Vacation!

We are in Larkspur now taking a short vacation.

Yesterday, Mommy went to the Professional Skaters Conference and learned a bunch of stuff about coaching skating.

Now we are just relaxing at Grandma and Grandpa's Larkspur house.

We've listened to CATS music ALOT!

We've also played the neat new digital piano that is here and watched a lot of movies on the big TV screen.

We took some walks on the beautiful property here and made fancy dinners.

We needed this time off, but we can't wait to get back on the ice after Memorial Day!

Ballet Recital!

Annabelle and Rebekah performed beautifully at the Ballet Society of Colorado Springs Children's Recital at Rampart High School. They had a dress rehearsal yesterday and then a performance and a performance today.

The name of the performance was "In the Garden."

Rebekah was a fairy and Annabelle was a flower.

Joel was a great big brother!

We had to miss two off-ice Cats on Ice rehearsals for this event. (It turned out those were the ONLY rehearsals we missed!)

Ballet Society of Colorado Springs gave a gift towards sponsoring us in CATS ON ICE!

Saw STAR WARS today!

Sertich is shut-down and we are officially on vacation (sort of). We have some obligations this week with a ballet recital and the Professional Skaters Conference in Denver, but we are still "off" from regular activities.

We began our week by going to a morning show of STAR WARS.

The movies was great and Mommy cried!

Joel brought his Darth Vader Voice Changer Mask and we ate popcorn and played video games.

We had a blast.

First ON Ice Rehearsal!

Today was really exciting for all the cast, since we got to go on the ice.

Joel was unable to wear his figure skates since the pain on his heel was so bad and the figure skates fit so snugly, but was able to do the rehearsal in his ice hockey skates. In fact, he skates so well in hockey skates, it didn't matter really.

There were several children that tried "walking" on the ice without skates too.

Everyone was delighted to try what they had learned off the ice ON ice!

After the rehearsal, Rebekah stayed and skated the public session with Kelsey McKenna and Kelli Knight. Mommy gave Kelsey a private lesson at the beginning of the session and then the kids had a chance to play.

What's really neat about this experience is that the children are enjoying their friends so very much!

Joel has an accident

Today we rehearsed off-ice in the Sertich Ice Center lobby.

You see, the rink is going to be shut down shortly for its yearly maintenance, so we had the entire lobby to ourselves. DeeDee gave us the words to "The Naming of Cats." Rebekah memorized all the words by the time we got home!

Mommy had planned to teach Kelsey McKenna during the public session that followed, but that session was cancelled, so we rushed home to get ready to go to Pueblo to roller skate.

However, Joel had an accident, so we did not go roller skating in Pueblo.

This is what happened:

Joel was very, very excited because STAR WARS -- Revenge of the Sith was out and we were going as a family, on Monday, May 23rd (first show of the morning).

Anyway, he really wanted a Darth Vader Voice Changer toy and so, before going to Pueblo, Daddy took Joel to Target to buy the toy.

When Joel arrived home, he was so excited that he jumped out of the car before Daddy had completely stopped the car and the rear wheel ran over Joel's right foot's heel!

Terror!

Well, instead of spending the day happily roller skating, we ended up in the Memorial Hospital Emergency Room.

We are very thankful that Joel's foot was not hurt and only bruised. Well, child locks now are being used again!

We are wondering how Joel will do at the CATS rehearsal tomorrow since it is the first one ON ice!

Money due today

Today is Monday, May 16.

Mommy took us skating at Sertich this morning. It was fun. Wow, the session was so short though. We practiced our jumps, spins, moves in the field, and some ice dances. Annabelle played and skated! Mommy is trying hard to get her to jump in the right direction!

We went home for awhile and practiced piano and did some schoolwork. We all did math, reading, spelling, and handwriting. We listened to CATS music too!

We arrived at Sertich early for another off-ice practice that was from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

Mommy has already found some people that have given a little towards sponsoring us in this project. Mommy had over $100 to give to DeeDee! Good start, Mommy!

Sertich is so close to Daddy's work, that he is walking from downtown to meet us after work. This is really going to be a neat adventure!

Our 2nd Rehearsal and also a special day for Joel the Cub Scout!

Today is Saturday and we couldn't wait to go to another off-ice rehearsal. Joel also had a special "Crossing Over Cub Scout" ceremony in the morning at Palmer Park, so it was a really busy day! He's now a Webolo 2 Cut Scout!

