Hush, Little Baby

Topher was adamant that he do a solo at our Spring Season kids choir concert. Cooper kindly joined him on guitar. Topher got an on-the-spot lesson that everyone makes mistakes and that it's okay to start over. I think they did a great job.

We Will Rock You

Back in January, when we started planning the Easter concert, the question of the kid choir came up. We knew we wanted them to sing a few songs for Easter, but is that all they would do? If so, that would be two seasons in a row of only church music. I suggested that we still have a separate concert for them where they could perform secular music, but we would only do two choir songs and let the kids fill in the rest with solos and small group numbers. I thought this would be a great way to let them learn and perform both kinds of music. So we set the kid concert for the Friday following the Easter concert.

In retrospect, this was a poor choice.

My co-director and I were so worn out by the Easter concert, we really had to drag ourselves to the finish line on the second concert. We still gave it our all, but we were running on fumes by the end of Friday night.

We started by setting up the gym on Thursday. Usually we do this the day of, but Thursday night was our dress rehearsal for the soloists and small group numbers and we wanted them to run through their songs in the proper setup. We only had them come for a short time, long enough to practice their song a few times, then they left and we moved on to the next group. We saved our own kids for last and were there until nearly 10pm.

Topher was so excited for the concert that he wanted to wear his choir shirt to school. This is the sight that I woke up to on Friday morning. I convinced him to change and save the shirt for that night. 

It took most of the day to prepare and gather our supplies. This is after I'd already dropped stuff off the day before.

The kids did a great job. They opened with We Will Rock You (we slipped in this easy bonus choir number) and then sang Better When I'm Dancing. The next twelve songs came from the kids. Then we finished with the whole choir singing Fight Song.

Among the other songs that night, Topher sang Hush, Little Baby while Cooper played the guitar.

Phoebe and her friend Isaac sang Princess Problems from the new Snow White.

Sophie and her friend Gemma sang What Is This Feeling? from Wicked.

And Sophie sang Waving Through a Window from Dear Evan Hansen.

It all went well and we were glad when we finished! I'll post the videos of the songs over the next few days.

Sophie borrowed my phone while we cleaned up.

I borrowed it back to take this picture of the two directors in our new shirt design. Walmart stopped making the green t-shirts (they're only $4 each, we can't beat the price) and some of the kids outgrew them. We had to do a shirt shuffle among the choir and we both gave up our green shirts to kids who needed them. Thankfully, our friend who made the other shirts (her daughter sings in the choir) agreed to make us these new, larger logo shirts!

This choir is so fun and I love that we get to lead it, but it definitely takes a lot of time and energy.

All the Good Things

Topher had a particularly fun day today. He went on a field trip to the zoo with all the other first graders in his class. This meant he was outside nearly all day.

His mom, who usually says no to sweet treats, said yes to a microwaved s'more.

 Not pictured: a very quick trip to the library, lots of reading, and cereal for dinner. These are all wins for Topher.

Artistic Interpretations

This is how the art display turned out. It was much better in person. We were thankful for the families that let us display the art from their walls. It really elevated the focus of the evening.

If we do this again in the future, I'd like to figure out how to use the walls to hang the art and make it feel more like a gallery.

Art Imitating Life

On the Sunday after Easter we participated in a multi-ward Easter concert that I'd been co-planning since January. In addition to beautiful music, we set up an art display for people to observe while they enjoyed refreshments after the concert. All of the art was about the Savior and several pieces came from our house, including this one. I bought it on my Idaho trip a year ago.

One of the kids (Sophie?) was looking closely at it and announced that one of the little girls looked like her cousin Emma. I came over to see what she was talking about.

See the red head? She really does look like my niece. Emma even has read hair, though a much darker shade.

I bought this piece because of the children hugging the Savior. Now I love it even more because it will always remind me of Emma.

Photobombed

 

Brotherly Love

It was really nice having Peter here for the weekend. He got his Real ID (the reason he flew home between fall semester and spring term), had his dentist appointment for his mission papers (and a subsequent visit for fillings), and got some much needed sleep. He also played lots of MarioKart with Bryan and the other kids.

Topher requested that we save our traditional Resurrection Rolls for when Peter was here. So, a week after Easter, we gathered around the table to tell the story of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection using marshmallows, butter, cinnamon/sugar, and crescent rolls. It sounds kind of irreverent, but it's a great object lesson.

We were all sad to see him go back to school on Monday afternoon. Topher was especially upset. He burst into big sobs and wouldn't stop hugging Peter.

We love you, Peter!

One More Time

Cooper and I saw Sophie's final performance as the lead. It was an even better show than Thursday had been. The mics cut out a few times, but Sophie was clearly audible all the way to the back row. Her acting was authentic and her singing was beautiful!

Well done, Sophie!

Saving the Day

Sophie did a great job as a "sassy" hero. You can find the hero theme song HERE.

Drained

This last weekend was full. Soooooo full. Sophie had another show Friday night (she was a sassy hero ensemble member). We had a long choir practice on Saturday morning, then a baptism, then a baby shower. And then Cooper and I saw Sophie's final performance as the lead (she was even better than her first night!). Saturday night included final preparations for Sunday.

Sunday brought us early morning Resurrection rolls, hair and makeup for Sophie for her closing show, church, finding subs for missing teachers, unexpectedly jumping in to takeover singing time, then home for a super quick dinner, and off for last rehearsals before the multi-ward Easter concert that evening that I'd been co-planning since January.

By the time everything was over my brain was done. Done done done.

It's a little better today, but not well enough to write in detail about any of this yet.

Happy Monday!