Annie and Baseball Pants

Here is an example of how my life is these days--I was planning to write a blog post about Maya's recent experience of being in a play. As I was writing, I started doing things that I have been meaning to do, like reading the program, particularly the bios. Six Firefox tabs and an hour later my blog post hasn't progressed much, but I know much more about the man who did the music direction for the show, and I've learned that my kids can audition for the free New York City Opera Children's Chorus if I sign them up by next week...It is my mission to discover all the free opportunities in this crazy city that might offer up some interesting diversions in the name of homeschooling...Not sure if the kids will even be interested, like I can't convince Jonah to try the American Ballet Theater's FREE program for boys. He just refuses. Way too into sporty, boy-ish things. Hmmm, I know, I just need to take him to see Billy Elliott....Will add that to mental checklist.
But I digress. What I really wanted to say is that I'm so grateful Maya had this opportunity. Among the parents in our homeschooling group, I would say the majority of them have backgrounds in something to do with theater or performing. So what that means is that instead of volunteering to do something that I would normally volunteer for, like going to Costco and buying snacks for the concession stand, there are say, former costume designers volunteering to find costumes for the orphans. Or dancers doing the choreography, or artists painting the sets. It was such an incredible experience. About the time I was walking home from the theater in the West Village at 10 pm on a Saturday night and saw my third group of men wearing feathers and shiny things, it really solidified what a singular experience it was. For me, ha! I'm just the mom that brought her to rehearsals and occasionally peeked through the doorways...but for Maya--to have this opportunity to be in a real show, that bought the rights to perform the play in its entirety and hired a musical director and live musicians...the fact that she spent so much time with about 40 other cast and crew members and got to be a part of a team of people all working together to make something spectacular...It was just a really cool thing. And those kids looked GOOD up there! It was a lot of fun.
On the subway ride home after the last performance, Maya said she didn't want it to be over...
Pictures coming soon, I'm trying to figure out who has them, since we weren't allowed during the performances.
Jonah is having a similar experience right now with baseball--luck of the draw, he ended up with a coach who was a former minor league player and is just dynamite. He is having 3 practices a week right now (most kids his age in this league have only 1), and not only does he wear really cute baseball pants, but he is having the time of his life and is learning a ton. So is Brett, who frequently leaves work early to pick up Jonah and take him to practice. Soccer is also underway, and normally Jonah is way into that but it is taking a backseat to baseball for the moment.
Now if we could just get those Annie songs out of our heads...