I'm Back

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I last updated my blog. Having your main computer crash puts you really behind! Since my last entry we have been busy. Madalyn & Victoria both celebrated birthdays. Alex spent a wonderful week with the Deer boys. We enjoyed our first weekend at the cottage. I took Madalyn's troop horse back riding, which she absolutely loved!! Today we even made it to the pool, we were one of the few families this morning as the kids kept having to get out due to thunder & rain. But the adults sat in the shelter, drinks in hand, and had a good time.

This is such an exciting time...the new releases made it to the store this week and I have been able to play a little bit. I had not scrapped in two weeks and then did 4 layouts & 1 card in two days (that's really good for me :) Hoping to work on a few more things this weekend. I can't believe CHA is only a couple of weeks away. Woo Hoo, cannot wait to be there. The downside...the summer is FLYING by...in just about 6 weeks we will be back at school.

June 15th Sketch

The June15th Sketch is loaded at Sketchabilities....check out the great designs the team came up with this month. Keep an eye out in July, there will be a contest you could win!! Here is my sketch:

She Made the A Team Again!!! & Last Day of School

Well, after a week of waiting we got the congratulations email today stating that Victoria is on the A soccer team again. She is floating around somewhere in the clouds today!

Finally...the last day of school. With that brought some recognitions...Victoria and only one other person in her class made the all A honor roll for all 4 quarters, Victoria scored 4th in National Geography Challenge they participated in (pretty good considering it's her least favorite subject), band award, she scored in the 95% for the mile run....all around a good day for her. Alex and Madalyn did well too. Alex ended up with all A, except one B+ for the year and Madalyn was all A's and 2 B's and also scored in the 95% for her age in the mile run.....so with a little summer review, they will be all set for next year :)

CHA New Release-Scrappin' Sports & More

I am so excited for the 4 new releases from Scrappin' Sports & More for summer CHA. These pages & coordinating cardstock stickers are AMAZING!!!!! The new themes include Young & Active seasons..Spring(kites, garden, rain), Summer (butterflies, daisy, fireflies, frozen treats, summer camp, watermelon, strawberries), Fall (leaves, pumpkin, harvest), Winter (snowmen, hot chocolate, snow angles); a fresh new girls sports line (fun new colors with Glitter!!); a new defining school line (preschool-senior, bold & bright) and a classic sports line with a twist (reflections...truly AMAZING). If you can't wait to see them yourself, click on this link, you won't be disappointed!

http://scrappinsports.biz/Summer2008/CHASummer/Summer08.html

The new product should be available in stores the first part of July, so start your wish lists today!!!!

On another note, I made this collage of pictures for one of the girls on Victoria's soccer team who is moving this summer. It wouldn't all fit on my scanner, and I left it in the glass, but you get the idea. It is a 16x12 picture frame. I put the girls name in white before printing the pictures. Hope she likes it!! Victoria wants one for her room, so I need to get to Hobby Lobby this week while the frames on half off.

Another Busy Weekend

Where do the days go??? On Friday, the girls and I, headed down to NB to see my niece at her dance recital. We stayed a little late to visit, which was good, because if we hadn't we would have come back to town just in time for the tornado sirens to be set off. Luckily no major damage in town and the one tornado that "touched down" at the airport was unconfirmed. Still a bit scary to have them go off two weeks in a row.

It was a BIG day for Victoria on Friday. Mark and I gave her an early birthday present, a cell phone with unlimited text, it is also a MP3 player. She sent several hundred this weekend already!!! The good thing for us....she does anything we ask without complaint, she doesn't want to loose that phone for even a day.

Saturday was a bit more laid back. Mark and Alex had a cub scout car wash. Victoria went along, but spent the entire time texting me! After that, it was off to the pool for a couple of hours. Then, Mark & I, went out to eat with friends. A new Indian restaurant opened in town and Mark was dying to try it out. He ordered goat!!! No way am I eating goat.

Sunday, Mark & Victoria served at 10:00 mass then we all went out to eat. Afterwards we headed up to the Cathedral in Toledo, where Maddie received her Family of God award (girl scouts). It was HOT, MUGGY....so Mark took the kids off to the pool and I spent a couple of hours at home scrapbooking. Yeah :)

Almost forgot...I got the latest issue of Stamping, Stationery & Scrapbooking in the mail on Saturday. They published a soccer layout that I created for Scrappin' Sports & More. The original request was for 3 of my layouts, but only 1 made the final cut :(

The End of the Season

Well, soccer is finally over for Victoria. She finished last night in a 4-0 win. They started their season with 2 league losses, followed by 8 league wins & two Championship trophies in the tournaments they entered. All together, they were 17-2. A great season!!

