Hats off to a great evening!

"The hat is the ultimatum moriens of respectability." (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Ollie might have changed his mind if he had been at the AOK party at Ft. Leavenworth tonight. "AOK" stands for "Aussie," "Orange," and "Kiwi," and indeed the Australian, Dutch, and New Zealand officers were our hosts for the evening. As the invitation said, "No hat, no entry. No mug, no beer." No worry--there were hats and mugs a-plenty, but we checked our respectability at the door!

Fred opted to wear his German Volksmarch hat:



I don't get many excuses to wear my Derby hat, so I had no difficulty deciding what to wear:



All other photos are here (you can click on any photo to see it larger in a new tab):

Mike: Gettin' strong!

Mike is continuing this semester with his recently discovered passion for power-lifting. Today he maxed out his squat at 425 pounds!

Annabelle: Party on, dude!

Hooray! Annabelle is on the road to recovery and was able to go to her friend Joe's birthday party tonight:



Two thumbs up for that!

Mike: Roadtrip!

I've living vicariously through Mike right now. While we spent this weekend with temps in the 20s, he and Sarah enjoyed an obviously balmy roadtrip, first to Universal Studios in Orlando:





And then to the beach:



What? Me? JEALOUS???

Annabelle: Get well soon!

Annabelle has had an icky few days. She told me before she left for school on Tuesday that she thought she was coming down with something. Sure enough, well before noon she was texting me to pick her up! She missed the rest of Tuesday and all of yesterday and today. She did manage to drag herself in for play practice yesterday afternoon but not today. Her drama friends made her a get-well card, which made her smile:



Back to school tomorrow (I hope)!

Annabelle and Harvey

Lookit Mike on the teevee!

ESPN's College GameDay was in Tallahassee this morning ahead of the FSU-UNC basketball game. Mike called to ask me to record the show so that he can look for himself when he's home for spring break. Fred and I watched for a bit, and when we saw the camera pan the area where Mike said he was sitting, I hit pause and grabbed my camera:



I don't follow basketball and didn't watch the game, but apparently FSU's victory was quite the big deal. The crowd (including Mike) streamed onto the court after the game:

Band on the run

Annabelle left at the crack of dawn the day after Christmas to join 50-something other members of her high-school band on a marvelous odyssey to Florida. Three theme parks, one parade, and performing in the half-time show at the Champs Bowl (go, 'Noles!), all sandwiched between 2 24-hour bus rides. She had a fabulous time and arrived home Saturday night utterly exhausted.

On Thursday, Fred and Mike and I put on our best FSU finery and went up to the man cave to watch the game on TV:



It's the first time I can remember caring one way or the other about the outcome of a football game. Of course, what I REALLY cared about seeing was the half-time show, but naturally ESPN couldn't be bothered to show that, instead choosing to focus on some bitter old man talking smack about FSU. I've been waiting none too patiently since then for a video clip to come online, and it finally happened today.

If you look at the back of the short line on the left-hand 41-yard-line, you can see the speck that is Annabelle:



The kids were kept busy almost every moment they were in Florida, but Jenny and Jeff managed to surprise Annabelle at supper Friday night before the second 24-hour bus ride:



Annabelle was too tired to stay awake to ring in the new year once she got home, but it was well worth it. She had a blast and made a lifetime of memories!

2011 accomplishments

One of my favorite annual posts is where I gather together all the books I read over the preceding year. I had been in somewhat of a reading slump, so for 2011 one of my resolutions was to read more. I got a Nook for Christmas last year, and that has helped a lot--text as big as I want and pages that turn with the click of a button. I've also started listening to audiobooks on my one-hour commute back and forth to Kansas City 3 days a week. This year's collection:



I started off 2011 hoping to do one Shutterfly photo book per month. This proved to be way too ambitious, but I did get through several. I made 3 family yearbooks, starting with 2010, then 2009, and then 2008. Then I also made smaller albums for our Spring Break trip to Europe and our 2009 trip to Jamaica. My most recent accomplishment is a little book about Annabelle's 2008 summer show Beauty and the Beast:

Click here to view this photo book larger

2011 was also a great year for knitting! I finished my red sweater early on, which gave me a nice start. Then I did a pair of socks for my mom's birthday:



I also made Annabelle a really awesome pair of skull-and-crossbones socks:



And then just today I finished up this scarf:



It's modeled after the one that Dolores Umbridge wore in the last Harry Potter movie:



I used this amazing free pattern.

My one creative disappointment for 2011 is that the blog kind of fell by the wayside. This happened for a variety of reasons--time, energy, etc.--and then once I fell out of the habit, it got easier and easier to put it off. I still do want to go back and put pictures at least in at the proper spots because I do like being able to have speedy access to those.

So for 2012: more reading, more photo books, and more knitting and a new, improved blog. I'll drink to that!

Hark!

Annabelle tried out for and made it into the District Honor Choir. This is a huge accomplishment, as our district is a really competitive one. The concert was this afternoon, and Fred and I were blown away by how good they were. I've spent this evening uploading clips to YouTube so that you can see the whole thing. Annabelle is in the back row, sixth to the right of the REALLY TALL (you'll see what I'm talking about) boy.

"Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal":



"Calm on the Listening Ear of Night":



"The Word Was God":



"Ne Imami Iniya Pomoshchi":



"I'm Running On":

More Godspell!

