Along for the Ride

Chat Weekend Layouts

it's been a busy weekend. as most are in the month of may i suppose. with all the end of the year stuff and all. we spend our weekends at driver's ed (gulp), swim practice, youth events, church, soccer games, play dates, play practice and doing laundry. which isn't an event per se, but it sure takes up a lot of my time!

this weekend was also the all day chat at designer digitals. i was lucky enough to host a chat as well as to get a few layouts done. and they use photos from mother's day. how's that for current grandmas?? all pages can be seen here if you are having trouble reading them.

my new favorite photo. i've taken to telling the kids on every holiday that they need to pose for me. as a gift. it's worked well! i got great individual shots on valentine's day and more than one good group shot on mother's day. i'm going to start pulling out random obscure holidays like national cheeseburger day or something so i can keep getting good pics!

also a shot taken on mother's day. the page is a total scraplift of this one. no credit for the design of it but i will take credit for the photo and 1/2 credit for the cute kid.

keeping with the mother's day theme, this tells the story of my spa day. i hate the photo of myself, but of course, the girls thought i looked beautiful with my hair combed out and pulled back off my face. funny, i have several favorite photos of my mom and she isn't wearing any makeup in them and doesn't like them....but yet they are faves of mine. too bad we can't see ourselves as others do.

this was for an itunes challenge. not a recent photo but i love it. i made the swirls match her lipstick. hee!

in my spare time, i also created a 28 page retirement album for my yoga instructor this past week. i am pleased with how it turned out and hopefully there aren't too many mistakes. everyone sent thank you notes and photos and i compiled it all. we're giving it to her tomorrow night. i think she will love it.

i was hoping to update the blog banner tonight but i need a garden photo i think. it's 9:30 pm and raining. so that will have to wait until tomorrow. but hopefully this update appeases the family (and mel)

cheers!

 

Latest Layout

for the saturday scraplift at designer digitals. had to lift this layout by phylis.

supplies are here.

Various

random recent sb pages. because i'm getting chastised for my lack of updates (rightly so i might add....)

did this one for an all about me challenge to talk about your home. click on it for a larger view.

the tradition must be observed.

this is a template that i doctored too much. i really don't like the colors on this one but haven't gotten around to changing it.

zo was so excited to find this lucky clover. very cute.

another one to add to the play album for tori. these costumes were so much fun. delaney was a toucan, but i have no clue was animal tori was supposed to be. it didn't matter, she loved the costume anyway.

it's may and that means the end of the year is fast approaching and the kids have lots of activities. we've survived the 6th grade play but tori starts little shop of horrors next week and the girls are both in the church production this weekend ("are we there yet?" the tale of the exodus).

spring swim has started but tori hasn't decided if she's going to do it or not. it would keep her pretty busy alternating nights with play practice. we have to figure that out soon i think.

there will be choir, orchestra and band concerts for the older two as well as lots of field trips. tori went to a kane county cougars game today and has at least 4 more field trips between now and the end of the year. i'm going to a play with zoe's class on friday.

connor and chris went on a boy scout camp out this past weekend and did a 20 mile hike. they both survived. one a bit better than the other. i'll let you guess which one.....

connor is still doing weight lifting and now needs new shirts. today he maxed his bench out again at 245. the kid is a bit ridiculous in how strong he is. and did i mention the fact that his chest is now to big for his clothes??  sigh. oh, and he's officially taller than me. 5'9" as of 2 weeks ago. he's geeked about it. of course all his working out has lead to some back issues and when he's not working out, he's at the chiropractor. we hope to get him back to his greco wrestling soon but he's fighting another skin issue. not sure what it is but he can't wrestle until we clear it up. he keeps busy on the weekends with driver's ed and will have a permit soon. scary!

that's about it. chris is traveling every other week or so. work seems to be going well. i am ramping up for the big garden plot again. i've already got a salad garden at home and onions, kohlrabi and radishes out at the plot. hopefully the weather (which has been rain, rain and more rain) for weeks will cooperate this week so i can plant potatoes. never grown potatoes before. should be interesting.

