Hahahahahahahahahahaha.
I post a ton, then not at all.
November is nearly OVER, people! Where the heck did it go??
I thought I would spend some of my Monday-but-didn't-get-an-email-from-my-missionary-because-it's-transfers-week catching up a bit on my own sad little blog. It is the primary way my parents keep up with what's going on with the Colorado Syddalls {wink}. Aaaaaaannndd it's a great way to journal for me, so I'd better not stop now.
I've been busy! I've been scurrying around preparing for Shi's return, which will also bring a flurry of guests and grand events, followed by Christmas, followed by the birth of a new little soul in our family. My nesting instincts are high, even though I've long passed "that" time of life (on to the colonoscopy time of life hahahaha). Here's the catch up:
We had a visitor about halfway through the month (yes, I know it looks like summer - Bill had been out mowing the lawn and blowing leaves. AND we get these kinds of visitors all. the. time. Just not as fearless). This big guy was not afraid of us at all, even when Bill got the leaf blower out.
He has some funky antlers, so he's easy to spot around the neighborhood. Yesterday Mar and I saw him on the neighbor's front lawn, but he had lost one of his antlers, poor lop-sided guy.
I signed up to be on the "Patrons of the Performing Arts" committee for LHS (doing my duty for this last lonely child at home), and volunteered to be over concessions. My first gig was for the Fall play (which Mar tried out for but did not make the cut. There were only a dozen parts anyway, which I think is ridiculous for a 2400+ high school to do a play with so few parts, but that's a rant for another day -- or not at all). Since this is somewhat new to me (I've done concessions for the marching band and swim team in my long-ago past), there was a bit of a learning curve. Apparently there are very few "seasoned" parents on the committee (and the organization is only a year old), so it was basically a learn-as-you-go thing. Did I learn? Oh, yes.
I had also signed up to help bring home-baked items (4 dozen cupcakes) to sell, so I spent the better part of my week making things, and then selling them.
The first two nights I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. My next 2 dozen I decided to make chocolate with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Needless to say, the cupcakes were a hit, and all 4 dozen were gone before the final night of the play.
I was a little tired of making cupcakes, so I decided to make cookies for the last night, which were also a hit (and might I add, a little easier to make with less expense in ingredients + packaging).
And just because donation items were slim (pretty much chips, candy bars, soda, and water), I ALSO made caramel corn for each performance, which was also popular. I figure I personally brought in well over $150 for the program. {You're welcome} And I learned a lot. At the meeting the following week I was told that I must continue making cupcakes for future plays, which I'm okay with, but someone else better pitch in with the other stuff. It was an exhausting week.
(the meager concessions at the Thursday night show...)
Bill and Mar were a huge help, and it all went down pretty smoothly, I'd say. Bill kindly ran things so Mar and I could catch the play the last night.
We also sold roses for each performance, which someone else was in charge of getting, thank heavens. These were purchased at my favorite flower shop {Safeway} that I have previously raved about here and here. They were so pretty, Mar and I couldn't help but snap some pics of them.
Phew. So glad that week is done. The Spring musical will be much bigger (I believe they are doing Fiddler on the Roof... a Syddall family fave... hope it's true!) with a cast of 120+ (meaning more attendees, too), so at least I have a good base of how, what, where, and when.
Mar had her Winter choir concert.
This is Mar's favorite piece from her choir, Bellissima, called Cradle Hymn:
This is Mar's favorite piece from her choir, Bellissima, called Cradle Hymn:
(Mar, btw, is on the 2nd row on the VERY END on the left)
A news channel (Fox31) came and recorded their choir singing this song a few days later at school to show on their Christmas Eve news cast. So cool.
They also did this fun song (which Mar tried out for the solo and was in the final selection, but didn't get it... although we both agreed that this girl rocked it):
(The choir director doesn't spend a lot of time on the "fun" songs, so Mar said they didn't know the words and choreography that well, HOWEVER, they did better than the other 3 choirs in my humble-and-maybe-biased opinion.)
Mar had a duet piano recital:
She and Addy had never performed their pieces with an audience prior to this, so it was a great practice for their upcoming regional competition in January. They determined that they needed to practice more with an audience, which is great because we will have an audience oh-so-soon (when Shilo + her sisters + her grandparents are here).
In between all this fun, we (mostly I) have been working on little house projects.
Bill installed a new laundry room sink.
Our old one was... well... old. And covered in paint from all my painting projects, and not worth the time to scrub and clean because it still looked very worn and very... old.
And I painted the walls. This laundry room takes a beating, and it needed a paint job desperately.
The door in this room (the entry from the garage, used more frequently than the front door) is pretty beat, so sometime in the next few months, I intend to paint it, too. A gal can only do so much at a time, you know.
Since I had a little paint left, we used a FHE to paint the pantry, something I've been dying to do for years.
It was still builder-grade white (for almost 15 years), and looked dirty no matter how much I cleaned. Now all that wear is gone-baby-gone, and it smells so so much like paint, which isn't necessarily bad, I'm just hoping my food doesn't start tasting like it hahahahaha.
While all this painting was going on, I was also refinishing our stair bannister.
Nesting... am I right?
It didn't necessarily turn out perfect, but I am very happy with the results.
(I still need to touch-up the white rails... another project for a month --or two-- down the road.)
Now I think I'm just down to cleaning, which is not my favorite job, which is why I'm probably blogging today.
That, my friends, is how I roll.
That, my friends, is how I roll.
We had a simple Thanksgiving. We spent most of the day at our friends, the Leaks. It was a bit of a solemn occasion, since their mom and grandma (and great grandma) had passed away that morning. I tried to give my friend an easy out, letting her know that we would still be GREAT if they wanted to spend the time together with just their family, but she said she wanted us there (thankfully there was also another non-family family over, too).
I only snapped a couple pictures... of kind of random things... but here they are for memory's sake:
Our contributions to dinner, minus the coconut pie, which I didn't get a picture of:
(Not much you can do to dress up mashed potatoes haha)
Jamison and Spring's new pup, Rex.
Yes, Mar is in love.
Britt's coconut pie, since I didn't get a picture of mine.
NICE JOB, BRITT!
My favorite 2-year-old as a piece of corn.
Our after dinner walk-it-off with the Leaks...
...it was a beautiful day.
We enjoyed the time Bill had off work, stayed up late every night watching movies, and worked hard putting up Christmas lights (YES, Bill is nesting, too, so the lights are UP this year!).
It was the perfect weekend.
In 12 days Shilo will be home.
In just over (or possibly under) a month, we will have a new granddaughter.
Let the good times roll.
Today I printed up these (easy peasy printable format here)
to go in here
(my favorite advent muffin tin, lovingly made by my seester years back).
We are excited to participate in the #LightTheWorld initiative.
25 ways. In 25 days.
Join us!
