Birthday & Show Week

Gosh I am so slack at updating.

Anyway, last Monday was my birthday. I said I didn't want any presents & that is exactly what I got (except for a bottle of wine from Doris). Instead I had my hair cut & went shopping. I finally bought 3 new pairs of jeans as I have none that fit me and the whole losing weight to get into them thing ain't happening. I also bought a really lovely dress that actually cost me more than 3 pair of jeans, 1 top & the cost of shortening 2 pair of the jeans "gulp".

Gary & I went out for lunch, I met Doris for a wine while Meg was at singing & Gary & the kids cooked me dinner.

I got lots of Facebook messages. I had the day off work & some of the girls Samyson goes to school with popped in on the way home to give me a hug & say happy Birthday which was really sweet. Also on Tuesday it was Vicky one of the other NYTC Mums birthday, the kids had rehearsal so she had asked a few of us to go & have a drink so she made it a double celebration. When I went to pick Samyson up after rehearsal Cole who is one of his NYTC friends came & gave me a hug & said happy birthday so I was feeling quite happy.

Last Friday the "Committee" Mums (our kids do NYTC & Variety Voices together), had Thanksgiving Dinner at Doris & Martins, it was a first for most of us & it was a really lovely night with turkey, candied yams & pumpkin pie - Yummy!! They are such a lovely bunch of women & I really enjoy meeting up with them.

This week is Show Week - Camp Rock 2. Because I am the only one at work this week I could not take the time off to work back stage so I am helping Vicki in the Public cafe on Friday night, running the cafe on Saturday afternoon & as Samyson is lead on Saturday night I don't have to do anything else. I actually almost feel a bit guilty as I am usually backstage on props and or set and or anything else that needs doing. It also means that as Siobhan is in one of the younger groups & is not a lead I can go & pick her up when her group is dismissed between 5 & 8 depending on the night instead of her having to hang around til 10.30 when Samysons group is dismissed.

I went to pick Samyson up a bit early last night & snuck into the theatre to watch the rehearsal & I have to say it is looking really good, lots of energy & the kids look like they are having fun, I can,'t wait to see Samyson play Nate on Saturday night.

Work is mental busy but at least we are getting paid at the moment, we had a few weeks where we just didn't have the money so were not paid or paid a few days late, it looks like we might actually get caught up on that this week too. I think all up I am owed either 1 or 1 1/2 weeks wages so that will be nice, especially since I got my credit card bill yesterday - not pretty.

I really should aim to update once a week since the whole point of this blog is so I can read back & see what has been happening.

Nice weekend away

Last Saturday we had our annual work lunch (it was supposed to be dinner but we left the booking too late) at Tribeca in Parnell. We use it as an excuse to celebrate all our birthdays & Christmas in one hit rather than a whole lot of cheap meals during the year. It was as usual a fantastic meal & there were 8 of us we all  had a ball & lots of laughs. If you ever want a special meal out I totally recommend this place, it is fine dining & not cheap but always fantastic food & service.

The food is divine and we had a great time, Sue very kindly picked the kids up from home & got them to Allstars then picked them up after the show and took them home, she stayed the night at our place so Gary & I could stay the night in a motel (got to love wotif.com).  We were not really very hungry & decided to have dinner at the motel were staying at, it was not too bad but was much better when we didn't get charged for it :-).

On the Friday we went to the Allstars show which is the show the kids put on after a week long NYTC  school holiday programme of musical theatre training. It is always a good laugh and some of the kids are so talented. This time Samyson got his solo song in (they all do an audition piece either a solo or in a group which they work on during the week & perform in the show), he also had several speaking parts & featured as lead in a few of the group numbers, he was wrapt and performed really well. Conversely Siobhan did not want to do an audition piece (it is not compulsory) and she got 2 singing lines and about 4 speaking lines - she was also wrapt - talk about chalk & cheese, those 2 are so different. In the group numbers Siobhan was much more confident than she usually was and her dancing had improved heaps.

