End of the year crazies
It's June, and rolling down to the very end of the school year, two weeks to go and a full schedule of end of the year events. Dove has a field trip to 6 Flags next week that I will probably chaperone, and Robin has the annual "Battle of the Batcave" 4th vs 5th grade softball game, plus the usual spate of class parties and so on.
Tonight is the 8th grade dinner / dance. Eighth grade year is a big deal in Catholic schools. You've been with the same group of kids for 9 years and are getting ready to move on to high school. For most of the class, this is the first time they will change schools and be off to a new environment, so 8th grade is like a mini version of "senior year" and is celebrated as such. Last week they had Confirmation (lovely ceremony, though the bishop talked too much, IMO), this week is their class trip and the dinner / dance tonight. The seventh grade students and parents sponsor the dinner/dance. They do fundraisers all year long and do the set up and hosting, and every family takes part. It's a semi-formal - the girls in fancy dresses, the boys in suits, and they and their parents are served a catered sit down dinner, then the 8th grade awards are given out and scholarships announced, speeches made, then the parents go home and the kids stay to cut loose on the dance floor. I am the photographer for the evening. Every 8th grader is given a gift bag with a variety of little momentos (class t-shirt, yearbook, framed photo from the dance, class picture, and other little trinkets related to their "graduation" year), so I am taking the formal shots at the dance. Dove is doing set up for the dinner, Robin is even helping me tonight by being my "runner" to collect families for the formal shots. I think it will be a long night. I have to be there right after dismissal at school, and things won't wide up until about 10 pm. I will have to leave briefly in the middle to take Dove to Much Ado rehearsal, and go back and get her, but otherwise will be snapping photos all evening. Looking forward to seeing the whole evening unfold, though, since next year it will be Dove's class being celebrated.
It is hard for me to believe Dove is soon to be entering her last year at Immaculata. Even though physically she has grown leaps and bounds this year, and is looking so teenagey to me, I still think back to dropping her off on her first day of kindergarten, watching her little blonde curls bouncing as she pulled her little bookbag crossing the school parking lot. Where does the time go?!
This summer is shaping up to be relaxing during the day and busy on evenings and weekends, which works for me. The kids will have plenty of time to go to the pool, ride bikes, take some day trips and just hang out at home if they want to. They have a week of science camp, and Dove has two weeks of band camp in the evenings, but otherwise their days are free. BUT they are doing two shows which are sucking up all the weekends, much to the COL's chagrin. Dove's Much Ado opens the last weekend in June, and she and Robin are also in Seussical, which opens two weeks after Much Ado closes and runs through the third week in August. They do have a week off in between, which fortuitously is when we will be in New Orleans, but five nights a week one or both are in rehearsals.
The Seussical group is a new one for us - same theatre, different directors. In the end, both girls decided to audition (Dove at the VERY last minute) and both ended up in the ensemble. They had three rounds of auditions and they were packed. Robin was called back for the Baby Kangaroo and for Jojo. I knew she would not get Jojo, but she did a great job with baby Kangaroo and she really wanted that part, but ultimately the other girl called back, who was also very good, got it. Dove was called back for a Bird Girl, but the competition for those was stiffer - sixteen girls called, and four chosen. Dove looked like the little sister of every girl up there, age-wise she was at a disadvantage, but she was glad to get cast at all. Robin has been asked to sing Baby Kangaroo at practices when the girl who got the part is absent, so she has enjoyed that. It is a considerably older cast of kids than they typically work with, mostly high schoolers, so I am looking forward to seeing how the show goes. I knew the young man playing the Cat In The Hat would be terrific - he'd just graduated from high school and I'd seen him in other productions - great voice and good actor, and when I picked the girls up I got a glance at the boy playing Horton. Perfectly cast physically and he seemed to have a nice voice and good acting. The director seems like a very nice gal, very upbeat. The music director also seems very competent (if a little more intense than I am used to - Dove's Shakespeare director is an incredibly easy going guy), and seems to coax the best out of the kids. When I went in to pick up the girls this week, he had all the kids sitting in the seats singing "Solla Sallew" and I have to say, it sounded beautiful! I don't even like the song particularly, but he had them doing 4 part harmonies and it was lovely.
I never did get to see Hair when I posted last - my dear aunt Katie passed away the day I'd planned to go, which those of you who see me on FB know. I still have to post about Katie and her final send off here, which I hope to do soon. But I am finally getting to go see Hair this weekend with my cousin June, and it's gotten good reviews, so hoping it will be a fun night. Also expecting that we'll go see Much Ado About Nothing - Dove wants to see the modern version before her own run of the show starts. The previews looked good, so I'm hoping Joss Wheadon's version gives us some laughs. I'm off and running...
