Cafe Night

Just over a week ago, our chorus had an awesome fundraiser. We are having a banquet in April and needed funds for it. Last year, we had a Cafe Night in order to raise money for a Spring Tour, so we thought we'd try it again. It was fun for members to perform and serve friends and family.

The theme this year was Broadway and it turned out amazingly well. Praise the Lord that everyone helped out a ton and practiced hard in order to produce a successful night!

 

Singing "When You Believe" with Kristiana.

Benjamin and Bradley were acting as Pharaoh and Moses =)

Chamber singing "Pick a Little, Talk a Little"

These are the songs that my sisters and I were apart of:

"When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt (We sang this with Kristiana. Thanks again for singing with us!!!)
"Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun (with several friends, altos vs. sopranos)
"Pick a Little, Talk a Little" from The Music Man
"So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music

There were many other wonderful songs that were sung, but I won't list them all. =) I really enjoyed the surprise the moms gave us! They sang "Mother Knows Best" from Tangled. It was hilarious. I'm amazed that they managed to keep it a secret from their kids until that night! It was worth it. Thanks, Momma, for all your hard work and lost sleep. Here are just a few of the many tables my mom decorated. I just had to post a few pictures of them. =D

Annie Get Your Gun

Wizard of Oz

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Beauty and the Beast

Peter Pan

The King and I

Thank you to all the friends and family who came out to see our show and support us! And also those who were thinking of us. We really appreciate it.

~Paige

P.S. Michelle took the pictures in this post.

A Wonderful Wedding

Praise the Lord we are all well right now, except for cedar fever. Usually, we are all sick with something in January. Last year it was pneumonia and the year before it was the flu. It's nice to be well for a change.

So, I have decided to stop procrastinating and post about a notable event that just occurred. My friend was married on December 31st...almost three weeks ago! After a two-year courtship, she finally tied the knot. I am so happy for her. I know, I have been meaning to post about it, but things have been a little busy around here. =)

Five bridesmaids and one flower girl

The wedding party

The bride and groom and the bride's siblings

The bride and groom and the bride's family

The groom's firefighter cake!

The bride's beautiful cake

I had the privilege of being her maid of honor...something I've never done before. It was a lot of fun doing nails and having our hair done by two talented friends of the family. They did a great job doing seven girls' hair in roughly three hours. It was amazing. They learned how to create these styles on a really cool blog: rapunzelsresource.wordpress.com. We have enjoyed trying some styles out too.

My hair at the wedding

My sister Michelle did this neat updo for me!

Thanks Michelle!

And the Bride was absolutely gorgeous. Her mother made the wedding dress and sewed tiny beads all over it. It was beautiful and so was she. I'm thankful that I was able to be a part of this wonderful day in their lives. I pray that their new life together will be devoted to serving God and each other.

Note: Michelle took all of the photos in this post! Thanks Michelle! =)

An Awesome Birthday!

Wednesday, the day before my eighteenth birthday, I took my driver's license test. I had been waiting for this day for a long time! My dad and I spent most of the day waiting in line and filling out paperwork. Boring. But our patience paid off. At three o'clock that afternoon, I took my driving test...and passed! Yea!!! Praise the Lord!

I was somewhat nervous about taking it after hearing that both my mom and dad failed on their first try. But Daddy was an awesome instructor and I had almost two years of practice with my learner's permit. In my parents' defense, they didn't have the advantage of the extra practice time.

It was a wonderful birthday present! My siblings have been asking me to drive them various places now that I have my license. Benjamin wants me to take him out for ice cream and Grace has asked me to take her shopping and to the library!=)

Right now, I just have a temporary license until the real one comes in the mail. I can't wait!!!

I had a great birthday and I thank the Lord for His blessings and unfailing love.

~Paige

P.S. I forgot to mention that I got to go to the Cheesecake Factory to get cheesecake for my birthday!!!!!!!

Singing!

My sisters and I are a part of Encore Youth Chorus. This is our second year to be in it and it has been awesome! Chamber is a group that you have to audition for. Michelle and I made it in, but the auditions were really tough. This year Chamber has twelve members. It is more rigorous to be in Chamber because there are more songs to learn and more concerts, but it is very rewarding.

