Year 2, Day 341: Angel Alert

And he nails it! The man child that is.  I had a pretty busy day with a dentist appointment, errands, schooling and then back out for Benaiah's choir performance of "Angel Alert."  Benaiah actually has done this production before, but it has been updated.  It used to be called "Angel Aware."  It was quite endearing and funny to see tween and teens singing the same songs and doing hand motions like the elementary kids and Keturah do.  And of course, Benaiah as Michael the archangel was the best! I'm super proud of him!  Miss Christy (our kids' choir director) and Mrs. Ruth (his drama teacher on PEI) would be super proud of him.  He said his lines super loud and super clear!  He even ad libbed! And he looked super in his full white tux complete with tails and white shoes and well, you'll see!

But we almost missed it!  Because Benaiah's performing twice, we decided to split up and only Keturah, Justin and I went tonight.  Jared, his parents, and Abishai will go tomorrow night.  We left at 5:40pm and normally it takes 20-25 minutes to get to school.  Tonight, it took 50 MINUTES!  What in the tarnation! Well, there was a 7 car pile up on I-65 near Southport Road which relatively close to us.  And since the highway was backed up, everyone was using the back roads.  I sat for 15 or 20 minutes in one line up at a 4 way stop in the township!  It was nuts!  Because I no time to really set up and test out the DSLR camera, the videography is really rough.  I am switching from the Flip video camera we got 6 years ago because the video quality has deteriorated and it's very grainy.  But I had no idea how the DSLR would do with longer videos and how the battery would hold up.  Well, the battery indicator was flashing and I thought I had to change the battery, so I stopped recording midstream to do that.  But I don't think it was that because it still blinked when I had the new battery in.  The camera stopped several times on it's own, too, maybe because of the length of the video?  I don't edit anything, so I'll have to mess around with that.  I used my phone to take the still photos and some shorter videos to post on social media.  Thankfully, I could send the camera with Jared tomorrow, or even the Flip camera as a backup.  Or we could all go again.  But now I know what I need to know for Sunday for Keturah's performance.

Yes, it's one of those "cram everything into two days" kind of weekend.  But then life opens up again.  But I have to put my head down and work on budgeting, finishing gifts (or starting them or purchasing them), write out Christmas cards for a couple of exchanges we're doing, find time to get to the grocery store, etc. etc. And teach one more solid week of school.  Then I'll need that week before Christmas to focus on Christmas.  And then it's vacation time!  Eek!  I do hate to stop the schooling because we've hit a great stride.  But alas, with all the books we are borrowing from the library, we have plenty to do and read!  Onward!

Benaiah enjoyed "A Christmas Carol" put on by the IRT downtown with his school today!  Yeah for school discounts!  But you know what he told me? He counted the LIGHTS in the ceiling (and there are over 50), how many catwalks they have, where the stage managers were, all the trap doors and set changes, etc.  He commented on why the actor who played Scrooge was better as the happy Scrooge at the end versus the mean Scrooge.  And he noticed the tech booth and what headphones they were wearing.  Once a techie, always a techie.  But he was thoroughly impressed by the show!

It snowed for like 3 hrs today!  Nothing really stuck, but at least it was in the air!

Yeah, the snow showed on my camera! (I was in the dentists' parking lot when I took this pic!)

Yeah, my new Adora flexi clip came!  So pretty!

Hand motions!  Yes, that's my man child all the way to the right.

The whole cast!

Dialogue with Gabbriel (Gabbby) and two mischievous angels, Halo and Harpo.

So daper.

Aww, so cute!

Yeah, Jesus is born, time to celebrate!

Some of the guys did some fun hip hop moves and wore backward hats.

Benaiah is the big one on the left.

The Star of Bethlehem.  I remembered about half of the songs, especially the one that Mary and Joseph sang.

Benaiah has fallen in love with suspenders!  I told him that he would be in good company with Grandpa Howell who always wore suspenders and a belt!  He also said that these were the most comfortable dress up clothes he's ever worn.  Louie's Tux Shop let him borrow the tux for free as a donation to the school so he was properly measured and fitted.  He did have to go up a shoe size though because of his wide feet, but yes, shoes were included!

Justin playing around afterwards.  They had lots of fun things that we had to wait to enjoy until afterwards because we barely made it in time to sit down and watch the play!

His first "fusion" of Poke'mon characters, whatever that means.

Oh my word.  Jaw dropping handsome, don't you think?  The Johnson men always look great in suits!

The shoes!

The proud mama next to her HUGE son!

Coat tails!  He loved them!

We could write notes and buy candy to put int this bags of encouragement for the cast.  It's obvious that the choir teacher has put on many, many plays and musicals before.  Her son attends the school as well.

Lots of "professional" touches like this posterboard, the programs, the refreshments, etc.

The angels talked about hot cocoa in the play.  I got a cup, but probably shouldn't have because now my stomach hurts.  Oh well.  I knew I couldn't have the cookies.  But the other two had plenty of cookies on my behalf.  They had to be talked to about being greedy.  Justin did bring home a cookie for Abishai though.

Benaiah was at school all day and afternoon and evening, so he spent a little bit of time with Abishai.  Such a contrast these two are!