The Chicken Coop

Craftiness

2012-01-21T12:17:00.007-05:00

I finished my Weekender and I.LOVE.IT! I will definitely be making more of this bag. It was challenging, but not too bad. I want to take a trip now, so I can use it. :) It took me about 3 days of working on for a little bit here and there. I think if I had a whole day, I could whip one out now since I kinda know what to do...with this one, I actually had to read the instructions. I wasn't going to do the cording, since I was a little scared since I had read other blogs that said it was really hard, but I found it to be more time consuming than hard. I was also unsure about all the interfacing and stabilizers, but that wasn't too bad, either.

For anyone who does this bag, just give yourself time. Definitely use a heavy duty needle (I didn't break any needles or bend any pins, although, a lot of time I didn't even use pins.....I hate pinning).

I made a couple of pockets on the inside which was something not on the pattern, but other chicks had done it, and I liked the idea. I showed Sara and she wants one. We are gonna make a dress together, but once that is done, I might take her out to pick out fabrics for her own bag.

Here is Anisa's Camo Purse. She found a purse that she really liked, and we came home and figured out a pattern and made this. It's a little bigger and bulkier than I had thought it would be, but it was a perfect bag for her to take to WI...she loaded that thing up! :) She is REALLY happy with it, and has gotten lots of compliments on it. Yep, she's a redneck. :)

The most important part of today, tho, is it's ANISA'S 21ST BIRTHDAY!!! I can't believe that I have a 21 year old kid. That's just so weird. She had mixed feelings about not being home for her birthday, but ultimately decided to go spend her birthday in WI. We went to dinner at Chevy's for her birthday dinner. The next day (yesterday) we went to the airport and off she flew on a plane with a buffalo on the tail. :) Of course, at midnight she started drinking, but I talked to her this morning and she said she didn't feel great, but she's alive. :) Dumb kids. I told her just don't be driving with anyone who's been drinking...I hope she listens.

So, today, I plan to spend time with Sara who loves being an only child. We're gonna work on her dress, I hope. We cut out the pattern and now have to cut out the fabric. As soon as we're done, I'll be posting on that...It's satiny fabric and chiffon. I've never worked with either fabric, so it'll be very interesting, but I'm on a Challenge Kick.... :) I hope you all have a great day and challenge yourself with something fun! :) mwah!

First Post of 2012

2012-01-18T07:16:00.005-05:00

Well, it's a couple of weeks into the new year, but Happy New Year. I have been busy with, um, well, I don't know, but I'm sure it was something important. :) I've gotten a little bit of sewing done. Anisa and I found some Camo canvas a while back in a remnant so we bought it figuring we'd made a purse or something out of it. Then, I found some cotton fabric that she likes to line it with. I didn't take a picture of it yet, but will have to post one later. She found this purse that she loved, we figured out a pattern and made it. It turned out really cute. A little bigger than we both thought, but she likes it so I'm happy.

I bought these fabrics to start making Amy Butler's Weekender bag. Happy Zombie made it, and of course, she inspires me so I had to buy the pattern. heehee I cut the fabric out a couple of days ago, working on the interfacing hopefully this morning then I can get to sewing soon. I'm VERY anxious to get this done, since everyone that has done it, LOVES it. It's a challenge, but I'm up for it. :)

I also made this bag for my mom. She had another tote that she loved and used the heck out of. It finally died (I think the strap broke). When she came to visit for my birthday, we hit one of my new favorite fabric stores in NJ...J and O Fabrics. Awesome selection of novelty fabrics. Anyway, I found the fabrics for this bag there, and she asked if I'd make her a bag out of them. I said SURE and used HZ's pattern to make it. I love that pattern. I love the fabrics. Mom loves her bag. :)

Travis and I are slowly getting back into jogging. :) I'm not saying running since we're going pretty slow cuz we're out of shape. We jog/walked on the Bull Run Trail a week ago which was super fun. We went in about 3 miles, then back. It's VERY hilly, which is good and challenging. We have a goal on a nice weekend to jog walk from the top of the trail to the bottom end. It's about 18 miles total. We'll pack a little lunch and do it in a day. We just want to see the whole trail.

My cell phone finally bit the dust yesterday. It's been a while coming since I've dropped the poor little thing a few times. Anyway, I was forced to get a new phone. Unfortunately for the people at Verizon, I still refuse to buy a "smart" phone (which I don't think there's anything smart about). I got a nice little basic PHONE. I use it to call people and text. I don't need a camera on my phone. I have a camera. I don't need a GPS...I have maps. I don't need to read my email on my phone...it's a PHONE for goodness sake. Ok, that's my vent. I got a little LG Octane. I like it so far, but I have to get used to the keyboard. I hate change. Oh well. I also got to go to Trader Joes, so that was a little bonus. :) It's not far from here, but it's in a shopping center that I don't usually get to just because TJ's is the only store there that I like.

So, that's about all my latest news. Sara and I are making a dress for her. We cut out the pattern pieces, and I ironed the fabrics. It should be interesting since it's a silky under dress and a chiffon top layer. I've never worked with either fabric cuz of how crazy slippery they are. I'll post about that when we start...wish us luck! :)

Last post of 2011

2011-12-30T07:11:00.003-05:00

I know it's not the last day of the year, but I've been such a slacker, I don't expect to make another post in the next day or two...sooooo, this is my non-official last post of 2011. I'm choosing to call it non-official in case I surprise myself and log on tomorrow or Sunday! :) hahahah

So, we celebrated Christmas just the 4 of us, like I like it. I like getting up really late, staying in my jammies all day, eating whenever I feel like cooking and just chillin'. We had to wake the kids up at about 9:30 since they were OUT. Travis was quite involved in the laying out of gifts. He bought Sara a guitar and wanted to make sure she didn't see it before she actually got out to the living room. He's pretty cute. :) The girls got spoiled, as usual. Nisa didn't get a guitar, but she got money for her Wisconsin trip next month. Sara got Uggs, Nisa got dishes - plates and bowls for when she moves out. :) It was a good day. We had a simple ham dinner and thanked God for sending Jesus. Watched some tv, then after a wonderful day, went to bed early. :) Perfect.

My timeline here is a little backward, I just realized, but I'm going to tell you about Nisa's graduation which was Dec. 14. :) She actually graduated in Aug, but they only have one ceremony a year, so she walked in Dec. She was all cute in her official Pastry chef uniform and her pretty blue Magna Cum Laude cords. She met up with her sweet friends and off they went, giggling and being crazy. The ceremony was nice, and we even got to see friends who we've known since Santa Barbara (their son graduated too). We're so proud of her. She still loves her job at Swiss Bakery. She doesn't love getting up early, but likes getting home early.

She's also discovered that she loves Bass Pro Shop. We went up to the one near Baltimore the other day and she went crazy. about 90% of the people in there had camo on. She was a happy girl. My little redneck girl. She got some cam flannel sheets, a can koozie, and looked at and almost drooled on the knives and guns. Oh, and the boats and 4-wheelers. :)

Yes, then there's Sara. Sara is Sara. Going to school, sleeping, spending time with her friends, Younglife, church group, and TONS OF TIME playing her guitar. She's learning lots of new songs. We love to hear the music coming from her room. She also still loves learning new make-up tricks and hair styling things. Who knows...maybe someday she will be doing make-up to the stars. :) Although, I'd rather see her be happy in Portland or Seattle. We'll see.

I mentioned to a friend that Sara had been sick EVERY Christmas. She asked if we had a live tree, and said Sara might be allergic to it....ugh! It makes perfect sense. She's sick.. . LITERALLY..every Christmas. So, this year may have been our last Real Christmas tree. Dang. Anisa and I looked for a fake tree the day after Christmas, but they were all gone. Too bad they have sales for months leading up to Christmas so the after Christmas sales aren't that great. Stupid stores ruined my "day after" shopping days. The day after Thanksgiving sales aren't good cuz they are open on Thanksgiving.....I miss the old days when stores were closed on holidays. jerks.

On to happier items. We have red house finches bedding in our tree at night and we love it. Every evening at dusk, they sit on our deck until it's time to go into their little sleep tree. Then, between 5 and 7 a.m. they get up and sing their sweet songs on the deck or trees around. Man, I love birds, and squirrels! :) heehee

Our winter has been very warm. Today it's supposed to get into the 50s again. Next week, they say it'll get into the 30s. We'll see. No snow at all this winter which makes me sad.

My mom came up for my birthday and so we decided to take a trip to New York to see my cousin and go pub hopping. We had a blast. April's friend, Laurie met us in the city and we had a really great time at a pub called McSorleys. Very fun bar, very fun people, yummy beer. We also cruised through New York City in the car which April said was better than walking cuz we were warm and we covered A LOT of area. :) All the stores were decorated for Christmas so it was very pretty and bright.

If you want to look at my pics, you can view them on shutterfly. :)

Things to report

2011-11-01T07:59:00.009-04:00

Well, it's been a little while since I've written, but not as long as some of the times I've gone with no reports. There are a few things in the Nolen family that have happened recently. Here goes...

Sara has had a bit of a dilemma. She says she has lost her passion for dance, at least on the team, so she made up her mind to quit the dance team. On Oct 20, she faced the coaches and told them her decision. It was hard for her, but she handled it like an adult and is happy about her choice. She has gotten to hang out with friends who she didn't get to hang out with while on the team because of the huge time commitment for DT and is even planning to go on a church retreat. She loves her DT family and will always treasure her memories of her time on the team, but this year is a new chapter. She's a senior and wants to make it spectacular. She's actually gonna enjoy her first long weekend this week coming up. Mon and Tues are days off of school, and normally we'd be at Dance Camp, but not this year. We might even make a trip to NY to see April and Chris....and MAC, Macy's, Times Square, Lady Liberty...... :) She's a lot less stressed and even got a B+ on her math test (she's not a math girl, and struggles with it, so this is awesome news. :)). Now, my reaction is more sadness. I didn't quit the team, and I think they need me! :) heehee Actually, I've been working on bags to sell as a fundraiser at the end of this month, so I'll still be kinda involved. Plus, I still work with Tammy and talk to Dianna every day (DT moms), so I'm still in the loop. I even told them I could still chaperone for Nationals. We'll see! :) Here she is with some friends on their way to an away football game. They had a "white out", that's why they are dressed in white (trash bags). They had lots of fun..
As many of you also have heard, we got snow on the 29th. Yeah, it came down, but nothing stuck cuz the ground was pretty warm and it was rainy along with the snow, but you can see that we got big flakes coming down. It sure was pretty. It's been cold lately, and it seems like it went from HOT to COLD real quick. I guess that's usually how it seems to go around here. We go from air conditioning to heat. Poor little heat pump. :) heehee
Last night was Halloween. 35 bucks worth of candy and not many kids. Dang. Now, I have a ton of candy in the house. Guess we better keep running to work it off. :) Now, if I can just stay motivated and work out time to go. Well, stop making excuses, that's what I need to do. :) Sara and some of her friends went out trick or treating for a bit after they went and got $2 booritos at Chipotle. Those crazy burritoholics. :) Here are the girls....We went out and took some pics hoping to start on our Christmas letter/card/pic for this year. I'm saving the family pics for the card, but here are my beautiful girls. I just love them so much. :) Especially when they're being sweet. :) heehee We had fun and wanted to at least get some pics with the fall colors. The trees are so confused this year with the weird weather we've had, so the colors didn't seem to be as vibrant as normal, but they are still really pretty. This was at Mercer Lake right here by our house. We even saw some little tiny fishies. Yeah, Anisa has taken up fishing. Her friends like to fish, so they go her "hooked". She went and bought a fishing pole and even a little tackle box with hooks, bobbers, and all that stuff. She wants to make a trip to Bass Pro Shop soon. We like to tease her about it, but she doesn't care. She likes to go out with her friends and fish. Crazy kids.I'm working on making bags, and today I'm going to work at Tammy's. She's got a lot of events and baskets to make and get ready for. Her business is taking off and I'm so proud of my friend. For those of you who I don't normally talk to, Tammy is one my Dance Mom friends, who has a gift basket business. She quit her full-time job to get her business running again (she's a single mom, so this was a GIGANTICALLY HUGE step). Anyway, the girl is on fire getting all kinds of new accounts with some big companies. I hope she makes it big. Oh, here's her website in case you want to check it out...Talk Of the Town Gifts....we ship anywhere in the country! :) I'll put extra love in any basket you want! :) heehee This is a picture of a luncheon she did for NEW - Networking Executive Women. Mali, the speaker of the day was awesome. Check out her book, A Million Fireflies. This woman has been through some crazy stuff in her life, starting with her family fleeing their home in Laos in the middle of the night when she was just 4. If you want to be inspired, get the book. :)As usual, you can click on any picture to make it bigger. :) So, now you've been updated. Hope you all have a spectacular day. Love and kisses!! :)

Working girl

2011-10-17T12:03:00.007-04:00

Anisa finally got herself a big girl job. :) She is now an employee of The Swiss Bakery in Springfield, VA. :) She's kind of a "floater" right now and doing a little bit of anything they need. She's made ice cream, delivered goods to the Burke store, made cookies and stocked the store and freezer. She likes the job, but is still getting used to having to get up and go to work. She commented that she hopes she gets a day off soon because she's so tired...well, she's on her 4th day of work.....welcome to adulthood my precious child. :) It kinda sucks, but when she gets that paycheck, she's gonna be happy.

How did this all happen, you ask? Well, after she graduated school, we kept telling her she needed to get out there and find a job. I had found the Swiss Bakery a long time ago and she even was referred there by one of her chefs at school. She had an interview a couple of weeks ago at a fancy french bakery in DC, but the owner interviewed her and she said she thought maybe English is his second language because she could barely understand him. She was not excited about getting a job there, but knew it would be good experience. Luckily after a few not returned calls by the bakery, she gave up. I kept bugging her to download the application from Swiss Bakery and just turn it in. She finally did and went into the Burke store and the very sweet manager there told her the owner was in Switzerland and she does the interviews. She'd be back by the weekend. Well, sure enough, Monday morning Anisa got an email asking if she could come in for an interview on Wed. She replied ABSOLUTELY. She was SO nervous and went in (I sat in the car waiting for her since we had errands to run before and after AND to give her that mommy support). About 45 minutes later, she returned and said she had a "stage" (working for free to see how things work) scheduled for Thursday. She had to be there at 8:00 a.m. and didn't know when she'd be done. I kept expecting a text from her telling me she was on her way home (I was working at Tammy's). Well, she just showed up at Tam's with a smile on her face. She said she had fun, was really tired, but they liked her so much, that instead of working for free, she was hired AND getting paid for Thursday. :) Since then she's had three 8-hour days. Today is her 4th day. Yesterday and today she had to be there by 7 a.m. Not super early in the Bakery world, but SUPER DUPER early in Anisa's world. We're pretty proud of her, and are trying to be supportive and understanding when she's tired and wants a day off. We tell her we know, and sorry that she's tired, but this is what adults have to do. Growing up stinks sometimes, but there are good things too...like a PAYCHECK. :)

Happy stuff :)

2011-10-11T08:02:00.010-04:00

Lots has been going on and I have been slacking getting this updated. Here goes...

Dance Team has been taking up some of our time. After the whole AGT thing, the team is getting back into the swing of the season. Homecoming is this week, so the team will perform at a school pep assembly, and the game and will be walking in the parade. It looks like the weather will be good. They were asked to perform at the Field of Screams this past weekend. It was pretty fun, even tho Sara and a few others HATE scary things...I know, strange that their theme is pretty much scary. :)
Biggest thrill? Deep Fried Oreos and Twinkies. :)
They also held a 2-day dance camp for littles. The DT taught the kids a routine and then the littles got to perform at a football game. The campers were so excited to perform and did a great job. I've been doing a little bit of shopping for the Homecoming performance (which I LOVE- shopping with other people's money - hee hee).

Renee was in town last week staying with friends down in Stafford, so i went to spend a couple of days with her and the kids and friends. :) It was fun, but it stinks that she's all the way in TX now. I guess it's ok, tho, since I'll get to see some of Texas when I go see her! :) We took the kids to Build A Bear. They had a blast.

Today, Anisa has a job interview at Swiss Bakery. We're super excited and hope she gets the job...for lots of reasons, but we think it will be an awesome experience and the people who own/work there are very nice. :)

F U CF!

2011-09-29T22:08:00.002-04:00

I am sitting here so totally heartbroken for one of my dear friends. I just found out that in February of this year, Joe's body was done fighting CF and he went Home to live with the Lord.

I met this sweet lady in the late 80s when I subbed for her at work while she went off and got married (to a Coastie). I didn't really know her when I took the job, but we got to know each other and became FRIENDS. She is a person who would do anything for anyone. Super sweet.

In January of 1992 she gave birth to her precious son Joe. What a treasure he was to his mom and dad. He was such a little cutie guy. He was perfect in every way, but one....he was born with Cystic Fibrosis. CF if a genetic disease that affects the lungs and pancreas. I only know about this stupid disease, because my little brother was born with it. I wish I didn't know what it was. I wish it didn't exist.

As a Christian, there are things that I just don't understand but I trust that God has life taken care of, but I don't have to like parts of this life. I hate that there is disease, I hate that there is deep heartache. I love that He takes care of us when we are broken. He takes care of us when we hit the bottom and we have no way of getting up without His help. Joe was a Christian guy. I know where he is right now, and that makes me smile. He is not suffering any more. There are no more pills. No more hospital visits. No more needles.

I'm the most sad for my friend, Wende. I don't think I can even come close to imagining what she's had to go through this year. I'm thankful that she knows the Lord and will continue to look to Him for strength. I also know, that because of who she is, she has a lot of people to love and support her.

This is a sad post, and I apologize, but the main point of it is to ask you all for your prayers for Wende and Jerry and everyone who was touched by Joe's special life. I also would like to ask for prayers for my brother, Blake and another friend, Matt, who has CF and all the families affected by this stupid disease.

College?? Psha...she's DONE!

2011-09-24T08:08:00.003-04:00

Well, Anisa is now a certified Pastry Chef. She has her AA degree in Pastry and Baking. It's weird to think that I have a baby who is now done with one degree (she's not sure what's next).

