Photo Booth Fun

Yesterday Marley was fooling around with Photo Booth on my iPad.  We sure got some laughs at the pictures she took of herself.

She probably won't be happy seeing them on a scrapbook page, but my motto is, If you take it, I will scrapbook it.  LOL!

Mystery Puzzle

Yesterday afternoon I thought it would be fun for us to do a puzzle, one that we had never done before. Marley wasn't feeling well and this would be something quiet that we could do. I knew we had some old puzzles in the cellar, so Marley and I went hunting for one. We found one that my mother-in-law had given me years ago. She knew that I loved mysteries and cats, and this puzzle was a mystery puzzle with cats. How perfect. Except that I never put it together. The box wasn't even opened! It was called Feline Frenzy by bePuzzled. There was a small booklet that told the story of the mystery, then you had to put the puzzle together to solve the crime.

Marley and I started out doing it, but Kristen couldn't help but get involved. We actually worked on it for about 3 hours. The frustrating thing about this puzzle is that the puzzle image is not the image on the box cover, so you have nothing to go by to put the puzzle together! We had a lot of fun doing it, but didn't finish it.

Early this morning Kristen called to say that Marley still wasn't feeling well and she didn't think she should go to school; could she stay with me for half a day. After she came, we put an American Girl movie on and then set out to finish the puzzle. Even Paul got involved today!

By the time Kristen came to pick Marley up, it was all finished! Once you finished the puzzle, you were supposed to guess "who done it" and then check in the little booklet. The answer was written backwards and you had to hold it up to a mirror to read the whole explanation.



It was so much fun, that we ordered another bePuzzled puzzle on the Internet. This one is called Murder on the Titanic, and it is twice as big. Can't wait to start that!

Oh, by the way, Paul put the Christmas tree away today. What? It's only March 5th!



Maybe next year we can be normal!

The Gospel According to Scrooge

Tonight Paul, Marley and I went to Evangel Assembly in Wilbraham to see the performance of The Gospel According to Scrooge. Oh my goodness it was wonderful. I don't know what I was expecting, but it exceeded anything I thought it would be. The acting and singing was all so professional! We were talking to some people we know from the church that were in it afterwards and they said that they start practicing in March for this (this is at least the second year that they have done this).

What a fun night! I hope they do this again next year.

If you get a chance, it is so worth it to go see it. They are doing it twice this Saturday and once on Sunday (click above on The Gospel According to Scrooge).

Winter Festival at Coburn School

Tonight we went to the Winter Festival at Marley's school. This is a yearly tradition at Coburn. The whole first floor turns into craft tables manned by teachers with cute Christmas type crafts that the kids can make, the cafeteria sells hot dogs and nachos, there is a raffle and some other game type things. It is very crowded, very hectic, but the kids love it.

This year we had two surprises: Uncle Mark and Mason went with us, and the band and chorus performed.

The picture above shows the kids in Marley's class doing something "winter-ish." Marley is ice fishing (not sure why she has no feet!).

This was the cookie frosting table.



Marley made one for Mason too!



Paul can sniff out a hot dog a mile away.



Here is the band coming out to get into position. This is Marley's first year in the band. She plays the trumpet.





The 4th and 5th grade band. Can you spot Marley? (She is in the back row).



This band concert reminded me of the first band concert that Kristen was in, in the 5the grade. I remember it so clearly. It was in the cafeteria during the afternoon. When all the parents were settled, the band teacher came marching out playing some kind of instrument, with all of the 5th graders marching behind her playing their instruments. I remember having a really hard time not laughing out loud. It was hysterical. The teacher looked like the pide piper with all of the kids behind her. They had probably only been playing their instruments for a month or two and they were just awful. So, I said to Kristen after the concert was over that I thought they did better than Kristen's first band concert. She said, "Well they didn't have to march. It was the whole marching thing as we were playing that made it so hard." She's probably right!

Here Marley is showing Uncle Mark all of the kids in her class.



Making a bracelet.



Toby found Marley's handprint on the ceiling. We have been looking for it every time we come to her school for something. The handprints are of those children receiving a golden ticket. Golden tickets are recognition from the school for doing something noteworthy. She has received a few of them over the years.



You can see a bunch of them on the ceiling in this picture. They are all over the first floor.



Kris, Toby, and Marley (with her candy cane reindeer that she had just made).



Afterwards we all went out for sundaes. I was a little sad thinking this would be Marley's last Winter Festival at Coburn, but as Toby said, there will be new things to replace it. He's right.

Shazam

Kristen told me about a fun app for the iPhone called Shazam. It can identify music playing and give you the name of the song, and sometimes the lyrics. You can also download the song from iTunes. We went for a ride to Vermont today and I had fun playing with it. This song was Beauty is Only Skin Deep by the Temptations. So cool!

Young @ Heart at the Paramount

Tonight Paul, Leslee (a friend from work) and I went to see Young at Heart at the Paramount in Springfield. Leslee grew up in Springfield and used to go to the Paramount Theater as a child but hadn't been in the theater in years. She read an article in the Sunday paper about a group that was going to be there and wanted to know if Paul and I might want to go with her. I had never heard of the group and was surprised to learn that they were all pretty old, 73-89! They were wonderful; talented, funny, full of spunk and so inspiring.

I had never been in the Paramount Theater before, and from the outside it looks awful, like some kind of dive. The inside was absolutely beautiful, very ornate. Leslee said it was just like she remembered it.

What a fun night!

362/365 - Wii family

Kris, Toby and Marley got a Wii for Christmas. You can customize your character (hair, eyes, nose, glasses, etc.) From left to right are Paul, Deb, Kris, Marley and Toby. We still have to get Mark and Janelle done. I never thought I would be interested in playing anything on the Wii but I loved it. Tonight we went to Kris and Toby's and played Wii Fit Plus. Who knew exercising could be so much fun.

355/365 - Winter Solstice at Amelia Park

Tonight Paul and I took Marley to Amelia Park. Santa was there and also they were celebrating the Winter Solstice. Today is the shortest day/longest night. Tomorrow the days start getting longer. Hurray!


For the winter solstice celebration they had Father Winter, North Wind, and Jack Frost and the winter fairies that lead a parade of sorts down to a big bonfire.




It was freezing, probably one of our coldest nights, but we came prepared. Marley had her snowsuit on and loved playing in the snow. It's amazing how fast kids make friends. Marley and this little girl played for the longest time in the snow.

345/365 - Marley's gingerbread house

Tonight Marley brought over her gingerbread house that she made in school. She said it was a church (note Hershey's kiss on the top for the steeple). For years Toby's mother, Barb, has been making gingerbread houses with Marley and her cousins Tyler and Zachary. It wasn't going to work out this year and I was feeling a little bad because I know how much Marley loves doing it. I was so happy to see the gingerbread house from school.

This is her gingerbread house in 2004!

18/365 - Sunday afternoon Scrabble

The kids have started playing Scrabble on Sunday afternoons (with football on in the background, of course). Toby majored in linguistics in college, so the aim of the game is to beat him. Mark should win on just competiveness alone. Janelle seems to enjoy it, but Kristen just goes along for ride I think.