In Case You Haven't Heard ...

I'm pregnant again!

Here are the answers to the most FAQs:

Yes, it was planned.

Yes, we're excited.

Yes, it would be nice to even up the score with another girl, but of course, healthy is the most important thing.

Yes, we're going to find out if it's a boy or a girl. I'm way too impatient to wait unnecessarily!

Our favorite names are Jack and Kate. Are we LOST fans or what? Our last two children's names are from TV shows. Why stop now? A little embarrassing, but we still like those names!

I'm only 4 weeks along.

I'm due March 1, which means I'll probably deliver toward the end of February, if my delivery history is an indicator for the future.

I feel fine. Morning sickness will probably hit next week.

Yes, it's okay to tell people. It's "Facebook Official." ;)

Yes, I'm still running. Did 4.38 this morning! I'll keep running until it starts hurting my tummy, I guess.

I'm REALLY looking forward to being big and pregnant in the winter for the first time!

No Longer a Kindergartener!

This was the last week of school for Johnathan. We've had a great year at Owens Elementary! Here are a few pics to document the last day. Sorry for the poor quality. Maybe someday we'll actually get a camera.

Marching in. But my favorite is the look on the kid's face in front of Johnathan! Ha!

All six kindergarten classes. And we actually had pretty good seats!

Kalleigh's having a blast.

Jonas did remarkably well! Whew!

Getting his diploma.

Not sure what this face is ... :)

Johnathan and his fabulous teacher, Mrs. Miller. We love her!

The "after party" at Chuck E. Cheese's:

Jonas watching Chuck E. Cheese from a safe distance. ;)

Johnathan and Mrs. Miller going head to head in air hockey!

The loot!

It's been a great year, but hooray for the lazy summer schedule!!

Girls' Weekend!

This past weekend, Kalleigh and I drove up to Searcy to spend the long weekend with my mom. As you know, Mom is getting married in less than a month, so we had some things to do!

We went to a dinner hosted by one of mom's friends. It was kind of like a shower, except it's like it was just the hostesses there. They gave her a joint gift: A beautiful wall decoration with the end of Joshua 24:15 on it. Kalleigh did her best to be a big girl, but the child took over and she excused herself from the table to go play while the grown-ups visited. ;)

We did a LOT of shopping. Mom has a beautiful dress for her wedding. Of course, two weeks ago, when I hadn't seen it yet, I bought a beautiful dress to wear to the wedding (way on sale!). It was mostly a champagne color, knee-length with shutter pleats. The problem was that when I sent a picture of it to Mom she said, "It's beautiful! It's just like mine!" Oops. We have such similar tastes! So, she was on a mission to buy a new dress for me. Hard to say no to that! And we succeeded. I now have a beautiful black & white summer dress to wear to the wedding, with a great necklace to match!

Kalleigh ended up with two dresses as options for the wedding, as we took advantage of the fabulous Memorial Weekend shopping deals.

We also found several more things that we "really needed." It took us two full shopping days to do it, but we successfully conquered Little Rock.

While we were there, we also did some work on Mom's house. She and Craig plan to sell both of their houses and start together in a new one. Great idea, I think! We got up on the roof and found that there were more than a few leaves and pine needles that needed to be removed from the roof as well as the gutters! We also cut down some limbs that were hanging over the house. I only got wobbly once. :) No injuries, save a small scratch on my hand. It's healing quite nicely, as I'm sure you wanted to know.

And, of course, we had dinner out at the farm with Mamaw. There's just nothing like being out at the farm, and you cousins know exactly what I'm talking about! What a special place.

 After a fabulous dinner (as always, including fresh cherry pie--I died), we spent a couple of hours out on the porch while Kalleigh had a very successful first firefly catching experience. She managed to catch a tick, as well, and rather than being scared or grossed out by it, she was fascinated that he wanted to go home with her! She is my animal lover, for sure!

So, we had so much fun. Kalleigh hardly knew what to do with herself as the only child, but she caught on pretty quickly. ;)

Thanks, Mom, for being you! For teaching us how to play, work, cook and shop like pros! I love you!

PS  *Pearl of Wisdom* Mom sent home our old Slip 'N Slide with us. It's not made for adults. I sure was the coolest mom yesterday afternoon, though! But I can hardly lift my arms today.

Field Day

Johnathan had a blast at his first Field Day! Here are just a few shots to document the event.

the baton race

"Hula-hooping"  I didn't even know he could do that!

