We now have 5 of our six kids in school.  Chris is a senior this year and can’t wait to be out on his own.  We are working hard helping him apply to West Point.  We are not ready to have him leave just yet.  Mason is a sophomore, Sarah is in 7th grade, Alexandra is in 5th grade, and Kate started Kindergarten.  We didn’t get a picture but I started school this fall as well.  I am a little scared but it will be a good experience for me.

Sarah’s play from last year, “The Best Little Theater in Town”

Click here for videos from the “Music in our schools” concert at the elementary school from last March.  Both Sarah and Allie performed – Sarah in the 5th grade band, and Allie in the 3rd grade chorus.

Click here for videos from the spring jazz band concert at the high school. It’s fun to see Jr. getting into the jazz band.

We wrapped up our very busy week by going to see Sarah in the middle school’s production of “Into The Woods”.  Sarah played the part of Florinda, Cinderella’s ugly step sister.  She named the buns in her hair squirrel, cat and rat.  It took the a good amount of time to do her hair.  They all did a great job in the play.  Her friend Olivia was a tree and I was amazed at the amount of time they stood still in one place.  Sarah is so talented and we enjoy watching her sing and act.   (I am so glad she is nothing like me,  I was never that good in front of a crowd.)

We have been teasing Allie for months since she got the lead in her school play as King Arthur.  ”Oh Allie, how can a girl be the king?  Are you sure it’s not Queen Arthur?”  We are so proud of her. She did a really good job and sang her heart out. We will post a video as soon as we get it off the camera. For more photos from the play go here.

Sarah decided earlier this school year to try out for the school play. She’s never tried anything like this before, including singing or acting in front of anyone, so we were surprised but encouraged her. She made it through all of the auditions and callbacks to find out she had won one of the lead parts in the play! Very exciting.

This was at the first part of the school year. She had weekly rehearsals and she spent a lot of time learning her lines and songs. Well, last week it all paid off. She performed for two nights and did a great job. She played the part of Gillian, who is supposed to marry the prince. This meant she had to sing a solo in addition to lines and singing with the rest of the group. She did a great job (and that’s not even a biased Dad’s-eye view!) and it was very exciting to see this side of Sarah. She is a talented girl and we’re very proud of her.

Unfortunately, this also reinforces the fact that she’s growing up. I may have to get my rocking chair for the front porch, and the companion shotgun, earlier than I thought.

Click here to see a set of photos from the play.

The full video of the play is still uploading – I will update this post with a link in the morning. Unfortunately the HD was too large to put online, so we made it as big as we could.

UPDATED:  Here’s the video.  It’s about 35 minutes long, so grab some popcorn! You can also click here to go to the Vimeo page for more options.  Also, the Vimeo page has larger video, and the correct aspect ratio.