Grace as Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical, Jr.

 Grace had such a great time playing this part!  She put so much work into it and it showed!  If you have some time you should watch the video clips on Youtube....just search for "bookwormmomof3" and that will take you to my channel and there are lots of videos on there!  :0)  ....not proud at all.... sorry for the shameless plug!

7 Quick Takes and a few Seuss pictures

 1.  Okay, so maybe there are more than a few Seuss pictures....The picture above is the set and this picture doesn't do it justice.  It was just awesome, I especially loved the floor!  In the picture below, Hannah is a Bird Girl, she played a Bird Girl for 5 shows and Cat in the Hat for two.  She was awesome in both roles but the Cat in the Hat was my favorite.  She popped in and out throughout the whole show and played the Cat, Dr. Dake, an auctioneer, a Circus guy, and more.  She was great.  Grace did a great job as Gertrude McFuzz, I was so proud of her!  The singing was the easy part for her but she struggled with the acting until she decided to just "go for it," and quit holding back and worrying.  She was great.  Joe played a Who for 5 shows and Jojo, the little boy who has lots of "thinks" for 2 shows.  He was great and has definitely found his confidence on stage.   I was so proud of all of them and of all of the kids who were playing the main parts.  They were all great and a joy to watch.

2.  Today was the best Mother's Day I ever had which was a really nice surprise.  We have had such a busy weekend and even had a show today and so I didn't expect much of anything from the family except that we had decided to go out for dinner.  I knew my kids hadn't had time to shop and Ollie doesn't usually get me anything without them.  Well, they really surprised me.  My girls, who will sleep until nearly 10 am when I let them, got up at 7 am and made me breakfast in bed.  I had eggs, english muffin, bacon, and hot tea.  They even laid a rose across the tray.  Then Joe gave me some lavender lotion that he "bought" from Ollie.  When I finally got up, there was a nice gift basket on the table with a little teapot and hot tea bags from Ollie.

3.  My first few Mother's Days were disasters!  I had big expectations and they went unmet.  My first Mother's Day, Ollie had plans but didn't say anything, not even Happy Mother's Day until the late afternoon and I thought he wasn't going to do anything and we ended up in a big fight.  The next few were similar and not good.  Then, I just quit expecting anything, and so was happy with anything.  Ollie has always done something and always makes it a special day, he just doesn't  start the day off with making a big deal about it and for many years the kids were too little to do anything without him clueing them in.  So, today was really, extra special because everyone put forth the effort and it felt good to be shown love in that way.

4.  After a very, very busy 6 weeks we are finally done with the craziness.  It's been great but I'm worn out.  When I wake up tomorrow, the only thing I have to plan for is school with the kids and we're almost done.  Just two more weeks and then we are done whether we're done or not.  Hannah finished Virtual School and Grace should finish tomorrow.  Wooohoooo!!!  I'm finally ready to start really thinking and planning for school next year.  I'm really looking forward to going to the convention soon.  I need to be refreshed and restore my vision...I'm a little burnt out.  Or also maybe a lot burnt out.

5.  I am taking myself off of sugar for the next two weeks.  I've already gotten used to coffee with just half and half.  Unfortunately, I have to go to the store in the morning before I can have coffee b/c I accidentally bought fat free half and half and it's terrible.  AnnMarie--could you swing by Publix during your bike ride and deliver the half and half to me?

That's all I've got....too tired to think anymore.  Peace out, peeps!

Grace as Gertrude in Seussical..

I'm linking to one video but not all of them....if you want to see lots (probably too many) videos from Seussical, check out my Youtube channel, "bookwormmomof3" and you can see them all there.  It's been a great show all weekend!!  My kids were all fabulous as were every other kid on the stage.  Check out the videos!!

Relay for Life...Giants in the Sky

Relay for Life.....Amazing Mayzie

Picture Post!

 Our little town has been hard at work making improvements!  These first two pictures are from the new butterfly garden at the library and the next two are from the new boardwalk down at the lake.  We went on an early morning walk and saw two gators and lots of birds!

 A picture post wouldn't be complete without pictures of my fake 4th and 5th children.  They love playing on the trampoline and around the trampoline and thankfully the weather has been nice the last few times they've been here.  They also clearly love Joe!

 A couple of weekends ago my kids and some other kids from theatre performed at a local Relay for Life event.  Hannah sang "Oh the Things You Can Think" from Seuss along with Madi, Grace sang, "I Know Things Now," from Into the Woods, and "Amazing Mayzie," from Seuss with Madi, and Joe sang, "Giants in the Sky," from Into the Woods.  It was fun and they did great!

