Sunflower Seedlings Preschool

I am having so much fun teaching preschool. I ended up with 6 students.  It's a young little group, but they have already made so much progress in adapting to school.  Just look at these sweet little faces.  The things they say are hilarious.  And they are clumsy, like newborn kittens.  It makes me realize just how young this age is, in a way I never realized with my own kids.  This is so much fun!

These are the toys in our toybox.  Ha ha!  I might need to step it up.

Tizzy gets incensed when she finds out what fun things we did at my preschool without her.  Sometimes she has to do what they did.  Meanwhile, though, she loves Miss Sharla at her school.

Our first field trip was to "Farmer Kenzie's Farm!", AKA my friend Kenzie's back yard.  It went so well.  Kenzie was great with the kids, and they were astonished at her chickens, dog and all the vegetables Kenzie showed us.  The perfect outing for our band of babies.

Campfires, deconstructed.  Some of those fires are ut of control!

Second field trip, the pumpkin patch, or Borski's farm stand and Bowman's for donuts.  Little things are plenty for this group.  They delight in everything.  They make small things seem magical, and indeed they are.  Everyday life is extraordinary.

Dance Company

Ruby is Dance Company president this year, and she is loving it.  So by extension, the rest of us are loving it, too.  I got to be the first mom to host the Friday lunch.  Except this one was on a Wednesday because of an assembly.  Ruby and I planned to make Elmeda's to-die-for chicken roll-ups, but who am I kidding?  That's a two-day project and I had exactly one morning.  I called my mom and said, "I need you to talk me down from making chicken roll-ups for Dance Company."  She was successful, and helped me come up with Plan B.  It was lovely and the girls were thrilled.  The gasps of delight when they came in and the thank-yous when they left were proof of their satisfaction.

My mom is the best at jumping into the fray.  She is available for any type of help, anytime.  I could not do anything without her, from hosting lunch to raising 7 kids.  And by the way, this was all happening during a bout with cancer and major surgery.  Everything is fine.  But everything was not fine for a few weeks there.  Can you tell by this picture?  Of course not!  Coco looks glamorous and confident, at all times.

Unlike me!  I laugh so hard at this picture.  Look at my hair!  And I wasn't even facing cancer and surgery.  All I was facing was picking up a stack of David's Pizzas!  Rest assured, I was beautiful on the inside.  Tee hee.  And that's Kim King, the teacher we love, who mentors all these bright young dancers.

I love this group, especially Ruby, who is holding up Tizzy so she can be in the picture.  Ruby always, always sacrifices herself for others.  It's in her nature.  She has the beauty on the inside AND the outside.

Next up, the Homecoming parade.  It lasts for 20 minutes, but it's packed with excitement, from the drumline at the front to the last trailing stream of confetti at the end.  I took Ptolemy and he got an enormous amount of candy.  Freestone went with Frank.  It was a good intro to American high school life.

The next day, I cooked 40 pounds of pulled pork and set up the tailgating party for Dance Company.  It sounds like a lot, but it was super, super easy because all the other parents go above and beyond, and the girls plan the whole thing.  I just showed up with my assignment and my people.  Except for Ruby, who was at her "day date" for Homecoming.  It was funny and sad that she had to miss the tailgate.  It was the best one we've ever had!  Oh well.  She had fun, and went to the game afterward.  In fact, the whole family went to the game except Tizzy, Xanthe and me.  We went to Bennion Crafts and relaxed at home all night.  It was so nice to be able to go home and take off my shoes and not have a zillion people to drive around or put to bed.  A perfect end to one of those fall days that you wish would last forever.

Big eyeball face right here.

Celi and her friend Emily

My two boys.

Things don't slow down, do they?  The Davis High Performing Arts Spectacular was the next weekend.  I love this thing.  It's so fun to see all the high school kids do their thing.  Even the stage crew is made up of students.  The are impressive.  This year was especially fun for us, because Ruby choreographed one of the pieces that Dance Company did.  It was a jazz piece that was awesome.  I would have been happy sitting there watching it over and over.

Bruce and Marlene, our superfans!

