TAC Savvy Projects for People on the Go

 

My hubby's family! 

L to R Row 1: My niece Taylor, Kevin's mom Norine, my girl ~ Sophie

L to R Row 2: My sister-in-law Stephanie, Kevin's dad Gary, me, my Boy ~ Kevin

L to R Row 3: My niece Kyla, Kevin's brother Terry and my hubby ~ Kevin

Sophie, Norine & Kevin.

 

Kevin & Sophie

Yes ... my favorite shot ... the boodie shot.

Sophie swimming at our hotel.

 

Taylor wasn't too impressed with the cool water in the swimming pool!

 

Here are Sophie and her daddy dancing in the swimming pool!

 

Boy and Kyla had so much fun playing with the bubbles in the hot tub!  Which wasn't really hot by the way!

 

YES!  Kyla is SO irresistible!  We all want to snuggle with her!

 

Here is Kyla playing at the park where we had a family reunion BBQ.

 

Here's Taylor on the slide.

 

We went hiking to see this historic mansion there in the park.  So GORGEOUS!  This is my family plus an addition ... Cooper Smith (age 7) standing next to Sophie.  Cooper is Sophie's 3rd cousin and he adored her!  She adored him also!

Here was my hubby hiding in a bush trying to scare me on the hike down.  Like I didn't see him!  LOL!

 

Here we are at Devil's Tower.  Yep.  That's me.  And my darling babies!

 

Here are my kids hiking at Devils Tower.  Where ever Boy goes ... Sophie's little feet are fast behind!

  

Here comes Sophie from her hike.

 

And my cutie Boy.

 

I asked Boy to take a snapshot of me and my boyfriend.

 

We had SOOOO much FUN playing putt putt golf!

 

He gave my camera so many interesting expressions that evening!

 

And some smiles it rarely sees!

And then things got goofy.

 

In our family ... it's monkey see ... monkey DO!

 

Checking out the Badlands.

 

I was freaking out standing this close to the edge!  The kids were laughing!

Still looking for the Mt. Rushmore photos!  I'm sure I'll find them soon!

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

Cast Party for Dance

 

Lately you've been hearing me tweet about the Cast Party for Sophie's Dance Troupe ... Prestige Dance Company.  Myself and 2 other moms put the event together and I must say it was FUN!

Each dancer received an album that their moms can continue adding to.  That's what's in the bags above.  (You may recognize these bags!  These are my FAVORITES!  And this is the most awkward of sizes!  These darn things wouldn't stand up for nothing ... but we made it work!).

Below are shots of the cabana.  One of the moms lives in a town home so she offered the use of their cabana and swimming pool.  It was FABULOUS!  Moms had lunch inside while the girls ate outside around the pool.  And at the end of the event we had very little clean up ... and then could just leave!  I LOVED that!

 

 

I always try to find items that can be re-used and recycled.  Since the studio colors are blue and black it was truly pretty easy!  I LOVE these candles that we can use again and again and again ... and really for so many occasions!

 

Here are some shots of the girls ... having TOO much FUN!

 

L to R:  Alex, Emma, Sophie, Lindsey and Megan.

Below is my niece Megan.

 

This is Lindsey (one of Sophie's best friends), my niece Ashley and Sophie.

Lindsey is going into 5th grade, Ashley into 2nd and Sophie into 4th!

 

This is my niece Catie and her best friend Casey.  Both will be in 8th Grade this year!

 

 

Here are some of the girls in one of many shots like this!  They had SOO much FUN!

 

 

This is my niece Ashley:

 

Here is Lindsey and Sophie:

 

The Cast Party was a HUGE success and the girls were SO excited!  I think they felt very special ... which was one of our goals ... to make them feel as special as they are!

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

 

4th of July Photos

 

There aren't a lot!  So many of them are smoky.  Of course, I was sitting right by these little ones ... who were in smoke bomb heaven!  This is the pack that Sophie ran around with!  I don't know all of these little tykes.  In fact, I'd just met most of them.  We went to our neighbors for a BBQ and had a calm, relaxing and very fun evening!

