How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Dear Readers,
   Benjamin is having his spine surgery this morning. Would you please be praying for both he and my family during this time? I appreciate it more than words can convey.

I've been worrying over this surgery ever since we learned about it right before Christmas, and tried my hardest to pretend it wasn't even happening. But sticking your head in the sand isn't exactly the best thing to do when it is the day of the surgery.

As the title suggests,  I took a note from Maria (from the wonderful musical The Sound of Music) on what to do with myself today.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad, 
I simply remember 
my favorite things
and then I don't feeel so bad!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens 
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things! 

That song is definitely counted as one of my favorite things, and it made me decide to wait to look at all of my pictures from Seussical the Musical and Disneyland until today. Maybe then I won't feel so bad! ;)

But let me say one more thing before pictures...Last night, after dinner at one of Benjamin's favorite restaurants, we went to see Moezart's select cast of Seussical. And right before the wonderful show began, Steve (our director and President of Moezart Productions) started speaking. He dedicated the show to Benjamin! Really, so neat. 

I thought it was the coolest thing. But it was more than that. That (and all of the people coming up to him telling him they were praying for him) really made me feel so supported. Kids were telling him they were going to bring movies over to watch while he recovered, and they meant it. Surgeries can be so isolating, but last night was really encouraging. The fact that we have this community of support and love truly blesses my heart. The fact that these people care touches me. I'm so, so thankful for this group of people. 

Sweet friends!

Yertle the Turtle, Mr.Mayor, a Who, and...Cate!

Benjamin picked a shirt and we all matched for one day. It was unbelievable the amount of comments we got!! So fun!!

Mom took this and I just love it!!

This picture took forever to get...

 Goofing off...

Here I am outside the bakery, purchase in hand
...isn't it lovely?

I bought these at a sweet little Mexican bakery...and ordered in Spanish! I was so excited I carried them around all day. Sadly, they weren't too good. But it was all about the experience!

Pluto reaaaally wanted to come with us! Bless his heart!!

All right, I'm ready to go back to Disneyland now...:) 

Thank you for reading, and thank you again for your prayers, dear ones!! Your Blogger,
 Claire

Blessings in May...

 Dear Readers,

Mrs.Darling got to wear Cinderella's slippers! My dreams come true...

Mason did an amazing job at improv--and allowed all the little girls to get changed! And everyone adored Benjamin...

   We are now finished with production week for Peter Pan...and our trip to Disneyland! Both were wonderful and filled with blessings.
Peter Pan was an amazing experience.
I've always felt clumsy as a dancer, and have struggled with feeling comfortable changing in front of people and wearing the costumes. Mrs.Caroline did an amazing job of allowing us to wear nude leotards underneath our clothes, and making all the costumes modest. More than that, though- they were beautiful!

Goodbye, Arizona!



Hello, California!

 Mom and Dad have been married for twenty years!

Now- on to our own Neverland!

We went to Disneyland to celebrate our wonderful parents' twentieth anniversary...and Mom's birthday! It was a wonderful oppurtunity for a romantic photographer! They were so sweet to pose...every time I asked... I'm so grateful these two fell in love!

Here are some of my favorite attraction photos.Did I mention that this is my first visit to Disneyland with my own camera?! I WENT CRAZY!!!

I want to play the violin on the carousel!

I love this picture- pure joy.

Dumbo is Mom and my favorite--he is a special needs elephant! And not to mention adorable.. I love this photo. Can you find Dumbo?!

To some, the perfect 'in love' picture may be the image of a gorgeous princess and perfect prince walking hand in hand, but I think the 'for worse' part of the deal is when your true love will show.



  My theme for this trip was mailboxes--and Disney has some wonderfully old fashioned ones! I thought this picture was ruined when Cate hopped in it, but it's actually one of my favorites!

  So--I've hit attractions, anniversaries..hmm.. another wonderful part of our trip was the people we met! My Dad's dear friend who we affectionately call Uncle Todd came, along with Aunt Marti and their adorable daughter Gracie! We had so much fun watching Gracie get to know the park, and were thrilled when she fell in love  with Dumbo, too! And as you can see from the above picture- she and Cate were inseperable! It was wonderful to spend time with them.  It was also wonderful to see another sweet friend who plays piano at the hotel. After running down to the lobby to check for her every day of our trip, I was ecstatic to hear her playing on the last few days we were there. I always love talking with her. And yes--she plays and talks at the same time! She's amazing and it was such a treat.

Another treat the boys were especially glad for-- we got to ride Star Tours! That is a favorite in our family (of course!), and so when we got to ride the new ride BEFORE IT WAS OPEN -- we were thrilled! We also loved World of Color and Fantasmic, although I was frustrated in how hard it was to photograph! But it was still beautiful. Well,I hope you enjoyed this little corner of our adventure! I hope you all are having a week- filled with JOY no matter what. I also have to share a little surprise-- Mom and I are going on a mission trip to Mexico this weekend! I've missed Mexico so much, and am thrilled to be able to serve the Lord and get a little Mommy-and-me time in as well. Please pray for hearts to be reached! I will be praying for each of you in your own private mission fields. Your Blogger,
Claire

 



Corners of our vacation Chapter one

Dear Readers,
We are home from our California vacation! A lot happened and I'm excited to share with you some of the funniest corners of our trip! First of all, you need to know my Mom loves taking pictures. And as you can see from the above picture, her children are following in her footsteps!
She took 990 pictures this trip. I know some of your eyeballs are popping out, but trust me, this isn't unusual! Her camera goes every where with her because as I've said before -she loves taking pictures. That is the reason I am a little late in blogging about our trip. It took me days to go through all her pictures! I'm finally here, though and will began showing you a glimpse of our van...

I love this picture because my Dad is in the back ground looking very funny. (That's why we're all laughing!)



My Dad's best friend,Uncle Todd, works at Sony and took us on a tour at the start of our trip. It was very cool to see where movies we love were filmed. In the above picture Cate is standing inside the stage where "Singing in the Rain" was filmed. It's one of my favorites! The room has to be so big because they make buildings and scenery and everything required in a movie and put them inside that room! There's a big difference between the room Cate's standing in and the living room in which they sing "Good Mornin' " in "Singing in the Rain" !

Onto the Disneyland portion of our trip! Here's us with Pluto, our family favorite. I love how Mom and Dad are the ones holding the stuffed animals and not the kids!

This is Uncle Todd's daughter, Gracie. She's as cuddly as a stuffed animal and fits right in, don't you think? She rode some of the Bug's Land rides with us. Cate sure did love having a littler one to hold and play with! ( Gracie did, too. She would just watch Cate - mesmerized. Can't you see her thinking "Wow... this one's smaller than the others..."