Behind the Scenes

Pictures can tell the tale better than I, so I won't write toooo much about this past weekend's performances of Alice in Wonderland.  It was a full, yet fun, weekend. Millie, Hayley, AJ, Mark, and I attended the fourth & final performance. Of course, it was a wonderful show. :-) 

Tessa posed with Fairies Kyla, Liesey, Emily, and Cheyenne.

Cheshire Ruth

Sienna -- Caterpillar/Butterfly

Liesey the Duchess & Cook Anna

Where's the pig/baby?

The (Lobster?!) Duchess & Friends

A trio of Smiths

(How 'bout that castanet man?!!!)

The Duchess & Fairy Naomi

Darian (The White Rabbit) & Chloe (Alice)

Hayley, Fairy Haley, & Millie

The girls picked some pretty flowers.

The Smithlings were allowed to sleep in this morning. (A homeschooling perk) Ahhh! That's a collective sigh of relief. We may be tired, but this really is a fun family activity, or we wouldn't keep it up.  Alice is the 10th Placer Theatre Ballet production that our family has been associated with, and I have a feeling we'll be participating in many more in the years to come.

Only four months until Nutcracker auditions...

Shake! Shake! Shake!

Who says that you can't teach an old cat new tricks? Well, maybe that has never been said...

Thanks to our friend Janice, we learned that even six year old brown mackerel tabbies can learn to do things on command. Or at least sit & shake "hands" for a treat. :-) It took less than 10 minutes to teach Jemima this new trick. What's next? Roll over? Speak? Fetch? Vacuum the floor? Do the laundry? I am certain that we will progress to more difficult commands as time goes by.

See the video below. The noise in the background is from our fountain. If the water was still you'd be able to hear Jemima purring loudly as she shakes. She LOVES to perform. Bartholomew is somewhat envious of his sister's newly-developed skills, but he will not participate in such an activity as this, even if it does garner a few tasty cat treats. 

We obviously have had too much time on our hands.

Easter 2009

He is Risen!

We had a WONDERFUL day today. We started out by attending an 8 a.m. worship service at Bridgeway Christian Church. After returning home, we all talked to G-ma & G-pa on the phone, sampled the goodies in our Easter baskets, had fun on Raleigh Court with the neighbors, ate dinner, made a quick trip to the airport to pick up AJ & Mark, and ended the day with watching Ben Hur. Of course, I had to make sure that plenty of photos were taken. And we even managed to get a family picture. Hooray! Check out our photos:

Let the hunt begin...

Cre-egg-tivity?

After a trip to Costco, we "hatched" a few eggs on the driveway. We opened the back hatch of the car & out the eggs came. Despite the water conservation mandate that forbids hosing down sidewalks, driveways, etc., I washed the scrambled eggs off the concrete. I am sure that there is some creative design in the yolky mess -- kind of like an ink blot test. What do YOU see?

Not a single egg was spared...

The girls & I did manage to NOT crack any eggs as we learned a new craft -- Pysanky! Thanks to Denise & Nicole, we created some lovely Ukrainian Easter eggs.

Look at that concentration. Look at that skill.

Now she's playing with fire...

Millie & Mimi discussed color selection.

What EGGcellent designs!

Millie was egg-cited about this artsy activity. Her kitty/angel design was purrfect!

I am sure that this is a traditional Ukrainian pose.

All of our eggs are in one basket. We should be okay as long as we don't put 'em in the back of the car.

1/2 of a CENTURY?

Mr. Smith turned 50 today!

The Smithlings gave their daddy four "nearly indestructible" Cornilleau ping pong paddles (with "Michelin Man" surfaces) that should last for another 50 years. (I can just see us all playing table tennis with these paddles and a few canes on D's 100th b-day!) Ha! Ha! I ordered a backgammon set for the guy who likes fun & games; however, it had to be returned as it didn't look as nice in person as it did on-line... He didn't even get to see it, as the game set didn't get past Smith quality control. Isn't that lame that I didn't have a gift for my boy on his special day?! Guess I will need to take him shopping with me. 

I did throw him a FUN party, but that was the easy part. All we needed to do was add great friends -- and a little food. Grilled salmon with pesto, brown rice, spinach salad, Caesar salad, bread, corn on the cob, & Italian sodas were on the menu. YUM!

The inside of the card says, "You will soon!" 

Perhaps our resident quinquagenarian will soon be able 

to explain this great mystery to us.

The black & "old" gold balloons actually matched the napkins & plates that were chosen for Mr. Smith's BIG party. This was not a Purdue Boilermaker-themed event, although it appears that way!

He's 50?  Wow! I must've married a much older guy... HA!

These dear friends created a photo album just for the b-day boy. The book is filled with photos & memories from MANY years of fun with our 

"Family Game Night" family.

What great pictures -- what fun memories!

Nathan is a long way from being 50!

Cool spectacles!

Pettits, Millers, Ericksons, Weihers, & Smiths

Yes, we really had 50 candles on the "cake" -- well, there wasn't just ONE cake. There were 25 gourmet cupcakes of various flavors, and each treat held two candles. It took four people lighting the candles as fast as possible. Then we had to sing quickly to avoid a 3-alarm fire. (The fire extinguisher was handy...) 

In addition to all the chatter, laughter, silliness, and other fun & games, we were all treated to a lively (original) ditty, It's Your Birthday, by the musical Pettit duo.  

What a memorable evening! Thanks to everyone who helped the "old guy" ease into a new decade. The gift of friendship is a blessing, and we are blessed indeed. :-)