What's old is new again

Bri got a record player for her birthday. Everything old is new again! She only has a few records to play, so I popped by the thrift store and picked up these for 50 cents each!

Crescendo

Over the weekend, my niece Brianna hosted this event, Crescendo.

I organized the silent auction prizes.

It was very well done and well attended - just a night of sharing talent and listening to good music, all for a great cause.

Selfie time! Me and the hubs sang a song together (him on guitar) and he accompanied Bri for one song (on piano).

I supervised this hooligan, who is hoping to make her stage debut soon - ha!

Here we are with the lady of the hour. It was a really great event!

Candy Basket

This weekend, my niece is having a fundraiser called Crescendo. It's on honour of her piano teacher, who passed away from cancer. She'll be doing some classical piano pieces, and her friends will do some musical theatre songs. And me and my hubs are going to do a tune on the piano.

I made a few baskets up and collected some items for a small silent auction. I found this idea on Pinterest - a candy basket. It's FILLED with CANDY and might not make it out of my house...!!

Christmas 2016

Our first one without Pa. We smiled, laughed, sang, and lifted a glass for him.

The kids are growing up!

But they still love to tear into their gifts.

Me and mumsie.

Slippers from my sis!

My other sis wanted the ones with glasses so I got - different slippers from my sis!

Dessert. I will look longingly at this picture once my tummy stops aching.

Noah got some cyber glasses games thingy? I dunno what it is, but he had hours of fun with it.

Merry Christmas all!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! We spent Christmas day at my sister's house. There was lots of food (again), booze (again), presents, and lost of music! My hubby was on the piano playing and singing for us for almost 3 hours! Merry Christmas all!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house. There was lots of food, booze, and fun. Oh, and lots of pictures with these crazy kids:

Last day of Summer

Well, not really, fall officially starts on September 21. But it's the last day before school starts. We went back to the PNE for CORN! And other things, but mostly for corn. It was a nice time out before the back to school madness starts again.

Here's Noah, going into Grade 4!

And Leyna, going into Grade 1!

I didn't get a pic of Bri, but here's a late post from opening night of Hairspray. She's the youngest AND the tallest - going into Grade 10!

Did you have an awesome summer? I hope so!

Hairspray at TUTS

It's time to tell you about my new show - Hairspray at TUTS! I spent a lot of time there last summer, volunteering in their museum. The last time I was on stage was in How To Succeed, which was a blast.    This year in Hairspray I am playing one of the Dynamites. They're like the Supremes, so I'll be doing my best to channel Diana Ross and the gals all summer. Aren't they cool??

And another bonus - my hubby is in this show too. He's MD'ing AND playing Corny Collins. Oh, AND my niece Brianna is in it too, so I get to bug her all summer!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving long weekend and I stuffed myself! I am thankful for my nieces and nephew, here they are playing some kind of Dance Party game on the Wii.

They tired themselves out, clearly. And I'm not sure why Noah looks so serious, he's usually off-the-wall happy! Must be the turkey weighing him down.

And here's Leyna, wearing one of my hats:

Lots to be thankful for!

PNE visit

Summer just wouldn't be complete without a trip to the PNE.

This year we checked out the mini chuck wagon races. Look at 'em go!

And I ate. A lot. Including this rotato! It was more chip-like, not as potato-like as the one at the night market. But still delish.

Noah made me play some games with him. Or rather, pay for him to play games. He won this turtle on the water shooting game and he was so, so, SO happy!

We also went to see my niece Brianna perform with Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance - it's the organization's 20th year anniversary!

Here I am with the superstar.

And this other superstar, my niece Leyna.

I didn't get to do a lot of things, like visit the Game of Thrones exhibit or see Knit Social's yarn bombing display or stay to watch one of the summer nights concerts. Oh summer, where did you go?!

Stay-cation activities: Yarn cleanup

Last week my niece Bri came over to help me clean out my yarn stash. This was WAY overdue. Doesn't she look happy?? We pulled out all the bags and boxes of yarn and unfinished projects. This isn't ALL of it, but it's about 90%.

Bri on a phone break. Progress! We can see the floor again!

We packaged most things into project bags and "like" yarn. It's way more organized, that's for sure!

Two bags of yarn to donate, and two bags of clothes to donate (I tackled my closed the day before).

That's one giant vacuum bag full of yarn, and one plastic container of organized supplies and smaller balls of yarn. Feels GREAT to be so organized, let's hope I can stay organized, at least for a little while.

Plarn bag

Check out this awesome bag that my niece Brianna crocheted! She had to do a project of school using recycled materials. I suggested making yarn out of plastic bags and crocheting something, since she already knows how to crochet. This took 25 plastic bags - I think it looks awesome!

Office help

My niece Bri came to help me in my office yesterday!

She had some service hours to put in for school, plus a Pro-D day, so I put her straight to work.

Look how intense she is!

She didn't appreciate the photo interruptions.

But I thanked her with A&W!