It's a great day to be in a play!

I'm a proud mommy today so I am going to take a moment and brag on my middle munchkin. . .She loves theater: musicals, plays, ballet, opera, whatever. If it is on stage, she loves it. She has been asking to audition for a play for a long time, but i wasn't really sure if I wanted to start something like that just yet-it is quite the time commitment and, to be honest, I wasn't ready to deal with the devastation that would come along if she was rejected. I know that eventually we will have to deal with it if we enter the world of theater, I just wasn't ready to do it yet.
About a month ago I heard a children's theater troop from Montana was coming our way to do a production of Little Red Riding Hood. From auditions to the performance was only a week. And it was free. It sounded like the perfect way to get our feet wet. . .

Auditions were today. There were 115 kids and it lasted two hours. All the kids were put on the stage in a big circle according to age. The three women in charge would go around and give out a line, such as "I want a cookie right now!" and the kids would have to "perform" that line one at a time. Round and round the circle they went saying things like, "Young lady, you go clean your room right now!" or "Hellllllloooo Ladies" (obviously only the boys said this). The littles (kids 7 & under) got to say the cookie line. They also had to perform a song-Row Row Row Your Boat-in groups of about 8-10. Lastly, they gave them a short series of steps to perform and told them to add a big finish of their own choice to the end of it. They performed this in small groups as well.
At the end of auditions, all the kids were seated in a big group and names were called and parts were assigned. Not everyone got a part, but the ladies did a great job of encouraging the kids to continue trying out and telling them they all had something special to offer.
It is at this point that I would like to take a quick time out to say Thank you dear sweet Lord Jesus to PapaGigi for coming to get the tiny monster. She chooses the very best moments to exhibit her wildness. Papa showed up just in the nick of time and saved my sanity and possibly her life.  Just kidding little beastie-Mommy loves you so much!!

 you can see the mischief in her eyes! 

I was so nervous! There were so many kids and Roo wanted to be a part of the production so badly. I really hoped that her very first audition didn't end in rejection, because even though I know she is adorable and amazing and crazy talented, I was worried that somehow she might get overlooked in the sea of 115 kids!
She didn't!
Her name got called and her part was assigned: MISCHIEVOUS RACCOON!!!
I think for maybe .2 seconds she was disappointed that she didn't get the part of Red (the kid aims big, what can I say?!). After she saw how happy/proud/excited I was for her though, any teeny tiny bit of disappointment seemed to vanish and she was ECSTATIC! Turns out that all the littles who got parts are going to be in the mischievous raccoon family who try to steal Red's basket.
 My favorite part of it all came on the way home. As we were riding along, she tells me, "Mama, I am SO HAPPY I get to be a raccoon! I was sitting up on that stage praying to God to please let me be in the play, pleeeeease! And he did! This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me!"
*You, little girl are one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me.*

P.S. I am also super duper proud of the way she told each and every person she came in contact with "good luck!" She such a sweet and tender heart and it makes me beam with pride.