On Wed, 9-21-11, we trecked into the city to the Building Museum for her Portfolio Show. All the graduates show off what they have learned/what they do. Some have their AA, some have finished their BA. There are culinary students, graphic artists, musicians, video artists....a little bit of everything artsy. :)

The day actually started on Tuesday. Anisa had to go into school to make her desserts. She chose to make french macarons. Macarons are actually like little puff cookies with a frosting-ish center. Lots of people know of the coconut macarOOns, but those are not the traditional french cookie. Macarons can be made of almost any flavor combination you want. She chose to make Orange Creamsicle (by Daddy's request), Lemon-Lime, and Raspberry. There is an exact method to making macarons (I found this blog and it tells an adorable story of making them and how they are so temperamental). The humidity in the air has to be just right, the batter has to be beaten just right, the oven temp has to be just right...there are many many ways to ruin the little cookies, and only a couple of ways to make them perfectly. They have to have a perfect "foot", and a perfectly domed little top. I'm so proud of my baby who made very nice looking and tasting french macarons...I didn't know she had it in her! :)So, on Wed, we drove into DC in rush hour traffic. Our normally 20-30 minute drive became an hour long stop and go fest. Luckily we had Toby Keith, Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton to keep us company. Plus, we can always find stuff to talk about, other drivers to talk smack about, etc. :) We arrived at the Building Museum right on time. Anisa ran in to find her table and we started unloading. Luckily, her table was right between her 2 good friends from school, Shakyla and Sama'Ria.The idea of the Portfolio show (from what I can understand) is to basically show what they've made in their Capstone class. She had to "build" a bakery from the ground up. She had to find a property, shop for it - ovens, counters, sinks, tables, lamps, display cases, etc. then come up with her total business plan. She chose to name her "bakery" CRUMBS. She came up with her menu and logo. We had shopped and I had sewn for this event. We ran to Joann's and found some cute fabric to make her a tablecloth and a cute little apron. We hit the Container Store and found some little spice racks to display her little macarons. Target was where we found her little 3-tier dessert holder. Then off to Michaels for flowers and ribbon. She was set. Didn't really know what to expect once we got to the show, but her table turned out to be one of the most decorated/pretty tables. :) I helped her get her stuff inside, then headed home to get Travis. It only took me half hour to get home. :)Travis and I headed BACK into DC, found parking and went into the show. There were potential employers, teachers from the school and of course, friends and family. It was fun to see all the other chefs/artists and what they made. We walked around, tasted some of the other foods, looked at the art and listened to music. We chatted with some of the other students then went upstairs to watch our baby at work. We watched as people would stop at her table and she would explain her business and desserts. We really enjoyed seeing people's reactions to her macarons. As one of the chefs took a bite, we saw him nod his head positively. She smiled and chatted and just looked cute. :)She said she was nervous about the whole show, but when it was all finally over and done, she was disappointed that it was over. I was amazed to look through her portfolio to see all the work she had done to "build" her bakery. It was one of those "Wow, I didn't realize my kid could do something like that", proud mommy moments. Of course, I'm proud of my kids, they're awesome (except for those times when they're being little turds, but that's normal). But sometimes they do stuff that still shocks me. God really did give me some GOOD girls. I'm gonna really enjoy watching them as they become productive citizens....and I hope you all can enjoy some of Anisa's sweets someday. :)

Some of my latest stuff

2011-09-20T07:28:00.010-04:00

Well, I've been a little busy crafting lately. Lots of fabric, but not lots of quilts. BAGS! Yep, some might call me a bag lady, but it's just a phase. :) (*click on the pics to make them big).

It started when Sara needed a cosmetic bag for her AGT adventure. I looked at patterns/tutorials on the internet for a little bag that was easy to make. I found this awesome tutorial. I tried it and I.LOVE.IT! It's SO SUPER EASY and fast to make these little bags. I've made about 5 or 6 of them, since Sara's friends have seen them and have wanted them. Plus, my kids needed them. Oh, and btw, we ended up finding a Vera Bradley bag for Sara for her bigger stuff, but she uses her little cupcake bag for smaller things. :) Here's one of the little cupcake bags I did and one with Hello Kitty. Not loving the handles on the cupcake bag, but since I made this one, I've managed to perfect the handles. :)

While scanning through the tutuorials, I found this incredibly cute site/pattern. I made the little lunch bag cuz I liked the idea of it (it's the second tutorial down on the right side of her blog). After I made it, it was sitting around and I thought I'd better take it to LA in case I couldn't use my Eddie Bauer little backpack/purse (we were told we couldn't have any logo gear in the audience). This was THE.PERFECT.BAG for my sudoku book, The Help (which is a great book, go get it and read it), and lots of snacks (I was the snack mom). I put some iron-on vinyl inside in case any liquids spilled, but probably won't do that again. It's too crunchy. Anyway, here are 2 of them that I made...the purple one is the one I took to LA, the sushi one is on it's way to it's new home. :)

I also made this little pyramid/teepee bag that I found here. I like this tutorial, but I wish it was all on one page (you have to click on NEXT to see the next step). Oh well. I use it for my little tylenol, advil, pepto bismol, etc that I keep in my purse. :)

Another project that I've had in my brain for a while is a WSDT waterproof blanket for the cold, rainy, wet football games that we will be sitting through, starting this Friday night. This is the official logo of the team for now. Coach J made it and it's now on everything. :) heehee Anyway, this is just one of the tied fleece blankets, but I sewed on the logo made of silver metallic fabric, BUT inside, I sewed that rubberized flannel (you know the kind they make baby mattress covers out of). So, now when Sara sits on the damp, metal, freezing bleachers, she won't get wet OR freezing. :) It's THICK and HEAVY! But, I like it and I'm sure it will get lots of use and Sara will have lots of people huddling around her to snuggle in it.

So, now for the non-crafty picture. I found this while we were at Michael's yesterday and had to buy them. They're good, but I had to have them cuz of the name. :) heehee

Why were we at Michaels you ask? Well, Anisa will be all done with her AA degree in Baking and Pastry tomorrow. Today she will be cooking macarons all day at school, then tomorrow she'll present them to employers, chefs and family/friends. It's part of her capstone class. She had to "build" her bakery from the ground up. this is the final presentation, so yesterday we spent the day shopping for the last minute display items she needed. I will make a whole post on that after her presentation with pictures and everything. Of course, we're super proud of our girl. Now, she just needs to get a job! :)

Gosh

2011-09-13T08:28:00.013-04:00

Wow, I'm getting pressure to post, so I better do it before anyone kills any poor defenseless creatures! heehee Julie, I still love you, but I'm sad you didn't go make sure the little guy was dead. He maybe suffered a painful death.

Ok, on to happy things. As most of you know, Sara's dance team, The Fabulous WSDT, was on America's Got Talent. We left on August 1st thinking that we would be there for a week. That turned into 3.5 weeks, then a 4.5 day break then another week. It was fun, but super tiring and stressful for the kids and coaches. They had their first routine DOWN since it was their Nationals routine that they had been performing for a year (with a few tweaks/new music). But they had 3 days to make up, learn and clean their next 3 routines. Us parents were only there to be GoFers...Go fer lunch. Go fer make up. Go fer this and that. We also got to do a little sightseeing in LA/Bev Hills, so it was fun, I just with the kids could have done more playing. We DID get to take them to the Santa Monica pier one night and they had a great time, but at night, it's a little scary to take 17 teenagers who are cute to an amusement park type area with strangers. I've posted most of the pictures on Facebook, but I'll stick some on here too. :)

When we got home from our trip to CA, Sara had to start school. Lucky for her, we had major flooding in the area and school was canceled on Friday (the day after we got home). She started school yesterday AS A SENIOR! OMG. I can't believe it. Here's my baby on her first day...

I also finished a quilt on our little 4.5 day break to send to my friend Amber who just had her 3rd baby boy (pray for her). :) Her and her husband have rival college teams. She's an Iowa Hawkeye and he is an Ohio Buckeye. So, i thought it would be appropriate to make the quilt in their team colors. The pattern is called Anita's Arrowheads, but in our house, it's called Anisa's Arrowheads. My friend Ann Marie gave me the suggestion and it was a good one. Super fun pattern.

I'll post more pics later of all the fun I'm having making little bags. I'm on my way right now to make some more so I must quit for now. Have a super great day. :)

What?? :)

2011-08-29T21:47:00.000-04:00

width="180" height="540" alt="We're Finalists for America's Got Talent" />

obsess much

2011-07-19T15:35:00.004-04:00

Ok, I have a new little sewing obsession. These little pouchy totes, bags, or whatever you wanna call them.....I call them TOTALLY FUN TO MAKE! :)

I made the blue one as my experiment and gave it to Nisa. She loves it, but isn't sure what she'll use it for. Last night one of her friends came over and she really liked it, so while the girls went shopping, I whipped out the pink one for Sasha. :) I timed myself making the pink one and from start to finish it took about an hour and a half.

I used this tutorial that I found while looking for a cosmetic bag pattern. I used 8x8"squares instead of 6x8 rectangles and I quilted my fabric before I made the bags, so they have seams showing inside, but they're lined. :) I also loved her tip on using zippers that are longer than you need. It makes them so much easier to handle. I went and bout about 10 more zippers so I can make some more.

I also made this little owly bag. I went to a quilt shop in town that I had never been to, and found these cute fabrics. So, I made this bag. I like how it turned out ok, but kinda figured it out as I went (didn't use a pattern). I also lined it and put a little pocket inside. Not sure what I''m gonna do with it, but it was also fun to make...and I LOVE the owls. :)

4th of July in DC and baby bugs

2011-07-07T06:50:00.011-04:00

I'll go with the baby bugs first, but I don't want to scare anyone away..so if you don't like bugs, you can scroll down past the pics..I won't be offended - I won't even know you did it. :) So, since most of you who are reading this know me, have known me for a long time, or at least have seen through other posts that I like animals and creepy crawlies. I don't even kill bugs in the house. I save them in a cup and release them. I DO kill mosquitos and gnats, but only when they are biting me or flying into my eyes! A couple of weeks ago, I found these little eggs on the screen door. I didn't know what they were, but I looked at them through a magnifying glass and saw that they were super cute. They had little smiley faces. Of course, I had to take 500 pictures of them, but this one is the best.I made Anisa look at them later because, like her mom, she loves little creatures too. She googled "smiley bug eggs" or something like that and found out that they were baby stink bug eggs. Days later, we went out to look at them and they had hatched! And, her search was correct. They were baby stink bugs. A lot of my friends have had lots of problems with stink bugs, but we have only had a few in the house every once in a while (I hope I didn't just jinx myself). Here are the babies having a baby stink bug convention.After another couple of days, they all took off. We watched them and their movement around the door then one day we came out and they were all gone. Probably flying to bother some of my friends..sorry.

This part of the story is better for most people cuz it has nothing to do with creepy things, but fire! :) FireWORKS. In DC! We're really hoping to be going HOME next summer to the great Pacific Northwest so we're trying to take advantage of living near Washington, DC. I've learned over the years to try to see as much of the area that we're in as we can because we may never come back. This year I told the family we're gonna go into the city to see the fireworks over the capital. We didn't quite make it into the city, but we were on the edge of the city so we could see the Washington and Lincoln Monuments and the capital building (we could even see the Library of Congress in the daylight). I don't care who you are, the view of this city is spectacular...see...We got to the park at about 3:30 in the afternoon so we could get a good seat, and we found a perfect spot and plopped down for a hot, steamy wait for fireworks. Luckily there was a threat of a storm so there were clouds covering the sun a lot of the day. It was still humid, but we didn't have the sun beating down on us. We sat close to lots of people with BIG, EXPENSIVE cameras.It was fun to see them and listen to them, but you know me, I don't just sit and listen. We started talking to them and found out that a lot of them were in photography/camera clubs. They were super nice. I told Anisa that we are lucky cuz whenever we go someplace like that, we end up by someone cool. As evening drew near, lots of other people showed up and because our spot was so great we had to shoo a lot of people out from in front of us. dummies. Please, please, please. If you ever go somewhere where you KNOW there are gonna be lots of people, either show up early so you can get the spot you want, or be ok with sitting in the back and your view not being so great. Don't squish in front of people who have the good spot. :) Whatever. We watched the show, and at the end, started walking toward metro. We had decided to try one station, but it seemed like everyone else was going to that one, so we took off in the other direction toward Arlington. Well, the crowds around the escalators were HUGE, so we continued on our little trek and walked to the Pentagon. That station wasn't crowded at all, and we got on a train right away. Travis found out when we got home, we walked about 2.5 miles, and it was worth it...although we were all sticky icky when we got home cuz it was so humid out - which, by the way, it never really stormed. We got a couple drops, but no real rain.

Anyway, here are some of the fireworks (**click on the pictures to make them big**). It was a good show. Beautiful fireworks over a beautiful setting. If I get to do it again, tho, I'll leave Travis home (he hates crowds and the thought of waiting for a REALLY LONG TIME for Metro makes him crazy) and go right down into DC. :)

In case you didn't get an email....

2011-06-29T11:15:00.002-04:00

Hey gang,
Sara's Dance Team made it to the final 20 in America's Got Talent Video contest. It's time for America to vote...go here.. http://www.youtube.com/agt and you can vote. I'd love it if you'd vote for West Springfield Dance Team. :) If they win the video submission contest, they get to go to LA and perform live and compete for the big prize...$$ :) Please pass the link along to all your friends and they can pass it along to their friends and so on..and so on..and so on.. ;) Oh, you can vote every day until July 8!! :)

Thanks for your help and I hope you all are having a wonderful day! :) Hugs and kisses...Cindy :)

storms and painting

2011-06-17T07:41:00.002-04:00

I'm finishing the painting in the next few days. It looks so good. I love fresh paint. Right now I'm working on my bedroom. It's taking me a long time since I'm having the move furniture around, tarp EVERYTHING, and going over each wall with a second coat cuz I'm covering up a different color. I don't mind, but I want it done...I want to just be able to look at it. :)

Last night some crazy storms blew through. I'm not sure if the thunder woke me up, but I stayed up a while and listened to it. I'm a little tired today, but hopefully I'll get to bed early tonight.

Dance practice has started for Sara already. We're having a fund raiser tomorrow at Outback. Yummy, but I'm not sure if I'll get to eat. Last year I spent most of the time outside with the kids holding signs. We'll be doing lots of carwashes and dance camps over the next year...ugh, but it's nice to fundraise instead of having to fork out the entire chunk of money it takes to be on the team, and Sara can help contribute...that's the best part.

Anisa is in WI right now for a couple of weeks. She went out to visit friends and go to Country USA. She's super excited about that, and will probably have lots of pics to share when she gets home. She's been seeing friends and riding Aaron's dirt bike. Poor Aaron. He probably hasn't had much time on it cuz Anisa is a bike hog.

Not much else is going on here. Sara's last day of school is Monday..technically Tues. is the last day of school, but I'm told that NOBODY goes on that day. I guess the teachers would be happy to not have anyone there so they can clean up their classrooms and not have to come back in. I'm not sure what our summer plans are...we are not taking our Ireland trip...long story and I'm pretty bitter about it. I'm sure we'll come up with something. My bff is moving to Texas, so I know I will be making a few trips down there, possibly one this summer...we'll see. Sara has a week-long babysitting gig lined up to earn money for her Wisconsin trip in a couple of weeks. I'm planning to go to the Capital for the 4th of July this year. It MIGHT be our last chance if we get to move back home next summer. So, that's my update. Not much excitement, but that's ok. Life is exciting enough without all the added stuff. :) Hope everyone is great. love and kisses!! :)

Our 3 girls

2011-06-01T09:45:00.003-04:00

One of my cute little friends just bought an Element. I'm so happy and I hope she loves it just like we love our little Foxy girl. She also asked me to post a pic of the new little preciousness by her big sisters (yes, you all know I'm a freak and all the vehicles are names and gendered...whatever!). So, here they are. Baby, Foxy and Little Girl (still haven't figured out her appropriate name). You can see how itty bitty she is, but she's oh so fun to drive. :) And she only sips gas unlike our other 3 rigs, which is great at STILL over 4 bucks a gallon.

The Arnold Family visit

2011-06-01T09:05:00.016-04:00

We had company from Sturgeon Bay about 2 weeks ago, but now it seems like forever ago. Randall, Mary, Em and Olivia came to stay with us over a long weekend. We had a COMPLETE BLAST~ It was so fun to see our VERY FUN, AND AWESOME friends. ;) We totally exhausted ourselves by seeing as much as humanly possible in 5 days. Monuments and Memorials, National Cathedral, the Capital, Library of Congress, Arlington and we even got an air show in at Andrews AFB. Oh, and a shopping trip too. :) heehee

It all started on Wed, they arrived in DC in the afternoon. We got them safely home and got Popeye's chicken, red beans and rice and biscuits for dinner at home so we could catch up. The next day we headed into the city to see the Library of Congress and do the Capital tour. The big time bummer about the capital tour was that they now do not allow ANY, NONE, ZILCH food or liquids inside no matter what. We threw away a bunch of food and 5 brand new water bottles. Ticked us off, but we wanted to go inside. Lucky for us we had already had hot dogs from a cart! :) Or wieners, as we so lovingly called them. :) On our tour, we found out that we could get passes from our senators to go into the Senate gallery. Yeah, you know the place where you see on CSpan?? We got to sit up in the balcony and see what happens there. The day we were there, not much was happening, but it was still cool. We rode into DC on the Metro so the A Fam could experience THAT. :) I still think it's kinda fun to ride metro.

That night we headed to Chipotle because it was also Sara's 17^th birthday. She was a pretty happy chickto get a Chipotle gift card and a Robek's (her favorite smoothie place) gift card and a pair of Toms shoes. Click on Toms to see what THAT'S all about. :) Her pals, Hannah and Dori joined her for her delicious burrito.

Friday we headed to Andrews AFB to check out the air show. It was SOOOOO.COOOOL! I really liked the Thunderbirds and their extremely loud jet blasts! Oh, and Travis' plane. :) The weather was perfect. Overcast and cool, but that also meant we didn't prepare for sun rays! We all got a little crispy. Em got super crispy. When we are all done looking at planes, we found out that Anisa was out of school and wandering around Georgetown, so we decided it was the perfect change to hit Georgetown Cupcakes – famously known as DC Cupcakes on TLC. So, we headed to that side of town, found Anisa and her school pals, got our cupcakes and figured since we were so close to Arlington National cemetary, we'd take a chance and see if it was still open (it was late afternoon by then). We got there with an hour to spare! We went to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, then looked at the headstones on our way to the old Arlington House where we got a fabulous view of DC. By then, it was time to head out since the park was closing. We found our way to the Iwo Jima statue and took pictures before a huge school group showed up.

Saturday, we went to the National Cathedral (one of the Nolen family's favorite places). There was a wedding going on at the end of our trip, but while we were wandering around looking at the cathedral, the musicians were practicing. There were 2 violinists and the organ player. OH MAN. The music sounded so good in that church. Wow. We sat and watched them practice for a bit, then took the gang downstairs to show them where Helen Keller was buried, then we got in the elevator to the top and looked out all the windows over the city. We wandered through the garden before it was time to load up in the van again and head toward DC to check out the monuments and memorials. We saw the Washington Monument and the Lincoln, Jefferson Vietnam, WW2, Korean War and Martin Luther King Jr Memorials and feed some squirrels - really, what is a trip to DC without feeding some little fuzz balls? :) Too bad that the Reflection Pool is being refurbished and wont' be done for 2 years, so it was kinda ugly with tarps, cranes and dirt. It was hot and we were all pretty drained from the rest of the weekend, so we headed home to chill.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church. After all that we had done and seen in the last 3 days we were all ready to just relax, so we went shopping at Tyson's Corner (not relaxing at all, but fun). :) We enjoyed a late lunch at Gordon Biersch and got home to enjoy the last part of our visit.

