Week 10 Picture a Day / Scenes from Cheer Competition in Wildwood, NJ

Another week has passed. It was a busy, but fun week.

Mar 5 - Alex posing with a little green stuffed foot that she sewed for a home economics projects. She's got another one to make, but hasn't done it yet.


Mar 6 - The girls are my absolute FAVORITE subjects to photograph!!!


Mar 7 - On the road to Wildwood, NJ for the weekend.


Mar 8 - The Wildwood Convention Center, site of the CheerTech National cheerleading competition this past weekend. The sign is shown here.


Mar 9 - Samantha walking on the beaches of Cape May...truly empty this time of year. Man it was cold!!! And very windy!!! But beautiful, nonetheless.


Mar 10 - Longing for Spring!!! Waiting to see little buds on the trees!



National Cheerleading Competition in Wildwood, NJ

Alex's Senior Level 5 team went to Wildwood, NJ to compete for a bid to the World Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, FL. next month. While they did not receive a bid this time around, they did learn a lot and had a great time. They are continuing to grow with each performance. The gym is only in its second year of operation, so to receive a bid this year would be a tremendous 'pie in the sky' feat. Our last chance for 2008 will be in Virginia Beach next month. Just as long as they are having fun and growing, that is all that we can ask for.

Here are some scenes from our weekend:

Week 9: Picture of the Day

Wow, we're already into March! Can you believe it?

Here are my pictures from this past week:

Feb 26 - We went to a design team meeting at Express Yourself and Amy gave all of her members three beautiful roses. It had been raining, so I thought it was so pretty how there were water droplets on the flowers. Perfect for pic of the day, eh?


Feb 27 - Me sporting my shorter and blonder do. :)


Feb 28 - Mmmmm, delicious Tacos Al Pastor from a little authentic Mexican restaurant that we like to order from. They are SOOOOOO good!!!


Feb 29 - Amy's fun Basic Grey and Glimmer Mist display...looks so pretty!


Mar 1 - Amy cutting it up at her crop! She's so much fun!


Mar 2 - The girls sharing one of the better sister moments!!! I love it when they are lovey dovey with each other. They truly are best friends.


Mar 3 - The girls love to collect Webkinz! They have 22 between the two of them!


I hope you all enjoy your week! Thank you for looking!

Techniques I class on March 18

I wanted to show you all the Techniques I class that I will teach at Express Yourself on March 18 from 7 to 9 pm. This class will be the first in a series of 3 classes that will build upon each other. This first class will be the beginning Techniques class.























I will teach beginning scrappers such techniques as:

-- Creating edges by painting, tearing, and simple outlining
-- Creating torn edges for effect
-- How to attach buttons
-- How to attach ribbon
-- What ribbon can be used for in scrapping/paper crafts
-- What to do with chipboard (how to treat it)
-- Special techniques that can be used with sticker letters
-- What to do with flowers
-- How to use a Crop-a-Dile
-- What cutting tools are used in scrapping

Students will put together a small book, as shown in the above pictures, that they will be able to take home with them and consult as they are becoming comfortable with these techniques.

So if you're in the area and are interested, give Amy Bender a call at the above link. Thanks for looking! :)

Week 8: Picture of the Day

Hi all! I can't believe it's been another week! This week sure has flown by. Been so very busy at work...working long hours. Haven't had too much time for fun this past week, so I am READY to get creative soon!!!

I've been participating in a fun Iron Chef contest at scrappin' mojo. They sent all participants four fun ingredients to work with before the contest started. Each week, they announce challenges in which we have to use one of the fun ingredients they mailed us. Last week it was buttons and this week it is flowers. I'm happy to report that I made the cut to participate in Week 2's challenge. At the conclusion of the contest, I will post my projects!

So now we are at Week 8 of my Picture of the Day challenge. I've just about done two months already...I cannot believe that! With that being said, here are my pics:

Feb. 19 - Tom chillin' in front of the TV after a long day at work. Look at him work that TIVO controller! Such skill...such finesse!!!


Feb. 20 - I FINALLY got to celebrate Doris's birthday with her...just one month after the fact! We tried a new Indian restaurant and LOVED it!!! It is now our new favorite! We've really got to get together soon to start discussing our trip to Europe. We leave 4 months from today...YAY!!!


Feb. 21 - Samantha posing with her periscope that she made for science class. Look how nicely she decorated it with yummy product from Me And My Big Ideas! That girl has good taste!!! You're probably wondering about the Chiquita Banana sticker on her forehead...that's how I picked her up from after school care. Yup, she's silly and she's all mine!


Feb. 22 - Look at that cute snowman the girls built!!! They were so very proud...until they realized they had built him on a sidewalk and it was demolished when the workers plowed us out that evening! No worries, they built two more the next day!


Feb. 23 - The girls had a friend over for a sleepover. Hmmmm, how did they manage to pull that one when I said 'no playdates' this weekend? I'm a softie, I guess!!! That's the nice thing about the girls just being 14 months apart...they have lots of mutual friends.


Feb. 24 - Alex proudly posing next to the pillow she made for home economics class. She really has a knack for sewing and cooking!


Feb. 25 - Our washing machine is on the fritz. Tom thinks we can get away with replacing the hose for now. We shall see.


Thanks for peeking. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Week 7: Pic of the Day

I just got back yesterday from a really fun retreat sponsored by Memory Muses . I had such a great time with my friends and the very personable hostesses, Adrienne and Rona. Tomorrow I will post about it.

For now, I leave you with my pictures from the past week.

Feb 12 - The current book that I'm reading. It's very good and I'm hoping to make some time tonight to read more. I love reading these type of books!


