The Do-It-Yourself Messiah

One of the highlights of our year is the annual trip to downtown Chicago for the Do-It-Yourself Messiah! This year we had a smaller group than usual and it was at the Harris Theater again, so it wasn't quite the same but we still had a marvelous time!

Courtney looking very excited to be riding the train :-)

Emily and Mary Clare

Me and Kristen

(thanks Emily for taking the picture!)

Britta and Tara

3 sopranos!

(stolen from Emily's facebook :-)

The soloists and conductor during the encore of the Hallelujah Chorus

Laura, who looks amazing wherever she goes

"Smile, Joanna!"

Our fun group right before we got off. We sang all the way home on the train, to a very appreciative audience. :-)

(And yes, I did - unintentionally - cut out Mom and Dad and Amber! Sorry!)

As usual... we can't wait for next year.

4 girls....

2 days.... 1 night....equals fun!

Kristen was going to come over to spend the night with us for my birthday, so we were going to pick her up from class at around 7pm. I was just reading and enjoying the life of Robert E. Lee when I heard a car door shut - and there was Wendy! I smiled, looked confused and let her in the house, wondering why she was here. Apparently, she just "happened" to be in the neighborhood, along with her sleeping bag. :) "You want to spend the night?" Mom asked. It was quite a fun surprise for me, because I had asked Wendy if maybe we could get together sometime that week, but nothing had been settled!

We talked for a while, set up all 4 beds in the basement - it looked really nice with everyone's beds lined up in a row - and then picked Kristen up. Sleepovers can't be done without a movie, so we settled down with our pizza and watched "The Magic of Ordinary Days" and decided we all need to make '40's dresses and learn how to swing dance! :) Kristen hadn't seen The Runner from Ravenshead, and since both movies are relatively short, we watched that too. :) AND we still managed to get 7 hours of sleep - aren't you impressed??

Next day (the 7th), we had a delicious breakfast of Oatmeal Casserole, thanks to Mom, and then headed out for a photo-op! Enjoy the pictures!

Kristen and me!

We were having fun while Kathryn and Wendy got their camera settings just right.

Snowball fight!!

If you look closely, you can see a couple of the snowballs in the air.

Thanks for coming over, Wendy and Kristen! I had sooo much fun with you two!

Happy Birthday, Tara!

Happy birthday, Tara! We love you!

Thanksgiving

Here's a belated update on our Thanksgiving... we had a great time on Thanksgiving day with Opa and Oma and Aunty Lulu. As usual we had too much food, though our turkey was great this year! :-)

Basha investigating the foil-wrapped turkey, and finding that it smells good....

Very, VERY good...

La nourriture sur la table

(anyone out there speak French?)

Basha was very pleased to have many people to hold and pamper her

Then in the evening we headed over to the Sullivan's house for games, music and dessert! Mr. Sullivan made some delicious cherries jubilee.

The room of my dreams... :-) Yep, there are six harps in that room, and to the right (not in the picture) is a beautiful grand piano too.

Dad and Mr. Sullivan playing a mandolin/piano duet by Beethoven.

And lest you think we didn't do enough for Thanksgiving, on Friday we packed up and went to Opa and Oma's house to celebrate with Mom's side of the family. We finally took a family picture this year (we used to do it a lot, but we haven't the last few years).

Here we tried out the old-style, we're-not-enjoying-this, serious pose

An intense game of golf

Aren't we a fun bunch??

Hope your Thanksgiving was just as fun as ours. :-)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Mom with her "baby"

Happy birthday, Mom! We love you!

A favor

You've probably seen this somewhere, whether it's been my mom's facebook updates or you've seen it on another site, but just in case I have missed anyone... could everyone please visit the link below and click "Vote"? I entered a kids' bedtime story contest and need people to vote on my story. You can vote once every day per computer, so if you think of it I'd appreciate daily votes too. :-)

http://www.naturemadesleep.net/stories/285

Reformation Day Faire 2010!

The annual Reformation Day Faire at Providence Church is one of the most looked-forward to days of the year. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with our friends down there as well as listening to the sessions by Pastor McDonald, Mr. Serven and Kevin Swanson.

Like last year, the hotel left us another nice card letting us know how much we mean to them. This year, however, it was apparently even less, as there was no mint in sight whatsoever.

Charlie Zahm entertained us again with some rollicking tunes

Renee and Tara

Us with our "twins"...

Due to rain, the boffer war had to be confined to the parking lot, making more of a boffer... riot?

Emilee and Tara

Grace serving hot wassail in style!

The bag sewing booth in the Towne Square

Cutie Pie!

Me and my sweet friend, Lily, who outdid herself again with her new, authentic, 100% real wool and real linen dress. :-)

The dancing begins

Melinda enjoying herself immensely on the sidelines

Love the expression on this little lady - she looks like she is having a wonderful time!

Sierra was shocked how peaceful she looks in this picture, since she was running around like crazy. :-)

It was really great to see everyone and to actually stay for worship that Sunday for the first time! Thanks as always for the loads of work that go into this event!

P.S. Check out my new photography blog! http://kathryngracephotography.blogspot.com

Sunday Night Hymn Sing

Last weekend we were blessed to sing for a hymn sing at a local church. They have one twice a year, and the church is packed to the gills for the event. We sang at the last one in April, and they liked us enough to ask us back. :-) This time we felt a little less prepared with Emily being gone at college and minimal practices, but it came off fine. This was our first time singing a Southern gospel song, which was fun!

Emily really does have a mouth. :-)
Photo by Stuart

See the video below... these four guys did a wonderful job on a really fun song... and as you can see, were having a blast!
Photo by Stuart

Photo by Stuart

Opa admiring the organist after the program was over

Maggie with her best friend and future "best lady," Emily

Once we get our photos uploaded, the next post comin' up is Reformation Day...

P.S. We have a website for the three of us - if you want to check it out, it's www.34hymn.com