Daddy is home and I am a plate

First things first.. My Dad is home.. yippee! He is home from the hospital and feeling better. He has oxygen that he is on all of the time... but they have him set- up so that he can go all around the house. He is feeling much better and is glad to be back home. We are glad he is too! They believe the emphysema is in the early stages which is good. We are still not sure how everything will work out with the CLL.. but we are so glad he is home!
So.. we will take each day as it comes and pray that he will continue to improve. Each day, for all of us, is a gift.


Also... there were call backs tonight for Beauty and the Beast. The sad news is that the girls did not get asked to the call backs... the unusual news is that I did. So.. with much trepidation in my heart I arrived at the little theater tonight unsure of what awaited me there. We had to SING. (not a big surprise as this IS a musical. ) Not sure what I was thinking. I am definitely more comfortable SPEAKING than singing. We had to sing PARTS. (Soprano, Alto, etc..) He told us not to waiver. Pick a part and stay on it. (I did actually laugh out loud.. not helping my audition there.) I haven't had to sing parts since elementary school. There ARE no parts to "The Hole in the Bottom of the Sea". So... when they told us that three or four people were to be cut I was fully prepared to be one of them. Alas, when they called us up on the stage at the end of the rehearsal.. they informed us that we all did so well that they were keeping EVERYONE! It is with great humility that I accept my role as a villager/plate. I am WAAAAY outside my comfort zone and yet I think it will be a lot of fun, a true learning experience. So... I am excited and scared and humbled and I know I will have a lot of work to do to keep up with the very talented people in this cast.

I will have to forgo some of my other leisure activities for the next 7 or 8 weeks.. but I think I stand to learn a lot from this adventure. I will keep you posted.

My Daddy is in the Hospital

My Daddy is in the hospital and has been there since Saturday morning. Mom and I took him in because he couldn't breathe. They are treating him for pneumonia but we also got the diagnosis today that he has emphysema. This is a degenerative lung disease on top of the CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) that he already has. While we are trying our best to be upbeat, this is not the best of news. We are still trying to digest this and come to terms with exactly what this will mean for him on a day to day basis.

He is feeling a bit better and I am thankful for that. We know more each day. We are not yet sure when he will come home. Please keep him in your prayers!

In other, unrelated, news... the girls auditioned tonight for Beauty and the Beast which will be performed here in town. They both did well as did their friend Chan. After the initial SINGING audition the girls had to go upstairs and read. The director kept looking over in my corner waiting for others to audition, I told him I was NOT. Then, with some coercion on his part and from another friend.. I actually sang... and then went upstairs to read. The singing was TERRIFYING.. but the reading was actually fun. (Although my oldest daughter isn't so sure that I did so well.) Nothing like a little terror in your day to get your mind off other things. Call backs are on Thursday and I will let you know how we did!

Rainbow Color Order

Aren't they beautiful!!

I posted earlier that I like to arrange, well... everything, in color order. By that I mean rainbow order.. Red -orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo- violet. I vary where I put pink, sometimes with red and other times after purple. ( It depends on the shade of pink and if I have browns and blacks to add.) Anyhow.. I just thought I would share a bit of my madness. I must tell you though, that my kids like it too! If I had not arranged them this way I believe Bekah would have.

Christ Our Lord is Risen Today...

I have been waiting to sing this song for 50 long days! We begin preparing for Easter on Ash Wednesday. We spend Lent reflecting on the sacrifice that Jesus made for US.
The entire Lenten season is waiting and preparation for the celebration of Easter.
We even sing different songs (or at least different versions of regular songs) during Lent. We also refrain from saying Alleluia which is a regular response right before the gospel reading. Then, on Easter Sunday, we SING and say Alleluia!! Christ Our Lord is Risen TODAY!
I have been singing since Friday.... I couldn't wait.
We have mass on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and then a long Easter Vigil service on Saturday night. After Mass on Friday, we had a live 'stations of the cross' (or a reenactment of the passion).
It was incredible. The man who played Jesus was amazing. He really did a fabulous job. They even had a huge cross that he carried as we followed him all around our churchyard. They had a way to "hang" him on the cross that was quite realistic and made me look twice to be sure he was okay. It was incredibly moving. The girl who played Mary did an amazing job too... Now that I am a mom I have such a better understanding of what Mary must have gone through. I always get choked up at that part when watching The Passion when Mary sees Jesus fall and she imagines him as a little boy. I just bawl. Of course, I cry through most of it. I am awed by the gift we have been given. Watching this live.. is really powerful. I hope that this is a new tradition at church. (This was the first year that they have done this.)

