This reminds me of ....spaghetti.

The switch has been turned. Four years old is SO much different than three! And it wasn't the birthday party that did it.... it has been coming up gradually, but now that it's official, Sophie has become a totally different person.

Old Sophie:
Took naps every day and loved her quiet time.

New Sophie:
Naps? Not on your life!

Refused to take her turns saying prayers.

Insists on saying the prayers at every meal, family prayer and otherwise.

Had no interest in any sort of structured, educational entertainment.

First thing she wants to do every day is her "homework"!

Used to enjoy "helping" mommy around the house.

Chores are a four-letter word to her now.

Loved to announce when it was time to "take care of business"and make a big deal about it.

Has potty accidents all over the house and the only way I can tell she did is when she suddenly shows up wearing a different outfit.

Vegetables.

No vegetables.

Used to get frustrated when her sisters laughed at something cute she said or did.

Is now the self-appointed family comic relief. If she said something once that somebody laughed at, it should be funny every time.

Such as the blog post title. We were watching Star Wars one night, and the scene on Tatooine when we first meet Anakin comes on the screen, and suddenly Sophie pipes up, "That reminds me of spaghetti."

Huh?

We stopped the movie and rewound it. We watched the scene again, looking for any signs of pasta in the background, but to no avail. We asked her, "What do you mean?" And Sophie just smiled and said. "I like spaghetti. And I like Star Wars. So this reminds me of spaghetti."

And we laughed. Don't ask me why. It made total sense to her, and I was afraid that she would feel wounded at our amusement, but she didn't. She knew exactly what she was doing. She had the center of attention in the moment, and realized that she had found her gift.

So the die is cast. My youngest child has become the family court jester. And now everything reminds Sophie of spaghetti. (At least she's not scoping out porta-potties anymore!)

Heaven forbid, you should all think that I'm one of those parents that think everything that comes out of their kids' mouths is hysterical, and expect that all of you are rolling on the ground right now, and be mortally offended if you're not. I don't expect any of you to think this is funny. I expect lots and lots of sympathy, however, and possibly even empathy, for the people preparing my padded cell. I'm going to be needing it sooner than I thought.

One year older....my baby's growing up!

Four.
For some reason, that sounds so much bigger than three.

We celebrated Sophie's birthday in style and homemade elegance.
Here is the chain we made about three weeks ago from scrap paper.



And the poster we created for all the guests to sign and help decorate.



And the chocolate bird's nest cupcakes (from a box, not scratch, but I did make them myself)...



All of Sophie's friends were very generous and brought her some fun new toys with bazillions of small parts that will most likely get lost in the vacuum or air vents before Christmas. (At least I don't have to worry about her choking on them anymore!) And I wish I had gotten a picture of their creative wrapping jobs! I love four year old independence!~


I don't know if you can see what was in that present, but her friends all know her well --
everything had to do with horses or princesses, and she was a happy girl!

The kids made baskets out of paper plates, which they filled with jelly beans they found hidden all over the house, then colored the table (again, butcher paper!) to their hearts' content.



Then we took them all outside -- hooray for the sun! It cooperated! -- for a picnic lunch and a rousing game of limbo with the cheesiest inflatable limbo set we got for free from Oriental Trading. The kids had more fun whacking the silly thing with the pole like Jedi knights and their light sabers! (Another recent fascination of Sophie's -- my child is addicted to Star Wars! Chip off the old block, I'd say...)



All in all, I'd say the party was a great success! I hardly spent a penny, and everyone had a great time!

Here's the PROOF!!

Hey!!! That's me!!! Right here on the top of the stage!

And what do you think of my giraffes? And the elephants??!! And lionesses, and hyenas, and that goofy looking village person is supposed to be Rafiki. Man, can that kid do flips! And he can twirl a MEAN baton -- I mean, shaman stick -- like nobody's business.

The pictures are starting to trickle in. For more great looking shots, check out my friend Tana

(She's one stupendous quick-change artist -- she got fifteen boys out of baseball uniforms and into their street clothes in less than 28 seconds!)


