Life Down On The Farm

It amazes me what my kids have taught me.

I have been reminded that Becky did this look first...and for those of you who haven't seen the movie, this is the Joker from the last Batman movie (he was insane). I have some really strange kids :)

How would you like to be a little camper during the summer and have this be your counselor? Every week at camp the counselors dressed up according to the theme of the week...this was Brian one night and I am told it freaked out a few of the kids. Freaks me out!

The girls and I went to Des Moines yesterday to see the musical "Wicked". Becky had seen it in Chicago but it was new to Kayla and I. The story is about Glinda the good witch and Elphaba the wicked witch of the west...the witches from the Wizard of Oz. It tells their story before Oz...they met each other in school and in the beginning hated each other. They were roommates and Elphaba could do spells and has green skin (because her mother drank too much green elixer while pregnant with her) while Galinda (she later dropped the Ga from her name) was popular and pretty much in love with herself. They sing one of my favorite songs from the play when they meet "What is This Feeling? (Loathing)" but later become best friends. Glinda even tried to help Elphaba after she became the wicked witch, kidnapped Dorothy and everyone wanted to kill her. There are hints in the dialogue about the Wizard of Oz play so it really ties them both together. In the end you find out a surprise about the Wizard and Elphaba...and the Wizard...he had a huge talking face that was incredibly loud and lite up...it was awesome! The songs are fantastic and the actors were wonderful. I was completely impressed by the scene props too...granted I am used to seeing high school plays, but the props were amazing...the flying monkeys actually flew! One of the last songs Glinda and Elphaba sing together is "For Good" which is the song that Becky and Haley sang at swing show last year...another of my favorites and it was especially neat to hear it sung by professionals in the musical. We had a great time watching the musical and also had some interesting moments on the car ride there and back! It was a great musical and a terrific day for all of us.

Since it has been raining and/or snowing for a solid week now very little has been done in our fields for harvest. Therefore I have a cranky husband and I am getting that way myself. So...here are some good things that make me happy...things to think about and remember when I look out the window at all the precipitation :)

Please welcome to the field the Marching Chargers under the direction of Drum Major Kayla Josephson....sounded really great from the loudspeaker! Today was Algona Band Day and the L-M marching band was one of the contestants. Sadly though, to put it in Kayla's words, it was an "epic fail". Some of the kids didn't want to be there and it was pretty obvious...but the drum major was fantastic! :)

In my opinion if a kid is going to go out for an extra-curricular activity, such as band, then they need to give that activity the attention it deserves. If these kids don't want to be marching then why are they in band? Granted I am used to Kayla, who gives 150% in band so I can't compare the other kids to her, but still! Why ruin something for everyone just because you don't really want to be there? Kayla was pretty disappointed in how the band performed, as I am sure were some of the other members. I think if you are responsible enough to join then you need to be responsible enough to do your part to the best of your ability at all times.

Anyway...they performed 6 songs...all from the band Queen. There are only 27 kids in the band so they weren't terribly loud, but they did sound good anyway. The marching was a little sloppy, but they looked sharp in their uniforms! It was fun to watch Kayla leading them...she had to make up a salute and did a great job of it. She also conned Becky into coming home to "watch" and then got her to go on the field and set up her stand :) (Becky then conned Haley into helping her too!) We watched the other three bands competing against the Marching Chargers and I wasn't all that impressed with the first two...but the last band was really good. They played three of the same songs that L-M played...crazy coincidence! It was a little chilly in the stands, but fun to watch. Unfortunately they will not be competing next year so this was our last chance to see them. We had a good time and Kayla did a super job!