"The Fabulous Flying Car"

Tessa had the opportunity in May to participate in her dance studio's production of "The Fabulous Flying Car" --which is a shorter adaptation of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Her rehearsals started a few months before. Here is Tessa with a couple of her dance buddies, Liam and Alyssa, at rehearsal:

The week of the show (last year we did Peter Pan) is a crazy week devoted to the theatre. Tessa had long rehearsals every night, so we were back and forth and all over the place. But it's fun! Cole didn't mind going to the "feater" every night and was pretty upset that he didn't have a costume so he could perform as well.

I felt much more comfortable coming and going this year from rehearsals and found myself very grateful to have Tessa taking part in a dance studio where we feel comfortable with the teachers, parents, kids, and quality of instruction and performances.

Here is my beautiful clown:

 And her cutest clown buddies:

 Alyssa and Tessa:

 Tessa had three costumes in the show this year, which was pretty exciting and grown up for her. She was a clown in the circus portion of the show, a townsperson passing during the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" song, and then she was a sad hidden away child in the Hushabye part of the show, complete with knickers and a newsboy hat.
Here she is after the show in her townsperson costume with Cole after her first show (there were two). As much as Tessa enjoys the excitement of being onstage and performing with friends (and wearing makeup), the FLOWERS were apparently the most important thing. All week long she'd say things like, "I can't believe I'm going to get flowers for my show."
That's a dream we can make come true:

 We got a babysitter for Paige and took Cole to the show with us. He loved it and had so much fun going to watch it with Mom and Dad. We're still hearing him singing the songs from the show at home.

 In her performing and floral glory:

A funny story:
During one of the dress rehearsals, I was in the audience watching them go through the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" song. Tessa had on the costume she's wearing in the above photo for the first time, and I was glad to see she fit right in with the clothes we'd found, altered, and dyed for her. (Hooray for thrift shops!) In this scene, the Potts family and Truly Scrumptious are driving their new fixed up Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car. Clearly, the car wasn't going to really drive on stage, so instead the director had the car facing sideways with the scenery moving stage right to left to create the illusion of movement. Dancers walked/skipped/strolled on backward as different townspeople waving as the car "passed by." Tessa held hands with two bigger girls for her part --they went across the stage twice in the course of the song. The cast went through the complete song once. Ms. Teri, the director, wasn't happy with it. Cole and Paige in the audience with me were happy with it, but they aren't as picky. Ms. Teri called for a repeat.
I watched for Tessa's first walk on, and her skirt was missing as she waved at the Truly and Potts in the car. Little Miss was wearing her shirt and black tights. Ms. Teri absentmindedly called back into the dark theatre, "Tessa's dress is too short!"
My immediate mental response was, "Well, that's because it's not a dress. She's not wearing bottoms."
What in the world?! I knew the skirt wasn't too big because I'd altered it to fit, so there was no way it just fell off. My Skirtless Wonder went through her second pass through on stage, and I couldn't help it. I ran up backstage to ask one of the assistants, Ms. Betty, where Tessa's skirt had gone. She affirmed that, yes, Tessa had a skirt, but after the first time through, she got a little excited and ran like the wind for the next costume change. Then when she was told to get on the stage immediately for another run through, she obeyed and left her skirt on the floor of the dressing room. Ms. Betty and I had a great laugh over how the "show must go on" even in tights and panties, and I made sure to talk through with Tessa later about staying with her group and focusing on what is going on, rather than speeding through things.

Tessa was actually pretty responsible about her parts considering she's six and had so many costume changes and entrances and exits to worry about. I attribute that to good teaching/rehearsals, but also to Tessa for soaking it all in and being a good cast member.
Another great spring show, PDT! I'm grateful Tessa can have these experiences. It was tiring, but a lot of fun for us all.

Cousins Come to Play!

First off, Jake's sister and family come to visit and the cattle in the cold is the ONLY time I pull out my camera? What is wrong with me?! Most of the pictures had to be deleted since I only got the back of heads. Good grief.

The best part, though, is that they came! Nathan, Kelly, Kanon, Joseph, Adam, Ian, and Grace --all under our roof for a few days in April. We were so happy to have them. 

Ft. Worth Zoo was one of our major destinations (great time), and we and showed them around some other places, but really the company was the most fun. 

 The last day and a half of having these awesome people with us, our family was brutally struck down with the stomach flu. Holy cow, that was awful. Really awful. It kicked us in the face for quite a few days. I'm so thankful that it stayed in our immediate family. It limited us on how we could spend our last bit of time with our extended family, but you do what you can do.
Jake and I commented after they left that seven extra people should have felt more crowded than it did in our house, but it was really just a pleasure.
Love them to bits:

My kids are still intensely missing them a month later.
Hooray, hooray that we'll see you in the summer!

Spring Pictures

We usually get a semi nice fall pictures taken of the kids or a family picture... or something. But we didn't this last fall. We didn't have a year photo taken of Paige, and guilt was setting in. So, when the kids got their Easter clothes, we took them out that Saturday afternoon and had fun taking photos. Getting all three kids to hold still and smile for the camera is a joke. I caught on to that pretty quickly and had a good laugh over all the ridiculous photos I snapped (and deleted) of Tessa crying over mud on her shoes, Cole escaping to run and get more mud on him, and Paige who seemed to be above it all and done with the whole process. Bless Jake for the intense effort he put in to trying to get all kids to at least look toward the camera. Thank heaven for the sports setting on the camera!
Even though it was cloudy, we were dealing with a case of the squints in some pictures, but, frankly, we don't have the energy to do this again soon! :)
Here is a huge slew of pictures that I narrowed down as my favorites. I think I'll print a few. It's time to change out the hallway pictures.

Easter 2013

Good Friday = Good times dying Easter eggs. We dye a dozen. Keep it simple, I say (and the clean up minimal).

 She's a natural.

 Cole is winking at the camera. Clearly.

 Easter Saturday:

 The Easter Bunny comes on Saturday on our house. We went ahead without Paige since she hadn't gotten up yet so Tessa could get to her dance rehearsal.

 Soon after...

Come on now, Jump!

The kids think it's the absolute best when Jake or I get on the trampoline and jump with them. Cole asked me if I would, and I went for it with my beginning of the new baby weight flop. He was thrilled. It's hard not to bounce him into the atmosphere because he's such a lightweight.

 The giggle coming from outside were infectious on this one:

 That evening, after we put Paige down, both Jake and I got on the trampoline with Tessa and Cole played "Dead Girl" (who came up with that game??) and put on a family circus. We all had a really good laugh at each other. Then we lounged and watched the stars come out. It was one of those really sweet times that I treasure.
Something else I treasure:

This photo. It was super cold on this morning, but Cole is going to do what Cole is going to do. I didn't have much of a reason to say no. He had the best maniacal laugh to go with his ensemble. He's such a funny kid.