Lady Pirates

We took a deep breath after the hockey jamboree weekend and then dove straight into show week for Fiona's first big production - Lady Pirates of the Caribbean. She has been rehearsing every weekend since early January and they had three performances at the end of March. [Yes. I know it is now June and we are still talking about March. But this is the last March post. Thank goodness!]

Dress rehearsal was Wednesday night and when I picked Fiona up, she was fairly nervous. As a whole cast, they were not as prepared as they could have been and she was not feeling too confident about the weekend. I assured her that she had done the best she could (she had her lines memorized for weeks) and that it would work out fine. 

I was secretly just as nervous as her. The play's director was great, but it was his first time directing a full production like this. Because of that (and quite a few first-time cast members), it seemed like that were some time management issues. Major parts of the play had only been rehearsed one or two times. Because dress rehearsal was ... bumpy ..., the cast had an earlier call on opening night to run through a few parts before curtain. It was for the best. 

I had volunteered to help with hair and make-up before each of the shows (with F's blessing). We also got her friend Ellie on Friday night so I could help E with her make up. E's mom and I thought that would work better than E's dad being in charge of make up. Once I got the girls ready, I just went with them for the earlier call and helped set up in the lobby while they rehearsed. 

As curtain time approached, I could tell Fiona was nervous. But she also seemed really confident. I was quite proud of her and how she didn't let her nerves get to her. It helped that she had a few good friends in the play and they all kept each other calm.

Here's what I will say about the play perhaps not being fully performance ready by opening night. The four V super fans saw it all three times. And each time, we saw a distinctly different show. I thought they performed with great energy on Friday night. But so many lines were dropped that it got to the end and none of us were too sure what the actual plot was. Regardless, it was wonderful and funny and Fiona killed it. She was so funny. I appreciated every moment of her on stage. Girlfriend was truly in her element!

We got up Saturday morning ready to do it again. But for the afternoon show, Gpa V came down to watch. Apparently he didn't watch enough Vs the weekend before and his butt was ready for more! Two of Quinn's hockey teammates were also in the show, so between the three performances, almost every girl on the team showed up to watch. A few brought flowers for Fiona as well, which was incredibly sweet. Between Friday night and Saturday afternoon, several of Fiona's friends also came and she felt so loved and supported. It was fun to see how happy it made her to see her people. As a girl who spends her life being a Super Fan, it was awesome to have her own entourage!

Gpa V headed home shortly after the show and then Auntie and Gma and Gpa J arrived for the evening performance. Now that was a performance for the memory books. Besides the fact that Auntie was convinced that the entire audience was wearing Shakopee Hockey jackets, there was a fairly significant cast change. About 30 minutes before the show, one of the leads (who had not been feeling well all weekend) ended up in the bathroom with a terrible stomach bug. She was sent home and the director donned a wig and a skirt and took her place. The show must go on. 

And go on it did. It was hilarious. But the cast also did a great job of staying in character and ignoring the fact that a grown up man in a Hairspray wig was on stage with them. Like I said, three very distinct performances!

We sent Q and D home with Gma and Gpa while Mike and I stayed to help strike the set. Once most of it was done, I took Fiona home as well (she was exhausted) and Mike was there until close to 11:00. We were so proud of our actress and her first "real" play. Over 400 people showed up to watch between the three performances! 

While she had some initial disappointment over the size of her part, we decided at the end that it was just the right size for her first time. She was able to feel confident and successful and cannot wait to do it again. Fiona (and Dec) are signed up for three theatre camps this summer - so more performances to come!

A Tournament, A Sleepover, and A Quest

In case you are wondering what happened to the blog, your girl over here thought it was a good idea to volunteer to do the school yearbook. In a not surprising turn of events, it has been a lot of work ... and overtook the allotted blog time. I'm currently loudly stating to members of the V household that I'm not doing the yearbook next year ... exactly zero people are buying it. So be prepared for a similar blog backlog in about a year from now.

Anyhoo ... back to the first weekend in February when we had Quinn's first out-of-town hockey tournament, Fiona's first sleepover, and Declan and I took an epic quest. It truly marked the end of our routinely busy, but mostly uneventful January. February started off like a lion, ended like a lion, and roared in the middle. Buckle up - here we go!

