There is no "new normal"

I am really emotional today.  Jeremy brought in the mail this morning, and there was a box addressed to me.  I opened it and found these Disney World scented candles that Dawn sent us to remind us of the wonderful memories of our vacation there together!  I bawled.  

All ready to try a Zoom piano lesson with Carly...

It did not go so well...No fault of hers, but there was trouble getting a good connection and it wasn't really video.  And the audio was awful...when she played a song with the pedal it sounded staccato.  Next week we will try a different platform.  It was really wonderful to see her, for sure!  It just proved that live video is not an option for all 16 of my students.  :(

Jeremy did the grocery run today.  He also got carry out from Moe's--our first food pickup since the stay-at-home order.  I forgot to order queso though, so that was a big bummer.

Snaps

Took a walk with Sylv and Caed this afternoon.  These buds on this tree are such an awesome color!!!

Sylvia wore her crafty jeans and we took some pics on the stairs of the church.

I wanted to get a picture to replicate this one...

Tried to get a pictuer of Sylvia, but someone else wanted in too...

Walking home

Sylvia spent some time skating.

I used the sidewalk chalk.

This afternoon, Sylvia put in the Barbie Island Princess dvd singalong version, and she and Caeden sang along.  Too funny.

Ridgeview's production of Guys and Dolls was supposed to open tonight.  Sylvia has dreamed of playing the part of Adelaide since she was a little girl and first saw the movie.  She choreographed the entire show and had taught all the dances to the cast. She had chosen costumes from the closet at school, from Amazon, and had gone to the theatre warehouse with Mr. M.  She had spent countless hours listening to and practicing the music.  So had the whole cast.  When Mr. M realized he had no other choice but to cancel the show, he called me and asked to tell Sylvia personally.  She and everyone knew it was coming, but it was really kind of him to let her know himself.  He said he will for sure do Guys and Dolls for the musical next year, but he will have to re-audition and re-cast it. Sylvia cried.  Caeden was disappointed, but knows he should have more opportunities through his high school career.

This evening, even though she hadn't practiced in 3 weeks, Sylvia put on a dress and lipstick and sang through Adelaide's Lament in her bedroom.  I was glad to be her audience, and I cried. I hope someday she will get the chance to play Adelaide.

Musical Rehearsal

Sylvia and Caeden are both having tons of fun with musical rehearsals!

Spring Musical Auditions

For months, Sylvia has been elated that the spring musical will be Guys and Dolls!  She has been dreaming of playing the part of Adelaide since she was 7 years old. Auditions were this week, and she has been praying and preparing.  Caeden has gone from saying he didn't know if he wanted to audition to he was definitely not.  Then the day before auditions, Mr. R talked with him and convinced him that it would be better to audition and try it out and see if he enjoyed it than to not audition and regret it later.  So, the night before auditions, he took 30 seconds to prepare the audition clip.  Sylvia recorded his audition prep and sent it to Annah, because she was also trying to convince him to audition.

Sylvia and 3 other girls had a callback, which made her even more nervous about getting a part at all. The girl spent most of her Christmas break choreographing the entire show, but she was also prepared to not even get a part.

The cast list was posted this evening, and Sylvia said she feels like she is floating; she is so excited to get to play Adelaide!  And Caeden is happy to get to be part of the show too!  They will have so much fun putting this one together; I'm sure!

Christmas Eve Service

Christmas Eve service at PoC was lovely tonight.

Annah sang on the worship team.

Sylvia played the part of the Angel Gabriel.

Jeremy played the part of King Herod.

The service closed with communion while Annah sang Silent Night.  It was beautiful.

VIDEO:

(Sylvia recorded this during rehearsal, so other people are talking and laughing in the room.)

Merry Christmas!

Show nights!

Opening night! 

Getting in makeup in the choir room

Passing the ENERGY in the Energy Circle before heading backstage!

VIDEO:

This is the entire show Friday night.  

The performance was great.  We had a good audience, and they really enjoyed it.  I'm so proud of these kids!

Sylvia and her buddy Aiden, who helped run sound this week.  Honestly, his being part of the show made tech week so great for me this year!  I LOVE it when kids get involved in something totally new to them and have a good time!!!

Jeremy took Caeden to IHOP with much of the cast for a traditional after show meal. Sylvia opted to go home and sleep since she had to be at school by 6am today.

As we were getting everyone corralled for our Saturday show, I decided I wanted a photo of me and my kids.  I'm so glad I get to do this with them!

Everyone was dragging until the energy circle...

After the cast went on stage and doors opened, I checked in onstage and Sylvia was leading a prayer in song.  She invited everyone, and everyone joined in!

There was a lot of excitement backstage when I checked in during intermission.  These guys were having so much fun!!!

