Yet Another Performance

It sure seems like a lot of my recent posts have been about my children and their drama productions. Jared is in drama club at school and he had a competition last night so we went to the theater and watched 4 plays. Jared's play was called The Happy Prince and the next group performed Daniel. I could go off right now about the school's drama teacher also being the director of the group that performed Daniel and how much more she puts in to that group but she's leaving the school so I'll leave it at that. The third group was a small group of 7 girls that did a fairly depressing play on school bullies.

The last one was called "A Real Happy Meal". It was an unbelievable bash of McDonald's performed by 9 and 10 year olds. They covered it all even the 12 year old girls in China making $5 a day to make your toy that you throw away the very next day. I think the best part was when they said "this box doesn't make you happy it gives you diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease!" I just don't think a junior drama competition is the place for some person to spout off on their hatred of McDonalds. LOL The funniest part was that Dh actually left the theater for the last act because he was hungry and WENT to McDonalds.

They also made a jab at American's and their adding of artificial sweeteners that cause cancer. LOL They put the DIE in diet coke ya know.

When we were leaving Jackson said it was all funny because it wasn't true. Ah what a child who lives in the age of television - can't tell fact from fiction - crap! I'll just go buy him a Happy Meal, that will solve it all.

Starring Jackson as........

This week Jackson was in a musical at his school. Their class did a very short rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat where Jackson played Judah. He did try out for the part of Joseph but he isn't much of a singer and he needs to work on his stage presence. The part of Joseph actually went to a girl. I think they did a fantastic job. We were treated to 3 productions. All of year 5 did Joseph, one of the year 6 classes did a short bit of Grease. And let me tell you we were all pleased that Greased Lighting makes the chicks scream. It's still a bit weird to hear 11 year olds singing about getting friendly down in the sand. The last group of year 6's did a bit from The Boyfriend.
While the last 2 were good Joseph REALLY outdid them. Jackson's class year is full of girls with very nice voices. The year 6 girls are just average. I took a video with my digital camera but it just doesn't do any of it justice.

Had we figured out that our video camera wasn't working BEFORE the lights went out we could have taken a decent video. Lesson learned and next time we'll give it a test shot before the play begins.

A group of the teachers also performed in the middle. It was quite comical as they all came out dressed as nuns and sang My Favorite Things. Which of course include when the bell rings, our children go home, and a bottle of wine. LOL

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Saw this on another blog - hmm I think I have a spelling problem. Now if I could get my sentence structure back up. LOL

I Scored a 100%!

Rain & Shine

So, I was off to the summer concert yesterday at the kid's school. Of course being England it decided to be a bit rainy. It has been beautiful outside for at least a week but with a planned activity outdoors this calls for one thing - rain. It didn't actually downpour - more of what J5 refers to as "spitting rain". So, there goes our outdoor summer concert. We are then packed in to the tiny gym in the school. It's humid and packed full - what better place to cheer your child on.

My pictures are horrible - this comes from being at the very back of the room. But what can I say - I was picking up some last minute picnic items and then had a desperate need for a coke with ice from Burger King. I mean seriously, priorities ya know!!

Okay back to the summer concert. After my rush to get there and then the beginning of the rain I stand in the back. I look at the program and of course my little one is LAST. I have to sit through the nursery children putting on a WAY TOO LONG performance. The program says they will do 3 numbers - first 2 were poems/group readings. Then a little song. LIARS - it was not 1 little song it was 15 minutes of watching preschoolers dance around singing about earthworms and dirt. (The theme of the summer concert was "An English Country Garden") Fine if it is your preschooler, but since it wasn't there I stood in the hot, humid gym wondering how much longer this would go on. Then we get a short performance from the year 2s, then the year 1s and finally to J5. Of course she does a fantastic job.

Since this is a schoolwide concert out go the pre-preps (Nursery-Year 2) and in comes Prep. I would have enjoyed it more had my children performed something new but they repeated performances/readings that we had all seen before at the drama festival in February. Oh well! J9 did sing a few new songs in choir. One was Heat Wave - just what we need right? They were set to sing "Singing in the Rain" but decided not to tempt fate seeing it had stopped raining and we were still planning a picnic on the lawns after the concert. After the choir concert I grabbed the children and ducked out before we got stuck listening to the orchestra and small ensembles. Having been in the gym for almost 2 hours already it was time for some fresh air.

We gathered all of our things from the car and spread out our tarp and blanket for a picnic. A friend had given us both the tarp and blanket when she went back to the states and I was confused about the tarp until our first picnic experience when I realized how wet the ground can be after sitting on it for a few minutes. And yes, I should probably invest in a proper picnic blanket. We sat on the outskirts, joined by two other American families. I wonder if they realize we are excluded or if they just think we are exclusive? In all it was a nice afternoon.
J5 - the girl in the center/front

J7 all the way to the right

J9 also all the way on the right

Summer & Music

Off to the summer concert at the kid's school. I promise to return with pictures - and a happier attitude then yesterday.