Sing MN

This summer we let Grace and Willem do something new - they attended a singing camp called Sing MN!  Both of them show great interest in singing, but we just haven't found the time to have them be involved in anything extra during the school year.  We thought that this summer camp was a great option.  And it was a great camp experience for both of them.  They got to play games, do crafts, and then work drama and singing too.  They divided into 4 groups and each group performed a small play and sang a song that went with the play.  Then the large group sang a couple songs together as well.  The theme this year was MN stories, so Grace's play and song were about Paul Bunyan, and Willem's play and song were about Hiawatha. And after working on these all week, they performed them for friends and family the last day of camp.  Papa and Aahma Bruin came to watch them too!

waiting for the show to begin!

Willem was a forest animal in their Hiawatha play

Grace was one of the neighbor ladies in their Paul Bunyan play

Singing together!

One of their MN songs which is still stuck in all of our heads. =)
(can't see the video?  you can watch it here)

The only drawback to their camp was that it was from 8:30 to 4:30 at a college campus 40 minutes away from our house.  Those times meant traffic to and fro was thick and the drive was almost always an hour.  This photo was of the pretty sunflowers blooming on the side of the road.  And I was able to take it because the car was standing still in the traffic.

You also might ask what did Carsten and Henry and I do without Grace and Willem all week?

Party!!!!

Just kidding.

We did some serious potty training with this big boy!  

Henry did great, and Carsten was a super cheerer-and-snack-sharer-and-juice-drinker-and-prize-picker-outer brother.

(can't believe our house will not have to have diapers in it soon.  that is seriously mind-blowing)