The Crazy Busy Day

Yesterday was just a CRAZY busy day. I think I was at home twice for 45 minutes each time, all day. Johanna was home sick on Wednesday, which was the day I planned to get everything ready for Caitlin's birthday. So, all of that had to be changed to yesterday, which was ON her birthday. YIKES. Nothing like taking it down to the wire. I shopped, I baked, I cleaned, etc., etc. Caitlin had a good day, I think. She spent some time with her boyfriend. Then they came back here for cake and to decorate some t-shirts for school today. Konnor is definitely what is known as "a regulation hottie." LOL He and Caitlin are so cute together.

I was all set to watch the new Thursday night shows last night and two minutes before Survivor was supposed to start, the cable went out! It was out all night long. Bummer.

I'll post some birthday pics when Tim emails them to me. Thanks for visiting!

I'm back!

Not that anyone's been looking for me. LOL We got hit by IKE early last week and it has thrown off my whole groove. IKE packed a punch, even up north. We were without power for a couple of days so we stayed with my BFF. There was damage to our community but not, thankfully, to our house. We did have an external hard drive and the adapter to our scanner get fried. Nothing bad, though. I took most of our frozen food to Lori's and a bunch of the food in the fridge went into coolers.

Here is a layout I did showing the damage done to my brother's former house. They put blood, sweat, and tears into restoring this home so it is completely heartbreaking to see this happen.

Caitlin had golf tournaments last week. Basically, they determine her ranking in the entire city. Players 1 - 9 are First Team. Players 10 - 19 are Second Team. Players 20 - 29 are Runners-up. Her Freshman year, Miss C was ranked 26 (out of 50). Sophmore year, she ranked 17. This year, Miss C is #9 in the entire city (out of 60)! Tim and I are so proud of her! Now she'll go to Districts next week. Then, hopefully, Regionals and if she works really hard, State BABY! This is critical to getting a scholarship so we're really excited around here right now. She is very focused and determined to do well.

Academically, both girls are doing great. Caitlin has such tough classes, I've been really surprised at how well she's carrying that workload, especially with golf. It helps to have a boyfriend who is also academically focused and an athlete. Johanna is still at the age where she is excited about ALL of it.

We've got birthdays this week and next. I can't believe my "baby" is going to be 17 on Thursday! I also can't believe my husband is going to be 55! When did THAT happen? ;-) Wow.

Thanks for visiting!

9-11

With the anniversary of the WTC bombings coming up tomorrow, I thought I would post a few pictures from the book I made at the retreat. I ran across so many photos that I had never seen before. There is also a lot of journaling in this book but I'm not going to include it here because I don't think you'd be able to read it anyway. Please don't forget to remember.

A Mixed Bag

We had a little "excitement" in our day today. Tim was sitting at a stop sign and was smashed into from behind. It was three teenage boys in a sporty red car that hit him. The drive said that the brakes didn't work. Not sure if I'm buying what he's selling, but... okay. Tim said he was a really nice and respectful kid. Unfortunately, he goes to school with Miss C and is even in her algebra class. Great.

I do feel incredibly sorry for the kid. If he's in Caitlin's class, he hasn't been driving for very long. I can't imagine what will happen to his insurance and he just lost his transportation to school, work, and a social life. Tim drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee so the damage was relatively minor. The back bumper sort of folded underneath the back end. There doesn't seem to be any damage to the metal, though. Hardly seems possible. Thank goodness he wasn't in my car! He already has a bad neck and back, so we have to watch him pretty carefully the next day or two. The boy, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But, the hood of his car was smashed half way back and it, of course, had to be towed.

Johanna brought home her first batch of graded school papers today. There were all A's, except one B+. WTG, Johanna! We also got our first list of vocabulary words for a test this Friday. She got all but three of them correct when I quizzed her, so hopefully we'll have them all down pat by the end of the week.