Monday, we had to say good-bye to our wonderful friends. What a super time we had, tho. I love company, and when it's FUN company, it's even better. :) But, of course, my family and friends are all fun. :) heehee

Our life lately...

2011-05-17T07:02:00.012-04:00

It seems like I have started a lot of my posts with "I haven't updated lately". Ugh. Life is so crazy busy, and I don't even know what I have done. Luckily, I have pictures!! :)

Poor Husband! Travis' allergies are killing him! This year is one of the worst years for allergies (they say). Here is what is getting him! There is so much pollen floating around. This was actually about a week and a half ago, but Travis is still suffering with sneezing fits, stuffy head and puffy eyes. My poor honey. The one good thing is that EVERYTHING is green now. I love the LOOKS of VA in the summer. I hate the humidity, but the trees and all the different shades of green are so beautiful. It really is a beautiful place. :)

I got to see one of my dear friends from SB a couple of weeks ago. Lori came with a group of exchange students and I got to visit with her for a few hours. It was fun to get to see her! :)

For Mother's day weekend, we all (yes, all 4 of us) went to Richmond, VA to explore (Travis had earned 2 free nights at Holiday Inn Express on one of his CG trips and they were getting ready to expire, so we had to use them). It's the state capital, and we want to see everything we can while we're here out east. We went car shopping (but didn't find anything) and regular shopping (there is a huge outdoor mall there, Short Pump Plaza or something like that..very cool), eating (I had my first Reuben sandwich at a cute little deli) and exploring...we went to the Edgar Allen Poe museum, the capital building and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. We wanted to see the Picaso exhibit, but decided it wasn't that important at $20 a person! We did a drive-by to see the Richmond International Speedway where Nascar races happen. Travis is a Formula 1 fan, so this wasn't super thrilling, but cool to see anyway. :) heehee We also walked around on the waterfront, over a river to a little island (Belle Isle) and saw a hawk and some kayakers. Luckily, we had great weather and even saw some squirrels. Oh, we saw a dude with a sign that said "Family killed by ninjas...need $$$ for karate lessons". That was hilarious! On the way home, we stopped in Spotsylvania to get Sonic. It was Travis' first time. :) Then we saw Renee, Syd and Ava coming home from the grocery store! bonus!!!

So, if you caught that sentence above, we have been car shopping. We need something that we can run around town in that gets better gas mileage, since we're filling up at $4.25 a gallon right now. Plus, Sara will need a car soon, and just like with the Element, we wanted to get something that WE can use, then pass on to her when she leaves the nest. While we were in Richmond, Travis and Sara sat in and played with a Scion xD. We have been looking at Civics and Corollas mostly, but they both really liked that little xD. So, like usual, Travis came home and did ALL KINDS OF research on the little car. Safety ratings, mileage, customer satisfaction.... well, on Saturday, we told the kids we were running to Walmart and Target. They were both just waking up at noon, so they accepted that and we left on our way up to Fairfax to look at cars. ;) We got to the dealer and found 2 xpressos, 1 black and 1 black currant (purple) xDs. Travis saw online that they had a Magnetic Gray Metallic one, so we asked. They had one, but it was at their sister lot. Sooo, we drove the little purple one and decided to have the Gray one brought over and went inside to start with the 4 hour process to buy a car. We are the new proud owners of a 2011 Scion xD. She is precious and fun to drive and SMELLS DELISH! I love new car smell. We are still in the process of finding a name for her. Some options are Ellie, Bear, Chanel, Coco, & Phiphi (pronounced feefee). Here is Sara with the little girl. It reminds me of when we bought Foxy girl, and how happy Nisa was. Silly girls. SPOILED girls. :)

This past Friday night/Saturday morning, Sara and I were at the Relay for Life. We were supposed to stay up all night, but ended up NOT. It was amazing and cool to see the cancer survivors there and their families/loved ones. Stupid cancer. But to see that many people supporting a cure was very nice. $141,419 was raised! :) And we saw Elvis!

I've been painting the inside of the house. I got all the walls and trim downstairs done. There were/are some places I needed to fix since they had been "fixed" by someone in the past, but weren't done right and they drove me crazy. You can't really tell that it's just been painted, but I can tell cuz it's fresh, clean and some of the drips and patches are now GONE! :) I'm happy, and after all, that's what counts, right?? heehee I will work my way upstairs after next week....

We have company coming (so the painting is stopped for now) TOMORROW! :) Our friends, the Arnold's from Sturgeon Bay are coming out to visit/see DC. We are SO excited. Randall, was Travis' chiropractor in SB, and we've known them from church there. They also are bringing their 2 girls. Olivia is friends with my girls, and Emily, who lives in Chicago is 30. We haven't met Emily, but are looking forward to getting to know her. Randall and Mary are incredibly cool people, and I know this weekend will be a total blast! :)

Oh, something I don't think I've posted was a quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago. It was for a friend's new grandson in SB. My friend's daughter was a friend of Anisa's in school there. She's now a Coastie Wife and they have just added a son to their new family. I have a hard time making boy quilts since I love working with pinks and purples and the more GIRLIE colors, but I'm pretty happy with this little quilt. it has frogs, lizards and bugs on it.

Silver Anniversary and other stuff

2011-04-20T15:56:00.010-04:00

Yep, Travis and I celebrated our 25th anniversary on the 13th of this month. I have a really hard time with the fact that I have been married for 25 years. I am old enough to have had my silver anniversary. At least I don't ACT that old. :) heehee Whatever. We're still very much in love and enjoy each other for the most part. Sure, we would like to kill each other sometimes, but who doesn't?? He's not fully trained, and I know he never will be, so I take him like he is. HA! We celebrated this year by going to Chima Brazilian Steakhouse. I have never been so full of meat in my life. :) Well, maybe once or twice. If you haven't been to a Brazilian Steakhouse (this was our first, but not last time), there are guys who walk around with huge skewers of all kinds of meats. Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish...you name it, they have it. Plus, there is a huge salad bar with awesomely incredible foods on it. It was SO FUN, and it was nice to have a night out just the two of us. :)

This week is starting out to be pretty busy. My cousin, April, came down from New York on Monday. Our main goal was to see the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History cuz it's free on Tuesdays. So, we went into the city on Tues and it was SO INCREDIBLY packed, we didn't get to go. We had some fun adventures, tho. We saw the flooded Tidal Basin (that's the picture with Anisa on the bench. There is a sidewalk in front of that bench that goes out probably about 6 feet), tulips, the Jefferson Monument, took a paddle boat ride and went to dinner at Capital City brewing and then checked out the Postal Museum. We had a great time with the semi-truck front end in there. Here are some pics for your enjoyment. :)

WSDT

2011-04-02T17:14:00.005-04:00

Well, Coach J did it again. Go HERE to see the incredible video that he made to promote the team in some different avenues other than just high school and college dance competitions.

He is lovingly called Buh Buh Juh, Barbara, and J. Jason King along with Tara Perez, AKA TP and Coachikins, work ALL.THE.TIME to get this team of dancers to the top. They hand picked each one because they could see that spark in every one of them. This is a FAMILY of talented kids who are all willing to literally sacrifice almost everything for dance and their team.

Once the school year starts, every single practice (Tues - Fri 3-6 and some Mondays and weekends from Sept. to March) is mandatory. They cannot miss for anything...driver's ed, studio lessons, family vacations...NOTHING. It's a sacrifice for the families too, since we have to schedule things around the team schedule, but we all do it willingly and only whine about it a little, because we know it's SO worth it. The rewards for each dancer are so huge. This is what we all hope for our kids to have in their young lives. A family outside of their parents and siblings that they can share their ups and downs with, and this team has definitely had it's share. Our Senior guy, Julian, danced for weeks with a torn ACL. He was in some serious pain, and has just gone through a painful surgery and faces some painful PT, but I know he doesn't regret a second of it. A couple of the dancers have blood pressure and asthma issues. We've seen some pass out after performing. Frustration, exhaustion and pain are a few things that they all willingly subject their bodies to for the goal of going big!

Trophies are nice, but they do it for the love of it. And each dancer is a splendid kid. Yeah, they all have their issues, but since they are all teenagers, that's to be expected. They don't take it for granted that they get awarded for their hard work. They take their awards and go back and work even harder for the next event. If our world was full of people who were so dedicated and willing to sacrifice for others like these dancers have done, it would be a way better place.

I am so incredibly proud of each one of them. I can't even describe what it's like to be called Mama No, have their trust, and be allowed to participate in the events with these awesome kids. I love them all. Keep an eye on this team....they're going places for sure! :)

Cherry Blossoms and other adventures

2011-04-01T19:21:00.012-04:00

Last minute, Anisa and I decided to go into DC and have lunch with Travis. They have these yummy, delicious tacos at his building for really cheap. After we ate, he changed into his play clothes (jeans and tennis shoes) and we headed in to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms.

On the shuttle, from Travis' work to the shuttle stop, we saw cops sitting on overpasses....for no apparent reason. Then, as we got closer to the water, we saw traffic was STOPPED, cops were EVERYWHERE and a helicopter was flying around overhead. Travis said, "get your cameras ready, he's gonna drive by". The presidential motorcade came down the road. Starting with motorcycle cops, then cop cars, then the limos, then suburbans, then vans and other vehicles, then more cop cars, then more motorcycles. The girls and I have seen this before. One time in LA when I had rear-ended a Suburban, Clinton drove by with the whole motorcade. It's kinda fun to see whether you like the guy or not. :) The video is here if you want to watch it. It's about a minute long. :)

After we got done taking pictures/video, we headed over to see the trees. They are beautiful, as usual. Plus, the monuments make everything even better. :) I love this city. We took tons of pictures and walked around the water...freezing. It was about 50 out today, but it was really windy right there on the water. Once we had done the entire loop, we (I) decided we should walk to the Pentagon and catch the Metro there. After all, when you looked, it seemed to be "right there"...close. We had to walk along the 395 freeway over the Potomac River (SUPER WINDY). We had to RUN across an offramp, then walk on the inside of the railing to get over there. Next time, we'll go back to the Smithsonian stop on the National Mall. It was a fun adventure, but it would have been more fun if it hadn't been so darn cold. We survived, so all is fine. :) We caught the metro right away, and got home safely to download our pics to share with you....so, without further ado, here are some of my favorites. :) If you click on the pics you can see them bigger.

*You can see Anisa's braces in a couple of the pics. She only has the brackets on for now with the expander. Once they take the expander off (which will be soon, since her teeth are REALLY moving) they'll put the wires on. I'm already looking forward to the treatment being over...and so is she! :)

**Do you like Anisa's sweatshirt? She's liked the Fox Motorsports brand for years. We were out shopping last week and one of the stores that we love had 70% off the clearance price of all their sale stuff. So, we checked it out and found this sweatshirt. It was originally $100, marked down to $40, minus 70% came down to $12, BUT they give a military discount so we paid 11 bucks for it~ I.LOVE.BARGAINS!!! :) And it's fuzz lined, so it's super warm.

Dance update

2011-04-01T09:48:00.004-04:00

Here are the links to the Dance Team Nationals performance.

http://varsity.com/event/1456/2011_nda_national_championship.aspx - This is the Varsity.com video. Type West Springfield into the search bar on the top right of the screen. They cut a piece of the routine out of the middle, but you can get the main idea. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDd4FdRzYxY&feature=related - This is one that someone video'd from the balcony. The sound is horrible, but you can see the whole video. When we get the DVD's I'll post the entire GOOD copy of the routine. You can start preparing now to be COMPLETELY AMAZED by these kids. They rock.... :)

Food and Flowers

2011-04-01T08:53:00.006-04:00

Ok, so have you all seen Peepsters? They are little candies by Peeps. They look like Rolos but they are chocolate covered marshmallow creme. It's not marshmallow like what a Peep is, and not like Marshmallow Fluff...it's kind of more solid. I don't know...hard to describe, but there are different flavors. I don't like dark chocolate..I'm a milk chocolate girl, so I got these. :) Go...get them...try them. You might love them. :) You can thank me later.

Since we're talking about food, what makes a sandwich EVEN BETTER?? Goldfish bread! OH, YEAH, BABY. :) Alright, it's not better tasting, but it's more fun to eat since it's the shape of a goldfish cracker. I might not eat it if it was the shape of a squirrel, but I'm not sure and since that's not an option, I'll go with the fishie. Here is my yummy, delicious fishie turkey sandwich.. I've found that tuna is even better in a fishie shaped bread. :) Makes sense.

I got a new camera. My little faithful Canon either got something INSIDE the lens or (Travis' theory - which is probably more accurate) a pixel has gone bad inside. Anyway, I've also wanted a video camera so I could video dance team performances, so we decided it was time to upgrade to a better camera with an HD video option. I got this... a Sony Cybershot. Don't know if there is a model number or anything, I only know what it's called cuz it's printed right on the front. Heck, I don't care what the number is, I only care that it takes good pictures.

These are some of the daffodils (Anisa's VERY MOST FAVORITE FLOWERS) in our front yard. Someone before us planted them, but we are happy that they did. :) My very most favorite flowers are hyacinths. I've planted some and they're coming up. They smell like what Heaven must smell like. :)

Anisa and I are THINKING of going into DC today to see the cherry blossoms. They are in FULL BLOOM right now but will fade quickly. I need to go try out my new fancy camera AND get some good shots of Anisa with her metal mouth...I mean braces. :) For now, I need to go get ready for the day and pay some bills. ick. I hope you all are having a wonderful day!!! :)

Anisa

2011-03-25T09:19:00.003-04:00

Well, she's on her second round of braces. Poor kid. She had spacers put in last week. She could barely eat, which is bad since she's skinny enough! She had the brackets and expander put in yesterday and next week will be all wired up. Buy stock in Advil and Tylenol...there's an insider tip. :) If she lets us, we'll take pics and I'll post later, but for now, she's just trying to learn to talk with all that metal in her mouth.

Nationals 2011 - WINNERS!! :)

2011-03-23T09:12:00.015-04:00

I log onto Facebook way too often. My crops and animals have to be harvested & pet. I am so distracted by all the activities of my friends that my poor little blog has been very neglected. Well, I'm here to fix it...at least a little bit. :)

We just got back from Orlando from the NDA National Dance Championship. The WSDT has been hard at work since May to perfect their routine to perform and compete against 16 other teams from around the country. This is where all their hard work pays off or they learn what not to do next year.

It all started on Wed, March 9, 2011. We arrived at one of the dancers' house to get bags checked. We loaded most of the luggage and dance bags into another dancers' Dad's Suburban. Thursday, March 10, the Juniors had to get to the school at 6:30 a.m. to take a test before they left for the day. We met our drivers at 10 a.m. and headed to Reagan National Airport to catch our 1:00 flight. We arrived in Orlando a little after 3 p.m. and caught our coach bus to the Swan Hotel at Disney. We all lugged our junk up to our rooms.....They messed up our rooms AGAIN...3^rd year in a row...we're supposed to get a block of rooms, but they had rooms all over the 5^th floor. The next day, they got us all together, but it meant several kids and some parents had to pack out to their new room. Whatever. We dealt with it. Anyway, the kids basically chilled the first night and the kids who were on the team last year showed the kids new to the team this year where the hot spot to eat is...Picabu cafe.

Friday, Anisa and Travis flew down. They stayed in another hotel, but came over to see us after they picked up their little Ford Fiesta! Cute car. :) We walked around, looked at stuff then went to get those two checked into their room. They took me back to the hotel and headed out to explore. I had to get back to give the key to the coaches to my van. We rented 4 vans down there to get the team back and forth to the competition. The team basically practiced ALL DAY. I was hoping to get to see some friends, but it didn't work out. Hopefully next year. ;)

Saturday...PRELIMS. They didn't compete until 9:00 p.m. Lots of us parents were there to watch our talented kids/coaches ROCK the place. The theme this year was the Matrix. Uniform...black trench coat, black jeans, black Chucks, black sunglasses....and WHITE contact lenses. There was tutting, botting, and even vogueing. They popped and locked. Isolations. All the latest, greatest dance moves. We all bit our nails while each team performed and the scores were read. The scores ranged from 7.503 to 9.434....except for West Springfield's score.... 9.954. One of the highest scores EVER given at this competition. EVER! :) The parents and team went crazy. WSDT got a standing ovation from the entire audience. It was super cool, but their work wasn't over. They returned to the hotel to practice MORE. Finally around 1 a.m. they got into their rooms to rest. Finals were the next day and they had to be on their game! The other teams were hard at work really polishing up their routines too.

Sunday afternoon, the DT got into the Zone and went to compete with 10 other teams that were worthy to make it to Finals. Every team danced their hearts out. Some of the competition was fierce and some of us were actually a little worried that our kids might take 2^nd or even 3^rd. They had to be FLAWLESS. They arrived on stage at 6:03 p.m. And TOTALLY, COMPLETELY ROCKED THE STAGE~~~ They were AWESOME and the audience and judges saw it. They announced the winners one at a time from 11^th place up until the last 2 teams (WSDT and Fleming Island High) were left on the stage to hear their final scores and who was going to take the National Title of 2011. The announcer took his sweet time announcing 2^nd place with a score of 9.489........ Fleming Island. We had to hold back the screams until he announced WSDT's score of 9.969. Another record for the competition. One of the highest scores EVER given. We screamed, jumped up and down, cried, laughed and rushed down to meet our stars. Travis and Anisa unfortunately had a 9:00 flight. Luckily, they saw the awards given and got to give Sara a quick hug, kiss and congratulations, but had to rush out of there to get to the airport. WSDT became instant celebrities. TONS of other teams wanted their pictures taken with our dancers. It was so cool. And, of course, our dancers were happy to pose with them.

The team and the parents who were still there went to dinner at Bongo's Cuban Cafe at Downtown Disney. The dinner was yummy, but the mood was even better. All the kids had their National Championship jackets on and everyone was happy. Tired, but happy. After dinner we went back to the hotel to get some rest since Monday was going to be spent at Universal Studios all day.

The weather was great for our day in the park. We played, rode some rides, ate and walked at the park. I wasn't too thrilled with Universal, and hope that if we go back to Florida next year, we'll go to Disney again. :) Oh, we must not forget Sara winning a GIANT Domo. Luckily, we DID get him on the plane, but I didn't know if we were gonna get him home. Tuesday was our day to return home, but our flight wasn't until that evening, so the kids spent the day by the pool. A super cool ending to an incredible weekend.

