Cantate Homeschool Choir Spring Performance 2026!

A year ago when Ella was a part of the Cantate Homeschool Choir she was getting ready to perform at the Spring Concert, but then she ended up having a migraine and wasn't able to go. It was so sad. Fast forward to the Fall Session and she wasn't able to join the choir because of her Driver's Ed schedule. Starting in January she joined back up and was thankfully able to perform at the Spring Concert this year! Yay!!! 

The concert was held at the Federal Way Performing Arts Center. They actually had the concert for two nights to accommodate more people. Michael and I were away at his water conference so we couldn't attend the first night. Ga-Ga & Pa and Christina, Anna & Addison came though.  

They sat right down front so they got an awesome view of the stage! 

The second night of the concert she had a bigger crowd...Katie & Ernie and Papa & Miss Ruth. 

And our whole family including Justine were there to listen to the choir sing. 

I didn't even try to find seats on the main floor I went right to the balcony. With as many people as we had I knew it would be hard to find enough seats together. I'm thinking next year I will try though since it would be nice to be closer to the stage. 

This is the whole choir! They are all homeschool kids that range in age from 4 - 19. There are over 200 kids up there! It's crazy how much the choir has grown since Ella first joined.

My sweet girl is right in the middle and on one side of her is Caitlynn and on the other side is June. 

I wanted to get pictures at the Performing Arts Center, but Ella's head was killing her from all the music and singing so we just dashed out of there. Thankfully once there wasn't constant noise around her she wasn't in pain anymore. 

It was so great to hear the choir sing, but it's also nice that we are on break from choir now until it starts back up again in September! 

If you do per chance want to listen to the choir here's the concert link. 

Easter 2026

This was our first Easter in Ga-Ga & Pa's condo. It's been fun figuring out the new routine of things since they've moved. Back at Christmas Pa had us sit at the table with guys on one side and girls on the other and I did not like it so I requested that we sit next to our spouses again. 

The table was set so pretty! 

The "kids" table....it won't be able to be called that much longer! Owen and Caleb sat at the big table with the adults. 

For supper we had smoked ham, roasted ranch potatoes, green salad, roasted corn and rolls. Everything was so yummy. The ham did freak Ga-Ga out since it came out red...she didn't realize that she bought a smoked ham. It tasted great though! 

Jack was enjoying lounging in Pa's new office chair that has a footrest! 

Cuties! 

I love it when Ella curls her hair...it really shows off all her highlights. 

After dinner Ga-Ga & I cleaned up the table and put the food away while Miss Ruth and Christina chatted and did the dishes. 

Michael and Papa had so much time to talk it was so great! 

The weather was so gorgeous so the kids decided to take advantage and went across the street to the park. 

Caleb had brought his spike ball set so they had fun playing that in the grass. 

The girls wanted to go down to the beach, so Justine went down to the beach with them to keep them safe. 

Back at the condo it was time to dive into the desserts. Papa & Miss Ruth got this Carrot Bar Cake from Costco. She decorated the top with dried flowers and made it look so pretty! 

It was also very yummy! I don't think there was any leftover at all. 

Ga-Ga also made pineapple upside down cake per my request. She wasn't happy with how it turned out looks wise, but it sure tasted great! 

Ella brought her curler that Justine got her for Valentine's Day. She curled my hair, but my hair just doesn't hold a curl at all. So she got to work on Addison's hair and it looked amazing! 

Since us girls like to chat about all sorts of things we wanted to have a bit of time to ourselves so we told the guys they should retire to the den. They were so funny they took it really seriously and even shut the door to the office. 

After being outside the kids headed back to the Ga-Ga & Pa's room to play games on the floor. They had just finished playing a game together so Owen and Zeke were having some electronic time. 

Justine really enjoys hanging out with Caleb.

Us ladies had the whole living room area to ourselves and it was lovely! We talked about everything under the sun and had such a nice time. I'm sure we scarred the girls when we were talking about labor and delivery though! :) 

We didn't end up getting a group shot and Christina and I completely forgot to get our selfie picture together! Tragic! 

What isn't tragic is the reason we were gathered together to celebrate. The death of Jesus was tragic for his followers that were present at the cross....they thought it was end of his life, the end of his ministry and the end of a revolution that was just getting started. Early on that Sunday morning when the ladies went to the tomb and found it empty everything changed. Jesus had conquered death, sin and the grave! He laid down His life so He could pick it up again. His blood was poured out to cover our sins that we could never ever atone for on our own. He is the Way the Truth & the Life! Thank you Jesus for the gift of salvation and what a precious gift it is! 

Random Stuff From March 2026

Here's the random stuff from March. 

On Friday, March 13th it snowed!!! 

Right after this picture Jack threw a snowball at Zeke and it got stuck right on his collarbone. The snow was very wet and sticky. Zeke was not happy about it at all!!

It snowed the whole day, but since it was so wet it just kept compressing. It was so pretty watching it fall! It never really did stick to the road either so it didn't inhibit driving at all. 

