Celebrate His Birth: A Nativity Ballet

Jacey started at MBT when she was 6 years old, just a couple of weeks before auditions for Celebrate His Birth, A Nativity Ballet.  I will admit, it was a new concept to me.  I had never heard of the Nativity being portrayed through dance before.  Hadn’t they heard of The Nutcracker?   We switched to MBT from another studio because we had heard wonderful things about the staff and we liked that it was strictly classical ballet.  What we were not prepared for was that her teacher, a devout Christian, lives her beliefs so fully that they spill over into everything she does, including running her studio.  That was just a fun surprise. Recitals are fun, so we let Jacey audition.  She was an angel her first year, and of course we thought the whole thing was darling.

Every year since that first year I have come to appreciate CHB more and more.  As I get to know Damaris (the artistic director and my girls' teacher) better I love her more and more. The other teachers are great too:)  As a mom, I feel like I am a steward of these precious years with my children.  I want them to learn and grow and develop talents.  However, putting them in the care of the right people to help them develop those talents is a responsibility that I do not take lightly.  Part of me would selfishly love to keep them home with me all the time where they will be happy and safe and always taught how wonderful they are.  There certainly are influences in the world that I want to protect them from, but there are too many good people who they can learn so much from.  By keeping them all to myself I would be denying them the opportunity to develop those talents that are uniquely theirs as well as the opportunity to learn from some wonderful people.  I count Damaris highly as one of those wonderful people.  Every time my girls enter her studio I know that they will come home with more confidence not only as a dancer, but as a daughter of God.  And it’s not because she preaches to them every week:)  It's simply through the way she interacts with them.  The MBT mission statement states: 

 Metropolitan Ballet of Tacoma is dedicated to the passionate pursuit of excellence in art of ballet and dance in an atmosphere that nurtures the physical and spiritual development of individual dancers.  

 Although we do not attend the same church, when I see her interact with her dancers I think of the theme that the young women in our church recite each week: “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us, and we love Him.  We will stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places…”  She is an example of that to all her dancers, and I love her for it.   

Christmas is such a busy time of year.  Every September/October when CHB auditions roll around, I think of the extra rehearsals that it will require.  As my kids get older there are so many more things pulling at their time.  I have come to the conclusion that it does require a lot of time, but at least it’s a lot of time spent thinking about the true meaning of Christmas.  Aside from the final performance, I have seen enough behind-the-scenes moments that reaffirm my convictions that this is a wise use of our time.  I have heard Damaris remind the dancers repeatedly that the purpose of this dance was to bring glory to God and to share the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ.  I have received letters that were sent out to all the parents inviting us to pray for her, the dancers, and the ballet that it’s purposes may be fulfilled.  I have heard her tell the younger dancers that she will be praying for them, and I know that she gathers together with the company dancers and prays before the performance.

I have seen this recital probably 10 times now.  Every time I pick up little things that I hadn’t noticed before.  It makes me think of certain elements of the Nativity in ways that I hadn’t always considered.  This year I actually got a little teary during the dance where Mary goes to visit Elizabeth and the joy they had in seeing each other.  I admit to sometimes being a little envious of people who have sisters, but as I watched the dance I was reminded how grateful I am for all the women in my life:  My mom, mother-in-law, sister-in-laws, and dear friends who I love like sisters.  I feel so much joy when I am with them.  I am convinced that women need other women and I am so grateful for them.

The past couple of years I paid extra attention to the shepherds dance because Sadie was one of the little sheep. Watching the shepherds guide them along the stage was very sweet.  Another thing I love about MBT is the emphasis that is put on the company dancers being role models for the school division.  A couple of alumni dancers came back for the performance and my girls squealed when they saw them.  I appreciated the literal sense in which Sadie was being guided around the stage, but it also made me grateful for all the many "shepherds" in our kids’ lives.  Their teachers at school, church, extended family, coaches, dance teachers, activity day leaders, my friends, their friends parents…all those people who encourage them to do good.  I am so grateful for them.

