Jeff is utterly, utterly awesome; or Busy, busy, busy!

Last Friday was Adam and Ellie's second choir concert. There are no photos, because when your husband is at work and you are getting Ellie's hair washed and combed and styled and supervising Adam's concert uniform going on as well while also packing up the nappy bag and packing up packed lunches for the kids and getting Nicholas dressed and dealing with Kate having an accident IN the bathroom the very second you are supposed to be leaving the house (why? I suppose it is the best place for it but I cannot fathom why ALL her accidents are in the bathroom), then it turns out there is not a lot of time for taking photos. But they looked great.

I am reliably informed that Ellie was totally cute and fabulous on stage. The stage was packed this time so I couldn't really see her. Adam's choir did a couple of really fun songs. He has been singing his Hebrew verse from 'When you Believe'  for weeks and weeks, and it sounded beautiful. His choir and the next oldest choir did a back-and-forth version of 'The Lonely Goatherd' which was just a barrel of fun. But I think my favourite part for him was 'Stouthearted Men', which was originally sung by just the men from the adult choir and was a showstopper, and then for their encore they sang it again and all the boys from all the choirs marched onto the stage singing it as well. The audience loved it, in both concerts, and just erupted into applause both times! Adam was the second one in his line and from where I was sitting I could just see his head bobbing along in perfect time. I have to say, the little boys looked totally cute marching on!

And, what is possibly more important than the concerts themselves, they had a total blast in the holding rooms backstage and can't wait to do it again. They are in those holding rooms for about eight hours, so this is an important part of the experience and I'm glad they had fun!

As for me, although I didn't play on my new reed, I played the heck out of that concert. Tone and intonation have never been better. Even though there are always a couple of spots that I just struggle with. Ode to Joy? No. Ode to Just Giving Up in the Prestissimo Section, more like.

Concert week is always brutal, just in the amount of time that I need to spend out of the house, and also in the amount of time I need to arrange child care for Kate and Nicholas. After every concert I just want to come home and do nothing but play with the little two. It just feels like I haven't seen them in ages. So I was looking forward to a lazy day on Saturday with nothing to do but spend time with them until we went out for dinner in the evening for our anniversary.

Wrong!

Jeff is utterly, utterly awesome, and somehow he had managed to ditch the kids without me being aware of the plans or anything. I knew the kids had a playdate that day, and I was so tired that morning that I didn't even really register that you don't normally need an overnight bag for a playdate. But in the process of packing that Jeff produced an itinerary for a day out in LA, including reservations for dinner at a swanky restaurant, and tickets for a show. He said he hoped that was ok, instead of jewellery. Hello, yes!

Our day out was great. We went up to Hollywood and took a tour of Grauman's Chinese Theatre which was so interesting. I am not one to get all starry-eyed at Hollywood glamour, and so I surprised myself by geeking out in the courtyard at Grauman's Theatre for hours. As a slice of social history it was just fascinating.

For example, did you know that in old Hollywood the smaller your foot was the more feminine it was considered to be? So poor Rita Hayworth squeezed her feet into doll shoes and by the time she was done putting them in cement they were bleeding and her shoes had to be cut off. Now my feet are not that big but they look like absolute clodhoppers in comparison!  (Click on the picture, you'll see her shoeprints better.)

 It was totally fun. I can't believe I have never done it before!

Dinner was amazing (doubling your usual dinner budget produces spectacular results!) and then we went to see Iris by Cirque du Soleil at the Kodak Theatre which was also amazing. I saw one of their shows years ago and had totally forgotten that they can be quite frightening to watch. The first thing I did with most acts was try to find the wire, and then I was able to sit back and enjoy the performance once I knew the performer was safe!

We had a wonderful day, just the two of us. Big thanks to Sarah and Rob for taking on our children for the day! I didn't worry about them, not once. It was so nice.

And Jeff didn't skip the jewellery. He had a gorgeous jade bead necklace made just for me. Now I just need an outfit to wear it with!

Happy 11th Anniversary to us!