Cousin Visit!

My brother and his family came to see us today!  The boys were babies when they were last able to come over.  We have been so excited for them to visit during their Spring Break!

 They arrived this afternoon, just after the kids got home off the bus. We did a lot of fun stuff this evening!  

The boys brought their monster truck Wii game to share with Caeden.

Grayson is really good at it!

Tessa found fun stuff for dress-up with the girls.

Uncle Jeremy let the boys attack him with Nerf guns and lightsabers!

 Grayson and Tessa found a good tree for climbing in our backyard.

We took lightsabers outside.

 We walked to the little Arrowsmith park and played.

 Love this sweet girl!

Caeden and Aunt Erin had an epic lightsaber battle!

Poor Uncle Travis lost his lightsaber battle!

It was a perfectly gorgeous evening for playing at the park!

We played a little kickball on the old baseball diamond.

 We got the air mattress out and decided who would sleep where...

 Bryce, Tessa, and Sylvia painted a beautiful mural!

 Poor Gray wasn't feeling the greatest, recovering from an ear infection. Snuggles help though.

Had to take a selfie for proof that I was present...

Bryce and Grayson were pretty excited to sleep in Caeden's room!

Erin tucked them in.

 Tessa camped out in the girls' room, and Sylvia read her some bedtime stories.

Cousins are so FUN!!!

Nerdy kids

All the kids were doing homework in the living room and just hanging out being their goofy selves this evening. They get so annoyed with my picture taking, but I don't really care.  I just want to document and remember how they actually are.

Sylvia did this big group project a couple months ago, and it's been sitting in our living room since.  After so much time and effort is spent on a project like this, it's a little tough to get rid of it.  

All at home

This really annoyed my kids, but I was so happy to have all 3 of them come home on the bus after school today!

No wrestling, no musical, no after-school school activities!  I love having all of them at home.

We were tired this morning, but not too tired for pictures at church.

Jeremy bought this jacket for the girls to share, and it is just so 1980's to me!  

They both look really cute in it.

Sassy Sylvia

We love our friend Marissa!!!

This afternoon, some of Dr. Ransom's private cello students and her family played a recital at the Blair House in Normal.  

The residents who attended were very appreciative.

Second performance

Emotions were high going into tonight's performance, as many of the lead characters were very aware that it was their last stage performance of high school.  They have all loved this family and outlet so much, and everyone involved in this production is very close friends.  So, we all took pictures to distract ourselves from allowing the bittersweet feeling to pour out our eyes.

Mr. Marchese took this one of me and Addie in front of the stage.  

Allison and Kasey have been my students since junior high. 

 I am going to miss these 3 so much next fall.  But I am thankful for the privilege of being part of their lives, getting to help them grow musically, and watching them mature into young women who are lovely inside and out!

Definitely another of my favorite lovely young ladies...

Annah's raggedy tights were such a perfect part of her costume!

Joyce and Dawn volunteering at the Music Boosters snack table...

Getting ready in the choir room...

Our "Mr. Mushnik"'s mom made these awesome Audrey II cupcakes for the cast!  They were incredible!

VIDEO: The entire performance

After the show, ALL of the emotions came out. 

The urchins and the voice of Audrey II!

Annah and her friend Taylor

Hugs and tears with Tyler.  They are both sophomores; I don't know what they're crying about.

Shelby did a lot of the work creating and puppeteering the plants!

Audrey and the Urchins

Or...the Schuyler sisters?

Instead of flowers that would die in a few days, we gave Annah the Moana collector's edition 

Blu-Ray pack.  She's been asking to see it for months, and we knew she'd love it.  She was pretty excited about it!

Not very successful at turning off the tears for a picture...These 2 feed off each other's emotions a lot.

The Voice of Audrey II inside the puppet Audrey II!

Annah and the Bentons

Mr. Marchese modeling his original drawing. When the cast asked early in rehearsals if they could get shirts, he told them yes and drew this on his whiteboard as a design idea.  No one else got around to designing another, so they had this one made up one a t-shirt just for him.

At the cast party, Mr. Marchese presented Addie with the Audrey wig to keep.

Joyce was such a gracious hosted for the cast party.  I stayed as well, and she even taught me how to play Kings in the Corners. I think it was close to 1:15 a.m. when we all finally left.  (I am wayyyyy too old to see that time of night!)

What a wonderful, wonderful experience.  The best part of all of it was thew ay this group encouraged each other and enjoyed working together through the whole process.  That is success!