This has been the Primary theme for the year.  On Oct. 30th, we had our Primary Program, of which I was in charge.  I ended up writing the parts for the kids, but I did try to get the kids involved in writing their parts.  It just didn't quite work out the way I had intended :)  It was okay though, because I think I got the flavor of the things they learned and remembered while making it a little more cohesive.

We rehearsed for two weeks prior to the program.  Being the middle ward scheduled in the building was fun.... We ended up practicing speaking parts in the chapel the first week and then having class.  The second week, we rehearsed speaking parts in the chapel, and then ran through the whole thing in the Primary room.  We even had some time to review just the songs that week. 

The morning of the 30th, we arrived early like we had been to set up extra chairs and to put the kids' names on the chairs with tape so they knew where to sit.  However, that week, the 6th ward was in the chapel rehearsing for their program :)  Thanks to Whitney's husband, Mike, for the idea to pull off long rows of tape so we could get all of the names written down by row and we could get things done quickly!  Things worked out nicely in that we had time to get the extra chairs set up and all of the tape on the chairs for the kids.  Then it was just a matter of waiting until after sacrament to have the program!

I was very impressed by the extra effort put in by the children and their parents between the 23rd and the 30th.  A lot more children were comfortable with their parts, or even had their parts memorized.  Even though some children were sick, we had a few others we haven't seen in awhile, and then all had their parts.  Like everyone had been telling me, it went off just fine.  They sang, even a few who I never see singing. :)  The most memorable for me were Penny standing up and running off her part memorized oh-so-fast and Trysten singing Scripture Power.  Trysten is a sunbeam, but he sure knew Scripture POWER!  It made everyone smile, and probably woke the congregation ;)  After sacrament meeting, I told him he did a good job, and he tells me, "I was loud."  LoL Trysten.  Yes, yes you were :)

Even though I was the one to "put on" the program and everyone was congratulating me and telling me it went well, I couldn't help but think, I'm not the one who deserves all of this credit.  There were lots of kids up there who worked hard, plus leaders and parents who helped them learn their parts and the songs.  For all of them, I'm very grateful.  Without all of their efforts, the program wouldn't have gone nearly as well.