Theater Life

Zach drove Staley and one of her NTA friends to a Rising Stars' performance at the State Fair in Springfield several weeks ago.  The girls decided that they'd like to listen to some music while they were riding to Springfield.  Zach was prepared to turn on the radio or link to his Spotify account so they could find something to listen to.  What he didn't quite understand was that, apparently when theater kids are together, "listening to music" really means using their phones to find songs from musicals that they like and then belting out show tunes from the backseat for the entire ride to Springfield and back.  

Love that theater life!

Question of the Day

When you open the refrigerator to find the peanut butter container put away like this, what do you even say?  

I had no words.

I just held it up to the presumed suspect and let the visual speak for itself.

(If you look closely, you can see the matching peanut butter fingerprints on the handle of the refrigerator door.)

She Says...

We were talking in the car the other day about how you shouldn't look at your watch when you are running a cross country race.  We discussed how, when you are racing, it should just be about doing the best you can in the moment without being distracted or tied to the numbers on your watch.

I said, "During a race, you should just be running by feel."

To which Staley replied, "And that feeling should be pain."

Yes, we are a house full of runners.

And the truth about running is that, if you are doing it right, sometimes it hurts.

Everyone Is Running

When Zach and I both go for early morning runs, we leave a note for the kids in case they wake up and wonder where we are.  The other day, Zach, Staley, Adelie, and I all got up to go for morning runs at slightly different times and with different people.  Briggs was still sleeping so we left him this note:

We are officially a house full of runners.

This note says it all.  When it comes to our house, everyone is running!

And Now It's September

August came and went.  It was a flurry of finishing up summer activities and starting up fall activities.  Cross country filled many hours.  School started back up.  We said hello again to soccer and NTA classes and EMS Drama Club and youth group and quizzing.  Here's a quick look back at where our August went.

August kicked off with Frozen shows as mentioned previously and the St. Jude Run.

Zach did a fantastic job of organizing and putting together another great run for the Eureka team this year.

The weather was beautiful, and Zach and I both ran the full 26.2 miles of the run this year.

Uma and Papa made sure the kids got to all their things while we spent the day running.

It was a great day with great people!

The Eureka Run set another new fundraising record this year, raising $178,000 for the kids of St. Jude.

Adelie and I went to see Naomi perform in the Penguin Players summer show 'Willy Wonka, Jr.'  I love their sweet friendship!!

We made one last trip to State Farm Pool with cousins.

Briggs went to see Dude Perfect with his friend, Bryli.  He had a great time!!

Cross country kicked off for all the girls in the family with Adelie and I at the middle school and...

Staley at the high school.

The kids all started back to school.

Briggs made the big jump to the middle school, starting his 5th grade year in Mrs. Anderson's home room.  He has enjoyed it so far, looking forward to joining Drama Club and Lego League.  He was excited to have Ryker, Remi, and Dava in his class this year.

Adelie has settled in nicely to 7th grade.  She has home room with Mrs. Woerner and has chorus and Impact (where she is a mentor in a study hall for at risk kids) as her two electives.  She has friends in all her classes, is loving cross country, is excited for Drama Club, and is on Student Council for this year.

Staley started high school and has been loving it.  Cross country is her favorite, and she has really enjoyed hanging out with the girls on the team.  She has also joined Student Council and likes all her classes.  So far, her favorite subject is geometry, favorite class with her friends is Spanish, and favorite teacher is Mr. Tapp.

We helped Kaysen celebrate his 3rd birthday and little sister gender reveal at his dinosaur themed party with lots of NTA friends...

enjoyed a pool party with all the middle school cross country runners...

took friends to my work pool party...

since there weren't going to be any other older kids...

and continued to perform with Rising Stars.

The girls both got to do their solos again with Staley singing 'Can You Hear the Bells'...

and Adelie singing 'Anything's Possible'.

Briggs started his fall season of 4th/5th/6th grade in-house soccer.

The girls rounded out their August with a Labor Day sleepover to celebrate Emily's birthday with some of their NTA friends.

They had a great time hanging out, eating, singing karaoke, playing football, and doing a fun sunset photo shoot.

Not to be left out, Briggs enjoyed a fun Uma and Papa sleepover as well.

It's a little sad to officially say good-bye to summer and hello to the busy-ness of fall, but so many fun things to look forward to!!  Look out September!  Here we come!!

