Julia, I LOVE singing in the car with you! One time when you were feeling blue, I suggested that we go drive around white rock lake and just sing Broadway together. You agreed. And we sang and sang and sang. We stopped singing when we came across the bald eagle hatching ground. And then we sang some more. And you said it was just what you needed! No one was feeling blue after that!
Other times, we've been singing and gotten thumbs up from other motorists with their windows down.
We sing as a whole family too, of course! Les Mis! Hercules! Something Rotten!
I really cherish singing with you :) One of our go-to's is Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors.
One day after thrifting and comic book shopping we decided to record ourselves :) Not too bad!
Seymour may be Audrey's man suddenly.... but I'm always and forever your Dad and your biggest fan!
Julia! Today you are 13!!!!! You are a happy, clever, SINGING, Broadway nerdy, Montessori, whip smart, artistic, writerly, dedicated, loving, funny, fashionable, foodie, 80s-loving, and FABULOUS DIVA!
We ARE AS IN LOVE with you today as we were 13 years ago!
We started your birthday like we start most birthday!
Pancakes! Balloons! Presents! (a Great Gatsby Graphic Novel!)
You knew EXACTLY what you wanted to do today!
1. Muffulettas from Jimmy's Food Store
2. A trip to the Museum of Illusions
3. And then dinner at Simply Fondue!
4. And then a week-ish later, you had a great party with your friends!
Okay, okay, so... as you have gotten older and have busier lives, these birthday updates have gotten more and more delayed. In fact, I took these pictures when you were 12.5 years old, and I'm literally posting it like 5 days from your thirteenth birthday, but I think that still counts!
Julia, you are an amazing young woman. You are brilliant, extremely self motivated to explore whatever creative passion you are in to at the time (taylor swift bracelets, scrapbooking, rearranging your room), you are generous of spirit and kindhearted, you work incredibly hard, you have a beautiful singing voice and sing ALL. THE. TIME. As of this writing you're in your Newsies era and you and I have been practicing the National Anthem in two part harmony. You love your lessons with Miss Bonnie. You have a tight group of friends, and you have big dreams to be on broadway some day.
You are a delight and you have the brightest future ahead of you.
When you turned 12 you were at the beginning of your last year of Upper Elementary School, on the precipice of adolescence... you have always been mature, but you still giggle like crazy when your funny bone is tickled or when your brother (and I) burp on command.
We are in awe of you daily!
Here's the FULL birthday photo shoot, and - I'm no fool- I only posted the pictures that you said you approved of! Except for one that I loved that you didn't...can you guess which one it is?
Second star to the right and straight on till morning.
For the spring musicale, EDA put on Peter Pan Jr.!
We are SO proud of darling Julia as Peter Pan and amazing Aidan as Noodler the pirate/Toodles the Lost Boy!
Julia, since you've been taking lessons with Ms. Bonnie, your voice has matured and grown so much. You were an excellent Peter Pan...the stuff dreams are made of!
Aidan, you do such a good job with the stunts, and your lines, and your emoting- you even had your first vocal solo- and it was wonderful! You have grown so much!
A play about children and growing up is enough to make me cry as I'm typing this, so I'll let others tell you both how great this production and play was!
Mr Tom said to Julia:
‘Here’s something I love about you Julia: some plays your the star, some plays youre soldier number 2, but whether you’re the star or soldier number 2 you give it your all, you are a professional, and humble and kind. You went from Annie to soldier number 2 for a few shows and now you’re Peter Pan… and you’ll be soldier number 2 again- but you’re always the same humble, wonderful, kind you and you always inhabit your role and give it all you’ve got - and that is an amazing skill to have for someone so young.’
Ms Amy said to Aidan:
‘This guy… Aidan… he has become our responsible, reliable leader. If someone’s lost, Aidan knows where they need to be and he can help them. And he shows so much emotion in his acting - so much range. He feels everything! He has grown so much on stage and off, and we are so proud of him’
Julia: ‘me and my friends prayed to Taylor Swift backstage before the show that our sets would be in the right place, that we’d hit our marks and know our lines and sing well… And we did! Guys…. I nailed it!’
Aidan: I did so good! And we did so good! I asked all the girls and some of the boys for hugs backstage!
Julia: I don’t want it to be over
Just think of happy thoughts as you watch these videos and remember how much fun you had this spring...singing, dancing, working hard, learning new lines and new songs, and making new friends.
Mom and I are so happy you had such a wonderful adventure...and we're even more glad that you chose to come back home from Neverland after all!
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