All the World's a Stage

There was an afternoon last week when Topher and I were the only people at home. He decided to hold a talent show. I played the ukulele and sang a song. He performed an original composition and played his homemade banjo, then he beatboxed and danced, then he demonstrated sword fighting. It was an entertaining show.

Same First Name

Topher's class has been working on their wax museum projects for several weeks. Topher saw the list of options and decided on Christopher Columbus since they share the same first name. There was also a boy named Marco in his class that picked Marco Polo, so Topher was not alone in his first-name choice.

He researched, wrote, and practiced. The costume and props were my job. Thanks to a healthy backstock of costume items, we were able to put this together without buying anything.

That's why I felt okay buying a wig to add to his look. He didn't love the idea.

But seriously, the wig made the costume.

Topher did a great job on his presentation! He had it mostly memorized and spoke clearly. They each picked a pose and stayed frozen until one of the many parents stopped at their station and tapped the Push button. Then they would begin talking.

As soon as he finished his speech he returned to his wax museum pose, which is what they'd been told to do. One of the moms told me she was impressed that he didn't unfreeze when she tried to talk to him. 

Great work , Topher!

Pick Your Favorite

I've lost count of how many spirit weeks we've had at school this year. This week we're celebrating Dr. Suess' birthday and the first costume prompt was to dress like your favorite book character. Unfortunately, until 10 minutes before we had to leave to take Sophie to her before school student government meeting, I thought it was pajama day. I learned my mistake when I double checked the flyer that had come home. So, with new information in hand, we scrambled. I don't love Dog Man, but Topher does, and I was thankful that it was an easy costume to assemble. Double-sided fabric tape and construction paper to the rescue!

He's Aged Well

Today was the 100th day of school and Topher got to dress like a 100-year-old version of himself. He was rather disgruntled that I wouldn't buy him a wheelchair for the occasion. I also opted to not send him with a cane because I worried for the safety of everyone around him. He let us put dry shampoo and baby powder in his hair, but it didn't show up very well in the pictures. He also let me use eyeliner to give him age lines, but not very many. He was adamant that the lines stay on his forehead. In other words, he was more early-middle aged rather than 100, but we tried.

And he's awfully cute.

Off With His Head!

Tonight we saw Phoebe perform in Alice in Wonderland as the Queen of Hearts. I know I've said this about others roles she's played, but it applies here too: SHE STOLE THE SHOW! And I'm not the only person that thought so. It was a student directed show and the director's dad had the same comment about Phoebe's performance. She was nuanced and multi-dimensional and kind of terrifying. Also, she was fantastic!

Fun fact: the kid who played Mr. Wormwood across from Phoebe's Mrs. Wormwood in Matilda in seventh grade played the King of Hearts across from her in this. 

Here Comes Halloween

Our Halloween included two exceptionally cold costume parades, including Sophie's last,

some much anticipated pumpkin painting,

handing out candy on a particularly windy and cold evening,

trick-or-treating with siblings and a friend who joined us for the two hours and two miles of walking,

a costume picture,

and waaaaaaaaaaaay too much candy.

Overall, it was a very successful day!

Invisible Celebrations

We went to two trunk or treat activities this week and I took almost no pictures at all. Oh well, we had fun, even if we didn't document it. Please enjoy these pictures of our decorated trunk and the pirate map that Sophie painted on Topher's face.

Boo to You

Our first Halloween party of the season was Bryan's work party last week. This year all of the booths were based on musicals! They were Wicked, Seussical, Elf, Aladdin, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Jaws (I had to verify that yes, Jaws the Musical is a real thing). 

Bryan and I didn't dress up this year, Peter said he was Jim from The Office, Cooper was a Cross Country runner, Phoebe was the 10th Doctor, Sophie was a modern day Dorothy, and Topher was a pirate.

We had fun, but it definitely made for a late night.

Wingardium Leviosa

Sophie and Topher had fun at the annual Harry Potter party at the library this week. Sophie was a helper and Topher was a happy participant.

Glee Club Rehearsal

This season, in addition to our full choir numbers, we added small group songs that included costumes and choreography. I played this song for my codirector when we were in the planning stages and she immediately loved it. But we knew this one would take a lot of extra work. The solution? We put our own kids in it, that way we didn't need to make space for it in our rehearsal schedule, we could just have several playdates/rehearsals to work on it. And that's just what we did.

I was standing in the back of the house next to the sound booth (aka Bryan sitting at a folding table with the sound board) when I realized that Linus' mic was turned off. You can see the moment that Cooper saw me frantically motioning for him to reach over and flip the switch on the mic pack. Charlie Brown was the hero of this number.

Phoebe lost most of her voice the day before the concert. Thankfully, she had enough for her low solo line in another song and for her duties as Snoopy.

See that skirt Sophie is wearing? She and her friend spent at least an hour on Saturday making those fluffy tutus. I think they really completed Sally and Lucy's looks.

Fancy Friends

Sophie had a grand evening yesterday. She attended a fancy dinner party that her good friend threw. There were four attendees (including the hostess) and two parents who acted as waiters. We (yep, I was one of them) even costumed in white dress shirts and blacks slacks so we could be totally in character. 

Sophie was given the assignment to contribute potatoes to the meal. I talked her through how to cook them in the instant pot and Bryan supervised the mashing and seasoning. They were the perfect compliment to the pork tenderloin main dish.

After the fancy dinner, the girls decorated masks, had a dance party, covered their faces in glitter, made raspberry frosting for their brownie dessert, and sang in harmony. It was a grand night for all.

And they've informed the moms that they plan to do it again next week.