 Grace is in a smile contest on FB through her Orthodontics office, if you are on FB please like her picture!

 We got to have a short visit with Aunt Lane and Uncle Barry a couple of weekends ago!  We visited, toured the yard, walked around downtown, and went out for pizza.  It was short but fun to catch up!

 We saw Tom Sawyer at the Orlando Rep last week.  We even got to visit with one of the actors for a few minutes after the show.

 Amanda (aka Director Farts A Lot)...finally got her birthday present!  Some of the kids from theatre and I have been searching for an orange kitten for her since February and finally found a perfect kitty for her.  Meet Princess BooBoo Kitty....

 We took our annual Mother's Day picture at church on Sunday.  I forgot we were doing that so I have no makeup on and we're not all matchy matchy but it's us, and I love it.

 Hannah was looking through old pictures the other day and we found this one...years ago she did the art for the theatre poster.

We had our last day of homeschool PE yesterday and Joe received the National Level award for the Presidential Physical Fitness Test.  I was proud of him, he takes it very seriously!

Daybook

Outside my window....it's cloudy and the weather man is saying we're getting more rain today, it's a wet week here in Florida and if you know me at all then you know I.am.happy.about.that.

On my mind...so much!  Taking life one day at a time right now so for today my mind is full of all the things I need to do to be ready to go out of town tomorrow for the weekend.  My nephew graduates Basic Training on Friday so Grace, Joe, and I are heading to Georgia on Thursday afternoon.  I plan to get completely packed and get the car packed today.  Tomorrow we leave the house at 7:30 am!  Hannah has Senior Tour performances at a local elementary school, then lunch, and then the rest of us hit the road!  Hannah is staying behind because she has dress rehearsal for Seussical on Friday.  That show is next week!  So, that's on my mind and my schedule too.  It deserves its own paragraph....

Seussical...well, full run throughs started last week and the show needs lots of work!  Rehearsals have been added and extended and since my kids are in two casts for this show they have had and will continue to have rehearsal almost every afternoon until 7:30.  Joe and Hannah also have added parts that they are having to learn pretty quickly.  Actually, Joe has known his added part, he's been playing Mr. Mayor for rehearsals for the other cast and will now be doing two shows as Mr. Mayor.  His "son," Jojo (played by Jake one night) is taller than him so that will be funny!  It's going to be a really cute show and I hope all of my local blog readers will try to come and see it!  You won't be disappointed, I promise.  :0)  Of course, I'll be posting tons of videos...

What I've been reading...I just finished Glennon Melton's (from the blog Momastery.com) book, Carry On, Warrior and it was great!  I highly recommend it, her transparency and honesty and big heart are so refreshing and inspiring.  I also read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn over the weekend.  I can't recommend this book enough!  Go read it!  Surprises around every corner and characters that will stay in your mind long after reading.

On my iPod...I bought some new music last week and so did Grace and we shared.  I bought JJ Heller's new album, "Loved," and it did not disappoint!  So good and speaks right to my heart.  I also bought 2 Coffey Anderson songs, he is a christian worship guy.  I also got a christian song from Jason Castro and Grace got songs from Kari Jobe and Mandi Mapes...also christian artists.  I rounded out my purchases with a Scotty McCreery country song called, "That Old King James."  I love his music!  Grace has turned into a huge fan of music and listens to Pandora all the time.  She added a Bruno Mars song and a couple of Ed Sheeran songs too and another couple I hadn't heard of before.  She's pretty well rounded for a 12 year old, of course she loves Taylor Swift and One Direction but also has found some christian artists she likes and of course she loves the music from Broadway musicals, Les Mis is her latest obsession.

From the homeschool room....well, school has not happened yet this week.  I was out all morning on Monday and then we babysat before theatre and then theatre, we had a morning of rest yesterday and then lunch at Pizza Hut to use our Book Its and then PE and then getting ready for theatre... I'm hoping that the girls can make some headway today in their virtual school classes.  Joe is going on a field trip to a worm farm so that's his school for the day.  Hannah will also have Friday to get some schoolwork done but not Grace and Joe.  I'm not stressing about our unproductivity this week (and next week may be worse), we are in the home stretch and we're just finishing up things now anyway.  If we had to end our school year today I would be satisfied.  We've had a really good, productive, full school year and I know each of my kids have learned a lot and are at or above grade level in everything.  I think I've already said this in my last post...can you tell I think seriously about ending our school year today every morning?