Fourth of July Talent Show

Well, it was really the 3rd, but that's how we roll.

Among other festivities, we had the annual Talent Extravaganza.

Ella MC'ed and coordinated the talent (which is a bit like herding cats, but she got the job done!).

The karate girls. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the camera to get a clear picture of the kicks. Even in the sand, don't they look strong, focused and intense? Uh huh, they are.

The girly-girls doing the Cotton-Eyed Joe remix dance to The Dog Song by Nellie McKay.

The diaper dance karate improv roll in the sand having fun routine!

Oh, this was coerced participation in the show. Ella: "You can pretend to kill each other!" The boys: "YEAH! Then we'll DO IT!!"

Everyone took a nice bow :) We couldn't quite get our diapered lady to join in, but she got plenty of applause, too.

Video Club

Here, Ella is setting up her segment on craft materials that inspire!

The control room!! Where the magic happens!!

I can't remember if I posted about this before, but Ella does this video club that is shown on a local cable station. Her stage name as the Krafty Kid is Lacey Trim. Here she is with her wig on. Doesn't she look so much more like Declan?

It is pretty cool there, and they get to use all the equipment. Ella's friend (She-Who-Has-Requested-No-Internet-Exposure *grin*) has a character that uses a green screen. So awesome.

Visual Presentations, Part 2

What a night! The highs! The lows! The laughter! The tears!

When all was said and done, there was a great showing by the Muddy Paws crew! In Ella's room, four kids (out of 8, in six categories), went on to State VPs. They were all four from Ella's 4-H group, Muddy Paws. There were a bunch of first time VPs that went on to states. It was all very thrilling.

Some very proud girls!

We're off to see the Wizard

It was definitely organized chaos wrangling hundreds of children into groups of poppies, munchkins, and flying monkeys. The flying monkeys were already zooming around!

Ella is a munchkin, and she is so excited! This picture is stinky, but you can see Ella in the turquoise shirt right in front when they were learning the jitterbug.

She was thrilled to be cast in the Wizard of Oz at the high school, along with some of her friends. Yesterday we went to rehearsal and the director of the show had such a wonderful energy and it was really great. I am so glad that Ella has had so many positive drama mentors.