-at the beginning of May, we attended an evening spring concert at our church, in aid of St Andrew's Autism Cntr.  it was somewhat of a surprise for all of us, as it was mostly 18th century hymns and meditations on piano and organ, with accompanimnet in latin and greek from the choir. it was immensely peaceful, and i was so glad my dh styaed on with us. the children sat through wonderfully, with kynan trying to make out the words and follow in the programme. our favourites were: "PanisAngelicus" by Cesar Franck, sung by soprano soloist Maureen Kelly (a 16yr-old with the voice of an angel!). our 2nd-favourite was: "Libera Me", part of "Requiem Op.48" by Gabriel Faure, sung by soloist baritone Michael Kelly (this was probably our overall favourite piece of the whole show...both for the clarity of the singing, as well as the composition of the music.)  we all left that evening truly uplifted in spirit...

-later in the month, we went to a musical theatre performance of "Ferdinand he Bull". it was held in a small theatrette quite far from where we live. we were blessed to get a ride from Aunty J/H, there and back. other than an australian clown production which we attended a few yrs back, this wd be our only other "paid" event, so it was somewhat special. the kids were excited to see a lot of familair faces at e event, as it was organised for e homeschoolers. once inside, their eyes were glued to the stage from beginning to end. kay's favourite chaacter was e son in bull-fighting regalia. kynan lyked e duke. (me too! :) we stayed for a queston-time and some quick photo's afterwards, picking up some yummy chocolate cookies on the way out!

-the following week we had the good fortune of being remembered by a friend when some free tickets were going around... it was for a 2-man puppet-show at the Esplanade (we'd never been there for an indoor performance before...so of course we were jumping for joy!!!)  kynan was again rather flabberghasted that we knew at least half the people sitting in the theatrette... from scouts and playgroups... :)  the show itself was set in a puppeteer's workshop. the narrator, in a white apron, sat and told stories while repairing them. the puppeteer, with a strong, lilting irish accent, was dressed in black from head -to-toe, and manipulated e puppets on a workbench alonside, adding great personality to each of the puppets with his wonderful voice-overs. Kayla's favourite was a little red-head puppet called Michael (he'd got into some trouble with the fairies when he'd messed with their fairy-tree, on their fairy-mound. kynan liked another larger male puppet, dressed in a smart suit. we took photo's of them afterwards. kynan had hoped e other puppets wd be on display outside too, as he was keen to see up-close how they had bn made...

-just yesterday we went to an artsy party in the park, held at our favourite- bishan park!.... again, we knew almost 30-40people there, from playgroups, scouts, and mama's gatherings. it was rather amusing. :b all e stalls had already run out of their wares by the time we arrived, so the kids were mildly dissapointed. but once the performances started, all that was forgotten. towards the end of the event, they both ran off to the front of the stage to get a closer look at their favourites:  the hip-hop dancers from woodgrove school, and a show by Player's Theatre, ie the same group who'd done "Ferdinand". the story they put on yesterday was "If you give a mouse a cookie". the mouse and the kid in the house were very amusing. and i probably enjoyed the story itself more than i idid Ferdinand. ;)  kayla pulled the mouse's tail when he (she) came off the stage later. she thought it was very amusing and they both laughed (a big step forwards in the bravery-department for little kay!) and she kept talking about the incident all evening :)))

-i notice ther're a few events coming up at Boat Quay and Esplanade for the arts festival. unfortunately they're all rather close to our kids' bedtime... but as it's the holidays, we mt just make a few exceptions... :)