The Final Concert

Whew, these posts have got me feeling all nostalgic! I almost missed it, too, in the rush of "finishing things." Sometimes checking commitments off my list needs to be second, and recognizing when something important is ending needs to be first. I almost missed it, but our choir director and my NGF caught it, and helped me look again.

So, as our family's participation in homeschool choir reaches completion . . . what has this unexpected activity provided for our kids while they were growing up? Well, first off, it gave the girls opportunities to audition and perform duets and solos--increasing their confidence and helping them recognize they can do hard things (that many people can't).

Not only did they give concerts (in a variety of locations) for their families and friends, but they sang for residents in nursing homes, fans at baseball games, history-lovers at a museum, and shoppers at a mall :) Community involvement and betterment is worthy of their time and talents!

Although I didn't get a pic of the four of them every choir semester, it's amazing how much these four grew in stature and confidence and friendship over the past eight years.

2016

2018 Spring

2018 Winter

2019

2021

2022

2023

Friendship with each other and with "the boyz" :) I couldn't ask for a better group of guys for our boys to grow up with! Choir helped form, maintain, and strengthen those friendships.

2016

(tan sweater is R, G$ looking at camera, Chase right behind him, Brennen red shirt)

2019

(Idk where Chase is, but R and Brennen are second row, G$ blonde in front)

2021 Spring

2021 Winter

(plus C)

2023

Uncle Chase and nephew R completed their senior choir year last weekend. Our boys don't plan to continue singing without their friends . . . plus have jobs and college classes and football coming up to demand their time. But we're thankful that they have all these shared memories (and loads more that I don't have pictures of) of choir to enjoy--and I find it hard to believe that they won't find some way to be musical together in the future :) Chase snakecharming at the wedding with his cello was mentioned as an entertainment option . . . but I hear his snakes escaped, so shucks, I guess that plan won't work! :)

So, I knew that this was their last choir concert together but didn't let that info go past my brain to my heart. Unexpectedly, on the last song of the evening, the main choir director invited any alumni who knew the farewell song to come re-join the choir. Gabby's friend Faith (who just arrived home from college that day) grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. Caelan, sitting next to me in the back, said, "I'll only go if Gabby goes . . . ope, there Gabby goes!" I don't know how to describe the emotion that hit me in that moment, with all four of my *kids* unexpectedly singing together, again. And then to throw in childhood friends! It was a blessing I didn't expect and a moment I didn't know I wanted, but I loved it! Absolutely loved it!

And here, I'm at the end of the concert, at the end of eight years of homeschool choir, and I haven't even started talking about the spring concert itself!

Brennen was scheduled for work during the concert (even though he asked for the day off), then got his schedule changed to before the concert (but that was when rehearsal was), so got it moved a third time to the morning. I ended up driving Graysen to practice at the concert venue, and decided to stay, so I got to hear the songs more than once :) They had a nearly nine-minute long selection from Phantom of the Opera, but I'll share video (if it's not too long) of the actual concert, because the boys' choir director added in the church's organ--and it was a very goosebump-raising combo! I had to smile when I found out they were also singing Bridge over Troubled Water . . . the song my high school class sang at our baccalaureate. I told Graysen their choir's version blew ours clean out of the troubled waters. Why the faculty at my school encouraged a bunch of non-musical, mostly athletes to sing--I'll never know, ha! Chase had a solo, R had a solo, and all the guys sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight which earned a raucous response from the crowd! Proud to Be an American was also in the line-up; that song gets me teary-eyed every time. So, such a special night! The (near) conclusion to a unique experience. I'm so thankful we didn't miss it ❤

The girls are on the far left for the finale, do you see them? The choir has certainly grown from when we first began :)

Two years ago, the spring choir concert was the place Chase and Gabby told each other they liked each other for the first time. For about a year, it became the only place they could see each other after that, but they were determined to keep in touch, hoping that moments like this would be part of their future story.

Football friends (one of which works for family) showed up at the choir concert making the small world of homeschooling seem even smaller :)

Good guys, good friends, good times! Videos to follow . . .

Spring Concert Snippets

Bonus Post

I really had no plans to post these pictures, but they all landed together in my organizational file, and I thought they told a story.

Not too long ago, my cousin posted this picture of my Grandpa fishing--he loved fishing! He passed away before Graysen was born, but was expected, so technically they lived part of the same year. Graysen loves fishing. In fact, on a day when he and Brennen and their friends spent most of the day at the lake--Graysen was the only one to reel in a catch. I guess I never made the connection before, until I saw the two photos next to each other--two fishermen. That is pretty special to me!

