A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

This picture pretty much sums up Erika. (Note: not all the kids in the back line live in this house. In fact, there's just one resident: Declan, in the tux.)

Last night we had several families over for New Year's Eve festivities. Not only did all the kids (except for the under-2 set) make it until midnight, they had energy to spare long after the ball dropped; this picture was taken at 12:25am.

It seems that while the grown-ups were in the basement watching Dick Clark age before our eyes, the kids were upstairs staging a show, under the stewardship of Erika (pictured above, center).

We were called up to watch the show, which went something like this: The kids arranged themselves as shown, then, at Erika's cue, started counting down from 10. When they got to 1, the chorus line threw confetti in the air and started jumping up and down while Erika sang a self-composed verse:

"Christian or Jewish, I don't care!
Everybody celebrates New Year's!"

They performed numerous encores (of the same exact act), and what amazed me most was that no one seemed bothered to be confined to the rear of the stage. In fact, the kids were having a blast. (Of course, resentment might not kick in until much later, as is my experience; apparently as a child I was all too happy to spend hours singing back-up on Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" while Amy took center stage.)

Corralling 8 kids ranging in age from 3 to 8 (who've all been awake upwards of 18 hours) to perform a show that is not only coherent but somewhat enjoyable is a truly impressive feat.

Kudos, Erika.