Catching Up - Again!

A new record has been set - almost 3 weeks between posts. It is ridiculous - I just can't seem to put words together these days. The good news - Dwight is back to normal - his silly sense of humor is back, and he is back doing things with the girlies, enjoying the yard work, and going for his long walks. It was fun watching the girls "helping" Grandpa change the oil in Mommy's car the other day.





When he got sick, we had tickets for his visit to Maine which had been purchased a couple of weeks before. My first thought when we realized how ill he was - we will probably have to delay the trip. But, praise God, he was able to go last week-end and he, Kev, and Angie had a great time together.


I am sitting here on Saturday, Easter Eve, with my foot bothering me. We did our first performance last night of our Easter music, which is such a fabulous collection of glorious songs. We will do it again in the morning, after a lovely breakfast.



But I did something very foolish last night - I decided to stand on the risers without my boot. Mistake. It wasn't the ball of the foot that hurt the most, but the heel - I think from trying to avoid standing on the ball. I am truthfully very discouraged about this tendon situation.


I've taken or sent the kids to Disney on Ice for quite a few years. The last couple of times, I have sent Kristen and the big girls while I took care of the twins. But this year, the littles were big enough to enjoy the extravaganza. They are accustomed to being left behind on a lot of occasions, so when the big girls and I were talking about the upcoming event, they said, "Do we get to go?" When I told them they were going to get to go, the excitement in the air was palpable. It was a long wait for the night to arrive, but it was the subject of a lot of anticipation.

The night finally arrived, we went to Culver's for a treat before the show, then arrived just in time to claim our seats before the lights went down and the gala began. They all four enjoyed it very much, but the littles, in their princess dresses, were absolutely mesmerized the entire time.



The smiles were huge --










The biggest thrill for the littles was when each of the princesses and their princes skated, one couple at a time. They would have liked it to be them the entire time, I do believe.






The finale was quite impressive, with characters from Beauty and the Beast, Nemo, Pinocchio, The Lion King, Toy Story, and several others I can't remember - besides, all the Disney characters, It's a Small World, Mickey Mouse Club, and all of them joined together on the ice at the end of the show.









It was an enjoyable time from beginning to end. I do have to say that I miss the shows when they concentrated on one story the entire time, and hope they do that again someday. But it's a great activity for little princesses.


This has been spring break - the first two days were really horrible weather. We even had a skiff of snow (not enough to help the near drought conditions, however). Kristen's work schedule was horrific this week, so the girls were here most of the time, including several nights. The last few days were lovely. One warm day, I captured this picture of "a grandgirl after my own heart." She has her name in a book, literally, almost constantly. She is so much like me in this way (and several other ways, too). I really love this picture.




Well, here's hoping I still have a couple of readers!

The Photo Shoot

As promised, here are the pictures that were taken a couple weeks ago. (If you don't know the background on these pictures, check out my previous post). It had been 3 years since the twins have had a professional photo. The big girls have had their yearly school shots, which haven't been too bad. But it was high time for everyone to have a fresh look to hang on the walls. There's a young woman who grew up in our church (in fact, Kristen used to babysit her and her siblings), who has recently begun her own photography business. She specializes in birth photography and is becoming adjusted to middle of the night calls. She likes to do creative photography more than posed shots, but I talked her into taking more formal photos of the twins and the four together. (One thing really odd - the twins' dresses are a deep purple, but always turn out looking royal blue in photos - the ones we took and these as well).

It was an unseasonably warm January afternoon in Colorado, so we took got them dressed up, took a blanket outside, and here are the results. I love them and will have a hard time with the ordering of prints.












Here comes Michelle's creative part - she told me she wanted to shoot the girls cooking or baking something together. I decided that muffins would be the easiest, so I set out everything they needed, they changed their clothes (all in animal prints, as it turned out) and she began clicking away. It was fun.

They all got their licks in, but Katie was licking the spoon more than the others.

They even offered to do the dishes - so I had to get it immortalized!