Where Was I

oh yeah, still trying to figure out the computer schedule. you  know, i should just post blog posts as soon as the kids leave for school. because thinking i'll actually be able to use my computer once they are home is sheer folly.

so, chris and i celebrated 19 years of wedded-ness. more bliss than not but ALL bliss. ;) we celebrated with a skor bar (me) and a peanut butter cup egg (him). that's love for ya! actually, after scouts (and play practice and weight lifting) we also enjoyed a lemon pie. heh.

i've done a few pages, but i'm behind in that as well. but that's ok, as long as i keep telling one story at a time. they won't all get told, but there will be so many more recorded that if i didn't scrap. and that is worth something.

this one was for the itunes challenge. photo from january when connor won conference.

tori sang with her dad at the i-witness service at church. it was really cool to see her up there. click to read or go here.

tori was trying out for another show (seussical is done, the reluctant dragon will be over in a week) and since we've cut off all her hair and she's gotten glasses since her last auditions, we decided new headshots were in order. the big photo is the one i talked her in to. her glasses are cute but hide too much of her eyes.

so this audition was for little shop of horrors (which ironically is being performed at our high school next weekend). and the age range was 12-19. tori was barely old enough. i told her it would not be easy and she should expect ensemble if anything. it took us awhile to settle on music. the goal is to show off your voice but also to do something in a similar genre to the show. well, hairspray is the only other 50s style show that i know. and that has been done recently (i have this crazy idea that you should not use something that has recently been done...no clue if it matters). so i made her watch west side story. of course she sobbed at the end and then was mad at me for making her watch it. :) then we watched auntie mame. mostly because i love it. thought there might be a monologue in it but there really wasn't. finally, i hit upon the ingenious idea to google monologues. i know....i'm brilliant! that led us to "please don't let me be normal" from the fantasticks. the girl is NUTS....tori loved the monologue from her first reading. and she was really quite good at kooky!

This morning a bird woke me up. It was a lark, or a peacock; something like that. So I said hello. And it vanished, flew away, the very moment I said hello! It was quite mysterious. So do you know what I did? I went to my mirror and brushed my hair two hundred times, without stopping. And as i was brushing it, my hair turned mauve. No, honestly! Mauve! Then red. then some sort of a deep blue when the sun hit it.... I'm sixteen years old, and every day something happens to me. i don't know what to make of it. When i get up in the morning and get dressed, I can tell...some thing's different. I like to touch my eyelids, because they're never quite the same. oh, oh, oh! I hug myself till my arms turn blue,      then I close my eyes and cry and cry till the tears come down and I can taste them. I love to taste my tears. I am special. I am special! Please god, please, don't let me be normal!

after finding the monologue, we still had to figure out music. her girlfriend katie from seussical actually suggested a couple abba songs. tori wanted dancing queen. so that's what we did! of course, when the audition actually happened, she spaced out on the words for the last 4 measures....sigh. but what can you do? her monologue went great (and they laughed!) but afterwards she was not asked to dance. she was so upset. she just knew she was "doomed" (her word). but two days later, the "congrats!" texts started showing up. she got a part!! she is especially excited because she has a name. she is jackie. and ensemble, and a puppeteer....but she's got a name! and about 8-9 of her friends from seussical also made the cast. should be a fun show. there were 17 kids on sunday that tried out. there were also try outs on monday and they only took 23 kids. so she was great. very proud of her!

of course this means the spring schedule is even more insane than just the regular ohmygoshtheschoolyearisalmostdonebettermakesurewehaveeveryeventwecanpossibly

thinkoftoimpresstheparents spring schedule. whee!

Before and After

now that seussical is over, tori was finally able to cut her hair so we hit the salon this past week. the 9" we cut off will be donated to pantene beautiful lengths. zo was desperately wanting her haircut as well. it was time for her to look like kit again.

BEFORE

i am beginning to regret not getting the anti glare lenses for tori's glasses....sigh.

AFTER

much better on both counts i think. and here's a page i was messing with that this photo just happened to work with:

all supplies and yummy blendiness can be found here.

 

Blink...again

all of a sudden it's been 2 weeks since a post. sheesh!

let's see, um, connor turned 15. that was a big deal. he's already gotten himself signed up for driver's ed. i'll let you all know when he's on the roads so you can stay home. his big gifts (other than cash...thank you family) were neocubes, this knife (ew), and soon to be this phone (has to wait until the end of the month to get it.) all in all, a pretty good haul. here's the first page of his birthday festivities (i still have to scrap the peep bouquet that i made him)

journaling: March 7, 2011 saw you turning 15. I try not to think about it too much, it tends to leave me a bit stunned that you are that old. There are times when you act well beyond your years but there are still times when you act like a total kid. Thanks for the goofy pose Connor. It makes it a bit easier to look at this photo with all those candles. For the record, you totally enjoyed the New York cheesecake with toffee bits and drizzled chocolate and caramel sauces. Happy Birthday!