Freestone's Wonderful Journey

Freestone and Araceli went to Kaysville Junior High this year.  Araceli has applied for a variance all 3 years, and only got in her 8th grade year and decided to turn it down.  So KJH called a week before school started and said that they had a spot.  She took it!  It all happened very quickly.  When Freestone saw the schedule of classes that KJH had to offer, he wanted to transfer too.  They have 10 classes instead of 8, so there is more room for electives like dance and engineering.  Long story short, the powers that be were very accommodating, and let Freestone in as well.  It helped that we didn't care which school he ended up at.  I essentially told the district guy and the principal, "You decide.  You're in charge."  For the most part, they have been happy at KJH.  There are pros and cons.  We left behind some incredible teachers at Fairfield and inherited some lousy ones at Kaysville.  They're both good schools, and it's been a chance for growth and to make new friends.

Freestone's main priority is dance.  He lives for his ballet classes.  He is growing before our eyes.

Freestone got the part of Nephew in Clytie's Nutcracker.  Typically, Ballet West's Nutcracker auditions are on the same day as ours, but this year, they just happened to be a week later.  Freestone wanted to try out.  After I registered him, I realized that he was probably too tall, so I emailed the woman in charge.  She said he was eligible for Nephew or Servant.  She said, "For Nephew, he'll have to be an excellent actor."  So I was pretty nervous going in that they would immediately deem him too tall and not excellent enough.  Despite the nerves, it was a really exciting day.  Scott came down from Araceli's youth symphony rehearsal at the U to share in the energy.  We dropped off the kid and walked up to Siegfried's to get him a nice German snack to get him in the Nutcracker spirit.

Two hours later, the boys came out.  I didn't see Freestone, so I eavesdropped on another boy's conversation with his mom.  He had gotten a callback and was to come back at 4.  I tried to glean details, but this kid was as non-detail-oriented as Freestone and most boys.  "They said to come back at 4."

At last, Freestone walked out.  I saw him scanning the crowd.  His face didn't reveal anything.  When he saw me, he smirked.  I said, "Well?"

"I got a callback."

We celebrated next door at Blue Iguana before running home for a couple hours.

Back at Capitol Theater, all the callback kids were lined up and taken to the studio.  I was nervous that we were going to come up empty-handed, after having spent the whole day in this pursuit.  At that moment, I was missing Ruby (and Frank) leaving for Homecoming.  Scott was sending me pictures.

I love how boys effortlessly mesh.  When I'd dropped him off that morning, he was already involved in a card game when we brought the deli food back.

As time wore on, I ended up sitting next to the women volunteering to handle the audition.  They indicated that everyone who received a callback would get a part.  Well, that was a relief, but I was still secretly scared Freestone would be too tall, or would not be excellent enough at either acting or dancing.  I kinda thought he would get Servant, because his dancing is better than his acting.

When they filed out, Freestone was stone-faced.  I had to ask him what he got.  He said, "I got Nephew."  Auditions are so wrought with emotion.  At first, I was ecstatic.  Then, forgetting my gratitude, I was disappointed he hadn't also gotten Servant, like one other boy I'd overheard.  Dumb, right?  Then I looked around and one boy was crying, pressed into his mom's side as she comforted him.  Judging by his height, he had wanted the part Freestone got.  I was sad for him.  He left quickly, and I wanted to, too, so as not to betray any of my happiness to the boys who maybe hadn't gotten the solo parts.

Both of us soared to the car on clouds of audition details, savoring the story of the moment the judges revealed the outcome.  Being in Ballet West Nutcracker is a special thing, a coveted opportunity, and one to be savored.

And savoring it we are.  I went to the parent meeting last Saturday and blissfully took in all the information as I sat in Capitol Theater.  I once participated in Ballet West Nutcracker, as a Servant, the part Freestone didn't get.  The experience was magical.  Golda wrote from Hong Kong that "Freestone is literally living my childhood dream."  Of course, we have our own brilliant and wonderful Nutcracker, and we are grateful for every part we get, and the chance to do it.  This is something apart from that, though, and one can't take anything away from the other.

I love the confidence Freestone is getting each time he punches in that door code and walks into the studio, to be surrounded by others who understand his passion for ballet.  It's like God has given him a gift, and I am grateful.