They were delicious!

BTW, I just learned that our photos are being stored in a cyber spot that filled up without my knowing I even had an account. Did you know this? I had to order a bigger storage area - not expensive, but I didn't know anything about it until I got a message that I couldn't load any more, right in the middle of this post. I was shocked.

Have a great week!

Snippets of Christmas Around Here

It's been a very busy, full of Christmas fun, kind of week. Kristen is working at Hobby Lobby again and you can imagine how busy that place might be at this time of the year! And that means we've had the girls alot - but they've been able to sleep at home most nights, which makes them happy - and us as well!

Last Sunday morning was one of my favorites of the entire Christmas season - the children's musical at church. This year's play was called "Christmyth Busters." Hayley had a lead speaking role, and was actually the "myth buster" for the other kids. She was called a "brainiac" by one of the kids in the play - I felt it was great casting on the part of the leader. The gist of the story was that there are a lot of traditions we celebrate that aren't actually in the Bible stories. The truth is that these are not essential parts of the story, but things that we've envisioned over the years - such as 3 wisemen (we know there were 3 gifts, but not necessarily 3 wisemen), the innkeeper does not appear in scripture (but if there was an inn, must there not have been an innkeeper?), December 25 was the date Jesus was born (we don't really know this as fact, and probably it was more like spring or summer that the shepherds were out in the fields with their flocks). But the bottom line is that the basic story is all we need - Jesus was born as the Savior of the world.

Livi played the star in the East -- and she literally smiled with joy through the entire performance.

It was fun watching the twins watching their sisters - soon they'll be up there too!

Friday night was the annual Walker Manufacturing Christmas party - it is always a lovely event with good food, Christmas caroling, a video presentation of the events of the last year at the company, drawings for prizes, and bonuses. Dwight's quartet sang again this year.

A tradition that never changes is when all the guys and their sons go to the front and sing "Silent Night." Hayley thinks there should be equal opportunity for the ladies and girls and that we should sing next year. Maybe it will happen!

Today (Sunday) was awesome at our church. We've been rehearsing for many weeks now for our adult musical. We had such a great group of singers this year, some for the very first time to sing in a choir. Our leader, Rhonda, is amazing and brings out our very best, and we are better than we really are.

My sister and our friend, Ruth, wrote an amazing narrative/drama to fit with the music. Ruth played the grandmother and our worship pastor's daughter played the role of the grandgirl helping her grandma decorate the tree. Maddie wasn't feeling well at all this morning, but she powered through with lots of prayer holding her up.

Before the musical presentation, my parents were given a great surprise. Dad and Mom were awarded with the Distinguished Service Award. This is an honor presented by our church to someone who has given of themselves to God and the church, often times in the background. My folks have pastored in Minnesota, Arkansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Washington. Dad has constructed buildings in many of those locations, often doing much of the physical labor himself. It was my task to find pictures of each of those places we lived for a power point presentation - a challenge indeed, but so much fun to surprise them. They were caught totally off guard, and that was the plan!




My sweetie took me out for a fabulous Sunday dinner at the Bonefish Grill - such a classy place with an amazing menu. Tonight we have our last meal with our 4x4 group, to end a fabulous week-end.


Every year I hang this crewel embroidery picture that I made years ago. I look at it briefly when I hang it, and walk by it many times while it's hanging as a decoration.




One day this week I was showing it to one of the twins when I really looked at it closely for the first time in a long time. I realized how long it's been since I was this creative and was proud that I used to be so good at this kind of thing. It's one of the many things of which I say, "I used to . . . . "

I can't imagine how much time it took me to do all those French knots for Joseph's hair!

So - now it's onward to another very busy week. I have to get to the podiatrist tomorrow to see what he thinks the next move is, since my foot isn't really "all better" yet. I hope, if it's a cast, that it can wait till after the 2 rehearsals and 4 performances this week.



Next up I think I'll share my collection of nativity sets with you. Have a wonderful week!