Marie and Tori

April 1, 2019 | Stacy

I learned my lesson by from not taking enough still images yesterday. OY.

Marie and I left for Toronto around 10:30AM. The drive was a little stressful and there was snow…

We were on the “14th” floor of the hotel. The room was lovely – no photos – oy.
We did get to use the hot tub.

We did a little walking around and it was cold. And there wasn’t really anything open in the “entertainment district” for us to do, so we watched HGTV and chilled in the room and went out again at dinner time.

I’d found somewhere to eat just across the street from the Roy Thomson Hall where Tori Kelly would be singing later.

Marie had fish tacos and I had a mushroom and beef pot pie. I was definitely doing the Brit thing. It was delicious.

We ate this desert which they called Big Ben and we called amazing.

Tori Kelly has the voice of an angel.

We are in the nosebleed seats… But it was still great.

Marie and Tori

April 1, 2019April 6, 2019 | Stacy

I learned my lesson by from not taking enough still images yesterday. OY.

Marie and I left for Toronto around 10:30AM. The drive was a little stressful and there was snow…

We were on the “14th” floor of the hotel. The room was lovely – no photos – oy.
We did get to use the hot tub.

I’d found somewhere to eat just across the street from the Roy Thomson Hall where Tori Kelly would be singing later.

Marie had fish tacos and I had a mushroom and beef pot pie. I was definitely doing the Brit thing. It was delicious.

We ate this desert which they called Big Ben and we called amazing.

Tori Kelly has the voice of an angel.

We are in the nosebleed seats… But it was still great.

It’s been Wonky

March 25, 2019 | Stacy

It was the fifth year that I worked on the cast party for the Finney Show, and the third year I worked with my friend Julie.
Pinterest had a kajillion ideas for the Wonka theme and it was a matter of reigning it in.

For the first time, both our husbands stayed to help decorate, and it was a very good thing that they did. It took the four of us AND another four helping adults to get the room decorated in time.

Anything super and creative is from Julie. I just bought some things from Amazon.

(Oh – I made the candy doo-dads hanging from the ceiling and the lollypops on the wall.)

willy wonka

March 24, 2019April 5, 2019 | Stacy

I’ll back track just a bit into March so that I can properly highlight the kids’ experiences with Willy Wonka at the Charles Finney school this spring.

Nigel played Mr. Salt, the father of Veruca Salt, the girl who always got what she wanted.

It just so happened that the young lady who played Veruca is the niece of my friend and co-worker, Myrna. Small world. Smile

Marie and Tabitha had roles as dancing cooks and squirrels.

They were supposed to have these silly, snooty, “French” looks on their faces.

They were so funny.

Stewart did not have an on-stage role this year. He was hired to help with audio. He did an outstanding job.

And he didn’t have to wear make-up. Winking smile

willy wonka

March 24, 2019April 5, 2019 | Stacy

I’ll back track just a bit into March so that I can properly highlight the kids’ experiences with Willy Wonka at the Charles Finney school this spring.

Nigel played Mr. Salt, the father of Veruca Salt, the girl who always got what she wanted.

It just so happened that the young lady who played Veruca is the niece of my friend and co-worker, Myrna. Small world. Smile

Marie and Tabitha had roles as dancing cooks and squirrels.

They were supposed to have these silly, snooty, “French” looks on their faces.

They were so funny.

Stewart did not have an on-stage role this year. He was hired to help with audio. He did an outstanding job.

And he didn’t have to wear make-up. Winking smile

Families that Play together.

February 19, 2019February 24, 2019 | Stacy

John, Marie, and I had a game of Scrabble.

Needless to say, I did not win.

A Picnic

January 4, 2019February 24, 2019 | Stacy

January is a tough month.

It requires some special creativity. So we had goldfish crackers and seltzer water… in China.

George Eastman House 2018

December 12, 2018 | Stacy

In looking through this blog, I came upon this entry from 2011.

See Johanna in the stroller? Yeah, that was the last time we had been to the George Eastman house for any reason, least of all the Gingerbread display.

So after CBS we regrouped a bit at home and headed over to see the Gingerbread Display.

We did the scavenger hunt. At first we were sort of laid back about it, then we all got into it and started to really put forth effort to figure it out.

What a difference 100 years makes. Not to mention extraordinary wealth…

She was both pleased and horrified by the animal heads.

Katriel wanted to take a picture of me. At first I balked. I am sleep deprived and underwhelmed by my appearance. Then I thought, “Why, YES! Do take my photo with my family.” Sometimes doing life tired is beautiful. Rest is good – very good. But sometimes digging into reserves to give more is a gift you can give.

So glad we went; it was the last day of the exhibit for another year!

Youth Group Christmas Party

December 9, 2018 | Stacy

It was a really busy day. But there was no better way to end it than to celebrate the season with a Christmas party for the youth group. We’d spent the fall walking through Jesus’ early ministry and the book of John and this time was set aside to be silly together.

The theme of the annual Youth Group Christmas Party was Your Favorite Movie or Song. Despite the fact we’d had weeks to prepare it was in the last few minutes before the party that we threw together costumes.

As the minutes ticked by, we came up with these:

Tab was Max from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

I was a Who from the same movie.

Marie was the mouse that the Grinch didn’t leave enough crumbs for.

Nigel paid homage to his Grinchy friend.

I wasn’t the only Who.

Our friend Megan created this beautiful set of wings and wore bells in tribute to It’s a Wonderful Life.

We played a bunch of games and ate like junk food kings.

Marie: Retro

December 8, 2018 | Stacy

Marie was invited to a sock-hop style birthday party. We found this not-so-poodle poodle skirt on Craigslist, and the collared top at Goodwill. A red scarf from our pirate gear, and off she went.