I just saw yesterday that the June on-line magazine at Scrapbooking.com is now available. I had two items in this issue, one card and one layout, both using Scrappin' Sports & More papers. Another DT member for Scrappin' Sports, Tracy, had 3 baseball layouts in this magazine issue. GO SS&M!!! You can it out here: http://scrapbooking.com/article/41349

May 31st Sketchabilities

Here is my take on the May 31st sketch at Sketch-abilites. It really had me thinking for awhile, but I finally decided to simplify the sketch to meet my layout. I guess that's what it's all about. These are pictures from Victoria's first time babysitting. We had Nolan Deer at our house for a few hours, he was only a couple of months old, and oh so cute :) I had to fight her to hold him, just so she could eat her dinner. As you can see, she didn't even put him down for his nap. You can check out the other interpretations online at http://sketchabilities.wordpress.com/

On another note, today is the last soccer game until September. Victoria is a bit bummed, she has thoroughly enjoyed being part of this team. They had a great season and as of today are 7-2-0 in their league, with 2 tournament championships!! She scored again in yesterdays game, but no picture. The ref was talking to me making sure I wasn't going to "coach" the girls from the end of the field and two seconds lately she dinked one in and I missed the shot (with the camera, I did get to see the goal.) Maybe today will be my lucky day :)

On another note, we decided to join the Lakeview pool today. It's not the cheapest summer fun, but all their friends are members and with our neighbors gone :( we need some playmates. So, even though I am not a pool person, I guess I'll be spending a lot of time there this summer. Hope you all have a great Sunday! Spend some time with your family today :)

Too busy to blog :)

This past week has just flown by for me. We left right after school last Friday for South Bend, IN where Victoria played in a soccer tournament. She played two games Saturday, two games Sunday & the championship game on Monday. Her team ended up 5-0-0, outscoring their opponents 15-2. It really should have been 15-0 as the team that scored were blatantly off-sides with no calls. The refs at some of the games were not the best! We had one lady, who called everything the other coach yelled at her. She subbed in players at the wrong time. Her worst call was when one of the players on the other team went down in the box. After the girl left the field she did a drop ball right in front of our goal. Let's just say, she probably won't be a ref for too long. Victoria did score two goals and had a blast with her friends. She had a game last night, which they won, and two more this weekend. Then soccer is over until the fall, she is really bummed about it. Hopefully, we'll make the A team again next year! Try-outs are next week, so we should know soon.

We did make a quick trip to the Notre Dame campus while we were in town. That's us, the wee little people in front of the dome. Mark, Alex and Maddie also took a quick trip to the zoo on Saturday. All in all, it was a great weekend, just a long one. We stopped off in Michigan to say hello to my parents on Monday, so it was 6:00 before we got back to Findlay.

Today, we are heading for Kalahari water park right after school lets out. Victoria's girl scout troop is going, so Mark and the kids decided to come along too. They've expanded since the last time we were there, so it should be lots of fun!

My New Toy :)

Mark decided to upgrade our camera, so he bought me the Canon EOS 40D SLR Digital Camera. He also bought a Tamron lens with vibration compensation, so hopefully I won't get blurred images. The camera has gotten Excellent reviews by both professionals and hobbyists. I'm hoping it's gonna help me get those perfect sports photos. It can shoot 6.5 frames per second, so as long as I'm not cheering and remember to lift the camera, I just may get Victoria kicking in a goal. I cannot wait to try it out this weekend at tournaments!

A couple more things to share

Today was the reveal of the first sketch the design team did at Sketch-abilities. If you have a chance go check it out. The sketches really make you think outside the box. Lots of Fun! I also created another layout for SSM Design Team. I wanted to do something special to highlight Madalyn's First Communion. I used the amazing new Defining Prom paper...if you don't have it you'll want to get it, so versatile, so very cool!

SSM Design Team Layout

One of our challenges this month for the Scrappin' Sports Design Team was to participate in the Page Maps 2nd anniversary challenge. Here is my take using the brand new, fabulous, defining dance and recital papers. Okay...back to work :)

Soccer is taking over my life :)

I don't think I've done much this last week, besides watch soccer. Victoria had 4 practices last week and two games. Alex and Madalyn both 2 practices each and one game. Doesn't leave time for much else it seems. Alex and Madalyn both lost their games, but Victoria's team won another league game on Saturday. On Sunday morning at 8:00 am, Victoria played in a tournament in Sidney. It had rained several inches between Friday and Sunday and the fields were a mess! There was no grass in the goalie box at all. She had mud EVERYWHERE...her face, hair, legs, shoes, shin pads, jersey...you name it...it was muddy. She thought it was GREAT! Here team was robbed of a couple of goals, because the ball made a dead stop at the goal line in the mud.

Madalyn and I did spend Friday night with the 14 other girls in her troop at the Holiday Inn for a pizza/swim party. This was one of the two things the girls voted to spend their cookie money on...the other....horse back riding....need to plan that for this summer.

Didn't get to spend too much time scrappin this past week. I did complete a card and a layout for Sketch-abilities ( will be posted on the 15th) and have two projects on my desk for Scrappin' Sports...just waiting for the finishing touches. Guess I should get busy :)

Page Plans Weekly Sketch

I finally had time to try out Page Plans sketch of the week. If you haven't been to their site, you should check them out...lots of fun inspiration over there. Here is my take...pictures from the Father Daughter Dance earlier this year.

NSD-Sketchabilities Sketch

I didn't get much scrappin' done this weekend, but I was able to complete this layout with the fun sketch at sketchabilities. When I first saw the sketch, I immediately thought it looked like sunshine. So I found a couple of fun pictures of Madalyn and went to town.

Special Day

Today Madalyn celebrated First Holy Communion. I have always been so impressed with the great job they do at St. Michael's. Every student has a part in the service, as well as the processional. Madalyn was chosen as part of the One Bread One Body celebration. She would hold up the box with all the students prayers for First Communion, during the "And we though many, through out the earth" part of the song. They do the refrain 4 times, so they slowly make their way up the center isle. It is really an honor to be chosen. They also have the second grade re-do "First" Communion at Friday's all school mass. It's great because they are a little less nervous the second time around. Anyway, it was a great day, spent with family and my dear friend Katherine.