You get a line. I'll get a pole, Honey....

Last week James Neal had his first ever real school performance.  We love his preschool and feel blessed to have the opportunity to provide the very best educational opportunity for him here in this little school district.  I weighed so many factors when choosing his preschool... but at the end of the day, although this one seemed out of reach for me in many ways, I'm glad we chose to make this happen for him.  He is truly thriving.

It's funny what he will and won't tell me about his school day.  When he got home several weeks ago I almost eeked with excitement when I found the notice about the upcoming Spring Performance.  Can your child attend and provide the proper costume requirements?  Ummmm, yes and YES!!! 

As the weeks led up to his performance, I would grill him about the songs and his involvement.  Much to my dismay, there was very little elaboration on his part UNTIL he brought home his 'costume' requirements... He was selected to sing "Crawdad Hole,"  a little Cajun folk song.  My grandparents use to sing it to me when I was a little girl.  It's a fast little rhymy tune and my grandfather would slap his knee when he would sing it to us... or my grandmother would bounce us on her knee unless, of course, she was rocking us to sleep- then she would sway with deep sways back and forth while she sang it barely above a whisper. 

Needless to say, it was one of the songs I've sung to the boys since they were infants swaddled in my arms.  It's a local folk song, so it doesn't show up on lullaby CDs or other mass marketed 'for kids' song compilations... so when the music teacher introduced it to James' class he told me "momma!  I couldn't believe it!  It's my song!  I couldn't help it, I just had to dance!"  And I believe it!  You'd dance along, too, if it were played for you.  ;)

The program was precious!  Our school has so many little ones and so much parental support, that they had to split the program into TWO performances!  Isn't that funny?  Two showings of a 4 year old program... I love it!  The teachers were so brave to coral those bebies on and off risers as they performed their songs.  To top it all off, the kids didn't sing to a musical track- but to live music... a guitar and piano accompaniment.  Loved that! 

Of course I brought my long lens and did my best to not be 'that mom' but still catch some memories through pictures.

Just a quick snap beside the car before we loaded up to get him to The Show!  If this picture had sound, you'd hear Jax in the background yelling "pwess pway, daddy!  Pwess Pway!" ordering us to get the DVD player on track... and me trying to logically explain to the 1yo how it's not worth turning on for the 2 minute drive to the school.

TheDuckling with his Nana before the big show!  We were all so excited to see Bruver. 

Can you see him?  The down side to having a just.made.5yo that's the average size of a second grader, they are always standing in the back or to the side of things... the little miniatures get front and center!  lol

The teachers are making their final adjustments.  You can see James' nerves in this pic. 
He's standing next to his 'best friend.'

Oh, be still my heart.  HAND MOTIONS!  200 little arms and hands and 100 tiny voices...
felt a little bit like what Heaven must be like. 

My favorite shot!  This is when they sang the part "Honey, Baby Mine!!!"
(I can't believe he's mine and I'm his... Gracious he makes my heart pitter.patter)

For the record he has NO IDEA where I am... I jumped, waved, yelled and otherwise embarrassed myself to get his attention.  This is just a lucky shot.  You can tell they rehearsed their 'BIG SMILES' pose for the curtain call! 

The mad dash afterward for all the proud parents and grandparents to claim their bebies!  A quick huddle with Nana and PawPaw for a snapshot!  Jackson was proud of his bruver- but he was more hungry than proud at this moment.
 "I eatEAT!  I eatEAT, momma!  PawPaw??? I eat!" 

Me and my boys... a triple helping of goodness!

After the big show, we treated James and the family to a big dinner out to the restaurant of James' choice... and we even stopped for ice cream sundaes after dinner.  It was a late night for our crew- but one we won't forget.  I can't believe we have a 5 year old of our own!  From here on out it will be nothing but sports and school, I suppose!  And to be honest, I couldn't be happier.  :)

For those of you who weren't raised in on the levies, knee deep in run off water, slinging traps loaded with chicken necks over to the grass with cane poles, in cut off jeans dodging water moccasins, and fillin' muck buckets with crawfish for Easter Sunday dinner after church- Here is a video of the Crawdad Song sung by one of my favorite folk heros, Woody Guthrie... Enjoy!



I do believe that if James Walter was here today, he's be tickled at his great grandson's affection for a good honkytonk jukin'. 

Peace, love, and that swing under that old oak tree.
xo
lmkw