Cheese! Love the hand/iPhone shadow? I thought so.

What a fun day!

The Chapter 6 Experience

About 2 1/2 weeks ago on a Friday night I went to a Chapter 6 concert here in Tyler. They, like Clearly Vocal, sing contemporary a cappella, with an emphasis in jazz. John was at Pepperdine at the Ascending Voice Symposium, so I went with some friends, Andy, Stefanie and Mary. Andy and Stef are in CV. Man, they were so good! We took notes and came away with some good things to add to our show.

After the show, we hung around to meet the guys and pick their brains. :) We mentioned that we sang in a vocal jazz group, too, and they thought that was cool. We talked so much about the contemporary a cappella world; it was nice to talk to people who "spoke that language" and knew the other groups we knew! Toward the end of our chit chat, I said, "You know, if you guys are ever back in the East Texas area, we would just love to open for you!" One of the guys said, "Well, we're in Irving (just outside Dallas) next week! Are you serious? Are you available?" DUH. They said they would go online and listen to some of our stuff and get back with us.

Here we are with them after the concert:

Well, that was cool, but I really thought that they were just being nice and that we probably wouldn't hear from them. But later that night, one of the guys emailed us saying that he really hoped it worked out and that they would check with their Irving venue. He also gave us his cell phone! On Sunday he texted saying that they hadn't been able to contact the venue yet, but they were still trying. Hope was fading. Monday night, he said again that they venue wasn't getting back with him and that he was afraid that it might not work out. Bummer. But then Tuesday around noon, we got the text that said they finally got in touch with the venue and they all thought it was a great idea! They just hadn't been open all weekend or on Monday! Ha! We were going to Irving to open for Chapter 6 on Thursday!

We drove to Irving that afternoon and got to the Irving Performing Arts Center about the same time that Chapter 6 did. We had some sound technical issues (as the IPAC people weren't the most helpful), but Mark, Chapter 6's sound guy worked out the kinks and the show went on! The house was beautiful, and almost full. We sang for about 700 people, CV's biggest audience yet! We sang well, and the audience responded well, too.

After the concert, one of the board members from the Irving Concert Series came up to us and wanted our contact information! He said that he really enjoyed our 5 song set and would love to see us back in Irving! That right there made the whole night worth it!

Dad and Maria as well as Uncle Randy and Aunt Karla were gracious enough to buy tickets and come see us! We were pretty proud that we brought 4 fans. :) Chap6 said that they had 1 fan that they knew of coming to that show. Haha. Ironically, that fan just happened to sit right behind us when we went out in the audience to watch the rest of their show! I was so glad that John and Don got to see their show, since they weren't able to go to the one in Tyler.

After the fans all left we all (CV + Chap6) went to Waffle House for a late supper and just hang out time. Man, that was fun! These guys are so nice. They're my age, but have been singing together since college. They have accomplished a lot as individuals as well as as a group in the professional world. It was nice to be able to have that much down time with them.

Wow, so fun, and a huge thanks to the Chap6 guys for letting us share their stage!

Old Hymns, New Words

As I shared in my Ladies Retreat post, I enjoy rewriting some of the older songs into words that I can connect with a little better. I had my high school girls do this last night in class, and I just loved their interpretation of some of the songs! Here was mine:

Wouldn't it be awesome to have the kind of faith that stayed strong even when picked apart by every angle? A faith that wouldn't get rattled by earthly troubles?


I'd love to have the kind of faith that would keep me from complaining when God used difficult situations to make me stronger. That in those times of sadness or pain, I'd turn to God rather than gripe about him.


I want my faith to be a light that pierces through the storms of life without any fear or doubt!


Lord, please give us this kind of faith, so that no matter what our earthly life brings, we know that we'll experience the eternal joy of living with you!

--O For a Faith that Will Not Shrink

Picture recap of April and beginning of May

First off, I apologize for the lack of blogging this spring. Also for the lack of pictures. So here's what we've been up to, in so many images.

We've done a lot.

We Eastered,

Hunted,

Found,

Maybe Hoarded a little bit,

We Played,

A lot,

We broke things,

And baked things,

We dressed up,

And took time to smell the flowers,

 

We followed directions,

And Rounded Up,

And we took naps,

Whenver,

And wherever we could!

And ............... MOM GOT ENGAGED! Love you both, Mom and Craig!

