She Made The A Team!!!

Victoria tried out for travel soccer on Sunday. She was just hoping to make the B team. They told her she would find out if she made one of the 2 teams within the next 24 hours. Well, Monday came and went...Tuesday came and went...no call. Let's just say she was getting a little depressed. When I got home from work today there was a message on the answering machine to call about her try-out results. When I called she said, if Victoria is still interested, we would like to have her play on the A team. I'm sorry what did you say...A team. WOW!!! Many of these girls have been playing travel soccer since 7-8 years old, and indoor soccer between seasons. Proud Mom moment today :) Remind me I just said that when I'm driving all over the place to her games, meanwhile missing Maddie & Alex's games.

The Summer is Shrinking

Yes, another school cancellation, which brings us to seven. We now have two make-up days, June 9 & 10th. With school starting early next year (in August), the summer holiday is getting shorter. On the bright side, the kids had a great day off. We had the kind of snow that packs well and so Madalyn, Alex & Mark spent a couple of hours outside building snowmen. I think it's the first snowman of the season. Hope you all had a great Tuesday

Some Randon Pictures

Alex's winning photo.

Proud moment, especially since he found out he won $40.
Anna celebrating her 1st Birthday.

I promised my sister I would post Alex's winning photo from the Contest a few weeks. He took it after we had freezing rain and a school cancellation. Also included is the Father Daughter picture from earlier this month. It's hard to believe that this is Victoria's seventh and probably last girl scout dance. Where does the time go?

Not much happening around here. I got to spend the day with my sisters & nieces on Saturday, which was very nice. We picked my niece Maria up at college and then spent the day shopping. I also got to spend time with Anna, who just turned one the end of January. It seems like she was just born a couple of months ago.

I've been trying to work on a scrapbook for someone else this week. I was able to get 7 pages done so far. Maybe tomorrow night I will try and work on something for Scrappin' Sports. I got my box of goodies today, which included some great adhesive from Helmar. Thanks again, Tracy for thinking of the design team.

Change

Today I decided it was time for a change, so I let my stylist be creative on my hair. It is much blonder than I thought it would be...but I really like the cut. She wanted to cut it like Victoria Beckum, but I couldn't go quite that short in the back. My kids, well they didn't share my feelings on the new style...here's what I heard today...Victoria..Is your hair white?, Madalyn...I guess it looks okay....and Alex...It looks dumb. I mean it really looks stupid. I'm just telling the truth....it looks really stupid. (repeat about 8 more times) Alex does not like change and that includes Mom's hair. I did get an apology tonight at bedtime from Alex..he was feeling a bad for what he said.

On another note tonight was the boy scout Blue & Gold banquet...it was nice, but a little long @ 2 1/2 hours. Alex was excited to receive his Wolf badge. Mark was sporting his new official den leader shirt. It's good that the two of them are involved in something together. Tomorrow it's time to gear up for the pine wood derby and get started on Alex's car.

Last night I finally took a scrapbook class led by my friend Andrea. I have been telling her for months now that I wanted to take a class, but kid activities always seem to get in the way. She is such a talented teacher/designer, so very creative. I really enjoyed the class and it was great to see her again.

Family Weekend

For once, we didn't have a lot going on this weekend and spent most of it together...just the five of us. Victoria played her last basketball game of the season, let's just say the first game of tournaments did not go well. We had 19 team fouls and they had 6...hmmm...not pretty. We went out to eat at Pizza Hut afterward, using some of those book it coupons, then home to spend some time outside. As you can see from the pictures, the kids played soccer in the snow. We took the shovels and cleared some grass so it wasn't quite so hard to run around. Victoria was trying to practice for travel try-outs next Sunday. Saturday night was spent at the YMCA and then family movie time. On Sunday, we went to the movies. Mark, Alex & Victoria saw the Spiderwick Cronicles & Madddie & I watched Hannah Montana. Maddie was so excited :) I'm not so sure it was worth $18 a ticket, but Maddie was excited to tell her classmates that she went...the price we pay to make them happy. When we came out of the movies, the sun was shinning and the temperature was pleasant. The kids played soccer, basketball & football. The girls & I walked down to Kroger to buy food to grill out. It was a pleasant day, altogether. Hope you all had a great weekend too.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