My brother-in-law recently sent me a video. Initially I was confused about what it was, so I asked Buck to watch it. He immediately knew, "That's our old street and our old house." Whoa! I watched it back again and sure enough, the "Chocolate House" is sporting a new look after *our mark* lasted 15 years of its 143-year history. At first I was a little sad, but then I realized it actually looks pretty cute! And as my brother-in-law pointed out, that expanded porch will be amazing for watching all the parades that meander by throughout the year :) I also watch a lot of HGTV, and I recognize that owners taking pride in the home and updating it, making their own changes, well, those things preserve the longevity of the building. From the original rough-hewn, axe-marked floor joists to the new gray shingles on the roof, this house--filled with sweet memories--may still be around when our kids want to show our grandkids where they grew up. Here's to another 143 years, little Chocolate-into-Craftsman house!

I've got the lyrics to a country song in my head, "Life's about changing, nothing ever stays the same." But even in the changes, there are still glimmers of what was established long ago . . . like a love of fishing shared between a great-grandpa and great-grandson who never met, and a century-old porch door welcoming its family home.

Puppies

Well, it's official--Olive is expecting! Only three puppies, but the breeders are happy with that for her first litter. Olive was not thrilled about the ultrasound process, but it's amazing how her appetite improved after that appointment, wowza! From leaving meals behind, to asking for them many times a day--clearly the ultrasound is proving true :)

After her appointment, we made arrangements to spend some time at the home where she will have and raise her puppies for the first six weeks. In fact, she'll be there most of the summer when you tack on our family vacation! So, the breeders thought it was important that she meet the other mama dog with whom she'll be sharing space for much of that time. Of course, the two ladies hit it off with no problems whatsoever--and they really liked the bonus treats they got for being preggers :)

I learned more about Olive's history (what this couple can remember about genetics and background and personality and outcome is remarkable!) Even though their dogs are exclusively for service dog training and placement, it is really hard to be granted breeding rights in the U.S. (from other breeders). Apparently, they are concerned about "competition" for puppy sales. So, for Olive's maternal line, she's Serbian! Her mom was imported from that country several years ago. I think Olive and her trio of siblings are the only litter her mom had (?) But Olive has proven she can carry puppies, so she will likely have another batch next year--but they plan to not do all the surgery and recovery and awfulness that this round brought with it. Blech. 

There is a chance though, that only three will mean bigger puppies and possibly no labor trigger, so Olive may be recovering from a c-section while she's nursing. I'm not sure how that works with the cone and all that, but I guess we'll see!

Right now, we're hoping to get her trained on the underground fence, so we don't have to take her on leash for every single backyard potty break. She's healed up and it won't hurt the puppies, so as soon as it stops raining and Caelan is available again, lessons shall resume!

In the meantime, she is my pale shadow--following me from room to room, sleeping noisily beside my side of the bed, constantly on alert that I might be going somewhere without her. And yet, she refuses to get her picture taken. I've never seen a dog so camera shy! Especially if she can see herself on the screen :) She actually turned her back on me and went and laid down across the room when I was working on her Mother's Day puppy announcement. Moody mama, I guess!

"Stop taking pictures and bring me the treats."

Here Comes the Bride

Noah's mom and Aunt K asked me about a bridal shower for Caelan, so I decided to ask Caelan what she thought. "What's a bridal shower?" was her response. Being the first in her crowd to experience the wedding traditions, I explained, "Well, it's when you invite your closest friends and family and you have a girly couple of hours eating cute food and dressing up a little and opening presents." She immediately said, "Yes, I want a bridal shower!" Ha! 

She attended Aunt K's luau a couple years ago, but didn't realize that was a shower, given the presence of the guys and the large scale of the event. Actually, several of the younger girls who were invited this weekend had never attended a bridal shower either, and asked their moms, "What will we do there? What happens during a bridal shower?" A bit of tradition training for the next round of future brides . . . including the pastor (who will perform the marriage ceremony for Caelan and Noah)'s three-year-old, who decided she wants a bridal shower now, because she wants some mixing bowls, too! Lol! Too cute!

The day before the shower, my friend Sydney brought her two little girls over to help me food prep. My goal was to have some cream cheese mint making assistance. Her 2.5-year-old selected the colors for the mints and with her 9-mo.-old strapped to her front, Syd flew through the mint making (once we got the powdered sugar ratio figured out :) I was super grateful for her help! I spent most of the rest of the day washing fruit, cutting ham, pickles, and cheese, and making indoors smores (don't stack them, marshmallow creme melts--even in the fridge :)

On bridal shower morning, I continued loading up the necessities while Caelan worked on the flower arrangements she'd planned. Once everything was ready, we packed ourselves into the van and drove out to the Acres. To our surprise, Noah's mom and sisters were already there setting up the welcome table! To my even bigger surprise, K had transformed her house into a pretty, pink, shimmery bridal shower venue :) It was lovely!