Ladies Retreat, yes, almost a month ago

This year Sherri, Stefanie and I planned a silent retreat. Most people made fun of us saying that there was no way that a group of women could be silent all weekend! But we did have eight hours on that Saturday to communicate with no one but God. It's not the kind of retreat that just tons of women go to, but it's exactly what I needed! A break from home life, responsibilities, expectations, singing, groceries, laundry, meetings, friends, children and even John. I am almost never alone, and it was time!

We went back out to the Lakeview Baptist Assembly and Conference Center like we did last year. It's a beautiful camp set on the "Lake O' the Pines" in Lone Star, TX. The food is always fantastic and the motel-type rooms are always clean! That's my kind of camping. ;)

One of the greatest blessings of the weekend was having Dr. Karla Hale Gerdes as our speaker. Aunt Karla, to me! We were lucky to get her for our retreat as she had a busy retreat-speaking schedule this spring!

Now it does seem rather odd to have a speaker at a silent retreat, but I wanted to bring someone in who had been a part of a silent retreat before to be able to "sell" the idea to our ladies. But Karla did so much more than that. Friday night, she walked us through what to expect during our time of silence. She prepared our hearts to be in the presence of God and prepared our ears to hear his voice. Her counseling talents were put to use as women opened up to her with questions, sorrows and joys. Sunday morning she honed in on the reciprocal joy that we and God feel when we are in each other's presence! So many women, including myself, were blessed by her words. She truly directed our attention and focus to God and he was glorified!

Saturday night, after spending the day in silence, we had a time of sharing. I wanted to give the ladies an opportunity to share the exciting or mundane, painful and/or healing, disappointing or fulfilling, sorrowful or joyful experiences that they had had during their times of silence. Women shared how God used books to speak to them exactly where they were. How being in the beautiful outdoors gave them a greater sense of his presence. They shared words that God put on their hearts for themselves and for others. We grieved with Chelsea on her recent miscarraige. (You should definitely read about her experience!) We celebrated with the "Top 10 Joys" of Lori's life. We laughed hysterically with Sherri when she told of how she felt God calling her in one direction of the camp, but she went the other and then a bird pooped on her head!

For me, God put a song on my heart. An old hymn that I could have sung the alto line perfectly on, but not realized the words I was singing. I love rewriting the lyrics of the old hymns so that they are a little easier to understand, so that's what I did with this one. Here are my lyrics:

• Speak to me, Lord, so that the words I say reflect what you have said to me.
• In the same way that you have repeatedly sought out this lost sheep, give me eyes to seek out the last, the lost and the least of these.
• Lead me, Lord, so I can learn how to be a leader.
• Feed me, so I will remember to feed others.
• Give me the strength I need while standing on you, the Solid Rock, so that I can then reach out to pull others out of sinking sand.
• Teach me, Lord, so that I can teach others. And give my words wings to fly as far as they need to go to reach the people who need to hear them.
• Give me  your rest, so that I will be ready to speak gently, but powerfully to the right person at the right time.
• Fill my heart, Lord, so that it overflows with love and praise in my thoughts, words and actions.
• Use me however, whenever and wherever until that blessed day wen I see your face and experience your rest, your joy and your glory!

Of course, those are the revised lyrics for the hymn, "Lord, Speak to Me." "Faith & Praise" doesn't have all of these lyrics, but these were the original ones, revised, of course.

After the retreat, I felt rested. Amazing, right? Usually after a ladies retreat I'm exhausted, wiped out, depleted ... in need of a retreat. :) But after this weekend, I was energized, rested and filled!

Please go on a silent retreat. Plan one if you have to. You and God need a long date!

Oddly at Peace

This is one of those weeks when I could be up to my neck in stress. I'm not complaining. I'm actually having a blast! One day I'll look back on my life and ask, "How did I do that?" The obvious answer is that my strength is not my own. That would be impossible. I fully believe that God is giving me strength and peace during this hectic time! He's also blessed me with a quick nap each day this week. :)

This week's schedule (starting with last Friday):

Friday night
Mom gets in. Yea! She's here for the East Texas A Cappella Celebration that Clearly Vocal hosted on Saturday. We eat supper with cousins Jeff and Becky and head to the house while John goes to the office to print the programs for the show. John's home around 9 and we hit the sack around 10. Not too shabby.

