The Parrillo Family

Welp, we have a star!  Sadie was one of the leads in School House Rock Live - as "School House Rocky" in Westmont.  Eloise - as she did in Annie Junior - was part of the stage crew and did a really great job moving things on and off the stage and keeping things moving smoothly.

Sadie was cast as the youngest orphan named Molly and brought the house down with her line about the Empire State Building.  Eloise made the whole thing run smoothly in the stage crew.   This was the first time the girls participated in a performance of this type and it seems they've caught the acting bug.   We were lucky to have family and friends join the girls in catching the performance(s).

That's our Sadie.  A big four-year-old (almost five!) ahead of her Little Lambs graduation this week.  She was so proud to wear her Little Lambs shirt and have her 'special night'. Both Eloise and Sadie have been through Little Lambs - which is a program at a local church that teaches the kids and cares for them one morning per week during the school year.  It is a really lovely set of volunteers and a nice community that we've been a part of for a few years. I've covered the girls' experiences with Little Lambs over the years. Here's SD in her Christmas performance this past Winter . Here's SD in her 2015 Christmas performance at Little Lambs . This week, Sadie and her classmates performed some songs about Moses and then the kids that were moving on to Kindergarten were given green graduation hats.  Sadie was soooo happy and proud.  She wasn't the only one.  I'm so proud to see her keep growing up and becoming a strong, independent k...

Like...for real.  A star. Check her out at her Little Lamb's Christmas performance. She got to wear the star costume and be a part of the main performance as well as sing along with the entire Little Lamb's class.  See her below all the way at the edge of the risers with her arms up singing along loudly! And check out this video of the 'star of the show' highlights.  You can see her get into it!  And get *out* of her Star costume by the end.  And the laugh along with Natalie (who you can hear!) at the end of the clip.  (If you are reading this in your email and can't see the video below, click here to see it!) Here's a video of the same performance from last year  and you can see how much she's grown up in just 12 months.

What stage presence?!? Here's Sadie really hamming it up at her Little Lambs Christmas performance as captured by one of our neighbor's camera.  Just look at those animated movements.  Nailed it, right?

Earlier this month, our little Eloise took to the 'stage' for a performance of "Baby Beluga" with 12 other 3 and 4 year olds at the Elmhurst Park District. This is the 2nd performance for her.   You can see the 1st one from back here in May where she did some ballet . Baby Beluga was a singing and dancing performance, but Eloise also had ONE line!  She had been practicing it for the past month and (at times!) she was confident and ready. When the big day came, her line was up first and there were some performers who didn't fare too well and went off wailing right when she was supposed to deliver.  She was already shy, but that seemed to make it worse.  She fought through and made all of us proud.  She (very quietly!) delivered her line:  "I'm so very tired, I can't seem to wake.  My head is all fuzzy and my bones still ache." She was lucky to have both Grammie and Noonie in the audience along with Nat, Sadie and myself. Although she w...