My helpers started arriving just after noon, including Gabby who made the prettiest sign for photos with the bride-to-be! My hope is to print individual pics to include in thank you notes for those who attended, a little keepsake :) 

Syd and Jo worked on my million kebob ideas--fruit kebobs, Cuban sandwich kebobs, Caprese salad kebobs . . . and then my twin cousins arrived with a box of homemade lemon, chocolate, and carrot cupcakes wrapped in pretty floral paper holders. K found rose gold cupcake toppers, so Linda added those as she arranged the sweets on the counter. K made fancy egg salad and turkey sandwiches and a beautiful veggie tray--everything was just so colorful and special!

When all the guests arrived, K took the lead and welcomed everyone then led us in prayer for the event and for the food. Time flew by so quickly, Noah's mom looked at me and said, "We should probably start the games!" One game was to guess how many kisses were in a jar, the winner got lots of kisses (the chocolate kind :) Another had each guest pick up a jeweled toy ring. If they caught anyone saying "wedding" or "bride" they could claim the sayer's ring. The person with the most rings at the end of the game, won a prize! The little girls loved this game :) My NGF's littlest came up to me and said, "What does that thing Caelan is wearing say on it?" I caught on to her plan and said, "Something about 'to be'." I got a groan and then laughed and gave up my ring anyway :) 

Another game was a list of questions about how well everyone knew Caelan . . . one of the questions was, "When is the wedding?" Caelan read this aloud, and then a little girl came up afterwards, stuck out her hand, and said, "You said wedding." Ha! We later got a picture of our pastor's daughter with five rings on each finger of each hand and the caption, "Came home from the bridal shower looking like Tom Brady, over here!" Too cute! (Also, we, as a family, agreed that Caelan got a few of the questions about herself wrong; as did Noah who, later that evening, awarded himself bonus points when Caelan figured out he was correct about a numerical answer that she for sure got wrong--no surprise there; Noah knows numbers! :)

Where did Noah propose? "Was it on one knee???" my cousin, Laura asked. "Possibly in the woods or near an open field?" Linda grabbed her paper and said, "I'm crossing that off, those are two completely different places." Those girls make me giggle!

Gift opening happened next, with the little girls taking turns handing Caelan presents. Gabby wrote down the names of the givers and what Caelan received. My NGF's youngest absolutely loves to organize anything and everything, so she put herself in charge of stacking all of the opened gifts neatly in the corner. So helpful!

Beautiful presentation, as always, by my NGF :)

My gift to Caelan was a complete Narnia box set of books and a few of her Princess favorites from childhood . . . it's time to start building her own library 💕

Noah's mom told his dad to pick out something manly from the gift registry as his gift to Caelan at the shower . . . he picked this meat tenderizer (Noah uses ours ALL the time when he's cooking :) A friend captured this picture of Caelan looking like she's got a Marvel movie prop in her hand, lol!

Caelan received so many beautiful and practical gifts! She told me afterwards that she was a little overwhelmed by it--people's generosity in helping them gather the things they need to start filling their future apartment; things to cook food in and then wash the dishes up afterwards, basics! One of the guests, fondly known as Dodo (because she's a one-of-a-kind grandma to her grandkiddos), told Caelan that after she shopped for Caelan off the registry, she was so impressed with Caelan's selections that she did some shopping for herself, too! Love it :)

Throughout the shower, guests had an opportunity to add a line of prayer to a "prayer board" idea I had. You know how someone starts a story and then the next person adds a line, and then at the end you read the words altogether and see where the story goes? But how cool to have a prayer, written by your family and friends, at the beginning of your marriage that you can read over and over as the years go by? So, that's what everyone did (in lieu of a guestbook) . . . they asked God for blessings over Caelan and Noah, and at the end of the bridal shower, we bowed our heads in prayer and I read their words over the bride-to-be. It turned out beautifully!

As guests prepared to leave, we took some last-minute frame photos and the little girls gleefully stuffed their bags with rings and jeweled pens :) Our clean-up crew was quick, especially when my brother and M returned home and could move tables and chairs and heavy boxes of gifts (more my brother than the five-year-old on those tasks ;) The van was bursting with boxes and gifts and leftovers! K sent home the remaining delicious sandwiches she'd made for the party . . . and Graysen ate two bags of them and the rest of the fruit kebobs before Caelan and I got the kitchen put back together at home. The remaining large bag of sandwiches disappeared when Buck and Brennen arrived home from work--and they won't know until they read this that those were the gluten free ones! I still have some mints left, and my out-of-state friends have requested I freeze these and save them for this summer when they all arrive for the wedding (I should really go do that!)

We missed the grandmas and our relatives who couldn't be there for the shower, but we know they were thinking about Caelan and her special day, and she has reminders of their love stacked up in the classroom right now :) Here are a couple of videos of grandma gift openings . . .

I'm not sure why that second video cuts out before the actual opening, but it's the cute blue bowls in the picture above :) Also, it's the only video I have that sweeps the crowd, so you can see the room and who all was there!

When we arrived home, Caelan found this sweet treat at her place at the table--a bridal shower gift from Brennen. Awwww!!! 😍