Saturday morning, Mike and Quinn headed to New Ulm for their Mite Jamboree. Her team had pulled a later game that afternoon, but the 8am game Sunday morning. Because of the distance, that meant hotel stay for the whole team. She was so excited (Auntie claims much of the pre-departure discussion was around car snacks). She was less excited that she had to run upstairs to repack her bag bag three times. Seems we needed her to bring more than swimsuits and pajamas.

Her team did not run into strong competition in the girls bracket and ended up outscoring their opponents somewhere around 100-3 in the three games. Q played goal in the first game and was deeply offended by half ice, small nets, and only a handful of shoots. She played out for the rest of tournament, scored a couple times, and had a lot of fun. She also loved her time with dad, all the pool adventures with her team, and the independence they all got. I do think she missed me though - because she climbed into my lap as soon as they got home (almost dinner time on Sunday - because they had the first and last games of the day) and was ready to fight any sibling who wanted my attention. 

Meanwhile, after I picked Fiona up from play practice and fed her lunch, it was time to drop her off at her friend J's birthday party. She was beyond excited! They were heading to the Mall of America to go mini-golfing. She tells me there was also a stop at the Shake Shack, which may be one of her new favorite places. Then they went back to J's house for girl time, dinner, and a movie. They watched Legally Blonde and F's mind.was.blown. She loved it so much - and I was pleased with her very good taste in both friends and movies. 

It was a sleepover party, but due to a few things we had going on, Fiona and I decided together that she wouldn't spend the night. However, I didn't come pick her up until 10pm and she felt very old to get to stay out and up that late. [Truth: both she and Quinn were tired Sunday night!] Best of all, I let her take my old phone* with her and she was able to take some pictures of her and her friends, which made her day even better!

While the girls were doing their things, Dec and I were enjoying a Mommy/Decky day. We had decided to go on a hunt for a dragon squishmallow (the softest stuffed animals ever!). We ended up having to drive to Eden Prairie, which officially made it a quest in our minds. We also were shocked by the massive size of the acquired squishmallow - we clearly did not look at the dimensions. But D was delighted, which made my day too!

We finished our evening with a movie (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Chinese take-out, way too many gummy snakes, and watching Olympic snowboarding. D wasn't too sure about going to bed before Bugs got home, but he was tired enough to not fight it too much. 

It was the first of probably many weekends of divide and conquer kid activities in completely different locations. It was strange to be separated and we were very excited to sit down for dinner together Sunday night and share stories from the weekend. Everyone's favorite part - the dismay at the size of D's squishmallow!

*Remember three years ago when I drowned my phone on Spring Break? Apparently iPhones dry out in that amount of time. We recently found it in a box (yes, still unpacking!) and Mike and Quinn decided to see if they could get it to work. I told them in no uncertain terms that it was dead and about 36 hours later, they proudly showed me that I was completely wrong. Everything was still on it - so crazy! Mike reset the phone, attached it to his email, and voila! - a phone that can be used on WiFi to text me. Very limited capabilities, but it has served its purpose quite well when we are going all the directions! 

Chan Camp: Week 2

After having watched the sisters perform, D could hardly wait for his own week at drama camp. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long as his camp was the next week. So Monday morning, he was up and ready early to head to work with Mike. D's camp was in the morning, and as they typically got there well before it started (so M could work), Dec spent his time charming Mike's office mates. As the dude is known to do. 

Dec was very nervous when Mike registered the kids for camp (to the point that he said he didn't want to go ... and I put my best marketing skills to work to convince him otherwise). Quinn had aged out of the KidStar camp and he was on his own. Boyfriend is used to having his own personal fixers around at all times. As it turns out, he was just fine and totally capable of navigating camp on his own!

He loved camp - especially the singing and dancing. But let me tell you, both the girls and the dude were TIRED at the end of the day during their camp week. Dancing for a couple hours each day is no joke. Our favorite part was randomly breaking into one of D's songs during the week - because he couldn't help but to start dancing to it. Mike popped into rehearsal a bit early a couple times during the week and said that D was working really hard to execute his dance steps perfectly. 

So just like the week before, the non-camp attendees and I headed up to the theater to watch the performance. I was impressed that Dec didn't seem nervous at all before the show. And you can see him shining on the stage. He has such ease and confidence in front of people (you can see in the video that there are several kids that maybe haven't mastered stage presence yet ...).

