What's New?

Big news this week! First of all, the kids got exciting news from the director of Willy Wonka Jr., this year's musical. Sweet Pea made the cut and will be an orphan girl named Annie. This will be SP's second play and her first role with a speaking part. Her director said that she will get to say 'Leapin' Lizards!' multiple times. Which begs the question, "Which play are they actually doing?" It sounds an awful lot like Annie. I guess we will see in May when the performance is scheduled.

Number One Son also got a call from the director informing him that he will play the role of Grampa Joe. At least that's a name I recognize from the movie. Needless to say, he was quite excited to get the part he was hoping for. Lady Di and I were just glad each kid got any part. Even though there were three casts with sixty roles per cast, over ninety kids had to be turned away. Which speaks very highly of the popularity of our local children's theatre program.

That was our first good news of the week. The second news we got was a call from school. This week they informed us that N1S had been nominated for student of the month. This is the first time this has ever happened and we couldn't be prouder. Wednesday morning we were invited to the middle school cafeteria for a Student of the Month breakfast before classes. We dined on cinnamon rolls and cartons of milk with about a dozen other nominated kids and their families. The teachers then presented each student with a laminated certificate and a laminated picture of the student which will go on the bulletin board at school. They also put together a short slide show for each student on the big screen. Lady Di had submitted some of her favorite photos of N1S for the slide show. Too bad the school used this one instead. It's a nice enough picture but it looks like his hair had stocking cap static just before the flash went off. I guess you have to expect haystack hair in a Minnesota winter. With hair like that he won't have to do much styling to match Grampa Joe's hair. Or even Annie's hair for that matter. Oh well, since his hair looks like this ninety percent of the time anyway, at least the kids in school will recognize him on the bulletin board.

After N1S had received his congratulations from the teachers he came back to sit with us and show off his laminates. Lady Di shuffled through the papers looking for the item she had been anxiously waiting for. Then she found her golden ticket. The Student of the Month bumper sticker. She was so excited to now be able to drive a van with a bumper sticker stating, 'Proud parent of a Student of the Month'. Now we can finally cover up the 'Honk If You're ..... , (Author's comment deleted due to severe spousal embarrassment).

We finished up the week on yet another high note. Saturday afternoon found Sweet Pea and myself at the Girl Scout Pinewood Derby. This is our second year of racing and instead of striving for speed, we opted for design.

SP designed her Spongebob bathtub car from the color to the shower curtain. I shaped her block of wood a little bit and attached her wheels but SP completed everything else. And her hard work paid off. Out of 126 entries, her car was voted 'Funniest Car'.Her car beat out a 'brownie, birthday cake, crayola box, roller skate, piano and a host of very creative cars. She was so excited to get her 'first' real trophy. She made me promise not to tell Lady Di until we got home so she could surprise her.

So as you can see, we're just a house full of winners this week aren't we? Well, I guess I didn't technically 'win' anything. The kids did all of the winning this week. But when the kids win, Lady Di and I feel like even bigger winners.