Our Saturday night audience was smaller (as is usually the case), but more engaged.  They laughed and clapped and interacted, and it was awesome!

Aiden's family hosted the cast party, and it was so nice!

Some of the guys watched a fight...

There was so much great food!

What a great crew of kids!  Fall play was such a wonderful season this year.  All the kids got along, worked hard, were willing to learn and go out of their comfort zones, and we had fun the whole time!

So blessed!!!

Tech Week!

It's Tech Week!  We actually switched to evening rehearsals last week, but this week we are doing all setup of sound and so forth.  Monday night, we did full makeup, but I didn't get any photos other than this all-cast photo at the end of rehearsal:

It has been a great group of students to work on this play together for the past few months.  There's been no real drama between them off stage, and they all treat each other well.  For the most part, they've all been teachable, and the only problems we've had have been with communication about rehearsals.  The show has stayed funny, and we've been able to hone details and work on physical comedy and characters quite a bit.  It's really been a fun process this time around, and I am really proud of all of them!

I took photos during rehearsal on Wednesday and Thursday, so there no one was in full makeup/hair, and some were still making costume adjustments.  But the characters were there in all their glory...

The whole album of the entire process can be seen here, but I'll just post mainly photos of scenes Sylvia and Caeden were part of here.

In the Prologue, Guy (Jacob) and Hank (Caeden) are playing video games at Hank's apartment, while Kim (Kaidence) and Girl (Sylvia) are playing Scrabble at Girl's apartment.  They're all discussing Guy and Girl's breakup and getting back into the rebound/dating game.

In scene 1, Guy goes on a date with Donna (Ashtyn) a doctor who can't stay off her cell phone long enough to have a conversation with him.

Girl's first date of the show is with Lyle (one of 4 characters played by Kyle), who claims to be fluent in a number of foreign languages, but really is not.

Girl is onto him after he tries to use "DiCaprio" in a so-called Italian phrase.

Guy's next date is with Julia, who laughs hysterically for the entire date.

Girl next dates Dewey (one of 5 roles played by Hunter), who thinks he does everything to the EXTREME!

"Absolutely not!"

In the Midlogue, we see Kim and Hank together at Hank's apartment, while Kim talks on the phone with Girl and Hank on the phone with Guy.  

Girl and Guy are confused to hear their friends together.

Guy's next date is with Jackie (Briley), who only speaks in text abbreviations, which he doesn't understand.

Girl's next date, Alex, thinks he is a real pirate.

"And do all 'real' pirates shop at American Eagle?"

Guy's next date, Cleo (Emma), thinks she is a psychic who reads feet!

Girl meets Paul, who tells her he has 2 wives and thinks she'd make a good candidate for a 3rd!

Alex the pirate shows up as Guy's date!

Guy and Girl are relieved to run into each other, and decide to go get ice cream together, leaving Paul and Alex in the restaurant.

Alex asks Paul if he be a searovin' scalawag?

"Check please!"

~ Intermission ~ 

In the Prologue of the second half, we see Guy and Girl folding laundry together at Girl's apartment, discussing the blind dates they each have that evening.

Guy's date Celeste (Kendall) is only on the date to try to see her exboyfriend Frank (Austin) who is a server at the restaurant.

Girl's date turns out to be Jones, who thinks he is an 80's hair band rockstar, but actually pretends to play loud music on a rockband guitar.

Guy's next date Ruth (Briahnna) is campaigning for senate, and is only on the date to get his vote.

(Caeden played her body guard.)

One of our favorite characters was Girl's date, Garrett, who lost 300 pounds by eating onions.

"Check out these bad boys!"

In the second Midlogue, Girl and Guy are dancing at Kim's and Hank's wedding reception, discussing how stupid it is to continue going on blind dates.

Kim and Hank come through and greet Guy and Girl.

Then they continue out while discussing how stupid Guy and Girl are for not just dating each other.

Guy's date with Brooke (Ella) is frustrating when she only speaks "Yes," or "No," until she begins speaking in rapid-fire Italian!

Girl's date Dan can only speak in the movie trailer voice.

Sarah has an entire file of knowledge about Guy that she researched on the internet before showing up on their date.

Girl and Eddie's date goes so well, they're scheduling their second date when they realize they're actually cousins.

Guy's date with Annie (Cadence) is going really well too, 

until she admits that her parents are cousins!

Barry comes to the date with a presentation on how to move seamlessly to "Relationship 2.0."

"I do have one question...Can you tell me how I've actually had worse dates than this one?"

Guy shows up during Girl's date with Barry, and asks her if she will go to dinner with him...

...and not just one dinner--all the dinners!

"Uh, CHECK PLEASE!!!"