May the Fourth Be With You 2013

You aren't truly a Star Wars fan if you don't celebrate all things from a galaxy far, far away on May 4th.  At our house, I usually observe the day by making a batch of Darth Vader cupcakes.  But this year, our local library put on a fantastic "May the Fourth Be With You" party for us.  Laura Polak, Youth Services Specialist at Oak Bend Library is truly gifted at creating fun ways for kids to extend their learning and just have fun.  My kids and I have had the privilege to take part in many of her programs, but I have to say, she really outdid herself this time.  She began by warming up the crowd with a few quick rounds of Star Wars trivia and encouraged kids to shout out the answers.  Interestingly enough, many of the answers came from Dads who couldn't help but participate. Per usual, Laura was more than prepared to keep a roomful of precocious Padawans occupied.  She set up half a dozen or more activity stations including; creating light sabers, Leia buns and Yoda ears and making Yoda origami finger puppets.  For those in need of more physical activity she offered Empire Strikes Back bowling and a game of Destroy the Death Star in which eager players used Nerf guns to hit a small opening in a cardboard replica of Darth Vader's battle station.

And, the best part...it was all FREE.  Summer is only a few weeks away.  If you are looking for fun, educational and FREE ways to keep your kiddos from climbing the walls, be sure to check out the numerous activities, shows and special events happening at your own area library.  

Connor and Noah cut out hilts for their lightsabers.

Natalie and Ava add sequins to their Leia buns

Padawan Partners

It's always a good day for a lightsaber duel.

Having fun making Yoda origami finger puppets

Strike a pose

                                 

Mostly it was all about the light sabers.

Get a Dream...Get a Job...Get Me Outta Here!

Where would I be without the library's fantastic summer line-up of live entertainment, craft sessions and movie showings?  I tell you where I'd be...I'd be baking my head in the triple digit, St. Louis heat at some park because my two Tasmanian Devils have too much energy and we have too little house for them to run around in.  On Thursday, my reprieve from the scorching heat was all thanks to Juggling Jeff.  The Tesson Ferry Branch invited him to not only entertain, but encourage and teach kids how to make their dreams come true.  He got the crowd fired up by inviting the pint-sized bunch to share their dreams.  And, while some had lofty dreams of becoming an opera singer or a race car driver -- none of them came close to the altitude of Natalie's aspiration of becoming a bird when she grows up.  She shared her feather fantasy with me on the car ride over and was very disappointed to learn that the closest she would come to flying would be in an airplane.  

During his show, Juggling Jeff took the kids on a journey of reaching their dreams by following a few easy steps.  First, he challenged them to get a really big dream and then position it deep in their heart. This involved the kids reaching their hands into the air and seemingly grabbing their dreams with their bare hands and then purposefully stuffing them deep into their chests.  His antics were met with wild enthusiasm from the audience of youngsters as reflected by their ear-bleeding squeals. 

Juggling Jeff used his dream of becoming a professional juggler as the model and shared that one of the first things he did was study and learn everything he could about juggling. The next steps involved practicing and finding a team of experts to help you accomplish your dream.  At this point Natalie turned to me and whispered,"Will you be on my team?"

"Of course," I replied. However, to myself I thought I better figure out how best to channel her creative energy or I'm going to end up with a kid who works at fast food joint sporting a chicken suit.

Juggling Jeff 

And, while Juggling Jeff began the show juggling tennis balls the size of beach balls, as he continued through the dream-reaching steps of focus and persistence, his tricks became more difficult.  His grand finale involved him getting out of a strait jacket while staying atop a large, spinning yoga ball.

As soon as the show ended Natalie grabbed my arm and yanked me towards the bookshelves.  "Mom!  Let’s go get some books right now and find out what I’m going to grow up to be!" she exclaimed.

On the car ride home I asked the kids,"What’s your dream?" As you can imagine, I received two very different responses.  

Me: "What’s your dream?"
Noah: "Nothing.  I didn’t dream anything last night."
Me: "No.  What do you want to be?"
Noah: "I just want to be myself."
Me: "No.  What do you want to do when you grow up?"
Noah: "Nothing.  I don’t want a job. When we get home can I just play this Sonic video game I checked out?"

Me: "What’s your dream?"
Natalie: "I want to be EVERYTHING!"

This was followed by "Mom, can I study this when I get home?" she asked while holding up the companion CD to the "DK Eyewitness Evolution" book she had checked out. 

"Sure," I responded.

As I fumbled with the door carrying a load of books into the house, Natalie asked, "Mom can I be a lot of people and have a lot of jobs --like a zookeeper and a lab scientist and an ocean helper?"  Before I could even answer she was already headed to her room with an armful of books and said, "OK, mom, I’m going in my room to study now," as she closed her door behind her.  

