Thanks, Hil. So if we keep the stuffed animal and marching band, what is the top age we are likely to appeal to? Also, both acts do have fairly clever patters. Would that raise the age limit as well? There is a hand puppet show we could replace the stuffed animal act with. Do you think that if we kept the marching band as the last act that we would have a fairly broad age appeal?

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Drinking to my return, or to deal with my return, hmm... well, either way I have an influence!

I'm watching The Mummy. I forgot how much I enjoy that movie.

I have never seen Grease the movie, but I saw it on stage when Lucy Lawless was in.

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bought her a special edition dvd that came in a Pink Ladies satin jacket when she was waiting to have her twins. Because now I don't have to watch it with her.

And you're just happy she didn't name them Sandy and Danny?

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Gar, it's hard to appeal to all those ages together. Three year olds are just learning to play together, and 11 year olds are often pretending they're teenagers. The marionettes should appeal, I think. The marching band, with clever patter ought to be okay. I don't know about the other two. Aidan wouldn't like either, but he's not typical. Kara would absolutely love both. The clever patter is key to anything working. I don't believe stuffed animal training would work with the older kids even with that, though, unless you enlisted them to help the little ones; got them on the grown-up side of the equation.

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Gar, how many kids are you talking about and what kind of event is this?

The stuffed animal training and the band both seem to me like kids toward the older end of that spectrum might find them babyish, especially if they're doing them with preschoolers.

I agree (have a ten year old; he and the almost 8 year old might enjoy if there were no other kids around their age there to see them, but they'd be just as likely to roll their eyes).

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What a lovely day! Brunch with new friends! Mimosas! Chocolate! Fabulous food! Coffee! Conversation!

So, judging by the exclamation points, I had a good time. Of course, it was back to real life before I even got home (disturbing phone call about things I need to deal with).

And, related to real life, I could use some unspecified ~ma about an event tomorrow. I don't think I'm gonna sleep much tonight. Sometimes life is hard. Good thing that there are days like today that make up for the rough ones.

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Very early planning stages fundraiser for our Health Care for All committee. The idea is to have a children's event both as a fundraiser and to appeal to families who we normally would not reach (people who agree with us but are way too busy for meetings cause they have kids to worry about).

So maybe we need a narrower age range. 3-7? 3-8? 5-11? I guess the first decision we have to make is "toddlers or children". But it sounds like the volunteers available appeal more towards the toddler end. So OK - the stuff works for three year olds. What is the likely top of the age range for this stuff? 5? 7? Would a 9 year old like it? In other words, what age range can we aim for with the entertainers we've got?

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First day of work tomorrow. Feeling like a fraud, like I'm not sure how to be all that stuff on my resume that I used to be pre-Ellie. Still, big picture, it's a good day.

vw, I'll be thinking about you tomorrow. I hope things go...well? clear? effectively? I guess I'll just keep you in my thoughts.

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It was lovely having Kristin and Emily over for brunch waffles.

My mixer died so I had to hand whisk my egg whites. I made sure to tell Kristin of my sacrifice and she was properly appreciative that I had suffered for her waffles.

I served them with strawberries, bananas and sliced apples sauteed in butter with cinnamon and sugar (just a little). Then maple syrup. A little Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon for contrast (not in the waffles - just on the side). We all had two waffles except Emmett. He had five. Emily said it was even better than the instant oatmeal she was going to have but couldn't because her milk went bad.

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ZKitty, good to see you. I didn't mean to ignore you and your triumphal return earlier. I was tiptoeing in myself.

I think the upper age might be 6 or 7 and you could easily go as young as 2 if you didn't expect them to join in "properly."

I keep waffling on order.

Handpuppets Band Circus Marionettes

The band will really get them involved quickly, and transitioning to the circus will help them be engaged in the activity and eager to do what you want, plus it will help slow them down for the next act.

How long are you planning to keep them busy?

If the smallest ones could hold a hand puppet or stuffed animal while the marionette show is going on, that might help them stay in one place.

I could be wrong. Also, if you have children as young as 2, then you should either specify that they be potty-trained, or have someone on hand to change diapers every hour or so (there's a legal time; I don't know what it is and it could vary by state), and do the proper sanitation of the changing area between children.

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