For now, Dance Team is over for the season, but we are planning an end of season party and Try-outs for next year are in May, so we only have a short break from dance. Sara's getting some much needed catching up on sleep and homework. And we're enjoying not having competitions to attend on the weekends. :) But we love the team, the kids are more like a family than just friends or a sports team. The coaches are incredible, putting in tons of hours to make sure the team is on track. The greatest thing about this team is the respect shown to each other. Yes, they get on each other's nerves and sometimes I hear complaints from some of the kids about so and so's mood or whatever, but in the end, they all love each other and have a blast together. I pray Sara will dance again next year....we will see! :)

In other news, Anisa is getting braces....again. She had them on in 5^th grade for about a year, then we moved and I didn't get her in to get her a new retainer.....BAD MOMMY. Anyway, her teeth went back to where they were comfy...not where they were supposed to go. BAD TEETH. She had spacers put in last week, so she has been uncomfortable and unable to really eat much. We are all stocked up on soups and mini raviolis. Poor baby. She gets her brackets on tomorrow. I'll keep you all updated on THAT situation. At first she didn't really want them, but decided to do it now before she gets much older since it will be harder and harder for them to move her teeth around.

As for me, well, I hope to get some quilting done and some organizing. I'm hoping to get the house painted this spring...if we can get our landlord to BUY the paint. :) Travis and I are slowly but surely getting out to run on a semi-normal basis. We missed out a lot of days this winter because it was so messy out there with the salt, dirt and snow/ice on the trails. Yesterday we went out and while we were on the trail I stopped to see if I could see any frogs (there are tons of ponds/wet areas on the trail) and Travis moved a log and found a really cute salamander. I love nature.

Here in the DC area, we are waiting for the Cherry Blossoms to puff. I am planning to hit the city with Anisa and my friend, Rhonda next week to see if they're out. I love going in and just walking around and taking pictures of the beautiful trees. If you ever get the chance, you NEED to come to DC in March/April to see the trees.

I think that's all the updating I can do for now. I'll post some highlight pics of the team...if you're my friend on Facebook, you can see more there. :)

quickie update

2011-02-09T09:38:00.003-05:00

Lots of stuff going on, super busy, not a lot of time to blog, but I wanted to let everyone know we're still alive. Cold, but alive. :) We just got a new computer (our other computer was about 8 years old), and Travis has been busy installing new stuff on the new one. Don't ask me WHAT he's installing. He tries to tell me, but I don't care, so I don't usually listen very much. :) heehee As long as I have email and Facebook, and blogs, I'm ok. :)

I have started working on cleaning out the basement. We have company coming this spring and I need to get organized before they get here (I'm hoping we'll have more company that we already know about..hint hint). We also have an Orlando trip coming up in March for Dance Nationals. I have 3 quilts (1 started, 2 that I HAVE TO start very soon), Goodie bags for Nationals to make and all sorts of other projects that I have started and need to finish. So, there you have it. That's why I haven't updated lately. But, I hope everyone is doing fine. :)

frozen

2011-01-18T09:08:00.004-05:00

Yep, we're frozen. Sara's school has been cancelled for the day. Anisa and Travis still had to go in to school and work. Last night we got the sheer pleasure (NOT) of a freezing rain storm. For those of you who have never experienced freezing rain, it's the weirdest thing! Most people think it's little ice coming from the sky. Nope. It's actually RAIN, which freezes instantly when it hits anything. So, trees, vehicles, sidewalks/roads....it gets a nice, thick layer of ice. It turns a shopping day into a laundry and sewing day. :) Here are some pics of our ice covered rigs and our poor little baby tree! :) It looks kind of "drippy" on Foxy, but it's FROZEN SOLID. We had to let her run for almost half hour with defrost on before we could scrape all the ice off her windows.

scared

2011-01-15T18:53:00.002-05:00

Sara just drove away all by herself in my Baby. In VA they do things weird. She went to Driving School, and they gave her a certificate that all of a sudden, one fine day, it magically becomes her driver's license. Then, in 180 days, we'll get a court date and her mommy and daddy have to take her to get her official license. Anyway, I hope her and Baby make it home ok. She went to a friend's house to do homework...it was a good test cuz it's only oh, about 2 miles away. :) I'll update you all later. :)

not much

2011-01-13T08:49:00.002-05:00

Not much to really report. Things are slowly getting back to normal after Anisa's return, the holidays and snow storms. :) I've been working with my friend, turning her into a quilter, but she saw my Monica bags (will post pics later, but they're so cute and easy, I have kind of gone crazy making them) and wanted to make some for next Christmas gifts. :) She bought fabric for a few, and we cut out 4 and FINISHED one. The other 3 are just waiting to be put together, but almost done. She was thrilled with what she did. And I am proud of my little student.

This morning the inside of my house was PINK! Bright pink light was flowing into my house and I LOVED IT!! I had to go outside and get a picture of the sky. It was so pretty...here is a tiny piece of what I got to see...

The dance team is having a fundraising competition a week from Sunday, so I have been making little drawstring bags to make coach gifts. I need to get some fabric to make another quilt, but I'm waiting for Joann's sale next week. :) Other than that, the girls are in school, Travis is at work and I plan to shop today. yay. Have a spectactular day everyone!!

New Years at Times Square

2011-01-02T19:45:00.010-05:00

Oh, yeah. You heard right...Anisa and I stood for 7.5 hours waiting to watch the ball drop in Times Square. It was a blast. We were a little worried because NY got snow days before so we didn't know what the road conditions were going to be like. The roads all the way up were good, but there was a lot of snow in April's neighborhood. We rented a car, so we wouldn't have to park our cars anywhere in NY! :) heehee

My wonderful little cousin and her man let us stay with them in Jersey City. Then April took us into the city at about 4:30 and dropped us off in a good viewing area. They section off blocks with barricades, so we parked ourselves into an area and got to stand there...and stand...and stand...and stand. Once they close off each section, you can't leave, or you don't get back in, so I was prepared to stand out there for a long time...with my Depends! :) I didn't have to take advantage of them, but at least I was covered in case of emergency.

At first it didn't look good for us having a good time. Everyone around us spoke a different language and the lady behind Anisa kept bumping into her. For some reason, people thought our area was the smoking area....we were right next to the barricade. BUT, then we met a really cute couple that was there for the first time too. We talked, yelled, counted and swung our little balloon with them. There was entertainment....some singers that we kind of know, some TV personalities, and even a wedding.

After the countdown and MIDNIGHT, we had to get out of the boundary real quick to get our new friends to their bus. Unfortunately, they weren't letting anyone out on the street that we needed to cross, so along with 5 bazillion other people, we had to push our way down about 7 blocks, then over about 2 then BACK 5 to the bus station. They made their bus with 5 minutes to spare, but we had to run about 3 city blocks. What an adventure. I'd definitely do it again, but the next time, I'd get there REALLY EARLY to get a spot in front of the stage.

Modified Bento box

2010-12-28T11:37:00.002-05:00

Some chicks on a website I go to found this great pattern on this great blog, so I decided to try it out. This is what I got. I messed up and started grabbing 2 in strips when I was supposed to be using 2.25 in strips, so I had to quit with the little 1.5 inchers, but I'm happy with it. The whole thing is done with scraps out of my scrap boxes. So, every piece of fabric has been in another quilt. So, basically, this was a FREE quilt! wahoo. :)

SO.MUCH.CATCHING.UP!

2010-12-27T09:38:00.030-05:00

Wow. Yep, that's all I can say about how long it's been since I've blogged. Most of you expect some lacking in my blogging so I guess I'm ok. The bad thing is that SO MUCH has been happening. I have to TRY to remember what, when and how... and all this remembering without a brain! Skills, it takes skills! Ok, so lets see...I'll try to remember and start from where I left off.....

I got the EXTREME pleasure to see one of our old friends from Kodiak. Yeah, I hadn't seen him since we left Kodiak.....over 21 years ago! This is Dewey and me. We only had enough time to hug, click a couple of pics then off he went again. But, he lives in NC, so we'll get to see him again. I hope to make it out to see him next time, since I wanna see the southern states! You can tell this has been a while ago. I'm still in shorts! I miss my shorts.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.....just the 3 of us. Anisa hadn't returned from Italy so it was Travis, Sara and me. We did the whole meal..turkey, taters, rolls, salad, apple pie, green beans, corn, stuffing...you know, the usual. It was really yummy. Then, we had company! My Aunt Joann and cousin April came down from NY. Joann was out visiting April from CA. When we asked her what she REALLY wanted to see in DC, she said the Lincoln Memorial and a museum. Well, we showed her a good time. Got her to the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Library of Congress, the Capital, the National Cathedral and Ben's Chili Bowl. All in 3 days! Here are some highlights....

The WSHS Dance Team has entered 2 competitions with their new Nationals (in the works) routine. They were in the American University competition and the George Mason U competition. Both times they places first in their division AND got best choreography. At American, we had several dancers do solos. Sara was one of them and (unfortunately) came in 11th place. She was disappointed, but happy that she did so well and that her friends, and family loved her routine. There were a couple of 2nd places and a 1st place in the solos on our team and even one of our guys got best choreo! :) Here is Sara, but I can't post pics of the team....YET! :)

For my birthday, I got to spend it with some very dear friends who happen to share the same day and weekend. This is Vernon who turned 60 (we share the same birthday) and Jan who turned 29 again.... Actually, I hope she doesn't mind that I say she's 50 now. She looks great and has been a really great pal for a long time. She happens to be Travis' BFF's wife (you all know Larry). :) Anyway, we had a super great time, eating, drinking some good home brew and enjoying a bonfire and friends. And, since I posted Jan's age, I'll post mine....I turned 44 this year! :)

On the 16th of Dec. it snowed for the first time this winter. We got a couple of inches. Not a lot, definitely not enough to close town for weeks (like last year), but enough to be pretty and make me shovel. Here is my precious little Baby and my Traily out in the snow. So, some of you were shocked to see on FB that Baby is outside. Unfortunately, since Traily is in the driveway, we can only fit one car into the garage. Chuck happens to be the lucky one since we really use the Van and Foxy girl. This was also a VERY SAD day. Our little Hammy hamster girl went to Heaven this night. We took her out to run and she could barely walk. We knew it wasn't looking good. The good thing is that we think she just basically went into her little igloo and fell asleep and never woke up. The bad thing was that it was just days before Anisa got home. She was pretty devastated to find out (we didn't tell her until we got her home) but is ok now. Still sad, but recovered.

The dance team had their annual Christmas Party. This was on the day that Anisa actually came home. I was excited to have something to keep my busy all day. I made my famous (in my own mind) rainbow tater salad (I use baby reds, baby yukon golds and baby purple potatoes from Trader Joes). Unfortunately for me, I put the batch into my old faithful HUGE tupperware bowl that I've had since we got married. Somehow during the evening it got pushed too close to a candle and it caught on fire. dang. But that added some excitement to the evening.

We were a little worried about the snow with Anisa's pending trip home coming up. But, she made it home and is now talking about going back to Italy. EVERY SINGLE DAY we hear about Italy and how they have this or that in Italy. "in Italy, we do it this way". "in Italy, the people drive better". "in Italy, the food is better"....ugh! Oh well. I hope she does get to go back since I know she loved it SO MUCH. And it's such a great experience to live in a different culture. We were very happy to have our baby back on this side of the pond. She's still getting settled in, and I threw here into the settling in part real quick...

A good friend of mine (a fellow dance mom) has a basket making business. Talk of the Town Gifts. She is also a single mom with ANOTHER full-time job. She is crazy, but that's how I like my friends. She asked if I could help for the Christmas rush. Heck yes! Help a friend out AND get paid...I am SO.THERE! And, Anisa even worked the day after she got back! Anyway, for the most part, I delivered, but they did teach me to wrap and make the gift baskets, and make bows, too. Here are us chicks after we had finished making, wrapping and bow-ing about 50 of the 155 baskets.

Then we had to deliver these things...so, we loaded up Baby and Foxy with all the silver baskets along with 4 card tables (DO NOT TRY THIS WITH ANY OTHER VEHICLE...ONLY AEROSTARS CAN DO THIS! :) heehee) and off we went into DC, Alexandria, Arlington and even Georgetown. I enjoyed the delivery part because you get to see the reactions of the people who ordered. It's no wonder Tammy has a successful business. :) She hires GREAT people (heehee) with awesome vans (figured I'd throw that in again). :)

CHRISTMAS! This year it kinda snuck up on us with all the excitement from Anisa's return. We STILL haven't taken a Christmas picture and since we have no picture, there are no Christmas cards....but we will get SOMETHING out soon. We got our tree one cold blustery night at Home Depot! ha Actually, we got it on the 20th. I got lights on it the next day and Sara and I put a few ornaments on it. But, it looks good. We even hit a friend's Christmas open house on Christmas Eve. Here are the girls eating Spray Whipping Cream with Sara's friend, Jordan.

The stinky thing is that Travis has been sick for the last week or so (and as I type today, is still hacking up a lung). It was nice to have a holiday for him to be home and chilll. :) Anisa got her Kitchen-aid and Sara got her boots and candles. They both got ipod speakers plus a few little items. The family got Wii fit and we actually spent most of the day playing as a family. It was GREAT!! and hilarious. We laughed so much. :)

Yesterday, the girls and I went shopping for the deals for After Christmas. Not a lot of good sales, but the girls did manage to spend a little of their Christmas money and we got to see my friend, Rhonda, for a bit. And a lunch at Olive Garden topped it off. Oh, and a celebrity sighting! Here's Sara with Justin Bieber. hahahahaha

That has been my past few weeks. CRAZY, but good. Today we're hoping the house doesn't blow away. We're in the middle of that crazy storm you all can see on the news. We got a bit of snow yesterday, but it was so little and dry, that today with all the wind, it's blown away. We're planning to hit Ben's Chili Bowl with Sammi (a friend from the UK), Kayley (his girlfriend and a good friend of Anisa's from Sturgeon Bay) and Anand (Sammi's best friend and a friend of Anisa's from here). Oh, and Kayley has requested a trip to Georgetown cupcakes...the place they film DC Cupcakes. Then, for New Years, the girls and I are heading to TIMES SQUARE! Yes, we're going to make thousands of new friends in the freezing cold, but it's gonna be so cool. I want to do it at least once while we live on the east coast. I'll update next week with pics from that trip. For now, I'll leave you with some Italy and Paris pics that I stole from Anisa and her friends. :)

Anisa at the Eiffel Tower. A few of her friends went to Paris for a long weekend. They had a BLAST. Of course, Anisa wants to go back there, too. She loved everything about Europe. I told her, come home, finish school (she'll have her AA in March) and get a job over there and GO! We'll see what happens....

Anisa on Thanksgiving in Orvieto. They made a feast at Zeppelin. Everyone had a great time. Anisa made sweet rolls and was HAPPY they turned out yummy. :)
I'm happy that my girl has turned into such a beautiful young woman...inside and out! :) Ok, Sara too, but she's still in her dumb teenage years. I'm sure it will be better soon! :)

Some photo enjoyment

2010-11-16T08:41:00.007-05:00

I just got done playing on Facebook and downloaded some pics from some of Anisa's teammates and a couple of Anisa's pics that she finally got up from Venice. The picture of the town on the hill is Civita. It's a little town similar to Orvieto since it's built on a volcanic plateau. The little town is in danger of crumbling down because of natural erosion. I read that they are talking about reinforcing the cliffs. That would be good. :)

The picture of the 3 adorable girls is in Dublin at the Guiness Storehouse. Those are Anisa's roommates. Talar and Sonya. Talar is from CA and Sonya is from WA. Luckily, they all like each other! :) The one of just Anisa is pretty much self-explanatory. :) Isn't she just so adorable??

The pigeon pic...that's in Venice. So is the one with Gabe on the gondola. :) Their time there was such a blur to them since they were all exhausted, but she said it was a blast. And the gondola ride was a highlight and something that we had talked about for a long time. I hope she didn't get pooped on by the pigeon, tho.

Venice

2010-11-15T13:31:00.002-05:00

Anisa and 5 of her friends decided at the last minute to catch the train to Venice Friday night. They rushed down the hill and caught the train at 11:15 p.m. They TRIED to sleep before they had to change trains in Bologna, then a little more train travel arriving in Venice at 5 a.m. She said it's the best place she's been so far in Italy. It was beautiful. She bought a gift for her sis (you will all have to wait to see what it is until after Dec. 19). :) They walked around looking at shops, having pigeons land on them and of course, they took a gondola ride. I only got to talk to her for a little bit this weekend because she got back late on Sat and was exhausted (they decided to come back home that night the crazies!). Yesterday she had to do homework and of course, she slept in until about 3 in the afternoon. I don't know if I'll get to talk to her today or the rest of the week. The whole group is going to Barcelona for 5 days. I don't have pics, yet, because her internet just can't handle too many pics at once, so as soon as she can get some pics downloaded, I'll post. I'm looking forward to hearing all about her Spain trip next week! :)

Meanwhile, here at home, not much happening. It's getting colder. The mornings are in the 30s and days are in the 50s and 60s. I love it. I HAVE worn my jeans a couple of times, but I'm still sporting shorts til I can't handle it anymore. Sara is working on a solo that she will compete with in a few weeks. Music has been an issue. WHY DO ALL THE RAP SONGS HAVE CUSS WORDS IN THEM? Geepers! Anyway, she found a song that I approve of and continues to dance around the house instead of walking. :) Travis and I have gone on a few runs, getting back to our normal mileage, but he announced that we would not make his goal of 600 miles this year. Summer just killed us. Oh well. Maybe next year, since I plan to do the MCMarathon for sure next year...even if I have to walk some of it....I'm doing it! :)

Well, speaking of Sara, I must run. She has an eye dr. appt today, then Travis needs to make a Home Depot run, then I still have to figure out what I'm doing for dinner...probably brats (not Sara and Anisa, the MEAT kind! ) ;). I hope you all are having a super day!

It's been DAYS

2010-11-07T08:52:00.005-05:00

I am sorry I haven't updated lately. I haven't been THAT busy, just lazy. Over the past few days I've done a few things, tho. And the little Italian travelers are staying busy too.