Back to school this week & the tornado was the talk of the day on Tuesday, Samyson goes to Glenfield College which is one of the places it hit and Siobhans school bus goes past there so she got caught up in it all as well. Luckily no one was hurt but I was so pleased when they both got home as I was at work on the other side of town & could not get there. There was talk of the Harbour Bridge being shut but they didn't. Our friend Mike was waiting outside the school to pick his daughter up & when it hit, he reversed his truck as far back as he could because the pine cones were raining down onto his windscreen, he no sooner moved & a large tree came down right where he had been parked!!

Hoping for a quiet weekend this time, friends for dinner on Saturday, yoga on Sunday morning & I really need to do some housework, the place is a mess.

Back to School

The second week of the holidays was all good, Monday Gary had the day off work so he took them out for lunch & to MOTAT.

Tuesday to Saturday was the NYTC All Stars so that took up heaps of time. It is a week of singing, dancing & acting culminating in a show on the Friday night, Saturday afternoon & Saturday night. It never ceases to amaze me how much these kids can learn in 4 days.

Gary & I went to the Friday night show & Sue & I went to Saturday nights. Both shows were great. Samyson just blew us away, he had one solo song (Hey there Delilah) plus a duet with Gabe (What you Own) and he was just awesome. Even his dancing in the group numbers was the best I have seen him do.

Siobhan did a duet with another girl Jade and she did really well, Friday night she was clearly really nervous but by Saturdays show show she performed much better, we could hear her voice when she sang & she did not look at Jade for direction the whole time.

All excited to get back to the normal school week routine - until I remembered that Samyson has school camp from tomorrow and I am going as a parent helper. I hope the weather is good and it is not as cold as it was this morning.

 

NYTC Showcase

What a fantastic show!!!

It blows my mind how talented these kids are. Even heavy metal loving - showtune hating Gary loved it!!

Although Samyson did not have a full solo the bit he did have in one song he did really well but every single act was just fantastic.

There is a musical called 13 which the one of the songs Samyson did is out of, he bought the album off i-tunes yesterday & played it non stop, he is hoping NYTC will do t his show (which Joe the CEO suggested they might). Not sure how it will translate from 13 13 year olds in New York using a cast of 200 from 7-21.

Next show is Seussical & I really hope Samyson get a lead in this one, the first time he did an NYTC show it was this one so it will be nice to have a bigger role this time. Siobhan is also looking forward to it and hopefully we can resurrect lots of the props so not too much to recreate for us in props :-)

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet, managed to get to Yoga yesterday so felt heaps better but am sore today. We go to Paihia on Saturday for a week so I have a million things to do to get ready.

Where does the time go

Our long weekend away was really nice, the weather was crap but we managed to survive.

We stayed at the camping ground at Orewa, unfortunately the one we used to stay at was bought by a developer who closed it down, got partway through building some, what now turns out to be leaky homes, and then went bust. The remaining campground is OK but small & cramped. We booked a kitchen cabin, apparantly "kitchen" means a sink, microwave and an electric frypan!!! There was no oven or even an element.

With the weather being so crap we got to spend time together as a family just hanging out, we played board games & watched a bit of TV, went for walks when the weather picked up. The kids got on really well with very little arguing. Only one meltdown from Siobhan & one hissyfit from Samyson.

The Tuesday after we got back Samyson was off school sick so I stayed home with him which meant I was even further behind at work but these things happen.

This last weekend, Gary was sick!!! He has the flu (actually I suspect it is just a cold but what would I know), consequently he spent the weekend in bed & is off work today. I on the other hand ran around like a blue arsed fly all weekend I needed to come to work for a rest.

I did manage to get to the gym on Saturday but slept in on Sunday so missed Yoga, no problem I thought, I will do some at home - it kind of loses that whole relaxing, spiritual side when you are accompanied by a 10 year old who is either giggling or going "ow ow ow" all the way through and when I did catch a glimpse of her trying really hard to concentrate with her eyes closed I just cracked up laughing.

I gave up & made cauliflower, coriander & coconut soup instead YUM!!!

A busy couple of weeks, we are off to the Bay of Islands the week before school holidays so I have a heap to get done at work so I can relax on holiday. Samyson has NYTC Showcase this Saturday which means Thursday night rehearsal, Friday night rehearsal (presumably at the theatre) 2 shows on Saturday from which I will have to get him to & from, at least it is only in Takapuna and we are going to the afternoon show anyway. Siobhan has netball on Wednesday so hopefully it is a 6pm game & I can go & watch her play.

