Good times at ACS

When I was in high school at ACS, when someone would reminisce about something particularly fun, someone in our group of friends (Ashley) would undoubtedly say, "Good times, good times." Along with "cool beans" (Jill). I don't know, we were teenagers, we thought we were funny...

A couple of weeks ago, ACS held an event that falls into the "good times" category. The spring musical was by far the best production that they have put on thus far. The script and music were appropriately poignant and teaching, but at the same time witty enough to keep your attention.

Here is a synopsis of the musical that I stole from this site: http://www.wordmusic.com/products/book.cfm?upc=080689710179.

"Jailhouse Rock!, an upbeat musical from Celeste Clydesdale, teaches children about our freedom in Christ as believers. The musical opens as the children embark on a fun week of hiking and swimming at Camp Koinonia. But much to their disappointment, when they arrive a torrential downpour leaves them "jailed up" in the mess hall. While the children are inside, the Camp Director and the Junior Counselors teach them about Paul, Silas and Peter's experiences being "locked up," and how prayer and praise makes a difference.

As a bonus, on the performance video, Joni Eareckson Tada shares her testimony and teaches both children and congregation that God has a sovereign plan for each of us. Even though seen or unseen things may confine us, when we are reborn through Christ, we are always free in our hearts.

Filled the variety of music styles you expect from Celeste Clydesdale, Jailhouse Rock! is a musical kids will love as they learn that true freedom comes from being reborn in Christ."

This is one production that lived up to its review!

Can I just say, I consider myself a creative person, not overly creative or an artist, but creative with a healthy dose of practicality, but whoever thought up the PVC pipe camp bus should get parent bonus-points!
Rhian takes her musicals very, very seriously. She practices hard, and she is right on cue for every hand motion...I really should put her in dance...she does so well at Upward cheerleading--but I am just too selfish with our family time to devote that much time and effort to an extracurricular activity. I know, I know, she will probably hate me for it later. I can hear it now, "I could have been a prima ballerina, but my mom was too lazy to take me to lessons..." But that's why I let her do Upward--minimal input, maximum output and fun.

Okay, for as great as her older sister was, Elizabeth seriously stole the show. She was soooo cute! But really, how can she not be? Several people stopped us to compliment us and her with comments like, "There's that little actress--she was so cute!" or "That little one stole the show!" Poor little Rhian may just end up with a complex because everyone compliments Elizabeth all the time--I mean all the time. And trust me, it is starting to get to Liz too--she is by no means humble...
Rhian had a solo. She has the clearest, most beautiful voice, and she has such confidence and volume. Everytime my Grandma Isla hears her sing, she says, "Rhian has the most beautiful tone; you need to get her in singing lessons." If anyone knows, its Grandma Isla.


Elizabeth and her little Pre-K friend were a hoot! He over-exaggerated everything. So funny!



Check out Liz's classmate in this one. That's some over-expression! Hee, hee, haaaa

The older kids are always the backbone of the play. They have the speaking parts and always a treat to watch!

Ha. ha. ha...he. he...

Hee...hee, hee, ha, ha, ha...

I love, love, love these girls. I am so very proud of them! Good times, good times.

5Ks and Kids

I have been running 5Ks lately. Don’t ask me why, because I hate to run…But I really needed to get active again, and my friend (note that when I originally typed the word friend, I left out the “r” and it became “fiend”) Lindsay likes to run, so I am blaming her. And my friend Courtney for making me do that torturous Y-fit class.

Anyway—blame aside, I have started to run again. And it has paid off, a little anyway. But for the sake of a little muscle tone and a little less cellulite, I have put my body through the ringer. It is not easy to be enthusiastic about running when your lungs feel like they just might collapse, or your shins might split in two.

Two 5Ks down, and Lindsay is packing my spring weekend schedule with as many runs as possible. And where have the girls been during all of this running? Thank God for the YMCA and their child care center—and for Spencer, Lindsay’s husband, who is forced into watching my children so that Lindsay and I can train together (know that they do not have children, so this is like forcing a cat into a bathtub)and low and behold, he is a good babysitter.

On one Sunday that Lindsay and I went to OKC to run in the Red Bud Classic, I asked my workstudy students Michael and Jaclyn to watch the girls.