  

Here's the pack of youngins' my boy hung out with.  They'll all be freshman this year!

 

This is Boy and his girlfriend, Marisa.

Aren't they cute!

Here's my little sunshine, Sophie:

 

 

And that pretty much sums up the photos I have.  Just a few.  Which is a nice change!

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now!

If you've read any of my tweets you know I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday driving back and forth from Wichita for my daughter's Dance Competition.  {Sophie goes to Prestige School of Dance and is a member of their Mini Company Competition Team}.  We had a BALL!  I had to share a few {yes ... this is only a few} of the photos from her dances.

Here are some shots of Sophie in her Trio, Mama I'm a Big Girl Now.

 

From L to R.  Emma, Sophie and my niece Ashley.

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was Bushel and a Peck.  This was in the small group category and this is the girls' favorite number!  Possibly mine also!

 

The little girl behind Sophie is Alex.

 

 

Sophie LOVES this part!  Makenzee is on the left front, Ashley left back, Alex is right front and Emma right back.  {Of course you can only see Emma's tiny little leg!}

 

 

 

 

Next up was I Want You Back or the J5 {Jackson 5} is what we call it!

L to R is my niece Ashley, Makenzee, Emma, Alex and Sophie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What FUN!  It was an incredibly long, short weekend!  Yep.  Long and short!  Most of all FABULOUS and the girls were THRILLED!  They cleaned house with awards so felt really good about all of the hard work they've put into dance this year.  No photos of the bigger girls, who were equally incredible, just 'the babies' as we call them!

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

I Spy ... With My Little Eye

 

An animal that isn't stuffed.  Our Sheba!  Obviously she wanted to just blend in and enjoy a little peace and quiet for a change.

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

 

A Boy and A Bike

 

Aren't you glad we're NOT your next door neighbor! 

Our backyard has dirt.  Lots of dirt.  And motorcycle jumps.  And this is what my Boy would like to spend most of his time doing.  Jumping.

 

 

 

 

 

I must say he's really good at wheelies to!

 

 

 

I love this kid!  But seriously ... you really should be glad you're NOT our neighbor!  You'd be hearing this bike in your sleep!

These fella's of mine dream of riding.  All the time.  A group of dad's around here were getting together and were planning on taking their boys' to Little Sahara (in Oklahoma).  And they camp out the whole weekend.  Can I tell you HOW THANKFUL I AM that my hubby refused to go.  UNTIL ... AFTER the annual rattlesnake round up.  Yep.  Every year they get a huge group of people together and try to round up and clear out all of the rattlesnakes so they don't collide with the riders.

I think I'll stick with paper crafting myself. 

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

"You're good with it, right?!"

Shame on a girl for taking a nap in front of the TV.  I wasn't even out an hour {I just wanted to sit down a minute and rest} and thank goodness Shug called from town and the phone woke me up.  I picked up the phone, turned around and looked out the back door.  This is what I saw. 

Sophie and Lindsey.  Playing in our mud.

 

 

 

 

  

I went out with my camera and snapped a few photos before Shug got home.  On my way in Sophie said, "Mommy.  Tell Daddy you're good with it k."  long pause.  "You're good with it, right?!"

Then Daddy came home.  First words out of his mouth "Please tell me you got pictures of this!"  Of course I did!  What a GREAT photo op.

And then Daddy got to hose them off before they could go jump in the shower.

 

 

 

 

 

They've been begging to play in the mud ... they saw a window of opportunity and seized the moment!  SMART girls!

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

Our Triplets

Yes, we do have triplets.  Most people don't know that about us, and quite honestly, I'm sure most people don't care.  However, because you are here ... you get to meet them all!

You've already met one of them.  Simon.  His Majesty.  He's our boy on Prozac.  Albeit kitty Prozac it's still Prozac.  What more do you need to know about him that Prozac doesn't say?!

Simon has two sisters.  Yes, biological.  All of our kitties are Scottish Folds, however, only CoCo has the genetic defect and therefore has 'folded' ears.  She's our tiniest and our most schizophrenic.  I'm completely serious when I say that.  We rarely touch her.  When we are asleep at night we feel her climbing around on us ... sniffing us.  I've been secretly slipping her some of Simon's Prozac and I think it's helping.  She purred when I walked into the room earlier to take her picture!

