Take A Bow

I have cried more today than I have in a long time. Thankfully every tear was due to uncontrollable laughter.

This morning the kids participated in a short musical presentation at church. As soon as the service started, all kids from ages 2-4 were cattled onto the stage steps to perform their creation week song, complete with hand motions. This meant we had to get to church thirty minutes early to rehearse, which was great because the kids got to practice it three or four times before the 'real' thing. A friend shot a little video which happened to include some of Eli and Maddux; the church also recorded the performance (and practices), so there maybe more to come. But in case you have trouble seeing what happens, let me walk you through, step by step.

Eli did great. He hit his marks, sang his lines, and performed as well as we would have hoped. Maddux played her part too. We were just not privy to the knowledge that her part was clown and scene-stealer.

During at least two of the run-throughs, Maddux fell down the steps. Most of the kids danced and jumped around during at least one part of the song. This resulted in a few tumbles, but since Maddux was front-and-center (surprise), she almost took the microphone out. She had a small tumble during the performance, but it was one of those not-if-but-when-moments, so no one was caught off-guard. (However, one of her falls did result in her foot getting 'stuck' on her dress, so she had a hard time standing back up....that may have been 'live'.) The 'clown' part came at the end of the live performance. Keep in mind that what happened was not something Maddie did during any of the rehearsals, nor did she do it at all before we left the house this morning. During the part of the song when the kids sing, "God made me.", Maddux showed everyone that he made ALL of her, including her belly button. She lifted her dress up to show her stomach to the crowd. Of course there were chuckles (see first sentence about my tears), but the best part was how persistent she was. No matter how much our friend tried to get her to keep her dress down, Maddux was set on performing. I'm starting to cry again as I'm typing this.... Enjoy; the real fun starts at 2:10. (Eli is in the back row with a green shirt on; Maddux is front row, white/black dress on.)

2009 11 CCC Kids Sing from Nicole Eliason on Vimeo.