Why I Haven't Been Posting

Since Monday at 4:00 I have spent 34 1/2 hours at the school. That's because of three dress rehearsals, three performances, and 8 hours of ticket sales.

But it was all worth it. The musical was wonderful. Memories were made. New friends were made. And a pretty nice photo cd available for only $10 was made.

4,000 pictures later here are some of my favorites.

The Von Trapp children with Maria. Kennedy is third from the left on the front row. She was Marta.

My nun and my Marta. And one of the best back stage helpers the school has ever seen:c)I learned a lot about my camera during the week of 4,000 pictures. I shot almost all of them in TV mode while adjusting my shutter speed. Of course, until last night when Shawn told me it was my shutter speed, I just called it the fraction number thingie.My friend Christie is an amazing seamstress and spend many more hours than me working on costumes. The costumes in the first picture were my favorite. They were made out of the curtains Maria finds in her room. Of course, that meant Christie had to make curtains and costumes. And the children only wore them in one scene for about 2 1/2 minutes! Their uniforms were worn the most. They were so cute!The nuns though wore their choir dresses with a long sleeve button up shirt. The first night I helped McKinley (second from the right) tie on her wimple. It was a bittersweet and funny moment. When I put this picture on Facebook several people commented about them all having braces. My friend Keron said they must have a good dental plan to the convent!What I love most about the musicals is that each year our principals and superintendent are in it. Our school system is so small that Pre-K through seniors are all in three buildings in a 4 block area that are all connected. That means it really is like a big family. Our superintendent is very involved. He fills in for crossing guard duty when needed and I've even seen him mowing the grass during the summer. The three principals are great guys, too.

This is our elementary principal. He was the Nazi official that came to Captain Von Trapp to give him his commission papers. He had quite a few lines and did a great job!This is our high school principal and his wife who works in the elementary library. He was my Algebra 1 & 2 teacher and although I don't remember much, he was a great teacher. He did lie though when he said I'd use it every day. He and his wife were a couple that visited the party the Captain threw for Baroness Shrader. His wife had a little flirtatious moment with the Captain that had the audience cheering.Our middle school principal was the hardest to photograph. He was the Nazi official that ran in to report that the Von Trapp family had left the concert and were gone. He ran in, said a quick line, and ran off. It took me four nights to get this picture.But here's my favorite, our superintendent. He was the priest that performed the wedding ceremony. He didn't have any lines but was the most memorable person. This was the first dress rehearsal he came to so he's not in costume yet. But the cast was still excited to see him. Look at the smile on Kennedy's face!At the cast party last night a group of moms were standing around and one asked if we'd seen her son in the nun chorus. He'd been begging the choir teacher to let him be one. She finally caved after making him sing the song to make sure he could do it. So Franz the butler became a nun. Luckily I'd decided to take a few more nun pictures last night and had one of him!Since I had been taking pictures the superintendent asked if I'd take a group picture on the stage with the amazing set that had been purchased. And while I was at it, why not add the entire cast also. No pressure there. So after the last show I stood in the second to back row, on the chair arms rests, and snapped about 20 pictures. I was terrified that I wouldn't get a good one. But I did! And if you look at the last person on the right, you'll see Franz the butler wearing his wimple!

So another year of the musical is over. It's such an amazing thing to be a part of. But now it's time to move on to another of the projects I listed a few days ago.

Know what I penciled on my calendar for May 26th?

Collapse.

I can't wait.