hullabaloo

The definition of hullabaloo is “a commotion, a fuss”.

I guess that’s about accurate.

Last night was the sweetest hullabaloo of which I’ve ever been a part.

Our co-op decided it would be great to celebrate finishing a term of class together.  We wanted to give the kids a gentle opportunity to share their hard work out loud and a bit of a time for the dads to see what the kids have been up to for the past twelve weeks.

The night was precious.

Verses delivered with gusto by little ones.

(Otto said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean BACK on your own understanding.”)

Cathryn, at one year of age, performed in sync with the kids reciting their poem by lifting her arms up at the key moment.

We got to hear about medieval creatures and Bach and Debussy.  The intricate parts of trees and leaves were shared and poetry was recited by charming little voices.

Even my boy Bergen was able to get through his sentence about the orca whale in a loud clear voice absolutely absent of tears.

(That was a Big Deal.  A really Big Deal for us.)

After our structured sharing time, the kids stood by their works spread out at the table and showed the dads and the lucky grandparents all of their favorite pieces so far.

I know it was just a night.  It wasn’t a giant stage and there were no microphones.

But it was still so lovely just the same.

Hanna in her purple tutu skirt.  Fox’s spiky hair.  Gresham’s new haircut.  Sophia’s sparkly dress.  Button up shirts on boys and Corin’s sweater vest.  Felt barrettes and headbands.  Proud little kids that I love showing their daddies and their friends’ daddies the art inspired by the music we listen to in class.  The leaf drawings we’ve spent Friday afternoons creating on quilts spread out in shady backyards.  Poems written by eight-year-old minds.  The hard work of thinking and creating and processing and  studying.

Learning and sharing.  In community.

It’s not as perfect as all this sounds in a tidy little blog post – but, I’m telling you – it’s pretty darn good.

So so much to be grateful for during this season of increased awareness of gifts and good.