school play Archives - Journeys Are My Diary

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

April 27, 2017 by Bel Leave a Comment

Recently I’ve been finding it hard to make time for blogging. In the day time I work and due to not being fully recovered from this horrible illness, by evening my mind is a mess and there is no hope in hell for concentration. I have a list of so many things I want to catch up on, but every time I turn my laptop on, I just can’t be bothered – and that’s a horrible feeling. However, this morning we have an electrician from jlkelectrical.ie round to check our electrics – all part of completing the sale on our house. He has taken over the dining table which is where I usually work and so I’m a bit lost for what to do. Then it hit me, that I could actually use that time to go on my laptop and blog – until of course, I realised that he’d turned off multiple plug sockets, including the one the router is in! So I’m sat here, typing this into notepad, hoping that I may still find time to place it on my blog later. After all, I’m going away for a few days tomorrow and if I don’t do it today, it may never get done!

Anyway, I’ve completely side-tracked from the post I was going to make… and that was about the musical “Joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat”. Theatre has always been a massive passion of mine, especially musicals but really all genres. Ever since I was old enough, I bought a programme from every show I ever saw and I still have them all to this day. Wicked and Phantom of the Opera are my favourites, having seen Wicked three times and Phantom twice. I also love Starlight Express which I have seen three times too. I won’t spend forever listing all the theatre shows I’ve seen but needless to say I was really excited to hear that Lily’s school were going to tackle Joseph for their Y3/4 play this year. When Lily was cast as the Pharaoh I was even more thrilled. In the end, I made the technicolour dreamcoat for school and Lily’s pharaoh costume. Neither were anything special but school seemed pleased with them and the play was pretty good too.

Since Lily took such an interest in the play (she watched the DVD I bought her three times, before doing the performance) and loved all the songs, I decided I would look to see if Joseph was still touring, as I knew it had been last year. Sure enough, it was doing a new tour for 2017 and Joe McElderry was still playing Joseph. Funny enough, we had nearly gone to see the play last year, because my mum likes Joe McElderry so much but in the end we had decided not to book. Anyway, there were a few options to book, one before Lily’s play and a couple afterwards. A part of us wanted to watch it before, because she felt that would help her act it better, but I also knew the school play would be nothing like the real version so instead she could just continue the enjoyment afterwards. In the end we booked for Easter Weekend in Skegness, which fell about two weeks after Lily’s play.

When we got to the theatre, I bought a programme – it was only £4. We found our seats and they were pretty great to be honest. Lily ended up almost centre of the stage, with a good clear view. The play itself was really enjoyable. Lily sang along and danced in her seat and my enjoyment definitely came from seeing her enjoy it. I have seen Joseph three times before, so this was my fourth. I’m a little sad to say, that it was probably the “poorest” version I have seen, but unfortunately you often find that with touring shows as they have to keep a budget, make it easy to travel etc. That said, the cast was great and if you forget about the fact that people play multiple characters, it wasn’t really that bad. Lily loved it and that was definitely the most important part.

Though we had traveled in my mum’s car for the most part, we had driven to my mum’s in my car and so as soon as we were back in my car – the Joseph CD went on (Lily had convinced me to buy it at the intermission) and we sang along all the way home. When we got back, Lily asked for the CD and headed to her room to keep on listening, while lying on her bed and playing on her iPad. Once the Easter holidays ended, we put the CD back in the car and now listen to it most drives to and from school. All in all, Joseph was a great success but I do hope that it becomes a West End fixture again at some point as I would love for Lily to see the full quality version.

Do you like the theatre? What’s your favourite show?

A new journey begins…

July 21, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

If “Journeys are my Diary” is to be taken literally, today is the end of one diary and the beginning of a new one. Though technically a diary entry in Megan’s journal not mine, today’s is definitely something to be CC:d to my life journal too! I’ve spent most of the evening, searching through photos and compiling what I want for this post. In the end though, I’ve decided to let the pictures speak for themselves…

The Parties

The Shine Assemblies

The School Plays

The Last Few Days

Blogging from the Park!

July 18, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

Once again I’m still really busy so I thought I would make the most of this random break to do a little catching up. It’s Monday, after school and it’s 27 degrees, would you believe?

First thing we did after school was grab an ice cream and a drink and now we’re at the park. It’s very rare that the weather is nice enough after school (rain being fairly standard for the school run) and so we’re making the most of it! The girls have only three days left of school this term and after that Megan will no longer attend Primary School – I honestly can’t believe it.

Last week was the start of the wind down, though obviously there have been transition days too. Monday saw School Reports being released, in which both did well and had glowing comments about both their personalities and their achievements. Tuesday was a re-arranged Sports Day as it was cancelled the previous week due to rain and a wet field. Both girls participated and I went along in the afternoon to watch Lily play rounders and Megan play kingball. Wednesday and Thursday was Megan’s school play – Go for Gold. She had one of the lead parts and while probably biased, I thought she was great. For some weird reason she was cast as an Olympic Athlete which is ironic to say the least as she hates sports.

Then came Friday and this was Megan’s Leavers Do. It was basically a disco type party that only the Year 6’s would attend. We nipped home after school to get changed and ready but needed to be back in Saxilby by 6.30pm. Megan looked so grown up that I honestly couldn’t get over it and when I picked her up she looked even more beautiful than when I dropped her off – with a flush of enjoyment in her cheeks and a cocktail umbrella tucked behind her ear!

The busy week didn’t stop there as I had loads of work to do Saturday, plus we were supposed to be going to a 40th birthday party (in the end I didn’t feel well enough to go). Lily also had a birthday party to attend on Sunday and so that topped off a hectic week.