There is a townspeople dance that takes place in Bethlehem when Mary and Joseph stop and play and dance with the village children.  Although I am certain that that a laboring Mary and a worried Joseph probably didn’t really stop to play and dance that night, it made me think about the kind of people God would choose to raise his son on Earth.  Certainly the ability to love children was high on the list.  It caused me to think about how I need to make sure creating happy moments with my children stays high on my list of priorities, no matter how busy our family gets.

Finally, the finale where Mary and Joseph come back out with baby Jesus makes me cry every year. Silly me.  I knew that baby had just been hanging out backstage with his mom waiting for his big debut.  Still, it’s just everything it represents.  The hope that came to the whole Earth with the birth of that little baby.  The thoughts of everything that baby would have to endure.  For me.  The thought that He volunteered to do it.  For me.  The mom in me always thinks of Mary.  The joy that she surely felt in His birth, but also the sorrow that she would feel at the cross.  Mostly though, I feel gratitude.  I am so eternally grateful that God loved me enough to send such a perfect gift. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Are these experiences worth a few extra hours of rehearsals?  Yeah.  I think so.

Reflections 2014- Say Love

It's October!.  For our family that means cooler weather, a lot of rain, busy days, thinking ahead to holidays, and PTA Reflections:)  Reflections is a nationwide art competition sponsored by PTA.  Jacey entered last year in the dance choreography category and did well!  It was a lot of work, but she definitely wanted to do it again.

I love that Jacey has so many good desires to do so many good things.  Sometimes I worry that she stretches herself too thin.  She always piles a LOT on her plate, but somehow seems to always do well.  I was excited that she wanted to do Reflections again, but also hoped it wouldn't become a major stress in her life.  It was a lot of work: for her coming up with the perfect vision and choreography, me for looking all over town for butcher paper for her background.  (Seriously Puyallup friends, does anyone sell it anymore???) However, as is always the case, now that it's all behind us I'm so glad she did it, and once again incredibly humbled by my little girl.

The theme this year was "The world would be a better place if...."  Jacey chose to dance to the song "Say Love" by Hilary Weeks.  Here is her artist statement:

"The world would be a better place if we looked for the good in others and told them what we saw.  Some people have a hard time seeing how wonderful they really are.  Sometimes when we see people we think nice things about them but we keep it to ourselves.  If everybody told each other the good qualities that they notice in them, it could help take away their troubles for a while and help them gain confidence.  It also makes us happy to help others feel good."

I'm so proud of this girl.  She lives what she speaks.  She is loud and silly like any 11-year-old girl around her friends, but quiet in a crowd and with those she doesn't know very well.  Going out of her way to pay compliments to those around her will not be super easy for her.  But she thought a lot about her statement, and found a way to use this contest as a way to bless the lives of others.  She made a list of people she admired or appreciated and covered 50 feet of butcher paper with good things about them to be the background for her dance.  As I read the things she wrote, and watched her contemplate and fret and worry that she forgot someone I was reminded once again how blessed I am to have this little girl in my home.

Harry Potter Bday Party

Confession: I am kind of a nerd at heart.  I love to read. I love that my kids love to read.  I especially love that they are getting old enough that they are reading some really great books, and it makes me kind of giddy.

For Jacey's birthday this year, she decided that she wanted a Harry Potter birthday party.  Some years we have done big parties that end up out of control, and other years she has opted to just invite one good friend to come on a family outing with us.  This year was my favorite party ever.  It was a lot of work, but I justified it because Broden has already asked for a HP bday party in January, so I get to reuse all of my ideas:)  I have had a lot of questions about this party from other moms, so I will attempt to answer them here and provide as much detail as I can.  Some things worked out great, others I wouldn't waste my time on again, and I already have some other ideas for next time:)  Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures of the decorations before the party.  Hopefully you can see enough from the party pictures and your imagination can fill in the rest!

