Stacie and Brook Have a Mini Retreat

Since many of our friends are in Sunny LA at a Scrapbooking retreat. Stacie and I decided to have a little mini retreat of our own. We started the day eating at our favorite tea room The Dove's Nest in Waxahachie. Then we went next door to the Crafty Scrapper the world's best scrapbook store in the world. We bought quite a bit. We then treated ourselves to Starbucks and headed back to Stacie's house to scrap. We watched The Young and the Restless, Sixteen Candles and Grease2 and spoke with the gals in LA. So everyone was having a fun time.

My Gals- Contest Results- My New News

I talk an awful lot about my guys, but I do have four little girls that are absolutely precious to me. My neices are the cat's meow for me. I love scrapping the picts that their mom's send me. It is great fun to be able to use pinks and purples and such. I used some quick pages from Digital Freebies for one of their weekly challenges. So I thought I would post picts of my little angels. I've thrown in another little girl that I think is precious too! LOL!

BTW- Not too many people knew Luke all that well. Everyone's guess was way off. He came home from the amusement park with 14 tickets. $6.50 worth. I told him to save them because I bet his band will go there again next year. I hate to think that he wasted over six dollars. Does that make me a cheap skate?

Oh I almost forgot!-I am feeling a honored and a whole lot humbled. On Tuesday at the last PTA board meeting which will be held at On the Border, I will be given a lifetime membership award for service and dedication to the PTA and the kids at our school. It is really nice that the parents thought of me.

Proud!

I can't tell you how proud I am of Luke this year. He has done a fantastic job this year learning to play the tuba. It is amazing to think that just a few months ago he sounded like a cow in pain. Now he has great tone and clarity. He has been in first chair for almost the whole year.

He played two solos back to back at Solo and Ensemble. He played "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Cavatina." He got a division I on both of them. The judge told him how impressed he was. Many high school kids couldn't play two solos in a row like that. He was so excited when he saw those two I's on the posting.

Today his band went to the Sandy Lake Band Competition. His band received a rating of a I. Then to make the day even better, they one first place and were named Band of the Day! How great is that!

We really have our fingers crossed that when he auditions for the junior high band, he will be selected for the honors band. That way, he will get band every day instead of every other day.

Luke is such a neat guy and he has worked so hard. He deserves to have great things happen to him.

Contest- Luke was given $20 when he left for Sandy Lake Amusement Park. Each ticket is 50 cents. Most rides cost $1-$2. He spent all of his money on tickets. How many tickets did he come home with. Closest guess gets a little prize from me.

Guilt

I guess as a mom there are times that you are plagued by guilt. This was one of those times. Luke started having headaches last year and after about 3 months I called our eye doc and he was out of town. So, I took him to Wal-Mart. (I really didn't feel like it would be that big a deal.) The doc there said he had to have glasses. So, my mom took him to buy him a nice pair of those glasses that are bendy.

Well in February, I noticed that the poor boy was squinting. He was also having more headaches. The poor boy is just about blind. So he has a great pair of bifocals now, he wanted to put them in the same frames. The doctor said he had no idea how Luke could even see the ball while playing soccer, so over $500 dollars later the boy had a nifty pair of sports googles. They are so impressive that something could hit him going 1oo mph and his glasses wouldn't shatter and break. Of course at that speed, I would think that he should get out of the way.

I felt so bad that the poor boy was blind and wasn't even really complaining. Every other boy in the house would have made a big deal about it. Not my Lukey.
BTW- My friend Stacie has one the award for guessing that I had indeed colorized the outline of the United States on Cody's shirt.

New LO/ Playing with PSE 4.o

I did this LO for three people. One is Sara who said that Sam was going to start thinking that he is my favorite. Two is Mare who was talking about colorizing (for lack of a better word) last week. Three is Cody.

I really wanted to try to colorize a black and white. Steps made simple.

1. I placed the pict.

2. Then I went to layer and duplicated the layer.

3. Then I clicked enhance. Went to change hue and saturation. I just moved the little arrows until it was black and white.

4. Then I clicked on the eraser and started erasing the area I wanted to have color. (I did zoom in so I could see it better.)

5. Then I flattened the image. It was great fun.

The papers and ribbons are M Rose Casual. The frame is Mary Lemmons.

Can you tell what it is that I colored on Cody's pict? I'll send a little gift in the mail to the first one who gets it right!

Seven Random Things

My friend Diana tagged a whole bunch of us to share seven random things about ourselves. It is really hard to think randomly. But, I am going to try.

