The Sleeping Beauty - Family Cast

Our 3 show run of The Sleeping Beauty finished up on Sunday.  Esme and I were interviewed for our local cable news channel, CCX, for their weekend showcase ahead of our first show on the 12th.  Here is that story.

Esme did such a great job memorizing her lines and bringing life to her character.

We had so many friends and family come to see us.

Here is Esme with Mina who played the older version of Harmony the Jester.

We had so much fun together back stage and between acts.  The show seemed to evolve even in the moment.

Esme with friends Kyle and Aniela.  Aneila played Young Anna opposite Esme is Frozen last fall and Kyle was Kristoff in the same show.  She's built such great relationships with these kids.  

Shooting Starz won't have another production until 2026, but I already have her signed up for a summer and fall show with another theater company.  We are sad to be done, but are so grateful for the friendships we made.

Party Fit for a Princess - Esme is 9

Esme turned 9 on Monday and we celebrated with a princess party! Rapunzel is her favorite princess at this moment so we leaned in to that.  it took me back to Halloween 2022 when I made her a Rapunzel costume. I opted to buy a dress this time.

We had the standard Domino's Pizza meal that I've done the last couple years followed by chocolate cake and ice cream.

She got lots of princess and other gifts.  She was wanting all of the Disney Princess Barbies and got Tiana and Cinderella as well as an adorable mini backpack

She's also been playing around with the keyboard on her iPad and was excited to have a stand alone one.  We had great weather and were able to hang out in the backyard which isn't always a guarantee in mid-April.

Happy Birthday Esme!

Esme's Softball Evaluation

Esme was eligible to play in our local girls softball league this year and was very excited to play.  We got a glove from her cousin Emma and picked up some more gear from Play It Again Sports.  Jimmy is taking the reins on this one since he played baseball as a kid. I dabbled in softball, but was never very good.

They had a 4 part evaluation with pitching, running, throwing and fielding, and hitting. They give each player a number and they rotate through stations.  This allows them to make the teams as equitable as possible. We didn't practice any pitching so that was a new mechanic for her. 

Hitting was a little tricky since she didn't really know how to stand.  She ended up getting hit in the hand with a ball, but powered through to take one more pitch.  

Jimmy worked on some more hitting mechanics with Parker's plastic bat and wiffle ball.

Practice starts next week with game to follow in May.

Adapted Softball Season Begins

Parker's softball season started last week.  They opened the season with an exciting game against White Bear Lake.  This was another learning experience as we figured out the rules and regulations.

Parker was amazing in the batter's box.  He went 3-4 with 2 RBI.  He seems to be a 2 strike guy then makes contact.

We had a chance to come back in the 7th, but lost 10-11.

First away game was on Wednesday and he got two more hits.

He's played right field the last couple game and hasn't had an opportunity to field any balls.

His team has lots of familiar faces from floor hockey with a couple new ones too.  They only play 7 games so it will be a quick season.

Triple J Birthday Celebration

Jayden turned 21 this week!  It seemed like just yesterday he was a little guy.

Some of us met up with him at a local bar to see him have his first drink.  No quotation marks needed, he's the type of kid that actually waited until 21 to drink.  One of his buddies gave him a Star Wars Lego set that included Jedi Bob, IYKYK, but I didn't.

Grain Belt for his first drink and this was the reaction.  Sage to say beer might not be his drink.  We gathered again on Friday night to celebrate him and Jameson and Jaxxon, who turned 3 last week.  We did a homemade Benihana night.  I was originally asked to be sous chef, but took over cooking on the flat top in true Lesa fashion.

My mom made some incredible fried rice and it was a tasty meal!

I was planning to make the little guys a cake originally, but they already had one the week prior so I made the same design for Jayden!

Happy Birthday to all the boys!