and then there was the fresh/soph wrestling tournament.

journaling: I know that the state tournament did not go the way you had hoped. The first guy you faced looked like he’d be an easy win for you. That was not the case at all and he pinned you in the 2nd period. The second guy from Mattoon was  just too strong. You couldn’t get any leverage. Couldn’t score any points and you ended up losing 4-1. You were so  disappointed. But you made it to state as a freshmen and next year you’ll be better. And just like this year, your Dad will be in your corner. No matter how you do, win or lose, he is always there for you. Supporting you, cheering you on, consoling you. And that may not be as good as winning on the mat, but it’s still pretty awesome.

while tori stayed with a friend, the rest of us at least were able to enjoy the hotel stay, pool and eating out. unfortunately the tournament did not go well for connor, but i expect he'll do better next year and all the experience certainly doesn't hurt. he's now moved on to greco/roman wrestling and will be participating in his first tournament this weekend. he's a two sport athlete but those 2 sports encompass all 12 months of the year.

then there was st. patrick's day:

 

journaling: I don’t think anyone could look at these photos and not believe that we are the luckiest parents to have you in our lives. There is just so much life in you.  So much love and happiness and silliness. We just look at photos of you sometimes and are in awe that you are ours. I don’t think incredibly lucky even covers it.

tori had pigtails with neon green ends, connor wore a green t-shirt and zoe went with the hat and green pants. but it's always easier to get the youngest one to pose.

in addition, we've had 2 band concerts (connor), a band concert from the college of wooster symphonic band as well as 2 of the members bunking at our house for a night, the wrestling banquet (connor was the only varsity kid who didn't get his letter...sigh. not enough points), an orchestra concert (tori), 2 potlucks, 5 hair cuts (the dog is next) and mountains of laundry.

more updates soon but my son is clamouring for the computer. not only is my life no longer my own...but my computer isn't either!

Weekend Update:dancing with a broken bone and a champion

as if having to do ringlets every weekend and then turning around to go to singlet events wasn't enough, tori had to throw in a trip to the ER this past saturday. here's the page i did (with grainy cell phone photos).

it reads: The story actually starts on Friday night at church. Where you and Miriam decided to spin around holding hands behind your back. Not one of your brighter ideas but all done in good fun. Trouble was you got going too fast and when you fell, your right wrist did not land right. So we iced it, wrapped it in an ace bandage, gave you some motrin and put you to bed. On Saturday, it was sore but you could still move it so we did your hair and make up for Seussical, went through dance moves to figure out if there were things you’d have to change while on stage, and went to the theater. After all, the show must go on! And although I wasn't’ there, I heard you were great. No one knew how much your arm hurt. But after the show, you were miserable. So we went to the doctor who sent us to the ER for x-rays. It was your first time in the ER . After a few tears of anxiety (your first tears since falling) you were fine and laughed out loud when you realized there was a Green Eggs and Ham book in the room. Then you made me read it to you...although you sang most of it. You also tried to draw left handed when you weren’t getting x-rays or your temporary cast. Not exactly how we planned the day to go, but I was very proud of you Tori. You were very brave.  Love U!

the follow up to the weekend story was a trip to the pediatric othopedaeic surgeon on monday. another x-ray was taken and the doctor could not see the break as her growth plates are not fused and make x-rays difficult to read. so she was given a removable splint and is out of gym for 2 weeks. she goes back on the 21st for another x-ray. if they see healing bone, then she had a fracture. if not, it was probably a sprain. at this point, she still can't bend it so i'm leaning towards a small fracture but at least she can write, shower and tie her own shoes and perform again on saturday without the brace.

and then, on sunday, we hung out with connor at hinsdale south high school and watched him win 1st place at sectionals and punch his ticket for the state tournament this weekend.

connor wrestled his best tournament to date. his first match was easy. the guy was bigger than he was but connor manhandled him. he was winning 11-5 when he pinned the kid. his second match was against the kid that beat him last week at regionals. connor did not wrestle him well but he still knew the match would be tough. this week, he prevailed 6-4. Derick ended up not making the cut to go to state (which connor was grateful for as he was a tough opponent...they were evenly matched). his final  match of the night was for 1st. even if he had lost, he was still going to state. but he didn't. he has wrestled this kid 4 times this season. connor won the first, anthony won the next two (both by pins when connor tried a headlock and anthony rolled him) and today, it was connor's turn to win again. anthony is 6'2" but once they are down on the mat, that doesn't really matter. it was a good match and i hope they both do well in springfield.