This weekend has been full of singing, singing, singing! We sang Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was a lot of fun, but I'm glad to give my voice a break now. =) We sang in Boerne, at the Riverwalk, and a few other places! Here are a few pictures:

Chamber singing at Barnes and Noble for a fundraiser.

 

Encore Youth Chorus, senior choir

Encore Youth Chorus, junior choir

Wearing "Who" hats and singing "Welcome Christmas"!

Our family after the concert on Thursday.

Chamber singing in Boerne.

Chamber

Bridal Shower!

     I know that I haven't been writing as regularly as I should have been. I do have an excuse though. November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. Nonnie, our grandma, told us about it a few months ago. Basically, the contestants have November 1st to November 30th to write a novel. The judges only count the words; they don't care if it makes any sense. However, you are not allowed to write the same word over and over again, though. Bummer, right? Just kidding. For adults, the word count goal is 50,000 words. You are allowed to set your own goal too.
 
    At first, we were somewhat apprehensive about it. I love writing, but I wasn't sure about writing a novel. It seemed like a huge undertaking. But, on November 1st, we decided to take the plunge and just have a go at it. My mom had wanted us to write a novel all together. We did too, but we ran into a slight problem. My brothers started talking about how they wanted ninjas, samarais, and such in the story. Immediately, my sisters and I shot down their ideas. We wanted to write about four sisters who travel to Alaska, but my brothers didn't like our plans any more than we liked theirs. So, we began our own novels. Our family is writing three separate novels right now.  Each one is very unique and interesting.

     So, that is my excuse for not consistently blogging. I've been writing a ton! My sisters and I currently have just over 18,000 words and a week and a half left. We're aiming for at least 25,000 total, but more if we are able to. It has been exciting working together; we each have different ideas which make the story better.

     Anyway, let me get to what I was originally going to write about. I really have been wanting to post about a bridal shower I helped host back in October. My friend is getting married in December and I'm the maid of honor. It has been a totally new experience for me, since I have only been a flower girl in my uncle and aunt's wedding when I was younger. My mom and sisters helped a lot, as well as a bridesmaid who's also in the wedding. It was somewhat stressful getting everything coordinated and prepared, but overall, it went really well. Here are few pictures that my sister, Michelle, took while we were there.

The Bride-to-Be!

Cute placemats my mom made.

Decorations!

The good news is that the bride loved the shower, so that means it was a success! Praise the Lord.

~Paige

P.S. Be sure to check out Michelle's blog. She is planning on posting more pictures of the shower soon.

Redecorated Room!

If you've seen our school room, which is very visible from the front door, you know that it had a very lived-in look.=) The reason I used the past tense is because it has been redecorated! My mom has been wanting to declutter and repaint it for awhile, but never seemed to have the time. So, a few weeks ago, before school started, she asked us if we were willing to help her and we quickly agreed.

Before we could do anything, we had to move everything out of the room. It was a long process. Then we had to find the right color of paint and purchase all the supplies that are necessary for painting. The majority of us desired the room to be yellow. Picking the perfect shade was challenging, to say the least! I'm just going to say that we are gradually adjusting to the brightness.=D So, all of this prep work took about a week to complete.

The actual painting process only took a few days. We couldn't find a single border (apparently, they aren't sold at stores anymore) so my creative mom improvised! She used black magnetic paint for the border. We are going to put pictures and magnets up there. The black border tones down the yellow a bit.=)

We moved some of the furniture back in. Now, our school room is ready for the new school year! It certainly screams "Wake up!" in the morning!

Here is the room before we redecorated. We did have a table and another bookshelf in there too.

Here is the room while we were redecorating it:

Here is the room after we redecorated!

The photos in this post were taken by Michelle.

Another Giveaway!

Here is another chance to receive something free!!! Marie Madeline Studio is giving away a skirt of your choice or a $50 gift card! It's a great opportunity!=) It ends Friday, September 23rd.

Click here to go to the giveaway!

Happy Friday!

~Paige