Saturday
Big breakfast. Then we head to the park to let the kids burn off some steam. Light lunch back home; still recovering from the huge breakfast! After lunch, we leave the kids with Mom and head up to the church building to prepare for the ETAC. Six a cappella groups sang with genres ranging from gospel to barbershop to contemporary Christian to choral to jazz. The concert is a huge success that night. We get home by 9:30 and fall asleep around 11.

Sunday
Mom's here, so we get to sleep in longer than usual while John goes to praise team rehearsal!
9:00  Should be class, but I'm typing up and making copies of a map and schedule of the ladies retreat on a copier that is acting up!
10:00  Church
12:00  Due to Jonas's pitiful behavior, we decide to let Mom get on the road; we pick up Jack-In-The-Box tacos and go home
I get my afternoon nap!
3:30  John goes to elders/staff meeting
6:00  We all go to the Gathering. I should do a whole other post about The Gathering, but basically it's the Glenwood-run inner city church where we also serve a meal. I teach the teenagers, and it has been amazing.
8:30  Home

Monday
6:00  run
8:00  Johnathan to school
9:00  Kalleigh to school, John to work
9-12 Make copies of info for ladies retreat, work out most room assignments, talk to camp director about our last minute schedule changes, etc.
Lunch
1:30  Pick up Kalleigh and go home
3:00  Pick up Johnathan and go home to do homework/write thank-you cards for those who helped with the ETAC
5:00-8:00 Clearly Vocal rehearsal
Sometime during rehearsal, John's mother arrives. She was in town for her brother-in-law's funeral that was in the DFW area the next day.
Home around 8:30, Kids down by 9:00, visit 'til 10, and then of course we watch 24.

Tuesday
6:00  run
Not my day to carpool Johnathan, so thankful "Mr. Zack" picks him up!
8:00  John and Martha leave for DFW
9:30  Ladies Bible Class
Lunch at home with Kalleigh and Jonas, and then they go down for naps.
Marinate steaks.
It's bread baking day for my Amish Friendship Bread, so I get them in the oven.
Quick nap until the bread is done.
3:00  Johnathan gets home
4:00  I give a voice lesson.
4:30  John and Martha get home.
5:00  Supper is on the table
6:00  Baths for kids
7:30  John and I meet the rest of Clearly Vocal at Starbucks to talk about a replacement for Danny. He's dropping out. :(
9:30  Home to visit some more and then of course we watch LOST.

Wednesday
6:00  run
8:00  Johnathan to school
9:00  Kalleigh to school, Martha heads home, John to work
Jonas and I hit Wal-Mart and then head home.
"We" put the groceries away and then Jonas settles down with Miss Patty Cake while mommy catches the much needed quick nap.
12:00 Head back to town to get John for lunch.
1:30  Pick up Kalleigh and head home
3:00  Pick up Johnathan and head home to finish thank-you cards and do a load of laundry and make the kids eat something healthy (okay, PB&J) for supper
6:00  Praise team rehearsal
6:30 church
8:00 home
Put kids to bed, make guacamole dip for John's all-day staff retreat tomorrow, start taxes and blog. :) Obviously not in bed yet.

Plan for Thursday
6:00  run
7:35  Mr. Zack picks up Johnathan for school--yea!
9:00  John to work
10:00 Conference call with Stef, Sherri and Aunt Karla to talk about final ladies retreat stuff and pray
Thankfully nothing is scheduled the rest of the morning and afternoon, so hopefully I'll get some more laundry done, clean a bit and sneak in my nap!
3:00  Johnathan gets home
5:30  Sing at KE Cellars with Danny
10:00  Home to crawl in bed and watch The Office

Plan for Friday
6:00  run
8:00  John's day to get Johnathan to school
9:00  Kalleigh to school
Pack for the retreat at some point.
Go with Stefanie out to Lone Star to set up the table decoration for the ladies retreat and get our stuff in our room. From there we drive a couple of hours to Athens, on the other side of Tyler, for a Clearly Vocal Concert.
8:00  CV Concert for the Henderson Performing Arts Center Fundraiser--A Big Deal
12:00  Probably get back to the retreat.

Saturday--A Much-Needed Ladies Retreat Only Day. It's a silent retreat, and boy do I need that.

Sunday
8:00  breakfast
9:00  church
11:00 hopefully leave on time
1:00  hopefully arrive in Edom, TX on time
2:00  Clearly Vocal sings at "April in Edom."
5:00  pick up children from the Dean's
6:00  back at The Gathering
8:00  crash

The rest of this week/weekend is just going to fly by, but oh, it's going to be so fun! Do not feel sorry for me! Some prayers for continued strength would be appreciated, though. :)

Now ... off to bed!

