Look What We Made

Last Friday, we were at my parents house and my brother, Richard, generously gave us some puzzles and games. We went home, and on Saturday began working on one of those puzzles. It is a 3D puzzle of Mont-Saint-Michel. For information on this island, click here.

It took Donovan and I, with a little bit of help from Alayna and Matthew, two days to complete this puzzle. Boy, those 3D puzzles are tough. Our next one will be of the Millennium Falcon. Wish us luck on that one.

Anyway, here's some pictures of our handiwork.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. As usual, I took the kids' pictures so you can see how great they look in their uniforms.

What a stud!!!

A lady's man!

Pretty princess!

Where'd his teeth go?!!!

Memory Lane

Several of my friends have this on their blogs and it has been awesome to see their responses remembering great times that we've had together.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory you and I have together, whether you know me well or hardly at all. Just anything that comes to mind... that's nice and good and happy, please. ;o)

2. Next, repost these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me I'll assume you are playing and I will come post my memory about you on your blog. If you don't have a blog, I'll post my memory of you here on mine!

Different Day at the Zoo

July 3rd was Military Appreciation Day at Hogle Zoo. Even though we already have a membership, we really wanted to go on this day and participate in the military events. It's always a different experience when you're with other members of the military. The day at the zoo was no exception. As soon as we entered the gates we noticed the Humvee. The kids had a hard time waiting for their turn to sit inside.

Here's Donovan dreaming of driving.

Watch out for Matthew, he's manning the guns.

Oh, how cute. Nothing scary here.

Now we're getting serious.

Oh yeah, he's armed.

They had a High School Marching Band play for us.

It was awesome to see Donovan and Sean dreaming

of the day when they will have their chance to play

in a marching band.

These young men are members of CAP (Cival Air

Patrol).

This was the most fabulous picture during the entire day.

We attended the bird show and afterwards they invited

members of the military to come up and have their picture

taken with the Bald Eagle. How cool is that?

Sniffles

A couple months ago we got a hamster. On the way home from the pet store, Alayna came up with the name Sniffles. During the second to last week of school, Alayna was able to "teach" her class and she chose to teach on hamsters. At that time we took these pictures.

This is Sniffles cage.

Don't fall.

"Hello"

Some Girls

Here is a video of Donovan singing his solo. I recorded this on dress rehearsal night, so it's not the best recording. We had a lot of sound and microphone issues that night. But the performing nights, both of them, went so well. I was a very proud mom and director. These kids worked so hard and did such a fantastic job with very difficult music.

*FYI - In order to hear Donovan sing in this video you will need to pause the music playing on this website. Don't worry, it's easy. Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit the pause button on the playlist, then scroll back up to this post and hit play on the video.*

Musical

It's been over a month now since we performed the middle school musical. So, finally, I am getting around to posting some pictures. This year I had the opportunity to be the music director. It was extremely stressful, but incredibly rewarding. I miss not being around these wonderfully talented kids everyday. I am looking forward to helping out with next year's musical though.


This year, the kids performed Once On This Island. A little information about the play:


Book & Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Based on the novel "My Love, My Love" by Rosa Guy

Once On This Island, an enchanting musical fable, tells the story of forbidden love between people from two different worlds. Originally inspired by Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, the Broadway show transports the story to a Caribbean island where social prejudice divides the island. Presented as a 'play within a play', a cast of village storytellers, attempting to calm a frightened young child, tell the romantic tale of a peasant girl who saves a rich city boy from death.


Both Sean and Donovan had lead parts this year. Donovan played the part of Daniel, the rich city boy, and Sean played Armand, Daniel's father. We always joke about Sean being Donovan's father even though Sean is younger than Donovan.


Enjoy the pictures.

Donovan's individual picture.

Donovan with Alexandra, who played Andrea,
the girl that Daniel married.

This is Donovan with Alexandra and Brittnee, who

played Ti Moune, the peasant girl who fell in love

with Daniel.

Sean's individual picture.

Another picture of Sean.

This is a picture of the entire cast. I've circled

Donovan, Sean, and myself.

This is what the set looked like.

Here Donovan is, close to death after crashing

his car in the peasant village.

I love this picture. The hand on bottom is Brittnee's

and the hand on top is Donovan's. No, they're not

in love in real life.

Here's Donovan and Brittnee singing

Forever Yours.

Still singing Forever Yours.

Here's Donovan, deadish again after

being thrown down by Papa Ge, the

Demon of Death.

Here's a picture of Sean, as a peasant, singing

Mama Will Provide.

Here's Sean again, this time singing

Some Say.

Here's Donovan, again next to Alexandra, singing

his solo Some Girls.

Donovan, again, this time singing and

dancing during The Ball.

Still dancing.

The very last song of the show,

Why We Tell The Story.