Solo and Ensemble

Posted in Leah, Molly, Music on January 30th, 2021 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Our girls have participated in the county's Solo & Ensemble Festival most years, but this year's was very different. It was held over Zoom, and it went really well. In the elementary school festival, Leah played great. Thanks to Jen Retterer and Mr. Henley for some great teaching, and Joanne Alme for recording some great accompaniment.

Solo and Ensemble

And here she is playing the song, recorded after the festival.

A week later was the countywide virtual Solo & Ensemble Festival for middle school, and Molly played Concerto in Dm (transcribed from Concerto in A Minor, Op. 3 No. 6 for violin), 1st Movement on viola. Thanks to Margaret Lang for excellent teaching, Ben Denne for great teaching and providing the accompaniment track, and Chris Jenkins of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music for some very helpful feedback.

Solo and Ensemble

Separately from playing for the adjudicator, we recorded her playing the piece for all of you to view here.

Cookie decorating

Posted in Celebrations, Food on December 22nd, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

It was Christmas Cookie Day!

Leah said, "Now I know why people don’t want to eat them. It’s like eating a work of art." She was pretty proud of her cookies.

Cookie decorating

Cookie decorating

Cookie decorating

Cookie decorating

Cookie decorating

Full set of Christmas cookies

Virtual Christmas card

Posted in Trip on December 20th, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

As we neared the end of 2020, we realized we didn’t have many pictures from this year. We usually take a lot of pictures on trips or at special events and activities. This year didn’t have many of those. We thought about doing an outdoor photoshoot as we’ve sometimes done, but none of us were into the idea. Then Jen said “we could just take pictures with your green screen”, and a huge, fun project was born. I present to you The Sellers 2020 Virtual Vacations.

First, our virtual beach vacation.

Virtual Beach vacation

And also a snowy winter vacation.

Virtual snow play

Into the woods. Could we have just gone into the woods to take this picture, rather than using the green screen - perhaps.

Into the woods

A bit more extreme - we visited the pyramids.

Visiting the pyramids

Then we headed out of this world to the International Space Station.

ISS visit

And finally, we traveled back in time to offer some Christmas presents to baby Jesus.

Visiting the Manger

And here's a behind-the-scenes shot.

Virtual Christmas card

Leah’s 11th birthday party

Posted in Celebrations, Leah on September 12th, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Leah turns 11 this week. That should have meant her big Harry Potter party, but we all agreed that was a bad idea with the pandemic. So we delayed it till next year. After all, with a September birthday, she wouldn't actually start at Hogwarts till next year anyway. But things have calmed down enough that we decided a small, outdoor gathering was OK. Leah had 3 friends over for some fun on the back porch. They played a couple games (Telestrations and Uno Attack), decorated cupcakes, ate cupcakes and ice cream, opened presents, and did some rather slow grass sledding. Leah said it was great!

Leah's 11th birthday party

Leah's 11th birthday party

Leah's 11th birthday party

Cupcake decorating

Cupcake decorating

Cupcake decorating

Cupcake decorating

Cupcake decorating

Cupcakes

Cupcakes

Squishmallow

Cat ears

Cat card

Presents

Grass sledding

Grass sledding

Birthday cookies for Leah

First day of virtual school

Posted in School on September 8th, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

It's the first day of 8th and 5th grade for the girls. School is virtual, but a lot more than what they were getting back in the spring.

First day of 8th grade

First day of 5th grade

Happy birthday Grams and Caroline

Posted in Celebrations, Food on June 28th, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

We had our first socially-distant family gathering to celebrate Beth and Caroline's birthdays today. Jen made her first Smith Island Cake. It only took living in Maryland for 17 years for her to bake the official state dessert. It got thumbs up all around!

Happy birthday Grams and Caroline

Smith Island Cake

Happy birthday Grams and Caroline

Happy 40th birthday Jen

Posted in Celebrations on May 24th, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Jen turned 40!

Jen's neighborhood friends snuck in our yard under cover of night to put a birthday sign up for her 40th birthday.

Yard sign from friends

The girls made Jen a birthday banner.

Birthday banner

Jen made herself a fruit tart for her 40th birthday.

Fruit tart

I surprised Jen this morning with a video of many of our friends and family singing to her. She watched it over and over.

Virtual birthday chorus

and you can too:



Opening presents

Opening presents

Air fryer

Candles

Praise From Home – Way Maker

Posted in Music on May 4th, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

In this week's Praise From Home, Jen finally joins the band for Way Maker. Pay close attention to Jen's shirt (though Molly's shirt and my shirt are also appropriate for today).

Goodbye Betty

Posted in Uncategorized on May 1st, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Yesterday, my step-grandmother, Betty, died. She was a lovely lady and a joy to have around. I have lots of great memories of her and Grandaddy. I thought maybe a trip down memory lane was in order, so here are a few of my favorite memories of her.

Grandaddy and Betty got married in 2004, a couple years after Jen and I did.

Cake cutting

Betty and Grandaddy came up to Maryland for Molly’s baptism. This was likely the first time she sang to one of my children, but certainly not the last. She loved to sing, especially to little babies. (Apologies to Caroline for including this picture :) )

Betty singing

And here’s a similar picture from 3 years later. Betty sang to Leah for quite a while, and Leah stared at her the entire time.

Singing Betty

Probably my favorite memory of her was from our family trip to Savannah in 2009. We were there for the 4th of July (as usual), which meant we celebrated my dad’s birthday there (July 2). We actually drove down that day, and Betty was great and made her highly regarded pound cake to celebrate.

Birthday cake

Unfortunately, she accidentally grabbed the green food coloring instead of the vanilla when making it, so it had an interesting color. Tasted great, though. We still talk about that green pound cake in our family to this day.

Green cake

Betty brought a lot of joy to Grandaddy's life, and for that I will forever be grateful.

Grandaddy and Betty

Grandaddy and Betty

Praise From Home – Unstoppable God

Posted in Leah, Molly, Music on April 26th, 2020 by c-had – Be the first to comment

In this week's installment of Praise From Home, Leah takes the lead with a song of her choice - Unstoppable God. And this is as close as we’re going to get to having 3 kids.