Grandma's Little Kewpie Doll

They say a picture is worth 1000 words.
I'll let these speak for themselves.

See the resemblance?

One Night Only

Last night was opening night for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". If you've never seen the musical, you should rent it. It is hilarious.

Christian got a lucky break and got to fill in one of the lead roles. Christian's friends Sawyer and Nick were in a forensics competition, so Christian and his good friend Kevin got to take their spots for one night only. Normally I would feel bad that someone had to miss performing, but I was happy for Sawyer and Nick for qualifying for state. I was also happy that Christian and Kevin got to step up in their roles, so win-win right? Besides, Sawyer and Nick will still get to do 3 performances.

Both Christian and Kevin were extremely nervous because they had only had 2 weeks to prepare. Two weeks may seem like a lot of time, but they had very large parts to learn, and as Christian said "The lines were no big deal; it was the blocking (stage movement) and dance numbers that were so difficult." Christian and Kevin's regular roles only had about 4 lines with limited stage time. Sawyer and Nick's parts were larger and they were onstage almost the entire play. Oh, and did I mention lots of complicated dance numbers???

Anyway, both boys performed FANTABULASTICLLY!!! I was so proud of both of them and of the entire cast. The show was a hit. I have to tell you, I am so happy that we landed here. The school has such a strong performing arts program, and the kids are so engaged because of it. It feels so good to go into that auditorium and see the same sold out crowd every year supporting our students.

Red-Headed Step-Child

Today, Christian became a red-head. This weekend, he is in his school's musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and for Thursday night, he has to fill the role of a "brother" because the person who normally plays the role is in a forensics competition. Unfortunately, the part calls for red hair, and as you well know, Christian's hair is almost black. So...off to the hairdresser we went.

The really tricky part of this process is that he has to go back to his normal part for the 3 following nights of the play, and he doesn't really want to be a red-head. I think he's out of luck on that one.

If you know Christian, you know that he has a thing about his hair. He is a fanatic about getting it exactly how he wants it. Needless to say, Christian was very nervous about dying his hair. So, that is why we went to our hairdresser Leslie instead of trying to do it from a bottle.

He whined and drove us crazy the whole time. Here he is after Leslie put the color on. He was under the hair dryer yelling "This hurts" "You're burning my scalp off" "My brain is melting" (too late for that one I think).

Finally, it was time to rinse, and Leslie rinsed him with some conditioner that had a little mint in it, so he proceeds to yell "This is cold". What? Just a minute ago he was complaining about the dryer being too hot, now he's whining about the conditioner being too cold. I give up.

Here he is with Leslie. The time for complaining is over, it's done. Viola! REALLY red hair.

Good thing the Sun was out so we could find him.

Congratulations Nicholas

"I pledge myself to uphold
The high purpose of the National Junior Honor Society
To which I have been selected;
I will be true to the principles for which it stands;
I will be loyal to my school;
And will maintain and encourage
High standards of scholarship, service, leadership, character, and citizenship."

Mitzi: Nicholas I'm very proud of you.
Nicholas: It was easy.
Al: It wasn't easy or everyone would have done it.
Mitzi: It wasn't easy.
Nicholas: It was pretty easy.
Mitzi: You had to work hard for it.
Nicholas: All I did was fill out an application.
Mitzi: But you had to have good grades.
Nicholas: That was easy.
Mitzi: But you didn't just get in on your good grades, remember all the things they said about character, and service, and all the things that you had to do to qualify. It's only easy because you've made good choices.
Nicholas: That was easy, I had good examples to follow.
Mitzi smiles
Nicholas: PawPaw and MeeMaw.

Well folks he's not only smart, he's also a smart $%&;*. I guess he did have some good examples to follow.

That being said, we are very very proud of you Nicholas for being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. You always make us very proud.

God Sighting

Our dinner time conversations are those of which legends (or at least reality TV) are made. If you join us for dinner you never know whether the conversation will turn to snot, stinky feet, politics, or the revocation of habeas corpus. I've often said that I'm going to invest in a security camera, and record the dinner table conversations. I would make a killing on the Internet. However, a couple of weeks ago we were at the dinner table and Christian said "so, everybody tell what your God Sighting was for the day." Never one to be shocked by anything Christian does or says, I took it in stride, and I told him my God sighting for that day. We then went around the table with Nicholas, Al, then finally Christian responding. It was uplifting.

The conversation started by an energetic, almost 16 year old boy was one of God Sightings. It probably isn't the typical teen conversation topic but I'll take it. I do have to give much of the credit to some wonderful youth leaders that he has encountered. God sightings were an integral part of their evening devotions on mission trips and obviously they stuck. Thank you Bill, Margie, Frank, Karen, Merv, Chris, and Jeannette for fortifying my children's lives and worship. You are my God Sighting.