They are getting married this summer, and I figured it was my duty to give them a crash course in child crowd-control. I decided (and convinced them) that if they could survive my girls, they could survive parenthood together.

So I dropped the girls at the university at 8:30 in the morning, and turned on my heel and ran in the other direction, lest Michael and Jaclyn change their minds. And so, while I made a 7 hour round trip to be tortured by asthma and shin splints, my girls had a fabulous time.

Michael and Jacklyn took them to church (to the church that both my current boss, former boss, and half the university attend—I had visions of them jumping over pews and throwing spit wads). Apparently, they were so in awe of Michael and Jaclyn, they were perfect angels. “Statues” as my friend told me. My baby Jacklyn even fell asleep.

After church, they took the girls to Burger King, let them eat and play, and then took them back to Jaclyn’s dorm room to nap. This is the part where I became a little skeptical about their ability to control my children. Could they really get all three of the girls to nap (including my eight year old, who is “too old” to take naps)? Apparently I underestimated them. I called Jaclyn at 1:30 to make sure that they were not giving her a hard time. She assured me that they were behaving beautifully, and all three of them were sound asleep! If she had not taken these photos, I might not have believed her.

Upon waking from naps, they gave the girls snacks, and took them to play and to see the house Michael and Jaclyn have rented for their first home together after they get married in July. They played hide and seek and tag, and posed for a few (great) photos.

The couple then took them to McDonald's for dinner. (Normally I would balk at my children eating fast food twice in one day, but in this case, whatever makes them happy.) Then, they drove them all the way to my house!!!

Needless to say, the girls had a fantastic time. But I have decided that next time, I am going to send the girls to run with Lindsay, and I am going to go play with Michael and Jaclyn!

Where's the BEEF?

Trying to be unique and innovative in raising funds for our beloved American Christian School, David and I have donated a whole beef for parents and friends of the school to buy. ALL proceeds go to ACS!

It is premium, grain-fed, hormone-free, Angus-Cross beef. We are selling it for $3.00/lb (it is a fundraiser!), and we guarantee it to be the best ground beef you have tried! It is in frozen, 1 1/2 lb packages, therefore, $4.50/pkg.

I am making deliveries to the ACS kitchen on Friday mornings, but if you are interested in purchasing some, we can make other delivery arrangements.

If you have any questions, email us at chambersccrossranch@hotmail.com.

ALSO!
AMERICAN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE TONIGHT!
If you are interested in your kiddos attending ACS, there will be an open house for prospective students tonight, Thursday, March 26th, 6:00-8:00pm. Yes, they do have Pre-K!

This is why I love, love, love Emily Potts!

I love to have professional photos taken of my daughters. And every year, I try to have them taken at least twice (and according to David, I spend way too much doing it!). But you know, I may not have a rug or curtains in my living room...but I have gorgeous photos of my girls that hopefully, will be handed down for generations.

And because I attempted to be a photographer in college (scarily enough, I even did several weddings--see photos at bottom of post for the scary part...), I am somewhat picky about the quality of the photos. And while Walmart may take fine photos, I have found a photographer whose work I am absolutely in love with.

This is the third time that Emily Potts has taken the girls' pictures. And every time, without fail, she takes the most incredible pictures of my girls...

(I wish that I had digital files of the photos she took fall 2007, but I only have prints.) This photo is from Spring 2008. This is my all time favorite picture of my girls.

So this fall, first we took these pictures...this one of the three girls is wonderful.

And Elizabeth, photogenic as always, posed for these photos.

But Jacklyn would not smile for her individual pictures, and Rhian kept smiling goofy, and her hair was funky, and her shirt did not look quite right. So, I called the ever-gracious Emily, and asked if we could redo the pictures. And of course, she said yes, because she is just that wonderful.

This is the result of the second attempt. We decided that the girls' skin tone might look pretty on Emily's brown background and look how gorgeous they are!!

Jacklyn still did not want to smile, but Emily snapped a half-happy shot of her, and I think it captures her perfectly.

Because, as we all know, she has a more serious personality than her older, smiley sister...case in point...Can't you just see the orneriness oozing out of her?

Then, there is always one perfect shot in every bunch. And here it is. Is this not the most perfect picture of Rhian? She looks way, way too grown up and just really, really beautiful.

