Noah's Ark: The Opera

Last night Tristan and Oliver both had baseball games, so Daniel was gone with them and I was at home with the younger three.

I gave them all baths, and then sent Rachel and Elizabeth upstairs with the standard "brush teeth, go to the bathroom, get in jammies, and get in bed with a book" instructions. I told them as soon as I read to Henry and got him to bed, I would come upstairs and read to them (I used to just read to them all together, but now I like to do it separately so I can read chapter books to the girls, and dinosaur/dump truck books to Henry. Plus, I like spending reading time with the girls without Henry climbing all over and demanding everyone's attention. And Henry loves his own special time with me, so everyone wins.)

Anyway, after Henry was in bed, I went upstairs, expecting to find the girls in their separate beds - Rachel with a Boxcar children book, and Lizza with a stack of picture books - but instead, I saw that they were both up in Rachel's bed. Rachel was reading a big Noah's Ark board book aloud to Elizabeth. It was a cute little scene, but not one that would have seemed that out of the ordinary except that Rachel was singing the whole book, instead of reading it.

I went back downstairs, grabbed my camera, and snuck back into their room to take a picture, but when I saw that the singing was still going strong, I decided to start recording it. I didn't think I'd be able to record very much (I thought either my memory card would get full or Rachel would notice me and stop), but I got at least 4 minutes of quality sing-reading. She even finished the book and had started over before she noticed me (Lizza sat up and saw me about halfway through, but to her credit, she just laid right back down and didn't say a word).

Here's the full four minutes and twenty seconds of it. Some parts might not make sense until you read the explanations below the clip:

I loved it when they would stop to chat every once in a while.

At minute 1:07, Elizabeth wanted to try making a fancy little noise whenever it was time to turn the page.

E: Rach, when I say "ding-dong" that means stop. "DING-DONG! tongue-click".

R: No, cause. . . No, cause that's kind of boring.

E (next time it's time to turn the page): "tongue click"

At minute 2:03, Lizza took a moment to point out the picture of all the houses and trees under water (she loves that page).

E: Rachel - the houses are under there. And the trees.

R: Um-hmm.

E: Because them didn't obey!

And my favorite was on the last page (minute 3:06), after Noah and his family found land (you can see the rainbow picture briefly). I noticed that the way Rachel sang some of the lines didn't make sense, like she was skipping words or something (" Noah and his family gave thanks to ___ and ___ made a rainbow in the sky.") I couldn't figure out why, but then she stopped to explain to Lizza, and it all became clear.

R: Guess why I didn't say those? (pointing to some of the words)

E: Why?

R: We're not supposed to say it. (I knew as soon as I heard this that she had been skipping the word "God" any time it showed up in the book. I had to try so hard not to laugh out loud!!)

E: But one time I said it.*

R: When?

R (not waiting for an answer): Should I read it again?!

*This is true. Lizza says "oh, my gosh" a lot, and it wasn't always clear exactly how she was ending that phrase, so we had a little talk about not taking the name of the Lord in vain, and I guess Rachel took it very seriously.

I also love the last 20 seconds or so of the clip -Rachel continues skipping any mention of God ("____ told Noah to build an ark"), and then dabbles in a little bit of opera before finally noticing me (because I climbed up on their bed).

Her opera plus shocked expression at the end just kill me. I love this girl.