I thought my life was busy

As much as it drives me nuts all the running around to practices etc, I have it easier than some.

When I went to pick Samyson up from rehearsal last night, one of the Mums mentioned that they were thrown into a big panic because of a fire at one of the schools as it threw their whole routine out. She then proceeded to list the schedule which included, dance, soccer, drive thru McDonalds, NYTC rehearsal and something else I can't recall. She had it down to 10 minutes blocks. A couple of the other parents were standing there nodding in agreement saying they have the same problem that they have to pick the kid/s up from school then spend the next 3 or 4 hours ferrying them from one activity to the next - and this happens 4 -5 days a week for some of them!!!

I know a lot of these NYTC kids are extremely talented but seriously, when do they get time to do homework or just relax. One of the boys mentioned his Mum is going to talk to his teachers about reducing his homework load as he finds it too much with his other activities (not only does he do NYTC but gets involved in other shows as well, he is currently doing Macbeth with Stage 2 - he is 11!!!)

We always said that the kids can get involved in 1 sport & one artistic (music drama) activity each, no more. That was more than enough practices and rehearsals for a kid.

Sometimes I wonder if we are restricting them too much but apart from the costs, we are 2 full time working parents, it is difficult enough to get them where they have to be especially if it is on the other side of Auckland or if two have to be at different places at the same time. In my opinion they need time to themselves just to relax & do their own thing and time to do their homework at a reasonable time instead of late at night after several activities or first thing in the morning while trying to get ready for school.

Anyway I am looking forward to a weekend that has no time constraints all, we eat when we get around to it, go where we want & do what we want when it suits - Bliss.

Bring on the long weekend

I am looking forward to Queens Birthday Weekend, we decided to go away for a couple of days. Our first choice of Awhitu down south of Waiuku did not happen due to their website being down when we tried to book so Gary suggested Orewa. It is close to Auckland so we will not get caught in the worst of the traffic which coming in & out of Auckland on a long weekend is horrendous.

We can just relax, go for walks, play board games etc which is what we all need.

Siobhan is home sick today, she still is suffering with the cold she had before show week and woke up this morning completely miserable. I was going to bring her to work but Gary kindly offered to stay home with her. I dosed her up with paracetamol, echineccea, breathe easy in the burner, cough medicine & Vicks on her feet. Samyson remade her bed for her and she was asleep again within minutes. Unbelievably she woke up about 8.45 again & phoned me to say she felt better & wanted to go to school, she still sounded like crap so I told her she wasn't going, she kept arguing that she felt much better and she wanted to go to school!! Finally convinced her that if she still felt fine at lunchtime she could go then - talk about role reversal, usually the parents are telling the kids they have to go to school & the kids saying they don't want to.

In other news, Samyson has been selected in the chorus for the NYTC Showcase. He auditioned for a solo but missed out so was really happy to get the chorus. He has rehearsals Thursdays 6.30-8.30 for the next 3 weeks, plus Sat & Sun 11 & 12 June all afternoon from 1pm & then in theatre Friday 18th & 2 shows on Sat 19th. Just when I thought I might get a break from all this running around, no such luck, this will be over & it will be onto the next show I am sure.

Roll on the weekend!!!

Show Week

Well the last week & a bit has been flat out. It is what we call "show week". The kids are involved in NYTC which is the National Youth Theatre Company. They perform 2 kids musical shows a year (along with holiday programmes). Basically the week of the shows, they have rehearsals & are in theatre for a week and as a parent helper in the props department, that also means me.

The week went something like this:

Sat 15 May

Kids at rehearsal from 1-6.30 so Gary & I did some shopping & went out for lunch. That night we had a work dinner at TriBeCa in Parnell. Sue played driver (dropped us off, picked kids up then picked us up later).

Sun 16 May

Kids at rehearsal 1-4.30, more housework & shopping. had an egg sandwich at about 4pm for lunch (yes this is important).

Mon 17 May

I was SICK!!!! Bloody egg sandwich. I will spare the gory details, suffice to say both ends going & serious stomach cramps. Gary ended up taking the day off work to look after me (awwww). He got the kids to school & then to theatre at 3.30 for rehearsal, he then had to pick them up at 8.45.