On Monday, March 16th, Ella had a meeting with our youth pastor and his wife. I decided to stay in the van and just chill. I was playing a game on my phone when I looked up and saw this staring back at me from one of the church windows! I thought it was hilarious so I texted it to Pastor Tim. I think this is the Homeschool Co-op's storage room. Not sure if it was set up intentionally like that or if it was a happy accident...no matter what it was sure funny! 

That same day the pastor's wife, Melody, gave me a loaf of her chocolate sourdough bread with yummy honey butter. This is seriously the best bread I've ever had in my life and the honey butter just makes it even better. I offered the bread to my family begrudgingly, but thank goodness only Jack had a piece and the rest of the loaf was all mine! 

On March 22nd, we had Jack's senior pictures taken. You can see that post here. 

Ella passed her drivers test way back in December, but couldn't actually get her license until she was 16 years old. We had an appt at the DOL to get her license back on February 19th, but when we showed up the DOL was closed for some training. They even confirmed her appt the day before via email so that was a bit frustrating. I did not want to wait outside in the yucky weather for hours to get in so I just got the next available appt which was March 16th. The week after that Ella had worship rehearsal on Tuesday night so she drove all by herself for the very first time. 

 

Off she goes! 

She's still not super motivated to drive, but she has driven to church by herself twice and to a friends house to watch her cat a few times. 

Justine loves Charlie, but the feeling is not mutual...unless Justine has treats then Charlie tolerates him. :)

This is where these two spend most of their time when they are together. They are either watching a show on the tv, watching a show on one of their phones, cuddling or sleeping. 

Now that the basement is finished we have moved onto the master bedroom / bathroom. One of the last things to happen upstairs will be us getting new carpet. Our carpet is 20 years old so it's definitely time...plus the stairs that go into the basement need to be carpeted. We are going to remove all the carpet ourselves and then screw into the joists every 6 inches so the upstairs floors won't squeak anymore. It's going to be a task for sure because that means we basically have to completely move out of the top floor. Thankfully our room is already empty since we moved to the basement, but it's still gonna be a big task! 

We went with Berber carpet which is what we have now. I like a low pile carpet because it's easy to vacuum and it doesn't show wear like typical carpet. We ended up getting a really good deal on this Stainmaster carpet. It's the Emoji style and the color is Post. The normal cost was over $3 per sq ft, but it was on sale for $1.79 per sq ft. The carpet is scheduled to be installed on June 15th & 16th. I'm so excited and can't wait to be finished with all this construction. Of course after the carpet is installed we will have to put everything back in all the rooms. It will be nice for the kids to be really purposeful about what they bring back into their rooms. Let's hope they can do some purging take a bunch of stuff to Value Village. 

Jack's Senior Pictures!

I wanted to get Jack's senior pictures taken in January, but my friend Starr who always takes our pictures was dealing with a lot in her life so we postponed until March. Then once March came the weather was not cooperating with us in time for Starr to be able to take his pictures before her vacation to Europe. Starr ended up reaching out to one of her photography friends to see if she could fit us in and she could! The weather ended up being so nice....a little too sunny, but Sarah worked with it. 

We met on Sunday, March 22nd after church. We decided on Fort Steilacoom Park for the location because Jack wanted trees in the background and I wanted the fun old barns. For outfits Jack brought along 2 flannels, his wool jean jacket and his Ray Ban sunglasses. He also brought his acoustic and his electric guitar for props.  

Sarah brought a stool so he could sit on it and not get wet. We started in this open field area.

I love that she got some artsy shots. The focus on the head of his electric guitar is perfect and I love how green the grass is in the background. 

He switched over to one of his flannels and his acoustic guitar. 

We walked back toward the path to get some pictures with the wooden fence. 

I can't believe I'm going to have two graduates at home and only two in school! 

 

This is one of Jack's favorite shots. 

Some of he barns have been torn down so we used those for some of the backdrops. 

Sarah had Jack stand on the foundation of the old barn and when Zeke saw this picture for the first time he thought Jack was standing on train tracks!

 It can be really hard to get a natural smile out of this guy, but when he does give you one it's gold. 

We made our way over to the barns so he changed his flannel and put his coat back on. 

I don't watch Jack play the guitar that much been when I do I love watching his fingers. It's just so amazing to me when people can play a musical instrument!

That smile just says he knows how cute he is! 

I love how the sun is shining on his face! 

When I was thinking about Jack wearing his sunglasses and wearing his jean jacket this is the picture I was thinking about. His coat thrown over his shoulder! 

Jack loves Tom Cruise movies...his favorites are Mission Impossible and Top Gun. I knew we had to get a picture like this because to me it screams Tom Cruise. I love it...even though Jack thinks it's total cheese. He's just so handsome!!! 

This one is my favorite out of all the pictures though. I love the bright green foliage. I love Jack in the color blue. His sun glasses hanging from his collar, his one hand on the tree and his other in his pocket...it looks so casual and effortless. Also his sweet smile and his happy eyes...love love love! It's just the best! 

Sarah was also going on vacation right after Jack's photo session. She did have time to edit quite a few pictures before leaving. Although, I did end up waiting to order any announcements until she finished editing all the pictures since I knew I would be bummed if there was another picture that I liked more. I'm super happy I did because my favorite picture she took was literally the very last ones.