Today, Elizabeth and I went to a production of Beauty and the Beast at a local high school with our buddies the Blatchfords. It was a FANTASTIC show! The kids had amazing talent and vocals, and the costumes/set was really well done. Out of all the Disney Princesses stories, I've always loved this one the best--the story, the soundtrack, and out of all the Princesses, Belle is my favorite.
Before the performance there was a "Princess Party Pre-Show" where you could meet the princesses and get your nails and hair done and face paint, etc. It was a lot of fun! If you've been following the blog, you know Elizabeth adores all things "princess"... so I knew this would be right up her alley.
Surprisingly, though, she was in a very grumpy mood (fell asleep in the car ride over, which is never a good thing). That, combined with the fact that it was a little overwhelming to suddenly be thrown into a crowd of chaos, and this girl didn't want ANYTHING to do with the Princesses. She wouldn't go near them without me by her side, and all out refused a picture taken with them. Its funny how sometimes she can be SO outgoing, but other times she can be quite shy. At any rate, I think this may have proven that we aren't quite ready for a trip to Disney--lol! ;)
Anyway, a few minutes after we arrived, I noticed one princess who looked awfully familiar. It turned out to be one of my former 7th graders who is now a Senior (!). I was pregnant with Elizabeth the year I taught her class. She came up and gave me a big hug which was the BEST feeling. I really loved each of my students, and each one in their own way had such an impact on me. It always gets me emotional to run into a former student--all those emotions and memories come rushing back. It was probably my favorite part of the night! It was also really neat watching her on stage as well--she was a napkin.
After talking a bit, she turned to Elizabeth, "Is this your daughter?" To which I confirmed she was correct, and reminded her how I was pregnant the year I taught. She then replied, "Well that makes me feel old! Man, time has gone by in a whoosh!" Lol! She's right thought. It really has. Life is one big whoosh.
Since Elizabeth didn't want to go near the Princesses, we decided to do some of the activities. She made a crown--taking special care to put a jewel on each point of the crown. And lots of glitter of course.
She also got her nails done :) We waited in line for face paint, but the line was so long the show started before we made it to the front.
At intermission we had cupcakes and the girls played a bit.
At this point she was getting a little braver. She decided to talk to one of the "Silly Girls" and show her the crown she made.
As mentioned, the show was fabulous! It was also quite entertaining to listen to Elizabeth and Delanie ask questions and add commentary. Toward the end, Elizabeth cracked me up... as the curtain was closing, she asked, "Is the movie going to start now?" Lol! She was also full of questions the whole time, "Where's Belle going? Where's the Beast? Why is there smoke? What's that? Are they in the woods? Why are they in the woods?" Thankfully, the crowd was full of little girls doing the same thing so it wasn't a huge distraction. We also brought our book along and were following along during the performance.Often, when she had a question, I'd point to the picture in her book, and say, "Remember, Belle is going in the woods to get Papa." That seemed to help.
After the show was over, we asked Belle to autograph our copy of Beauty and the Beast. It was so cute watching Elizabeth hand her the book and pen. She signed it "Elizabeth, Thank you for coming--you are beautiful! Belle" As we walked away, Elizabeth suddenly turned back like she forgot something, and said, "Bye Belle." It was precious.
I know I've said on the blog time and time again that I'm not really into the whole "princess" thing. But I have to admit, this was a lot of fun!!!
