The Night Before Christmas

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Sleigh Ride

Dixieland, Royal Garden Blues

This past semester the Jazz Band had the amazing opportunity to work with Dr. Steve Call, a Jazz professor from BYU (and actually, Dr. Fullmer's former jazz professor). Dr. Call taught the kids much about jazz, but especially about his particular specialty, Dixieland (see Jazz for Cows). The band performed a Dixieland song at the boys' Christmas concert, and Christian, being the multi-tasking musician he is, had the privilege of being featured on clarinet alongside Dr. Call (who played the double bell euphonium--yes, there is such an instrument), and boy was that kid wailing on his clarinet--we were quite proud. :)

Frosty the Snowman

Nothing beats a little jazz at Christmastime:

Summertime, George Gershwin

Thirty minutes before the boys' band concert, several jazz combos performed. Christian's was saved for last--because it was the best of course--here is Summertime, by George Gershwin, with Christian playing saxophone:

How the Boys Spent Their Thanksgiving

Poor Christian and Sean could not be with us for Thanksgiving... of course, I really shouldn't say poor Christian and Sean, because you know where they were? HAWAII. Yeah, not feeling so bad for them anymore, are you? :) The Timpview Marching Band had the opportunity this year to travel to Pearl Harbor with two Utah veterans and play at several memorials and remembrance events--what a wonderful opportunity! It really is quite an amazing thing to see a 14 year old and 17 year old (just turned 17 the day they left for Hawaii!) tear up when talking about Pearl Harbor--truly something great to see their hearts touched like that.

The band marched in the Waikiki Parade:

Played at the Polynesian Cultural Center, (below is a clip of them playing an Armed Forces Medley--not gonna lie, the Marines Anthem is still my favorite):

and performed "Eternal Father" at the USS Arizona Memorial, among other things. This last one, according to the boys, truly was a spectacular experience--for one, they received special permission to be there and perform (it's a pretty big deal), and of course, not to mention the content of where they were--they seriously can't talk about it without getting choked up:

Once I get my hands on some pictures, I will be posting those as well. :)

Marching Band 2011

At the boys' Fall concert, the Marching Band played--all of them, all up on stage (and down around it)--boggles my mind how they can all fit them in that auditorium).

CYBER MONDAY SALE AT TINKERANNIEBELLE!

For the first time in my life, I braved the Black Friday sales--I discovered that Black Friday success is all about tag teaming (go Kelli and Mom!), that Roberts customers are actually quite nice at 6 in the morning, and that JoAnn's customers are rather rude no matter what time of day it is--anyhow, now that Black Friday is over, I am in the mood for a much easier, less dangerous holiday sale... CYBER MONDAY!! You don't even have to leave the comfort of your own home--now that's my kind of shopping! :)

So, starting at midnight tonight and all day Monday until midnight, everything in my shop is 20% off! Just use the code "CYBER20" at checkout to receive your discount. It's the perfect time to get some early holiday shopping done before the rush, so head on over now--happy shopping!

Happy Halloween! (Danny Elfman style)

An excerpt from the boys' recent Fall band concert:

Gotta love those boys

Christian and his friends started and completed a large and time consuming school assignment this week (about procrastination, how ironic)--a movie--and after filming late into the night (in order to get it done in time of course), this is what happened:

Christian's Dance Party from Kellianne Houston on Vimeo.

This is why I love my boys. ;)

(Thank you to Christian for discovering hidden movie editing software on my computer)

Homecoming Dance

The moment we've all been waiting for... PICTURES! I mean, that's why kids go to dances, right?--for the pictures... forget the date, we just want pictures to show off. :)

So, without further ado... I give you: Christian and Chrissy!

 Oh, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but guess where Christian got his awesomely beautiful wristlet for his date??? Yup, I made it--but of course, I have to give star credit to Grandpa Karl--where else could we find bright blue flower THAT gorgeous??

And in case you're wondering, Christian had an absolutely WONDERFUL time. :)

Question and Answer

Sixteen, such a lovely age.. driving (eventually) and dating! That's right, Christian asked to his very first dance--Homecoming!

Unlike most high school boys, Christian actually has gone on dates himself before this (as far as I can tell, teenagers NEVER date unless there's a dance--so sad--but Christian does!), but now he was going to a DANCE. Yup, he's growing up. ;)

So, I was pretty pleased with his creative asking:

 "Hey Chrissy (written with Hershey Kisses), now that I've kissed the ground you walk on, will you go to homecoming with me?"

Yup, pretty clever. 

 But of course, his soon-to-be-date wasn't to be outdone in the creativity department. Late one night as we were sitting at home, quiet, lights of, watching an intense episode of Psych, there was a startling pound at the front door--I almost wet myself, it was very shocking. Sean opened the door to find a banana on the doorstep. A banana? What the heck does that mean? A few minutes later, there was another knock, this time at the back door--another banana. Throughout the next hour there were knocks coming from all over the house--front door, back door, windows, random passers by ("Hi, um, someone told me to give this banana to you..."), the bananas just kept coming.