And here's some more proof -- congratulations, Krystal! Yours was the last name I picked for a black and white beauty! I was about to cheat and pick your name anyway, since you left THIRTY FIVE COMMENTS, but fate intervened and kept me an honest woman. Or something like that. So, persistence pays off and you are now the proud owner of a Sue Q original!

Getting in Touch with my Inner Zebra...

What an amazing show! We wrapped up the run of "Broadway II" last night, AND
IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Is it possible to be thoroughly exhausted and invigorated at the same time?

No?

Well, it is now! I have never been more proud of anything I created professionally than I am with this show. (But not to proud to take a four hour nap this afternoon, which is good, because my job won't be done until all the costumes get cleaned and returned and stored away, and I need all the rest I can get before the REAL work begins...)

However.... that's not the best news. Not only did I get to do costumes, I got to be ON STAGE!!! As a PERFORMER!!! For five whole minutes! Twice, actually, so it was more like ten whole minutes!

One of our actors injured herself during a performance on Thursday night and was unable to finish the run (she's on crutches now, and we're all keeping our fingers crossed that she won't require surgery!) But in the meantime, there were two other kids who had to drop out because of illness, so we were left with a few holes to fill. Luckily, Cailey the Magnificent McCandless, one of our choreographers, stepped in for one of our girls and did the dances and sang the solos as if she had been to all eight weeks of rehearsals. Yeah. She's pretty amazing. But we still were short one zebra for Circle of Life....and who could do it? Everybody that wasn't in that number was already dressed and ready for the next number, so....what the heck? I grabbed the costume, prayed I could squeeze into that spandex, and lo and behold, in less than ten minutes (before the curtain went up), I found myself clawing and hoofing my way around the stage, duplicating everything Ally (the surviving zebra) did, and the next thing I knew the lights went on and the song began and .....bing, bodda bing, I made my Stage Debut.

I looked just like this!

I have to be honest. I let the kids talk me into it. At first, I thought it was just a joke, but once the kids caught on to the idea, they were relentless. I seriously was not about to subject myself (and the audience!) to ....gulp....spandex....but hey, it was black, and black is slimming, right? Besides, I had this huge head piece on my head, and nobody probably recognized me anyway.

Except for the director, and the producer, and all the costume crew moms and dads watching in the audience, and ...okay, a few of my friends that had to come to that particular performance (whom I didn't know would be there).....

What am I saying? And WHO am I kidding??!!

I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!!

In fact, I loved it so much, I let the kids talk me into sneaking into another number later in the show. The song was "Seasons of Love" from RENT, (honestly, not my favorite show in the world, but it is a beautiful song with a gorgeous harmony), and all I had to do was walk on with the rest of the kids, all dressed in our street clothes, and since the entire cast was on stage for this number, it was easy to get lost in the crowd.

And just.......sing!

Oh, what joy! What rapture! What an unmitigated thrill! What a rebellious, spontaneous thing to do! I felt like a teenager again, for those brief moments, but I tell you what, once you step onto stage and your face gets flooded with stage lights, and you can see the outlines of the mass of people in the audience without making out any particular person, but you know they are all watching and when they clap, they are clapping for YOU.... well, it's in my blood now. I want to do this AGAIN!!!!!


People, the sad news is that, even though there were dozens of kids who ran and got their cameras as soon as I stepped out of the dressing room in those zebra striped spandex pants, I still haven't gotten a copy of anybody's picture. (Actually....that may be a good thing!) So I don't have physical proof to offer you, but trust me when I say, it was the coolest thing I've done in a very long time!

GET OFF THE SIDEWALKS, PEOPLE!

SARA'S BEHIND THE WHEEL!!

So far, it's just been a few trips around the temple parking lot. (less than 10 miles an hour, no less) What safer place to practice, right? And she only went over the curb twice and didn't hit a single tree or light post!

But TODAY.....

Sara drove home from the Library!

One-point-three miles, past the Police Station (Sara: one of the scariest parts--I had to back up with 2 police officers watching!), past the elementary school, through several four-way stops, past a pedestrian that couldn't decide if she really wanted to cross the street or not, a few bicyclists....and did I mention real cars? Moving ones and Parked, and NOT A SINGLE DENT!!!


