This was our post-show celebration at Steak and Shake. The girls were "attempting" to do the "Got Milk?" look, but I think Jeni and Hillary were the only ones that were successful!

This is Leia, Clarissa's new puppy.

My three dear daughters in their costumes for "Pirates of Penzance."

The Stanley Sisters, a "Bevy of beautiful maidens," being scandalous by showing their bare feet!

Catching up! Again!

Well, once more my life has been way too busy to blog! But we've had such fun! We now have ANOTHER new puppy! Leia is Clarissa's border collie. She is so fluffy and adorable. She is somewhat shy, but that means when you actually can pick her up, she's a good snuggler! So once again, this non-dog person is enjoying a puppy!

We've just finished a 6 show run of "Pirates of Penzance." I wasn't IN the show--I helped my dear friend Kim, the director, with note taking during rehearsals and I was also the "ticketmaster." We sold out all 6 shows, even selling tickets for as many folding chairs that we could fit in comfortably for 3 or 4 shows. It was somewhat stressful--but FUN! The show was INCREDIBLE! Jenna played the role of "Edith." I described her as the "spunky gal in purple." It was a fun role for her! Clarissa was one of the Maj. Gen.'s daughters in the 2nd act. Rebecca was in the intermission show, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." We all had such fun! I'll attempt to upload some pictures.

Bingley

We have a new puppy! He is so adorable! That should tell you a lot, seeing as how I'm really NOT a dog person! Bingley is a Rat Terrier and is about 8 inches long and 6 inches tall. I've not uploaded pictures yet, but I will soon. He officially belongs to Rebecca but Kenny is pretty enamored of him. Matthew likes him a lot too, as long as he's not jumping on him. As little as Bingley is, his jumping can still be pretty overwhelming to Matthew!

Matthew's adventures

Matthew loves to COLOR! Today I discovered crayon on the walls. Yesterday I caught him coloring on the window of my office. Luckily, it came right off--not so the walls! He also loves markers. This morning he got into a pink marker--it's not the washable kind!

He really needs a haircut! We've already cut it once, but it's growing like crazy! His curls are awfully cute, but I think he's looking a little "girly."

ACDA National Honor Choir

I'm in Oklahoma City with Jenna for the American Choral Directors Assoc.'s National Honor Choir. Jenna is in the Middle School/Jr. High Choir--placed by age(15) instead of grade(10th). 287 singers, 6th- 9th graders, that are pretty incredible! Most of the basses are in 9th grade, and they are very good! I had planned to do some shopping today, but couldn't tear myself away from the rehearsal. It was such fun! Tomorrow--I hope to get some shopping done! :-)

Happiness!

Today, I spent a few minutes in the storage room, searching, searching.... I've been looking for my green Bible, the one that Kenny gave me for Christmas in 1992. It is an "old friend." The Bible that has a worn out cover, pages that turn easily because they are wearing thin, and lots of love in it! I hadn't seen it since we moved 3 months ago, despite numerous hours in the storage room, looking. With it would be our school prayer journal. Each morning as the girls and I pray together, we record our prayer requests in this journal. We've been using the same one for over three years, so I have been distressed to have this "history" missing!

But today--I FOUND THEM!!! They were buried under some "junk," the kind of stuff I didn't think needed to be rummaged through. It's been a Happy Day! My one sorrow is that now, our prayer journal is missing 3 months of prayer requests and answers. We've started a new journal during these 3 months, but it's not the same. I love going through the old one, seeing the prayers answered and remembering the issues we've prayed about. A precious possession!

Valentines Weekend

Kenny and I attended the American Cancer Society's Cancer Gala on Saturday night. We had such a good time! It's been a LONG time since we dressed up--in fact, we talked about is and realized that this is the first time Kenny has been in a tux since our wedding almost 20 years ago! He was looking fine!

This is the first time we have attended this event. Elgin was a sponsor, and with the sponsorship came two tickets. I think I like this "business ownership" thing-- Dressing up was fun! :-)

Jenna and Clarissa also "dressed up" for Valentines day. They, with the youth group at church, were hosting a "Sweetheart" dinner at church. They had a 50's Diner Theme, so they were dressed up 50's style. I haven't seen any pictures yet......