From the homefront, my friend Rhonda and I have done some work on a quilt. Not just any quilt. This is a quilt that she started with her mom over 7 years ago. Neither of them knew what they were doing, but they wanted to make a quilt together. Sadly, her mom got very sick and then died. The fabric and their work went into a box and sat. Well, the happy ending to this story is that Rhonda just moved to VA this summer (she's a Coastie wife, too, that I knew in Santa Barbara) and she asked if I would help her finish it. HECK YES! :) So, we pulled it all out and had to take a lot of it apart because her seams weren't all big enough, some of the blocks were different sizes, and such. I figured we'd better start as close to the very beginning as we could, so we spent a whole day ripping seams and ironing. The second time she came down, we spent cutting and sewing. We now have most of the rows done and she can actually see what the quilt is gonna look like and LOVES IT! :) The next time she comes down, we'll probably be able to finish the top, and maybe even get the backing on. It's so exciting seeing her enjoy sewing, ironing, cutting and getting anxious about the finished project. She's turning into a quilter!! :) Our world can always use one more crazy quilting lady. :) Plus, now I have a fabric shopping partner.
Yesterday Sara and I went shopping and to lunch. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory. The first time for both of us to eat there. It was SCRUMPTIOUS. We sat and adored the inside of the restaurant. It's so beautiful and we both would like our house to look like it with all the pretty paintings and high ceilings and big columns and pretty lights. Ahhhh. After filling our bellies and having enough shopping energy we went to the mall and got Sara some long sleeve tops and a really cute coat. Then we ran into Teavana. My friend, Renee, started drinking tea instead of coffee. It's healthier...still caffeinated, but when you see the loose leaf tea, it's a bunch of fruits and seeds/branches/natural stuff. And it SMELLS HEAVENLY. :) Anyway, we came out of there with a pound of tea, 3 pounds of German Rock sugar, a Perfect Tea steeper and a couple of little samples of other teas. Sara picked out a Raspberry Lemon blend and it is delicious. We made some last night, but she wanted it cold, so it's in the fridge waiting to be enjoyed. Anyway, we had a fabulous day out. We were supposed to go to NY this weekend to see my cousin, April, but Sara had a late practice Friday night, so we couldn't go then. And has a practice today (Sunday), so it was going to be a pretty short/rushed trip, and it's a 4 hour drive each way, so we decided not to go this weekend. Besides, Sara wasn't all that into going this weekend. She wanted to sleep in because of her homework/dance schedule she doesn't get a lot of sleep during the week. It all worked out ok, but I wanted to see my cute little cousin..and NY> :) We'll get up there soon, tho.
Let's See. What else have we been doing. Oh, the dance team performed at their last game on the 29th. They always dress up and perform Thriller. Here is Sara dressed up and ready to go as Lady Gaga. She looks adorable, but I'm sure LG would have worn different shoes and possibly less clothing. :) The next day we went to Markoff's Haunted Forest with the team. That was a blast. Sara didn't want to go through the forest, so she sat out, but I ended up going with another mommy and the coaches and the 2 dads that went. It was so fun. Diana kept a firm grip on my arm through the whole thing and about took me down the hills a couple of times. Our jaws and stomachs were so sore afterward from laughing all the way!

Off to Italia... Travis and Anisa are staying pretty busy. Anisa still has classes and work to do, so in that time, Travis usually finds something to do in Orvieto. He has taken a couple of underground tours and has gotten to hang out with Chef S a bit. They went on a field trip to Civita. I don't know much about their day other than they had a good time. Travis will have to write on here when he gets back on Wed. Yesterday they went to Pisa. They had good weather and a good time. They wanted to go to Venice this weekend, but it's raining now, so they decided to take the trip yesterday and chill today. A bunch of people went into Rome today, but not sure what my 2 are gonna do. Here are some pics from their trip to Pisa.

Today I think Sara and I will just chill. We have church this morning, her friend Dori spent the night, so we have her. I think they're planning Chipotle for lunch, then practice tonight. Full day, then normal routine tomorrow. :)

Baby's Birthday

2010-10-31T15:05:00.002-04:00

Every Halloween I post the same thing, I think. Halloween is second as to the importance of this day. 10-31 is BABY'S BIRTHDAY. My little Blue girl is 17 today. I remember it like it was yesterday...We went to LOOK AT new vans. Travis had seen an ad for Ford Aerostars on sale in Portland. I didn't WANT an Aerostar. I wanted a Dodge Caravan. But, I told him I would look. We drove down in our little Silver Skate (Ford Festiva) to Coliseum Ford in Portland, OR. We looked at the vans on the lot. They had a red one. Oops. sold. Then I saw a dark green one that I really liked. Sold, too. Then we spotted the most beautiful blue van. There she was. Sitting there all surrounded by the likes of Mustangs and Tauruses. We got the salesguy to get us out on a test drive. When I drove her, I KNEW 150% sure that this was MY VAN! We got back to the dealership and signed the paperwork to trade-in our sweet little Festiva (that had served us so well, but with a new baby on the way, she was just too small) for this wonderful 7-seater van. We had to rush home because we were meeting friends at our house to go trick-or-treating with all the littles. What a Homecoming for Baby. She got to meet some of our closest friends on her first day home. :)
Ever since that day, she has lived in 7 garages, traveled through 17 states, she's been peed in, spilled in, wrecked, driven up on several curbs, driven on the sand, snow, lots and lots of rain. Most of her guts are new since things have had to be replaced. She has 216,000 miles on her. She just got new Tiger Paw tires and is ready for another 75,000 miles.

Travis in Italy

2010-10-28T09:09:00.002-04:00

Sounds like a good title to a novel, right? Well, after his adventures, he could probably write a novel, or at least tell me and I can write it on my blog! :) So, I just got off Skype with him and this is what I know....

I took him to the airport yesterday. We arrived the "mandatory" 2 hours early, got his bag checked in and walked around the airport til it was time for him to go through security. About 45 minutes before he was supposed to take off, we said our see ya laters and off he went. I left the airport and needed to stop at a store on my way home. In that time, the skies opened up and it POURED!! I kept thinking, oh, I should have stayed at the airport...there might be a delay.

After the unsuccessful shopping stop, I got home and quickly logged on to Skype and aa.com to check the status of his flight. In BIG RED LETTERS it told me that the flight had been CANCELLED! OMG! My poor husband! I tried calling AA, no answer. I rechecked his itinerary with his Mileage number and luckily it told me the new story. He was going to be going to Chicago, then to Rome. I knew he was probably NOT HAPPY at all. We had picked his flights so he wouldn't have to go west, to come back east. *this next part is from Travis* apparently, they got his baggage, he collected it, went BACK through the ticketing process (and oh, btw, they booked him on the chicago flight without telling him), BACK through security and got him on the plane. That flight was delayed about 20 minutes, but then they got off the ground.

Because of weather, and such, they had to make a HUGE circle over Ohio to delay their landing in Chicago. Instead of a pleasant 2 hour flight, it became a 3 hour flight. Not horrible, but considering he was only supposed to have a 1 hour flight to New York, that kinda stunk. Anyway, they got to Chicago and he boarded his next plane that was luckily taking off from the same terminal he landed at. That plane was delayed *this info is from Travis too* because some idiot luggage carrier ran into the side of the plane - the luggage door - and they had to make sure the door would close. After that debacle (like my big word?), they got off the ground and made the 9 hour and some minutes trip to Rome.

They landed (according the website) at 9:35 a.m. which is 3:35 a.m. here. I woke up at 4:30 and started Skype on the now "asleep" laptop. Nothin'. At about 6, I got a text from Anisa. She had gotten off of work, and had run home to take a quick nap before her Daddy got there. She got online and we talked for a bit. It was about noon there and she hadn't heard from him yet. She said she was going to get up, shower and go look for him. After about an hour, I texted her again. She still hadn't heard anything and I sent her directions to the place he is staying. That was 7:30(VA)/1:30(Italy) time. I could picture him lost, wandering around Italy, dragging his big ol' duffle bag around the cobblestone roads yelling for his baby. Possibly even crying a little, and he didn't take a pack of Kleenex, so he would have had to wipe his nose on his sleeve.

Still no word. I played on Facebook and my friend Mary Jo and I made up some of the novel I would write about his adventures (the lost, cobblestone and kleenex parts are from that).

FINALLY at about 9 (va)/3(Italy), I got a text from him. He had made it to Anisa's apartment. Safe and Sound and tired and grimey. He logged onto Skype and we talked for a little bit (that's how I got some of the adventure info). He was sitting out on her little patio outside. He said it's nice there, but different temperature. Things are shaded there, so even tho it's almost the same temp as here, it feels colder. Actually, right now, we're having a heat wave, so it IS colder there, but anyway....

Now, they are at Zeppelin, the restaurant where the team eats/works/schools. Travis is talking to the chefs, probably filling them in on every detail of his adventure so far. After the visiting, they're gonna go find the Bed & Breakfast (without the Breakfast) that he's gonna be staying at for the next couple of days, then I'm guessing he'll take a shower and a nap, maybe not in that order, but both will take place. THEN, they can go play. They eat dinner about 8, so that doesn't leave much time for too, too much, but definitely the shower and nap. :)

That's mostly what I know...most of it is what I can gather from the website info. A little bit of it was provided by Travis.

The Princess lives here

2010-10-26T11:49:00.002-04:00

Sara has been wanting this bed FOREVER! Yesterday after school, I surprised her and we went to Ikea and FINALLY got it. We brought it home and hauled it upstairs. The boxes - there were 2 of them - weighed a TON...or at least a couple hundred pounds. We put in screws, plastic hookie things, and lacy curtains for 3 hours! At last, her princess bed was ready for the Princess to sleep in. I think she got a really great night's sleep. I just wish it had magical powers to make her want to keep her room clean! oh well. :)

Pictures this time

2010-10-25T12:20:00.006-04:00

I just talked to Anisa! She just got back to her little Italian Home from IRELAND!!! :) She said it is SO BEAUTIFUL there. Now she wants to study abroad in Ireland. I sure hope she gets a job when she gets home so she can start saving up her money for that move! :) hahahaha Actually, I'd kinda like it if she moved to Italy or Ireland. Then we could stay with her on vacations! :)

But anyway, she had a great time. Of course, they went to the Guinness Storehouse. The taps were right there at their table, so as soon as you finish one, you can just pour another, delicious AUTHENTIC Guinness. I hope this link will work, but this was in the email she sent us from the Storehouse....click here.. They stayed in Dublin the whole time, but made it to a little place called Howth. There is a little lighthouse there, that is her on the cliff with the lighthouse in the background. She said she literally cried because it was so gorgeous. She said stuff there didn't even look real, it was THAT beautiful. They managed to find a restaurant that turned out to be REALLY expensive. She said her dinner there was 40Euros, which is about $55.00. She said it made her sick to spend that much money, but they didn't know until it was too late. And, while in Ireland, you must eat FishNChips. She is anxious to go back and take us to the places they explored. Now, she's back to normal life...school and work. But, she's happy to be back "home" for now.
My other preciousness is getting ready to dress up for their Halloween/last football game performance. Traditionally they perform Thriller and they dress up. We went shopping on Saturday and got her costume. She's gonna be Lady Gaga. Here is my baby beauty....

no pictures, just words. :)

2010-10-21T09:12:00.002-04:00

I have only talked to my Nisa in little bits lately. She's been so busy with classes and working. Most of the time I talk to her, she's getting ready for bed and can barely keep her eyes open. She told me the other day that she's come to the sad realization that she is there for school, not a vacation. But, she's still enjoying it.

Tomorrow, her and some of her new chick friends fly to Dublin. They are spending 4 days in Ireland. Well, probably closer to 3 days, since some of that time will be traveling time. Travis leaves next Wed to see the baby girl and they will try to get some Italy exploration in. Some of their goals are Venice, Pisa, Milan and Rome. She also just booked her tickets to France in Dec. She's going with a big group of people that are in the same program. It should be totally fun.

She is truly having a trip of a lifetime, even tho she is busy, I think it's so cool that she gets these experiences to make her into the person that God wants her to be.

On another note, we got little dogwood trees to replace the big bradford pears that were taken out of the side and front yards. They are pretty cute right now, and I hope they love it in our yard and grow and bloom in the spring. The process of getting them into the ground was not so nice. I hoped that we had hit a diamond mine, but it was only a boulder mine underground. We dug up so many huge rocks, and roots from the pear tree. My shoulders, arms and back are just now recovering. It took us 2 days to dig holes that were worthy of our little trees, but now they're snug in the ground ready to let their roots spread. :)

Today is an errand day. Travis has some things to pick up for work. Not sure what else today will bring but it started out terrific, and I have high hopes for a super great day. :) Oh, and btw, if you're reading this, you are probably one of my friends or a family member and I just wanted to tell you...I LOVE YOU! :) Ok, off to cut my cute husband's hair so we can get ready for our trip out. :)

Italian update

2010-10-14T09:43:00.010-04:00

Well, I talked to my girl yesterday for 2 hours. We said a whole lotta nothin', but it was fun. She showed me her scarf and leather bracelet she bought, we talked about her upcoming trip to Ireland with 4 other chicks, and how much she loves it there. We may have lost our Anisa to Italy. The good thing about that would be we would have a great place to stay! :) hahaha, nah, I'm not sure she could ever LEAVE America, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

She's been having a blast. She said most everyone on the team (25) gets along. There is always a little drama, but she pretty much stays out of it. They went to Parma and Tuscany this past weekend and went wine-tasting, cheese tasting and of course, all the eating. She said they were all homesick for their little pads in Orvieto, tho. The one thing that makes it so great there, is that it is so tiny and feels very safe. I told her, "it sounds like Cannon Beach"! :) She's been staying super busy with school and working. She doesn't like the lack of time, but has been enjoying the total experience so far. I stole some pictures from one of the guys on Facebook who has been posting lots of REALLY GREAT shots. These are some of my favorites.....

Here in VA, things are going great. Today is GORGEOUS. A high of 60 degrees and rainy! My kind of weather. I have some errands to run (fish food and coffee creamer are high on my shopping list!), then I hope to get home and quilt. I just finished the quilt below for our newest niece who is now 6 months old and I'm a loser for not doing this sooner! Oh well. :) At least I'm sending it before she graduates! I got fabrics to start another quilt for our friends' new grandson. Fabrics are all washed and ready to iron and cut and create...I just need to figure out what pattern I will do. We booked Travis' tickets to Italy the other day..he'll be there for 2 weeks. I really hope they have a great time together. This is gonna be some VALUABLE Daddy/Girl time. I'm thinking of doing something fun with Sara while he's gone...maybe a trip to NY to see my cousin! :) Dance team takes up most of her time, so we can't go far, but DT is fun, so I don't mind. :)

Speaking of Sara, I'm so proud of her. She's really putting in an effort at school this year. I thought I was gonna kill that child last year. She drove us nuts, but this year she's doing SO MUCH BETTER. She's growing up....(tear) She's been so cute while Anisa's been gone. We've gotten lots of mommy/baby talks in. Drama at school/DT, boys, shopping. I love that my baby is starting to come out of her brainless 13yr-16yr stage. :) We are having another Dance Team Lock In tomorrow night and I'm really looking forward to spending the night at the school with the kids...honestly, I love it. The Dance Team is full of awesomely cool kids. :)

What Happens in Intercourse......

2010-10-12T07:33:00.014-04:00

OMG, Renee, Sara Beth, Eva and I had THE.BEST.TIME.EVER!! I mean, what is a better time than 4 chicks in Amish Country stalking the ADORABLE Amish people, eating, shopping and exploring????!!! We went to little towns called Intercourse, Bird In Hand, and Paradise. Our main goal....see the Amish people and how they live. Oh, and lots and lots of fun! :)

We arrived in Lancaster County on a Sunday which we originally thought was a bad idea because everything is closed, but it ended up being a great thing. We actually found some antique shops, ice cream shop and a GOOD restraunt open. Plus, we went driving around and exploring and found a couple of covered bridges and a huge group of Amish kids playing volleyball.

We made reservations at Kitchen Kettle Village Inn in Intercourse, PA (that's just fun to say) and when we got to our room, we were SO HAPPY. It was a super, cute room with iron beds and quilts. Cute country wallpaper and just a warm room. But we were all anxious to get to sleep so we could wake up and shop and explore some more.

On Monday morning, we woke up way too early and talked, laughed, talked and laughed some more. We finally rolled out of bed to get ready for our yummy country breakfast. I had scrambled eggs, toast and potatoes. That sounds yummy, right? Well, the eggs were swimming in BUTTER, the toast had fresh homemade berry jam and the potatoes were cooked in BACON GREASE! It was fabulous!!! After we were all fueled up for the day's activities, we explored the village shops. We found our little treasures (magnets, fudge, jams, apple and pumpkin butter, whoopie pies and gifts for the kids) and headed out to see what else we could find in the County.

We stopped at a farm to try some of their homemade Root beer. We were SO THRILLED to see the precious Amish girls inside. I almost hyperventilated at the thought of actually talking to Amish people! :) Ok, I'm exaggerating, but I WAS really excited. The two girls were probably around 7 or 8 and were absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful silky blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes. They were such young ladies and great sales girls. They gave us a sample of their yummy ice cold root beer and I had to buy 4 pints along with the homemade BBQ chips. Their mom came in to help and she was the sweetest lady. We hopped into the van very happy with our find. On our way down the road, we saw a sign for Cider Donuts. Of course, we stopped and got hot donuts. Sara Beth and Renee ate theirs, but I saved mine for home.

We had to go back to the ice cream shop that we had found on Sunday to get some pretty colored popcorn, and on the way we saw a cute farm stand that we decided to stop at on the way back to the restaurant where we were planning to eat. What a treasure! We got some fresh veggies, pumpkins and gourds. The Amish lady there was so sweet and I found out about their horses (they use either Standard bred or Saddle bred horses to pull their buggies, and big draft horses for pulling carts). We left there with our little squashes and went to lunch. After that, sadly, we left Lancaster County to come back to our normal, every day lives. It was good to see our families, but a slumber party with your friends is so much FUN! :) Here are the pics.....

We talked to Anisa!

2010-10-03T18:49:00.005-04:00

Well, actually, we've talked to her a couple of times, but once was just this morning. :) She said she's still having a blast and loves her new found freedom. She said the whole group gets along really well. Today, they were heading out to find the supermarket. Other than that, I don't really know too much, but here are some pictures she sent to us. She's having a hard time uploading pics because of her internet connection. So, as soon as I get stuff,I'll try to post it. ;)

update from Italia

2010-09-30T19:56:00.004-04:00

Well, we've heard from Anisa. She made it safely to Italy. After a LONG flight (8.5 hours), and not much sleep they got there to find their little Mercedes bus that was to take them to the town of Orvieto.

There are 2 parts to Orvieto. The lower part is newer and the upper part which is the older part. They are in the Upper part and she said it's beautiful. She said "mom, you know when you see pictures of the narrow little brick lined roads in the pictures, it's just like that! It's beautiful!". She really likes her apartment. She is in a building with 5 apartments. She has 2 roommates, and so far thinks they're really nice.

They have visited the Orvieto Cathedral, the underground city, and the tombs. She's eaten liver and authentic pizza and has had a lot of wine!

She said the cars there are tiny. Fiats mostly. When they were building the roads, they were meant for horses, and now that they have cars up there, they have to be small. She said she's taking lots of pictures of them cuz they're so cute.

