The boys started out Nov 2022 by going to Disneyland! It was something Jeremy really wanted to do with the boys since they had never been (well, I took Tanner as a toddler when we had free entrance with Taryn). They went during a normal school day when the weather was very rainy, so there weren't any crowds. I stayed back to teach my students and enjoyed a cozy evening at home.
They went on all the rides they wanted, sometimes twice, without much waiting. Even though they got soaked, they had a great time!
Tired boys the next day.
More fun Primary Activities. The kids flipped out with these really fun minute to win it games! This was the height of the YouTube channel called Dude Perfect, where the reactions to all trick shots are HUGE. So the kids were super hyped to react just like the TV show.
Note- this kid is tired a lot.
All 4 of us went to Seaport Village for the first time living in San Diego and it was really fun! Our main goal was to find the pier where they sell fresh tuna.
We didn't buy any, but Jeremy had a lot of questions and it was fun to see.
I directed another primary presentation and this one was the best one I had ever done up to that point!! I think it was Tanner's last presentation in primary. He gave a beautiufl talk and played the ukulele with Emma as the main accompaniment for one of the songs. The children sang beautifully, and we used sign language for a couple of songs. Many of the speaking parts were things that the children helped write that they wanted to say. We had about 32 kids on the stand and the Spirit was so strong.
We had all the children invite people to the presentation.
We had a special program that the congregation could look at during the presentation to know what songs we were singing next, and to see all the names of the children.
I was so proud of all the kids, but especially my two boys.
During the week of Parent Teacher conferences, we had half days the whole week. So I chose this time in my grand vision of directing the MTC production of Shrek to conduct auditions for the show during the early dismissal free time that everyone had. It was brilliant because kids did not have to miss sports and other activities to audition, and I didn't have to use our actual rehearsal time to do the auditions. This was especially important because we had 110 students who needed to audition. It was a big orchestration, and I felt very successful casting everyone in the parts that fit them the best!
I collaborated with dance teacher, art teacher and some parents with experience in theatre to help run the auditions so that we had a panel of 4 adults helping contribute feedback for the cast. It also helped that I had been rehearsing and learning the show with all these students for a month, and I already knew all the kids from teaching them normal music classes during wheel. I will share a big, long post all about the challenges and successes with putting on this huge production, as it became the most challenging project I've ever done in my life.
For the auditions, I spent 4 days, and over 20 hours listening to students sing, act, and dance and do callbacks. We had to host the auditions outside because there was not available space in the auditorium or classrooms. I had to tape all the audition papers to the tables with each round of students to keep everything from blowing away.
I took time to give a social-emotional lesson to each wave of students that came, so they all knew that we were rooting for them, that it's normal to be nervous, that they're already guaranteed to be in the show, do their best, etc. I was so proud of all of them, and we had so many talented students, it felt overwhelming to pick only one part for each strong performer. I kept saying we could have cast the show with 4 different groups of students in all the lead roles and had 4 strong casts.
At home, I laid out all student's audition pages on the floor. I had sticky notes on their forms from notes we took during auditions, and I had construction paper with each character's title on it, and spent the next 5 hours shifting papers around the room, sitting with the vibes and energy that each scenario would give and playing out in my mind how each student would sound or fall into the roles we were considering them for. Whether you want to say that I was following the Spirit or using intuition, I truly drew upon the powers of the universe to help me give every child a part that they could be successful in and excited about. It was a huge puzzle, and with the help of Barbara, we were able to create the best cast list ever possible!
Tanner was cast as Pinocchio, which was a lead role. Dallin was cast as a Dulloc dancer and White Rabbit. The full cast that we ended up with was amazing, through and through. I couldn't be more proud of the kids.
I think Dallin is tieing Tanner's shoes here.
Dallin made a painting of California for school and got very creative with getting it dry faster so he could take it school the next day. (Yes he procastinated)
Dallin's 4th grade drawing
Idk what these are.
I got to attend the porch fest in South Park and see the Night Carrots perform! This is when they were just barely getting popular in the community. I taught Eva piano and helped with the Aladdin show that she was in. I taught Clementine and Lola music at McKinley as well as Shrek with Clementine (she was Farquad) and voice lessons to Lola (she was really shy to sing until she took that class at my studio and found her voice).
Tanner painted some sort of baseball bat and it turned out awesome. Idk where it is now, though.
Other projects that Tanner was busy with...
Each week during this school year, Jeremy and I took turns doing therapy time with the boys. We would check them out of school and go on a walk or to a restaurant to have some good connecting time and work through processing things that needed to be addressed. We used the tools we had learned from our therapists and were able to apply them without regular professional therapy. This helped our relationships and our bank accounts. Here, I am taking Tanner to Cafe Madeline's.
He wanted to have his eyes closed in these pictures. I love my 5th grade son!!
Jeremy's new bike.
Road trip to see Sharon and then go to Jullian for Thanksgiving.
It was weird not having grandpa with us. This was our first time seeing Sharon without grandpa.
We went to the same cabin as earlier that fall and had a lot of fun for 1 or 2 nights. I was really excited about collecting acorns.
We tried to make a game with the acrons.
It was so calm and cozy sleeping by the fireplace in our cabin. Loved it!
Funny head #1
Funny head #3
Funny head #4
Family hike on a long trail. It was absolutely beautiful and gave us a lot to be grateful for.
We just couldn't stop taking pictures!
When we checked out of the campsite, it was Thanksgiving Day. We went to Golden Corral for our big feast. Lots of other people had the same idea, so we stood in line for a good 40 minutes. The food was just right for what we needed.
The next day during our Thanksgiving break, we got to go to the beach. From camping in the mountains to playing at the beach, we were feeling pretty amazingly blessed to live in San Diego and have access to both of these things within our same county.
Then we put up the Christmas tree!
First time the tree was set up in the new house, and I think it turned out pretty amazing!!