All three kids enjoyed camp so much this year - especially after a lukewarm response to the virtual version last year. We were very proud of them that they spent hours singing and dancing all week - in masks (the camp did a great job keeping everyone healthy) - with no complaints. Dec ages up to the bigger kids camp next, so all three will be at the same level. We've given them the choice to be together or to separate. We'll see what next summer brings for a decision. Your guess is as good as ours!

Chan Camp: Week 1

We jumped right into a normal week when we returned from our northern adventure. Nanny J and the gang did their thing for the week - but we added in the delivery of our bedroom furniture (yay!) and a final visit from my cousin Parker before he headed home to Austin, Texas. And we added in a weekend visit from Gma and Gpa N! Our first official houseguests who were not also required to help us paint or move our crap ... 

They did, however, require us to find the guest bed and maybe the floor of the guest bedroom. Quinn and Mike solved this requirement in my least favorite way ... shoving all the things in random places. But, to their credit, it got the job done and Gma and Gpa had a place to sleep. [Don't worry, Type A friends. I have since de-shoved all the things and unpack them properly. Type B friends ... pay no attention to this detail]

Then the next Monday, the girls were pumped because they were off to in-person camp (with daddy) at the dinner theater. It was Q's first time being in the bigger kid class and she was pumped [Dec had feelings during registration of being solo. He got over them once camp started]. 

The girls had the mornings at home with Nanny J and then Mike picked them up at noon for a whole afternoon of singing, dancing, and performing. They loved every minute of it. My favorite part was how they rehearsed together each night when they got home. And how they taught Dec all the songs too (because dude's superpower is memorizing lyrics!). 

Then Friday afternoon, the dude and I headed up to meet Mike and watch their official performance. They did such a great job! Both girls had speaking parts in their skit and projected so well (and hit their lines perfectly!). Quinn was incredibly focused and precise. Fiona was joyful and radiated charm. Little brother was their biggest fan and didn't stop smiling and clapping the entire show. 

In the words of the girls' opening song - there's no business like show business - so enjoy the show:

The Winner Takes It All

Subtitle: The Night My Sister Lost Her Sh*t

On Saturday the 13th (oh so behind on the blog), Mike, my parents, my sister, Cheryl, and I headed out to the theater for the current production of Mamma Mia. We have been looking forward to this since it opened in March. It's been a loooooong wait! Fun fact: I'm pretty sure that Mike did not know a single ABBA song until rehearsals started. This has been a good learning experience for him!

Fun fact 2: I am not known for my skills at keeping secrets. So ... when Mike started months ago on an arrangement to have one of the actors (Tony) pull my sister up to dance (Tony is her very favorite actor ever - in case you guys don't remember February) when they go out in the crowd for Waterloo at the end - and he told me that I could not breath a word of this to a single soul, it was incredibly HARD work! So needless to say, we have all be waiting with bated breath for this weekend!

We were back to the super premium seating that we know and love. Mike's acting contacts told us which seat we needed to have Emmy in ... which became my job. Oh my heavens, the stress! Then Mike told me that there was a virus going through the cast and we were going to have the understudy to the understudy for Donna. Womp womp. I was a bit bummed out as we had been waiting so long for the show.

You guys, I retract all concern I ever had and extend my apologies to the understudy of the understudy. She was hands down PHENOMENAL. When she sang "The Winner Takes It All," I was willing to forego the rest of the play if she would just sing it again. The show was incredible and I'm pretty sure we are all trying to figure out when we can go again (made easier by the fact that they just extended the run for another six months because it is selling so well!). Fun fact 3: if you are local, do not pause. Buy tickets to the show. Not just because Mike needs a paycheck. But because you will not regret it!

Through cunning, lying, and straight up luck, I finagled my sister into the correct seat. Then when I noticed that some of the other tables were standing up for the "sing a long" finale ... Em and I stood up too. And then Tony snuck up behind her, grabbed her hand, and she lived her best life dancing and singing in the aisle as a real life part of the show! Mike is so great for arranging this for her ... and I was so relieved that I no longer had to keep that secret!

Tony returned Emmy to us, winked at Mike (I love them both so much), and Em proceeded to laugh/cry/sweat and lose her dang mind. It was fantastic! For beginning to end, we had the very best night together and I don't think we stopped laughing the whole evening.

Q and D Learn a Kickline

Despite all the fun, we had to come home from our vacation up north ... because it was Quinn and Dec's turn to head to work with Mike for a week of theater camp! While Fiona was jealous because she had so much fun at hers, she did not hate getting Nanny N all to herself for the morning. And D did not mind getting to hang with Nanny N for the afternoon (what a great way to cover Ms. A's week off). 

