Speak Now

The talent show was last night at 6:30.  It was very cute.  It was modeled after American Idol and they had a “judging panel” up on stage.  They had pictures of the principal, some other teacher, and Justin Bieber glued to poster board at a table to “judge”—pretty funny.  There were like 48 acts and it lasted until 9:00!  Lindsey was around the seventh act after intermission.  She did very well.  I think I already mentioned it, but she sang Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now”—it’s on her new album.  I won’t say much about it because I am putting up the video and you can just see for yourself.  I will say though that I was very proud of her.  It takes guts to get up and sing in front of a room of parents and your peers.  Logan, her Uncle Bill, her Granddaddy, her Daddy and I were all really proud of her.  (Grammy had to miss out; she watched the boys for me.)  I’ve heard her sing and I knew that she had a pretty voice, but I have to say that I was still really surprised that she looked so calm and composed.  She messed up one time at the end but caught up right where she was supposed to be.  Our only tip for her was that next time she should back up from the mic.  All of the kids who sang sort of muffled into the microphone because they didn’t know that they were supposed to back away.  This was Lindsey’s first time singing in front of anyone and there were a lot of people there, so the fact that she got up there, it was so awesome!  Don looked especially proud!  She had a lot of friends supporting her while she was singing and after she was finished they all came to tell her what a great job she did— that was nice to see.  I often joke about how irritating it is that she socializes constantly and won’t just be quiet and do her work, but this was a moment that I was happy that she is social.  She felt very good getting off the stage and having friends to greet her.  I talked to her teacher last night at the show and she said “Lindsey’s come a long way this year.  She’s  a little social butterfly, but she’s getting better and she’s focusing more when it’s time to work.”  I was glad to hear that.  I worry that she’ll be like me when she gets older and I didn’t really grow up and take school seriously until college!  Sometimes it’s scary to see that your kid bears the same qualities that you do.  I know that I am extra hard on her because I recognize it.  I’m happy that she’s social; I just want her to do what I didn’t….focus.

As far as Logan goes, he was the calmest boy in the room.  It’s funny how your kids can behave when they’re in a different environment.  He has a lot of nice friends.  I met some of them for the first time last night and they are all really funny and seem very sweet.  Logan was a really good brother last night.  He was very proud of Lindsey and had a lot of nice things to say about her when she finished singing. 

Oh yeah, the other acts that were really good…..a boy hula hooped for three minutes, which sounds dull, but it was awesome!  It was in the dark to a cool song, the hoop had a light on it and he even kept it going when he was on his knees!  It was one of those crazy acts that you think “How did that even start?”  There was a little boy who did some kind of break-dancing; he was good.  A little girl played Beethoven, it was unreal.  There were probably 6 or 7 acts that were very, very, very good.  I loved that the kids came up with everything themselves; the adults let the kids just go with it.  It was so cool to see their creativity, that’s my favorite thing about kids….seeing what they come up with.  And all of the kids were so polite and supportive of one another.  Don and I found it amazing!  As a whole, I thought the kids were so sweet and well-mannered.  I was impressed.  They’re so cute.

I will try to post the video of Lindsey singing later today, or tomorrow.  I still have to get it off of the camera.  Things like that always seem to take me a while. 

Here’s the Word of the Day: 

effloresce \EF-luh-res\, verb:

1. To burst into bloom; blossom.
2. In chemistry, to change either throughout or on the surface to a mealy or powdery substance upon exposure to air, as a to change either throughout or on the surface to a mealy or powdery substance upon exposure to air, as a crystalline substance through loss of water of crystallization.