Favorite Current Jonasisms

Blotz = Blocks
Ah-noons = Cartoons
Lallow = Yellow, yes, but it also means he wants to color
Blap = Lap
Wet = Bread
Me Mean = Green Bean
Ah-ee = Sorry
Izzit? = Where is it?
Ayiz! = There it is!
Ninich = Chicken

"Izzit?"

"Ayiz!"

THE Competition

Well, we didn't win. No sense in building the suspense! But read on if you want to hear about the whole trip.

Wednesday morning, we did sing that birthday gig for a detective here in town, and then John and I and the kids began our drive to Colorado Springs.

If you've ever been on a road trip with me, you know the rules. It's not that I don't enjoy the drive because I do. I like to see if I can get to Point B faster than I did last time. I like to see how many cars I can pass in one minute. I like to predict the speed traps and be right. And most of all, and this might not be that nice, but, I LOVE passing the car that flew by me a couple miles back as he's getting a ticket from the nice police officer that pulled him over. >:)

You combine your potty, gas and food stops as much as possible, and always get food to go. One parent takes the child/ren to the potty while the other fills up with gas. Then you switch. The you go through the drive through and get back on the road.

I completely understand how this might not be everyone's favorite way to travel, and I don't take offense. But I love it! Especially when we had so far to go this time.

TX was a breeze to drive through, as well as most of NM. The snow started in Dalhart, TX, but wasn't too bad ... until Raton, NM. Then came Raton Pass. Terrible snow. Of course it was dark which made the car lights reflect off of each gigantic snowflake. It was near white-out conditions! I couldn't see the white lines on the road 80% of the time. I just kept looking for those occasional reflectors on each side of the road and made sure I was in between them!

Crazy snow. Until Pueblo, about an hour south of Colorado Springs, where it turned to light rain. And by the time we entered Colorado Springs, it was finally, beautifully clear. I was so thankful that we made it safely!

Kreg and Keleigh welcomed us into their beautiful home. Mom had flown in earlier that day. We spent Thursday just spending some quality time with family and I was also able to run by Pikes Peak Christian School for a bit and see a bunch of friends from when we lived there.

That night Kreg grilled burgers and brats for dinner. We were joined by the Goods as well as Todd and Tiffany! Yummy burgers and s'mores!

Friday  morning, we left the kids in COS and drove up to Denver to meet up with the rest of CV. We found them at the Starbucks close to the hotel. No big surprise there. :)

That day we spent our time just playing in Denver. We cruised up and down 16th Street Mall, ate at Hard Rock for lunch, caught an IMAX that afternoon and had PF Chang's for supper. We managed to find some rehearsal time in there and also sang on 16th and drew a crowd! And we only lost Danny one time! ;)

Saturday was great. Leisurely breakfast wherever we felt like it, then went to a park to rehearse! After a great last rehearsal we ate at Maggiano's. Oh my. That meal was the best of all of them. Then we had our "not-so-perfect" sound check that afternoon. I think we had just never heard ourselves that loudly before! It threw us for a loop, but really prepared us for that night.

Supper was completely unnecessary after the late, huge lunch. We headed back to the hotel, got ready and went to the show! Mom, Keleigh, Tiffany and a friend of hers also were able to go to the show as well as Stefanie's husband and parents. What loyal fans!

We were the first group after intermission. Man those spotlights felt good! We sang so well and we were pretty pumped up after our little 10 minutes was up.

Unfortunately (I guess) jazz was not what the judges had in mind for the winners. They chose a local, all-male vocal pop band to win it all. I don't know if it was just coincidence at all that the judges were all also members of a local all-male vocal pop band, but I'm trying not to put too much weight on that. :) John said that if The Real Group themselves had been in the competition, they wouldn't have won! What matters is that we know that we can walk into an unfamiliar, high-pressure situation and do great! We did what we do very well, and we are so pleased with that.

I also need to say that the group that won, Confidential, was SO good! We didn't get to hear them do their set because we were warming up at the time, but we did hear their encore song, and it was tight! I'm happy for them and hope they do great at the finals in May!

We dropped Mom off at the airport after about 4 hours of sleep and had a good trip home, beating our first trip time by 30 minutes. Not surprising, though, since you pretty much coast all the way home from Denver to Tyler! Oh yes, we did go ahead and pick up the children from Kreg and Keleigh, though there was some debate about leaving them there. We got that worked out. :) I think they got some good cousin time in with Westin!

