The Weekend is Over ~ Part 2

On Sunday, Sarah , my dd Molly and I sang with the "Granite City Sound" chapter of Sweet Adelines. Her mother is a part of it, and many years ago, my mother was too. We have been practicing with them for the past 2 months for their annual "Christmas Tea". The first time I went, Ray was coming home late and I didn't want to leave Molly alone that long while I was going to be an hour away from home, so I took her with me. She was being a real "pill" when we first got there, and saying things like, "Why am I here?", and just generally being an obnoxious tweenager.

After we started singing, Joan, the director, noticed that Molly was singing along with us. She ran and got her some music. That got a smile out of Molly, and after a little while, Joan asked her if she wanted to join us on the risers and sing with us. She was thrilled. As I shared earlier, I used to go along with my mom when I was not much older than she is...and I would have LOVED it if someone had invited me to sing with them back then. Anyway, she seemed to lose interest in it after a while, and she missed the last couple of practices. I figured she had decided she didn't want to sing with all of us "old ladies" (as she calls us), after all. So on Sunday, when we picked her up from her friends house, and she was wearing this pink velour sweat suit thing that her friend's sister had given her, I didn't really think twice about her wearing it to the show.

We "guests", which included 10 of us that were not actual members of Sweet Adelines were supposed to dress in red tops and black bottoms for the show. The members all had matching red pant suits. Oh...and we all got adorable Santa hats to wear for the show too. Anyway, after we got to the church where we were setting up for the performance, the director asked Molly if she was going to sing with us. Molly told her she didn't have any other clothes along, and Joan said that was fine. Molly stands in the front row, and I thought it looked a little weird myself, but oh well. It went just fine. This is what we looked like:

Here's a close-up of Sarah and me in our lovely Santa hats. Don't we look festive?

Our good friends, Jody and Lisa came to see the show, to cheer us on too. They sat at a table with my dh Ray, Sarah's dad, her hubby Terry, and two of her little kiddos, Caleb and Maddie. Caleb is so funny sometimes. During an accordian number by some of the SA members, I whispered to Caleb, "What are you doing?" He whispered back, "Running around". And after the show was over, I walked over to the table, where Jody was holding little Maddie. She reached up with her little arms and cried, "Mommy!" Sarah had run to the bathroom right after we were done singing, and I guess Maddie didn't look all that closely at who was walking over to the table. We were dressed pretty much the same, and our hair is close to the same color...but I HOPE my belly doesn't stick out as far as (eight months pregnant) Sarah's does at the moment! Not anymore anyway, after losing almost 40 lbs.

BTW, it's Monday and NO, I didn't go to Weight Watchers AGAIN. I need to go and weigh in next week though...because even Lifetime members need to weigh in at least once a month, if they want to stay an active member. I will. I promise.

Whew! The Weekend is Over ~ Part 1

The "Old Fashioned Christmas" banquet went off without a hitch. It was a lovely evening with good friends, wonderful food and great entertainment. What more could a person ask for??? Each year, our church puts on this elegant candle-lit catered dinner with some type of musical entertainment. The coordinators of this event ask for volunteer hosts to decorate a table and invite guests to fill it. The hosts are also responsible for serving coffee, water and dessert to their guests. At the end of the evening, the table host also get the unpleasant task of packing up all of their dirty dishes and bringing them home to wash them there.


This year, my two good friends, (both in real life and in Bloggyworld), Lisa and Jody hosted two tables together; along with their husbands. Unfortunately, Jody's hubby had to go out of town on business, and wasn't able to join us for the dinner. They did a ladies' table and a mens' table. After dinner, we switched around and sat with our spouses to enjoy the show. This is what the ladies' table looked like:

It was very festive, in blues, silver and white, with snowflakes everywhere. I especially liked the blinking colorful snowflakes around the center of the table. They blinked off and on in different colors. It was very cool! In front of each place setting was a lovely silver gift bag, filled with candies, gum, and Tastefully Simple samples. Awesome!

