Spring Sing Trip 2009

(There is a slide show at the end of this long post.)

Tuesday (a week ago) was CRAZY! I showed the house to some prospective renters, had a family that has 3 boys under 3 over for dinner, and showed the house to the realtor, and packed for our trip.

Wednesday morning we woke up early, woke the kids and headed out. Naomi looked like she couldn't believe that we were waking her up, and Gideon immediately started talking about Papa Dan. (He didn't want to stop for breakfast at Chick-fil-A b/c he wanted to be at Papa Dan's house.)

Our first destination was Harding Graduate School of Religion library. While JR got some more research done for his paper, the kids and I enjoyed time out of the car in the beautiful day. After about an hour and a half, we got back in the car and made it to Searcy in time to join my parent's for dinner.

We were also able to meet Isabelle Sweet when we got to my parent's house. Isabelle (or "Izzie") is Debby's new dog. My mom was her "foster parent" until we could pick her up. She is adorable and the kids took to her instantly.

Thursday was our "chill" day before I had to report to Spring Sing judging duty at 5:15. So we hung out, played with the puppy, and while Naomi napped JR stayed with her and did some school work. Gideon and I headed out to run some errands.

On our way toward campus I realized that the preschool we registered Gideon for this fall was still going on, so we swung by to check it out. Gideon was SO EXCITED!!! We got there right as the kids were hunting for eggs. I let G find one egg for him and one for Naomi. Several of my friends from high-school and college have kids in the school and we were able to meet some of them. And we were shown around the classrooms and the room where they have puppet shows. If you talk to Gideon anytime soon, ask him about his preschool. He is beside himself with excitement about it.

At 5 Gideon and Naomi's babysitters, Sydney and Hannah, came over. These girls were a blast. Gideon was devastated when JR got home. Apparently, only taking everyone out for treats from Sonic made things better. But while our kids were playing with the girls, JR and I were at a Spring Sing Judges dinner. I felt like it was a little reunion of sorts. Tiffany "Yecke" Brooks was there, as well as Abby Smith and "Sully". I reconnected with Melanie Morgan (some married name I'd have to look up right now). She is currently working at Cabot Jr High South (which is where I taught in the fall of 2002). It was really great catching up with these people.

Judging the show came easily for me. I mean, I always have an opinion. But this time I was provided with a notebook, penlight, and pen. The hardest part was not being able to talk to my mom about the show. :)

When we got home after the show, JR whipped out my notebook and we went through it. :)

Friday we had a meeting to get ready for: Hannah brought Sam to mom's office for his "interview". :) Things in my mom's office are always crazy because people are always stopping by. So I was very glad that Hannah and I had scheduled more time for us to get to know Sam later.

Claudia and Ryan came into town around lunch time. We hung out with them until JR and I checked into our Harding paid for hotel room. The family met up at one of Papa's new favorite restaurants for dinner and then we all headed out to watch Spring Sing.

Gideon and Naomi loved it. Apparently, Naomi like the jazz band numbers the best. And since the Hosts and Hostesses sang "God is Bigger Than the Boogie Man", G was delighted.

After the show, we sent the kids home with Ryan and Claudia and JR and I headed out to meet back up with Hannah and Sam. After driving around for a while, we finally found "The Underground". The coffee was good, but the conversation and company was the best. Sam gets our stamp of approval and it is wonderful to see Hannah so happy.

Saturday: not that we celebrated it, but it was the 5th anniversary of when JR and I met.

Saturday was a pretty busy day for me. We got to my parent's house by 9 for a big family breakfast. We also started a new tradition: Resurrection Rolls. Claudia found the idea and we love it. You take a large marshmallow and it represents Jesus' body. You dip it in melted butter (represents the oil they prepared His body with) and roll it in cinnamon and sugar (represents the spices) and roll it up in a crescent roll. Bake according to the directions on the rolls and when you pull out the "tomb", Jesus' body isn't there anymore! (and they taste like cinnamon rolls) It is a winner in our family. :)

After breakfast, Claudia and I headed out to spend a JCPenney gift card she had. While we were shopping, Katie called and we planned to meet up at 1. (Then I realized it was 12:15.) So, after about another 20 min., Claudia and I headed back to the house so I could grab everything I would need for the rest of the day, I kissed my family and headed back to meet Katie and judge some more Spring Sing.

Katie and I had a little time together, and then I was off again to have my opinion count. :)

After the Saturday matinee performance, the judges have another dinner at which they cast their ballots. So, this lasted until around 6:45, so instead of seeing all of the last (most exciting) showing of Spring Sing, Tiff and I headed out to my parent's house. She wanted to meet Izzie and I wanted to help JR get the kids bathed and down to bed. After that, I headed back out to see the results of the judging and join up with Chi Sigs/Regina for the traditional singing.

I got to the show durring the last club act and made my way to my seat. The judging went like I thought it would. I was only one of 3 judges judging Visuals. Other catagories were judged by other people. And I headed out to the circle.

I ran into people I haven't seen for years. But the person I was hoping I would run into was Dustin Vyers. And he was there! In the slide-show below it says I hadn't seen him for 6 years... but I think it's actually closer to 7 years. He and Tiff talked me into hitting the party and I was out partying old-school style (meaning, people standing around talking about how there was no more Dr. Pepper left) until 11:35. But it was great seeing Dustin. And Carla said she has a cute daughter Gideon's age... so we're beginning to talk about cute grandchildren. I was able to visit with both of Hannah's parents. (get their take on Sam) :) We were the oldest people there, which was weird. I felt like I was 20 again with all those old friends (and without the rest of my family reminding me that I graduated 7 years ago).

When I got home, everyone but my cousin, Elaina, was in bed. And I found out that we were LEAVING for church at 7:30 am. Yikes.

But Sunday morning found us at first service. During class the Tanzania team took our class through their presentation. They have set up a huge area as different parts of Tanzania and took us "on a trip." It was a really neat experience. And JR had never been exposed to anything like that before. So, I'm glad they took our class instead of someone else's. :)

We headed back to the house, packed up our stuff, and since the roast wasn't cooked (like it should've been) we headed to a restaurant. In all our haste to get on the road, we never took an "Easter" picture.

The family headed for home as soon as we finished lunch. All 5 of us. (Remeber Izzie?) We only stopped once. And during that hour, the dog pooped in the car, Gideon peed on his pants (he was on the toilet, but got messy), JR and I didn't sit still for the whole hour.

We got home at midnight and our crazy trip was over.