Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

I'm not, but there was a casting call for next season in our city today.

After Elizabeth's birthday party (which will be a different post), I took her and three of her friends to the casting call. I really, really doubt they'll get callbacks, but we just did it for fun. Since I figured the girls would be in line for ages, I planned ahead. Packed a lunch for them, printed out trivia questions with a bag of candy for correct answers, and made them matching tshirts, with Sharpies to sign one another's shirts.

The TShirts were fun - the front said "You're not smarter than THIS fifth grader", and the back had the lyrics to the theme song. The girls loved them. (I had an ulterior motive too. The first 500 kids in line got free tshirts, and I had no intention of being there early enough to get that. We actually arrived a half hour AFTER auditions began. I made the tshirts so the girls wouldn't be bummed.)

We were in line for three hours, and had a ball. Ran into lots of people we knew - several kids from their school. One of their classmates won a radio contest and got to be first in line, so that was cool. But the girls in Elizabeth's group got a lot of attention! When we arrived, we got settled in line and I passed out sandwiches, Doritos, and Capri Sun. (They hadn't had lunch yet) Some one from the sponsoring radio station came over and asked if she could take a pic of them camped out in line, for their website. Then later, someone from the tv station had them answer some trivia questions, and sing the theme song.

But the really exciting thing happened at the end. We were near the end of the line - they were taking the kids up 20 at a time, and we were the second-to-last group. The girls came running out all excited afterwards, saying "They want to talk to you about the tshirts!" Which wasn't as exciting as it sounded. The guy just wanted to let me know that they loved the shirts. And because of them, they brought all four girls before the judges together. The 20 kids went into a large "waiting room" and were brought in one at a time to do the interview. But our group got inside, and the guy came out right away and said "We want the girls in the matching tshirts first"!! So they all four went in together, sang the theme song (both verses, plus one they'd made up in line - LOL), and chatted with the judges for a few minutes. Then they went back out, and did their individual interviews.

Pictures now:


Elizabeth and her friend talking to the radio station lady.





Showing off the backs of their shirts. Each one had one line of the theme song.





Fronts of their shirts. See the dot on Elizabeth's neck? Her friend was putting polka dots on the shirt, and Elizabeth moved.




Answering trivia questions for the TV reporter



We're next!!!



End of the line for me. Mommies and their cameras weren't allowed any farther, so I got this shot of them walking into the interview waiting room.

Are you smarter than a fifth grader?