News

I thought I'd post some pictures of things we've been up to in the last couple of weeks.

Becky and Elias both had birthdays this month and we celebrated at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Our server brought out these hats along with a complimentary dessert when he found out the occasion. They were then serenaded by about 7 waiters.

Lydia loved her cheese tortilla.


Thanksgiving

My gramma with her three youngest grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. By next summer there will be three more great-grandchildren!

Guess who's going to be a big sister next summer?

November

It seems hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a week away! I'm looking forward to seeing some aunts, uncles and cousins that I don't get to see very often. We'll gather this year at my parents' house...which is still not quite in order from the move! It should be interesting. I think Mom FINALLY decided on the furniture and has probably just placed her order this week. (We're hoping it might arrive just in time for Christmas!!)In the meantime we grumbled a bit about how there is nothing comfortable to lounge on upstairs...and reminded them that sofas and chairs would be a must if they were going to host the Thanksgiving meal. So last Sunday when Mom had her sons and son-in-law captive after a delicious meal, she pleaded with them to bring up the extremely heavy and unwieldy leather sectional sofa that was waiting to be set up downstairs. Since it was too big to fit up the stairs, they loaded it onto the trailer on the 4-wheeler and Dad drove it up to the front of the house to bring in through the double doors. I wish my camera had been nearby. "You know you're a redneck when...."
Though I don't often get pictures of anything else, you know I have plenty of this little girl -

What better way to show your true love than with a bite on the nose?

Filling her purse with the chess pieces

Lydia Lou Who?

Another Wedding

This past Saturday I played another wedding. This one was quite different from the last. For starters, it was indoors at a church. The bride originally hired us as a duo - violin and cello, but when we got into her musical preferences, I knew we were going to have to get creative. She wanted all of her ceremony music to be from the movie "Love Actually." Now, I never saw that movie but I was pretty sure she wasn't going to achieve her desired effect with a violin and cello!(It is kind of amazing to me how many people hear strings in music and think that one or two instruments can somehow sound like the full orchestra version...) We had several discussions about how to choose appropriate music that was still meaningful to her and also unique. Thankfully our cellist is also a pianist, so we were able to play a prelude of cello/violin duos and then Kelly moved to the piano to facilitate the movie scores! We covered "Love Actually," "The Sound of Music," "Quest for Camelot" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Quite a range there, and although it wouldn't be my style for a wedding ceremony, I think it turned out quite nicely.
We only had a couple of minor incidents this weekend.
1. Even though we talked very specifically with the Aunt who was directing, she still sent the mothers down on the wrong song...in fact I really don't know how she got so confused. She was supposed to give us a wave and then wait for us to get to the piano. We were still playing prelude music (violin/cello) which we had to wrap up mid-song and scramble to the piano so at least 1 of the 4 mothers could walk in to the song the bride had chosen.
2. During the sand ceremony/communion we played a song that also included the groom's step-sister on the flute. She was really pretty accomplished but she was extremely nervous and thus she played it very differently than she had in our practice sessions beforehand. Unfortunately for me, my A string went flat and I didn't realize it until the song had begun. Imagine putting your finger down to play a note and having the note not be the one you were expecting. It was challenging, to say the least, for me to try to play in tune. It was such an odd feeling only to be partially "in control" of the music I was producing.

Lydia the Leopard

We did not go trick r treating, nor did we go to any festivals on Tuesday. But in keeping with last year's tradition, I found this costume Tuesday morning for just a few dollars and decided to have fun dressing Lydia up. We did stock up on some candy and open the door for the kids in the neighborhood. I had to teach late so I missed most of it, but according to Ben, Lydia had a blast! She loved hearing the doorbell ring and would beat Daddy to the door most times. She figured out how to grab the candy and put it in the kids' treat bags. Then she would say, "bye bye" when they left.

pre-whiskers

post-whiskers

loves for auntie liz and baby kate