Tonight is the 8th grade dinner / dance. Eighth grade year is a big deal in Catholic schools. You've been with the same group of kids for 9 years and are getting ready to move on to high school. For most of the class, this is the first time they will change schools and be off to a new environment, so 8th grade is like a mini version of "senior year" and is celebrated as such. Last week they had Confirmation (lovely ceremony, though the bishop talked too much, IMO), this week is their class trip and the dinner / dance tonight. The seventh grade students and parents sponsor the dinner/dance. They do fundraisers all year long and do the set up and hosting, and every family takes part. It's a semi-formal - the girls in fancy dresses, the boys in suits, and they and their parents are served a catered sit down dinner, then the 8th grade awards are given out and scholarships announced, speeches made, then the parents go home and the kids stay to cut loose on the dance floor. I am the photographer for the evening. Every 8th grader is given a gift bag with a variety of little momentos (class t-shirt, yearbook, framed photo from the dance, class picture, and other little trinkets related to their "graduation" year), so I am taking the formal shots at the dance. Dove is doing set up for the dinner, Robin is even helping me tonight by being my "runner" to collect families for the formal shots. I think it will be a long night. I have to be there right after dismissal at school, and things won't wide up until about 10 pm. I will have to leave briefly in the middle to take Dove to Much Ado rehearsal, and go back and get her, but otherwise will be snapping photos all evening. Looking forward to seeing the whole evening unfold, though, since next year it will be Dove's class being celebrated.
It is hard for me to believe Dove is soon to be entering her last year at Immaculata. Even though physically she has grown leaps and bounds this year, and is looking so teenagey to me, I still think back to dropping her off on her first day of kindergarten, watching her little blonde curls bouncing as she pulled her little bookbag crossing the school parking lot. Where does the time go?!
This summer is shaping up to be relaxing during the day and busy on evenings and weekends, which works for me. The kids will have plenty of time to go to the pool, ride bikes, take some day trips and just hang out at home if they want to. They have a week of science camp, and Dove has two weeks of band camp in the evenings, but otherwise their days are free. BUT they are doing two shows which are sucking up all the weekends, much to the COL's chagrin. Dove's Much Ado opens the last weekend in June, and she and Robin are also in Seussical, which opens two weeks after Much Ado closes and runs through the third week in August. They do have a week off in between, which fortuitously is when we will be in New Orleans, but five nights a week one or both are in rehearsals.
The Seussical group is a new one for us - same theatre, different directors. In the end, both girls decided to audition (Dove at the VERY last minute) and both ended up in the ensemble. They had three rounds of auditions and they were packed. Robin was called back for the Baby Kangaroo and for Jojo. I knew she would not get Jojo, but she did a great job with baby Kangaroo and she really wanted that part, but ultimately the other girl called back, who was also very good, got it. Dove was called back for a Bird Girl, but the competition for those was stiffer - sixteen girls called, and four chosen. Dove looked like the little sister of every girl up there, age-wise she was at a disadvantage, but she was glad to get cast at all. Robin has been asked to sing Baby Kangaroo at practices when the girl who got the part is absent, so she has enjoyed that. It is a considerably older cast of kids than they typically work with, mostly high schoolers, so I am looking forward to seeing how the show goes. I knew the young man playing the Cat In The Hat would be terrific - he'd just graduated from high school and I'd seen him in other productions - great voice and good actor, and when I picked the girls up I got a glance at the boy playing Horton. Perfectly cast physically and he seemed to have a nice voice and good acting. The director seems like a very nice gal, very upbeat. The music director also seems very competent (if a little more intense than I am used to - Dove's Shakespeare director is an incredibly easy going guy), and seems to coax the best out of the kids. When I went in to pick up the girls this week, he had all the kids sitting in the seats singing "Solla Sallew" and I have to say, it sounded beautiful! I don't even like the song particularly, but he had them doing 4 part harmonies and it was lovely.
I never did get to see Hair when I posted last - my dear aunt Katie passed away the day I'd planned to go, which those of you who see me on FB know. I still have to post about Katie and her final send off here, which I hope to do soon. But I am finally getting to go see Hair this weekend with my cousin June, and it's gotten good reviews, so hoping it will be a fun night. Also expecting that we'll go see Much Ado About Nothing - Dove wants to see the modern version before her own run of the show starts. The previews looked good, so I'm hoping Joss Wheadon's version gives us some laughs. I'm off and running...