The Long Awaited Preschool Winter Musical

Before I get to this next post, let's channel some Taylor Swift and sing a litttle, Back to December....,

Okay, now think back to how festive you felt this (past) holiday season, Christmas Trees a glowing, cookies a' bakin, presents a' wrappin, holiday songs a playin....

There. Do you feel festive again? Good. Because I thought it was time to share some laughs from the Bunchkins' first official Preschool Holiday Musical Performance. (A title I'm using loosely you'll soon see.)

First of all, I should know from having taught kindergarten for so long that when it comes to performances and such, it really makes no difference what happens in the actual show. (Because no show EVER goes off seamlessly). Doesn't matter if they sing, if they practice their stretches or if they stand there and cry. None of it matters because to the parents and families who attend, there is great pride in the fact that those little people up there on that stage belong to you. And they're charming in their own rights.

Before we move on to pictures, I'd like to point out the work it took to even get to this point. There was practicing songs at school, there was practicing songs at home, there was mom just singing the songs endlessly with hopes that the littles were 'soaking it up' without even realizing it. (Because I'm certain it's totally NOT normal for one person to sing "Feliz Navidad" 26 times in a row for any other reason than this...) There was bribery--also known as 'singing for snacks' (thank you, Grammy), there was chasing kids around Target picking out and buying outfits (Thank you, Nana & Auntie Kristen). And there was some serious finger-crossing, and breath-holding happening.

The night of the show brought half the town with it....(But I figure if you divide the number of guests by 3 Bunchkins...then we should work out to a normal child/guest attendance ratio....)  :)

Anyhoo, luckily my in-laws got there first (and they came the farthest! Go figure!) And they were able to save 12 seats... For the three of them, me and Brian, Mom and Al, Dad and Genise, Mary, Auntie Valerie and Uncle Jim.

Though we had great seats right in the front rows, we later learned that this may have contributed to the demise of the program...

Come along..let's take a little picture walk.

Before the show. 
Aren't they delightful? 

Pointing to his future record manager. 
"You. I'm gonna make you a big star tonight."

Look out Frankie Sinatra...here comes the next 'Old Blue Eyes.' 

Now THIS girl was ready. She knew her words, she knew her actions and 
she KNEW she was looking her best. 

Auntie Kristen, Nana and Papa

Al, Grammy and Hunter

Squinty Eyes (me) and Brinley

My little niece sat up on stage, pre-show, and waved to all her fans. "Thank you for coming everybody. Thank you very much. I love you all."

This is our section of the audience.

Finally the show is about to begin. And end. All at once.  :) Kidding....seriously though, as the kids came down the aisle, Colton, who was likely already nervous, saw us, Ponka and Aunt Mary first,  and then he didn't want to leave us. He did. But he didn't want to.  

The kids filed up on stage, led by their teachers like a herd of adorable baby cows. Oh my goodness. 3 year olds are just cute. There's no other way around it.  So there they were-Hunter and Ethan, waiting for Colton to come up and take his spot.

You can't see him because he's hiding behind this teacher hysterically proclaiming through sobs and tears, "I'm soaking brave. I'm soaking brave!" 

See? Doesn't he LOOK soaking brave?? 

My mom even brought graham crackers to use as bribery for instances JUST like the one we were facing. It didn't work exactly like we had hoped but it did quiet the sobs a touch.

Seriously. Aren't 3 year olds the cutest?

Hunter, the red nosed reindeer

Colton, the sad, sad reindeer. 

Ethan, the stubborn reindeer... :)

So luckily, we snapped these photos of them right off the bat because it was short lived. We literally got one song out of all three of them before Colton really decided he was done and was much more comfortable sitting on my lap. 

This photo may be my favorite....it pretty much sums up their performance attitudes. 

(And in case you were wondering, those really ARE the words Ethan was shouting.) 

Don't believe me? Watch the next video. 

THIS video encapsulates Hunter's dedication to everything she does. She's just singing. Ignoring her goofball brothers, just singing. Though my favorite part is how engrossed she is trying to make her 'Reindeer Hands" for the first 30 seconds of the song. (Just stand by for the NEXT video. )

There are SO many things I love about this next video....

First off, at :05 seconds in, we hear Colton LEAVE the stage exclaiming "I'm soaking brave.."

At :24 and :34 Ethan is squatting down shaking his head 'no' (which was his response to the 12 of us encouraging him to stand up and sing.)  

At :42 he hustles back on stage as the song ends, because he KNOWS he's misbehaving. 

At 1:05 he's upside down, throwing gang signs, perhaps?

And at 1:09, he's doing stretches. My favorite part, by the way. 

So was the performance everything I hoped it would be? 

Oh yeah. And a crap ton more. 

I know how hard it is to teach kindergartners to sing in an organized manner so these preschool teachers totally have my respect and admiration. I couldn't have loved the show or my crazy trio any more. It was so....them.  

"I'm perfect and I know it." 

And then the show and all the tears ended and like a light switch, my chipper littles were back. We got to walk around their classrooms and eat cookies and visit and it was just so fun to watch. 

Ponka and Hunter

Grammy, Hunter and Colton

Auntie Kristen and Hunter

Nana, Colton, Auntie K, Hunter, Papa and Ethan

Kisses from Nana! 

Me and 2 of my little reindeer. 

A fleeting moment where I thought I'd captured all three...

Oh Colton...you still are our little squishy boy. 

It's like I'm the meanest mom in the WHOLE WORLD. What do you MEAN you want a picture? 

Papa, Nana, Brian and Genise

Kristen, Mary, My Dad, Papa and Nana

My sister in law and my dad

Uncle Jim and Al

Auntie Valerie and Hunter

Hunter, Auntie Valerie, and Aunt Mary

Love these photos on their classroom door. That's Hunter and one of her BFFs wearing chef hats? 

Classic. Ethan, asleep in the cozy corner at school. 

Playing at the sand table. 

And this one I cherish...it's of ME! The day I got to volunteer!

front: Uncle Jim, back: Papa, Nana & Colton, Brian, Genise and Dad

And THEN the kids got to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus. 

It just doesn't get any better than this. 

My littleish family

Genise, Me and Brian

Brinley and Valerie

And there you have it. Sorry for the wait. Thank you Sonshine Preschool for making my kids' first Holiday Performance so memorable. Sorry about the goofballs....