This week's camp was specifically for 5-7 year olds. Their theme was "Part of the Family" and they learned songs and dances from several different musicals that had something to do with family. I loved hearing them sing their songs all week, but they were very mysterious with information on their dance moves. They wanted it to be a surprise.

The performance was Friday morning, so Gma and Gpa J, Nanny N, Fiona, and I met Mike at the theater for the big show. And there were our kidstars - dead center of the stage. They got to come out to see us quick, eat a cookie, and then it was back on stage for the performance. You guys, it was so cute. 

This performance was way different than F's - in the best possible way. In F's camp, they were clearly working on performance skills and polish. That was exactly what Fiona needed and she nailed that. This camp was all about the showmanship. You know who is also all about the showmanship ... Declan George Vanneste.

The highlight of the whole dang thing was the 5-7 year old kick line. It was just a favorite! They both did so well and were very proud. Mike got comments all afternoon from his co-workers about a) how good and precise Q is at dance moves and b) how Declan has zero stage fright. Zero. 

Everyone enjoyed their first theater camp experience and can't wait to go again next year. When I was running through the rain with Declan on my back this weekend and he starting singing Sisters from White Christmas ("in all kinds of weather we stick together, the same in the rain or sun"), I was pretty sure I also enjoyed their first theater camp experience! My drama club heart still beats proudly and I love seeing them experience life from the stage. 

Fiona Goes to Theater Camp

Mike is probably not a lifer at the theater ... but let me tell you, we are taking advantage of every moment he is there. Fiona continued her storied theater childhood by going to musical theater camp at CDT - starting the day after we got back from camping. She and her friend Ellie (who also did the circus play with her) were signed up for a week long camp about Lerner and Loewe. Comments about My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Gigi, and Camelot reigned supreme for over a week.

The camp was in the afternoons, so both girls went to work with Mike in the morning and had the run of the theater (again - storied childhood!). Then their afternoon was filled with voice training, dance training, and more. Let me tell you that these girls were tired at the end of every day! Hours of dance training is no joke! But even better than the tired - Fiona was so joyful, passionate, and excited. She loved every minute of the week! [Funny story: one of the regular main stage actors (who is one of my favorites) was a guest instructor for a day. Fiona told me that he is her new best friend; he just doesn't know it. I told her that he's also my best friend, but he doesn't know it either.]

Late afternoon that Friday, they did a final performance on the main stage. There were probably 200 people there to watch them. Fiona had large eyes as everyone walked in (and we could tell she was nervous), but she did not freak out. Each of the four groups did three different skits, and they did an opening and closing number all together. They all did such a good job and it was really fun to watch.

Grandma and Grandpa J, Dec, Quinn, Mike, and I were all there to cheer her on. I was so impressed at how well she did on her line. We were three rows (of tables) back and I could hear every word clearly - with no microphone. Her singing segment from My Fair Lady was definitely a favorite as well. 

She can't wait to do it again and I love seeing how her stage fright diminishes and her confidence increases with each performance. We were all so proud of her! And now Quinn and Dec can't wait for their turn at camp when we get back from the Fourth!

Fiona's First Theater Performance

I have been beyond excited to write this post. The blog in the last few months has been full of hockey and gymnastics and soccer and Q and D and their activities. Do not for one second let that make you think that the adults in this house are overlooking the talents of one Fiona Grace Vanneste. And now, at long last, I get to brag her up in all the ways she deserves.

Last summer, I did my very best to convince Bugs to do a week-long theater program. She couldn't quite get there and was adamant that she had stage fright and couldn't perform in front of all those people. In the fall, I found a class called "Six Skill for the Theater" that taught kids how to get into character, enunciate, project, and deal with stage fright (and clearly two other skills I don't remember). Fiona was super pumped about it and had the best time. Which brings us to this spring ... when I was able to convince her to participate in the production of Mystery Under the Big Top.

Everyone in her class had a part, but they went through an audition process, got their parts, memorized their lines, rehearsed for weeks, and finally performed for their families this Monday night. Fiona's been rehearsing two hours every week for the last two months leading up to Monday night. She has worked so hard and clearly put a lot of effort into learning her character, her lines, and how to be part of an ensemble.

