Beauty and the Beast

Maddie's long awaited production of Beauty and the Beast was this weekend and boy am I exhausted! Maddie auditioned for this production put on by Los Osos High School and Broadway Experience back in March. She was so excited to be part of something so big! She was the youngest person in the whole play and the other cast members were so good to her. It was so much fun and I am really glad she did it.

She had rehearsals all week long and some even lasted until 11:30pm which is very late for a six-year-old but I didn't mind because it was such a great experience for her. There were 5 shows and I watched all but one! The cast was soooo good. I especially loved the Beast and Belle. Maddie had so much fun getting to know all of them and it makes her very excited to someday get a big part in a play.

Today was the last show and it went very well. They got a standing ovation and it was a packed house! There was a cast party afterward and it was so much fun to see her interact with all the other kids. They all took such good care of her and she was just babied so much by them. Her ego is huge now! Most of the kids were high school age and then there were some tweens as well, but she was the youngest by 2 years.

Here is a little video clip that I sneaked of her doing her part as a "sugar cube" in "Be Our Guest". She looked so adorable but never could get quite on cue with the other girls. I think it made it cuter! She is obviously the one in the middle.




Saturday afternoon my family came to watch Maddie and then in the evening Chris' family came. It was fun for Maddie to have her family there watching her. After the matinée show Maddie had 1 hour to eat so we all went to Old Spaghetti Factory and then Chris rushed her back to the show. Here are some pictures of Maddie with her cousins and at Spaghetti Factory

Maddie as a sugar cube in "Human Again"

Grand Finale- Maddie is the second from the left

Maddie with her cousins after the play (Collin, Kallie, and Davis)

We went to Maddie's favorite restaurant "Spaghetti Factory" to celebrate a job well done!


Here are some pictures I took during and after the last performance:
(The cast came out in their costumes but Maddie was so used to going backstage to change she didn't come out in costume)


Maddie with her new friend, the ottoman dog!

Maddie with Mrs. Potts


These two little girls (9 yrs old) helped Maddie back stage and were so sweet to her


Maddie with the Beast (well he is a prince now). He was the star of the show, wonderful voice!


Maddie with her friend who played "Chip"- a girl of course



Maddie with the lovely Belle

Maddie with Babette and Lumiere

Gettin' down and dirty

I mentioned on a previous post that we are finally redoing our yard. Ever since we moved back in 2 years ago it has been pretty much weeds. We have finally taken on the challenge to remove it all, fix the sprinklers and valves and put new top soil and sod down. We also got a trampoline to put up as soon as we are finished! At first we tried so hard to not let the kids get all dirty when we go out in the yard and work but we finally just gave in and give 'em a good scrub afterward!

Carter has quite a liking for worms and treats them as pets for a while then he eventually smashes them with a rock. At first I thought this was sooo gross but after a few Saturdays being out in the yard I thought, "What the heck it keeps him busy!"

Sawyer on the other hand just loves being dirty. He plays with the dirt, throws it every where and even puts it in his mouth. Last time I cleaned him up after being outside all day he had dirt in his ears! Maddie is such a girl and doesn't like to get dirty. She comes outside and tiptoes around a bit and then goes back in to watch TV.

We've made a lot of progress. Chris fixed all the sprinklers and valves by himself, we've removed all the old grass (or weeds I should say) We are just about ready for the top soil and then sod. I have pictures of our progress but I want to show them all when it is done for a more dramatic effect!

Summa Summa Summa Time...

We are clearly into Summer now so you might ask what we have been doing with our Summer time. Besides our little trip up north with Chris after school let out we really haven't gone anywhere or done anything exciting. Here are some things we have been doing-

- I always get so antsy having all three kids home all day during Summer and the house has been getting sooo messy so I organized all the toys and cleaned the kids rooms thoroughly.

-We have been working on our yard which is a huge project! It is taking longer than expected and I am going crazy because we can't let the kids play outside since it is currently all dirt! We will be soooo happy when it is done!

-I've taken the kids to the pool several times.

-Maddie's Beauty and the Beast rehearsals are now every night, since the show is approaching. That takes up a huge chunk of time.

Not much huh? I've been feeling bad because the kids are really bored and me too! Today was a perfect Summer day. I took the kids to Victoria Gardens this morning and no one was at the fountain yet. The mall was just opening. It was so nice to just let them play while I read. Grammy joined us a little later and we went to lunch and then had ice cream. It was lots of fun and I'm glad to finally get them out of the house. Once Maddie's show is over that will free up our evenings.

Independence Day

We had a wonderful fourth of July! We went to Wes and Kristy's house in Corona for a nice barbecue with the family. Wes is a wiz at the grill and made great burgers! After dinner we headed over to a nearby park to watch a FREE firework show that their city put on. I was pretty impressed with how good the fireworks were for a free show! We put out our blankets and the kids had so much fun. Sawyer was so enthralled with the fireworks, he loved it! Here are some cute pictures I took that day.

The kids in their Fourth of July outfits

Sawyer loved holding his little flag the entire time! What a patriotic boy!

Having Uncle Chris around sure has been a treat for my kids!

Watching the fireworks

New Background

If you like my new Background, you can find tons more cute ones like it. My sister-in-law, Amanda has started creating her own blog designs. If you'd like to see some more cute designs you can visit her new blog jonesblogdesign.blogspot.com