Feb 13 - A day full of sleet. Dreary, yet pretty. It kind of matched how I was feeling, being that I was sick all last week.


Feb 14 - My hubby got me this beautiful camera! This camera is capable of quite a bit and I'm going to have to spend time learning about all of its features. I love it!!!


Feb 15 - My first evening at my retreat. I must have spent 5 minutes frantically looking for my "z" that I needed for my title. Lo and behold, there it was, firmly stuck upon my arm!!!


Feb 16 - Dawn was trying to think of a creative way to use fibers on her gorgeous Alaskan album. I suggested that she give the very nice cruise ship cook a new do. We explored a "Wendy's" do...you know, the red headed mascot for the fast food chain? What do you think? ;)


Feb 17 - Anne, Dawn, me, and Dawn (yes, two Dawns!) together in our pajamas during the wee hours of the morning!


Feb 18 - Samantha's soccer team played in an indoor tournament and won!!! Here she is sporting her champion shirt!


So I'll be back tomorrow to share more about our retreat. Thank you for peeking at my photos! :)

I'm going to a retreat!!!

I can hardly contain myself!!!

Today I printed out all of the pictures that I hope to work with. Enough for 20-22 projects!!! Will I get all of them done...hmmmm probably not!!! But I want to have options, KWIM?

Tomorrow I will pack all of my supplies (well, not ALL of my supplies, LOL!). I'm going to pack a bunch of kits...you just can't go wrong with kits and I have quite a few that I haven't even touched yet! The hard part will be packing the other supplies. I'm going to bring sticker letters, rubons, chipboard, flowers, fibers, ribbons, buttons, gems... Ay yi yi!!! Ohhhh and don't forget paint, ink, embossing powder... Seriously, I'm going to have to REALLY curb the urge to bring more than I'll ever use. When I go to a retreat, I always make it a goal to bring ONLY what I can carry in ONE trip!!! So that's how I will spend tomorrow evening...packing for Friday.

Another thing about retreats for me is that I typically can't sleep a day or two before the event. Which explains why I'm typing this post at midnight, when I have to be at work in 6 hours!!! Retreats are like Christmas to me!!! So I might have to get Tom to knock me out tomorrow night so I can sleep!!!

So tell me about your retreat experiences. Do you love them? Have you been on them before?

Monday, Monday / Week 6: Pictures of the Day

Another Monday...another day home with a sick child and a sick self. :( Alex has been sleeping like she's never slept before in her life...poor girl. She woke up last night with body aches too. Mama's got a scratchy throat and is just plain run down, as well. So we are home again.

I can't believe it's been another week of pictures...time sure is FLYING by!!!

So here some shots from my life last week:

Feb 5 - Samantha likes to chill out a bit after school, when the homework is all finished. She plays soccer and cheerleads, so she enjoys playing on the computer for some down time.


Feb 6 - I just had to take a picture of me fitting into my lab coat with my name on it. When I was first hired, I was pretty small, so when it came time to order lab coats with name patches on them, they were small. When I gained weight, I couldn't fit into my own coats and had to wear spares without my name on them. Now that I've lost nearly 20 lbs, I can fit my own labcoats now!!! Like my safety glasses?!! ;)


Feb 7 - Funny story!!! A couple years back, I got my ear pierced at the top. I had to take it out, because it was too uncomfortable sleeping with it. So Thursday I decided, spur of the moment, to try it again...this time a little higher up on the ear. Well, that night I had trouble sleeping with it again and looked at it in the mirror. I decided that I really didn't like the look after all and that I valued my sleep more! So out it came!!! At least I'm left with the earrings!!!


Feb 8- I had gone shopping the night before to try to find some smaller clothes to wear. Didn't really find anything I liked, so I was rather discouraged. The next morning, I decided to look through the 'untapped' part of my closet and found an entire wardrobe of pants and skirts!!! I found this skirt and I really like it because it's so much fun and cheery. I feel very pretty in it!!!


Feb 9 - Alex's Senior Level 5 cheer team placed higher than a long-time competitor team in a competition on Saturday. Before the girls went on, the coach had asked them what would motivate them to perform their best and beat this team. The girls answered that they wanted a sleepover at the gym that night if they won. Well, they won!!! Here is Alex posing with her coaches that night.


Feb 10 - Picture day at the cheer gym! :)


Feb 11 - As I mentioned earlier, Alex is home sick today. Here she is after she woke up at noon today! In about 24 hours time, she has slept about 19 of those hours!!! Hopefully that gave her the rest that she needed. Poor girl.


So in the coming weeks, I hope to try to get more creative shots...different vantage points...shots of some of our family's favorite things. Time to mix it up a bit!!!

Thanks for looking! :)

Week 5 - Pic a Day

This is for you, Deb!!! ;) I slacked off yesterday and forgot to post these pictures, so here we go...

Jan. 29 - Alex posing in her middle school cheer uniform.


Jan. 30 - Samantha sitting in goal (!) during her indoor soccer practice.


Jan. 31 - Oh how I love my car!!! With it's little pink cheer megaphone!!!


Feb. 1 - Samantha's science project, on which she got an "A". :)


Feb. 2 - The girls had so much fun at Dori's birthday party...one of the best they have ever attended!


Feb. 3 - After Dori's sleepover, Samantha was pooped and fell asleep on the couch in the afternoon.


Feb. 4 - Samantha at bedtime with her new Webkinz, Tommy the Turtle.


My new goal is to try to become more creative with my pictures. I'm starting to think that I lead a boring life, LOL! Time to get creative!!!

Thanks for looking!!!