Magic Carpet Theater

Tonight we went to see the Magic Carpet Theater at the Hartland Music Hall. This was 3 women that made 4 books come to life, through reading them and acting them out using only a scarf, a jacket and 2 hats. It was amazing. All 6 of us were supposed to go, but Grant was complaining that his stomach hurt, so he and Greg stayed home. We arrived there early enough (too early, in fact) to get front row seats. Jacob, Grace and Jadyn were absolutely enthralled with this. I was not sure how they were going to react to it, but it was fun to watch them. When the ladies acted out the book "Love You Forever", both Grace and I were crying, but not before all 4 of us were laughing hysterically at the lady who played the part of the son. What was neat about that was as I was listening to the story, I was picturing my very own life. My rambunctious 2 year old, then my strangely weird 9 year old, then thinking towards the future...when all of a sudden Jacob leaned into me and let me put my arm around his shoulder....for the rest of the story. What a treasure for me! The 3rd story was "Horton Hears a Who", and they asked for a volunteer to help them. Fast as lightning, Jacob's hand shot up and I about fell out of my seat. Jacob NEVER volunteers to be in front of people. Wow. I was seeing history in the making. And what another treasure - seeing my son come out of his shell. The last book was about rain in the plain of Africa (can't remember the name), but because it is done in rhyme, the ladies sort of did it "rap" style. Jacob was smiling ear to ear and clapping right along. You might think that I am talking only about Jacob. Well, he was the one sitting next to me, but I kept watching the girls. Smiling, extremely attentive, very lady-like in the theater, and really enjoying themselves. I am so thankful that I was able to experience this with my kiddos. I am grateful that we have an amazing library that puts adventures like this on. At the end, the ladies invited all the kids to come onstage and they all had a group picture taken. I imagine that will be in the library (or their paper) somewhere. I'll be looking for it. As we were walking out, Jacob said, "That was not really good. IT WAS AMAZING!" To hear that....well, I cannot even begin to express what I am feeling.