Monday, May 22, 2006

I Will, With God's Help

Yesterday Emily was confirmed. There were 6 middle school age children confirmed and some adults doing a reaffirmation (a renewal of their confirmation) or a recognition (being welcomed into the Episcopal church if they were previously confirmed in another denomination). It was a very nice service and Emily's grandparents and one of her aunts were able to attend. After the service there was a small reception in the parish hall with cake, coffee & lemonade and photos taken with the bishop, etc.

It's interesting to me that even though Confirmation seems somewhat akin to a Bar or Bat Mitzvah in the Jewish faith, usually it's not as big a deal. At least, I don't know anyone that spends thousands of dollars on a Confirmation party the way I've seen people do for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Perhaps some people do but no one that I know of has ever done that. I wonder why that's so?

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The theme was flowers!

What did you get for Mother's Day this year? Hannah painted a flower pot at school and gave that to me on the Friday before Mother's Day. She did a great job on it, is so proud of it and couldn't wait to give it to me. I do need to seal it somehow since the colors can run when you water the plant but I didn't want to kill the plant with sealer so for now I just try not to get the pot wet when watering.

On Mother's Day, I took Emily to her confirmation class and then went out to the store while she was there. While I was gone, Paul took Hannah to the flower shop to get me flowers from him and the girls. Now you have to know Hannah to truly appreciate the flowers that I received. Everything Hannah draws has a rainbow on it. She loves rainbows so when she saw these rainbow roses they were it as far as she was concerned!




The colors are great and they look beautiful on the kitchen table and most importantly they make me smile whenever I walk out into the kitchen.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Thank You ... or something else?

What do you say when someone compliments your child? Thank you just doesn't seem right but agreeing with them somehow seems wrong too. I've been going through that this week after the Talent Show at school.

The Talent Show is an 8th grade project in that they produce the whole show with the help of the music teacher. What a big job it is to put it all together and I think they did great! Last year there were 16 8th graders and the show was held in the church. This year there are only 6 kids and we actually rented an auditorium at a school near ours. YIKES!! It went extremely well considering all there was to do. Yes, there were a few problems when the sound system didn't work quite right but all in all it was a wonderful night and everyone (performers and attendees) enjoyed themselves.

Hannah was in two numbers (and the finale which included all of the performers in the show and all of the 8th graders) in the Talent Show this year. First, she was in a magic act with one of the boys, Nicholas, in her class. The magic wasn't super impressive from either of them but Nicholas was hilarious and Hannah made a pretty decent straight man even though I don't think she had a clue that that was what she was doing. This year, Hannah decided that she wanted to sing too. She worked hard and learned all the words (I was concerned for awhile there about that) and Emily worked with her on doing a dance routine with it while she sang. During the rehearsals, Hannah didn't do the dance because she was nervous but she pulled out all the stops at the show and sang and danced her heart out!! The only problem was the microphone was off so you could barely hear her - aaargh! About halfway through the M.C. came out and gave her a new mic but that one didn't work. Poor kid but she never missed a beat and just kept going. So many people came up and said they should have had her do her number again. Oh, what did she sing? Hilary Duff's Why Not.

As a member of the 8th grade class, Emily was the Talent Coordinator for the show - I'm not sure what all that entailed but there was talent so I think she did her job. Ü In addition, Emily also performed in two numbers and the finale. Emily and one of her best friends, JoAnna, did a duet of Our Lips Are Sealed. No, not the GoGos version but the remake by Hilary and Hayley Duff. And, Emily was the last act before the finale where she sang Christine Aguilera's Beautiful. She was awesome and I have been told by more than one person that Emily was definitely the star of the show! As a parent I wish she had remembered to take her jacket off and she had intended to but that didn't detract from her voice which was amazing.

So, to get back to my original question ... what is the correct response when someone says something like "Wow! Emily has an amazing voice."? Thank you just doesn't seem right but yes, she definitely does.