Invitations:   I should start by telling you that this whole party was possible with great thanks to Pinterest.  I will do my best to credit the blogs for each idea, but you really should check out my HP pinterest board.  Ok- back to invitations.  I'm so sad that I didn't get a picture.  They were darling, but we were in a rush to get them delivered before kids would be in bed and before they lost their helium.  We typed a formal looking invitation on Hogwarts letterhead (there are a lot of cool HP fonts on dafont.com) The invitation said:

Dear Miss _________________,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to a special preview session of Hogwarts School  of Witchcraft and Wizardry in honor of J's eleventh birthday.  The session will be held on Friday, September 13th from 5-7 p.m.  You will have a chance to sample a few classes and attend a grand feast!

If you accept the invitation, you are to report to Platform 9 3/4 at 5:00. (Muggle address: *****************) You will be transported to Diagon Alley to purchase school supplies, and then to Hogwarts where sorting will commence promptly at 5:10.

Please RSVP by owl to reserve your place. (Or use your muggle telephone to call or text.)

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

We printed the letter on parchment paper, rolled it up and attached it (with a vintage key for weight) to a white balloon which Jacey drew an owl on.  Delivering the invites was super fun.


Delivery idea (and photo) courtesey of Kara's Party Ideas

When the kids showed up, we had them enter our gate into the backyard.  We had the gate opened, and I painted a sheet red and drew bricks on it.  We then cut a slit in it so the kids could jump through our very own Platform 9 3/4

They made a brief stop in Diagon Alley where they shopped for their supplies.  We had a few small card tables with different shops set up:

Ollivander's Fine Wands and Wizardry - I made these wands I found on Pinterest, made out of rolled paper, filled with  hot glue, painted and then decorated with hot glue swirls and painted again. They looked cool, but I wouldn't do it aga in.  They took forever, took a ton of glue, and weren't as strong as I hoped they would be.  Maybe I just did it wrong.  Next time I think I will just get a couple of long dowels and cut them the length of wands, decorate them with the glue swirls, and paint them.  It sounds much simpler to me:)

Flourish and Blotts - I made them each a "textbook" to use during our different "lessons".  It had a crossword puzzle and a trivia page for them to work on while they were waiting for all of the guests to arrive, there was a list of spells and what they did to use during our Spells class, and a page for our divination activity as well.  Then at the end there was a thank you page with a HP quote on the back.  I sewed them together using a piece of brown felt as the cover.  It was super simple, and my kids are still playing with them a month later.

Broom Rental Shop - This was one of my favorite finds.  I had read on several blogs about women making brooms out of sticks and twigs and twine and thought I would have to do the same, but was dreading it.  Funny story: In our family scripture study one morning, we came across the phrase "Tender Mercies" We talked about what Tender Mercies were (the sometimes small, often overlooked blessings in our life that show us that Heavenly Father is aware of us and loves us) and encouraged our kids to look for Tender Mercies in their lives.  That day, after stewing about making these dumb brooms, I went grocery shopping at WinCo.  There, at the end of one of the aisles, was a box of 10 brooms for $1.80 each.  I think Heavenly Father was aware of me that day:)

We had a table set up on the back deck for their lessons.  After shopping in Diagon Alley, they went to the table and started working on their HP trivia pages while waiting.

 After everyone arrived we went inside to be sorted.  We had a walkie-talkie hidden behind one the red Griffyndor House banner (aka dollar store plastic tableclothes).  My husband had the other one upstairs and sorted all the girls into their houses.

After sorting, it was time for the feast (Costco pizza:) in the Great Hall.

B couldn't pry himself away from his studies long enough to eat.

 

Beverage choices were Butterbeer (cream soda with a little scoop of ice cream) or Pumpkin Juice (orange Kool-Aid)  You can find real Butterbeer recipes online, but I've hear they are gross.

 Our first class after the feast was Spells and Enchantments.  We had each girl (or sibling:) get a partner and start out back to back.  Then they took 5 steps away from each other, and when they got to 5 they turned around and pointed their wand while yelling (as fast as they could) the spell of their choosing.  Dan and I got to judge.  We had all of the winners compete against each other until we had one winner.