CV decided to take Monday's rehearsal off since we all needed rest, both vocally and physically! But we do look forward to a busy April! I'm so blessed to get sing with such talented and dedicated people!

Thanks to Kreg, Keleigh, Mom and Tami for helping out with the kids. We couldn't have made the trip without your help!

Much love to our CV fans!

I'll have an order of Ketchup with Bullets

SO sorry. So very sorry. I have had little to no motivation to blog for whatever reason. Things are great, though, so no worries!

Here's what we did in February:

• Continued to plan the Ladies Retreat. Aunt Karla is our guest speaker ... at our silent retreat. What? It's going to be awesome. April 16-18. Be there. Theme: "Can You Hear Me Now?"
• Sang with Group Therapy at KE Cellars every other Thursday. Good crowds lately! Lots of fun.
• Finished up Johnathan's basketball season. Wow. 5-year-olds with a basketball. Now that's funny stuff.
• Sang with both Group Therapy and Clearly Vocal at the Women's Convention in Harvey Hall.
• Survived the stomach bug that ran through our house. Literally.
• Shoveled snow off my driveway for the first time since we moved here.
• Sang at 3 Valentine's parties and did 30 singing telegrams with Clearly Vocal in 3 days.
• Took Jonas to the doctor and Johnathan to the dentist; both regular check-ups.
•  Ran (at least once a week). :)
• Continued to facilitate my Ladies Bible Class group.
• Got the news that both our preacher and women's/children's minister were leaving.
• Sang at Caffe' Tazza again.
• Drove with Stefanie to Searcy to lead worship with Mom at Harding's WINGS conference. Talk about a quick trip! Up Friday, back Saturday!

And now it's March! So far we've ...

• Continued getting ready for the Harmony Sweepstakes by rehearsals every Monday night and had a send-off concert last Friday night. So very fun!
• Sent Kristi's 28th birthday present, albeit late, but sent!
• Gone on an actual date Saturday night. Dinner at Jake's where Danny was playing and went to see Alice in Wonderland!
• Taught the children's class at The Gathering (downtown service at West Erwin benevolence center each Sunday night). I'm doing that through March, but we may find a home there on Sunday nights! What a ministry to the less fortunate of downtown Tyler.
• Had an amazingly low-key past couple of days where I could clean house, do laundry and cook.

And now we're ...

• Having one last CV rehearsal before the competition.
• Singing a surprise birthday telegram at 8:15 in the morning.
• Leaving for Colorado tomorrow immediately after that for the Harmony Sweepstakes! We'll get into Colorado Springs late tomorrow night and get to spend all day Thursday with Mom, Kreg, Keleigh and Westin.
• Friday morning, John and I will meet the rest of the group in Denver for some fun group time!
• And Saturday is the competition! Craziness.

I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes!

(The pics of Kalleigh and Jonas are random. Just didn't want them to be left out!)

The ACA-Weekend

What a trip! The Los Angeles A Cappella Festival (LA-AF) was a huge success. John and I had so much fun, learned some crucial things, networked like crazy, ate some amazing Thai food, heard some inspiring groups and attended some very beneficial classes.

LA-AF was held on the campus of UCLA. My first time there. It is beautiful! It's very hilly, though, so I think it's safe to say that there were just as many, if not more, steps on the campus as Asains. Who knew?

(hmmm ... my washer is making very strange noises ...)

(I think I may have Adult A.D.--hey, what's that over there?)

Back on track.  My first class was with Julia Hoffman, the president of the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA). She is a licensed psychologist, so she taught the "Group Dynamics" class. Now most of the attendees and singing groups were from colleges, just like they were at SoJam, so it was nice to see that we had moved past a bunch of their group issues (i.e. inappropriate inter-group relationships, "I Want All the Solos," being a distraction in rehearsal, etc., ad nauseum.). My takeaways from the class had more to do with group motivation than conflict resolution.

Then I had an improv class with Moira Smiley that was very "organic and evocative," which, apparently is the highest compliment an a cappella singer can receive. She gave us some great exercises for groups to do in rehearsal that get us out of our comfort zones and develops all kinds of different sounds the voice can make. Really fun.

