Kenny Rogers, Billy Dean, and Kailyn B

One afternoon I got a call from Kailyn's choir teacher. She called to say that Kailyn did really well on her honor choir tryout but did not make it into the honor choir....but Kailyn was being asked to be one of six kids who would sing on stage with Kenny Rogers at his upcoming holiday concert. Ummm, YES!!!  Leading up to the concert we were all really excited, especially Kailyn.  She referred to it as "the concert" and would give air quotes every time she mentioned it.  We, of course, recognized this as a once in a lifetime opportunity. The night of the concert was SOO much fun. It was definitely one of the most memorable evenings, one I hope to never forget. Kailyn stood up on the stage smiling as wide as she could and doing amazing, while Jordan sat next to me smiling like crazy and having the best time ever.  She was so happy for her sister.  Caden came for the show with Grandma and Grandpa Bassett. He slept for the first part of the concert but woke up to listen to Kailyn.  He said it was the best part of the concert by far!  Following are lots of pictures by the proud parents.

Shelly and Kailyn, doing the hair thing

Kailyn's good friend Anna.  It was nice to have 2 good friends on the stage together.

Getting fitted with the mic

Kailyn smiled and said "It's like I'm a rockstar!!"

Here are the 6 kids in dress rehearsal

Billy Dean rehearsed with the kids.

The kids changed into the first of 2 outfits.  They were asked to wear a casual holiday outfit for their first couple of numbers.  Kailyn made sure she had her toothbrush packed--she didn't want stuff between her teeth for the big concert!

We were lucky enough to get 3 backstage passes, allowing Jordan to come backstage as well.

Kenny's professional photographer took a couple of pictures

He asked for a silly face for this picture.

I don't know.  Do you think she's having a good time, yet?

I kept these couple of pictures because I liked Kailyn's face and interaction with Billy Dean.

Kenny said he wanted to show the kids a "secret" handshake he had learned from his grandfather years ago.  Instead of the handshake, he had the girls sit on his lap for a quick "horsey ride."  He pretended the kids were galloping along when the horse lost his balance and the kids fell down.  It was fun to see him so personable with the kids. 

After the pictures with Kenny and Billy, the kids left with their choir director and we parents went to find our seats.  We looked up and saw a couple of familiar faces (Ken's parents and Caden). 

Caden just couldn't keep his eyes open, even with the loud music (and I mean REALLy loud music).

Kenny is definitely an entertainer.  When he wasn't singing, he was cracking jokes about someone in the crowd (like the lady who was sitting only 20 feet away from the stage but who had "the largest binoculars" Kenny had ever seen).  He had the crowd laughing and enjoying the show.

A couple of pictures with the grandparents.  We couldn't get Ken's dad to look at the camera, I guess.

A picture with Grandma

 

The kids' portion of the program started with a song that Kenny arranged called "Closing of the year."  It is a beautiful song that starts with a soloist (this is Bridget singing the solo).  The other kids then join in.  Then high school students come forward and join in with the song, and then Billy came out and joined in.  The song started out so simple with a child's beautiful voice and grew into a beautiful chorus.  We swelled with pride as we listened and watched our beautiful Kailyn perform.

Billy sang a song he had written about his kids and how they had grown up.  He had a slideshow with pictures of his kids.  The kids were instructed to watch Kenny and Billy when they were singing.  I love this picture of Kailyn looking up at Billy.

The kids sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with Billy.  He started singing with them, then the kids stepped forward and sang by themselves for a bit.  Here's Kailyn's big moment when she stepped out and sang an 8-word solo ("He knows if you've been bad or good"). 

Here are a couple more pictures:

 

Kenny came back on stage and sang a couple of songs

At this point, Kenny has just told the kids about the origins of the song "Silent Night."  He asked the kids to sing the first verse.

Here the kids are checking to make sure the stage is still under them.  I'm not sure why they all seem to be looking at the ground.  You'll see a couple of pictures with Kailyn looking down.  Anyway, in these 2 pictures the kids are singing "Chosen One," a song Kenny arranged for the Christmas concert.

I thought this was a nice picture of Kenny and Billy next to Kailyn.

This is the professional photographer's picture with the local high school choir singing in the background.

It was a wonderful evening.  We are so happy Kailyn was able to do this.  I loved how excited Jordan was for Kailyn.  After the concert, we were going back to gather Kailyn.  We ran into Kenny and Jordan was so excited to go shake his hand.  Throughout the concert, Jordan was grinning, dancing, and jumping up on her seat to clap as high and as loud as she could.  She was a wonderful support.  Caden was also great and grinned when he saw Kailyn on stage.  He was disappointed when Kailyn left for a bit, wondering if she was going to come back on the stage.  He was relieved when we told her Kailyn would indeed be back.  We are grateful to Grandpa and Grandma B, who made the concert even much more special for Kailyn just by being there.

Thank you Kenny and Billy!