Family Talent Show

Towards the end of summer, my nephew Ryan had the greatest idea to organize a talent show with our extended family. He and his family planned such a memorable event for all of us!

The evening began with the national anthem, as the event coordinator-- Ryan-- held the flag. Uncle Jon, who does professional DJing gigs, even hooked up a sound system for the event. What a fun family we have! ;)

Every single family member (and even one dog!) participated by showcasing a talent. Jaden and Jason kicked off the evening with a demonstration of their football knowledge. Jason passed around a hat, and each family member drew out a mini football helmet. Jaden named the coordinating NFL team and identified the team's quarterback. This kid has an amazing ability to remember names and sports stats, just like his Daddy! Jason didn't have to help Jaden at all. Instead, Jason added on to the feat by naming two other significant players on each team. These two were quite impressive!

Ryan went next and performed a mini magic show. Magician Ryan pulled off his tricks smoothly!

Cody brought along a shoebox full of self-authored books to show how much he enjoys writing and illustrating. He picked one of his favorites to read to the family.

Abby went next and performed an Elephant and Piggie puppet show based off one of Mo Willems' books. It was very cute!

Ian wowed us all by doing a series of string tricks. I loved doing these when I was Ian's age but never mastered nearly as many as what Ian showed us. Pretty amazing!

I convinced Mom to play a piano duet with me-- a fun fast-paced piece that Kim and I had learned in high school. I loved being able to perform with her. I think we pulled it off quite well, if I do say so myself! ;)

Sarah also chose to play a piano song. Hers was a beautiful classical piece, and Abby joined in on the act by dancing along with the music. Another fun mother-daughter performance! 

After that, Ian led Leo in some fancy dog tricks. Leo seemed to enjoy being part of the show!

Adley went next and showed off her ability to make various faces. Adley's gotten some good practice making "emotion" faces from playing our Roll & Play game, so this was an easy act for her to do. Below are photos of her "surprised" and "angry" faces. The video shows Adley's full (brief) act.

Chelsea surprised us all by pulling out some knitting needles and knitting part of a scarf. Very few of us knew that Chelsea had this talent! She is a woman of many talents, for sure!

Four-month-old Micah even got in on the fun! Aunt Chelsea said he recently learned how to roll over. I think all the attention and noise from the audience intimated him, though, because the little man kept his talent hidden. Instead, Micah's cousins decided to imitate his movements. Ha!

For the remaining acts, the family all headed outside. Andrew's act probably got the heartiest laughs from all the kids. They absolutely loved hearing his impressions and silly voices! He was a hit!

 

Papa showed us how he could juggle and spin a set of "clackers." These things probably have a more official name, but I'm not sure what it is! Papa had great stage presence and kept his act lively and fun!

Noah showed off a variety of ball skills-- catching, kicking and even doing a header. What an athletic kid!

Nathan performed his act so stoically. He was hilarious as he showed us all how he can make huge spit bubbles with his mouth. All the cousins immediately tried imitating Nathan, but Nathan was by far the best at this unique talent!

Isaiah demonstrated some impressive lacrosse moves with his Daddy, who also happens to be a high school lacrosse coach. Isaiah definitely knew his stuff!

Ben performed next with a "flying act." This fearless kid swung his hands out and laughed as his daddy spun him around and around, up and down, through the air-- quite quickly too, I should add. We have a little daredevil on our hands, I think!

Uncle Jon thought along the same lines as Papa and showed us some cool juggling tricks. He even kept a conversation with the audience while juggling. 

Matt and Kim's finale was a definite favorite! Kim acted as Matt's arms to get him all ready for school-- brushing teeth, combing his hair, eating breakfast, and even shaving. The audience couldn't stop giggling as we watched these two.

Our family quite impressed with the wide variety of talents shown on this evening. It was definitely an exciting night filled with lots of laughter! We were thrilled to learn that our event coordinator Ryan wanted to make the talent show an annual event. Many thanks go to Ryan and family for planning such a wonderful family activity!