We networked a bunch at lunch. Said 'hi' to all the aca-big dogs, and some of them had either heard of us from the Mouth Off Show or remembered us from SoJam. Very Cool! We also reconnected with some of our fellow Contemporary A Cappella League (CAL) people and groups. It's nice to know that others are in the same boat as we!

Went to a class called, "Solo Like a Rock Star," taught by George Hoffman, husband to Julia, and in the all-male aca-rock band, Hookslide, based in L.A.  Again, some great advice and reminders.

Next was a class facilitated by Amy Engelhardt, of The Bobs.  This was basically a master class for any group that wanted to sing. I REALLY wish all of CV could have been there for that! The groups got some good stage time and some practical advice as well as encouragement.

My last class was with Mister Tim, who excels in marketing for aca-groups, and performs in a few himself. So Valuable in learning more about how to better market an aca-group, getting and keeping fans, posters, business cards, venues, equipment, etc. We WILL be putting these into practice. ASAP.

John also attended a class about competitions, of particular interest to us now that we'll be competing in just a little over a month! He also went to a class talking about the best sound equipment. That was taught by a guy who does sound for m-pact and SONOS, with his next group being Nota! Yeah, he knew his stuff. John ate it up. I was clueless when he was describing it to me.

The concert that night featured a UCLA group, Bruins Harmony, that did very well.

THEN CAME SONOS.

SONOS is the new sound of a cappella. Go hear their stuff. It's not all covers like most groups do. It's not jazz. It's not rock. It's a sound unique to them, which is very cool. Now they do "cheat" by using pedals to put some really cool effects on their voices, but they use them well. Seeing them perform was my highlight of the weekend.

m-pact closed the concert, and they were great, too. The "Jingle Bells" that CV sings is their arrangement.

But John and I had to leave before it was over to catch the midnight flight out of L.A. to arrive in Dallas by a little after 5:00 a.m. to drive to Tyler to get to Glenwood to change clothes, freshen up and be at praise team practice by 8:00 a.m.

I am fully aware of the lack of sanity on our part. But it was SO worth it!

We missed the rest of CV terribly! The weekend was amazing, but it would have been 10x better had we all been there together! I really hope we can all go next year!

Dude. That just happened.

Just so excited

Here's why:

• It's Thursday, my very favorite day. A day without a car, allowing me to be home ALL DAY!
• Clearly Vocal is going to Denver!!! We were officially invited to compete in the Rocky Mountain Harmony Sweepstakes coming up on March 13. We need groupies! Click here for tickets. You can also find a link from our CV website. They sell out every year! Here's the link to the competition info.
  
• Tomorrow, John and I are flying out to Los Angeles to represent Clearly Vocal at the Los Angeles A Cappella Festival on Saturday! We look forward to reconnecting with people that we met at SoJam and keeping our name out there! Don't worry Glenwood peeps; we'll be back for church Sunday morning. We're taking the midnight flight out of LA, so go easy on us if we look a little bleary-eyed!
• I'm making good progress on getting rid of the Christmas around my hips using the Lose It! app. FYI, Christmas weighed about 10 pounds this year! Ouch!

Hope each of you has a good Thursday, too!

Thoughts and Updates

Not thinking particularly linearly today.

Peder Karlsson is amazing. He's the baritone from The Real Group, and we (Clearly Vocal) had an hour and a half webcam workshop with him this morning. We got out of our comfort zone. He gave us some great exercises that will apply to our entire repertoire. He said we were good! He was very impressed with the technical side of the workshop; said it was the best audio/visual he had ever seen/heard when doing one of these webcam workshops! Big thanks to John who set it all up and to Andy Luster who helped with that. We "found the floor and ceiling" in dynamics and nasal vs. covered sounds. Sang our most beautiful, quiet song loud and ugly and learned that some of that technique can and should be carried over into the softer version! We felt the groove and he wouldn't let us continue a song until we all felt it together. We sang our original song, Pulse, and he liked it! He doesn't like competitions or American contemporary a cappella staging. Good. Neither do we! He said to be who we are, sing what we want and how we want to sing it, and we will feel the most rewarded. What a great morning.

The weather is absolutely amazing today. Have been so ready for this for what seems like a long time.

Cut back on the running, sort of. Instead of 6 or so miles 3x per week, went to 3 miles M-F. Found Thursday to be the hardest day this week. Not used to running every day. Wanted to be able to be done running by the time the kids woke up. Not willing to get up before 6! The stars have been amazing these past couple of clear mornings. And the God whose hands created the stars did not spare his son for me? I scarce can take it in!

