Way Down to Hadestown

Tonight Phoebe and a friend hung out by seeing the filmed version of the Broadway show Hadestown. The theater is about 30 minutes from our house. Since I had to drive there anyway, I took Cooper and Sophie and we saw it too!

The five principle actors were the same that I saw in the original cast in 2019. It was so cool that I got to share this beautiful show with some of my kids.

Web Slinger

I followed last night's Shakespeare with Spider-Man today. I took Cooper and Phoebe to see Spider-Man: Brand New Day this afternoon. It was excellent! I took this very dark picture of us during the previews.

You can't tell, but Phoebe and I are both wearing Spider-Man shirts in these pictures. She suggested I borrow one of hers, which I thought was very sweet.

This was the first time either of them have seen a Marvel movie in the theater, which made the outing extra special. I'm so glad these two teenagers were willing, and even excited, to see a movie with their mom rather than their friends.

The Daily Soundtrack

A few weeks ago a friend asked for Spotify playlist recommendations for primary music. I had to respond that I don't use Spotify, so I didn't have anything to recommend. The follow-up question: did I have a playlist from any app for primary music? I sent a screenshot of the church library music app and said that was the best I could do.

After that exchange I pondered why I don't listen to much music. Music is so important to me, was I just forgetting songs that we listen to? Then I realized, my kids make music so often, I don't need to go find any. Someone is usually singing or playing an instrument or blasting their own playlist. I texted my friend this realization, then went on with my day.

On Sunday after church, I walked into the library to witness a great example of what I meant. Cooper and Topher are not intentionally playing music together. They're just both playing their own music at the same time in the same room.

So of course I had to record it.

Water Attack!

Today was the last day of school for the year! One of the moms at the bus stop had the idea to greet the kids coming off the bus with various water sprayers. I was the designated videographer. This was the result.

Oops

Phoebe threw hew hat into the ring to serve on student government. This included making a video to show her classmates about why they should vote for her. We did so many takes that she had plenty of material to make a blooper reel, which is what she did. With her permission, here it is:

The Best Day

Monday was the last day of our spring break. It was actually a four-day weekend, but it's all we got. To celebrate, we took the kids to see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in the afternoon. Before that, Bryan took Topher to the park to play. On the way home from the movie, Topher announced that it was the best day of his life.

Out With the Old

New Year's Eve was full of games,

gingerbread house decorating from

Topher and

Cooper and

Phoebe and

Sophie and

Peter,

viewing White Christmas and Singing In the Rain (which I didn't take pictures of), and a Bluey themed countdown.

Happy New Year to all!

After All There's Only One More Sleep 'til Christmas

The kids were supposed to have a half day of school on December 23 (I have no idea why the school board thought that was a good idea), but we had a snow day instead. I did not mind. We all turned off our alarms and I woke up at 9 o'clock! I slept in so late that I had missed several texts from the dentist asking if we could bring Phoebe in earlier than planned for her cleaning.

Pre-Christmas day activities included a high fit class for me and Sophie taught by a friend's daughter home from college (this picture was taken at the end of the class, we could barely stand),

a round of the game Why Are You Like This,

Christmas themed Legos,

the most delicious Christmas Eve soup Bryan has ever made (chicken and potato, I'm sure I will dream of it),

a pajama photoshoot,

the annual viewing of The Muppet Christmas Carol,

and a very late bedtime for the parents.

Pink and Green

Seeing a Broadway show was enough adventure for the long weekend, but that didn't stop me from taking the four older kids (did you know service missionaries are allowed to watch movies with their families?) to see Wicked: For Good with some friends on Saturday afternoon. Knowing what takes place during Act 2 in the stage version, I was concerned it might not be a good fit for Topher. Bryan offered to stay home with him. 

We loved it! And yes, we all wore pink or green.

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.

One Hundred and Four Days of Summer Vacation

Ten years after the show originally ended, a new season of Phineas and Feb came out today! This is one of our favorite shows. We have most of the songs from the first run memorized. Cooper suggested we watch a few episodes for family movie night and that's just what we did. It felt very nostalgic.

It Is a Truth Universally Acknowledged

I introduced Cooper, Phoebe, and Sophie to Pride and Prejudice on film this weekend. We watched the 2005 Kiera Knightley version. They all LOVED it. They enjoyed the banter, the humor, the family dynamics, the gorgeous cinematography, the longing looks from Mr. Darcy, and the happy resolution.

Not all movies are hits with everyone, but this one was a winner.

Cooper was there, he just wasn't in the picture.

Waving Through Another Window

The final video I'm going to share from the concert is from Sophie. This, Waving Through a Window from Dear Evan Hansen, is the same song she sang for her school talent show. But instead of the 90 second version, this is the whole song. Bryan bumped the key up a few steps so that it fell a little more comfortably for her.

What Is This Feeling?

Sophie and her friend Gemma had a lot of fun preparing What Is This Feeling? for the concert. They're pretty well matched vocally since they're both such strong singers. The acting was a fun bonus for both of them.

Fun fact: there's a chance this movie won't work. When I uploaded it to YouTube I got a warning that it might not be visible in all territories. So, if you can't see it, let me know. 

Princess Problems

Phoebe's friend Isaac really wanted to sing a duet with her. She's still growing in her comfort level with singing by herself in front of other people, so she was apprehensive. We saw the new Snow White movie when it came out in theaters (so cute!) and this song was fresh on my mind. I suggested it since most of the singing falls to him, but there's still enough for her that it counts as a duet. I love the acting that they got to do with this one. And I think they both sound wonderful.

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.

Waving Through a Window

Sophie performed in her school's talent show tonight. She was the twenty-fourth act out of thirty-three performances. When her name was announced the audience went wild. It was the loudest reception anyone got. I thought maybe that was my mom bias, but everyone else in the family agreed. Maybe we're all biased? She did a fantastic job and got an even bigger round of applause when she finished.

The only down side is that for some reason the video Bryan took didn't actually record. He was so disappointed. Sophie was willing to try again. When we got home she sang it, just so we could record it. The music should have been louder, but we didn't realize that until we listened to the recording on the computer and Sophie was busy getting ready for bed. So this is an approximation of what her performance sounded like.

Red and Pink

Bryan and I were already feeling lousy on Valentine's Day, but the kids were all healthy enough to go to school. Phoebe made this cute card for one of her friends.

Sophie happily applied the press-on nails she got in her Christmas stocking, to add to her Valentine aesthetic. And she took them off about five minutes later when she discovered she hated not being able to grab anything firmly while wearing them.

When the kids got home we gave them each a little valentine. 

Then we decorated individual pizzas and watched a Winnie-the-Pooh movie about Valentine's Day.

Bryan and I had a date as well. While the kids were still at school we watched a movie at home, with no interruptions. Even though we were sick, it was a very nice way to celebrate the holiday.

Lumos

We watched Harry Potter 1 and 2 on New Year's Eve, are reading the first book, and watched the 3rd movie on Friday as a family. Topher is suddenly very into the world of Hogwarts and Harry Potter. He's been running around the house casting spells on everyone. I keep having to remind him not to run with a wand.

I'm glad he's so excited about something the rest of us love so much.

Tell Me About When Jesus Was Born

Remember that video I was editing together a week and a half ago? Well, here's the finished product. There was a lot of inspiration involved in this project, including asking the kids to tell me about when Jesus was born and recording their answers. I got those done the day before we had to show the movie at our ward Christmas party. There's nothing quite like editing and rendering until 2:15 in the morning the day the project is due.

I'm quite pleased with the result.