You Knew Them When (Part 2)....

After Samantha saw Josh perform...she decided she wanted to try it as well!

So, I signed her up for a half-day camp at the end of July. Her age group, 4-6 year olds, did songs and selection from The Jungle Book. She loved it! She was cast as Mogli(the girl-cub). 

Again, Goodwill was our favorite shopping place for costumes....pants and a shirt we could cut up and then she got to roll around in the dirt! 

Samantha did great and Nana was able to be there to cheer her on too! I took my "real" video camera to all these performances and so I do not have video from my phone. We were super proud of her and well, Josh picked out baby roses to give to her afterwards. 

 Adorable.

Annnnnnd....Josh enjoyed his 1st week of camp so much that he asked if I would sign him up for another camp. (remember the tears and fighting how he didn't want to go?) HA!

This camp that he did was an all day camp! He went from 9-3 all week with the performance on Friday again. He just absolutely loved it. This was the week after Samantha's and his age group is 6-9 year olds. They also did The Jungle Book. Josh was cast as Kaa the snake! And, yes, when he told me that one on the first day...I was a bit perplexed on how to make a snake costume that didn't look like a lizard or a dinosaur! This is when I am so grateful for Pinterest and duct tape! ;-)

Eric was able to leave at noon on this Friday and was there to watch the performance!

 We were blown away by everything he did....They had 4 songs and he surprised us...He had a solo! During the song, The Bare Necessities, the rest of the cast moved backwards as he moved forwards. I honestly thought he was moving the wrong direction! HA! 

He stared right at me and had THE.BIGGEST.SMILE.!!! He pretended to play the trumpet and then had a singing line...I was pretty much in tears. 

And, well, there is a back story to that song too. When we were in the very early stages of therapy with him. He was probably 2.5 years old...He didn't really have any words....just some sounds, gibberish, etc. The only time he'd really be able to string "words" together was when he was singing. The song, The Bare Necessities, was on a CD my mom had made. It was the first song he would sing with actual sounding words! 

So, it was truly a full circle experience watching him up on a stage, singing the same song, and then with a solo doing the same thing he had done 6+ years earlier in our home in Illinois!

We are so grateful to our neighbors who suggested ACT to us last spring. 

Josh is taking a once a week class there this fall and will be in an Alice and Wonderland performance in December! He will play "the White Rabbit"! 

the end. 

You Knew Them When....

One afternoon towards the end of the school year, I was out front with the kids playing around. Our across the street neighbors were out as well and we were talking and catching up. Their daughter, who is 14, told me about something she does that she thought Josh would really enjoy. 

She began describing something called ACT I & ACT II. 

It stands for Academy of Children's Theater & Academy of Community Theater. 

Our neighbor described the owner and the whole atmosphere of the Children's Theater program. How they do kid friendly performances...very modest....incredibly loving and encouraging environment.

Honestly, it sounded too good to be true and so perfect for Josh to try this out. 

I think that evening I looked them up and signed Josh up for a week long camp in June. 

They have all sorts of options from musical theater, to acting, dance, tap, etc. 

I took a picture of their door because I like their motto underneath their name...

Building Character, Confidence, and Creativity!

 Josh was SO NOT HAPPY with me signing him up for this. His camp in June was a half day camp with a performance on Friday afternoon. His class was learning songs from The Wizard of Oz and acting part of it out. I really wasn't sure if I was going to get him through the door. We had tears the whole morning and drive to ACT. I just knew he needed to give it a chance....

Anyway, once we got there and walked up to his room to check him in...something clicked for him. I don't know if it was the music playing...the rows and rows of costumes hanging up....the binder they gave him...or a copy of the songs on a CD to take home...but, he turned around, looked up at me with this huge smile, and said, "Ok mom, you can go, I'm alright...bye!" 

And with that....here we go!

He.Loved.It. 

He was casted as "Sleepy"...one of the Munchkins from Wizard of Oz. 

Now, one of the things that I was NOT prepared for was that we..as in the mom...was responsible for the costumes. Ack! I'm SO not creative and I don't even know how to sew. But, Goodwill and ARC Thrift Stores became my favorite places. 

Here is Sleepy!

 He was so proud. 

I think he looks like the most adorable munchkin, ever.

My parents were able to come down for it too. So, that was nice because the performances were on Friday, but at 1-3pm...right during the business day so Eric couldn't make it. 

The program. 

My mom took pictures of Samantha and I. 

We were a bit nervous because I had no idea what to expect. He did not practice in front of me. 

He did not let me help him with his lines...YES, he had his own lines. 

Here they are! This was their ending pose! 

I must say that I was beyond thrilled for him. He was so confident. So proud. So smooth in his talking. He smiled his best smile the whole time. 

Fantastic.

This picture of Sam makes me laugh. She was very nervous and then while he was on stage she just couldn't handle it...She kept putting her hand over her face. 

Nana and Papa.

 Ok. The story is not over, but this first half is...

the end. 

Other Summer Musings...

I went through my pictures from the summer and this post contains a collection of the most random ones! ;-)

Here, you have Samantha....completely wiped out...fast asleep....not being able to get up on her bed.

 Fast forward 12 hours and she comes sauntering into my room that following morning....like this:

 One morning...as I was getting some gasoline....they started making faces in my rearview mirror....

 Ok...one of my best $5 purchases of the summer has been this huge white board. A friend of mine who  homeschools was selling it. It is on the floor in my office and the kids love it. They love to play hangman on it....it's entertaining.

 Ohhhhh...I finally busted this thing out as well this summer. It is one of those National Geographic Excavation toys....Josh was digging up T-Rex fossils, then you put them all together and you have a T-Rex toy. It took F O R E V E R.  I was quite impressed with his determination and concentration.

 I think Samantha might have been getting a little impatient.

 Whenever we were home throughout the whole summer....I'm pretty sure our doorbell rang somewhere between 2x-10x a day by a neighbor friend! The three of them played all day long outside. Of course there were tears(it's hard for Samantha to be the only girl so much)...but overall, I was impressed with what they came up with and the new games the created.

 This was hilarious. One afternoon, I was standing in my kitchen and I looked out the window and I saw this:

 A sprinkler on the railing of our deck. I went outside and hollered down to Josh, "What exactly are you doing?" His response, "I'm watering the bushes, Mom! Isn't this great?" I could only laugh, grab my camera, and tell him that it was definitely a unique way to water the bushes!

 Dog days.

 Josh is in there somewhere.

 Sandi is in there somewhere.

 Josh and I got to go play Putt-Putt just the two of us. We both enjoyed this big blue random hippo.

Seriously...these three did a ton together. 

 I thoroughly enjoyed it. And, well, I can't help myself from looking at everything with "Sensory Goggles" on. So, in this situation...Josh was doing so much heavy work...he was being challenged socially....he was having to be flexible in his play....he was receiving "input" on his head by wearing this tight helmet everywhere....this..THIS is why "therapy" is P L A Y! Intentional Play! ;-)

I will conclude this post with some pictures of one of Josh's creations this summer. I'm not sure if you can tell, but there are items on the ground in a line. These items began around the front of our house, through our front yard, down the side of our house, through the gate into the backyard, wrapped back around under our deck and ended near that slide on the concrete. 

He designed his own putt-putt course with random things he found in our garage. 

The water flowing down from the hose was his "water feature". 

Yes...yes, and Samantha and our neighbor friend LOVED to play it!

Here is a video that helps you see some of it as they were ending the course. 

We really did not need to leave the house to find entertainment! :) 

the end.