Major project...DONE!!!

Holy cow!  This year for girl's camp instead of performing skits AT camp, the camp leaders asked that we video-tape a skit beforehand to watch while at camp.  We were all assigned a specific song--having to do with "light" which is this year's theme at camp.

So over the course of 2 weeks at mutual, we recorded about 3 hours worth of video that I had to edit down to 3 minutes and 44 seconds and set it to our assigned song.  The "idea" of our video was to have the girl's participate in "Flash Service Mobs."  Great idea right?!  Wish I could take credit for that one:)  Thank goodness for wonderful and creative YW leaders:)  However...I can take some credit for this video:)  But the REAL genius behind the editing would be my WONDERFUL SUPER-GENIUS husband!!!  Thanks babe...you make me look GOOD:)

As stressful as it was to put this together, it sure turned out FANTASTIC!  We have the MOST beautiful young women in our ward!!!  Just LOVE these girlies!!!

I have survived another MAY:)

Whew! I know I say this every year, "MAY KICKS MY BUTT!!!" Well, I am through the worst of it at this point! YAHOO!!! Here's a small glimpse of what my family has been up to:

 The first thing that is taking up most of my time is our ward's Girl's Camp coming up June 12-16th. I made the mistake of saying out loud to my husband, "It would be kinda fun to see Carlie at her first year of girl's camp." Well...they called ME as our ward camp director shortly thereafter--NOT really what I meant! I just wanted to be a fly on a tent or something. Soo...it has been an adventure to say the least as I try to make a small miracle happen--because girl's camp is COMPLICATED!!! I know my husband just took the 11 year old scouts on a camp out this past weekend. He picked the days at the beginning of May, they met this past Tuesday to buy the groceries, and then they just WENT camping!!! How does THAT happen??? Why am I loosing sleep over T-shirt designs, PJ pants, crafts, skits, etc??? It will all come together and be FUN and AMAZING--right???

 This CUTIE PATOOTIE has her birthday on September 29th. In Chandler you have to turn 5 by September 1st to be allowed into Kindergarten. I have had many many many mixed emotions on whether to have Tatum tested for early entrance. At the beginning of the year, she was still napping everyday. But all of the sudden, this girl has blossomed and turned into this little learning sponge. When she began reading full on Kindergarten/1st grade books in March, I decided I would have her tested. Well...she PASSED and will be starting Kindergarten at CTA-Independence July 23rd. She is SUPER excited. I already told Chris that he would be taking that day off from work because it will probably be one of MY worst days ever!!!

Carlie had her spring band concert a couple weeks ago--failing to mention that she and Taylor were playing a duet! My video camera was filled up with girl's camp stuff so we recorded the duet on Chris' phone--gotta love these phones that do EVERYTHING! I'm still in the stone age with my lame
Blackberry phone:)
 

And of course PIANO PIANO PIANO! I had 17 students participate in Achievement Day on Saturday, May 12th. They all PASSED! Yahoo!!! It's nice to know that my students are all up to par with all the other students throughout the valley:) It's a strenuous day as each student has to perform 3 memorized songs, multiple octave scales (according to their level), an ear training test, sight-reading, and composer reports. Every year for this event I am asked to be an Evaluator for performing students. It's actually one of my most favorite things to do. I really enjoy listening to polished pieces and giving constructive/positive comments and suggestions--I had to fail a student this year--HATED doing that:( But it was necessary.

 And then of course this weekend was my marathon of piano recitals. 4 recitals back to back at my home. I like to keep the recitals short and sweet--no longer than 45 minutes--and so 4 recitals breaks them up just right. Soo proud of ALL my students and especially proud of my kiddos. I always record my kids after the recitals because I forget during the recital--too much to think about:) (ONE of these days, my boys are going to slow down and play beautiful music with no mistakes but for now apparently their motto is "faster is better"--FRUSTRATING but I love them to pieces anyways:)

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!!!

Errands for Ethan:)

We have some dear friends of ours that lost their son, Ethan, exactly one year ago today. Ethan was only 7. He had an artereoventricular malformation (AVM). His mom, Kim, has been blogging every day this month with memories of her dear sweet Ethan. She very meticulously documented the last week of his life. I have been anxiously reading this blog every day this month. There were days when I checked multiple times to see if she had updated it yet. This blog has been my daily reality check and has forever changed me for the better. If you would like to read this blog, grab a kleenex box and click here.

In honor of their son, Marcus and Kim declared today, March 26th, as "Errands for Ethan" day. They were asking for people to do random acts of kindness in remembrance of their son. So the Meekers were TOTALLY in!!!

My first errand of the day was for Kim: (Kim, check your front door step if you haven't already:) I hope you like it:)



The Meekers have a tradition of "cookie ditching" every Christmas Eve. The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE this! It is such an adrenaline rush:) So we decided to cookie ditch this day in honor of Ethan--he also liked "secret" acts of service. So we made 7 dozen cookies--one dozen for each year of his life--and we delivered them to neighbors, primary teachers, and others who we thought might enjoy some cookies (but not to anyone that would read my blog:)

I had these cards made up to put on each cookie plate:


We made the cookies:




Here are my kids saying "ERRANDS FOR ETHAN!!!"


And then we ditched the cookies:)
(Carlie had dress rehearsals for Aladdin tonight so she had to miss out on the fun--we sure needed her leadership and fast-running cause the other 3 almost got us caught a couple times:)


So Ellsworth Family, we love you guys and are AMAZED by your examples of how to endure. Thank you SOO much for allowing us to be a part of your special day. We had an AWESOME time:)