Family Togetherness

Kevin and I have been trying to find someway of getting our family together more often. It seems that every weekend the three older kids have some kind of party or activity. Also it seems that every single week night there is something going on as well. We have really been blessed to be able to be together on Sunday and Monday though. We have really enjoyed the past three family nights. Kevin and I decided to implement the ideas we heard in conference from a few different authorities about family night. We decided to have a different gospel topic each week. For instance last week the topic was "Scripture Study". We try to chose a new topic each Monday so that we can think about that topic through the week. We ask each child to come up with something to share, a personal story, scripture story, scripture or talk, and then ask them to be prepared to share it with everyone for family night. It has really been interested. It opens up the door of communication and discussion and brings the spirit into our home. Once a month go to an elderly brother in our ward for family night. He recently lost his wife and is pretty lonely at times. He's is an amazing man and we have really enjoyed being in his home. Last week we took our discussion family night over to his home. The spirit was strong and we were all taught by each other and by the spirit. It turned out to be a wonderful evening!

The other thing that Kevin and I decided to do to bring the family together more often was to audition for the Syracuse City production of "Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". We had a little trouble talking Brenden into auditioning but after a little force (which we really hope wont backfire on us) he said that he would audition to. So yesterday morning our entire family went to the community center dress in our best and ready to sing sixteen bars of an upbeat Broadway tune. Regan sang "I Love You a Bushel and a Peck". She wore her favorite dress (which is about five times too small but I knew she felt special in it so I decided to let her) and she sang with all her little heart, it was so cute! Kyra sang "Music! Music! Music! by Stephan Weiss (Put Another Nickel in the Nickelodeon). She was quiet but sang really well and she even threw in a few actions to go with it! Alli Balli sang "Castle on a Cloud". She really does have a strong and beautiful little voice. She did a great job as well. Brenden sang "Look to the Rainbow". It was really hard to get him to sing for me when we were practicing at home. He just kept saying that he didn't like to sing in front of people it made him feel weird. So he went down stairs and practiced on his own. After a bit Kevin went down stairs to check on him and listened at his door. He was really surprised to hear such a beautiful, clear sound coming from Brenden's room. Finally Brenden allowed me to play the piano for him and give him some pointers. I was also really surprised at the sound coming from voice. I have not heard him sing for at least a year, because whenever we sang during family night or at church I could see his lips moving but I couldn't hear any sound. Well he did a great job on his audition as well. We just need to get him to loosen up a bit and smile.

Bridgette sang "Come to Your Senses". She did a really great job as well. She has a lot of emotion when she sings as well as a beautiful sound. I wish that I would have been able to sing like she does when I was her age.
Kevin sang "Lily's Eyes". He of course sounded great, and the directors loved him. I'm sure that they will love him even more when they see hims dance at the dance call backs on Saturday. I sang "If I Ruled the World". I didn't do a great job. I always let my nerves get the better of me and it effects my voice. The good news is I got called back for one of the Narrators. I'm excited about that although I'm pretty sure I wont get the part of Narrator as there are three other ladies who got called back too. I'll just be happy if the whole family gets cast so that we can be together. Kevin and Brenden also got called back for brothers. The girls all were called back as well for the children's chorus and Bridgette was put on the dance call back list. So we are all hopeful that we will get to be a part of this production together! Unfortunetley, Rorie Ann couldn't audition because you have to be at least six years old, but the kids are hopeful that the directors will give her a chance to shine during one of the songs that they have been drilling her on. It's pretty funny! Here is a little clip of that. FUNNY!