Passion, creativity, art, music, team work, talent, friendship, JOY!

These are all the things that I was priviledged to experience while working on and performing the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

After 15 years of being away from theater, I found my voice again! It never left of course, but my life had taken a different path. Being a wife and a mom will always be my number one role, but to have the opportunity to express myself creatively has renewed me. It also showed my children that Mommy is A LOT more than what they see every day.

This was a goal that I had been waiting to achieve for 20 years. But I also believe that had I played the role back then it probably wouldn't have been as fulfilling or as multi-dimensional. There's a lot to be said for 20 years of life experience that one can bring to a character.
I also reconnected to a group of people that give me so much joy. 'Theater People':) People who 'get' you. People who have the same love and respect for the craft. These will be life-long friends.

This will not be the last production I do. The fire has been sparked and this time I won't let it go out!

Mom & Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

For the last 6 months my brothers and I have been planning a celebration for our parents 50th wedding anniversary. We decided to all gather in Southern California and surprise them with a cruise to Mexico.

We really wanted to do it up for them. We planned the cruise, we rented a limo for the ride to and from the port, we ordered them a special cake, crystal champagne glasses and I created a photo book of their life together. It was really fun surprising them. And also it's been about 10 years since ALL of us were together. That was probably the most touching thing for them, having all their kids together - getting along!!!! haha

There were a few issues with sea sickness. My dad, my brother and my husband all got sick the first day. It was really bad. The weather was crazy. The ship was all over the place. They even had to change the cruise itinerary because it was unsafe to get into one of the ports. It was also very cold. So we spent most of our time indoors. We never even unpacked our swim suits!

Before the cruise we also had the opportunity to go out and spend time with my birth-mom, Marina and my grandpa Del and his wife, Helen.
My brothers had been wanting to meet them for a while now. So Grandpa Del took us all out for dinner. Mom and Helen really hit it off too. Helen told my mom the story of how she was the first person to give me a bath when I was not even a week old. My brothers, SIL and niece all thought that Marina was really nice and bubbly and they could see where I get my outgoing personality from! LOL

All our planning was a HUGE success. The parents will never forget their 50th Anniversary:)

Lots of stuff going on

So we're already at the end of February!!! Unbelievable! I thought that after the holidays things would slow down or get back to 'normal'. I'm finally starting to see that THIS IS NORMAL! LOL I thrive on organized chaos I guess.

Since the last time I wrote, we've continued our learning journey with all it's ups and downs. A is coming along nicely with his math. I kind of got off his back about the times table situation and moved on to division concepts. It was a good move, because he's seeing how division is the opposite of multiplication. And isn't that what I want anyway? I want him to understand and use the concepts!
B is reading, on her own schedule. Her math skills are progressing to doing actual addition problems. She enjoys adding EVERYTHING! haha

One day, out of curiosity, I was googling local theaters to see what's going on around town. And up pops an audition notice for the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!! I was up for the lead role of The Narrator about 20 years ago in L.A.! I didn't get it then, so it's always been in the back of my head that I would someday do it. Well, I got up enough nerve to actually go to the audition and ---I GOT THE PART!!
YAY! This was actually a huge hurdle for me to overcome. Having been out of the game for so many years, my confidence was, shall we say, lacking!
But, just like anything, if you love it, it comes back to you. It feels like I never stopped. I'm having a blast at rehearsals and can hardly wait to open in April!

One of my dreams has been to have my kids and husband see me on stage in a musical. And now it's going to come true. I couldn't be happier:)

John Francis Walks the Earth — YES! Magazine

John Francis Walks the Earth — YES! Magazine

Learning update.....

I'm amazed at how well our learning has been going! OK OK, it's only been 2 days back from Christmas break!!! But really it feels like there is a renewed sense of goal setting and accomplishment. On everyones part. B pretty much asks to do 'school' every day. A on the other hand is usually pretty resistant. But yesterday and today he was totally into it!
We're still working through Story of the World which we all really enjoy. It covers a lot of subjects. History, geography, social studies, literature, cultures and art. Right now we're on the chapter of Ancient Africa.
A has been writing thank-you notes to everyone who sent him presents. Which is awesome, because for a while now he's been hating anything to do with writing. The gratification of receiving responses helped too. It's nice when someone writes back, isn't it?:)
He also asked to do fractions and is getting into his own little routine of independent reading first thing in the morning!
OK, I better stop right now before I jinx it.....LOL