need to plan some sort of reunion trip for all of us to get together again.  We had such a fun time in school together!

I pouted to Ethan for working so late-he spent more time in class than he ever has before when we've gone to academy.  So he felt bad and to make it up to me took me out for a fancy dinner.  We ordered fried brussels sprouts that were served with sliced green apples, they were amazing!!!

I'm pretty sure he wanted to lick the plate.

I ordered tortellini with meatballs and it was heavenly.  Could not have been any better, pumpkin flavors in the sauce it was just so good.

I don't remember what Ethan had, but he really liked it.

The next morning we had a town car pick us up and take us to the airport.  We were blessed that the airline was able to change our seats so we were together.  We enjoyed our trip, it is always so nice to have a getaway, even if Ethan has to work.  One day we'll take a trip just for fun... one day!

Woodbury Wizard of Oz

During the summer I blogged about our list of things to do, one of those things was to put on a play.  I sent out an email to friends and had some people who were interested in participating but unable to do it when I could and so we put it off.  There just wasn't a good time to do it...

Well one of my good friends was talking to me after school started and said that her daughter was extremely disappointed and really wanted to do something.  So we started thinking about when we could do it during the school year.  We decided on November 7, which meant we had to start right away.  So I scoured the web for free scripts and found one I really liked for the Wizard of Oz and we held auditions the next week.  Open to anyone and everyone between ages 5 and 15 (basically).  

I was worried I wouldn't have enough big kids to fill the roles but thankfully got a call from someone who was sick and her daughter really wanted to participate so was there any way I could find a place for her... I went to their home and did an audition and all four of her kids wanted to do it!  Awesome! We had a cast!

By the time we got everyone who wanted to participate we had a cast of 19 kids, from age 4 to 12 (with a 16 year old narrator).  However, I soon realized that the script I found online was NOT free and they wanted me to pay royalties, so to save money I wrote a script based on the book (but influenced by the movie as well).

We started rehearsing, twice a week, at the church (which was where we would perform).  It was hard work.  Working with that many kids with that many different personalities wore on my patience some days.  My own kids took the heat a little more than they deserved (they were behaving like kids).  

My friend who had talked me into doing it took on the role of costume coordinator and she did an amazing job.  The moms got together during our rehearsals and sewed costumes for monkeys and munchkins.  We worked together to get other pieces gathered and most everyone was responsible for their own kids' costumes.  The costumes turned out awesome!

Ethan and I built some 6.5x8 foot canvas flats for the backdrops/scenery.  I painted and painted and painted.  My garage still hasn't recovered.

Finally the big night for our performance was here.  We had no idea what to expect in terms of numbers for the audience, we set up 120 chairs.  We had refreshments for after the show.  The moms did so much work to make it all a success.  I don't know what I would have done without them!!!

These awesome youth made the show possible, if they hadn't helped (some at the very last minute) we wouldn't have been able to do all we did.

The only problem was we didn't have any time for pictures!  (Aside from a few) I was backstage during the performance and couldn't take any during the performance even... but here's a small sampling.

As you can guess from the photos, Eliza was a munchkin and a winged monkey.  Bryant was the scarecrow, and Jonas was the wizard.  Levi was Toto but couldn't be found after the show anywhere!  Bolton was a also a monkey/munchkin during every rehearsal but as soon as it came time to put make up on he refused to go on!  What a little stinker.  But he sat in the audience with Grandma and Grandpa and had a great time.

The performance was so great!  It was FAR from perfect (the technical side of things-like the corn stalks the scarecrow was found in staying on stage during the forest scenes, I had to come on stage at one point to get a set piece with important props in place, and my personal favorite: when I had to slide the bucket across the floor from offstage to Dorothy on stage so she could melt the witch- the kids were amazing!), but the audience seemed to really enjoy it.  Looking back I wish I could do some things better, but we'll probably do it all again some time so I'll get a chance!

The kids had a fantastic time, so I am calling it a huge success!  Two months of my life we wrapped up in the chaos, but it was so worth it!  I may see if I can upload the video to youtube and post a link for anyone interested.  It is really (really!) hard to hear, but so fun!