Sunday, Fiona was a puddle of nerves. Believe me when I tell you that I use the word "puddle" intentionally. It was a disastrous spiral of tears and freak out moments. That stage fright things is tough to overcome - but after a good night's sleep, we were back on track. She was super pumped that Auntie was also making the long drive to S-town to watch her perform. Everything is better when Auntie is there!

Mike dropped her off for her final practice, took #2 and #3 to the playground, and Auntie and I met them there after we finished cleaning up dinner. We connected with Aaron, Beth, and Oliver on the playground as Fiona's friend Ellie was also in the play. Mostly promptly at 7pm, we filed into the school gym for the performance. There was a set, props, and a bunch of costume and prepared actresses. You guys, it was SO good! The plot twist was that Ellie was the villain and let me tell you - Declan did not see that coming. It was a hands cupped to mouth kind of twist!

Fiona was wonderful! She remembered her lines, embraced her character of Boppy the Clown, was so funny, and shined with pride and joy. So did those of us watching her. Mid-performance, Quinn leaned over to me and said "I just want to go hug Fiona so much." After the final bows, that is exactly what Quinn did!! After all the practices, games, and tournaments that Fiona has attended in the last few months, it was great for her siblings to show up as her cheering section.

Fiona's favorite part of the evening ... after the performance, their teacher gave a short speech about how much bravery it took to perform and all the work they put into rehearsal for a "one and done" performance. Then she awarded each of the girls a medal . Fiona wore it for the rest of the night and I ruined her life when I made her take it off to go to sleep. Unfortunately I have strict "no strangulation" rules ...

She brought her medal to school today for her sharing day and it is the envy of both her brother and sister. She's still glowing with pride and cannot wait for her theater camp this summer. Most of all, she did something that she was really scared to do and rocked it. We are so proud of her and love that she has found a thing that she truly enjoys and makes her feel successful. I think Quinn was dead on in the desire hug her!

Sheetrock of Ages

My parents came down a couple weekends ago (oh February blogging ... how you have gotten away from me) because we missed them, we needed help with a bathroom remodel project, and we also needed a babysitter. They are like a super fun three for one.

Saturday morning found my dad and Mike removing FOUR layers of wallpaper from our master bathroom. It's the last vestiges of wallpaper in our house and it really needed to go. It's needed to go for many years, but knowing that there were multiple layers of wallpaper to remove constantly demotivated us. After the customary trip to the hardware store for additional supplies (in this case, a whole pile of chemicals), they were able to get all four layers stripped off. This was extra impressive since our bathroom is tiny and two grown men were a tight squeeze in there.

My mom, the kids, and I ran some errands while the guys worked and then brought tacos home for lunch. After a quick meal, Mike and I got ready to head to downtown to meet my sister to see Rock of Ages. There had been a lot of weather that week, so I was happy to just be a passenger and let Mike do the driving. We got there a bit early and hung out in the skyway. As we were waiting, my sister called to say that she was stuck in traffic. About the same time, we all realized that the Cupid Undie Run was happening through downtown ... and my sister was stuck on the other side of the race. Basically, we had to wait for a whole pile of people running in about 12 degrees in their underwear to finish up. And then for a policeman "directing" traffic to actually decide to direct it ... instead of letting it just sit there.

We could see her from our perch in the skyway and her calm(ish) phone calls were very entertaining. When she finally got the parking garage, we connected and booked it over to the theater. Unfortunately, because of the race delay, we were late for the start of the show - but we clearly weren't the only ones impacted. It wasn't a big deal and after the first song, we were able to get to our seats. They were nosebleed seats, but the play was phenomenal. The music was all 80s hair band songs and the kids can now definitely identify Whitesnake when Google plays it.

While we were gone, my dad was scraping glue off the wall in the bathroom. Mike took over for the evening and by the end of the day, all wallpaper was gone and the scraping was done. We got the glue scrubbing done on Sunday and I cleaned everything up to the point that our bathroom was usable - except for the fact that our toilet was in pieces [and still is. Fingers crossed by this weekend, we'll have a toilet again]. We were quite pleased with the progress and thankful for my parents' help.

Mom and Dad were planning to catch D's hockey game early Sunday afternoon and then head home. A pretty major snowstorm blew in that morning and after a lot of back and forth between the four adults (and some of my best marketing and pulling out the kids to try to convince them to stay), my dad decided they were going to leave before lunch to head home. The storm was pretty bad and I wasn't thrilled about it - but I understand. About 15 minutes later, Dad called me to say they were coming back to my house. There was simply no visibility and it just wasn't worth it.