I've been really busy the past few days, finishing an indexing project and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I've managed though to upload a couple of clips from the show to YouTube. This little non-musical snippet is one of my favorite parts, where you can really see Annabelle hamming it up:



And here are the first 2 musical numbers from the show:



Our poor old video camera, which was such cutting-edge technology 10 years ago, is an absolute dinosaur now, so I borrowed a high-def handycam from a friend to shoot the show. I'm very impressed with the quality of the recording when it's on the computer, but unfortunately when I burn it to DVD, it loses its high-def-ness and looks decidedly meh. I'm thinking there may be a Blu-Ray burner in my not-so-distant future.

As much fun as it is to see the production, it's also fun to watch Annabelle and her friends celebrating after the show. They sure are a loving, happy bunch!

Opening night: Godspell

I've decided the only way to get back into blogging is to just dive in where I'm at. I've spent the past 2 months thinking I would get all caught up, but instead I just get further and further behind. I can't think of a better reason to fire up the ol' blog than opening night of Leavenworth High School's fall musical, Godspell.

Annabelle has been a fan of this show for ages and was very excited to be a part of it. I loved Grease last year, but I have to say, I think this show is even better.

I borrowed a high-def video camera from a friend but I wound up not recording so that I could just sit back and enjoy the show. I found a new (to me) setting on my regular camera and took a few shots in each song. They're not great, but they're better than anything I've ever taken before in that sort of lighting condition, and it'll give Annabelle something to remember the show by.

This is Annabelle being tormented by the Village People:





And as one of a trio of rather freaky angels:



Check out my Flickr account for the rest of tonight's photos:

Veteran's Day

Fun fact: The Leavenworth County Veteran's Day parade is "the oldest Veterans Day observance in the nation and the largest parade west of the Mississippi." Here's the Leavenworth High School marching band participating in this year's parade:



Look for Annabelle and her bari sax!

Central States Marching Festival

Remember how 2007 was the last time Leavenworth High's band scored a 1 at the Washburn competition? Well, today marks the first time since 2004 that they scored a 1 at this festival, held at Kansas State! And nobody knows the last time that they scored 1's at both, but it happened this year!

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:

Capitol City Marching Festival

According to the band director, this was the first time since 2007 that Leavenworth High scored a 1 at this festival, held at Washburn University!

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:

Homecoming 2011

The past 2 weeks were homecoming for the high school. They had a variety of dress-up spirit days. Annabelle participated in a couple of those, such as "generations day," in which juniors dressed as little kids:



And "would you be my friend if I wore this day":



Unfortunately, I didn't get up early and take pictures on "identity theft day," in which she poofed her hair and donned a black blazer and flag pin and went as Sarah Palin. I hear she had some of the teachers in stitches with her spot-on impersonation!

Friday night was the homecoming parade and game. The band performed their show before the game (along with the national anthem and school song) since half-time would be all about the homecoming court. I recorded it with my dinky little camera, but I found a better recording on YouTube (Annabelle starts off on the right-hand 45-yard line, in case you want to try to follow her):



Here's a still shot of part of the band. You can click to make it bigger, the better to see Annabelle standing on the 40-yard line:



Saturday night was all about the dance, which she went to with a group of friends. They met at one friend's house for sparkling cider:



and pictures, first inside:



then outside:



and finally, outside with a touch of crazy:



Then they set off for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant before going to the dance. We picked her up at 11, and she reported that it was a great evening but that her feet were killing her!

Playing tourist

We had a great time this past weekend! My friends Pat and Melissa came up from Texas for a business trip and planned a couple extra days for hanging out with us.

On Sunday we drove over to Kansas City to visit the World War I museum, which was fascinating. The museum itself is underneath the Liberty Memorial:





After we wandered around inside and looked at all the exhibits, we went to the top of the memorial for some really great views of the city:



We thought this was interesting. We drove past it on our way in, and it looked like a stack of random shipping containers. If you look at it kind of squinty though from a distance, it sends a message:



Here we are up at the top, Fred and me:



Pat and Melissa:



After the museum, we went over to Union Station, which you can see just beyond the green lawn in this picture:





Today Melissa and I were able to squeeze in one last lunch together:



We need to not wait 8 years to get together next time!

I've heard of a guard dog before.

But a guard grasshopper?



That's just ridiculous.

Brace yourself!

Braces on:



Braces off:



It's a big day for the Taylor family! I think we've had one kid or the other in some sort of orthodontic treatment for the past 5 years.

Here comes the band!

After many exhausting, painful, and sweaty hours spent at band practice over the past month, Annabelle finally got her first taste of a marching performance and loved it! The band performed for the first time this year at the football game last Friday night.

Here is part of the band lined up for the pre-game show:



This is a close-up of the same view. Annabelle is the one with the big-ass saxophone:



Here's a video of them playing the National Anthem:



Some sky-divers landed before the game, including the LHS mascot, Pioneer Pete:



Annabelle's friends Ben and Edd accompanied us to the game. Ben is also Annabelle's saxophone teacher:



Lined up on the sidelines, waiting for halftime:



And here is the halftime show:



We lost the game, but the consensus among people who know these things was that we did better than expected. Can't wait for the next game!