Year 2, Day 343: Jingle Bell Beach

And now it's Keturah's turn to wow us with her musical performance.  She didn't have a special part or solo this time, but enjoyed being part of a wonderful program as always.  The songs were very catchy this time and I'm still singing them two days later!  But first, we had a busy morning with church and nursery volunteering, followed by a quick lunch with Grandma and Grandpa.  Then nap for little guy while Jared took Keturah and Benaiah back to church for their rehearsals: Keturah for her performance tonight and Benaiah for soundboard rehearsal for Crave.  I brought the other two boys later, and barely got there in time to set everything up.  Just like Thursday night, the video her performance ended up in multiple pieces.  I'm not really fond of that since I don't have any editing skills and not have the time to learn them right now.  Perhaps I can slip that in before next time.  Or I'll invest in a regular camcorder.  But the DSLR doesn't like a video to be longer than 12 minutes.  It could be the SD card, as well.  I'll have to investigate.

But we made it, I got what I could and I didn't worry about the rest.  One son of a good friend had a major role and he did the best with speaking his lines (he has older siblings that are always great performers).  And another friend's son had a solo (he's only 5) and was adorable and got a hand clap! I was just as proud of those boys as I was of Keturah.  Oh yeah, and Ethan's big brother Conner was in it, too, and a whole host of other people I knew.  But those are the biggest ones I can think of.  Anyway, lovely, just lovely!

Playing with the Christmas train!

They used the signs! (But I picked them up afterwards because I'm afraid of stepping on them and breaking them.) Loading up the train!

Even 12 year old's love a good train!

This log has a big hole on it's side!

Building a castle with Daddy!

Sunrise! We get to see plenty of those when Benaiah has to leave before sunrise and Abishai gets up soon afterwards.  By the way, Benaiah's "quacking duck" alarm is annoying!  He says he sets 3 alarms all with different sounds, and I think he just rotates them day by day.

The 2017 Johnson 6 Christmas tree.

One of ultimate favorite ornaments.

A few others.

This year, they are all squished together.  Next year, with a bigger tree, maybe, we'll spread them out a bit.

Oldies but goodies.

Memory lane.

"Why are there so many ones for Benaiah?" - Keturah.  Well, he is the first grandchild.  I think Abishai has one ornament I bought him.

There's another one for Benaiah and there's Abishai's one winnie the pooh ornament.  Justin and Keturah both have several duplicates because my parents bought one for our tree and one for theirs.

Aw! The nursery/preschool/elementary staff thought of us GF people!  Yum!

Hot chocolate bar for the volunteers!  No, they don't have this every week.  I combined some mint hot chocolate with coffee, added chocolate chips and had a glob of it to finish when I was done sipping my mint cafe' mocha!

Giving their wishlists to Grandpa.  I think Grandpa is thoroughly confused.  The more specific you are, the better.

We don't have a regular fireplace mantle, so I had to find somewhere creative for this snowman mantle cloth.  I hung it up with ornament hangers and hooked them over the edge of the siding (which was originally on the outside of the house before the sun room was built).

One performance down, one to go.

Keeping little man entertained before the show.  He wouldn't even turn his head when Grandpa came over to say hello!

And it begins!

Some of the crew!  The choir was split into 3 teams, something like the electrons (Keturah's group), the snowflakes (winter jackets), and something else (they were in beach gear).

 Theme Song

Yes, these are kids from Kindergarten through 5th grade only.  Yes, that's a lot of kids!

Two of our talented teens, one being Conner, Ethan's older brother.

They basically had a singing contest call the Reindeer Rumble.  Pretty cute.

The Electrons.

Cuteness!

 Keep on Singing!

Always lots of hand motions!

There you go, finally, the real meaning of Christmas!

 The End!

The two drama queens, literally.  Actually, they are pretty decent girls, but just a little goofy and sometimes moody.  Jordan is a close homeschool friend who came to Keturah's birthday party.

Jordan showing off a dance routine to Keturah after the show.  They love the stage!  At least for a little while!

Keturah likes the stage, but doesn't always want to be up there.  Singing your 45 minute show 4 full times in 2 days is exhausting!