To celebrate extra time with them (and the fact that we had fresh snow), Mike and my dad got the snowmobiles out and took the kids on the trail. Everyone enjoyed the outside time and the extended snowmobile rides. We grilled steaks for dinner and Mike and Dad entertained everyone with their reactions to horseradish.

My two favorite quotes from the weekend were Mike saying "I need to go shovel out the grill so I can cook the steaks" and me saying to Mike "can you remove the toilet from the tub so I can wash the kids?" Honorable mention to my sister shrieking "I'm dying and stuck behind a million naked people" while on speakerphone in the skyway.

Em's Stalking Adventure

When my family was down for Thanksgiving, Mike reminded us all that if we wanted to see the latest production at the dinner theater, we needed to get our ducks in a row. And by in a row, he meant January or later because they were already sold out during the holidays. As a family that now relies on the solvency of the theater, we appreciate sold out. As people who have gotten very used to premium seats near the stage, our table quite far back in mid-January was confusing.

I had Mike buy tickets for us for a Sunday evening show when [conveniently] the girls had no school the next day. Since Gma and Gpa were going to need to spend the night anyway, they were then able to hang out with the ladies while Mike and I went to work. Funny how things just work out like that … [The universe know no motivation like working parents who have to cover what feels like a million "no school" days between now and June]

Nanny J came over to tackle life with the short Vs and the rest of us headed to the theater for a viewing of Holiday Inn. Even though it’s not a Christmas story, the movie has always felt very Christmas-y to me (fun fact: that was the movie where the song “White Christmas” debuted). However, the play did not have that same vibe and I very much enjoyed it beyond the holiday season. Em and my favorite CDT actor was one of the leads and we were not sad to watch Tony demonstrate his dancing skills!

We took our time leaving after the show … especially since Mike was talking to a few people and raising his status as coolest in-law ever. By the time we got to the lobby, some of the actors were changed and out mingling. My sister lost her ever-loving mind because Tony was out there. After snapping the most hilarious picture of her stalking him, I big-sistered it up, marched over to him, and asked him if he’d take a picture with my sister. He was even nicer than we imagined and not only took the picture, but also visited with us for a bit. Em is smitten. Mike yet again wondered why he comes to these things with us – since he has to work with these people. [We’re not sorry about being super fans!]

The next show is Mamma Mia – and thankfully we learned our lesson about taking too long to get our seats. We are already booked and are back to our usual premium arrangement for the summer. Here we go again …

A Play, A Blizzard, and an Elf

And so, last weekend's fun continues. You may remember that we've already gone to a parade, watched fireworks, eaten pancakes, and visited Santa ... which brings us to lunchtime on Saturday. Need a nap? No time for that ... because we had play tickets to see Winnie-the-Pooh at the Old Log Theater in Excelsior.

Since our breakfast had been so late, no one was particularly hungry at our normal lunchtime. Instead, we grabbed snack bags of animal crackers and headed up to the theater. It's one that Mike has been anxious to see, since the same man who built the theater he works at also built Old Log. We got there early (I know ... early. So confusing), so the kids made friends with some of the ushers. It was the children's show, so there were lots of families, booster seats for the chairs (hooray!), and a show that was only an hour long. That's a winning combination in our world.

We got to our seats, and one-by-one the kids decided they needed a booster, so we were eventually settled just before the show started. It was really cute and very musical. Fiona sat enthralled for most of it, Quinn curled up in a ball because she was so tired but happily watched it, and Dec rotated between Mike's lap and standing up. However, he was not standing because he wasn't interested ... quite the contrary. He was so into the show that he simply could not sit down. He was on his tiptoes every time he stood up - just to be closer to the action. At the end of the show, the actors came out to the lobby and signed the kids' playbills. They loved meeting them and did a nice job of waiting their turn to meet each character. 

By this point, "not particularly hungry" had morphed into "very hungry" for all five Vannestes. We decided to stop at the Wendy's that was just down the road for a 3pm lunch. As we walked to our car, a few snowflakes were starting to fall. Ten minutes later, when we got to Wendy's, the snow was coming down quite hard. We decided that everyone was too hungry and stopped anyways. 

