Pageant Week

This week has been very busy with Jon in finals (a slew of papers and other assignments) and the boys final week of preschool.  I made 3 costumes, 2 angel costumes and one donkey costume.  I also baked 80 cookies.  Whew! I'm glad this week is over.  Nothing was very difficult, it just took time.  I also got on a kick from this website and have been devoting a little more time to "home organization".  I haven't been able to incorporate much into the cleaning way of Flylady--mostly because I haven't had more than 5 or 10 minutes to look in the site.  Just keeping my sink clean, putting away freshly washed dishes and doing one project at a time is all I can handle right now.  

The pageants went very well.  When we asked the boys what character they wanted to be in the pageants I was hoping they would say shepherds because we have all that garb already.  But no.  Isaac wanted to be a donkey and Ewan wanted to be Gabriel the Angel.  I had to figure out how to make some presentable costumes and quick!  I found a Christian homeschooling website that gave me some pretty good guidelines on how to make a donkey costume and got the angel costume from FamilyFun.com.  

We were a little nervous about Ewan's choice to be an angel.  Usually girls choose to be angels and it isn't considered very "masculine".  He was very specific that he wanted to be Gabriel and I was trying t o figure out how to make his outfit more boyish than girlie.  I got the idea of a sword and making the costume with little frill.  For Ewan's costume I got a king sized pillow case and cut holes for the head and arms.  I sewed a trim along the bottom and added wings made from cardboard.  I added a belt that also worked as his sword holder and wola Gabriel was born.  He looked GREAT!  

Don't you love the sword?

Gabriel, the warrior.

I also made a second angel costume for our friend's daughter.  Hers was more frilly and fun to make.

Isaac's costume was pretty easy.  I just safety pinned some black fringe on a gray shirt and sweat pants.  Then I made a little hat out of fleece with some felt ears.  I added some fringe to that too.  It took about an hour and a half to make.  

Singing Away in a Manger

Isaac was THE donkey that brought Mary to Bethleham.

Mary, Joseph, and the donkey waiting to make their appearance.

Pre-show pics.

Don't you love how Isaac's donkey ears are all lopsided?  I am no seamstress but, hey, it worked!

The pageant was a participation pageant so there was no big performance. All the kids got to pick their characters and Ewan's teacher went through the Christmas story while the children answered questions and "played" their part. Then they sang a few songs or recited poetry. Isaac's pageant was yesterday. His class combined with the other 4 year old class and the 3 year old class. Ewan's was today and his pre-K class was combined with the kindergarteners. There were a few laughs--as always with children on the stage and it was fun to watch. I don't know what it is about kids singing about Jesus but I get teary every time. when Isaac's class was singing away in a manger I had tears streaming down my cheeks. Maybe it is their simple faith but whatever it is, it touches my heart.

Enjoy the pictures!

You can read about our cookie baking experience here.