Wow, another week gone by, way too fast. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day. I took the kids out for a little shopping & dinner, since my hubby was out of town. The perfect Valentines gifts...clone troopers, barbie & electronic suduko. Who knew :) It was a good day and for that I am thankful...no fighting...just enjoying spending time together. I love these days. I'm hoping to get a little scrapbooking done this weekend. Not much going on besides Basketball Tournaments. Above is a quick layout I did with pictures of Victoria winning the Park Districts Photography contest last year.

Counting My Blessings

We had a very busy weekend, with dances, basketball games, birthday parties..... It seems strange that after what has happened again to our town, that we get to go about life as if nothing happened. We are so fortunate, so blessed. Not so for some of those in our town. The gas company has turned off their gas due to the flood and the temperature has bottomed out. They will not turn the gas back on until they can have it inspected and prove it is safe. We had a high today of just 12 degrees F, a low tonight of -3 F is predicted. But the wind is what is making it miserable outside, we are experiencing 20-30 mph winds bringing the wind chill down to -10 to -15 degrees F. So, hug your family and thank God for all you blessings, and say a pray for those less fortunate.

On a brighter note, we had a great weekend. Victoria won her basketball game, the Father Daughter Dance was a big success, Alex got First Place in a photography contest, I got to go on a "date" with my son, we all got to visit with my entire family today to celebrate 3 birthdays. Life is good....we are blessed.

One last thing, here is a layout totally inspired by my friend, Carrie. I broke out the buttons, even added to my stash, and came up with this layout of my kiddo's from a few years back.

The Flood Waters Receed

Today the kids are once again out of school as the flood waters start to receed. Some of the major roads are beginning to open as the river has gone down a couple of feet. It will take until late tonight to get back down below major flood stage. The river crested 5.7 feet about flood stage, the 5th worst flood on record. It seems some of the business that were hit hard in August, were spared this time, but the loss in sales from having to be shut down a couple of days is still hitting them hard. This was the 7th major flood in the past 14 months...not sure how some people are going to make it through this time. Some residents have only been back in their homes a few weeks, since the flood in August, just replacing furnaces and hot water heaters. Many of these people are living day to day as is....hopefully we can come together as a community and help these people. A task force has been formed to address the issues facing our town, something needs to be done soon!!!!

And the rains came....

Well, once again we are facing city wide flooding. School was dismissed 1 1/2 hours early today and is already cancelled tomorrow. We are under a level 3 road emergency, meaning the police can hand out tickets if you are out and about for non-emergency reasons. The river is not due to crest until 7 am tomorrow. The kids are excited about no school, but any more days off and we have to start making up days. Really feeling bad for those people who just got back into their homes from the August flood, only to have to face the rising waters again. I'm not a snow person, but I would take a foot of snow over these damaging flood waters. My heart aches for those in trouble tonight.

Dreary Monday

One of the things I never get used to living in Ohio, is the dreary long winter days. It was foggy and rainy all day...makes me long for spring time. I miss being outside. I miss the kids being outside :) Trying to work on putting pictures on class layouts I took over 4 years ago!!! Here are a couple I finished the last couple of days...not much to look at, but at least I can say they are done.

Scrappin' Sports & More

I am so proud to be on the design team at Scrappin' Sports & More. Such a wonderful company to work for...so generous :) Each new release has been Amazing..such talented designers. Here are some of the pages I worked on with the latest CHA releases.

Harmlem Globetrotters

We had a great time Friday night watching the Harlem Globetrotters. They had a special program for the scouts before the game. A couple of our girls were part of the special circle before the game. We also got to go down and take pictures with the players. If they are ever in a town near you, I would recommend going to the game. We all had a blast. Lots of laughs :)