the best part of the day was connor's smile at the end of the match (which i was too busy to get a photo of). he was very proud of himself and thought a ticket to state was a great birthday present to give himself. i totally agree. :)

 

A Love Affair

i love anna.

and i don't just mean her killer products either. she's just so darn cool. we spent a good amount of time chatting in vegas and it cemented my opinion of her even more. she's one in a million.

one of her unique talents is making digital scrapbook products that make me look like a genius. i love her stuff. here are a couple page i made yesterday using her new products that i absolutely love.

and i had to use my blog post title for a page as well:

supplies are here.

Singlets and Ringlets

it's my life on the weekends these days.

last weekend was the regional wrestling tournament for fresh/soph state. and it was tori's opening weekend for seussical, jr.

singlets and ringlets.

chris was out of town all week (which was tech week for the show....20 hours of rehearsal for t plus lots of hours of hair and makeup for me) and was home for about 4 hours on friday. long enough to unpack his business stuff and repack for the church men's retreat.

woot.

oh, and i ended up coming down with the cold that the boys had been passing around for a week. hence the tardiness of this blog update.

double woot.

saturday morning was the opening show. zo and i went to see tori. it was so cute. the kids did a really great job. i even managed to get a few photos!

singing her one line solo

she had to change costumes 7 times. she had 3 costumes (the 3rd one was all black for the fish scene which was under black lights....yeah, those pictures didn't turn out)

the who citizens...and the grinch. apparently he's a citizen too.

she loves this dress. but it's so tight she can't take a full breath....LOL

so sunday, the girls stayed home while i took c to weigh ins for the tournament.

and then we waited for his first match.

and waited.

and waited.

6 hours later......

i had a whole bunch of blurry wrestling photos and he lost his first match 5-3.

sigh.

truthfully, none of the batavia boys were sharp (7 went...6 fresh and 1 soph). it had been about 3 weeks since they'd had any decent wrestling practice and it showed.

but connor got it together for his second match and won by fall (pin).

(this was the pin.....i can't ever get a decent shot of the pin)

then the ringlets called (by this time chris was home but he wasn't going to touch tori's hair...go figure) and i had to leave connor to wrestle his 3rd place match. he managed to win by fall in that one as well and walked out of regionals with a 3rd place medal.

now onto sectionals with john (the soph) who managed a 4th place finish (top 4 move on). there will be 8 in the bracket on sunday and the top 3 will move on to state. keep your fingers crossed!

meanwhile, after racing home to do hair and makeup, i took tori to the show (call is an hour ahead of time) and then headed home to hang with zo while the boys went to see the show.

i swear the weekends are busier than the weeks sometimes. and will be for a couple more weeks. tori had a show today, has a show tomorrow and then is going to be performing at algonguin library on sunday afternoon for an hour. of course connor has to be in hinsdale for sectionals at the same time. then there's swim team practice which she's missed the last 3 weeks due to seussical....at least this time chris can help with the driving.

and so it continues.

woot.

Seuss!

Whew.

Tech week is busy. tori had 20 hours of rehearsal this week. i guess it was a good thing she had monday and friday off of school or she may not have made it through. this show is so busy. it's 35 songs. singing and dancing all the time plus 7 costume changes. it's darling though. i'm looking forward to sitting in the audience and watching the entire show (as opposed to helping with 7 costume changes and mic changes and prop issues from back stage).

here are a few pics from the dress rehearsal on weds.

hair and makeup

the props/set are really cute. this sign sits to the side of the stage.

taken from back stage. there are 4 curtains that the kids come out through, hence the black outlines.

tori does the dramatic "moooooooom stop taking pictures" act at dress rehearsal so not all the photos i took are decent (plus i don't use flash and several are blurry). but of course she's always thrilled when i make a page...hypocrite. :) anyway, this is her jungle of nool costume. we're not sure what kind of animal she is supposed to be (the others are a giraffe, leopard, toucan) but if you know of a feathered bird with cow spots and zebra stripes...that's what she is. :)

and here's the latest seussical page:

supplies can be found here.