Also, if you're ever interested in putting on a show with a younger cast like this, my script is available for free.  Its not anything spectacular, but it worked really well for us.  The show was about 30 minutes to perform.

The Last of our October

Before we headed to our ward party on the 28th, Abe decided that he needed to stand up on the toilet and ended up falling and biting right through his tongue.  I took him to the ER, not thinking they'd stitch it up, but not wanting to take any chances.  Poor baby hurt all day, but he mouths are pretty amazing and heal super fast.

Jonas was really excited about his beard.  He's such a cute lumberjack.

I think its so smart how they do Red Ribbon Week the same week as Halloween.  Thursday was hat day and I snapped this one of my cute students.

Why not start the biggest sugar rush holiday off with some sugary cereal?  Its only once a year!  We actually got all three monster cereals and the kids got to choose what they wanted to eat.  They were stoked!

For school on Halloween Eliza dressed as a bat.  When she got home and we were getting ready to head to the hospital on base for trick or treating she said she wanted to be a vampire bat.  So I told her that vampires have to look especially attractive to entice humans to come to them so we did some fancy makeup.  Once it was on, she decided that she wanted to be princess, so she got out her costume from two years ago and was the prettiest princess around.

They go ALL OUT at the the hospital.  It was so much fun!  There had all sort of themed areas: Ghostbusters, Pirates, Sugar Rush, PinBall, I can't think of all of them, but it was incredible!  Everyone had so much fun, definitely worth the effort to go just for the fun...even if they didn't give out candy. :)

I had to laugh (and beam with pride inside) that Bryant and Bolton both left all the candy in their bags as we walked through, but couldn't leave their apples alone.  They devoured them!

Good to know that Abraham will still recognize me if I ever grow a beard. :)

And, this was actually November 1, but I don't want to do a whole blog post for it...

Eliza lost her first tooth!  I think she was eating her apple from trick or treating the day before and she was totally freaked out (as you can see below)

But she took Jonas' advice and twisted it the last tiny bit and out it popped.  It was very exciting!

October 28, Ward Harvest Festival

On Tuesday October 28 our ward hosted a Harvest Festival.  The kids were thrilled to dress up and even more excited for all the treats that lay in wait!

Eliza is so indecisive.  She told me she just wanted to dress up as herself for Halloween this year.  I had told the kids that I wouldn't be making costumes this year since I'm so super busy with the play we're doing, but we have lots of costumes they could wear.  When I asked her why she didn't want to wear something special, she said that she just didn't know what to dress up as, so she was going as herself.  After we let her do the trunk or treat like this (I didn't feel bad, there were kids who went around 5-6 times, so one little indecisive girl going around once wasn't a big deal) I told her that if she wanted to go trick or treating at houses on Halloween she would need to decide on a costume.

This little rascal is hilarious!  Look at that face!  For the ward party he was a Karate Master and he was so excited to get candy!

I took 30 minutes to make Jonas a lumberjack beard, I think he looks awesome.  I also made the ax, it was fun.  Except when I painted the tip red, thinking I've seen axes with red... Bryant and Ethan informed me the red is not the tip but the body... he looked like a homicidal lumberjack so I quickly painted over it with the gold (the only metallic paint I had).  Some rotten teenager broke it while Jonas played a game at the party.  Grumble, grumble.

Bryant came up with his own costume.  He loves Doctor Who and will even take watching an episode in place of payment when he babysits for us (we have arrived at that magical stage of life! Woohoo!!!!).  So he is the tenth Doctor.  He also made the T.A.R.D.I.S. and there was quite the drama over it (he offered to let Jonas be it, then told him he couldn't because he had done all the work making it).  Although I painted it for him while he was at school Tuesday and then we made the Police Box sign right before the party.  He looked great... and he fit in.  There were so many people dressed as characters from the show.  They even made an announcement for all the Doctor Who costumes to meet at one point during the party. I don't know what they did, but there were enough of them to have quite a gathering.

 This little costume has made its way through all of our boys and at least one of their cousins.  This Halloween marked the end of an era that started 15 or so years ago when cousin Cade wore it.  We'll have to find a happy home for it.

Taking pictures of 6 kids is always an adventure.  Sure do love these wild berries!