Boys Day Out!

If I haven't said it before (and I know I have), I'll say it again...My husband has THE BEST BOSS EVER! He decided that all the guys at the office needed to have a day out with their boys. So he bought tickets to a Diamondbacks game for all of them! So 5 men and their 8 sons went to the game yesterday. Ethan and Max were SUPER excited because they got checked out of school at 11 am to go! Max was especially excited because he feels like he NEVER gets to miss school because he is NEVER sick:) In 2 years, he has not missed a day of school for being sick. Now anyone who knows Joel, knows that regular ol' tickets just won't do. Nope, these were right next to the field and all-you-can-eat tickets (the face value of the tickets were $125 each!) The Dbacks lost BUT the boys had a BLAST. Ethan and Max made it on the big screen a couple times and their favorite part was a drunk guy that ran onto the field and tried to get into the pool area. He of course was caught:) But it all made for good laughs and good memories. Soo glad my guys had a great day of fun. They deserve to be spoiled every now and then:)

WOO HOO!

WOO HOO!!! I am one PROUD mama tonight!!! Carlie and Max auditioned this past Friday for Queen Creek's upcoming show, "Oliver." This was Max's 1st audition and he has been looking forwards to this for about 6 months now. You had to be 7 to try out and since Max just turned 7 in January he was one of the youngest there. He worked SUPER hard on his song and his british accent and it all paid off:) Carlie had a little time off between shows so she decided to try out as well. If we're going to drive one kid out to Queen Creek, we might as well drive two:)

Auditions were this past Friday. They were both called back yesterday (Wednesday) for a grueling 2 1/2 hours of singing, dancing, and reading lines. Max told me that they were asked to introduce themselves in a british accent and so this is what Max said (in his best accent) "Ello! I'm Max Meeker and I LOVE chicken" then he tells me..."only I really DON'T like chicken." I asked, "So then why did you say that you loved it?" Max replies, "I really don't know...it was the only thing I could think of." I was laughing out loud so I imagine he had them laughing in the audition room too:)

I'm not sure how they did the casting but this much I do know. Carlie and Max are both in Fagin's gang of boys--yes, Carlie will be a boy and she is SUPER excited. And there are 12 kids in this gang. The rest of the kids who auditioned were cast as orphans...there are 55 of these! So Max and Carlie are 2 of 12 verses 2 of 55 so I'm guessing they did pretty dang good! YES!!! I am one proud Mama tonight!!! My kids are pick-pocketing orphans!!! WOO HOO! What every mom wants right?! (A big congrats to Zach T. who is in our Grove 2nd ward--he's in the show too as Dr. Grimwig!)


And here's his SUPER cute audition song one more time (for me okay?!)

Easter Weekend 2012

Holy heck....we sure packed a whole ton into this weekend!!! It was the first weekend Chris had been home in 6 weeks so we had to make the most of it! And we did--and had a lot of fun along the way:)

Right away, Carlie and Maddie J.B. just HAD to have a sleep over. Here they are baking cookies. I just LOVE these girlies. They are SOOO beautiful!!! Look out San Tan Jr. High!!! They are coming soon--and they can't wait!!! (After 6 years of attending a uniform school they are both absolutely ecstatic about discovering and developing their inner fashionistas:)


We also had a GARAGE SALE on Saturday morning. I HATE doing these! Tons of work BUT the reason I do them is for my kids. I want them to learn how to be resourceful. As a kid, I had a yard sale every summer to raise money for a trip, a new instrument, or whatever! So my kids baked brownies, cookies, and made lemonade to sell at the sale. The sale was a HUGE success so totally worth all the work:)


Carlie--my mini-me--has been making these SUPER cute beaded bobby pins. She made up 16 of these for the yard sale and sold 12 of them!!! I was SOO proud of her!!!


I'll be putting these cute things in with my charms this fall for Boutique Time:)


By Saturday night, we were all exhausted! Poor Ethan became a little sick--fever and upset stomach--so we opted to stay home from our ward party and get our own eggs colored. Here are the pics (Ethan had been swimming prior to this so that is why he is half-naked:)

The Egg Coloring:





This morning (Sunday), Ethan was still not feeling well so he stayed home from church--so that's why he's in his PJs still:)


The Hunt:



Tatum in her cute new swimsuit that the Easter Bunny brought for her:)


And FINALLY! It's a running joke here at the Meeker house that Chris and Ethan live in a MUSICAL!!! Lately that has been very true:) Carlie and Max have auditions this next Friday for Queen Creek Performing Arts for "Oliver!" Max has been SOO excited and has been working EXTRA hard on his audition piece. You have to be 7 years to audition for Queen Creek and Max just turned 7 in January. He has been BEGGING to do this ever since Carlie did "Annie." I think he will make an ADORABLE orphan boy but we shall see:)

Aladdin Jr....CHECK!!!

WHEW! I am EXHAUSTED!!! And I wasn't even the one in the show!!! Carlie just completed her 3rd major show! And to think we only stared this whole music theater journey last April:) I feel like we've been in it for years!

Carlie was a "Towns Person" in Aladdin Jr with Actor's Youth Theater. It was HANDS DOWN her MOST favorite of all her shows. The AYT cast was AMAZING to work with and Carlie really liked the director, Randy, and she also really liked that everyone in the production was her age. This production is called a "Jr." production because all of the actors were between the ages of 8-13. Of course Carlie was my most favorite actress on the stage but the Jafar came in a close second--he was my favorite lead:)

This past week was pretty intense as they had 7 shows in 5 days. Carlie even got to miss school on Friday for the student matinee--which was completely sold out!!! I saw 4 of the shows and helped out during the student matinee. Here are some of Carlie and her "theater buds:"

Our Beloved Carpool peeps: Carlie, Laci C., and Peyton F. (I finally got into a carpool this time round--saved my sanity for sure:)


Carlie and Diana M. (Iago):


Kayleah (Townsperson), Macy (Genie), and Carlie:


Kayleah W., Carlie, and Savannah P. (Jasmine)--these are two of Carlie's closest friends as they have been in Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, and now Aladdin together:)


Kayleah W. and Carlie: I have to laugh because I have a picture of them like THIS from every show:)
Aladdin:


Bye Bye Birdie:


Annie:


I took Ethan, Max, and Tatum on Friday night.
Tatum liked Genie best:


Max's new hero is Jafar--Max has his first audition in 2 weeks for "Oliver" at Queen Creek PAC--and he CAN'T wait!!! He's FINALLY old enough!!!


Carlie had a FABULOUS time and LOVED every single minute of every single rehearsal. She was a little teary-eyed last night coming home and she's been singing all the Aladdin songs all day today--as if she hasn't sung them enough already:) She can't wait to try out for AYT again--May 4th...Cinderella look out!!!