The Princess and the Pauper

Hope had a great time this week at the Community Playhouse taking a 3 day class where they learned about auditions, learning lines, stage changes, costume changes during a play, etc.

At the end of the 3 days, the group put on a play...The Princess and the Pauper.  They did a great job!

Here she is (far left) helping make a stage change during a scene in another section of the stage.

And the final bow!

She had fun and wants to go back and do more classes and maybe even try out for a production.  I know she has plenty of drama in her to do a good job.  LOL!

In other (exciting) news...she found her missing hat!  It has been gone since shortly after we got back from our cruise in September.  It fell under the reclining couch foot stool.  She was jumping up and down because we have been looking everywhere for it.

Keeping it short today...because it is almost party time at our place!

Before the year comes to an end, here are just a few more Christmas cards to share!

Well, be safe tonight!  See you next year!

Darla

Oh Christmas Tree!

Well, I didn't even get photos of Christmas morning posted on Facebook, so here is my update...

Oh, look at these too.  Such cuteness!

Hope's chorus class (and band) had a small concert before the end of the semester.  She is in the white dress, front row (center).

AND..the BIG secret is out.  I was surprised it was not big deal to her.  She handled it very well, (considering the BIG GUY isn't real) and if you are friends with me of FB you might have seen the video.  "Don't Judge Me!".  LOL!

So the elves got to come to Cedar Falls with us in the car.

We had Christmas on the Weber side the week before Christmas.  Grandma Karen with three of her grandkids.

My sister Dawn watched Taylor for us, so when we picked her up Hope got 8 bags of clothes from the twins.  Here she is swimming in all her "new" clothes.

So now that Hope "knows" she helped us find new hiding places for the elves.  I got the night off in the kitchen since I couldn't open either of the main cabinets.  LOL!

And, while we were folding laundry and watching a Christmas movie, Hope said "Look mom, it is like I am a Leg Lamp".  LOL!  Just like from my favorite Christmas movie...A Christmas Story.

Of course, Christmas Eve services at Hope Lutheran Church are always so uplifting and amazing.  The candlelit sanctuary is such an amazing experience.  You can feel the warmth and love of God all around you.

And this is Chippy and Sonia's final location before going home with Santa this year.

And the tree before the chaos began!

Hope had a great Christmas...

...and Taylor too.

Joe got me a wine opener...

... and of course it took me a little while to get to the next gift, because Joe did his typical "gift in a gift" where he wraps up a gift in a box and wraps that up in another box, etc.

So box 1...

...box 2...

...box 3...

...box 4...

...and finally got to my ring.  Joe had my original diamond from my wedding band put into a new setting (because my old one had been repaired too many times to fix any more).  It had been broken for almost a year.  I guess my knuckle decided to grow during that time so I will need to have it re-sized so I can get it on my ring finger.  I love it and very happy to have my wedding ring closer to being able to wear it again.  It gets old having all those guys hitting on me!  LOL!  Just kidding!!!

Joe didn't get much to unwrap because he got a new TV that was already set up in the basement (for now).  So Hope and I got him Hawkeye jello mold for the Rose Bowl.

One of Hope's favorite gifts was a karaoke machine.  She sang on it for hours over the long weekend.

We still have two more Christmas gatherings with my family and with Hope's birth mom.  So more to come.  So, since I have a LOT of Christmas cards I haven't shared yet...here you go!

Have a safe New Year!

Darla

1 week

Can you believe it is only one week until Christmas?  Mr. and Mrs. Chippy Elf are still roaming around the house...let's see what they have been up too!

Must have been trouble in paradise???

I guess they made up!  :)

Oops, got a little tangled up!

Paid a visit to baby Jesus.

And tried to keep Hope from watching too much tv (it didn't work, she snuck the remote out very carefully).

And finally, tried to keep Hope out of the cookies.  They were not successful with that either!

I guess I get one more day before I finish cleaning up after all our baking this week.  Hope and I made goodies for our neighbors and delivered them one evening.

So how many Christmas parties have you been too?  I forgot to share all the fun we had with our first annual "Best Neighborhood EVER Ugly Christmas Sweater" party we had a few weeks ago.  We truly do live in the best neighborhood.  We have a lot of fun together.

We have a group picture too, but I didn't have a copy of it available to share.  

We had a different course of the meal at a different house.  

So we took pictures in front of each tree.

All the food and drinks were fantastic!

This is one of my favorite photos.  It was just a spur of the moment photo, so not everyone is in it, but it captured the fun of the night.  LOL!

Even Taylor got an ugly sweater too.  She obviously was NOT amused.  LOL!

Well, that is enough for tonight...except I will share some Christmas Cheer with some projects and cards.

This was inspired by a project made by someone else (I can't remember her name because she stopped blogging), but I always loved her style.  I have had these papers for years and finally decided to make the projects.  

Until next time...

Darla