Sola Gratia Retreat

Today was our third annual Sola Gratia retreat at The Retreat at Artesian Lakes.  I so love this day; it’s simply wonderful! 

We had a wonderful clinician from U of H today to help us polish some pieces and give general good tips about our group.

Even though I take millions of pictures of my kids and food, I’m not as good at stalking grownups with my camera.  :)

I took a few pictures outside at our morning break.  It was beautiful outside.

Before lunch, we got to taste some jams on crackers.

And we spied on the alligators and turtles outside.

And chatted and enjoyed the beauty.

It was pretty bright where I was standing, so I had trouble seeing very well, but I like how this shot of this pretty covered area turned out:

I love this flower pot bread – I always say I’m going to bake some bread in a flower pot, but I’ve yet to try it.  :)

Main course – chicken, rice pilaf, and carrots.

I’ve been very impressed with the lunches the last couple of years, but this wasn’t my bag.  I ate the rice.  :)

Back in rehearsal after lunch, Betsy had us sit in a circle to sing.

I wish we had the space to do that some in our choir room; it was a neat exercise.

Theresa and Kendra had Sheila helping them with a duet they’re doing next month during our afternoon break.  I think it’s hilarious they’ve all got their hands on their faces.  They look troubled, but it was sounding beautiful!

We took a few minutes of our break to take a group picture.  I got it all framed up and my settings how I wanted them, and a random man took this picture for us.  See – I was there too!

Aren’t we a good-looking group?!  I only wish everyone could have been there – we were missing a few voices. 

Back inside, Betsy took a few minutes to organize us.  She had each section (Soprano 1, Soprano 11, Alto 1 and Alto 11) stand up separately, and she listened to us sing “The Star Spangled Banner” in pairs while she arranged us.  We haven’t had anyone do that to our group (Well, I’m sure Meredith does it a bit without telling us), and it was amazing.  She arranged us from “light” voices to “dark/rich” voices within each section, and it really improved our blend.  I was in the middle of the first sops, but that’s probably what I would have guessed.

These are the second sopranos:

And our second altos:

I had such a lovely day.  It went by so quickly, and I really enjoyed it.  I sure do love this group I get to sing with.  I’m so thankful!

Happy Birthday to James!

There are approximately nine million, three hundred sixty four thousand, eight hundred twelve pictures in this post.  You may need a break in the middle.  :)

Thursday was my sweet boy’s 2nd birthday!  I made cinnamon rolls (from a can!) for breakfast.

They were just perfect to stick a couple of candles in!

I was trying to do something creative with the photo.  I was less than successful.  :)

Blowing out his candles!  Or attempting to anyway.  :)

Yum!

This is a MUCH better spot in my house for taking pictures!

I put him in his birthday boy shirt for school.

Is he the stinkin’ cutest!!

We popped outside for a few pics before getting in the van.  He was throwing the gumballs and getting such joy from it!

I love this one, even though it’s not of his face.

He’s so funny – and he knows it too!

This is what the bus looks like going in to school.  Four kiddos under four and all their stuff!

After I dropped the three middle kiddos off at school, Laura and I went to grocery store before heading home.  Then thankfully Jan called and reminded me about the Musikgarten meeting we had that morning that I had completely forgotten about!  So Laura and I headed up there and were only a few minutes late.

I lost track of the time and barely made it to pick up Joanna at noon for early release.

When Laura was taking an afternoon nap, Joanna and I whipped up a batch of Rice Krispie treats for James’ birthday

I’ve never let her do anything at the stove before (fire – yikes!), but it was such low heat I felt okay about it.

She loooooved helping me!

After we picked up the little kids at school, Lisa and her girls came over to wish James happy birthday and eat Rice Krispie treats!

This was the huge grin that was plastered on his face while we sang to him.

He’s a big fan of the treats – he’s my boy!

Anna and Emma brought James presents, and he opened his present from Ray.

They know him well – he got trucks and trains and lots of wonderful goodies!

Matt got home after a little while, and all the kiddos left.  I made some loaded nachos for dinner and quickly wrapped James’ presents from us.  I used miscellaneous things from the craft/gift closet to wrap his gifts.  If they were going to stay wrapped for a while, I might have used actual wrapping stuff, but since they were only going to be wrapped for about 15 minutes, I used fabric scraps, old receiving blankets, and a couple of shopping bags.  Miraculously they coordinated, even though I wasn’t trying.  :)

I picked out three things of my stash that were intended for James, and I let the girls each choose one they wanted to be from them to him.  Natalie chose to give him these blocks (which really are more for her right now than him anyway).

Yum!

Joanna picked out the Thomas train set with a giraffe.

He got a set of train track pieces to extend his set from Matt and me.  A good haul!

(I think these next couple may be the only pics I’ve posted with my new camera taken with the flash!  It was just too dark and there was too much movement to do without!)

He got lots of birthday phone calls – here he is on the phone with Auntie Kathryn.  He’s so fun to talk to on the phone!

I didn’t take pictures, but he also got his box from Andy and Christiana in the mail that day (with trucks!), and a birthday card from Uncle Mike and Aunt Heidi.  He definitely felt special and loved on his birthday!  Thank you all wonderful friends and family for loving on our sweet boy!