Broadway Beware

Last night (most) of my family performed in Broadway Beware, a fundraiser for our church. It's a night of Broadway show tunes performed by our talented church members and some guests. We sang a 15 minute medley from Les Miserables, complete with costumes and choreography. I think the best part was the practicing we did for the performance- every Sunday for the last month or so we got together at my parent's house and sang, ate, and just hung together. It was like all of our favorite things put together!! Eating, singing and being together.

hello Again!

I haven't posted in, like, forever.... and I don't know if I will very often, but I just felt like it today, mostly because my little girl friends are here (Gabby and Cate) and so we had a tea party

complete with flowercrowns

and itty bitty snacks (nilla wafers with a dap of frosting and a giant raspberry)and it was fun and girly and I wanted to share itThanks!

Hair...and Goodbye

My daughter's musical is this weekend. She is so very excited. I have volunteered to do hair for the show and so for the last 3 nights I have been a braiding fool! (That's the top of my daughter's head all braided up for the rehearsal and that is her again in the bottom picture.) Last night I did 10 heads in about 1.25 hours... every night there seems to be more girls asking. Hopefully for the real show nights I'll have enough time to do everyone who wants their hair done.

So that's what I have been up to this week.... that and kid juggling ad tending to my little guy who coughed so hard he vomited the other night and then kept me up last nigh with even more coughing. Poor kid.

And.... I think I am done here at Rumtum. I have plugged away at this for over a year and really have not a lot to show for it. I have tried really hard to make sure I post at least once a week- sometimes that doesn't happen, but that is life, right? I thought I put out some nice things, some good ideas...but I have no readership except for Amber and Deborah and I am feeling like I am putting "comment guilt" on them. And I really don't want to add to any ones else's sense of responsibility. Maybe I am just being grouchy or over-tired, but I'm annoyed (I can't even GIVE stuff away!) and I think I need a break. I will still check on all my favorite blogs and wish you all the best!! Amber and Deborah thank you both so much for always stopping in over here and leaving me comments. You guys are fantastic! (I will still post over at wildwilliams because that's how I keep my far-away friends and family updated.) Maybe I'll be back... who knows?

Anniversary Give way.... Finally!! (edited)

A month or so ago I realized that my blog was a year old!! I promised to do something about it, and never followed through.... so now, after reading about Amber's giveaway, I am finally coming through. I signed up for this on Amber's blog, so I am copying her instructions.

The first 5 people who respond to this post WHO ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING will get something made by me. This offer does have some restrictions & limitations:
•You will receive this item before the end of the year...or sooner.
•You will have no idea what the item will be, or when you will receive it.
•To participate, you must re-post this meme on your blog and put together something to be sent out as 5 surprises of your own. These surprises can be anything -- it's up to you!

I like how easy going this giveaway seems to be... and it's like the "Pay It Forward" giveaway that I did a while back. What I really like is that I have a while to plan, design and send out the goodies... so if something really awesome somewhere inspires me, YOU may be in luck!!

Ok- must sign off now.... Hudson needs to get to soccer practice, and later I need to get Alex from her play practice (she already had ballet class this morning). Speaking of play practice, a mom just called to get people to sign up to feed the kids next week during "Hell Week"... dress rehearsal every night. I am on for 4 nights of desserts for 35 kids. Yikes!

Tonight, as a treat for the kids (and ME!) I am surprising them by taking them to a hotel that has an indoor pool!! They have no idea... this should be fun! ** Edited to say you can read about our night here.

Raccoon tails just aren't cute

Although I spent Saturday sewing costume pieces in the cold dimly lit basement at my kids' dance school, I don't have much to show for it... because honestly, raccoon tails just aren't very impressive.
But we put in a lot of hours and got a lot done... spider legs, afore-mentioned raccoon tails, cat ears, bat wings, etc. Sounds interesting doesn't it? Every year our dance instructor puts on a fabulous ballet - well, with tap and jazz dances too- that is story driven, meaning that the kids' dances tell a story. Last year it was about a french baker that lost his touch and was whisked off to the land of sweets by some cutie little sailors and the Sugar Fairy, where he was greeted by yummy goodies (wedding cakes, bon bons, cupcakes) and learned how to create wonderful treats. It was a bright and colorful show, and unfortunately my camera was being repaired at the time so I can only share the few pictures my sister took. Here's Alex and Gabby. Gabby was one of the sweet sailors (danced to Good Ship Lollipop) and Alex was one of the kids who made it clear that the baker's goodies were just not so good (danced to I Want Candy). The other dancers in Alex's class wore the same dress and spats just in different colors- blue, neon green, and hot pink. They also wore the dress (but without the spats) for their tap dance, which os Costume Moms made. (I joke that she looks like Super Banana!) For ballet they wore this.

Below is Hudson in his tap dance at the dress rehearsal. For the show he also wore a hat I made and the girls wore headbands with giant suckers attached. After the dress rehearsal I didn't like how his costume looked so I ran out the morning of the first performance and bought some material to make him a pair of white pants, and I taped his tap shoes with neon green duck tape...one of the perks of having the only boy in a class, I can change things up like that and it really doesn't affect anyone but him! I really wish my camera had been working because he looked so cool! They danced their jazz dance to Lollipop by Mika, and their tap was Sugar, Sugar by The Archies.

For ballet he wore a handmade shirt, which he hated so much, the ladies in his class wore this.I guess I did not mean for this blog entry to run on and on about my kids' dance recital, but that's ok I guess. Dance takes up a lot of our time (Alex dances 4 days a week, Hudson 2) and I do the newsletters and help with costumes and scenery, so it makes sense that at some point some talk of dance would filter in over here. As we do more with the costumes and scenery for this year's show I am sure I will post about it. In the meantime, my daughter was cast in her school's musical... hop on over to wildwilliams (my "family" blog) to see more!!

Tag... I'm it! (Picture Tag)

I was tagged by Deborah Sunflower Stories... I am supposed to post the 4th picture in my 4th picture folder, and blog about it. I don't have fancy categories for my pictures, they just get automatically filed by date... so the 4th folder is from our trip to the Rochester Museum and Science Center where we saw the Giant Insects exhibit. The family of one of the little ones that I babysit for gave us a Family Pass to the museum as a Christmas gift. The kids had a great time there...I'll have to take them back soon. There's a GPS exhibit coming up that I'm sure Ethan will love.

And just because I have the folder open I might as well post a few more from it.....
Now... who to tag?? Amber, have you done this yet??

Deborah tagged me because I have been quite lame and haven't posted since Valentine's Day..... well, I haven't really had much to post about. The kids were off from school last week, Justin and I made an 8 foot tall bed for the musical that our daughter is in, my sister is getting a divorce, we stimulated the economy by getting new furniture (and new mattresses for the kids.. their mattresses were like family heirlooms, having been passed down through many generations), I am working on dance costumes for the recital in May and selling old dance costumes on ebay.... hmmm... is that it? Even though there is a lot going on I jsut don't have the time or energy to write. We have our "Costume Weekend" the weekend fort he dance studio where a few moms get together and make costume parts and pieces for the 170 kids that dance. It is always a lot of fun. Maybe I'll take a few pictures of what we are up to and then I'll have something to write about.

Happy Valentine's Day

We seem to be surrounded by pink today, mostly in anticipation of Alex's party tonight.....goodie bags

...collage hearts

...treats from yesterday's parties at school (and leftovers that Alex's didn't give away)

...hanging hearts

...cookies and yummies left over from the school parties yesterday, but I'm sure will be eaten up tonight.