Everyone always asks, "You're a great photographer Kathryn, why don't you just take their Christmas pictures yourself?" Even David asked me that this year. Well, for one thing, I do not have the right equipment. Two, I cannot get the color right on any indoor picture that I take. Third, my children will not, will not, will not, behave for me. They walk into Emily's studio and they become perfectly behaved models...but for me, well, just check out my attempt...


They just don't have that same polished look, do they?

And remember those perfectly behaved models from the photos above...yeah, well...

But remember what I said about one great picture in every bunch? This is it. Thank you, Jacklyn, for renewing your mother's faith in her creative ability.

So, if you are like me, and cannot muster a decent picture of your children, check out Emily's fantastic website, http://www.emilypotts.com/. Emily is by far one of the best portait photographers I have ever met.

She has several pictures of my girls on her website (including the pink picture above), which of course, means that I have gorgeous daughters, which of course, I already knew...

(All of Emily Potts' photos are copyrighted, so please do not duplicate them for any purpose...She is kind enough to release digitial copies to me, and we don't want that priviledge revoked, now do we? Thank you for respecting her rights as an artist!)

(Now, my pictures are not worth protecting, so you know what, print all of those ugly things you like!!!)

Merry Christmas!! May God bless you all in the coming year!

A Christmas Story

I am a sucker for Christmas stories...the sappier the better. Usually I avoid movies that will make me cry, but something about the holidays makes me a little more sentimental, a little more willing to let others' stories touch my heart.


Have I got a story for you...


I promised that I would share with you the project that I have been working on for a friend...I helped to build a website and set up a blog for my friends, the Paytons.

This beautiful family is the Payton family. Jacky and Marie with their five kids, two biological, three adopted. (Do you hear the music yet?)



Also pictured with them is this handsome boy, Losha. Kinda fits in with the rest, doesn't he?

Losha is an orphan from Russia. (How about now, can you feel the foreshadowing?) The Payton family agreed to host him for two weeks through an organization called The Russian Orphan Lighthouse Project. Immediately upon meeting him, the entire family knew that God had always meant for him to be a part of their family. He cried the night before he left for Russia...saying, "Papa will come for me, Papa will come for me." (If you are not feeling the tug yet, you have a heart of stone...)

The Paytons tearfully put him on the plane back to Russia after promising to return for him, and enthusiastically set about raising the funds to adopt him (all in all, it will probably cost about $60,000). Jacky is a robotics teacher, and Marie homeschools their five (fantastic) children, so this is no small feat for them to raise the money.

They have had several fundraisers, and plan more for after the holidays. Visit http://www.paytonshope.org/ to hear more of their story (I will warn you though, have a tissue ready...), or follow the fundraising efforts on the family's blog at http://loshashope.blogspot.com/.

A wonderful, loving, Christian family working to adopt an orphan from Russia; to give him a real home and a family. What more could you want in the way of a beautiful Christmas story?

Two newspapers have picked up their story already (Tulsa World, Bigheart Times), but we are counting on word of mouth to raise the funds. If you would like to contribute, all you must do is use the ChipIn below. It works just like PayPal.

By Christmas next year, let's hope that Losha is home...home with the family God intended for him...home to stay...

Tag, You're It!

So Courtney played along with photo tag, and tagged anyone who reads her blog...so here is the 4th picture in the 4th folder of my photo files...

Can you tell I live in the middle of an ranch? LOL. These little beauties were our fillies that were born this spring...my babies. I spent weeks washing, brushing and feeding these girls in preparation for a big sale up in Wyoming. A couple of them are now in Colorado, a couple in Georgia. David just brought this year's stud colts (which we kept for him to train, rather than selling) back to the house, and if it weren't 30 below outside (okay--exaggeration, but its really cold!), then I would be out there scrubbing and brushing them too!

Okay, so if I broke the rules like Courtney did, this would be the next picture...

Elizabeth was an Indian in the Pre-K/Kindergarten Thanksgiving play at ACS.

Which is funny, because, she really is Delaware. But, like her Daddy, she is one of the whitest Delawares you will ever meet. And just like her Daddy was adamant that he was a cowboy when he was a little boy, if you tell her she is a real indian she will say, "No, I'm a cowgirl..."

She took her part in the play very seriously...so funny! I think she is very well the cutest little indian I have ever seen!

So, Tag, You're It! The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same

NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)