So... today we celebrated Easter! Yes... the Easter Bunny came too.. but we know the real reason to rejoice today. Christ our Lord is Risen today!! A-a-a-a-a-le-lu-ia!!
Rejoice in the Lord!

Waiting for the clothes to dry

Hello! It is Friday night and everyone is in bed. Everyone that is, except for me. I have my oldest boys soccer clothes in the wash.. (need to give him a code name!!) He has a game at 8:30 in the morning and my hubby has a rehearsal at 8:30.. so I get to go to the game!!
Now.. I really don't mind watching soccer, but I don't "live" for it either. I am appropriately supportive and I certainly drive my kiddo all over... but I have never been a very sports person and so....

Anyhow, I am up and waiting for shorts to dry and so I will post a few more pictures. Prima Donna and Sunshine had friends over the other week and they took some "Top Model" pictures. Have you ever seen the show? Another one of my guilty pleasures. I don't watch it regularly or anything like that.. but I can think of two different days where the girls and I sort of got sucked in and watched on a Saturday when they were airing the whole season. What always amazes me is how "normal" the girls look before their hair and make-up. Also.. that some of the girls that I thought were just stunning... didn't necessarily take a good photo. Anyhow.. here are the girls:




Aren't they gorgeous. I want to take more black and white photos. Okay.. they took these in color... but they wanted them in black and white so I did that in my hp photo place.
Sunshine's picture is actually one that is already on this blog.. but she got gypped at the photo shoot. With Prima Donna and friends around... she just didn't get as many photos!!
I would like to really start putting more photos up. Prima Donna downloads the camera for me. Both girls are really quite good photographers. I would like to improve too.
I will go and see if I can find some pics of the boys so I can give them code names.
I think I found some.

We will call this boy Mr. Fantastic. He already believes he is a superhero.


And this next boy... hhhmmm ... let's call him Sweet Feet. He just can't sit still... (EVER)
He is in constant motion and he loves to dance. Once when we were at one of Brian's performances.. (I guess he'll get a code name too) anyhow, once when we were at a performance listening to the music, Sweet Feet asked Sunshine to dance. She immediately refused. Without blinking an eye, Sweet Feet said," If you don't dance with me, I will go out there by myself and embarrass you and then tell EVERYONE I am your brother." She relented and danced.
Well, the clothes are dry. Now, aren't you glad we have had this chat? I surely am.

Pay it Forward

Hi there! It has been a while since I have posted. Been.. well... thinking.. and working some on the house and trying to get my ducks in a row.

I was reading my friend's blog over at Sweet Meadow Musings and I saw that she had this post on paying it forward. I agreed... so...

For the first 5 people to comment on this post, I will make something for you. It will be something specifically for you... I don't promise that it will be in your hands soon, just sometime before the end of 2009. The only catch is that you make the same post on your blog, or facebook, or where ever... I love to pay it forward... Now you can pay it forward too...


Those are the rules. For the first 5 people to comment I will make something for you... no promises as to what it will be.. but it will be handmade with love from me!! and I will get it to you sometime before the end of the year. So.. all you have to do is agree to pay it forward.
If you don't blog.. you can pay it forward any way you like!! If you don't comment on blogs you can e-mail me. (See how agreeable I am!)

I do hope to be blogging more in the future.
I hope you are all well and doing fine.
More soon! love.. from me