Bison will be 8 tomorrow. He's so fat.

Group Therapy played at KE Cellars for a great crowd last night! Sang Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats" for the first time. One of the country songs we've worked up to be ready to go back out to Ben Wheeler tomorrow night. It was a little too fun to sing. :)

So yeah, we play out at Moore's Store tomorrow night from 7-10, $5 cover, for those who are coming. Clearly Vocal will do a 30 min set beginning at 8. Very much looking forward to putting into practice what we learned with Peder today!

The Rocky Mountain Harmony Sweepstakes selection committee meets tomorrow morning to decide which groups will be competing in Denver in March. We sent in our audition, so hopefully we'll know something in the next few days. I'm only a little nervous!

Clearly Vocal is also doing singing telegrams for Valentine's again this year! You can actually order and pay for them online! Head on over to our website for more details.

OH. Have you seen our new website? If you haven't you've GOT to go see it. It's way cool, if I do say so myself.

We're heavily planning for this year's ladies retreat! It's a silent retreat and my Aunt Karla (Dr. Karla Hale Gerdes, Ph.D.) is going to be our guest speaker! It's the weekend after tax weekend, for you planners, and info will be posted at church soon!

We still have three children, I think. Johnathan, Kalleigh, and ... um ... right, Jonas. We are blessed to have wonderful babysitters to take care of them while we're out singing. We also try to schedule our gigs on bath nights. It's been a while since I've given my children baths. I have a night with all three of them to myself while John has a dinner meeting to run, so I think we'll try to do something fun. I don't know, make a memory or something. Ideas?

Johnathan has been playing Upwards basketball. The first game was ... oh my. The second game was much better! He's a great defensive playing, even while on offense. ;) And I most certainly did not promise him a toy from the dollar store for every basket he scored. (We got a toy!) Game tomorrow at 9! Go Zips!

I feel I'm on the verge of something big. Maybe nothing. Maybe something. I'll keep you posted. Ever get those feelings?

No, not THAT big. I'm not pregnant, and I don't plan on being so any time soon. Probably ever.

Good afternoon world. If you've had a day half as amazing as mine, you've had a great day!

Jonas's "S" words

I think it's pretty common for toddlers to have trouble with their "S" sound at the beginning of words, but Jonas has taken this to a level I've never experienced. He's putting the beginning "S" sounds at the end of the words! I've already mentioned "oosh," for shoes in my recent "Jonas Words" post, but my other two favorites are "poose" (spoon) and "weese" (swing). Illyse boy. :)

Christmas and 2009 Wrap-Up

Christmas was so special this year. We started off in Searcy where we stayed with Mom and got to see John's mother as well. Santa, a.k.a. Craig Jones, also visited the house and delivered presents to everyone!

Christmas morning marked the one-year anniversary of Papaw Curtis's death, so we went out to his grave and sang some of his favorite songs. We didn't stay long, since it was about 29 degrees, but I think he would understand that!

Mom cooked and cooked while we were there, so naturally, we ate and ate! Christmas only comes once a year, right? ;)

We headed to Dallas next where we did Christmas with the Kell family. Monday night was especially meaningful as we lit the traditional lantern and welcomed Keleigh and Westin into the family.

Karla cooked and cooked while we were there, so naturally, we ate and ate! Christmas only comes once a year, right? Wait ... did I just say that? Okay, maybe twice. :)

I am really enjoying these days at home since all of the festivities. We're doing a fair amount of playing and resting, and not much else!

2009 has been so good in many ways. Here's a photo journey through the year:

January -- Kalleigh

February -- Ladies Retreat

March -- The nasty hole in our yard that was a lot bigger deal than we thought!

April -- Easter

May -- Meeting nephew Westin!

June -- Father's Day

July -- The addition of Benson to the family

August -- School days!

September -- Family Vacation to Galveston

October -- 1/2 Marathon

November -- Clearly Vocal "discovered" at SoJam

December -- The year of the flooded roads! What should've taken 5 1/2 hours to get to Searcy took 7 1/2!

What to expect in 2010? Lots of singing, for sure! Clearly Vocal just entered the Rocky Mountain Harmony Sweepstakes in Denver, March 13! Johnathan will have his Kindergarten graduation, the kids will turn 2, 4 & 6, and John and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary!

And I will do my very best NOT to get pregnant.

Many blessings to you all for 2010!