And then there is Sheba. Daddy's princess.  Sheba LOVES my hubby and my daughter.  Sheba is a lover, a cuddler and a heartbreaker.  Believe it or not ... she's quite normal.  I actually think CoCo would be much better if Simon didn't live here, however, that's not an option.

I'll share on another day how the stork delivered our triplets.  In the meantime, here's some photos I snapped of our babies.  I hadn't seen them in awhile, with the exception of His Majesty, so I thought I'd grab my camera and go find the girls.

First I found CoCo. Not where I expected her.  She was in the guest room cuddling on the bed.  (Most people are curious about her ears so I included more shots so you could check them out!).

 

 

 

 

No, the guest room doesn't normally look like this.  My nieces all stayed over recently and they all slept in the guest room.  I should turn the room I guess.

Anyway.  Here is Princess Sheba.  Daddy's girl.  I found her on a chair in the dining room.

 

 

 

 

Then I headed back to my office and His Majesty had moved his throne.  Yep.  There he was in my new office chair.

 

I asked him to please get back in his basket.

 

Of course he was irritated.

 

He wouldn't even look at me.  Finally I asked him to please look.  Just one good photo and I'd put the camera away.  YAWN!  I so bore him.

FINALLY!  Success.  I actually tricked him to get this shot.  hee, hee, hee! 

 

There you have it.  You've met our darling triplets whom we adore! 

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

Simon ... a few more photos.

 

 

Enough with the photos!  He's tired! (That's a yawn by the way).

Sophie couldn't resist him ... even though she was busy trying on her costume for her dance competition this Saturday.

Ho hum.  Life is Good.

Why Yes I Do Have A Problem!

I'm NOT imagining things!  Here's proof AND from my own office! 

Notice on my PC screen below the gobbly line that goes through my screen.  It repeats throughout my blog when I scroll down.

However, on my PC sitting right next to this one, there is NOTHING!  No gobbly!

Here's a close up.  Just in case you don't see what I do.  Here is Screen Left.

And Screen Right.

NOTHING!  Go figure!  At least I've discovered I can STOP trying to fix something only I can see anyway! 

Happy Paper Crafting!

Mischelle

Meet My Co-Worker, Simon

This is how I work at home.   Simon sits in his basket beside me and makes sure nothing goes down unless he knows about it.  Not the best photo of him.  He was irritated I was taking pictures.

Tagged

Not sure I've got this figured out, however, I got tagged and I'm going to try and play nice.  I went back 4 months.  Pulled the 4th photo on my home PC and this is it.

 

It's dated 12.25.08.  This is my niece Megan and my sister at my mom's house on Christmas Day. 

Christmas Celebration with TAC Staff

 

I can't believe how FAST December is flying by this year!  Typically, I'm a bit more put together by now but this year I have been so busy with work that I didn't even start Christmas shopping until this past Wednesday! 

I did have the opportunity to do something new this year and it was such a DELIGHT!  This year I treated our TAC Staff to a Saturday afternoon of rubber stamping and crafting.  It was AWESOME!  We made four projects and focused on projects that could be made in 'bulk' and given as Christmas gifts.  What a ball we had! 

Here are some of the snapshots I managed to sneak in ...

Here are the gals starting to arrive.

Left to Right ... Jessica, Shayla, Margie, Mary and Cathy.

L to R ... Betty, Connie, Lindsey, Jodi (top) and Shannon (bottom).

Here's Cathy ringing her bell with JOY and Jodi is showing off her favor.

L to R ... Marisa and Lindsey.

L to R ... Betty and LaShun.

L to R ... Connie and Shannon.

Here is a shot of me helping Cathy with a project.

L to R ... Mischelle, Margie and Debbie.

L to R ... Mary, Cathy, and Jessica.

Here is a shot of Jessica and I.  I look like I'm attacking her (or getting ready to) actually I'm ringing my bell quite enthusiastically! 