My mom's been on my mind a lot lately. I think it's the time of year. She loved fall. The end of this month will be 12 years she's been gone. It's so hard to believe. Every year, on her birthday, I go to the cemetery and send helium balloons to heaven. I lay on the ground until I see the last balloon disappear out of sight. Those who know me well know that my mom lost her fight with cancer on my older daughter's birthday. I didn't have time last year to go to the cemetery. It was Caitlin's Sweet 16 and we were hosting a big party at the club. When the party was over, Caitlin wanted (with her guests) to take all of the balloons out on the balcony and let them go. Only we would know the meaning behind the gesture, though. So, that's what we did. I just scrapped these pictures a few weeks ago. It took me almost an entire year to give them a proper home. I'm happy with the result.


Thanks for visiting!

Keepin' Busy

Yesterday, I got to scrap the entire day away at Archivers with my best buddy. I got two pages completed, one page almost done, and another page updated to my satisfaction. Not bad progress.

After a little rain tonight, the weather today has been gorgeous. Johanna, Tim, and I watch Nim's Island. What a cute movie! Miss C is out with her boyfriend today. They couldn't resist the warm weather and this weekend is the church festival that no teen within a 10-mile radius can miss. ;)

Yesterday was her first Friday in school as the girlfriend of a football player. Oh, my goodness, was she ever decked out! LOL She painted his number on a red shirt. She also painted "I [heart] and his name" on the back. So cute! They wear these cool stickers under their eyes instead of paint or whatever it was. He gave her a pair of those to wear, too. Only issue is, he goes to the rival school in the district. LOL Needless to say, she took a razzing for it at school. It was all in fun, though. I've scrapped some pics already, but I'm not going to post them to protect his identity. I will, however, post a pick or two of my gorgeous girl.






Below is a page from Johanna's first day of school. The journaling is on the back of the tag and talks about how 3rd grade is the first year she's been able to take the bus on the first day of school due to a comedy of errors every previous year.


Thanks for visiting!

Back-to-School & Rubber Duckies

As one might expect with back-to-school and all that it entails, it's been hectic around here this week. Honestly, there just isn't much to tell. School, homework, golf, and more of the same.

I'm not big on updating layouts once I put them in my books. The last few days, though, there have been a couple that I have changed. Something about each pages was driving me crazy and I just couldn't take it anymore. On one, it was a title. Another just didn't look "finished" to me. And so on. I also have a couple pages I haven't journaled yet. :gasp: I'll get to those next week. Below is the unfinished layout that I finished yesterday.

This page is about Caitlin's favorite bath toy as a baby. I've tried, several times over the years, to get rid of it but she insists that it stays. Love the felt pieces on this page. IRL they kind of look like sponges, which makes it even better for a bathtime layout.


Thanks for visiting!

We are 18 minutes away from bedtime, that will lead us to the first day of school. We finished up Johanna's back-to-school clothes shopping today. Every year, when we get home with the goodies, we get a "fashion show." The girls love to model for us. Honestly, I think we like it more. :)

As soon as I get Miss J off to school, I'm off to my BFF's house for some scrapping until about 2:00, when I'll have to leave to pick-up Miss C. I've got two layouts to do, I think. Definitely one from Johanna's Open House. I'm hoping to also have one from her first day of school. Since I'm using the same paper line and embellishments, that should work out okay. All I'll have to do is print the pictures before I leave. As a back-up plan, I took a few pictures of Miss C and her boyfriend. His name is Konnor, but Tim and I give all of the nicknames. This guy is Konan.

I did do a layout of Caitlin on Saturday. It didn't scan well, but I just *love* it. I'll post the layout and the journaling below. There is hidden journaling, exposed journaling, and journaling strips. I kinda went overboard. The journaling strips are actually the lyrics to a song that I think of whenever I see that picture of Caitlin - it's "I'm Too Sexy for My Shirt." LOL You'll see what I mean.

The exposed journaling says:
Your best buddy, Brandon, made up this symbol to mean, "I'm too sexy. Don't talk to me." So funny!

The hidden journaling says:
These lyrics are from a song called, "I'm Too Sexy for my Shirt" by Right Said Fred. Ironically, this song was released the year you were born, 1991. It's the first thing I thought of when you told me what this picture meant.

You took this picture and posted it to your myspace blog to taunt your friend, Brandon, since it was sort of his thing. You're probably the only person he would let get away with that. :)

I'll post "day one" pics tomorrow. Thanks for visiting!