She's slowly learning a few words and phrases in Italian and says the language barrier really stinks. Hopefully that will motivate her to learn a lot!

Well, that's all I know for now. This week is a free week for them. I think they start classes next week. She is also doing an internship and found out that she might get the chance to do a paid internship....if that works out, I'll be sure to report! :)

Anisa

2010-09-27T20:16:00.008-04:00

Yep, this post is all about Anisa. First, I'll catch you up on an event she had at school. :)

They had a dessert showcase where they showed off wedding cakes (styrofoam cakes, decorated with real frosting/fondant). Plus, they shared other desserts with family and friends. There were some yummy desserts and a few that were not so great. :) Anisa made brownies, chocolate covered strawberries, and some little lemon tartlets cuz she knows I love them. :) heehee Here are some pics of some of the desserts and cakes that were displayed. Anisa's is the green and white cake. The big blue cake is the Corpse Bride theme and they had little skull cookies that were so cute. The Daisy cake was done by a super cute woman who we talked to for a really long time. :)

We went to Chevy's for Anisa's last American (mexican) lunch. The girls got their usual burritos, Travis and I both got new stuff for us. I got asparagus/mushroom enchiladas and they were delicious! :) Anisa wanted to get the fried ice cream for dessert, but she was so full she had decided not to. Then the waitress came by and said they were doing special $1 fried ice cream SCOOPS. Ah, that was perfect. So, Anisa got her fried ice cream. Here are my beautiful girls..

And now, to the big news. Right now, as I type, Anisa is about an hour out over the Atlantic ocean on her way to Italy. I know she's not asleep right now, but I hope she gets some sleep during her 8.5 hour flight. She will arrive in Rome, Italy at 8:45 a.m. their time which is 7 hours later than us then will have a 1.5-2 hour bus ride to Orvieto. So we are expecting a skype call at about 4 a.m. ugh... She met her roommate already and said she really likes her A LOT! We'll see in about a week. :) There were only a few little tears shed at home before we left, and luckily that was it. Once we got to the airport, her 2 friends arrived and they all got checked in, I took a quick picture and off they went through security and onto their big adventure. I'll try to keep this updated as much as i can with pics that she posts on facebook. :) Here are her and the guys...Chef is missing, but I'm sure there will be pics of him posted soon. :)

First day of Fall My foot!

2010-09-22T19:15:00.011-04:00

Today is the first day of Fall, and it was in the 90s. That's just not right, but it's a great day to stay inside with the AC on and update my blog! :)

Aaron was here for about a week and a half. We finally got Anisa up to the top of the Washington Monument. On the walk to the monument, we stopped to feed a friendly little squirrel! We took PB&J's into the city for snacks, and he appeared to like it very much. :)

While we were waiting for our time slot, we ran across the street to take pictures of flowers. Aaron apparently dared Anisa to hit his water bottle while he was drinking, and of course, she hit it and water went all over him. So, he picked her up and was gonna throw her in a bush, and she was screaming "NO! There is a spider!". He almost put her directly into the spider web. It was so hilarious we laughed so much!

Our time slot came up, so we got into line to get on the elevator to the top. There was an adorable couple behind us. She was from Australia and he was from the UK. We talked to them a little bit. When we got to the top, we took pictures from all the windows on all sides of the monument.

We have been looking for a purse for Anisa to take to Italy. One with a flap that goes over the zipper. Well, they're hard to find with both a flap AND a zipper. Anyway, there was this lady with an adorable purse inside the monument. I told Anisa..."check out that cute purse and it looks like it has a flap over the zipper....I'm gonna ask her". So off I went to talk to this woman who probably thought I was a stalker. After I explained to her that we were looking for a purse for my daughter she showed us her little bag and all the pockets and told us she got it at the Container Store! Of all places!!!! Anyway, we planned a trip to the Container Store the next day. We got there and looked at EVERYTHING, and finally got to the bags. We found the purse and decided to get it for sure. As we were getting ready to leave, we had to make a trip to the clearance section. We got there and there was the same, identical purse...same color and everything. We thought, oh someone probably just put it there, but NO. It was missing a clip inside and was marked down almost half price!!!! :) I love deals, and Anisa has a cute little purse!

While Aaron was here, we also made a trip to Rehoboth Beach, MD and Lewes, DE. It was the first time Aaron had ever been to the ocean. The water was warm enough for the kids to go into, but they had to be careful because of the rip currents from the hurricanes blowing through. After playing on the sand and in the water for a few hours, we went to Dogfish Head brewpub for dinner then off to visit/meet my second cousin, Dottie! She is the best!!! She loves squirrels, birds and bugs, just like I do. She is selling her house here to move to Florida to be with her man, so I'm glad I got out there at least once before she moves. I hope to get to see her again before they head south.

We also took Aaron to see the groundhogs at Fort Belvoir. One day I was out there and I saw 5 of them! That day we searched high and low and they were all hiding....then we FINALLY saw one. He was eating acorns in a little park. He was so adorable!

Aaron had to leave on Wed, and the kids always play on the rocking chairs while we wait to say good-bye. It was hard for them to say good-bye, but I think they're getting a little better at it. They didn't cry quite as much.

Today we went to a little town called Occoquan for brunch and shopping with my friend, Rhonda. We met in Santa Barbara and now her husband is stationed out here, so we can hang out together sometimes. Unfortunately, like Renee, because of traffic they both live about 40 minutes away, but we can manage to see each other sometimes. We ate at a place that overlooked the Occoquan River and looked in all the tiny, cute shops. I found a wooden chicadee and some car coasters…not super exciting, but still fun. J

This week, we have to make sure Anisa has all her last minute stuff done before she leaves on Monday! Exciting and scary for all of us.

Lots of new stuff

2010-09-08T21:39:00.016-04:00

Well, I'll start with the oldest and go to the latest stuff that's been going on here.

On the 1st of Sept, the dance team had a Lock-In at school. Basically, they spent the night at school. ;) Anyway, one of the moms who had volunteered told me I should stay too. I had been thinking about it, but putting it off, so I said OK! :) One more mom stepped up too, so there were 3 moms, plus the coaches, plus 16 teenagers! It was fun. We had run of the entire school, and it's a BIG school. They ate, played hide and seek, watched a movie, laughed, screamed, ran through the halls, pushed each other on rolling chairs and in trash cans. Here are some pics...

Aaron is visiting from Wisconsin one more time before Anisa goes to Italy. That's coming up in 2.5 weeks! We've been slowly, but surely, getting her stuff ready. A lot of it, we can't do til the last minute..mainly the packing part.

This past Sunday, we were supposed to go on a bike ride with Larry and Jan, but they have some remodeling going on in their bathroom, so instead, we went to Great Falls, VA. It's in McLean, about half hour away from here. Unfortunately, everyone else went that day (Labor Day weekend) and it took us 2 hours to get there. It was cool, tho. Once we got there, we hiked on the rocks, looked at the little fishies, and took pictures. Here are some of them.....

On Tuesday, Sara started school as a Junior! She asked us if she gets a 4.0 this year, would we buy her a car. We said YEP. Now, watch her get a 4.0. :) heehee Anyway, one of her favorite friends, Hannah, spent the night and they watched Time Traveler's Wife, then got their beauty sleep and got up, got ready and I took them to school. Sara said she likes her classes, teachers and even has friends in a lot of her classes (she didn't have many friends in her classes last year). Here is Sara and Hannah. Aren't they beeyooteefull?! :)

Anisa, Aaron and I planned to go into DC to see the butterflies and try to go up the Washington Monument. Luckily, I talked to Renee that morning and she decided at the last minute to bring Ava and go with us! Miss Ava starts school next week, so this really was her last chance. We saw the butterflies, bugs, skeletons, live fishies and "real but not alive" animals. Here is Ava trying to talk one of the butterflies into landing on her. Poor kid. She only wanted ONE butterfly to land on her and actually, one did, but nobody got a picture of it because he landed then took right off.

Travis is visiting Philly, New York and Baltimore this week, so he's been gone for a couple of days which I think is nice, since I never get a chance to miss him! :) He'll be home on Friday, and I think we're planning a trip to the beach this weekend and HOPEFULLY getting to meet a cousin of mine...actually a second cousin. I'll tell you all about it next week! :)

8-28-2010 Restoring Honor Rally

2010-08-28T18:39:00.013-04:00

Today we (Travis, Chad, Renee, Sara Beth, Larry, Jan and yours truly), along with 5hundredthousandmillion people, went into DC to see Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Alveda King and others talk about Restoring Honor in America. Renee, Chad, Travis and I had been planning this since GB announced it MONTHS ago. Renee and I even got matching t-shirts. The guys got new t-shirts, but they didn't match. wierdos. :)

Our day started at the Metro station where the lines and crowds were an indication that we were gonna get smooshed on the train. We got there and had to run back to the house (about a 10 minute drive) to pick up Fastpasses because the lines to buy day passes were so huge (wrapped around the parking structure was one line, and another was inside the parking structure) that it was faster to run to the house and pick up Anisa's Metro passes. :) She is our little hero. :)

We got onto the train, chatted with the others who were VERY CLOSE TO US on the train. We made several new friends. heehee But, then we had to get off the train halfway between here and DC because of "track work". We decided to take a cab from there since the next train through was gonna be packed and all the people off our first train had to figure out how to squish into the next few trains coming through. The cab was a GREAT decision and we got to the Lincoln Memorial in no time. When we got there, we attempted to find another friend who had gotten there before us, but gave up and went to get a seat somewhere that we could at least see one of the jumbo tv screens.

We got a good seat and saw and heard the speakers and their messages. It was really fun. The Restoring Honor website had stressed that this was not going to be a political rally and it honestly wasn't (although, I've already read some of the liberal press turning it into something negative...how sad). They talked a lot about our country getting back to basics, turning back to God, doing what our forefathers did. For me, as a Christian, it was motivational. Besides the great speakers, I was there with my friends, and Victor, a friend we met at one of the political rallies, met us there!

The weather cooperated kind of. The humidity was pretty low today, so that was REALLY nice, but it was still hot and I think I sweat about 5 gallons! It was pretty icky. After the rally was over, we walked over to Rosslyn, about 2.5 miles to find someplace to eat. After finding our first choice was closed, our second choice was a 45 minute wait, we decided to go to Chipotle, which should have been our first choice. :) We finished lunch and headed back to metro. It was almost as crowded as the morning, but we were just happy to finally be going home. We were all tired, hot, sweaty, sticky and stuffed. :) Now I have to find our next rally to go to! :)

So You're Not Bored. :)

2010-08-26T15:30:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone. :) Well, ok, the couple of people who actually see this blog. :) Today is kind of a hot day, compared the last couple of days that were pretty nice and low humidity. This morning it was 72 in the house and outside, but with the humidity outside, it still felt much hotter outside. Now it's in the 80s and icky again. oh well. I'm sitting inside with my wonderful A/C and fans on.

This Saturday we're heading into DC with friends to see Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Jo Dee Messina, Alveda King (MLK's niece) and others. I hope it stays on task to celebrate America's heroes and troops. It should be very fun. Besides, we'll be with our friends, and that's ALWAYS fun.

On Sunday I went to pick up my friend Joe (an 83 yr old guy I pick up for church) and there was a really cute turtle in his front yard. The woman he rents a room from said in the 40something years she's lived here, she's never seen a turtle just walking around outside. I told her we have saved about 5 turtles. I don't know if this is the "year of the turtle", but there sure are a lot of them.

Anisa's Italy trip is coming up. If anyone has any good trip tips, let us know. We're busy collecting stuff she needs. She'll be there for 3 months, so I'm sure we'll be sending a box of stuff in the middle of her trip, or sending stuff with Travis when he goes.

Anyway, this is just a basic, nothing-to-it post, just figured I'd say hi to anyone visiting and tell you to have a great day! :)

random stuff

2010-08-16T11:39:00.016-04:00

I have been telling people that I would update my blog, but I haven't...until now. :)

My blog would not be complete if I didn't have a picture of a squirrel. But I am also including, as a bonus, a cicada! This little buggy guy just hatched from his little shell. Now he is living in the trees singing his little summer Cicaday song. :) They can be really loud when they're all singing in their little choir, but it's the sound of summer here. I used to not really like it, until I saw three of these little guys hatch by my garage door. Now, I think they're cute and I appreciate their music more.

We had Shana out from WI for a week. That was fun. We did a little shopping, went to VA Beach, went into DC, enjoyed Jumbo Slice with Sammi, Anand and Kayley and she even got to watch WSHS Dance Team practice. Here are some highlights from her visit.

Anisa is leaving for Italy in a little over a month. I can't believe it's coming so fast. Still happy and nervous feelings going through the house. I hope this will be an amazing trip for her and a growing/maturing experience for my baby. I can't believe my "baby" is almost 20! yikes. She has been cooking candy like a madwoman at school. We've had truffles, caramel, brittle and even some cakes... here are her cakes. Ok, I'm not sure why blogger has turned the anniversary cake sideways, but I've downloaded it twice. so, it stays. :)

I just finished 2 quilts for the dance coaches. The block is Card Trick and there is a little triangle in the top corner of each quilt with a Joker on it. The theme last year was Dark Knight (Batman) and the Joker had a big part in it along with cards. Their colors were purple and green.

Sara started dance practice again, so summer is officially over. School starts after Labor Day for her. I can't believe she'll be a Junior this year. I hope to get some quilting done when our schedule is back to a semi-normal. I'm also hoping for a camping trip, just Travis and me, to Gettysburg this fall. But that's another blog post! :)

Poor Little Neglected Blog

2010-07-16T17:19:00.005-04:00

Oh my, have I neglected my poor little blog. Not because I want to. I miss blogging, I miss my bloggy friends, but that blasted Facebook has been hogging much of my time, and let's just not get started on Farmville..... :)

Anyway, to catch everyone up and to post pics for those of you who just wanna see, here goes.... (this may not be in chronological order, it's just the way it comes out of my brain)

The girls and I went to California. Some of you know we were planning a trip to Ireland this year. We got our passports (finally) and I was checking out all the prices, collecting info from people and websites, etc. I told Travis to make sure to put in for leave before I booked anything. Well, he came home one day and told me he couldn't take leave for the 2 week window we had when Anisa and Sara had off of school at the same time (Anisa is in school for the summer quarter). Anyway, because it's transfer season and the old guys had already gone and the new guys are still learning thier jobs, Travis couldn't get a whole 2 weeks off at a time. Big time bummer for us, but because we are a CG family, we adapt. Anisa headed to WI for a quick visit and when Sara finally got out of school for the summer, we headed to CA and Anisa met us a few days later. We visited only family this time, except one friend I got to see while waiting for Anisa to get to the airport. It was busy, hectic and we did have fun. We went to Knott's Berry Farm, Mt. Baldy and Newport Beach/Balboa Island. The kids had fun with their cousins and favorite uncle Blake. :) The weather was awesome, and as much as I hate California, I appreciated the nice weather it provided (in the high 70s/low 80s with a cool breeze every day and lows were in the 60 - while in DC it was in the 90s/100s with high humidity). You can see pics on my Shutterfly.

So, as I said already, Anisa is going to school this summer. It kind of stinks, because it keeps us home. We can't really make a far, family trip. Weekends are being taken up by Dance Team fundraising for Sara. Ah, having kids who are older and involved..... Anyway, she went in to school on Monday and called about 10 minutes after being dropped off. I though she was going to tell me class had been canceled. Nope. She said she ran into Chef Sholly and he asked if she wanted to go to Italy! The school has a study abroad program and the culinary students can go to Italy for a quarter. She will take classes, tours, and even make a trip to Spain and Germany. Her main post will be the small town of Orvieto. From there they will bus, train or plane to all kinds of places and see different things. She'll learn about meats, cheese, olives and wine. How to get good stuff, how to use it and how to cook it. She'll be gone from Sept to Dec. The only bad thing is my Mommy overprotectiveness. I'll miss my baby. I'll worry about my baby. They speak a different language there that she has to learn before Sept. I know she'll have a blast, I know it's a trip of a lifetime, I just hope she doesn't want to stay forever! :) Or maybe that would be a good thing. We'd have a place to visit when we go to Europe. :)

Another story out here is the summer weather. While we were in CA, a couple of days got into the 100s. And it is not a dry heat. It is so humid and muggy, you can almost cut through the air. It's hard to breathe. I hate it. Luckily, it's cooled of a tiny bit. It's only getting to about 90 this week, but still humid. Like right now out on my front window (where our little sensor is) it's 94 degrees, 44% humidity. My dad said it was hot and muggy down at his house, so I just checked what weather.com says it is. It's 102 degrees and 24 % humidity. Still VERY icky and when it's that hot, it's just plain miserable, but if it feels humid in CA at 24%, you can imagine what it feels like at 44%. poopy! I can complain. I don't complain about rain, snow or freezing temps. I choose to whine in the summer, but now I'm done. :)

Sara is leaving in the morning to Dance camp. They will be there until Tues. I think they learn a couple of routines, team building, etc. It should be fun, but I hope their weather is good. Forecast is for scattered thunderstorms and showers. I just hope they get to stay inside in the air conditioning.

I think that's it for now. I can't remember anything else super important to tell you all. I hope you're having a fantastic day whatever you're doing and wherever you are. :)

Chicks of Cakes.....

2010-05-23T16:50:00.007-04:00

Anisa entered the cake decorating competition at Zoofari, a fundraiser for the Panda research at the National Zoo. The contest was judged by Duff Goldman from the tv show Ace of Cakes at Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. There were 3 teams and they had about an hour to decorate their cakes before judging. Anisa and 2 other chickees from Art Institute rolled and spread fondant, painted, gently placed cakes on top of each other and then waited to be judged.

They WON! by a long shot. Their cake was beautiful. Duff even told the girls that their cake was one of the most professional looking cakes he had seen done by students!

Here is the team and their cake. We're so proud of the chicks! Oh, and by the way, the entire thing was edible. The little panda on top is a little cake. :)

16 years ago today....

2010-05-19T08:49:00.003-04:00

16 years ago we welcomed a new person into our family. SARA!!! :)

The morning of May 19 started like most of my mornings with a 3 yr old. Wake up, get her fed, ready for a bath, clothed, etc....But then, I started feeling weird. Not "in labor" but just weird. I called Grandma and Grampa H who were in town to help out with the big sister when the little one arrived. I put Anisa into the tub and Gma and Gpa arrived.

By the time they got to the house, I knew I was in labor. A baby was gonna be born that day. We finished getting Anisa ready for the day and headed to the hospital. Poor Grampa had to drive and with each contraction, we went a little faster. I had called Travis, who was at work...luckily, he worked right down the road from the hospital. He met us at the door and we went to check in...after I thought I was gonna have that child in the car. My contractions were coming hard and fast. We got checked into the room, changed into my lovely gown and got ready to have a baby. My room overlooked the beautiful Willamette River over Portland, OR. Float planes flew in and out while we were there. It was actually quite nice.