 After Spells and Enchantments it was time for Divination.  There were a lot of fun ideas for potions involving fun ingredients and chemical reactions, but it sounded messy and like a lot of work.  For Divination, I got small clear plastic cups and put a small drop of food coloring on the bottom.  I covered it with ice and put the cups in the freezer.  When it was time we brought the cups out, poured some lemon-lime soda in it, and they stirred it.  They had a key in their textbook to help them match up the color of their drink with their fortune (health, wealth, love, success, etc)

 Presents!

 Quidditch was the highlight of the party!  My husband did all the prep work, and I am so grateful.  It wouldn't have been the same without it.  He got 6 hula hoops, some 2x2s, and nailed the hula hoops into the wood.  He then spray-painted the whole thing gold and stuck them in the ground 3 on each end of our lawn.

Explaining the rules

 I realized as we were splitting into teams that I hadn't hid the snitch (gold christmas ornament) yet.  I told everyone to close their eyes, and this is my 4-year-old being oh-so-obedient.  She melts my heart:)

 We had a quaffle (beach ball) and 2 bludgers (smaller rubbery balls).  If you don't know what to do with them, break out book 1 for the rules of quidditch:)

 K found the golden snitch!

 There are a lot of fun cake ideas out there: Fondant owls, Golden Snitches, etc.  Jacey wanted owl cupcakes.  Done:)

 

After cupcakes and ice cream, the kids filled small bags with candy from Honeyduke.  We had:

Chocolate covered frogs (chocolate peanut clusters)

Bertie Botts Beans in Every Colour (Jelly Bellys)

Dragon Eggs (Peanut M&Ms)

Gummy slugs - (gummy worms)

Golden snitches (butterscotch candies)

Acid Pops (suckers)

 Decorations:  We spent a lot of our time outside.  Our main decorations were the house banners with the house crest on them, Honeydukes, The Three Broomsticks (our beverage station, etc.  )  For props we used a lot of owls, books, and halloween decorations.  I found a lot of printable bottle lables on pinterest, and stuck them on bottles and jars I raided out of my friends' recycling bins and filled them with colored water.  I spraypainted some lids, covered some bottles with glitter in fun colors, and hit up my local goodwill for some extra halloween-ish decorations.  I made floating candles for the Great Hall out of rolled up paper and tissue paper flames, to be hung with fishing line from the ceiling, but I forgot:(  I also bagged the idea of making fleece scarves for each kid in the house colors which they got sorted into because our weather forecast ended up being crazy hot.  I'll save that idea for HP party round 2 in January:)

Lise and Faith Memorial Run for Cora

I don't run many 5Ks, mostly because I like to put my money towards something that is going to force me to train and prepare. I often use registration money to keep me accountable to an exercise routine:)  If I run a 5K, it's either because it's going to be a lot of fun or benefit a really great cause.  I feel like I've found both in the annual Lise and Faith Memorial Run.

The ironic thing is, in the past I've never known anyone personally involved.  I heard about the race a few years ago from my friend/previous neighbor Lexi. On Memorial Day weekend in 2011 Lexi's close friend Lise, who was 7 months pregnant with a little girl named Faith, was hit and killed by a car while out running on vacation.  Every year since, Lise's family and friends come together to put on a 5/10K for the community to remember Lise and baby Faith.  Every year they choose someone else in need to donate all proceeds of the race.  A ton of work obviously goes into this event, and the first word that comes to my mind when I think of it is completely selfless.

We were out of town for last year's run, and I was looking forward to this year.  When I put it on the calendar and realized it was the same weekend Dan was going to be out of town on a highly anticipated backpacking trip with his friends I procrastinated my registration, not sure if I would be up for it by myself with the kids.  As it drew closer I kept reading over the story of Cora, the beneficiary of this year's race.  I couldn't get it out of my head, and finally just decided we would make it a family event minus one daddy.