Did you notice our GORGEOUS color scheme!  Being a staff of girly girls ... we LOVE dressing up, putting on our BLING and hanging out with our GIRLFRIENDS!  These are just a few of the gals I captured on my camera ... you may even recognize some of these I've posted here!

I'd LOVE to share these projects with you ... and I will ... at Escape in January!  (these and more). You are going to LOVE them!  Club MEDs look forward to some of the 'other' FUN and FABULOUS ideas you may see in some of these shots!

Merry Christmas Friends!

Mischelle

Christmas Tree by Sophie and Daddy

Looks like the Christmas season is here!  At our house Sophie and I set up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  It's a tradition.  Well, this year we were in Colorado the day after Thanksgiving so no tree setty-uppy.

We got home on Saturday and Sophie begged and pleaded for me to get a 'different' tree this year.  I said no.  We don't need a different tree.  I have a green tree with white lights and that's what I like EVERY single year.  Year after year after year.  And the ornaments I put on my tree have to follow this color scheme ... red, white, silver, gold and can have a touch of black, green ... you know.  Very traditional I am.

Well, my Dear Hubby hasn't wanted to get out all of the the 'stuff' this year.  He's really been dragging his feet.  Sophie hasn't helped because she wanted to do something 'different'.  I said no.  If I was brave enough I would have climbed the ladder up to the attic and gotten the loot out myself.  But seriously ... like I'm going to climb up that ladder and haul down those HEAVY boxes I packed from last year?!  No way.  That's hubby's job!  Right?!

So ... I broke my tooth in half Tuesday afternoon and got scheduled into the dentist on Wednesday.  No problem.  Went to the dentist yesterday ... got my hill billy tooth fixed.  By late in the afternoon I was pretty sore so I took one of the pain pills.  I was out cold from about 4:00 till around 8:30 last night.  I vaguely remember my family walking in and nothing else.

When I woke up Sophie was SOOOOOO EXCITED to show me our Christmas tree!  I was excited too!  Actually, my first thought was "YES!  It's done!  And I didn't have to do it!"  Seriously ... we all know it's work!

Apparently the family stopped at Lowe's on the way home and they were delighted to discover most of the Christmas trees are clearanced out.  My first thought when I saw it was "DUH!  I'd put it on clearance to!"  Okay.  I'm not being mean.  I'm just telling you my very first thoughts and they just happened to be candy coated with sarcasm.

It truly was a BEAUTIFUL sight!  Sophie and her Daddy put up the tree and decorated it together.  Usually it's Sophie and Mommy so I LOVED that they did this together.  When I first saw it I couldn't help but think it looked like a Grandma tree.  Seriously!  It was NOT what I expected when I walked around that corner!  They picked a WHITE tree (Sophie did) and she wanted ALL Silver ornaments.  (Don't know where she gets that theme thangy).  Her Daddy talked her into adding Gold ornaments also.  (There was a tub full of plastic ornaments that were Gold and Silver). Here are some shots of their handy work ...

I was THRILLED when Sophie told me the Disco Balls were her FAVORITE ornaments!  Thank goodness I thought!  I didn't want my girlie-girl loosing her LOVE of BLING!

They picked out an Angel to match ...

But I have to say I was SERIOUSLY impressed that my Hubby thought of getting a TREE SKIRT!  (Mine are RED of course)! 

Neither Hubby or Sophie realized that the ornament hangers don't come with the ornaments.  No sweat.  They went down to my studio, found some white ribbon and TOGETHER made their own ornament hangers!  How COOL is that!

My kids have such an AWESOME Daddy!  And what a GREAT surprise for me!  I'm most impressed that he let Sophie make the decisions!  I would have swayed her into getting what I wanted for sure!  Seriously!  If I'd have caved in the ornaments would have a palette that looked like this ...

Wait a minute!  I do have ornaments that look like this!  They are in the ATTIC! 

Anyway, I bought these DARLING little trees at Target a couple or so years ago when they were on clearance after the holidays and this is the palette I use to decorate for the kids! 

