Howard Family, Party of 5: A star-studded night!

Mariah decided she wanted to audition for the talent show at school.

She and her little group of BFFs wanted to dance and sing. They chose, what else, "Baby" by Justin Beiber.

At the audition, they all stood up and let the music play, while they smiled and stood frozen still. It's hard to be 1st graders up on stage in front of a room full of mostly 4th & 5th graders.

But they made it!

So then there were a few practices leading up to the big night. Luckily, the practices took place on the days that I was picking my girls up from school because Nana was gone.

Jesse used his college education in music production (or something like that) to mix the song so that there was a beginning & an end (so they wouldn't just have to fade it out), while still including the rap section in the middle (which is the kids' favorite part). It was really impressive, it sounded just perfect. And best of all, it ended up being a complete song while still being under the 2 minute limit.

So I did my best to organize them. With Arissa's help & ideas from each of Mariah's friends, we came up with a little "routine" that they could do so they would look like a coherent group.

Everyday Mariah would come home and tell me something had changed.

"Monica doesn't want to spin at the end, she wants to jump."

"Zoe isn't in the group anymore."

"Kaylana wants to sing, not dance."

"Zoe is in the group again."

"Lulu says we should change the order we stand in."

So eventually I decided to just let it be what is was. :o)

And what it was, turned out to be SO super cute and exciting.

They agreed (sort of) on their wardrobe, and I went into JoAnn's with my last $5 till payday and picked up some sparkly fabric in different colors, and then I just cut it up to be little scarves and wrist bands.

Here's my sweet little stars:

(minus Mariah's friend, the previously mentioned, "Lulu", who was also in the group but showed up a few minutes late)

They seemed to really like the sparkles:

Naturally, I couldn't get any good pics of them actually performing. But you can bet I got it on video!

I was so excited for them. They were the 3rd act, and the crowd totally cheered them on and pumped them up. They were scared to death but they smiled and sang and actually danced instead of being frozen by fear. They rocked. :o)

Arissa got some public speaking practice as one of the hosts/emcees for the night.

We had debated what she should wear.

Should she go pretty & poised? We were thinking the dress she wore at her Baptism Reception which brings out the blue in her eyes.

But then I realized maybe an above-the-knee dress isn't the best thing to wear when you're up on a stage and people are looking UP at you. And if you wear shorts underneath, it's just not the same.

Plus lord knows all the other kids were not going to dress up fancy.

So we went with "Rocker Chic" :o)....the outfit she wore to the Black Eyed Peas concert. Can't go wrong with black & demin & a rocker necklace. Then we added the little black jacket to class it up. :o)

This is her (student council VP) and her friend since 1st grade (student council President) announcing the acts: