PRESCHOOL VALENTINE

Vivi came home with her Valentines packet on February 13th. Watching her open it was absolutely delightful. She was thrilled with everything in there. "Purple! My favorite color!" "I LOVE these!!" Stella and I watched her open them with delight. Stella had to miss her last Valentine's party because she was home sick as we were trying to get her better so she could be freaking Annie. So we both had to live through the excitement of Miss Vivien. Thankfully, there was plenty to go around.

THE ANNIE DAYS: DRESS REHERSAL

FROM HERE ON OUT BLOG POSTS WILL BE PUT IN BOOKS WITH THE ACTUAL DATES OF THE EVENTS, NOT THE DATE OF THE POST, I ACTUALLY SHOULD CHANGE THIS SOONER.

My last post was twenty months ago. It has been incredibly difficult to emotionally go back to these posts where Brent still lived in our home, so I have been taking a break. I didn't realize how long of a break I took. Catching up is a daunting task, but I might as well get started. 

It is crazy to be talking about Annie, when Stella just started High School this week. But here we are. 

FEBRUARY 24 2020

I stayed away from all of the Annie rehearsals and I didn't see any of it until the Monday before the performances. I got to come in and take pictures. I also got a chance to realize that Stella needed a ton of help with her stage directions. She had essentially had no help. Her voice had not recovered from being sick the entire months of January and February. I slipped into a slight panic. After this rehearsal, I'm not sure my stomach settled again until the final bow of the final performance. I was a mess. We made an appointment with Stella's voice teacher, Emily to help us. I can say that we would have been lost without her. She helped Stella prepare so much in the one day we met with her and gave her some much needed direction. Another thing that helped a ton was I videoed this rehearsal and Stella was able to watch herself and come up with ways she could improve all on her own. Stella has fantastic instincts and I just told her to go with what felt right. Anyway, I am not sure how Stella looks back and remembers this week, but for me it was sincerely one of the most stressful in my life. She sure looks cute in these photos though.