I really want to 'plug' meaning into the holidays this year (more than normal) and what could be a more wonderful memory for my daughter than sharing this special evening with her Daddy!  That's the best part of all!

Happy Holidays!

Mischelle

CKC Minnesota

We logged our last CK Convention for 2008 and boy did we have FUN meeting and greetings customers and our Angels while we were out on the road.

Here are a few snapshots I managed to get from CK Minnesota. 

Who KNEW that as soon as I finished teaching my class on Friday morning I'd run right into Rhonda Anderson and her puppy!  (Rhonda is one of the founders of Creative Memories).  Rhonda was in the CM booth which was located right by ours.  Rhonda is a super sweet LITTLE gal (little as in TINY) and she has the nicest spirit!  How neat it was to visit with her!

Here are some shots from the window of the room where I taught.  I didn't mind this view at all!

Here are some shots that feature some of our Angels!

  Here are some shots of Marisa working at our Make and Take Table. 

Here's a shot of some of the displays in our booth.  These are our Convention Show Case Boards and they feature artwork done by our Angels ... they are INCREDIBLE!  They have certainly generated a buzz everywhere we have taken them!

This is Lindsey.  She really didn't want to pose for me!

And then guess what happened to me on FRIDAY!?!  Oh yeah!  I was going upstairs to a class room with Lindsey and there was CATHY ZIELSKE.  Of course ... I asked for a photo or two!

You have NO IDEA how embarrassed my husband is by my behavior!  Oh well!  I don't care!  This is Cathy Zielske!  And I'm a FAN!  And I so had FUN seeing her again!

And then ... I ran into her in the bathroom.  I told her not to worry ... I didn't have my camera with me. 

Seriously though.  I was so THRILLED to learn that Cathy is an introvert ... because ... most of you don't know it ... but so am I.  HORRIBLY SO!  Like MAJOR!  I think that's why I like her so much. 

And then came Saturday.  WOWZA!  Who knew ... (OKAY.  I knew.  Because I told her what to tell Cathy to write!) ... that on Saturday my friend Debbie would get a Cathy Zielske autograph just for me!  And who knew that Cathy would actually know who I was ... 'oh ... is she that crazy blonde?'!  YEP!  She knows me alright! 

   

Good times for sure!  I know we have some other photos of the event also, however, these were the only ones on my camera.  It was AWESOME seeing and meeting so many of you and boy ... Minnesota is FABULOUS!

Little Miss Matched Rooms

How cute is this!

My sister (Cathy) and brother-in-law (Tim) just moved into their first new home since they purchased their original home some 13-odd years ago.  WOOOOOOOW!  Of course their first home was a VERY OLD farm house.  So old in fact ... it had no closets.  They are thrilled now because ... they have closets in the new house ... in EVERY bedroom!

So Cathy has been busy working on the girls rooms (they each have their own rooms for the first time EVER) and I just have to share some photos of them.  She ordered Little Miss Matched bedding that the girls picked out from the JCPenny Outlet and then the girls picked out what they wanted her to paint on the walls in their rooms.  I think they turned out FABULOUS!  Check out these pics I took Saturday.

This is me and my niece Catie.

And this is Catie's room.  The chair rail isn't up yet ... that will be added soon where the stripe meets the solid wall.

Here is another shot I snagged in Catie's room.

Next we move on to my niece Ashley's room.  Here's Ashley.

Here is Ashley's room.

Here are a couple of random shots from Ashley's room.

Next is my niece Megan.

And this is Megz room.

Megz also has a chair rail that will be added where the stripes and solid wall meet. 

Aren't these rooms FABULOUS!  The girls had so much fun picking everything out and Cathy really rocked the painting!  If you notice some additions to the walls in Megz room ... Megz decided to add some stickers to the walls.  That girl of ours!

Here are a few more random photos from the evening.  This one is of my nieces, Kevin and Sophie.  Boy will be 14 in February.  Catie just turned 13.  Sophie will be 9 in January.  Ashley just turned 7 and Megz is 4.

Here is a nice shot of Kevin and Sophie playing.  Boy is a GREAT big brother!

Here are Kevin and Catie out on the deck eating dinner.