1. I love all things green and if they have a polka dot it is even better.
2. I was once a Madonna impersonator.
3. I have a weakness for Vampire romances.
4. My favorite trips with my family have been trips where we have just picked up and left on the spur of a moment.
5. I'm kind of an Anglophile. I like the old books and movies. I even like their stupid sitcoms.
6. My favorite video games are the old Sega "Earth Worm Jim" and "Yoshi."
7. I love cartoons. Don't tell anyone. "The Tick," "The Animaniacs," "Pinky and the Brain,""Freakazoid," and "Earth Worm Jim," are some my all time favorites. I can even recite dialogue. I know it is a really scary thing.

Well, that is my list. Hope you enjoyed it. BTW Diana, I don't like coconut! LOL!

Busy Tonight

I couldn't sleep so I have been digital scrappy. This is me all dressed up for a visit with my granny. Credits: SV Designs-Coral reef lime- paper,AEK- Gems and Flowers, Susan Carlson-beads, Michelle Swadling-Alphabet, Font- Prestina

This was the entertainment for Sam's first Sleepover. The result was one ugly cake. Ther result was a very ugly cake. Credits- Paper-SV designs coral reef cirlces, Fonts-Rebekah's Birthday-Sandals

I found this great poems about stick shift cars and Sam and I had just had a conversation about this very topic. So I made a LO. Font: Put Another One In

This is a LO of Clay and I on my B'day. Credits: Stacy Carlson's Rustic Love

Sam says he isn't my baby any more. So I guess he is my boy. Credits:Rhonna Farrer 2-s sewscrappea bandanna, Jeannie Papai birthday sticker boy, Ida Another circus doodle1

I've really been enjoying digital scrapping because it doesn't make my house any messier than it already is. I just have to get some of them printed out.

What Brook Needs

My friend Shari and some other of my internet girl friends have been playing this funny game. We go to google and type in quotes our name and the word needs. Some gals came up with a few responses others came up with pages of lists. I had 48 pages of needs. Apparently I am really needy!

These are a few of the things that popped up.

Brook needs to encourage development (I would like to encourage people to develop their talents and creativity.)

Brook needs $150000 (I could use a lot more, but I will settle for that.)

Brook needs to pick up the intensity (I'm hoping that some new medication will help with that because I have surely been dragging lately.)

Brook needs to be by herself for a little while and stop throwing herself at every man (This was a new one for me. I do need some time by myself. That doesn't happen with all the men in my house.)

(brook) needs attention (I really don't know if I need that. I think it might be nice to be unnoticed for a while.)

Brook needs it (Hmmm....If I was defining the IT, I would say IT would be a vacation. 28 days and counting!)

Brook - Needs You! (I need all of my friend that is for sure!)

Brook Needs A Bigger Stage. (I would really like to be on stage again sometime. I miss acting a lot. It is fun directing all of the plays for the kids but there is really nothing like being on stage.)

Brook needs five anesthetists (For what I can only guess. I do have to say that if I have to have one of those esophagial motility studies again, I might need them to put me out.)

I have to say though that I truly believe that I have all that I need. My family is healthy, safe and happy. I have the best friends. Best of all..........summer is on the way! God is good!

Sad News

Today I found out that a car load of teenagers were involved in a terrible wreck last night. One of the boys died, he was the son of one of the teachers that I work with. (How terrible that must be for her family. I can only imagine. Her husband is still recovering from an earlier illness. I feel so bad for her.

My dear friend's son thankfully wasn't injured too terribly nor was his girlfriend. Her nephew's girlfriend was in the car and she is in bad shape in the hospital.

My son wonders why I don't want him running around with his friends late at night. I don't know what I would do if something happened to him. He is too precious.

Easter

This Easter day I'm sitting here feeling in awe of the grace and mercy of God. He has continuously showered his love on me through the years. As I sit here pondering the gifts God has given me topping my list today are my family and friends.

My friends are a source of joy and inspiration. I just finished a little mini retreat with my friends Stacie (good friend and scrappin' buddy) and Karen our friend from Kansas. We had a wonderful day of scrappin' and shoppin'. My great on line scrapping buddies have seen me through the good, the bad and the ugly. Yesterday I was working on plans to meet up with my most energetic friend Sara this June in Kerville with my friends Stacie and Karen. Hopefully we will be adding Shari and Maria to the mix. All of us crammed into the house together will be a hoot. I can't even think of making it through the day at work without my best friend Sandy. She helps keep me on my toes and creating new things for the kids to do. Of course I am most thankful for my best friend of 20 years, Clay. It is so nice just being married to such a great guy. We have been through so much together and I can't do without him.

Now I dont' think that anyone could have a better family than I have been blessed with. I have these three wonderful boys who are my constant joy. Even when things go wrong, I can still look for the blessing. My mom and dad would do absolutely anything in the world in their power to make me happy. I am so proud of my brother and his family and their dedication to the Lord in their new life in Arkansas. I wasn't able to have the big Easter celebration with everyone this year, but I am still filled with joy because even though my granny is in the hospital, she is on the mend. She should be going home soon. So I can really say that God is good!

