A Star is Born

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S
to Lauren as she tried out for the school play and landed the lead female role!! This is her first production EVER and she is both excited and scared! I'm so proud of her for going out of her comfort zone and going for it! The plays is "Web of Murder" a dark comedy/mystery. She plays the role of Minerva "a forceful domineering woman in her sixties who is outspoken to the point of rudeness. Being the queen of her house, she rules it with an iron hand."

Hmmm.... wonder whose life she'll draw from to give her inspiration for this character.....

Interestingly enough, Michael is part of the Theatre Tech crew so he will be a major player BEHIND the scenes of the production. How cool is all that??!

Lauren's Idolatry: The Tour

I think I mentioned in a previous post that we got "into" this past season of American Idol. What started out as watching TV just for the sake of watching TV, turned into full-blown out obsession for Lauren. Yes, yet another example of my great mother skills.

>>> CLICK HERE TO SEE SLIDESHOW <<<

She fell in love with Jason Castro (seen here), who by the way is a Christian although since he is a dread-head is accused of being a druggy ditz. But we all know it is David Cook ("Cookie") who won. All those in contact with Lauren all spring and summer were bombarded with American Idol this or David that, or Cookie this or Archie that..... It has been an endless detailed conversation of every and ANY detail about them, the tour, and on and on.

As a belated Christmas gift, we got tickets to see the tour in Charlotte. She got to bring a friend. They camped out at the venue at 11 am and got to meet the idols on tour --- got pics, signatures and talk to them. She even got to give Jason and David Cook T-shirts that she and her friends made them. A serious highlight of her summer. But then we swore her to "Stop the Idol talk!" rule immediately after the tour.

It was understandable for a 16 yr old girl to get all "crazy fan girl," but what was most disturbing was watching the 40 plus yr old females acting the same way. Hopefully, Lauren won't be like that at 40!!!

The tour was fun -- all idols are very talented and great in concert/person. The only thing that was cheesy was the low budget light show. But its obvious American Idol could have just had 1 cheap spotlight and the girl fans would still show up. Even the 40 year old ones.

Gardner Clan and Organized Chaos

>> CLICK HERE TO SEE SLIDESHOW <<

The middle of August we made a visit to the Gardner's in SC. The purpose was to see their new domicile and pick-up their 4 kids to take back for a week in Raleigh. This would give Zoe and Stuart some time "alone" -- it was our thank you gift for all of their hard work in our wedding. Plus we just LOVE those Gardner kids.

There is Josh (12) the cool eldest, Macala (11) the prettiest one, Luke (9) the creative sensitive one, and everyone's favorite and least favorite, the famous double jointed mouth, "Bear" (6).

The original plan was that Danny and I would spend time with them. Well, Danny was still working in VA, so it was just ME and the kids. I have a new appreciation for ALL you multiple children families!!! Even with this great kids --- and I do not lie --- they are TERRIFIC kids --- I barely survived the week. We had a blast from going to the lake, the pool, making forts, playing air guitar, baking cake, computer games, movies...... Truly there is no doubt: I AM the *fun* aunt!

Can't wait to play with them again next year!!!