We all pounded our food (we may have only left a crumb that was too small for a mouse), sang Christmas songs, and watched the snow coming down. Then we mentally prepared everyone for what was likely to be a loooong slog home. As I was buckling the kids in, the wind blew so hard that it slammed the car door on my legs. That was my clue that it was going to be an interesting ride.

When we got out to the road, we found that it was pretty much glare ice. Mike had decided to not take the freeway home and to take more of the back roads. I was totally on board, except for one very steep, very windy, very narrow hill that was on that route. Turns out, I needn't worry - they had closed that road! So we detoured our detour and made it home safely. It was a slow drive, but also so so pretty. The snow was perfect and all the trees along the route were blanketed, which is our very favorite thing.

As soon as we got home, the kids geared up to see if it was good snowman snow. It was!!! Mike and the kids made a frosty friend for the front yard while I worked on Christmas decorations inside. I even had a carrot leftover from Thanksgiving and found some stale cookies for eyes and buttons (that the woodland creatures seem to have appreciated). 

When they came in, we decorated our tree. It's in the living room this year (it's been in the basement for the last few) and we are all enjoying having it up here. It required a lot of furniture rearranging, but the ability to see it every night - especially when watching Christmas movies - is totally worth it!

It was a good thing we got our house ready on Saturday, because on Sunday morning, the kids discovered that our elf, Tyler, had returned - bringing with him a North Pole breakfast, notes from Santa, and matching Christmas jammies. 

We filled the rest of our day with Sunday school, church choir practice, hockey practice, fort building with the neighbor kids, decorating the basement, and watching part of The Grinch (Jim Carrey version).

When I recapped our weekend on Monday to my friend Kim, she said "I would not survive at your house." It's just my secret way to make a non-runner like Mike a true marathoner. Who needs to run 26.2 miles?!?! Just hang with us for a weekend.

It's a Fine Life ...

Carrying the banner. A mighty fine life, carrying the banner through it all ...

We've sure been carrying the banner for Newsies here the last few weeks. You cannot say that we have not taken advantage of Mike working at the theater this summer! It's been all Newsies, all the time. We've seen the play (some of us multiple times), we listened to the soundtrack on repeat (thank you, Google Home), and we've finally (according to Fiona) watched the movie. 

Fiona says it's her favorite movie. Ever. Declan wants to be Jack Kelly, while insisting his favorite newsie is Crutchie (the fact that I told him that the actor who played Jack Kelly also played Batman ... hello, Christian Bale ... may play a part in that). When you call for Quinn, she will occasionally enter a room and say "Never fear. Brooklyn's here." To say they are fans is in understatement. To say I don't hate it is also an understatement. 

The girls got their first Newsies experience the weekend after we got back from GR. We've had the tickets since February and were going with Gma, Gpa, and Auntie. It was Q's first play at the dinner theater and both she and I were nervous about her ability to sit still that long. She was a little wiggly, but did really well. It did not hurt that we had amazing seats and one of the sweet newsies (Race) kept making eye contact with her. She really loved that! 

At one point during the show, they threw balled up newspapers into the audience. Race threw his right at Q and it bounced off the top of her head. Fiona also had a newspaper bounce off hers. Cute blondes in the front are irresistible. At another point of the play, when Medda was out in the audience, she snuggled up to Grandpa. Apparently cute grandpas are irresistible too!

Fiona and Auntie lived their best lives during the play and were so over the top happy when it was done. They both thought maybe they'd just stay there and see if they could sneak into the evening show. We didn't let them, to their chagrin. Q and I boogied out ASAP at the end because she had to go to the bathroom. When we were done in the bathroom, we ran into a couple of the actors on their way out. Q played it cool but thought it was pretty awesome. Auntie and Fiona were NOT pleased that we hadn't kidnapped the newsies for them!

Also not pleased ... Declan. You have to be five to go to Kindergarten and five to go to the theater ... he's not a fan of these rules! However, D had an ace in the hole. Daddy. That Wednesday, Mike had secured tickets for the two of them to go to the Director's Room for the matinee. Dec was so excited to have a boy's date and truly enjoyed the first half of the show. At intermission, he asked to go home. It's tough on a dude to miss nap. Maybe there was something to that five rule ...

On the girls' last official day of summer vacation, they ended up going to work with Mike. Nanny J was already back in school and we were just trying to piece together coverage with the late start in S-town. Somehow the girls managed to get themselves invited to the Director's Room for the matinee and spent their final day of summer watching the show one more time. Fiona was in heaven! And Quinn was glad to have the ability to move around during the show! 

