Shows, Rockets, Haircuts & More

It has been a busy few weeks. With the end of school came the end-of-school programs and activities. We had a great time attending so many fun things. I managed to get pictures of many of them.

The Xavier Spring Showcase was excellent. Each of the grades shared things they had learned. Joe's class tap-danced and sang a song. Savannah's class did the waltz and a song. Veronica was in a group that did a medley of songs from Le Mis. They made costumes and everything. It was fabulous. It is hard for me to describe the feelings I felt during the show. I love this school and the wide variety of things our younger kids are getting to learn and participate in. It was a great show!
I wish I had a better picture. This was during "At the End of the Day." The kids were bedraggled and bitter because of the hardness of their lives. Their body language and expressions showed that. Veronica did such a great job.
Here is Savannah's waltz. The kids moved all over the stage. It was really neat.
Savannah at the end of their song "Idaho."
This is Joe after singing "America the Beautiful" and performing a tap number to "Eensy Weensy Spider."
You can see their tap shoes in this one.
There were about a dozen kids invited to perform at a Broadway Showcase with a high school group. Savannah was able to do that. They performed three nights in a row. The songs she participated in were "Do Re Mi," "Getting to Know You," and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." On the first two songs, their teacher performed with them. She's great. She is the same teacher that Veronica has for piano three days a week.

Mrs. Kokx has asked Veronica if she'd like to be the accompanist for the show choir next year. Veronica is nervous, but I think she's going to do part of it. That will be so good for her.
This is during "Getting to Know You." Savannah is in the middle.


The 8th grade read several of the classics this year. One of the books they read was "Pride and Prejudice," so at the end of the year, the 8th grade had a Pride and Prejudice Ball. It included a wonderful banquet with food that was appropriate--Veronica's contribution was a bread pudding dish. They played parlor games and danced the waltz. The teachers had decorated it beautifully and it was a really neat evening.
Here is Veronica with her friend Andee and her favorite teacher, Mrs. Corpron.
Veronica dressed up and we did her hair. It took much more than an hour to get all these little curls in it. Her hair is so thick.
But look at the end result. It looked so pretty.

Bruce cut Joseph's hair to match his own. He did a great job. I'm in favor of other people doing haircuts.

Joe looks pretty cute!
On Memorial Day, we spent several hours cleaning out the garage in preparation for a garage sale. During the clean-out, we found a rocket that Travis had purchased at NPS several years ago. Bruce spent a couple of hours getting it all put together and ready to go. We took the kids over to the big soccer field across the street and shot it off.

Here is Bruce preparing the rocket for take-off. The information said it could go up to 600 feet. Yea, right, we thought.
Everyone played on the playground equipment while Bruce prepared the rocket for launch.

Finally, it was ready for take-off.

This is the sky where the rocket was launched. It went so high we could no longer see it. We caught sight of it on its descent, but it was traveling quite a ways from where we were. The kids ran after it, but couldn't get there. A group of kids on bikes a block away stopped to watch it come down. We asked them if they saw where it went and they pointed to a row of houses another block away. We never found the rocket, but the area where it came down was at least three football fields away from where it was launched. RIDICULOUS! After about 1/2 hour of looking for the rocket, it was getting too dark, so we gave up.
At the ward auction to raise money for girls camp and scout camp, I donated a birthday cake. It fetched $55 and then I was told it was for a lady's 90th birthday. This is what I made. I thought it turned out really pretty.
Bruce donated high five's for a year. That was purchased for $25.00 by an older couple in our ward. He hasn't missed a week. When we go on vacation, he has found a substitute for the high five assignment. Veronica donated 2 dozen cookies a month for six months.

This takes in our last few weeks. Now that summer is here, I'm sure it will slow down. Maybe.