Unpacking

I spent some time this afternoon in the basement storage room, trying to get some boxes unpacked. I found my college scrapbook! Oh the "big hair" of the '80's! For some strange reason, I have pictures of Vert Morph lab--that's that lab where we dissected cats. Hmmm...I don't have pictures of ANY other class that I took in college! I guess this happened to be the most entertaining of all my classes! It actually was one of my favorites and the one I remember the most from.

I also found pictures from "Music Man," the homecoming musical my freshman year, (my last theatrical endeavor until OAT in 2006.) and Spring Sing, and chorus tours and club banquets and Christmas parties. And then of course my all time favorites--pledge week. I wore a camo hat, jacket, and pants, complete with paint on my face. I had antlers attached to the hat--which gave me a headache all day, and I had to wear a sign, "I'm a DEAR hunter." I really think that it should have been considered "hazing" but none of us even thought of that back then. We all had fun and enjoyed it!

Snow and other random stuff

This is Meredith in her new Princess nightgown that she got for her birthday! She LOVES it and has worn it nearly non-stop the last two days. She HAS taken it off to put on warm clothes so she could go outside to play in the snow.

This morning we awoke to a beautiful landscape of SNOW! REALLY! We haven't had a good snow for several years, so we are all quite excited around here. The girls have been out sledding and enjoying the sunshine. (Sun and Snow--no better combination, well, except for sun and sand maybe!)

We went to Mississippi this past weekend to see our friends and to go to the youth rally at their church. The youth rally is really just the excuse to go see them! :-) We celebrated Jenna's 15th birthday while we were there and Meredith's 4th birthday was the day after we got back. We haven't actually had birthday cake yet--that's coming on Sunday when all the grandparents come over to celebrate. Hard to believe Jenna is 15! Time goes way to fast!

I've decided that I'm not a very good blogger! Once a month isn't working very well. I feel like I should "catch you up" on my life, but there's really too much to say to do that--so then I don't write at all! :-)

I went to the ENT Doc today and was diagnosed with LPR Reflux. This is a type of acid reflux that effects the throat and voice box/vocal chords. I've had a scratchy throat and voice since I lost my voice completely back in Oct. And I have a granuloma on my vocal chords. Treatment--acid reducers, and from what I'm reading online, possibly vocal rest. The Doc didn't say I HAD to have vocal rest, but it keeps coming up in my research, so I"m thinking that it would probably be a good thing for me to do, but I'm also thinking that vocal rest will be pretty hard for me! How can Matthew understand that Mommy won't talk to him???? And singing--Singing is such a big part of my life! It's what I do when I am happy, when I am sad, when I'm lonely, when I'm excited, when I'm filled with thanksgiving--All the time! So much of the time, it's my communication with God! This could prove to be rather difficult.

Until next time--whenever that might be.....

Settling In....

We are starting to settle in to our new house. We moved on Nov. 21. In an effort to force myself to unpack, I offered to host the "It's a Wonderful Life" cast party on Dec. 6. It was a great plan! Today is the first weekday that has been somewhat normal since we moved. The party, which was SO much fun, is over and everything that HAS to be put away, is. Now I can leisurely go through the storage room, (where everything was shoved a hour before the party!) and try to get the remaining things in their places.

I love my new home. I feel so thankful to God for blessing us with it! The view is absolutely beautiful! I'm enjoying an incredible sunset at this moment. Our previous house was surrounded by trees, which was nice since we were in town, but we NEVER could see a sunset, OR a sunrise. Now we have both! Thanks be to God!

It's A Wonderful Life--finally!

I've been sick for a month now. I'm mostly well now--as long as I keep taking my meds! It started with my voice leaving me, then I was coughing and got a sinus infection. Then the allergic reaction to my medication happened! My eyes were swollen shut. After two trips to the ER, I still had double vision and dizziness for 5 or 6 more days. Keep in mind that this was all going on during rehearsals for "It's A Wonderful Life" and trying to pack to move! What a month it has been!