Here is a shot of me, Catie and my sister Cathy.

Here I am trying to get my Boy to 'smack some sugar' on my cheek.

What FUN!  I just had to share these photos of the girls' rooms!  Cathy did such a GREAT job!  I hope they inspire you to add some color to your life!

Enjoy!

Mischelle

Halloween 2008

For Halloween this year Sophie insisted on being something SCARY and GROSS!  So she choose the Bride of Frankenstein and we made her as scary and gross as we could possibly stand.  We even glued spiders and bats to her hair! YUCK!

   

Sophie really got into posing and this look was somewhat eerie!  She really works those eyes of hers!

Before we headed off for the evening we checked out some of the costumes the neighborhood kids were wearing.  Talk about some VERY creative moms ... check these out!

This is a refrigerator costume.  It was actually a group of 3 girls.  One was the fridge, one the stove and one the dishwasher!  Moms made them all!

AWESOME aren't they!

Okay ... so normally we go to our church on Halloween and the kids participate in the church 'Fall Activities' that are going on.  Of course they all dress up and and they play games, do cake walks, go through mazes and tunnels ... you know.  This year we didn't do that.  Instead we opted out and went to Bethany Home and Sophie trick-or-treated up and down the hallways with a ga-zillion other kids.  It was AWESOME!  We had so much FUN!

So here is the beginning of our journey ... leading off with one of my favorite shots ... the booty shot ...

Ok ... what's with this shot ... well we'd been following behind this family and I loved this guys shirt!  So I snapped a photo of the saying so I could remember it later.  (Plus he was a cutie!).

And then FINALLY!  We found Sophie's groom ... just hanging out.

Next we were off to a friends house just a couple of blocks over from Bethany Home.  Every year Lee is known for doing 'something' FUN and UNEXPECTED and Sophie couldn't wait to see what he had up his sleeve!

As Sophie approached Kim, waiting on the porch, a GIANT HAIRY SPIDER dropped down from the tree and tried to land on her!  She ducked and just missed it!

That spooky spider! 

Would you believe a grown man plans out all of this cool, FUN stuff!  Here he is ... dressed in black ...

We got him to come out from his 'perch' because Sophie wanted to make sure Lee saw her costume!

I was so excited when I saw the photo above!  I had NO IDEA that the porch was so cute when I snapped this!  I was just shooting Sophie and was so delighted when I saw this!

It's 7:30 and we are ready to go HOME!

What an AWESOME night we had!  Originally I was going to stay home and hand out candy and my dear hubby said, "No you're NOT!  Our daughter is getting older and we won't have opportunities like this much longer.  You've got to come and take pictures!"  I'm so glad I did!

Where was Boy this evening?  He was at Breanne's.  Sophie and I dropped off him and Hunter and were greeted by a house FULL of girls.  I tortured Boy and wouldn't leave the house until Breanne's dad got home.  LOL!  That was FUN!

Here's to a normal, blessed life!

Me and Cathy Z

Ok ... most folks don't know it but I am a HUGE Cathy Zielske fan!  I LOVE her clean and simple style. 

Well how EXCITED was I that I had the opportunity to take the VERY LAST class with her at CK Kansas City!  And she was so inspiring!  SOOOO worth every moment of the class!

If you have the opportunity to take her class in Minnesota ... I strongly encourage you to!  You will leave inspired!

So ... she was the LAST event of the CK Kansas City Convention for myself and even went past vendor tear-down.  So ... I was feeling and looking EXHAUSTED.  So what's the first thing I ask her while looking so frightful?! 

"Can I kiss you?"  She looked at me somewhat alarmed.

"On the cheek ... but ... not really kissing you!" I added.  (It doesn't matter if she is Cathy Zielske ... I'm a germ-a-phobic and seriously ... I bet Cathy is too!)

So Cathy struck a pose and I gave her an 'air' kiss! 

How FUN is this!  YES!  I LOVE my silly life!

Moments Worth Remembering!

A couple of nights ago Shug said, "You're NOT going to believe this!"

"What?!" I asked somewhat alarmed.