When we got to the park, I felt sick when I realized that I knew Cora.  I had never known her last name, so I didn't recognize her from reading her story.  If you've never heard our family talk about how much we love our doctor, than you've never asked us for a recommendation:)  He's a family practice physician, which means he has delivered our babies, done all of their well-child stuff, and takes care of the kids and I for anything else that necessitates medical care.  He's fabulous.  We love that he is laid-back, a believer in chiropractic care, respectful of our opinions, caring (who else follows up with a sick kid with a personal phone call?), and makes us laugh every time we're in his office, even if we're dealing with kind of heavy stuff.  Equally as wonderful are his staff.  Cora was our nurse in his office for a very long time.  She was Jacey's nurse as a baby almost 11 years ago, and was still there when we came back after finishing school.  She took care of me when I was pregnant with Sadie, and took care of us on all of our visits for a couple years after that.  She was super friendly.  I felt completely comfortable with her, and soon felt like she knew my family and I well, even though I'm sure I was just another patient to her:) I specifically remember her making me laugh telling me about a practical joke she played on Dr. Taggart when he kept suggesting the name "Kevina" for our unnamed baby girl.  They were just fun like that.

Cora and Dr. Taggart

At the race, I found out that Cora was the recipient for the money raised by the 2014 Lise and Faith Memorial Run.  As I was reading and rereading her story in the week prior, seeing the name "Cora" (which is not super common) made me wonder whatever happened to Cora, our fabulous nurse.  Now I know.  She left because she took a job at our local hospital.  She is also fighting stage 4 cancer.  She was diagnosed 5 years ago with breast cancer, which has since spread.  Five years ago I was pregnant with Sadie.  That's what she was dealing with while she was taking care of me.  I never would have guessed in a million years.  It's made me think a lot the past few days about how you never know what people are dealing with.  It has made me want to be a little bit nicer, a little bit more patient, and a little bit more forgiving.  I am incredibly amazed by her strength.

On to the race! We started strong!  Broden learned a valuable lesson about why you don't start a race with your fastest sprint.  His 7-year-old legs can move pretty quick, but he just doesn't quite have the endurance to match:)  As a result, we took lots of walking breaks and did lots of trading between him and Sadie riding next to Camden in the stroller.  Sadie did surprisingly well, especially considering I dressed her in flip-flops thinking she would be riding the whole time.  Jacey was such a good sport and stuck it out with us for the first couple of miles.  I finally gave her the go-ahead to run on up ahead since I knew plenty of people ahead of us.  She left us in the dust and ended up finishing in a respectable 36 minutes, even though she had done her share of walking with us for the first 2 miles.

In the meantime, the kids and I continued our walk/jog/swap routine.  About a half mile before the finish, at almost exactly the same time, Sadie and Broden suddenly REALLY had to go potty.  With a little more incentive to pick up our pace, I did the only thing I could think of.  I stuck Broden in the stroller with Camden, threw Sadie on my back, and looking all kinds of pathetic we barreled through the rest of that race as fast as we could. (Which was not very fast, but faster than the pace of a child crying, doing a potty dance, and running all at the same time:)

It was a really great morning. After our potty stop, with exhausted kids and my mind still reeling from the chaos of the actual race, we came out just in time to hear the call for anyone who has ever been a patient of Cora to meet in the field for a picture with her.  It was a great reminder of why we were there, and a perfect opportunity to have a conversation with my kids as we were walking to the car about how incredibly blessed we are with healthy bodies and that not only can Sillitos do hard things (something they hear daily:), but we should always look for opportunities to be helpers, and especially that we can do ALL things through Christ which strengtheneth us (Phil. 4:13), no matter what physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional challenges may come.

Cora and all of her patients who showed up for the race.

Side note: This 10-year-old girl ran a 19 minute 5K to win first prize in the Women's 5K division!  I still can't wrap my head around that.  Incredible!