Frozen

The end-of-summer show weeks for Stage Kids are always busy and exhausting, but we took things to a whole new level this year when NTA stepped in to direct Eastlight Theater's regional premiere of 'Frozen.'  They asked Staley if she would be willing to be a dancer and singer in the ensemble for the show, and they asked Adelie if she would be Young Elsa.  Of course, my girls said 'YES!'

This show was the full-length Broadway musical with an adult cast.  Many of the kids' older NTA friends and teaching artists were in the show.

Adding in several rehearsals each week throughout the summer wasn't too big a deal, but the tech rehearsals and shows intersecting with Little Mermaid was pure craziness.  The girls had a week where they would go straight from a Little Mermaid show to a Frozen tech with Staley often getting home at midnight or later.  There were several days with overlapping shows where Little Mermaid would start at 6:00 and then a Frozen show at a different theater 10 minutes away would start at 7:30. The girls would be rushing from one to another even before the first show had officially ended. 

Although Stage Kids has 2 shows/cast, there were 8 different show dates/times for Frozen spanning 2 weekends.  The show itself was longer and the dancing/singing more complex, which the girls enjoyed but also required longer rehearsals and more energy.

Adelie and Mila were a great Young Elsa and Young Anna.  They had so much fun doing the show together!  Thankfully, since they were only in the first few scenes of the show, their rehearsals weren't as long or as late as the rest of the cast.

Adelie blew me away with her portrayal of Young Elsa.  Her singing, her acting, her emotion were all amazing and truly captured the character.

The show was phenomenal.  Fantastic costumes and sets.  Amazing talent on stage with the singing and the dancing.  I saw the show 3 times and loved it every single time.

Although tickets were more expensive, the girls still had lots of people supporting them at their shows.

It was nice that they always had someone in the audience watching them.

They loved having Aunt Melissa, Caroline, and Lucy come see the show.

Lots of NTA friends came to see the show as well.

So fun to have so many familiar faces in the audience.

Even Adelie's friend, Lucy, from school came to see the show.

With so many rehearsals and multiple shows and hours spent together, there were also plenty of trips to Culver's...

and Chick-Fil-A.  Time spent with NTA friends is time well spent.

The multiple shows going on at the same time was chaos and exhausting, but the girls came away with so many memories and new friendships as well.

They had so much fun...

made great memories...

and loved having another opportunity to perform on stage.

It was a great show, a great overall experience, and we were all greatfully relieved when it was over and we could all sleep!

The Little Mermaid, Jr.

The summer Stage Kids session culminated in their production of The Little Mermaid, Jr.  All three kids were part of the Eureka/Peoria cast, although Staley ended up portraying various characters and dancing in 4 different casts.

Briggs played the role of the seahorse.  He had one line that he delivered with gusto.  It was a fun full-circle moment as Staley played the seahorse when NTA did this same show back in 2017.

Adelie was Flounder.  She had lots of lines in lots of scenes as well as a big solo part in "She's in Love."  She did such a wonderful job with such a big role!

Staley was a mersister in 3 different casts, playing 2 different mersisters.  As a mersister, she had several lines and short solos in "Daughters of Tritan" and "She's in Love."

She was the French chef in 2 of the casts, owning her role as the violent and eccentric chef singing 'Les Poisson'.  Our favorite part was when she pounded the fish flat with a mallet...very convincingly.

As if that wasn't enough, Staley was also a featured solo dancer during several scene breaks...

as well as during 'Kiss the Girl' for all the casts except Bloomington.

And, because that wasn't enough, she was also an ensemble fish dancer during 'Under the Sea.'  In the casts where she played all her parts, she had 8 costume changes and multiple wig changes!  It seemed like she was always on stage as something different.

Although Staley was performing in almost all the shows, both girls helped tech backstage for the shows that they were not performing in.

The kids enjoyed having grandparents, aunts (including Aunt Sandi and Aunt Jan who I didn't get a picture with), cousins, and friends in the audience.

Grandparents are always in the audience supporting the kids.

The kids loved that my cousin, Emily, came with her girls Emersyn and Junie to enjoy the performance.

And some former NTA friends/teachers like Ms. Ellie, McKinley,...

and Sofia all came to see the show too.

The hours at the theater during show weeks are always exhausting, but fun as they are spent with NTA friends.

It's always so fun to see the shows come together.

It's crazy as the years go by and more friends graduate from Stage Kids and move on.  This was the last Stage Kids show for Riley...

and Ellie.

But as some kids move on, others move in.  Kaysen made a quick cameo appearance in 'Under the Sea' with Staley during one of the casts.

It was so fun watching the kids shine on stage in this show.

There is nothing better than watching my kids do something they love!