Today's rehearsal had been scheduled at Lon Chaney Theatre which is downtown, but when DeeDee arrived, a set was being built on the stage she was going to have us use, so she called everyone and told them to go to Sertich's Clubhouse once again.

It was a fun rehearsal. At the end, we went outside and DeeDee gave us CDs of the music and scripts of the entire performance. We learned most of the "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats" number!

Our First Rehearsal!

Today we had Homeschoolers Gymnastics from 11:30 am --12:30 pm and then rushed to the Chapel Hills rink.

We skated until 3:00 PM. Mommy had us wear jazz clothes to skate in so we'd be prepared for our first off-ice rehearsal.

We arrived at Sertich at about 3:50 PM. So many children had already arrived!

DeeDee didn't take long to get things going; she did some fun warm-up exercises and got right into teaching us the first number in the show, "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats."

DeeDee has a special version that includes kittens singing and dancing!

We loved our first rehearsal! It ended at 6:00 PM, but I think we could have stayed longer since it was so much fun. DeeDee even brought us snacks!

The Cast is Announced!

We received an email today that announced what parts everyone was cast in!

Rebekah is the kitten Bombalurina, a very sexy kitten!

Annabelle is the kitten Gus whose real name is Asparagus. Annabelle wasn't thrilled at first about being a boy cat, but once DeeDee told her that Asparagus was an important and famous kitten, she grew to like her part!

Joel is Carbuckety and also MaCavity's Crew. He's a cat.

The rest of the cast consists of:

Old Deuteronomy -- Tommy Payne
Munkastrap -- Melissa Romero, Melinda Bradley
Mr. Mistofelees -- Shawnee Smith, Kelli Knight
Rum Tum Tugger -- Kevin Stratton, Jessica Bye
MaCavity -- Dillon Kelley
Mungojerrie -- Kailaini Smith, Jenna Kishinevsky
Rumpleteazer -- Rylee Newman, Kelsey McKenna
Grizabella/Young Grizabella -- McKensie Galvin
Jenny Any Dots -- Laura Jane Holder
Victoria kitten -- Andrea Ochoa
Jemima -- Kelly Baker, Torrie Krantz
Jellylorum -- Margaret Tait
Bombalurina cat -- Taylor Bosarge
Gus -- Sammy Anderson
Griddlebone/MaCavity Crew kitten -- Isabella Valdez
Demeter Queen Cat -- Kara Knierim
Cassandra Queen Cat -- Megan Tomamichel
Victoria Queen Cat -- Julie Haffley

It looks like we are going to make some new friends! We can't wait for the first rehearsal!

We watched CATS and listened to CATS!

Mommy recorded CATS from a record and we have begun to listen to the musical in the car and at home and wherever we go! We love the music!

We also have watched the CATS video that we've owned since 1998 over and over and over.

We are trying to understand the story. Mommy admits she never watched the whole thing before and has always wondered why the kids enjoyed it so much!

(Remember the Christmas we got the video? It was the year Jo Ann's sister, Lynnellen, received two copies, so we bought her something else, and kept this one.)

What we did on Saturday, May 7 (fhe official CATS ON ICE Audition Day)

May 7th was a big day for the Farris Family. It was "Mommy's Birthday!"

Also...Rebekah performed in ALICE IN WONDERLAND with Attitudes Performing Arts Academy.

She was the cook and also a bluebird.

After the performance, we went out to eat to celebrate "Mommy's Birthday" at the kids' favorite place, Souper Salad!

Audition Day!

Well, DeeDee called me during the last week of April. An audition was set up especially for my children at the Chapel Hills Ice Rink on Monday, May 2nd!

The children were SO EXCITED!

Rebekah and Annabelle dressed in black audition dance clothes and put on new tights. I put their hair up in a bun. Joel wore black dress pants and a black turtleneck. Each child looked GREAT!

We arrived at the rink early.

When DeeDee arrived, the kids were thrilled. She arrived early too!

She auditioned the children off the ice. They were so happy they had their black jazz shoes with them!

Each child was auditioned privately.

Rebekah went first, followed by Annabelle, and then Joel. Annabelle's favorite part of the audition was making cute faces! Rebekah loved doing cartwheels. Joel was nervous, but had a blast since DeeDee made the audition so fun!

DeeDee gave us special folders with a schedule of rehearsals and other information!

Wow, what an exciting day!

After DeeDee left, we stayed and practiced hard at our skating for the rest of the afternoon. Boy, were we happy!