I may or may not have seen it for the third time this week with my sister (who also desperately wanted to go again and was pretty jealous of the girls' encore viewing) and my friend Wally and his boyfriend Matt. It was not a responsible choice on a crazy busy week - but was SO much fun. Much needed irresponsible behavior!

I think we may be done watching the play at the theater. But as I had to go silence "Jack, Crutchie, and Davey" in the bedroom tonight, we may be carrying the banner for a while longer here at home. 

The Gala

Several weeks ago, Mike mentioned that there would be a big gala at the theatre to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Not only were the tickets really expensive, we figured we would need to get a babysitter. So we didn't give it much thought. Then the epic "Kids spend a week up north" plan came to fruition and we realized that we were home and kidless on the night of the gala. I still hesitated because 1) crazy expensive and 2) getting home from camping that day. Then Mike texted me and asked if Amy Adams' presence would change my mind (she is an alum of the theatre). It did. It also help me recruit my sister and Cheryl to our foursome.

It really was the tale of two extremes that day. We left the campground sweaty, dirty, smelly, and gross. We made good time back to the cities, although the car felt awfully quiet without the kids. We managed to make it home before traffic got too bad - thank goodness! We unloaded the camper and started the laundry. Then all three showers in our house were employed! Em said she felt so gross that she washed her hair twice!

I used Rent the Runway for the first time (and gambled quite a bit with my dressed being delivered on Monday ... they were guaranteed by 8pm. The gala started at 6. They were delivered before we got home from Duluth ... whew!) and ended up using my back up dress. As I carried laundry baskets up and down the stairs in my fancy dress, I told my sister it was the epitome of "real life."

While Amy Adams' schedule ended up prohibiting her from attending (she did send a voice message), the four of us had a blast. We had a lovely dinner and enjoyed the entertainment. I gave Mike my notes on the show when we got home and he told me that when he listened in on the marketing department's meeting the next day, they had the same notes. We went to the reception for a little bit after the show, but realized that we were all so tired (some of us had spent the last few nights in the great outdoors) ... so we headed out fairly early.

Everyone asked us how our time without the kids was ... and honestly, it was fast. We worked most of it. But we did really enjoy getting to adult in a fancy way for a night with a couple of our favorite dates!

Practically Perfect

Several months ago, my dad had a coupon for a local dinner theater's production of Mary Poppins. He was surveying the family to see who would want to go and I mentioned that Mary Poppins would be a play that I would consider bringing Fiona to. That was all grandpa needed! Tickets were purchased for July, including a ticket for the Bug, and the wait began.

Since it was over seven months between ticket purchase and our show, I marked it on the calendar and kind of forgot about it. Except playing the soundtrack for the girls (and D) over and over ... and showing them YouTube video clips of the movie on my phone while I nursed Declan.

All of a sudden July hit and I realized I hadn't let Fiona watch the movie yet. And had promised her that she could see it. So one weekend in early July, we watched it. Fiona loved it (not surprising) and Quinn did too (more surprising as she's not really into movies ... I guess she's a live action girl). They watched it again during the drive north for camping. And again on the ride home. We were fully Poppins-ed!

The day of the play arrived and Fiona was so excited. She got all dressed up and we did fancy hair. When we got to the theater, she was so ready. As it was a dinner theater, we had to eat first. She actually ate, which surprised me, while staring at the set the whole time. She was very intrigued by the stage and wanted to know what everything was for. We had great seats, really close to the front, and she had a great view.

It was pure magic to watch her watch the play. The stage magic was magic to her. She's so serious when she watches stuff, but every once in a while, I would hear her giggle, see her gasp in amazement, or hear her sing along with one of the songs that she knew. She loved the songs and the dancing. And the chocolate cake that Grandpa ordered for intermission (I convinced her to NOT tell Q about the cake ... we'll let it be a surprise for when Quinn is old enough to go). I was very impressed that she held in there for the whole 3 hours of the play. She was ready to go home when it was done, but she enjoyed every bit of it.

And she's been singing Mary Poppins songs all week. Thanks, Grandpa! Apparently Chim Chim Cheree will never get out of my head!

A side story on Mary Poppins ... an email conversation with my sister.

Me: Spit spot. (I wanted her to do something)
Em: You would be a great Mary Poppins.
Me: I am practically perfect in every way.
Em: Sigh ... That's on me. I set you up for that.