Alice

Since about the age of 3 Athena has had the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland memorized. It is her favorite movie and favorite book. I'm sure she has read it more times than any other book. So you can imagine how excited she was to find out they were doing a version of it for the play at school this year. Of course her first choice was to play Alice. what little adventurous girl hasn't dreamed of being Alice? But she was happy with any part she was given just to be in it. When the cast was announced she found out she would be a 1/5 of the Caterpillar. It was perfect for her! She did a wonderful job and I heard lots of chatter in the audience that the Caterpillar was thier favorite part. I also got in on the action making some of the costumes. 

I did the Caterpillar of course. The character is sort of the laid back hippie that helps Alice along her journey, so I went with tie-dye, braided headbands and hula hoops! I also made the tutu skirts and floral crowns for the flowers. Those were so much fun! 

I also got to do one of my favorite activities, Papier Mâché! I made the Dodo's head out of a foam dinosaur hat I found at the dollar store, how is that for evolution?! He is a captain so I used a blue jacket my friend found at Goodwill and stitched some feathers in the front and at the ends of the sleeves. I really love how just a few little things made his costume work so well. 

I also helped out fixing a few things here and there on costumes borrowed from a local youth theater, or throwing a boa on some birds. But probably the best part of all was the wings for when the Caterpillar turns into a butterfly. I don't even want to admit the amount of hours I spent making them to have them appear on stage for just a short time, but the result was awesome! They spanned the whole width of the stage!

I can't post the video of the whole show because it's too big but here is Athena's main scene as the Caterpillar. Warning:the song will be stuck in your head for days if you watch ;)

13!!!

Wow, my baby is 13. Where did the time go? When Athena was a baby, she cried, A LOT! Now that she is older she sings, A LOT! I'm beginning to wonder if the crying was just her newborn way of singing? She sometimes acts a little like a teenager these days. Doesn't keep her room clean like she used to, is a little loud when it might not be appropriate. But for the most part she is sweet and kind, cares about others feelings before her own, and has the most fantastic sense of humor. The other day as we were leaving dance her ballet teacher said to me "you get to have the Athena show 24-7" Athena started to get defensive and he replied "no it's a good thing, you are hilarious and I love it" She works hard in school, in fact I had two teachers at conferences say she is too hard on herself. I can't imagine life without her around and hope she stays her loving self forever. Happy 13 sweetie!