Day 7: Doktor vonCarmichael

Before I begin, here is another one of those family pictures we took last night:

Aww,,,

 Getting those pictures done allowed me to... umm... go a bit crazy. You see, when you don't have to go to work or generally impress anyone for 7 weeks, things get.... weird.

Weird, as in... goodbye beard.

That's right. I shaved my beard. I'm not sure I have a chin anymore.

Here is lots of new blue goo now.

 ..but wait...

Yep.

My kids weren't surprised (they helped me go to the store and pick out the bleach).

...but my kids in Primary sure were.

So, I got lots of good sleep last night (thanks Jen), and got up this morning and took Edgar and Sabrina to church. We sat in the back.

I teach singing to the kids in our ward. For the 3-7 year olds, and the 8-11 year olds, I made a grand entrance. Boy were they surprised.

Of course, it helps that I was dressed as Doktor VonCarmichael. I wish somebody had got a picture. I put on my old chemist's lab coat, put some tools from the garage in my pockets (a rubber mallet, drywall saw, and pliers never looked so ominous!), and loaded up Jen's stethoscope and blood pressure cuff in the pockets of my coat. I stood up my strange fluffy yellowy hair, and told the kids that their songs were "krank!" and they needed to take them to "gesangkrankhaus!". Then, we worked on memorizing some of the tougher songs they will be singing for their program this year. It was fun and totally hilarious. I may have scared some of the 3 year olds, and I definitely scared one of the leaders' 2 year olds who was on her lap.

(as a side note, I remember being 3 and my best friend's dad dressed up as a leprechaun and visited primary. I was scared out of my mind. It didn't matter that it was my best friend's dad, there was a 6 foot leprechaun in primary) -- nevertheless, I was totally down for scaring the next generation of kids.

I led some of the songs with the props I had in my pockets, and I had a vial of "medicine" (root beer) that I would squirt in the kids mouths if they wanted it. (I did this whole routine a year ago, sans crazy hair, and it was a success)

For the youngest kids (18 months - 3 years), I was a little gentler. I combed down my hair, said "Hi, I'm brother carmichael, your music leader. I lost my beard and turned my hair this silly color, but it's still me. Let's sing some songs together, and at the end, if you like, you can touch my silly hair." The kids were skeptical at first, but by the second or third song, they were down with it.

Anyway, church took a lot out of me (it always takes a lot out of me. I can't do this without an immediate nap afterwards), but this week seemed even more. After a 4 hour nap, I woke up feeling terrible. I snoozed a little in the living room with Betty on me while Jen got the freedom to move around. We listened to my friend's radio show, which is always good.

Had some dinner delivered by some friends (thanks!), and settled back down to read some. I'm apparently sick. Maybe it's the man flu. Anyway, I feel awful, thankyouverymuch.

Put the kids to bed, and Jen and I watched Zoolander 2. It was every bit as silly and funny as it needed to be. It's not a Great Movie-- neither is the original, but it was a great movie. It was super super funny, and I loved every moment of it. I mean, it started with Justin Bieber being killed-- what's not to love?

Now, Jen and baby are asleep in the chair in the living room. The stereo has been playing our Landing collection -- we have about 24 hours of music from them. They were friends of mine in college, but they are truly beautiful, experimental, trippy music. Baby and mom love it. We're on multiple repeats of this 24-hour playlist.