a parenting first

On Thursday, Barkley had an “arts open house.” I knew that Evan was part of a 1st and 2nd grade sing along that night. So, the family went. But, I was cameraless and camcorderless because I really thought we’d just walk around and then sing a few songs. When we got there, the auditorium was packed out. It was a full blown band concert and chorus dealie. The band, made up of 4th and 5th graders, was pretty cute. Among other tunes, we heard B-I-N-G-O, with a consistent off note for the top note—hilarious. And, my personal favorite, a lively rendition of Ghostbusters. They would play and then yell out the “GHOSTBUSTERS” part. Drew turned to Mark at that point and said, “That’s not ‘Ghostbusters'” with a lot of disappointment. It wasn’t all that recognizable, I admit. Then, we walked around the school for 20 minutes and found all of Evan’s artwork displayed. Mind you, it was killing me that I did not have a camera because this was all such picture-worthy events. Then, they called us all back to the auditorium and welcomed the 1st graders to the stage. Evan was a bit nervous at first and started to fuss and implore us to come up with him. But, when he heard Mr. B’s voice on the microphone telling the kids what to do, he jumped into his “school mode” and marched right on up there. He was so cute singing the songs and smiling at us and occasionally waving. So, unbeknownst to us, we went to our first choral/band concert. It really wasn’t painful as most parents say these things are. The only thing painful about it was that I was not prepared for the event with all my paparazzi equipment. Mark managed to take a pic on his phone–quality stinks. But, at least we have one photo.
If you can find the kid in the middle in the orange striped shirt, waving his hands, Evan is on the right of him wearing a white long sleeve top. I know, it’s nearly impossible to spot him. At least the picture can help us conjure up the image of the night in our own minds. It probably does very little for any of the readers.