"Our kids are downstairs playing Guitar Hero.  Together."

That's all I needed.  I grabbed my camera and ran! 

This is where I found them.  In the guest room.  Playing Guitar Hero just as it had been reported to me.  I snapped more photos.  They just kept playing!

This made the hearts of BOTH parents happy!  Isn't that a beautiful thing.

And then I went back upstairs to the family room where I had my work all spread out and was, well, working.  I looked around the messy family room.  I grabbed my camera.  This is what I shot.  Each of these objects were all found in this one little room, on this one particular evening, scattered all over the place.

Okay.  New shoes for basketball that starts this Wednesday.  I get that.

Boy wore one pair of these shoes to school today and Girl wore one pair as well.

Shoes STUFFED into a cabinet by the door.  NICE!

Hubby's shoes.  Not sure when he wore them.

Sophie's shoes.  Found in front of TV.  I wonder when they were on feet last?

Hubby's shoes and one of Sophie's shoes piled next to the sofa.

This shoe found approximately 5 1/2 feet from its mate.

WOW!  I don't have a clue what this is about! 

Hubby walks in and says, "What the HECK are you doing?"

"Capturing our life and cherishing it."

The moral of the story ... my kids are downstairs playing Guitar Hero ... TOGETHER!

The family room is a disaster.

Our family ... we're just like a real one!

And that makes ME happy!

Farewell Football!

Football season is officially a WRAP! 

I have to say it has certainly been a 'season'.  There have been ups and downs as well as highs and lows.  As I looked through a couple of the last games I shot ... I must say ... my photography has gotten worse!  I can't believe how many GREAT plays I missed.  I did capture many great moments though.  But would you believe ... some of the moments I'm most proud of never made it to film.  Or the shots were too blurry.  Or the sunlight washed out the images.  Or I just wasn't fast enough.

Boy had an AWESOME season!  I'm so incredibly proud of him.  He scored many a touchdown; sacked more than one quarterback; gained needed yards on the field ... Boy had a GREAT season!  The last game he punted a ball, it bounced off a kid, Boy caught it (YES!  He caught his own punt) and came within a few yards of scoring a touchdown before he was tackled!  And those QB sacks ... WOW!  Those were impressive!

All that said ... what makes me MOST proud of this kid are the shots I didn't always get. 

During his last game I was incredibly touched after he tackled a player on the other team.  Boy reached down his hand and pulled him to his feet giving him a couple of pats on the back.  I could see him say something to the kid as he helped him up off the ground.  I saw this often on the field this season.  It makes my heart smile everytime I think about it.  This is character.  This is good sportsmanship.  This is caring about others.  This is a reflection of who my son is.  This matters more to me than every touchdown this kid ever scored.  This kid cares and his actions reflect that.

At a game a couple of weeks ago our team was way ahead of the other so the coach put in our 7th graders to play in the last quarter.  One of the 7th graders (#11) is a tiny little guy named Tommy.  Kevin really likes Tommy and when Kevin found out Tommy was going in the game you could hear my Boy yelling way up in the stands.  "All right Tommy!  Get out there!  You can do it!"  That Boy of mine cheered this kid on the whole time he was in the game.  Everytime Tommy did something you could hear Kevin yelling words of encouragement to Tommy (as well as others out on the field).

Instead of being bitter that the 7th graders got to play the last quarter ... the 8th graders cheered them on and encouraged them.  I'm not used to hearing Boy scream and holler like that, but boy, did it do my heart good!  This kid gets it!  Life is about encouraging others to always do their best.  He gets that we're supposed to cheer others on and truly be happy for them.  Isn't that cool!

Football season isn't my favorite.  I'll admit that I'm fearful something will happen to my Boy out on that field ... broken bones or possibly something worse.  Thankfully we didn't face anything like that.  What football season revealed was my Boys character ... and I'm thankful and proud of the man he is becoming.  I believe that God has great things planned for this kid and this kid ... is going to achieve those things!

The WORST thing that happened all season ... Boy stopped wearing his ORANGE shoes!  And therefore I couldn't find him on the field.  That TOTALLY stunk for me!