I'm happy and loving the life that God has given me.

Greater Than and Less Than

I don't know why I am writing about this, but this is something that I really don't know why kids have such a problem with this..... A math problem is a sentence that is read from left to right. That makes sense.

+ is a symbol that means to add.
- is a symbol that means to subtract.
= is a sybol that means what is on one side is the same as the other side

The kids get that. Then we move on to
> is a symbol that means greater than. It points to the right.
< is a symbol that means less than. It points to the left.
When you hold out your hands in front of you, you can see the built in <> signs in your hands. All the kids start out well.....Then they go home....their parents confuse them with talk of alligators and birds and eating the big piece. It drives me crazy!!!!

All the have to remember is less than points to the left and read from left to right.

That is my take on it.

OMG- What is First Grade Coming To

Background---- I left school sick on Monday around noon. Then Granny had surgery on Tuesday. So I have been out of class for a day and a half.

I came to school this morning. I was left word that one little boy was allowed to leave the computer lab and come back to the classroom unsupervised and he had fun messing with the computers in the classroom and messing up other students things. So I handled this situation no big deal.

Then I get a note in a folder from a parent asking me to talk to a little boy who is telling other little boys about having sex with little girls. "WHAT!" I sure wasn't expecting that. So I decide I will ask the little boy if he was doing that. Sure enough he was. But he wasn't talking to anyone in my class. So I called the little whose mom wrote the note. I asked him what was going on....Well, he starts playing with something in his pocket. Turns out it is a knife.

OMG----- To make this even more bizarre, 7 kids in my class saw the knife and never told me. I was quite disturbed. So I had the big talk about what is tattling and what is reporting.

When I taught fourth grade, I really thought that kids that were having these issues where growing up way to fast. Now first graders are dealing with this. I really feel like I need to write a note to parents so that they can talk to their kids... I'm not sure what I'm going to say. I am really praying for some kind of divine inspiration. Wish me luck.

Shari's List

Today I was visiting my friend Shari's Blog. She is such a wise woman. She said that these are the five things that she tries every day to do.

- Do one thing I don't want to do
- Find something to look forward to
- Spend a little individual time with each child
- Spend a little one-on-one time with DH
- Do something that's fun with the kids

I am really going to try to do these things on a daily basis. The thing that I don't want to do would probably be cleaning something. Finding something to look forward to is easy. It is easy to find some time for Sam, we read everyday. Luke is easy because I listen to him play his tuba every day. Cody is a little harder. Seventeen year olds don't really want to spend quality time with mom on a daily basis. I'm really going to work on that. Clay and I have really made sure that through the years we spend one on one time together. The hardest thing will be to do something fun with the kids. By the time we do homework, soccer practice, pick up and eat, the night is gone. I'm thinking I might have to have a little joke time every night since my guys like jokes so much. That is quick but fun. So if any of you have some clean jokes appropriate for my 7-17 year old let me know.

Shari thank you so much for your thoughts and the challenge it has presented to me.

Thank Goodness Doctors Don't Know Everything

Today my Granny had surgery to remove the cancer that was found in her stomach. The whole thing was so strange. She had an episode in February and was rushed to the hospital. She thought she was going to have a heart attack. Long story short.....no heart attack and when we asked about gallbladder we were told it was okay. The doctor really didn't know what was wrong but sent her to the gastro, who found the cancer....Skip to today....During surgery to remove this cancer that was just in the beginning stages, the surgeon found that the gallbladder had to go. So chances are that was the problem all along. But, if the doctor had known what the problem was to begin with, the cancer never would have been found. So I guess I am really glad that the ER doc didn't know what was going on.

Good Grief it is April Fools' Day

I so totally forgot that today is April Fools' Day. In my attempt to educate the world-----Did you know that this used to be the new year for the so called pagans? Then the church changed the day. They called those that still celebrated the new year on April first, April Fools. They started playing tricks on them and doing not so nice things.

Now I like tricks as much as the next one, but I want my tricks to be harmless, cute and funny. No the the way that the old tricks used to be. Thank goodness that we are not in those days any more. Hooray for progress.

When I was little my mother woke me up every April Fools' Day early by telling me there was snow outside. I would jump u in my grooginess and run over to the window. I don't know why I fell for it. It just doesn't snow in Texas during April.

Well ---Happy April Fools' Day.

Just Getting Started

I guess that I am a victim of peer pressure. All of my other friends have a blog so I guess that I want one too. So today I have set up the account and I will start learning how to make the blog look more like me because I am feelin' scrapu today.