The nurses came in with a teenage girl and asked if she could watch the birth (she was taking some classes and this was part of her "training", I think. We said, sure. As my contractions got worse, this poor girl got a little more green. I looked over and she was kind of "sliding" down the wall to sit down. The nurses came and escorted her out of the room for some juice. Great birth control, let teenagers watch actual births! :)

Anyway, about an hour after I arrived at the hospital it was time for Sara to enter the world. She was anxious to get here, luckily, so I didn't have to push for too long. She arrived and we were thrilled that we had another daughter. Big Sissy Anisa and Gma and Gpa got to come in and see our newest family member. We had a few other visitors during the day (Viv, Sheri, Nay) but spent most of our time admiring our precious newest little girl.

Now, she's 16. Wow, the time has flown by. She is in high school and is driving. She loves to dance and listen to her music. She also loves to put on her make-up and do her hair. :) hee hee Sometimes she can get on our last nerve, but most of the time, she's a good kid and we are so happy to be able to call her our daughter. Sara, I love you so much!!! Happy Birthday!!

Silly Travis

2010-05-16T16:23:00.002-04:00

He reminded me to tell you all that we saw another Coastie that works at HQ. We made up our own little team. heehee He mentioned that in the program, at mile 5 there would be a miniature horse to greet us and cheer us on. We got to mile 5 and there was no horse, but as we turned a corner there were TWO mini horses to cheer for us. They weren't actually cheering, but they were standing there looking really cute and it made us smile. I also saw a squirrel. :)

Historic Half Marathon and Relay for Life

2010-05-16T13:47:00.010-04:00

Well, we finished. Travis and I ran our first half marathon and survived. :) The Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, VA is part of the Marine Corps Marathon series.

It all started yesterday when we went to get our t-shirts and bib/time chips. There was a running expo at the Fredericksburg Expo Center. We called some friends that we have known since before Anisa was born, in fact, they were some of our first visitors when we had Anisa and we had her babyshower at their house. :) Kevin and Christine. We've lived here for a year now and haven't gotten to see them, so this was the perfect opportunity. **Real quick, the reason we haven't seen them in all this time is because they live an hour south and we don't get down there often. Ok, so, we had a fantastic lunch with them yesterday, then headed home to go to bed early.

Turned out that Anisa, our darling daughter who we love so much, had other plans. She was spending the night at a friend's house. She had taken the metro to her friend's house so she had to come home on the metro, pick up the car, and bring it home. THEN I had to take them both back to the metro so they could go BACK to her friend's house. ugh....confused, yet?? :) Anyway, we didn't get to bed until 10 pm. That's all fine and dandy if you can get up in the morning at a decent hour, but not if you have to get up before the birdies. We had to get up at 3:45 to start getting ready and have a yummy delicious cup of coffee before we left.

We left the house at about 5:00 a.m. Got a great parking spot at Walfart, and headed toward the starting line. Got in line for the potty, then went to the staging area. Decided last minute we better make ONE MORE potty run. :) Then, we were off. The course is hilly, but not extreme. We run hills here, but not for 13.1 miles. There were lots and lots of people standing on the sides of the streets yelling for the runners to "keep up the good work, you can do it, you're almost done". It was cool. Mile 11 started us up a 2 mile hill. It was not as horrible as we thought it was going to be, but it actually did me in. I had to walk about 50 feet at the top (which irritates the poo out of me, I didn't want to walk AT ALL). We started running again and into mile 12 Travis felt good enough to leave me (not alone...I was surrounded by lots of new friends). :) I turned the corner and saw the finish line and got my second wind. I cranked it out at the end and we both finished strong. We got our beautiful "finisher medals", water, bananas, oranges and pretzels and went somewhere to stretch a little. Then got our belongings from the Marines who were watching over our valuables, and headed to the van. I had brought celebratory beers, but we wanted to get home, so we kept them in their little ice cooler and headed the hour north. We got home, threw in a pizza, headed up to shower then when we were all clean and not stinky any more enjoyed our pizza and beers. Now, I need a nap and a massage would be nice, too. We're both a little sore, but not as bad as we thought we would be. We'll see how we feel tomorrow! :)

Our results are in.....Travis finished at 2:16:49. I was about a minute behind him at 2:17:38. The men's divisions are harder (I think), more competition. There were 5419 finishers. There were 2737 men and Travis finished 1836. In his division (Men 40-44), he came in 329 out of 480. There were 2682 women and I finished 1118. In my division (Women 40-44) I came in 161 out of 400. The average time for finishers in the Men's division was 2:08:51, and in Women's 2:27:25, so we were both pretty close to average. In fact, Travis was 46.6 % and I was 51.2% in our age grade ranking. We are very happy that we finished and our times aren't too bad. :) Oh, by the way, the first place man came in at 1:14:40. Yes, that's ONE HOUR and 14 minutes to run 13.1 miles. The first place woman came in at 1:26:26.

So, if you read the title of this post, you might be thinking, ok, what about the Relay for Life? Well, Sara did that. It is a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society and it's a 12 hour walk all night. It started Friday night at 7 p.m. and ended at 7 a.m. Saturday. I volunteered to be a chaperone until 11, but ended up staying until 1 (which is why I'm totally exhausted now, I'm running on very little sleep for the last couple of nights). We all got there about 6 o'clock to set up our tent and seating area. About 5 minutes into setting up they announced that a severe thunder storm was on it's way and we had to evacuate the field immediately. Everyone headed into the school (it was held at Sara's school). There were a bunch of sweaty, hot people in the gym and auditorium. I hadn't eaten dinner, so as soon as the rain stopped for a minute, I walked to McDonalds to get something to eat. I had to make a quick stop at the bank, then CVS, and I started walking across the street to McD's and it started sprinkling. I was lucky. I walked into McD's and from the time I walked in the door to the counter the sky opened up and it POURED and blew! I ate my burgers, and during a rain break I headed back to the school and they were just letting us back out onto the field. The girls had fun, they walked, they talked, they slept, then came home and slept more. :)

Here are pictures of both events...

Before the race

After the race

Us at the finish line with our medals. :)

Sara and the gang...
Aren't they cute?? This is only some of the team.

The chicks playing Twister. Crazy girls. :)

Speaking of Kids....

2010-05-04T14:45:00.001-04:00

Well, I was talking to my Grandma today and she asked about Sara and her driving permit. I had totally forgotten to tell everyone. SARA GOT HER PERMIT....RUN FOR THE HILLS WHILE YOU CAN!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm just kidding about the running for the hills part. She took the test once a while back and missed it by a question or two. The next time she went to take it, she studied really hard and passed with flying colors. So, she is now a driver. It's scary to be teaching another kid to drive. I'm not sure Baby's little carburetor can handle this! heehee Nah, Baby is fine. She's happy to be the one to see the kids learn. As long as Sara doesn't drive her into a ditch or a guard rail, we'll all be fine.

So, I've let Sara drive home from school a couple of times, she's driven in the neighborhood lots and even practiced in an empty parking lot. She's pretty good, but still has to work on her confidence and staying toward the middle of the road instead of the middle of the lane (I don't know if it's just around here, but there are lots of roads we drive on with no shoulders. If you go over the little right line, you're in the ditch). She has to have her permit for a year and 3 months, I think. She took Driver's Ed at school and will have to take behind the wheel before her year is up. But for now, it's just Sara and Mommy (and sometimes her friend, Hannah or Anisa) cruising the open roads of Springfield with me telling her to brake, steer to the middle, use your signal, watch out for that parked car......... Pray for us! :) hee hee

Bragging about my kid....again. :)

2010-04-28T18:06:00.004-04:00

This time, I'm bragging about my Anisa. She competed in the Titanium Chef competition on Saturday. She was signed up/volunteered to compete by her friend, Kashif, and was partnered up with her other friend, Michelle. Someone told them not to expect to win, since it's their first competition, but to see it as really great practice....and if they DID place, it would be a bonus. The competition earns them points toward some certificate (I can't remember, but it's a good one heehee).

There were 12 teams of 2 people competing. The main dish was duck. They could prepare it the way they wanted. They also had to prepare side dishes. The girls had decided to make a watercress salad and au gratin potatoes. Before they started, they were given a box with ingredients they had to incorporate into their recipes. Anisa's and Michelle's box had things like cherries, oranges, pine nuts, spices and other yummy things. They cooked, they sweat, they rushed, they sliced, diced and simmered. They had to prepare 2 plates for the judges. One plate was for show, the other was for the judges to eat.

After they had finished they turned in their food to be judged. After all the competitors turned in all their plates and the judges were done tallying they announced winners.

Anisa and Michelle came in 3rd!!!!!!! They asked the judges about what they liked/didn't like about the food, or presentation of the food. They got mostly positives, but the negative they got was about the oranges. The judges said they didn't know what to do with the oranges, were they decoration, dessert, what?? They said to incorporate them into one of the sides or main dish. The girls got medals and certificates. Anisa said she had so much fun that she's kind of leaning more toward a general culinary degree now, instead of baking and pastry. She's going to talk to the Master Chef and then her counselors to see what she should do. Crazy kid.

Here are the girls with their medals and their plates. :)

Tax Day Tea Party

2010-04-17T08:30:00.008-04:00

Travis and I attended ANOTHER DC rally. It was the Tax Day Tea Party. It was held at the Washington Monument and had speakers like Dick Armey, Lord Monckton and Ron Paul. The crowd was pretty happy, people of all ages. We saw one guy with a "Stop the War" sign but for the most part, everyone was happy. Here are some pics of the day.

Cherry Blossoms

2010-04-11T20:33:00.009-04:00

Well, the DC Cherry Blossom festival is over. The blooms came and went real quick this year. The weather was so weird. The coldest weather, hottest weather, sun, rain..... the poor little trees didn't know what to do. Anyway, Aaron was out here for a couple of weeks and Sara went to WI for her spring break. I took the 2 big kids into DC to check out the trees.

The history of the Cherry Blossoms goes like this... (copied from the DC Cherry Blossom Festival Website)

****The National Cherry Blossom Festival® annually commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, honoring the lasting friendship between the United States and Japan and celebrating the continued close relationship between our two cultures.

In a simple ceremony on March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two trees from Japan on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park. In 1915, the United States Government reciprocated with a gift of flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan. A group of American school children reenacted the initial planting in 1927 and the first "festival” was held in 1935, sponsored by civic groups in the Nation’s Capital.

First Lady Lady Bird Johnson accepted 3,800 more trees in 1965. In 1981, the cycle of giving came full circle. Japanese horticulturists were given cuttings from our trees to replace some cherry trees in Japan which had been destroyed in a flood.

The Festival was expanded to two weeks in 1994 to accommodate a diverse activity schedule during the trees’ blooming. Today, more than a million people visit Washington, DC each year to admire the blossoming cherry trees and attend events that herald the beginning of spring in the Nation’s Capital.

The Festival looks forward to celebrating the centennial anniversary of the gift of trees in 2012 and is planning spectacular events to mark this historic and special occasion.***

Pretty cool, huh?! Anyway, here are some pics from around the tidal basin.

Here is a bonus picture. Travis and I had to go to a retirement ceremony on Saturday, so we took a quick picture of us while we were both all dressed up. :)

bragging on my celebrity friend

2010-04-02T08:45:00.002-04:00

Ok, most of you have visited Monica's blog, but you should go there today. She is a REAL QUILT FABRIC DESIGNER. Soon, she's gonna be bigger than Mary E or Debbie Mumm. I'm so proud of my cute friend. If you know her, you know this is something she totally deserves. She's one of the most fun, talented, generous people I know. If you don't know her, well, you can just take my word for it. She is pretty awesome, and now, a celebrity. :) heehee Love you Monica! :)

Run To Register 10K

2010-03-27T14:46:00.009-04:00

Well, we ran and lived to tell the story. We actually both ran good times. Travis came in at 55:05 mins and I came in at 55:11 mins. That's about 8:54/8:55 minutes a mile. When we run normally, we usually run about 10 min/mile pace - but that includes all our stops to look at woodpeckers, squirrels, deer and froggies on the trail.

Just in case you don't know (I wouldn't unless I asked), a 10K is 6.2 miles. This one is part of the Marine Corps Marathon. If you run in this race, you're guaranteed a spot in the marathon on Oct. 31. We are still thinking about the full marathon (26.2 miles), but we're signed up for the Historic Half (13.1 miles) in Fredericksburg on May 16.

This morning was really cold. It was 34 degrees when we left the house at 6:45ish. We were both really cold walking to the porta-potty lines, then to the start line, but it felt good once we started running. It was actually perfect temp. There were about 1798 people racing, so a lot of warm bodies! :) hee hee According to the race result sheets, Travis came in 869th overall, and 106 in his division. I came in 881 overall, and 36th in my division. Of course, the girl divisions are easier. :) Here's the link to the RESULTS. We had a really good time and are looking forward to the HH in May. We have to decide whether or not we're gonna do the Marathon by April 5, so I'll let you all know soon! :) Here are a couple of pics.

For those who look at my blog but don't see anything new

2010-03-26T21:01:00.002-04:00

I was talking to my mom today and she was telling me I needed to update it because she comes to check on it and there IS NOTHING NEW. Hi mom. :)

Aaron is out visiting for a couple of weeks. Our futon/guest bed is set up in the front room which is connected to the room where the computer is, and since he's a teenager and they go to bed at like, 5 a.m., I don't get on the computer as much as normal so I don't wake him up. Once they're up, I have to keep them entertained, so I let them sleep.

Not much is new around here anyway. Now that dance is over, things are pretty mellow. I spend my days watching squirrels and birds, playing on the computer (when we don't have company), doing sudoku, shopping or going to lunch with Anisa, and sometimes with Renee and Ava, doing laundry and cleaning the house. Pretty boring. I haven't done much sewing lately because Sara took her desk back...I was using it in my sewing room as an extra storage and flat surface. Now, the room is messy and I don't like to go in there. I'm on a mission to find a good, cheap dresser or desk. I looked at Ikea, but they didn't have anything that thrilled me. I liked their dressers, but they were a couple hundred bucks and I'd have to buy new drawer bottoms cuz the bottoms in there are REALLY cheap and flimsy and I wouldn't want my fabric to fall out and get all messed up since it's nicely folded right now.

Tomorrow, Travis and I are heading down to Quantico Marine Corps base to run a 10k (it's part of the Marine Corps Marathon and if you do this 10K, you are guaranteed a spot in the marathon in the fall. We'll decide if we can do the full marathon after we do the Historic Half in May). It should be fun. We usually run about 6ish miles, so it's a normal distance for us, but we'll do it with thousands of other people. I have personal space issues, so I hope I don't freak out on anyone for getting in my "personal space". Actually, I'd probably only freak out on Travis because he's already been warned SEVERAL times. The base is about 45 minutes south of here, so we have to get up early if we want to have some coffee and a little power breakfast.

So, that's the news from here. Pretty boring, huh? I'll post pictures and stories from the race tomorrow. Until then, I hope you all are having a fun, boring (if you prefer) day. love and kisses to all! :)

Oh, I forgot to mention....

2010-03-12T06:53:00.002-05:00

If you go to Varsity.com you can click on the "Great Themes from NDA Nationals" and the team is interviewed (they are right after the wedding theme team. Also, you can type in the Search bar "West Springfield" and it will pull up the routines. They cut a little bit of the routine - not sure why- but you can get an idea of how the kids performed. :)

NDA National Champions

2010-03-11T12:25:00.005-05:00

I'm just now getting around to putting up some shots of the 2010 Medium Varsity Hip Hop National Champion team from WEST SPRINGFIELD HIGH SCHOOL! They went down as ordinary high school dancers and came back as National Champions! :)

The competition was held on Mar. 6 & 7 at the Hard Rock auditorium at Universal in Orlando, FL. The most surprising thing about the weekend was the cold weather. It was cold enough to wear a sweatshirt (but I DID wear shorts). We got down there on Thursday, got to the hotel, dropped our bags and everyone got something to eat and the kids went to practice.

Friday was more of the same. Some adults went to WDW, some of us went to Super Walmart to get food for the kids since they were spending $15 a meal and they were on a budget. We got fruit, water and stuff for PB&Js. They scarfed them down! We even had to get more bread. :) That afternoon, one of my high school friends who lives in Orlando, Tim, came to pick me up and we went to dinner (along with his darling wife and mom). That was super fun to see him and meet his family.

Saturday was prelims. The kids got ready, and we pulled our little white vans over and picked up all the wild haired kids with all their bags. Off we headed to Universal Studios to go to the Hard Rock Auditorium. We got seats in the balcony and watched the competition. Of course, we went wild as our team performed and when they announced their score (#1) we all went even more crazy! We went outside, took lots of pictures then headed back to the hotel for showers, naps, food and a little more practicing. Then, we loaded the vans again and headed back to Hard Rock for their Pom routine. They did their best, but their pom routine wasn't their favorite, or the one they really poured their hearts into. The made finals for that routine, too. :) Back to the hotel, a little more practicing, then off to bed for FINALS on Sunday.

Sunday is now kind of a blur. My cute Blog friend, Marie, came with her sweet daughter and granddaughter to watch the team. Her kids and grandkids live a couple of miles from here and her grandson is friends with Sara! It was fun to finally get to give my friend a real life hug since we've known each other in blogland for a few years now. Small world! Anyway, the kids appeared pretty calm, but they were all busy preparing themselves to win this competition. They performed their best and it paid off....BIG. They got 1st place in the Medium Varsity Hip Hop division. Their score was 9.451. The second place team's score was 9.126. The parents in the balcony about flipped!!!! We couldn't help but start screaming and jumping after they announced the second place team. We were so proud and happy for our kids. All the practice, time, tears, money, and huge commitment became so worth it all. They got a HUGE trophy, a banner and every dancer got a NATIONAL CHAMPION jacket. They called friends and family at home, cried, hugged, screamed, danced and posed for lots and lots of pictures. But, it was soon time to head back to the hotel to change for their pom performance. They were still on their "high" from the afternoon and performed their pom routine. They came in 9th out of 10 final qualifying teams. We were all ok with that (at least they didn't come in last. :) ). We planned to go out to dinner at Planet Hollywood, but things got messed up with the reservations (the competition didn't get out soon enough and we were late for our reservation) so we headed back to the hotel and the kids just got stuff to eat at a couple of the restraunts around the hotel.

Monday, we headed to the Parks to play. First stop was Magic Kingdom. We stayed together for a few rides, then everyone went their own ways. We all got done and ready to go to Epcot for dinner and a couple of rides. When that park closed, we headed to MGM since they stayed open late for resort guests. We rode Tower of Terror (one of my favorites) and Rockin' Rollercoaster (another favorite), then headed to the hotel to finally get some much needed sleep. We had planned to go to Animal Kingdom on Tuesday before we headed home, but the kids decided they'd rather swim and just hang out. So, us moms who were there, headed off to lunch, then came back to pack up and head home.

