This year we were fortunate enough to be invited to the theater for Valentine's day. The girls' Kindergarten class put on a musical version of Hansel and Gretel. The original opera was written by Englebert Humperdink (not the King's stinking son) and his sister, Adelheid Wette. When Frau Kaspar first read the story to the kids, they totally loved it. Then she introduced this version, with the music and they loved it even more. Then they all decided that they would really like to put it on as a play for the parents. They have been rehearsing for a couple of months. The girls' would come home singing bits and pieces of the songs every few days.
As is usual in Frau Kaspar's class, all the children got to choose which part they would like to have, and if more than one child wanted the same part, then they just shared the role. That way there are no hurt feelings. So there were a total of four Gretels, including two named Sarah and Sophie. The kids all did a fantastic job, especially when you realize that none of them can actually read. So they had to memorize their lines and all the words to all those songs simply by repeating what someone else told them to say, over and over again. I only noticed a couple of times where any one needed to be prompted, usually they were just reminded to repeat the line a little bit louder. Sophie apparently took that advice to heart and literally SCREAMED her lines. But it got a chuckle out of the audience, so it was all good. Chris and I both had to laugh at one of Sarah's scenes. She was supposed to be upset at Hansel for eating all the berries they had picked, and she sounded just like she does at home when she is yelling at one of us. Way to put realism into your part, Sarah!
We loved the play, but it did put a crimp in our Valentine's celebrations. I always bake sugar cookies with the kids, let them decorate them however they want, and then we deliver them to whomever they choose. I made the dough and baked them on Wednesday, planning to let the kids also decorate them then. But just the baking took longer than I thought, it's been a while since I had a 5 month old in the house. They really mess up the whole timetable on things. So we didn't get them decorated until Thursday afternoon, and then it was a mad dash to get them all delivered before we had to have the girls up at the school for their play. Nicholas is finally too old to want to deliver Valentine's to his friends. 🙁 and Noah was too young, but the girls loved it. Of course, Sarah, following in her mother's footsteps only had one girl and TWO boys she wanted to take cookies to. Tim because he is so handsome, and Jamen because he is cool. All righty then, sounds like good criteria to me. Their friend Maheshi even gave them something back, Tulips, their first ever flowers.
Friday night I made pizza for dinner using a new recipe for both the crust and the sauce. I don't know if it was the fun shape, each of their "slices" was actually a little heart, or the new recipe, but they all ate more pizza than they ever had. And of course, we used our "cheer" cups to drink out of. Fortunately, none broke this time due to over enthusiastic cheering. I also made heart shaped rice krispie treats for the kids, and cheesecake with cherry topping for Chris and I. There were little red metallic heart and silver cupid confetti on the table as well. I had more planned, but again, a young baby in the house put an end to a lot of it. Oh well, there's always next year.