Remembering to tell you...

pics: 1) Singing "He's a Most Disagreeable Man" at dress rehearsal. 2)Two of Aunt Trina's nieces.

• Erin just posted pictures of "I Remember Mama." (Check out her hats!)

• My feeds finally work on my blog, so if any of you use Bloglines, Google Reader, etc., you'll be able to subscribe.
• I'm on Goodreads now, so friend me if you're there too.
• I didn't get Christmas cards sent, but I'm hoping to get out a card and letter this month. There...I said it, now I have to make it happen.
  
• I hope everyone had a delightful Christmas. Cheers to you all in 2009!

EDIT: I just remembered to tell you that Erin posted a video of herself saying the Lord's Prayer in Norwegian - which all her sisters recited together during the play.

Photo of the Week

Brady, Traci, and I have each decided to post our favorite photo, that we've taken during the week, on each Saturday of this year. Erin has started a new blog called chromatic aberration on which she will post a photo each day. The blog is a two person effort: Erin and another senior girl, Jocelyn -who lives across the country from Erin- will each provide us with a glimpse of their day for the 365 days that make up 2009. Make sure you check out each link.

I took this photo of Traci from my kitchen window as the kids were venturing out for some sledding. Traci lives in the south now and our snow days were a big treat. It was a nice week's visit - a gift for which we're all thankful.

A few of my favorite shots 2008

Skating Day

We gave the kids skates for Christmas, so today they had fun breaking them in. (I skated, too!)
This was the first we've skated in four years (when Grandpa and Aunt Susan were here and shared in the fun).

A favorite Longfellow

The Arrow and The Song

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

I enjoyed a knowing hug from a friend today. It felt just like this -finding the unbroken arrow and hearing the song I'd sung echoed back in perfect harmony. Thank you H.W. and God bless you, dear friend.

Cotton candy dream come true

Erin's BFF is making her way through bright clouds of happiness to our doorstep today. She should be landing at the airport any minute and neighbors of ours, who are arriving home from their Hawaii Christmas, will be meeting her at baggage claim and driving her over the river and through the snowy woods to our home - 'twill be a sweet reunion.

(The above photo comes from Cloud Nine Cotton Candy in Austen, TX - so you Texans, check out their cotton candy party services.)

Here I go again...

'The history book on the shelf
is always repeating itself.'
(from Abba's, "Waterloo")

Erin and I watched the movie, "Mamma Mia" this evening. Afterward, we couldn't help but go to the sing along feature on the DVD.

We had great fun singing the ABBA songs together... "Honey Honey," "Mamma Mia," "Dancing Queen," "The Winner Takes it all." I flashed back to the teenage me singing and dancing (with much enthusiasm) to my Abba albums on our stereo console in our basement. When we sang "Dancing Queen" and came to the words "You are the dancing queen young and sweet, only seventeen" Erin shrieked, "AAck, I have less then two weeks to sing this song!" (She's having a wee little crisis in turning 18 - all kinds of things trigger this kind of panic.) We could barely get through the song, "SOS," because of Pierce Bronson's, ahem, slight struggle. The "Waterloo" reprise was great - Meryl Streep, et al, hamming it up.

Jivin' to Abba, 30 years later, with a super-cool teenage daughter. You just have to smile.