Easter Morning

Here is an attempted picture of the kids Easter morning.  The older kids had a sneak peek at the baskets the night before.  Janika said, "That is the most pathetic Easter basket I have ever seen -- a stuffed animal from a garage sale and two cans of stew from the pantry..."  (That was before the Easter Bunny added all of the candy bars).  But thank goodness for little kids because they were absolutely delighted with the contents of their baskets, which is why I love children -- they get so excited over the simplest things.  Jase and Jared loved their stew -- they gave their stuffed animals to the younger kids in exchange for more stew -- and then they ate it for breakfast. It's not every kid who gets excited about receiving food storage for Easter!

 

Coloring Eggs

Jaiden's Dance Program

Jaiden loves her little dance group.  It was fun to watch her perform today at the Art's Festival with the "mini dance company."  But I don't normally allow my kids to wear tank tops, so I wish that their costume leotards had sleeves! 

 

Easter Egg Hunt

We made it just a couple of minutes too late to the city Easter Egg hunt...so we had our own at home.  Janika stayed out late last night partying with the theatre group and so she slept in and is still in her PJ's.    

 

Janelle's Butterfly

Janelle's 2nd grade class got to see caterpillars transform into butterflies.  Here is her words:  "We got caterpillars from school.  Mrs. Hutchings got this mushed up plant stuff that looked like dirt and then she put the caterpillars in and we wrote our names on a little cup.  The caterpillars were eating and eating and got a lot bigger and fatter.  Then webs started going into the little cup.  Then they started going into cocoons and when mine hatched I was really excited.  We got to see them hatch but I didn't get to see mine hatch because it was early in the morning.  Then we got to take our butterfly book home and we got to take our butterfly home.  I named mine "Harry."  That night I let it go. Jaiden will get to do it next year!

 

 

Janika's Song -- You Tube

Here is the link to Janika and Maddie's song:  REFLECTION

"Once Upon a Dream"

Tonight was closing night for the High School's Disney Review, "Once Upon a Dream."  Janika is off partying at Dennys with all of her friends from the show.  Janika had such a blast being in this show and made a lot of new friends.  She was excited that she was chosen for the solo, "Reflection" from Mulan.  Rick helped with some of the numbers and thought it would be cool to have a dancer (Janika's friend, Maddie Pemberton) come out and dance while Janika sang.  They are about the same size and both have long brown hair the same length.  So Maddie was Janika's "reflection."  The number turned out really pretty.

Janika also played "Mulan" in "A Girl Worth Fighting For" and "I'll Make a Man Out of You,"  and she was  Simba's "girlfriend" in "Just Can't Wait to be King."  Rick spent several hours helping out with some of the numbers.  He was asked to choreograph "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," (wow, I can't believe I actually spelled that right without even looking) and it turned out so cute!  I thought it was one of the best numbers in the whole show.  Janika is sad that the show is ending but we will be glad to finally see our daughter again.  And her brothers will be glad since they are sick of doing all of Janika's chores!  (I didn't get pictures in all of her costumes so hopefully she did and I can add them later).  Here is the cast warming up? before the show:

Curtain Call...

Backstage...

 We always knew Janika was talented...!

  "I Just Can't Wait to Be King"