Booked!

A month after signing with our agent, Sophie finally got her first audition for a fashion show.  The audition date was totally fine, but the start date of the show was when I was just getting back from Costa Rica.  I didn't want to decline our first audition, figuring that worse come to worse, Trung could take Sophie to the show.  That same evening, Sophie got another audition for a photo shoot with "The Children's Place".  Again, the audition date was fine, but the shooting dates were the exact same dates as our Florida trip during Spring Break.  Just our luck!  So, of course, I had to decline this second audition and just hoped that the agent wouldn't be too upset because it is a no-no to decline auditions.

So, it's Saturday and time for Sophie's first audition and we arrived at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising a little early despite the rain that LA has been having.  Never having gone to a fashion show casting, just auditions for commercials and such, I was wondering how the "fittings" would work.  Apparently, people match you kid with an outfit or two, then he/she puts it on, pretends to walk on a runway, and then a picture is taken.  I showed Sophie the fashion show from last year, so she was all prepared with her waves.  :)

Sophie was one of the smallest kids at the casting and the dress she tried on was just right on her, plus her "walk" was super cute, so I was pretty sure she would get the booking.  But right after the casting is when you wait, and wait, supposedly moving on with your life, but still wondering if you'll get that call.  Monday and Tuesday came and went...no call.  Then early this morning, Lydia woke Trung and I up four times complaining that her stomach hurt.  Not sure what was really going on with her, I dropped Sophie off at school and soon after I got home, Lydia decided that she was feeling better and wanted to go to school.  Okay, so back I go with Lydia only to get a phone call two hours later that she was in the nurse's office complaining of nausea.  I picked her up along with Sophie and her friend Luna and she spended the rest of the afternoon resting.  During this crazy time was when I received the call that Sophie got the booking!  I really needed some good news right about then!  We got lucky though, most people don't book anything until after 5-10 auditions and Sophie got it on her first try!  Sometimes it's nice to get confirmation that I knew what I was doing getting her an agent.

So, here's the clip that I showed Sophie to prepare her for the casting.  

Black or White

Lydia's second class and another class performed a dance routine to Michael Jackson's "Black or White".  Though she has told me that in the past that she doesn't want to take dance classes, she really seemed to have fun with it.  Maybe I should put her in a hip hop type class instead of ballet...  After watching the video clips I took of the performance, I showed Lydia and Sophie the original "Black or White" music video.  Sophie asked "who's that girl", um, that's MJ.  :P

Ready to perform

Getting into it

Group video

The best clip I got of Lydia since she was right smack in the middle of everyone

Watching classmates break dance

Oscars

I have always loved the Oscars, so when the red carpet interviews started at 4 PM, Mom was out of commission.  Well, not entirely, I did cut up all the spaghetti ingredients during the commercials.  :) 

This was Lydia and Sophie's first time to watch any part of any Oscars and they were disappointed that Idina Menzel changed up their beloved song.  I heard that she was sick, which does explain her voice cracking during the high notes at the end of the song, but she still should have left the ending the same.

African American Month

Lydia was sent home with an assignment a few weeks back to write about a famous African American.  We forgot to pick our own person, so she was assigned Ray Charles.  Borrowing books from the library, we slowly put together a speech and Trung worked hard on the Grammy award prop.  Lydia memorized the speech quickly and probably had the longest one of her class of 30.

Lydia's speech

Lydia's second grade class

Me, Sophie, and Ray Charles

After school, we scootered to the library with Isabelle to make paper airplanes.  I never know if the kids will like the activity, but was relieved when they had a blast and couldn't stop making planes.  We were the last ones there, even the librarian directing the activity left before us!

Lydia's airplane flew so high it got stuck atop the light fixture

Testing phase

Loving the incline on the way home

After throwing together a simple dinner for the girls, I walked over to Dermalogica for its birthday celebration.  Diane and Lisa joined me for free food, eyebrow wax, and hair styling.

All done up just to go home and go to bed.

Sophie & Sophia

Sophie has a preschool buddy Sophia that goes to Roosevelt, but is in a different kindergarten class.  Lately, Sophia's mom Ada and I have been getting the girls together for play dates after school.  It's super cute hearing their squeaky voices and watching them play.

Silly monkeys

Buddies

Improvements in Basketball

We have been working on Lydia's passing skills, so she was really proud that she passed the ball to a teammate this time.

Lydia sticking to her girl like glue

One of Lydia's strong points is taking the ball from the opponent.  I don't know how many jump balls have been called because of her.

Cup of Tea?

Sophie was invited to her first tea party after school today.  She was very excited about dressing up and spending the afternoon being "girly".

Waiting for everyone else to arrive

Kindergarten friends

Back in my element

I woke up before the crack of dawn at 4 AM this morning to get ready, while the rest of the family slowly got up.  Lydia shed some tears about being super tired, while Sophie was cooperative and extremely quiet.  We made it to our 4:45 complimentary airport shuttle and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to eat our grab and go breakfast from the hotel and get to our gate.  The flight seemed longer than the arriving flight because I wasn't able to sleep very well, but everyone else got a nap in, which is good because the girls had school and Trung had work still to come.

When we arrived back at LAX, we walked through a commercial taping and I instantly felt happy to be back at home.  The girls haven't had jobs this year yet due to scheduling conflicts, but I'm hoping things will pick up soon.

Final day of fun

While Trung and Allen enjoyed their final day of skiing, the rest of us and Wendy's family went tubing nearby.  The girls had much more fun tubing here than at Mt. Baldy because they could slide down with their friends and didn't have to pull the tubes back up to the top; I can't say that I blame them.  :P

Kaitlyn and Sophie holding each other up the conveyor belt 

All four kids going down together

Here they come!

Join the fun with two Graces

Final run

I was going so fast, I had to catch my breath after the first scream

Taking a break after tubing and before lunch

Friends for life

We couldn't resist taking pictures with the awesome scenery.

Chilling in some ski chairs

Carrying Trung's snowboard up the hill to ride it back down again

Multipurpose snowboard

The girls with Uncle Allen and the Coca-Cola polar bear

 Obligatory family picture

The kids got their own table at Domo, a Japanese restaurant in Denver, and enjoyed their udon noodle soups

One big happy family

Yesterday, 6 families consisting of 12 adults and 6 children congregated in a large cabin in Fraser, CO, just minutes from Winter Park ski resort. Except for one newer couple, Trung and I have known this group of friends for over 7 years, some for as long as 11 years.  Most came to ski or snowboard, but all came to hang out with each other as the families are scattered...residing from San Francisco to Santa Monica to San Diego to Austin.  For my close friend Wendy and I, it was the first time in 3.5 years that our kids got to play together and just like their mommies, they became fast friends. 

The whole group

Dinners consisted of pork loins, steaks, rotisserie chickens, and much much more!