A few minutes later she emerged wearing a pink satin dancer dress with a notepad and pencil in her hands and said, "Mom, I can't draw a dancer.  I need to draw what I see on the T.V. so that I don’t forget what I learn,"  However, since I couldn't draw fast enough, she decided it would be better if she just took photos of the T.V. screen while she had "Adventures with Dance" playing in the DVD player.

A short while after Natalie announced, "Mom, I wanna be in a show,”

"What a coincidence," I stated. "Because Daddy and I just signed you up for drama camp, today actually," I continued.

"What’s drama camp?" she inquired.

"Remember how you told me you wanted to be an actor?  At drama camp you'll learn how to perform for an audience.  You'll also learn about set design and how to make costumes," I explained.

“I want to be in charge,” she responded.

"Oh, then you want to be a director.  But, before you can be a director and tell everyone what to do you have to learn and understand how all the parts of the show work," I stated.  Uncharacteristically she did not respond.  She just gave me a smirk and then turned on her heel and headed off to her room to continue watching her dance video.

Dear God:
Stop jokin' around.

A Reunion in Silliness

Yesterday the kids and I headed to the library with the intention of doing anything but read. Our plans involved singing, stomping and dancing like we have ants in our pants.  We arrived 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled show time to secure our chance to watch Babaloo, my kid's all time favorite entertainer.  Even though they have nearly worn out his CD's and have seen his show half a dozen times, they couldn't wait to hear his original songs like, "Don't Pass the Gas", "I Lost My Pants in the Swimming Pool" or "My Hair Had a Party Last Night," live and in person.  They hoped to be chosen to accompany him during his Winnie the Pooh skit in which one lucky kid gets to squash whoopie cushion after whoopie cushion each time he sings the word "pooh" during the famous theme song.  Or, the opportunity to give his over-sized, Chinese gong a good whack using a Barbie doll.  They looked forward to hearing his harmonica rendition of "Oh Susanna" played using only one nostril.  And, they delighted in the opportunity to be showered with streams of Charmin's finest, made possible with Babaloo's rigged up leaf blower turned power T.P. launcher.

So, it came as no surprise to me when we arrived and there was already a line cuing to see the one-man, musical comedy act who makes a living joking about hard-core partying hair and doing the wee wee dance.  The biggest shock for me that day was sitting down and realizing I had just chosen a seat next to an old high school friend of mine.  In the 20+ years since graduation, I've only run into Gina twice...both times at a Babaloo concert.  We had a good laugh about it and tried to convince each other that "really I am not a Babaloo groupie".  Though I'd be lying if I said we didn't crack up throughout his show...even when we knew what was going to happen next.

That evening when I shared the story with Steve he said, "You guys are just a bunch of Babaloo-sers!" To which I retorted, "I know you are, but what am I?,"  See, Babaloo has a way of bringing out the kid in all of us.    If you haven't heard of him Click here to visit his site and hear a sampling from his CD's

High School Buddies a.k.a. Babaloo Groupies

Natalie takes a turn makin' some noise.

You have to look close to spot Noah's head among the sea of drumming kids.

Babaloo hits the crowd with rolls of T.P.

All Kinds of Things

Yesterday Natalie decided she not only wanted to create a book, she wanted to sneak it into the library in hopes that someone would check it out.  Though after making her book, she shared with me she wasn't sure about how to have it "licensed" so someone could check it out using the library's scanning system. I told her I didn't know how to go about doing that either, but assured her the librarians would know.

When we arrived at the library, Natalie approached the return slot and started to slide her book in, but I persuaded her to take her book to the counter instead.  She introduced herself to a nice librarian named Brooke as I helped to explain Natalie was interested in sharing her book with others and wondered if she would accept it.

Librarian Brooke told Natalie it made her day to be able to read her story and she would be sure  others had the opportunity to read it also.

On the car ride home, Natalie asked me what kinds of people did I think would check out her book.  I told her with a title like, "All Kinds of Things," the possibilities were endless.

I hope she grows up to become an adult who believes all kinds of things are possible.

"All Kinds of Things" by Natalie 

Pages. 1-2 "My name is Lily.  I am enjoying the sunshine."

Pages. 3-4 A moon and stars and an owl that says,"who"
"I am George.  I am going to the Arch."

Page 4 "I am Jacob.  This is inside of my stomach.  I ate blueberries and a few grapes and a banana and a red pepper."

Page 5 "My name is Natalie.  I'm holding a pupa."

Page 6 "Hi!  I'm a snowflake.  These are my friends."

The End