Tues 18 May

Still felt like crap but went to work since I am already having a heap of time off for the show. Left early & took Samyson to Bruce Mason Theatre for Glenfields Got Talent Show then Siobhan & I went to Portofino in Takapuna for dinner. It is nowhere near as nice as Devonport, we shared the most boring Maguerita pizza. Anyway the GHT show was pretty good, Samyson was great in the play they did. I was really disappointed that he did not sing in the band, he was one of the dancers (he was good but I don't get to hear him sing very often).

Wed 19 May

Work for a couple of hours in the morning then to theatre by 12.30 with the kids. Get there to find that as usual, no one has a clue. Supposed to do a full run thru without stopping (minimal stopping anyway) - did not happen and then because they had to let the younger group go they changed the order of the scenes so we have no idea what the cues are for the scene changes or if we are missing any props etc. Got home about 8, hoping that they do a second run thru with the leads & the older groups - people are actually paying to come to the show at 9.45 Thursday. Everyone stressed & Jan who is the props manager feeling sick.

Thurs 20 May

Arrive at theatre at 8.30am (not bad considering it is raining & peak hour traffic). We run thru our pre set list & other notes & hope like hell we don't completely cock up. They did a better run thru last night but still a couple of scenes not run & we have no idea of our cues.

We ran the first show & we ROCKED. It was really good for a first show better than some where everyone was better organised. Second show went well. I was supposed to go into work but Siobhan not well (I have been dosing her with cough meds, panadol, breath easy etc so much so one of the dressing room Mums thought I was the nurse). Home to relax, the last early night for a while.

Fri 21 May

Theatre at 8.30 again (I don't do mornings!!). 2 school shows, again went really well. No time to go home in between shows as planned since they have decided to call them back early!!! I was supposed to Pick Gary up & get a change of clothes as we are going to Avenue Q & I am dressed in manky black & running shoes. He ends up not coming because when he got home the front door was wide open, it looks like someone tried to break in so he had to fix that. Fed the kids at the food hall & dropped them at theatre and hit the shops. farmers for a new top, eyeliner, mascara, deoderant and some silver bracelets & Hannahs for a pair of boots, a quick change in the loo at McDonalds and just in time to meet the others for dinner at Eliot Stables.

Avenue Q finished in time to pick the kids up from Aotea after their show & off home & to bed.

Sat 22 May

Ahhh, a bit of a sleep in, we don't have to be at theatre until 12.30. Let the kids relax & phoned Samyson at 11.15 to double check it was 12.30 & not 12 call time - it was 11.30 call time!!!!!! rushed home, sent a text to say we are running late & rushed off to theatre. Luckily the kids threw together their food and were ready when I got home.

Show did not go so well, my pirates got their cue but the person they got their cue off was too early so the whole scene was a bit of a mess, then I could not unplug the dresser (Sam had been doing that & I did not realise there was a button!!!!), my fault I should have checked before the show to make sure I could do it.

Picture this, the show was Peter Pan the musical, we have the nursery. Peter Pan, Wendy, John & Michael are about to depart for Neverland by flying, the maid Eliza enters just in time to see them flying away, she faints, spotlights on the flying while the Nursery scene is changed to Neverland with the help of some pirates (I assume to give a hint of what's to come). Unfortunately, the flyers were slow taking off so Peter Pan etc are still on the ground, Eliza instead of winging it still gives her line "Oh My" & faints which is the cue for the pirates to come in & start he scene change & the Nursery walls to start moving - what we ended up with was Eliza fainting for no apparant reason (since no one was flying, Peter Pan et al were still standing in the Nursery) & the nursery being invaded by pirates who then had to stand there like lemmings until the nursery walls moved so they could get the beds out. Then, because I cocked up my bit, we have neverland with a Dolls house & a dresser sitting it it until they get wheeled into the wings - Epic fail!!!

Gala night then the final show which went fantastic & the kids stayed & helped pack up the props so we got home about 12.30am. My feet & my back were killing me.

Sun 22 May

Everyone just blobbed today, kids grumpy. Gary & I went fruit & vege shopping - that was it.

So this week back to some sort of normality and catching up with everything at work. Samyson off school yesterday and thankfully Carolann looked after him so I was not distracted at work.