Here's what the mens' table looked like: Their table was decorated in a deer hunting theme, with deer plates and little moose and deer and pine trees in the middle of it. If you look closely, I'm pretty sure you can even see a little deer hunter there, dressed in blaze orange! Each of the guys received a gift of beef jerky and hand warmers, all wrapped up with a lovely DUCT TAPE bow! Those guys are so clever. What would they ever do without duct tape??

This was the night's entertainment. They're a barbershop quartet called, "Sounds of Grace". They were very good and very entertaining. The harmony was wonderful, and they threw in some humor, along with a great gospel message. At one point, after telling us that their tenor, (the guy to the far left), will soon be leaving for a long term mission trip, they announced that they were going to hold auditions to replace him right then and there. They called up three men from our church, including our Church Chairman, (who is also Molly's bus driver), and our lead Pastor, who claims he can't carry a tune. They did their own version of "Don't Forget The Lyrics". They would start a song, and then stop and the "contestants" had to take turns filling in the blanks where they had left off. It turned out to be quite funny. And Pastor Al is NOT at all as bad a singer as he claims to be.

Here's a video sample of this segment of the show:

Two of the guys from the quartet did a duet entitled, "I Came Upon a Road-Killed Deer", done to the tune of a popular Christmas carol with a similar name. That was hilarious! I have that on video too, but I missed the very first line because my camera batteries had gone dead, and I had to change them at that moment. So, the video starts after these words were sung: "I came upon a road killed deer"...

UPDATE: I was not able to get the video to upload here, but I did get it on my Facebook page. Try this link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1623713710&ref=profile to see it, hopefully, that will work.

Anyway, thanks again Jody and Lisa for inviting us to your lovely tables!

Another Busy Weekend Ahead!

I should really get myself off of this computer and get ready for it. I've been trying to get the house in order and get it somewhat decorated before Jess and CJ arrive sometime the middle of next week. Meanwhile, it's going to be a busy weekend...

We have our annual "Old Fashioned Christmas" dinner at church tomorrow night. We've gone to this event the last 4 or 5 years, and we even hosted a table the very first year we went. It's always a fun night, with a wonderful dinner and great entertainment. Tomorrow night features a barbershop quartet that Ray and I saw perform at church last Spring. That should be fun.

And speaking of Barbershop singing, my friend Sarah and I are joining the "Granite City Sound" chapter of Sweet Adelines for their annual Christmas Tea on Sunday afternoon. We have been rehearsing for the past couple of months with them. I'm singing lead, and Sarah sings baritone with her mother. My mother used to be in Sweet Adelines many years ago too. In fact, my dad also sang with the "Singing Saints". We're talking back in the '70s.

I still remember going with mom to her practices. My sisters, Patty and Connie would come too. We always sat in the other room and sang the songs along with the ladies. One Christmas, Mom even taught the three of us, and my brother Bob, each a part of "Christmas Chopsticks. I wonder if Connie and Bob still remember their parts. Sadly, my sister Patty is no longer with us. Anyway, I always thought that some day, when I got OLDER, that it would be fun to sing with the Sweet Adelines. I think I qualify as "older" now.

Ray and I are also singing with the worsip team Sunday morning at church, which means we need to be there by 7:30 AM. Then, after Sunday school and the service, we'll have to grab a bite to eat for lunch, stop home quick and run right out the door to get to "Granite City" in time to set up for the show.

Right now, I need to finish cleaning my kitchen and doing my laundry and run to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for cookies or bars or whatever I decide to bring to the Christmas Tea. I'll let y'all know how it went after the weekend.

A Little Karaoke Night Fun

The fourth Friday of every month, we do karaoke at our church. Ray and I have our own equipment and have done some karaoke and DJ work elsewhere, (where we actually got paid for it), but at church we just do it for fun and fellowship. We've been doing this for almost 2 years now, but there are still not a lot of people that come to it. However, we do have a small group of faithful followers that come out every month, and we all have a blast hanging out, eating, and singing to each other. This is (l to r) my dh Ray, along with Lisa's hubby, Donnie and Jody's other half, Dan singing "Wake Up, Little Suzy".