We're on a 2 day break from the theatre, having already finished the first weekend of performances. It finally started to be fun on our Tuesday dress rehearsal. (since I was finally functioning close to normal.) Thankfully, I'm feeling pretty good again. Good thing, since we're moving in 4 days and I still have LOTS of packing to do.

Moving

The house has sold and we are moving in 3 weeks. I'm neck deep in play rehearsals and teaching school, so it will be interesting to see how this will all come together. Our closing date is the same day as a matinee and evening performance of the play, so by 1 in the afternoon--I'll be done moving. Kenny will have to do the rest. I'm good as long as I have a bed to fall into that night! :-)

Kenny and I went furniture shopping tonight. We need a new kitchen table and a few other things. Our current table only seats 6--and we have 7 in our family now. As long as Matthew is in the high chair, we're ok, but it won't be long until he's out of it. We thought moving would be a good time to get something bigger.

It's been a HUGE deal trying to decide who's getting what bedroom furniture. Jenna has definite ideas about what she wants her room to look like. I'm not sure why I've been letting her have first choice. I guess it's because she is the oldest. She's changed her mind about 10 times, so poor Clarissa (who is getting 2nd choice) has had things change for her 10 times. When I was a kid, we didn't even THINK about the furniture we had--we didn't think there was an option for anything else. And we were thankful to have a bed and dresser! I had a white bed with pink flowers decaled on the headboard until I got married! (Well--Mom may have painted over the decals when I was in high school.) :-) Thankfully, we don't have to buy anything new for the bedrooms. (but that means Jenna's choices were limited!)

My inheritance

Because of Grandpa Charlie's death, Grandma has been moved to a nursing home. And because of this, their household goods have been divided amongst the family. Although I was not present at the "great divide," all apparently were in agreement that my family should have Grandma's Hammond organ. We are all thrilled! Jenna especially, can hardly wait for it to be delivered! It should have arrived on Tuesday, but it was raining, so we thought it was coming today. The guys that we've hired to unload it were too busy today,(due to catching up on all the things they didn't get finished because of the rain on Tuesday), so they are SUPPOSED to be here at 9 am tomorrow! I wonder how much schoolwork will get accomplished tomorrow??????

The other exciting item that I am receiving is Grandma's refrigerator. I know that doesn't sound all that exciting, but I've REALLY been wanting an extra one so I won't have to buy milk twice each week for this big family of mine.

The girls and I went to Mom's last night to "pick and choose" from an assortment of "stuff." It's funny and cute what the kids were so excited to get! An apple peeler, corer, slicer (one of which I have somewhere, but can't find), an ice cream scoop that looks like a cow and moos when you push the button. (I wish I had a video of Meredith when she saw it--talk about a "happy dance!") Then there were glasses, silverware, vases, scarves, towels, pillows, etc.... which weren't quite as exciting, but nice to get.

I've enjoyed doing this now, more than I would if we were doing this same thing, and Grandma was already gone. I visited with Grandma on Saturday and she was so excited about us getting the organ. It was fun to talk to her about it! (and I was glad to catch her on a "good day," as they're not all good for her these days.)

Grandpa Charlie has gone on to heaven

Grandpa Charlie died today. He was 93. He went out on his tractor and didn't come back. Grandma called my aunt and uncle and they went out and found him, with the tractor still running. What a great way for an old farmer to go--on his tractor in his field. My heart is so very sad. Charlie married my grandma 26 years ago and what a blessing he has been to her and to all of our family. He's taken such good care of her as her health has failed her. Last year Mom and her siblings were looking for an assisted living home for them to move to, but Charlie said no. He said that when he married Grandma, he had promised to take care of her, and he wasn't ready to give up that responsibility to someone else yet. So they lived together at home and put off those decisions until now. I pray that Mom and her brothers and sister can make wise decisions together now. It's going to be a hard week, or month.

One of the things I appreciated most about Charlie is that he never let anything bother him much. I never saw him angry. If Grandma wasn't cooperating, he would just laugh and make her cooperate. And because of her love and respect for him, she let him! He was always so calm with her, while taking care of her every want and need. Theirs was a sweet relationship. Most importantly, Charlie loved the Lord and served him all the days of his life. He was a good man and I loved him!