Culture Club

Because nothing says class and culture quite like us, right?  Hahaha.  In reality, what this weekend succeeded in doing was highlighting the contrast between the kind of family I'd like to think we are {one inclined towards the finer things in life}, and the family we actually are.  Cue a Boy's Choir performance from son number one and a trip downtown with the family...

"A Treasure of Youth and Song" -- and YES, this is the best shot I could get of him.  He was ready to go home.

A few months ago, Ethan came home from school with a note for a one-day Boy's Choir invitational type thing.  He really wanted to do it, so we signed the permission slip, paid the dues and promptly forgot about it until an email came this last week filling us in on all the details for the day.  By Friday night, Ethan had decided he was over it and didn't want to waste a precious Saturday on something as unfulfilling as singing, but after convincing him he had to do it nonetheless, Scott dropped him off bright and early yesterday morning while I stayed behind with the other kids and eventually gave up on trying to get them to do their Saturday chores. 

Once Scott was back, we had a couple of hours to kill before we all headed downtown for the concert, but by noon we were ready to roll.  I should have realized that things were not going to go as smoothly as I would like, however, when Grace immediately proclaimed that the concert sounded boring and she didn't want to go unless we were going to get a treat afterwards on the way home. 

Grace's face says it all. 

 The beautiful stairway.

 The cool stage.

An attribute of great importance.  Hahaha.

For the record, I love going to these kinds of cultural/performing arts type things.  Seriously love it.  Walking up to the beautiful and historical building where the concert took place gave my heart a little thrill.  Not so thrilling?  The fact that we were a good 20 minutes early and any patience Grace might have had flew out the window before the performance even started.  So, even though the actual concert itself was only 30 minutes long, its enjoyment was tempered by Grace bugging me the whole time to leave, Alex climbing back and forth from person to person, and Jane causing her own set of distractions as I tried to juggle the camera and listen to the singing.

The end of the performance didn't bring much relief as Ethan was tired and grumpy and wanting to go home and Grace had reached epic melting down proportions as well.  No one was on board for a family photo shoot on the front steps of the building and rather than stay a little longer and explore the building and check out the park across the street, we hightailed it out of there and tried to calm things down while Ethan and Grace went from bad to worse on the car drive home. 

Things finally mellowed out when we agreed to a Sonic run on the way home and everyone got themselves a treat, but complete peace and harmony proved elusive still as the day wore on and on and on.  Oh well!  What can you do?  I'm hoping that their early bedtime last night and then again tonight is enough to ensure happier hearts and and more cheerful countenances in the morning.  A mother can always dream, right???  Hahaha.  I'll close with a few more classy pictures and then I'm out.

Alex kept this empty and beat up band-aid box on his hand for an entire day last week in his enthusiasm for all things superhero.

I printed out HUNDREDS of questions for a get-to-know-you activity the other night and put them in a big bowl to help as conversation starters.  Since bringing it home, it has been hilarious to see the kids get really into asking each other the questions as well.

 My kids are "teaming up" with some friends from school/church to do a Hunger Games Minecraft Parody for the school talent show in a few weeks.  Here is a picture of them before their "audition."  It was a riot.

And finally, one last valentine.  This time inspired by -- you guessed it -- Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  I guess that "bff/best father forever" thing is from the books?  I don't even know anymore.  The level of Greg Heffley infiltration in our household is so complete these days that I can't even distinguish it from reality anymore.  Hahaha.  

And that's all folks!  Until next time, we'll try and keep it a little classier.  Hahahaha.