Here's one of Ray doing a solo. Probably some Elvis song, but I can't remember for sure.

Last Friday, being the day after Thanksgiving, was even a bit quieter of a night than usual. My 11 yo daughter, Molly was bored. When Molly is bored, she tends to like to run off with my camera and take pictures. Mostly of herself, like this one in our AWANA Cubbies room:

I found that one and numerous other pictures of her in various places in the church, (which I immediately deleted). But then...I came across this odd picture:

Okay, this was NOT on my camera before, and by the date on it, you can see that it was taken the same day as the other ones, but where did she find this frog at church??? You all know that I love frogs, but I wasn't really thrilled about having a real live one somewhere at church. Besides, it's the end of November in Minnesota. Where in the world would someone get a live frog this time of year??? I was a bit confused. I showed it to my friends, and they were also befuddled. Then it dawned on me. She had found this frog in the church nursery, which I am in every Wednesday night. In fact, I had put this frog there myself, quite some time ago. This is what my dd had taken a picture of...

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It was a picture of a poster on the nursery wall.

She seems to have some talent in the photography department...and a very quirky sense of humor to boot.

Wordless Wednesday # 15 ~ The "Hunting Party"

Over The River and Through The Woods...

We went over the river and through the woods, (maybe even a couple of rivers), to Grandma's, (my parents') house for Thanksgiving dinner. Of course there was waaay too much food, as usual, and I think I counted about 30 of us there. Mom and Dad have a huge insulated garage that has a wood stove in it, so we were all comfy and cozy. I thought I would share a few random pictures that I took that day. I didn't get my camera out until after we were done eating though.

Just relaxing in the garage after almost everyone was finished eating

My three little nieces, Shelby, Liz and Katie coloring:

Here's a random group shot I took in the house, but little Shelby noticed me with the camera and gave me her best smile and said, "Cheeeeese"

This is my niece, Chris and her husband, Kevin. It just happens to be Chris' birthday today. Happy Birthday, Chris!

Here's my dd, Molly, (on the right), with her cousin, Amber who is 5 or 6 years older than her, but you'd never know that by looking at the two of them.

My step-daughter, Ruth and her husband Dan just added a new member to their family. Here they are with our newest "grandpuppy".

Here's a close-up of the pup. Her name is "Star".

And finally, a couple more of Katie and Liz. They are sitting on G & G's treadmill. Little Liz was really getting into posing for the camera.

Cyber Shower Party Post For Sassyfrazz

Sassyfrazz is due to have baby number 4 soon. As a guest at her shower, I'm going to play some games here to see if I can win:

The First Choice of Prizes will go to: The sweetest picture
of Daddy's first picture with their new baby. This can be a picture right at
the hospital/in home birth, or just a few days/weeks old of the baby.

This is a picture of my oldest son, Jeremy and my oldest grandson, "AJ". It was taken almost 6 years ago. I can't believe how young my son looks here. He has this picture entitled "My first whole day as a dad" on his MySpace page. I think that's pretty sweet myself.

And just in case that one isn't sweet enough, (and to be fair to my step-son, Dan and his little guy, "HD" that was born just before Christmas last year), here's one of them too. This was obviously in the hospital after a very, very long night.

The Second Choice of Prizes will go to: The person who guesses the correct
birth weight of my second child, Caleb, who is now 3 1/2 years old. He was 3
days overdue, and I was induced with him. Those are the only clues I will give you.
:)

Hmmmm.... I think he was pretty big, but I don't remember the exact stats.
I'll guess 8 lbs 13 oz. Am I right?

The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Choice of Prizes will go to: The most creative creation of a baby and/or a pregnant Mom made out of play-doh. That's
right...time to get creative, regress to your childhood days, and have a blast making your masterpiece. Yes, you can ask your kids to help with this one. I am all about having fun with your kids!

I think I'll pass on this one, I don' t believe I even have any playdoh in the house. Congratulations, Sarah!