Handel's Messiah

We took Titus and Audra to the Handel's Messiah Sing Along at the Walton Arts Center this afternoon. (Justus stayed home with a babysitter so he could take his nap.) It was the first time we have taken the kids to a performance at the Walton Arts Center and we weren't sure what to expect...but we thought the "Sing Along" version of the performance would be safer. They did really well through the first few songs and both sat very still and intrigued. After that, they began to lose interest quickly. Thankfully, it was a chorus and time to stand. Audra really wanted to dance (a.k.a. hopping up and down) so I let her during the choruses when people were standing to sing, but made them sit still during the solos. After a few more songs this became more challenging and I was paranoid that my kids were distracting other people. We decided to go up to the top of the balcony, so our kids could experience Handel's Messiah without distracting people around us. I let them dance during the choruses (to get the "wiggles" out) and it was pretty adorable. At one point, they were holding hands and dancing in a circle and Scott noticed that one of the soloist was looking up at them and smiling. (Other than that the four soloists stared straight ahead with pan faces. I'm not sure what the point of that was. ???) I think their favorite part was the crecendo of the "Hallelujah Chorus" at the end. Titus and I attempted to sing it together--which was pretty amusing!