I'm going to let her tell you in her own words how this feels.....


I, Sara The Magnificent, am now taking over. I was eating lunch, and I guess Mom was too excited to wait. Anyway--I was most scared around parked cars and other traffic. I went halfway into the other lane just to avoid one immobile, parked car. Yea. I have that much self-confidence. And the people in moving vehicles who were following me probably thought they were following a drunk lunatic! I was trying to figure out where the weird little yellow things called lines you are supposed to follow fit in the view of the front window, so I kept turning and swerving in my lane. At least it was IN MY LANE, people!

But I like going 25 miles an hour-it's POWERFUL! (If you actually pay attention to where you're going and don't crash, that is:) I LIKE IT!!!!!!

I just have to get used to it first.


Oh! Before I sign off, there's one more thing I wanted to share: I WAS IN MY FIRST PLAY!!!!!!! AND I GOT TO SPEAK LINES!!!!!!!!!!!
About a month ago, Crater performed a 10 Minute Play Cabaret with South High. A play I wrote was in it, and I PERFORMED in one called Happy Birthday? It's about Jack (played by me) and Carl (played by Adam Brown). Jack is trying to take Carl to his birthday surprise. Carl doesn't like Jack's surprises, plus it's below 10 degrees in a back street in a big city. Jack is optimistic, and keeps trying to get Carl going. At one point, Carl reveals that his dream was to be on Broadway, with his "name up in lights". At the end of the play, the surprise that Jack has been trying to show Carl is a Carls, Jr. sign. ....Wait a minute...get it? Carl's name up in lights? Got it? Funny, isn't it?



Here is a picture closing night after the performance with Adam Crum. (He's holding a candy bar, by the way.)

I LOVED my dress! It was a light cotton one, and after I took the mucho heavy coat off, I felt like I could fly. I wore the coat buttoned up, and even in ten minutes I was boiling on stage. My shoes-oooohhh!-made noises when I walked on stage! You know the noise high heels make? I wasn't wearing high heels, but it made the same noise. My hat didn't exactly fit, but it was so cool! Anyway, adios amigos!

How do you spell relief? Part Two

S-O-L-D O-U-T.

That means over 700 people came and saw the show last night.

And clapped.

And cheered.

A LOT.

!!!@#$$%%^&*())*$@!!#%*(O)(*&!!

I'm thoroughly exhausted, exhilarated, and delighted with the performance. Everybody gave their 200% and there were only a few little glitches that nobody but me would have noticed, but the kids did what good actors do and the show went on without any hesitation whatsoever.

Here's a glimpse of the playbill:


My bio --

I have not had a single moment to take a single picture as of yet, but I am going to take my camera with me tomorrow night and take a bunch of shots backstage so I can add them to my blog and my portfolio!

Thanks for everybody's patience and support -- it's been a stressful but totally enjoyable experience, but I'll be glad to get life back to normal and back to my blog as well!

What happens to me when I do what I do .....

Opening night is five days away.

I have two giraffe body suits to paint orange spots on, four pairs of elephant legs to run elastic through the waistband, 25 capes to dye black, and various odds and ends to tie off. Or velcro. Whichever is easier. I'm not really picky at this point.

And that's it.

On the subject of whether or not I've fallen (or jumped) off a cliff, the answer would be no, I'm actually having the time of my life. Yes, it is the most ambitious, creatively challenging, exhausting, stressful, ..... can I possibly think of any more adjectives?.......and exhilarating experience as well. I've made some new life-long friends among the parent volunteers that joined my army of seamstresses and costume helpers. I've worked with some really talented kids that have been very well mannered (which is rare to find among adolescents!) and helpful and positive and seriously good sports, after some of the costumes I've put them in. I've got boys wearing skirts (Egyptian ones, that is) and girls wearing African pajama-type outfits that look about as flattering as wearing a sack, and yet they don't complain. CMTO has become a second family to me, and one which I hope I will be able to work with for many years to come.

But not for a few months. I need a break. And a killer massage wouldn't hurt either.

WHY I DO WHAT I DO

Watch and enjoy a little slice of my work. I love this organization and I'm absolutely thrilled to be a part of it!