Ben's kindergarten class performed The Little Engine That Could yesterday. Of course Ben had his fan club & entourage present for the big production! Daddy had to work. :(It was sooo cute and the kids had such a great time with it. With Fine Arts at the bottom of the priority list in public schools, I am so grateful to Mrs. Salley for all of her hard work and giving the kids this experience. Ben loved it and had been anticipating this day for about 2 weeks.
When we decided that we wanted Ben to be in Mrs. Salley's class we knew that she would be a great teacher for him. She and my mom share a kindergarten class- my mom in the morning and Mrs. Salley in the afternoon. She's known his story since he was born and appreciates all his triumphs right along with us. She has never done this play before (she's been teaching kindergarten for more than 20 years.) Ben and his triumphant spirit were the inspiration to do this play. That's why, of course, he is the main character. It's very special for us that Mrs. Salley thinks so much of him! But I can understand why!!! I always smile when I think of the miracle that he is.
I was studying for finals all month but really wanted to help out as much as I could. Since I couldn't be in class a whole lot, I volunteered to help with the costumes. I made the soldier costumes and Ben actually helped me sew them. It took us about 2 1/2 "Lost" episodes to complete. (he,he,- I have to fit in "me" time somewhere) The hats went home with the kids but we kept the vests just in case we can use them for another production. I did a super quick face painting job with the girls but I think they are so cute they'd look cute anyway. Xochile's wonderful grandmother, who is always involved, helped out with that too. Mrs. Mason, Thomas's mom, helped out by bringing all the boxes and corrugated cardboard for the trains and backdrops and helped the children paint them. All in all, it was a great success! There were some nerves and a line or two was forgotten but for 5&6 year olds I thought the performances were Oscar ready.
Look out Hollywood!!!
Sleepy little stars.
The cutest train engineer I have ever seen! Such a beautiful child.
Ben and Grampy have the same smile!
We used our connections for exclusive backstage access to the star.
Even big brothers made it to the performance, Mrs. Salley invited their classes to be part of our audience, she's so sweet! It was pouring when biggest brother made his way over.
Silly Peter!
I found a foxy man with gorgeous hair in the audience. I think I'll keep him. (His chin is like this because I left my razor in the shower and he thought he would shave- ouch! I learned my lesson.)* This was not the video I meant to post- I wanted to post the video of the play but I guess I chose the wrong one. Here you see Stinky Sam harassing Bennie Pie. Ben likes to practice balancing- naturally it's very difficult for him but especially so when a stinker is around.
