On Monday, the day in between the boys' birthday and Ebby's birthday, we had the so-called Family Party. The grandparents and Uncle, along with one of Ebby's friends and our neighbor friends, gathered for food, fun, and festivities.
Yes, there was dinner (a pot luck cook out), yes, there was birthday cake (homemade cupcakes) and yes, there were gifts (plenty of 'em). The highlight of the evening however was...The Semi-Annual Bowles Family Talent Show!
With more practice time, more acts and more judges, this show was even bigger than our Thanksgiving show. Ebby emailed the details a couple of weeks ahead of time, made score sheets and drew the order for the acts. Family talent shows are serious business. Just ask Nana (more on that in a minute). For now, here are the highlights... 
To start, let's introduce the judges: In the flowered shirt, Uncle Steven. Next, Ebby's what-have-I-gotten-myself-into pal whom we'll call "J". Then we have the always ready to video tape with his iPhone, Pa. Finally, the smiliest you've ever seen him, Grandpa. Perhaps in response to Pa's perfect 10 finger scores at our last show, we revamped the scoring. Each judge was given a scoring sheet. After each act they wrote down a score, from 1 to 10, keeping their score secret. At the conclusion of all the acts the scores for each act were to be added up with the highest scorer being crowned the winner. New system = more drama!
On to the show...
Act 1: Will and large surprise guest
Entering from the stairs, Will and his 53" stuffed bear Reginald staged a wrestling match.
The audience was on the edge of their seats as the boy and the bear tussled, rolled and battled. Amidst laughter and cheers, Reginald emerged victorious! 
Act 2: Ebby the Crazy Cat Lady with Cuyler the cat
About a month ago, I showed Ebby the Debbie the Crazy Cat Lady dating video. A couple weeks ago, she showed me the "songified" version. Hi-lar-ious. Seriously. Catchy tune and it doesn't get old. Seriously. Every time I see it I just want to sing. And dance. Which perhaps explains why Ebby chose this song to do her talent show act to. She went all out.
Props, costumes and choreography.
She had Cuyler practicing moves with her for days ahead of time.
When it was time for their perfomance, I fired up the YouTube audio and dEbby and Cuyler were off to the races. They rocked it.
For reals. Such enthusiasm and polish. I laughed the entire time.
Act 3: Nana and The Fringe
Talk about a serious competitor. When she came over last week looking for some fringe for her act and left with a lampshade, I should've known she was playing to win. Nana wowed us with her rendition of "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" from the musical Oklahoma.
Not being a big conoisseur of musical theater, I'd never heard the song before. Now? I can't get it out of my head ;-). Singing a cappella and balancing a lampshade on a pole, Nana sang with gusto, expression and enthusiasm.
The crowd went wild. For the first verse. Then the crowd got a little restless. Nana was not deterred. There was talk of a hook to pull her off stage. She was having none of it! For a good 3 minutes, Nana sang all about the Fringe and the Surrey. When she reached the line "don't you wish I'd go on forever" the laughter reached epic levels. As soon as I get Pa to send me his video, you can enjoy it too! 
Act 4: Twin Telepathy
Like Will & Cuyler, our neighbors, A & J, are also twins. Unlike Will & Cuyler, they are not identical twins. Perhaps that's why their demonstration of "twin telepathy" met with incomplete success. Or it could've been lack of rehearsal time.
Either way, J got comedy points for wearing the bike helmet.
Act 5: Jen tries to show her poise but fails
Speaking of lack of rehearsal time, my act consisted of {attempting} to walk with a book on my head. It started off well. I made it the length of the "stage" to start. My most impressive move was when I did a modified grapevine sidestep all the way back across the rug. After that, it was all downhill. Which was duly reflected in the judges' scores...A few days later I tried the act again with a different book and man, I would've kicked butt. Just sayin'.
Act 6: Bobby Law does Bobby Frost
Bobby Law truly took The Road Not Taken with his dramatic reading of this Robert Frost poem.
Accompanied by music from his iPad, he read with theatrical flair and gravity. A far cry from his rock and roll guitar playing at Thanksgiving. Too bad the judges weren't that impressed.
Act 7: Bubbe channels Olga
I'm pretty sure Bubbe was a gypsy fortune teller in a past life.
I can recall at least 4 times she's dressed up in some variation of this costume and character. Not that there's anything wrong with that. So Olga went around the room telling fortunes, answering questions and making bold observations in a dramatic carny voice.
Props to Bubbe for her props (excellent gazing ball!) and costume.
Act 8: The return of Cuyler... and the return of the Easter Bunny
While he was a supporting player in Ebby's act, Cuyler returned to the stage to close out the show as a headliner in the final "performance" of the evening. Ok, it wasn't Cuyler, it was the Easter Bunny!
Can you believe it?? The Easter Bunny, in July. Wow. That clever fella hid plastic Easter eggs in our backyard and the audience was sent out to find them.
Interactive. Unexpected. Also unexpected, having to rescue not one, but two fledgling robins. While searching for eggs, Bobby Law found the first one on the wrong side of the garden fence. We dispatched Bubbe (armed with a piece of cardboard and a dustpan) to bring the baby bird to safety, i.e. inside the garden fence, away from Maisy. Nearly as soon as bird #1 was moved, another bird left the nest atop the garden arbor and landed outside the garden!
Too much drama. Bubbe successfully moved bird #2 as well. Phew. In the days that followed we didn't see any baby bird carnage, so we're going to assume all is well. Things did not go so well with the egg hunt as the group of us was only able to find about 20 of the 35 hidden eggs.
Oh well, head start for next Easter.
When all the acts were complete, it was time for the judges to finalize their score sheets and tally up the results.
Look, here's Uncle looking all "judgy". 
It was time for the announcement of the standings. Last place was announced first. Yours truly won that dubious distinction. Soon it was time for the Top 3. In 3rd place: Nana! The tension mounted as we waited to hear the places of the top 2 acts (which happened to be Act 1-Will and Act 2-Ebby & Cuyler).
And the winner was....dEbby the Crazy Cat Lady with Cuyler the Cat! 
Their reaction? Spinning elation! 
Second place didn't go over too well with a certain someone *cough*Will*cough. But that's ok, Will & Cuyler have teamed up and have already started practicing their act for the next talent show.
I think I'm gonna need a real trophy!