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. 

Cousins and other musings...

On the way back to the Springs from Estes Park we stopped to meet the newest Milburn family member! :)

 We did not take Sandi with us....and so we were so excited to see her when we picked her up after a week away! It looked like she made some new friends.... ;-) (j/k)

 We did not stay away from family for too long...about 4 days later we drove up to Sarah's house to meet my parents who had my nephew, Max, for a couple of days. The cousins all picked up right where they left off...It was awesome to watch them play together.

 Summer + Samantha = Watermelon.

 They are playing wiffle ball at the Faulkner's new home...they now have grass and other "additions" to their yard...but, this was great for the kids to run around on while we were there.

 It got really, REALLY hot.....so they moved inside...

 Right before Max had to go to the airport, I was able to get a couple of awesome pictures.  I love this series of photos.

 so sweet.

the end.