Lots and lots and lots of bananas (which eventually turned into some yummy banana bread). But nothing but bananas... then, a long break--they stopped knocking... was that it?? 

...

Nope, one more knock at the front door...

"ORANGE you glad I'm not a banana? Of course I'll go to homecoming with you!"

Pretty cute, right?? We thought so. :)

(Dance pictures soon to come!)

Timpview SWEEPS Rocky Mountain Marching Band Competition

As you may have guessed by the title, the Timpview High Marching band made a clean sweep of the awards at the Rocky Mountain Marching Band Competition--FIRST PLACE IN EVERY CATEGORY! It was hosted at the BYU football stadium, so we actually got to go! Hence, the AWESOME pictures. :)

First up, soldier Sean--never breaks attention, not even for a second!

 Playing multiple instruments and running around the entire show:

 

and second, Christian, our Sexy Sax Man, running around like an insane maniac (at parents' night you can shadow the kids--we've all tried it and failed. Those kids sure book it on the field!):

Go Timpview! :)

Home on the Range

This is my favorite song from the boys' Marching Band Show this year:

Happy Birthday Sean! #14

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN!!!

For Sean's birthday we had a scavenger hunt--involved lots and lots and LOTS of goodies, including delicious European TWISTS (yes, we finally found a store here that sells them!). Of course, these gifts didn't come without some effort--each prize came with another clue leading to the next:

 My personal favorite was the narwhal clue--we all got to watch the youtube video about narwhals (newly introduced to me in the past few weeks--um, interesting....)

 The last clue was attached to Sean's baby, Dolly--that was fun. Poor girl thought she was in trouble. 

 Dolly led Sean to the awesome movie--MEGAMIND! :)

and of course, no birthday is complete without a cake--or in this case, cupcakes--this year's theme? Sean's two favorite animals: Narwhals and Penguins!

Four Months!

Can you believe it? Little Heather is FOUR MONTHS OLD! Want to know the best part??? SHE'S COMING TO VISIT IN A MONTH! :)

 Okay, and since I missed posting her three month old picture, here it is--I couldn't pass it up, it was just too cute. :)

Band

 And the boys have both had several wonderful band concerts--I am continually amazed by the talent these kids have! 

Sean's middle school concert blew me away--I played the flute in our middle school band, there were three of us, and the other sections were much bigger, and we really didn't play anything all that exciting. At Sean's concert they had several different bands (beginner to advanced, percussion included--we didn't have ANY percussion... they have an entire section, and an after school percussion ensemble!), they played difficult yet entertaining repetoire, and they even played a QUEEN tribute medly. It was pretty dang awesome:

The next week we attended Christian's Jazz Band Pillow Concert--much different than his usual concerts, very interesting, but quite entertaining as well, and you can tell that the kids really had fun with it. They played songs like the theme from The Incredibles, The Pink Panther, Nacho Libre, etc. Christian played an awesome solo for The Pink Panther (sorry about the sound quality, they were having issues with the sound equipment and the audience was a bit loud):

Now they're done with band!--haha, for like a week, then on to Marching Band! :)

It's been a while...

My word it's been a while since I've posted--not that life at the Houston Household is just that, on the contrary--it's because it's just been so busy! The end of the school year seems to do that... between band concerts and awards nights and Summer band rehearsals and graduation and sewing lessons and dogs and who knows what else, it's been a crazy few weeks...

So, Kellianne did officially graduate from BYU!! 

 And mom made the most beautiful graduation dress for the big event!

 Carolyn's little baby Heather was blessed--also in a Melissa Snow Houston original--gorgeous blessing dress, right?? and the baby isn't half bad either. ;)

 Such a cute little girl!

 Oh, and our sweet little baby Heather (again in a Melissa Snow Houston original from the Summer line) is now three months old--can you believe it?? I can't, she's growing up so fast! Good thing that we FINALLY get to see her this summer! 

ADORABLE!

Two months--it's been a whole two months and we still can't get over how adorable little Heather is. <3

Featured at the Tattered Tag!

One of our Etsy items was featured at the Tattered Tag--now this really made my day!

Check out the link here:

http://thetatteredtag.blogspot.com/2011/03/homespun-market-day-simply-white.html

Stunning White Bridal Peony

[Tinkeranniebelle]

Thanks Christina!

P.S. After our sewing conference last week we are hard at work creating and making lots and lots of wonderful things--check out our Etsy shop soon to see! :)

Making Chocolate Treats

The boys are great helpers--most of the time. ;)

Somehow Kelli got them to assist in making chocolate dipped pretzels for Christmas.

Lots and lots of pretzels...