Living Proof Youth Choir Middle School Choir Tour 2018

Lukas went on his first choir tour with youth choir. I went along as chaperone. We both had a blast, but were very tired (like everybody else) by the time we got back home Saturday evening. We left Thursday, 6/14 and returned Saturday, 6/16. The mission trip took us to Branson, Missouri and Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The kids sang at an assisted living home, a daycare for adults with disabilities, the Boys and Girls Club in Branson as well as at Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs.

 Just before the boarding the bus in Plano.

 Driving through Arkansas

 We gave two short impromptu concerts at Grand's Buffet in Branson after dinner. One for the waitress and one for a senior group that asked the kids to sing for them, too as they didn't hear all the songs when we sang for our waitress.

 At Morning Side Assisted Living

After singing at the assisted living home, we piled back in the bus and went to see "Samson" the musical. Not something I would buy tickets to, but it was quite the performance I will not list all the things that bugged me about it. Branson is a red state, and quite evangelical.

The next morning we made our way across the river to an adult day care facility to sing for adults with mental or physical disabilities.

The adult day care center was Lukas favorite place to sing. Mine, too. It was touching to see how the adults reacted to each song. The kids stayed and talked with them for quite a while.

Next stop: Boys and Girls Club in Branson. Another fun stop.

After lunch we headed to Silver Dollar Amusement Park to ride, or not ride, roller coasters and all other kinds of rides. Below is Lukas with his choir buddy Andrei. The two were almost inseparable.

Bigger than your face chocolate chip cookies.

I found a Christmas store. Had to cool off. I also had the two girls of the entire choir that did not want to ride any rides, so we looked at all the stores, well, almost all of them.

Branson has all kinds of eye candy, including a giant Transformer and King Kong climbing a not so tall Empire State Building.

Saturday morning started off with group pictures at The College of the Ozarks. At this college, which has a beautiful campus, students work in exchange for tuition. 

Eureka Springs, AR, Christ of the Ozarks. Yes, it is a giant Jesus.

Our last stop was the Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs. It is built right into the forest. There are 425 windows in the chapel, and it is ranked 4th best design in the U.S. The kids gave a 20 minute concert to the delight of the visitors there. Erik needs to post the videos of them singing.

After many winding roads, lots of nausea, singing and picture taking, we had lunch at Sparky's, a very neat little restaurant in Eureka Springs, with eclectic decor and really good food! Our Harley Davidson riding minister Denise told us this would be a great place to eat. She was right!

The kids enjoyed some shuffle board before we had to get back on the bus for our ride home.

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome

Katharine auditioned for a Cabaret intensive here at Plano Children's Theater back in May. She was cast as one of the Kit Kat Club girls and the Gorilla. Rehearsals started on 6/11 and opening night is 6/21 at 8 p.m. This is truly an intensive, knocking out a show like Cabaret is hard, especially if you only have 9 days for rehearsal and set built! Yes, it requires parents to volunteer their time and talents as well. I am one of the photographers, but have also helped out with set built a bit. Not so sure how I feel about seeing my kid in lingerie, but I know it is for a show, so it is all good. Katharine has a great time, has made friends, and is dead tired at the end of each day. They have rehearsed every day for 8 hours and have had only one day off. They needed it and deserved it. This is a single cast show, which makes it even more crucial for all to stay healthy and to get enough sleep.

 Katharine managed to dance holes into her old pair of character shoes. The ones she is wearing in the picture are new ones. Check out the scuff marks after only one rehearsal!

Kit Kat Club Girls

Cabaret cast

Clutch

The boys have been playing on Lukas's indoor team this summer.

Today their team had just given up the go-ahead goal with a minute left after a tough game. The ball went back and forth a few times as the clock wound down. At that point Lennon turned on the burners and stole the ball from the other team near our goal. He dribbled through a few kids and passed it up to midfield, where it was sent over to Lukas who was running across the box. He took a few touches past some defenders and then shot the ball through the goalie's legs with 1.5 seconds left. The crowd went nuts and his team all dog-piled on top of him.

I wish I had been taking video or pictures, but maybe some memories are best left in memory.

Swimming Lessons

Kassidy started swimming lessons today.

While she can get a bit of extra attention as the last born, we also tend to get around to doing things with her at much later dates.

But better late than never.

She started going underwater by herself last week, so we expect that she will pick it up fast.

Prairie Home Companions

Kaylee visited on Friday, and brought her bonnet. 

The girls helped make biscuits in the kitchen, and worked on their homestead in the playroom.

Keira drew up a plan to make the playroom a little more pioneer'ish, and finished it up this morning.

Looks like we stepped right back into 1860 :)

Little Chefs

 The kids have been busy in the kitchen this week. From making pan seared flank stead with lemon chives butter, veggie fried rice, roasted Brussels sprouts, to filled tomatoes with homemade guacamole and black bean dipped, bread and biscuits as well as lemonade. I also made two batches of gluten free,vegan chocolate chip brownies as well as blueberry muffins.

 Keira helped make light bread. Recipe from her "Little House on the Prairie" cookbook. We made the sponge Thursday night already. 

Delicious looking bread and biscuits. Keira's friend Kaili came over to make the biscuits.

 We made 3 quarts of fresh lemonade, the best I ever had! The recipe came from a "Little House on the Prairie" cookbook.

I made the muffins with unsweetend vanilla hemp milk. They were super creamy tasting! 

Student Volunteer at the Ballet

Texas Ballet Theater performed Swan Lake in Dallas this past weekend. They were in need for a student volunteer to hang out in the lobby and demonstrate the basic 5 ballet positions and answer questions for the audience. The first student our administrator had in mind was Katharine. She did a wonderful job Saturday and Sunday and got nothing but praises from the TBT staff! Katharine had enjoyed giving back to the community this way. Oh, I also took her and Keira to see the ballet. 

 As you can see, old and young came to talk to Katharine.

Texas Ballet Theater Outdoor Class

Katharine and Keira went to an outdoor ballet class with Texas Ballet Theater's Ballet Master Ms. Anna Donovan. It was hot, but they had a lot of fun with their friends from their school.

 Before the class: not much sweat yet, despite 98 degrees.

 Keira stuck with Katharine during the class. The barre was too high for her,but she hung in there and got her little legs up.

 Ms. Anna sauntered over to check on them. Left to right counter clockwise: Jonathan, Madeleine (Jonathan is her dad and takes adult ballet class at TBT), Ms. Anna, Katharine and Keira

 Ms. Anna taught them the iconic cygnets dance from Swan Lake (TBT performed that that weekend).

 Here Katharine is with her friends Juliana and Lauren as well as Texas Ballet Theater's costumer's adult daughter who used to dance.

 Keira is leaping

Students from TBT School Dallas 

front row: Giselle, Saige, Keira, Scarlett, McKenzie, Salem and Sidney

back row: Katharine, Lauren, Juliana, Madeleine, Jonathan and his other daughter Olivia

Feet Forward

Here is a scene from out family movie night this past weekend. 

We watched "That's Entertainment", a history of the MGM movie musicals and dance numbers. Maybe that is why our feet were so interested..