This coming week will be the same, with today as our only calm day until term breaks up on Thursday. We have a KS2 Church Service tomorrow morning, for which I agreed to walk to and from the church with the kids, then Lily has a school trip on Wednesday and Megan has a Leavers Assembly on Thursday morning. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to them breaking up but at the same time it will be the end of an era for sure!

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End of School Year

July 14, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

Sadly I’m not here to make a long post but instead to apologise for being a bit AWOL. This time of year is always crazy busy with the kids and end of school stuff and time passes me by so fast. So far we’ve had a transition day, Sports Day, school play, school reports and goodness knows what else. There is another school play tonight, a leaver’s do tomorrow, a church service and leavers assembly next week. This time next week, it will all be over and we’ll be on summer holidays. Megan will be done with primary school and heading into secondary school and that all seems a bit unreal to be honest.

Hopefully I will have time to catch up soon but please don’t think I’ve forgotten you! I just need a moment to catch my breath and then I’ll be back.

Megan in her school play yesterday

Week 28 – Monday Round-up

July 13, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

For the most part, this week has been great. It’s been busy in parts but not to the point of feeling like you don’t have a moment to breathe! Monday started off with Chris heading out to work, taking Lily to school and then Megan and I attending an Open Morning at one of the schools she is considering for next year. It was between 10am and 12.15 but it was nearer to half past by the time we left. Megan ate her lunch in the car, we called in briefly at mum’s and then I dropped her back at school before heading home. The girls were going with their dad after school so I knew I didn’t have to turn out and get them again, meaning I got on with some work when I got home. That said I started to feel a bit rough and curled up on the sofa to watch TV and chill. When Chris got home we had takeaway and didn’t do an awful lot else!

On Tuesday I took both the kids to school (and Lily’s tardis that we made over the weekend!) and then came home again. It ended up as a busy morning, picking up parcels, doing some shopping, calling to see Chris’ Gran and getting my sewing machine serviced. We managed to grab lunch and a few hours to ourselves before heading out to get the girls from school and going out for dinner. After that we dropped Lily off with her Grandma and headed back to school as Megan was in her school play. Chris and I watched and thoroughly enjoyed it, before picking Megan up, collecting Lily and then heading home and putting the girls to bed. By that point I was exhausted and yet again, didn’t get an awful lot done that evening! I took a bath and read some of my latest book.

Wednesday was Sports Day and so I headed out to school with the girls. Lily went first in the morning, participating in 4 races, though as every KS1 group took part, it took all morning. The weather was dull and it even rained a few times, but it turned out okay, despite being cold. Lily and I then had lunch together (along with my mum) and eventually Megan joined us too. In the afternoon it was Megan’s turn and there was a Kingball Tournament for all the KS2 kids. This took all afternoon too and though my mum bailed on us, Grandma turned up to support and keep me company as well. We managed to leave school about 10 minutes early but it did make a difference when we came home and collapsed! We had takeaway for dinner and then Nat came around in the evening.

On Thursday I decided to really try hard with my diet. On Wednesday I’d had a nasty shock when getting on the scales and it was just the kick I needed to make me try again. After taking the girls to school and then popping to mum’s to drop off their stuff (they were staying the night), I came home and emerged myself in wrapping parcels and going to the post office, all just to keep busy. I was good for lunch and good for dinner and I felt so much better for it. I also remembered how much I love jacket potatoes! In the evening Amy and I collaborated to book our Inside Out cinema tickets for when she comes down to visit in a few weeks time. We booked with Vue which means we get Disney Store vouchers each and since we’re buying Tsum Tsums on a monthly basis at the moment, it all comes in handy!

The girls had stayed at mum’s on Thursday night as it was school disco and her having them saved me a lot of hassle, however I still needed to get up on Friday morning and head to school as Lily was in shine assembly. This was the last one of the year and I was so proud of her for being in twice (she was originally in it at the beginning of the year). No surprise but I cried when she was up at the front – I’m such an emotional mess when it comes to the kids! Afterwards I came home and set myself to sewing. I challenged myself to three dresses over three days and I’m happy to say I managed it! I made a dress for Amy’s daughter Liv on Friday, which took majority of the afternoon and a little into the evening. Once that was finished I started on Lily’s, cutting out the pieces that evening. I obviously picked the girls up from school at the right time, had dinner etc. but the majority of the day was spent sewing!

On Saturday I got up and began to sew again. I started on Lily’s dress and worked on till after lunch. At that point the girls and I headed into town as we needed a few bits of food and also some material/elastic/zips from Boyes. When we came back I continued to sew but I did take a break here and there – especially when Megan wanted to make brownies. However I got Lily’s dress finished by the evening and even started to cut out Megan’s pattern pieces. Megan made her brownies into Minecraft Blocks as she’s a nerd like that, but they tasted amazing and looked pretty cool too.

Finally on Sunday I got up and had to take Chris to work, so the girls had to come too. We packed our swimming stuff as I promised we’d go swimming over the weekend and so once Chris was dropped off, we went to the leisure centre. We spent an hour or so there, had showers and got changed. We then had to pop into Tesco again on the way home, where the girls decided they wanted to make their own version of Subway subs. We then came home, made lunch and did some bits around the house, before I settled down to sew. I sewed all afternoon and into the evening, stopping to make food for the kids, help with homework etc. and of course feed myself and Chris. However by about 10pm Megan’s dress was finished too and I was really pleased with them all!

So that was pretty much my week, I don’t think I missed anything! It’s been a good week but I have to admit things are always so busy at the end of term – I look forward to the holidays. As of today, the girls have a week and a half left of school and I have at least 5 things penciled into my diary that I still need to do with regards to school. That said, it’s nothing too hectic so it should be a good coming week! Hope you’re all having good weeks too, I’m off to sew again!