It was nice to be home and get to see my Nisa and Travis, but everyone is a little sad that the season is over. Now it's back to reality, but the kids have a big trophy, their names on the marquee in front of the school, sweet jackets and tons of great memories that I'm sure none of will forget. Go to my Shutterfly page to see the pics. Shutterfly

Look what she made....and we got to eat! :)

2010-02-23T17:14:00.002-05:00

This is one of the benefits to having a daughter in Culinary school. You get to eat her classwork. :) She made tarts. Aren't they adorable? And they taste DELICIOUS!!! I know, several of you have offered to test her work. You have to come and visit to get some. Today she is making croissants! I LOVE croissants. Ah, the buttery, flakiness.

Now for the complaining part of this post. We are going to get fat with all these yummy desserts because the snow is still here! I'm so sick of it. There are no sidewalks. You take your life into your own hands if you want to run on the roads, since the plows just pushed the snow onto the shoulders of the roads. oy. I think Travis and I are running on treadmills tomorrow. boring, but necessary. We have a race next month and we haven't gotten any running in BECAUSE OF THE STUPID SNOW.

Ok, I'm done now. I saw some little flower heads poking up in the yard today, the birds are singing every morning when I go outside. I do have some things to be thankful for. We leave for Orlando in a week and 2 days for Sara's dance competition. That is going to be fun!!! :) Ok, that's about it for now. :) I hope you all are having a wonderful week. I love you all!!!! :)

Recovery

2010-02-16T09:26:00.004-05:00

We are finally in the recovery mode ~ I hope! We had a little dusting of snow last night, but right now the sun is out and it's a bit warm. We have HUGE chunks of ice on all the roads, so it's still slow going to most places. School was on a 2-hour delay this morning and some schools in the area are still closed because they can't get to sidewalks or bus stops. Even at our school, there is very limited parking, they sent out an email telling students to take the bus or get a ride so they wouldn't have to deal with all those cars trying to find parking.

I know some people laugh, and it IS kinda funny, but when I say the snow has crippled the area, I'm not kidding. People don't have snowblowers here, the city/counties have to hire anybody with a plow on their truck to help plow roads, so you get some dude out there with a 4x4 and a plow (and don't forget the cell phone!) just pushing snow wherever. They don't know what they're even doing! Oy. The Federal Government was closed all last week except Friday, and even then, Travis worked from home. There are HUGE piles of snow EVERYWHERE. No sidewalks can be found and there are TONS of trees uprooted or broken. BUT, the storm that was supposed to come in at the end of the week, isn't looking like it's coming here. YAY!

I'm not TOTALLY complaining, but I am looking forward to all this snow melting and being done with it. I know, CINDY WANTS SNOW TO GO AWAY???REALLY??? Yep, I want the Virginia snow to go away. It's not as fun as Wisconsin snow. I'm attaching a couple of pictures of a couple of days after the last big storm that dumped 2 feet on us. The first one is looking down our street ~our house is on the right. The second picture is the road leaving our neighborhood. I can't wait for spring! :) You can see where the mailboxes are and the street lights. Yeah, that's where the curbs are....there was a 1.5 car-width lane going through the neighborhood. Not fun.

Good Golly!

2010-02-06T20:21:00.003-05:00

SNOW, SNOW AND MORE SNOW! Holy smokes. It started yesterday. We shoveled last night about 6 inches so it wouldn't be as horrible today. It was wet, heavy snow so it took us a while to clear out the driveway, sidewalk and pipestem (the little road we live on). While we shoveled, it kept snowing, so by the time we were wet, freezing and ready to come in, there was already another couple of inches on the ground.
They predicted that most of the snow would fall during the night and they were right! We woke up to another 12ish inches. It's hard to tell exactly how much since the wind blew last night too. We shoveled for about an hour and a half and got the driveway and most of the pipestem done. I was so wet that I came in for a while to dry and thaw. :) About an hour later we went back out to finish the job we had started and to clear some of the snow that was still falling. 2 hours later we were tired, cold and wet again. Time to be done. We put the shovels away (it was still snowing a little bit) and came in and thawed out. When I looked outside this evening, we probably got another 3 or 4 inches. On the weather station website it says we got 23.5 inches. I don't think we got that much snow in one storm while we lived in WI. It is TOTALLY CRAZY! And to top things off, they're predicting more snow on Tuesday. I'm not sure if the girls will ever get to school again. The snow is so piled up and the roads are so messy, school and activities are being cancelled left and right. I have sewing to do, and we have power, so there's tv and computer to keep us busy. We have plenty of food to last so we don't have to go out to the store and if the power goes out, we have the trailer with a full propane tank for heat and TONS of blankets and quilts. :) But I really hope the power doesn't go out. That would be a bummer.
Anyway, I wanted to post a couple of pictures of the snow so you can all see what fun we're having! :) tee hee Mostly, I wanted to let you all know, we're still alive and doing fine. :)

snow

2010-02-04T20:45:00.004-05:00

They are forecasting a HUGE storm blowing in tomorrow. They are predicting that we will get 18-22 inches. People are FREAKING OUT. This picture was from my phone, so it's not that great, but you can see the bread aisle at the market. I went to get bread and a couple of other things to make our snowed in weekend happy (Oreos and milk). The parking lot was so full that I had to drive around a couple of times (this is a BIG parking lot). I lucked out and got a front spot and ran in. I got to the bread aisle and laughed. The beer section was surprisingly full. It would have been the opposite in Wisconsin. School has been cancelled for tomorrow and the weekend activities are also canceled (there were basketball games scheduled).

We got about 5 inches last weekend. Travis is upset that these storms keep blowing in on the weekends. I saw on the news that they have already measured approximately 24" at Reagan Airport. That is more than the last 3 winters combined. If we get what they're predicting we will go over what the area has gotten in the last 5 winters combined. We brought it with us. That's the only logical explanation. :) This is the view from our upstairs window. Isn't it so pretty??!!

I'll keep you posted this weekend!

Update..mom brag

2010-01-31T16:49:00.001-05:00

We finally checked Anisa's grades and were not surprised, but happy to see that she got a 4.0 for her first term. :) It helps when you LOVE what you're doing. Go Anisa!!! :)

Proud Parents

2010-01-30T11:11:00.005-05:00

Anisa got a letter from school yesterday. We were thinking, "oh no, I hope it's not a bill. No, it can't be. We should't owe them anything..." So, she opened it and started reading.....

Dear Honor Student,
Congratulations! On behalf of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society at the Art Institute of Washington, we wish to congratulate you on your outstanding academic achievement. Your success has made you eligible for membership in Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor Society.

So, the ALD invites students who have a 3.5 gpa or higher AND are in the top 20% in their class in their first year. She will be able to compete for special scholarships and fellowships. And, she'll get a special pin. tee hee

We are so proud of our kiddo. She LOVES school (except math and english, but not many people love those classes). We are seeing signs of her becoming an adult, not just because of her age, but her behavior. She'll always be our baby, but someday, she'll be a successful woman....wierd. :) but cool. I know we're not the first parents in this spot, but it's OUR first time in this spot, and so far I really like it. :) I like watching my kids succeed in things they love.

Sara is getting ready to go to Nationals with the dance team. We watched the team last night perform a Pom routine. They looked so awesome. I never get tired of watching them. Of course, I have a hard time watching the TEAM, since I'm more focused on my baby. Sometimes her talent amazes me. I wonder where she learned to do moves like that. :) We were going to go to the DMV today to FINALLY get her driver's permit, but it is snowing out, so I'm not sure today is a good day to even leave the house. Maybe later. We'll see. I'll save that for another post. :)

19

2010-01-22T08:17:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was Anisa's 19th birthday. OH MY. The time has flown by. She has turned into a spectacular young lady. She's funny, cute, smart (sometimes smart mouth, but not often). We have fun hanging out together, doing lunch, shopping or even sewing. She is loving school and is doing a good job in her classes. She had a night class yesterday, and because Sara has a weird schedule with dance, we'll do Anisa's b-day meal tomorrow. She wants to go to Chevy's Mex rest. She was not surprised about half her gifts. It's hard to surprise her much anymore, since I can't really buy her clothes anymore, and so when we were out shopping recently we bought a few things for her but I told her she had to ACT surprised when she opened them. :) She got a couple of bottles of Victoria Secret spray, eye shadow, eye make-up stuff (something you put on before your eye shadow and it makes it last longer...ok). Those are the things she knew about. She was surprised about the Williams Sonoma measuring cups, whisk, knife and peeler set. I love WS, and so does Anisa. **I just noticed, she was wearing the same outfit LAST YEAR in her birthday picture. :) hahaha

Today we're hanging out. She's still sleeping (no school today) and I am gonna go sew. Speaking of sewing, I made these little bags for Renee and her (and my new friend) Sara Beth. I showed them the fabric last week and they both REALLY liked it, so I came home and whipped out these fancy-schmancy Monica bags. :) I love how they turned out. The floral fabric might have to be part of my stash. I really like it, but for me, it will be used more as a quilt. I like the little floral bags, but I don't use them. I like making them a lot because they can be whipped out in a few hours from washing to finished project. LOVE THAT! I've got a new quilt in my head, and hope to get to work on that soon. I'm collecting fabrics for it....greens, yellows, golds....I'm gonna keep it a secret til I get it started. :) hee hee I hope you all have a FANTABULOUS weekend! love you!

catching up

2010-01-17T14:19:00.003-05:00

I am one lucky chick. I had a lunch date last week with a new friend, Lisa. I have "known" her mom-in-law, Marie from blogging for quite a while now. I haven't had the pleasure of hugging Marie yet, but Lisa is the next best thing! What a sweet chick. We had lunch at Bertucci's italian rest. We visited for over an hour with not a quiet moment, well, except when we were chewing, of course. :) When I found out we were moving to VA, I mentioned it on my blog and Marie told me her kids and grandkids lived here. So, when we found out we were living in Springfield, she was even more excited since that's where the family lives! Turns out, we live about 2 miles from each other and Lisa's son is in Sara's spanish class! It's such a tiny world.

Sara is a little sick chick again. She was sick over Christmas Vaca, and is now sleeping on the couch with a very stuffed up nose and sore throat. Poor little kid.

I have also done some sewing lately. I finished another little nightgown for Princess Ava. Here she is with Baby who also got a couple of nightgowns, so they can be twins. Doesn't she look so cute and snuggly?

I also just made this little backpack. It's kind of Vera Bradley'ish....quilty and soft and cute. :) I will probably give it to Ava, too. :) Next projects are already cut. Working on two more little Monica bags. :)

Dance Team

2010-01-11T10:26:00.005-05:00

The dance team had a competition at American University in DC yesterday. They performed their most awesome Hip hop routine and it earned them a First Place, Best Crowd Appeal and Grand Champions who get to perform at an AU Basketball game! We are so proud of the team. These kids work their butts off practicing and getting the routine DOWN.

snow...blah

2010-01-08T16:35:00.002-05:00

Well, it snowed here last night. Not a lot, but a couple of inches. Enough to delay school for 2 hours, which made Sara happy. I have decided I don't really care for snow in Virginia. After our big snow, I saw that this place isn't really prepared for snow. It's been over 2 weeks since our storm and there are still HUGE ice piles everywhere. The ice piles were made by the plows that just shoved the snow to one side of the road and left it there. Sidewalks were not cleared, so there are places where you cannot walk (or in our case, RUN) on the sidewalk. I hear that it's supposed to get cold tonight and the stuff on the road will likely freeze. great. Oh well.

On a happier note, Sara has a dance performance tonight at the girls' basketball game. That will be fun to see. I love watching them perform. They are SO good. They practice their buns off and it shows. They have a competition on Sunday, so I'll probably be posting pictures of that later.

I have been sewing today. I made a couple of little nightgowns for Miss Ava (Renee's little chick) and finished one more, along with some matching jammies for her Baby. Then, I made a little bag/purse thingie out of some fabric that I had gotten especially for this little bag. I am heading back up to sew a little more. I'm planning to make a little Vera Bradleyish backpack. I'll post pics of the craftiness soon. :) I just haven't taken pics yet, and I have to give the little Ava model her jammies so I can show you all how adorable that kiddo is. :)

Ok, off to sew! Hope you all have a splendid weekend!

Hot Chocolate with Tiny Marshmallows

2010-01-07T12:08:00.003-05:00

That's what I call this little wallhanging. I don't know how or why I thought of it, I don't even really like hot chocolate, but I do like tiny things. :) Maybe it's because anything hot in the cold weather we've been having would be nice. Or, maybe it's just because. :) Anyway, I like how it turned out. Now I have to figure out where I'm gonna put it. :)

Oh, and in case you're wondering it's 19"x19". :) Small, just like I like it. tee hee

Now for the pictures

2010-01-01T09:01:00.004-05:00

This post is for pictures mainly. Our Christmas picture and the girls by the tree. :)

Here is the quilt that I made for Renee for her birthday. It's a pattern called Frog Frolic and I saw it a couple of years ago and REALLY liked it (see the froggies?). Renee likes froggies, so she was the perfect person to make it for. ;) Turns out, she loved it. :)

HAPPY 2010

2010-01-01T08:49:00.002-05:00

Wow, can you believe it? It's already 2010. I can't believe how fast time flies. We're heading into DC with the Holm family today. I think we'll hit the Museum of American History and the Botanical Gardens. It's supposed to be about 45 degrees and overcast, which is nice compared to yesterday's 28 and freezing rain in the morning. Luckily, that melted pretty quickly.

We finally got our Christmas/New Years/Holiday cards sent out. We are running so late for EVERYTHING this year. I don't even really have a good excuse. I could say it's because we had company, but I could have done a lot of stuff before they came since it was planned ahead. I could say it's because of the moon aligning with Venus in just the right way, that it threw my whole schedule, but I'm really sure that's not it. But it sounds cool. I was late, because I didn't do stuff on time. period. Oh well.

The point to my whole post today was just to tell all my family and friends who even bother to look at my little (rarely) updated blog that I'm so glad you all are part of my life. People around us are what makes us who we are and I feel very special because I have so many VERY COOL people in my life that I can call my family (I feel like my friends ARE my family). :) I hope this new year goes by slow enough that we all get to enjoy our lives, quick enough that we don't have time to dwell on anything bad and that you all stay happy and healthy in 2010.

I love you all! :)

a couple more snow pics

2009-12-21T14:17:00.004-05:00

Well, here is our deck after the snow stopped falling. We got 22 inches of snow (according to the news people). I couldn't measure since it was deep in some spots, and not as deep in others.

Travis and I went out to help shovel the pipestem and made a little mohawk on Foxy girl. Awwww. :) I took her for a drive around the block and got lots of smiles and waves. Then, the snow chunks started falling off onto the windshield...time to go home. :)

It's Monday, now, and school has been cancelled the rest of the week (Sara was supposed to go today, tomorrow and half day on Wed). It's a good thing, tho. I think she might have the flu. She's a sick chick..fever and runny nose. She's been drinking lots of liquids and laying on the couch. My poor little baby. I have to go out to get our Christmas ham, and a couple of presents for Sara. Other than that, we're stayin' in. :)

DC Blizzard 2009 (enter new theme music..dun dun dun)

2009-12-19T19:31:00.006-05:00

Well, they predicted we were going to get up to 24 inches around the DC Metro area. They were right! We got a TON of snow. When I measured on the deck it was 16 inches, but the deck isn't a real good indicator because it's kind of protected from the house. I had to go around the house to clear the snow from the heat pump and the snow was up to my thighs! Now, I have to say, the snow is blowing a bit, but that's still a lot of fluffy white stuff.

We are used to snow now, after living in SB for 3 years, but we only got one storm while we lived there that dropped this much snow at once. AND, there are no plows or salt trucks here. AND people in Virginia don't know how to drive in snow. Heck, they can't drive in rain!~ :)

Anyway, here are some pictures from this morning around 11ish. It's been snowing all day and since then, we've gotten a lot more. I'll post some more tomorrow, hopefully. We finally got our Christmas tree yesterday, so hopefully I will have those pics up too.

Here are the vehicles all covered with snow. Don't they look so cute?? :)

This is the deck at around 11 this morning.

Here is the deck around 4 this afternoon. Look at the chairs by the table and the bbq for comparison. We got a lot during the afternoon. I AM LOVING IT!! :)

So Much Stuff

2009-12-15T09:17:00.005-05:00

We've had company for 3 weeks, now. Anisa's boyfriend, Aaron has been here from WI, then my mom, sis and niece came to visit for 5ish days. The girls left yesterday, Aaron leaves today. It is always so much fun having company, but it's nice to put the house back together, too. :)

I wanted to post this first, because it was the best day EVER~ we were in DC and a very sweet, tame squirrel came to visit us and even got on my lap. I was THRILLED. Tragically, later we watched a hawk swoop down and take another squirrel for lunch.

Since we've had company, we've been showing them around where we now live. My mom has been to DC several times, but we had to show Wendy and Kelsey and Aaron stuff. Here are some pictures of the last few weeks.

The sun coming into the National Cathedral.

Mom, Wen and Kels in front of the White House.

The Beautiful Cousins.

Obama landing at the White House from Copenhagen.

A squirrel friend for Aaron.

The Ellipse from the top of the Washington Monument.

Sara had a dance competition this last weekend. They took 1st place, again, but we knew they would. The mix of kids really works. They get along, their coaches are incredible, it's just a really great experience for the dancers (and the parents). Here are some pics from the competition.

Today, Anisa and Aaron will get the last activities in and he will fly home this evening. I'm sure this evening at our house will not be a happy place, but we have had a really good time showing Aaron around. It's gonna be quiet around here, but with Christmas just next week, that will be ok. :)

Where am I?

2009-12-05T16:11:00.003-05:00

Ok, guess where we are by the picture.....

Nope! We're not in Wisconsin anymore. It's Dec. 5, and we are in Virginia and IT'S SNOWING! wahoo!!!! The weatherman was right, and he's lucky. I had plans with my girlfriends to go to a BIG Christmas Bazaar up in Pennsylvania today, but "they" were calling for snow. So, we decided yesterday to cancel the trip just in case it really did snow. I woke up this morning and looked out and there was no snow. I felt the violence welling up in me, but a little while later, it started snowing! And I'm happy. Sad to have missed out on a girlfriend day out, but happy to see the beautiful snow. Us chicks will be rescheduling a day out soon! :)

Quiltiness

2009-12-03T20:10:00.003-05:00

One thing that I DID have time to finish is the raffle quilt for the dance team. They are the West Springfield Spartans. Their colors are more of a navy blue, but oh well. Hopefully we can make some good money on this baby! :)

The team is going to Nationals in Orlando, FL in the spring, and any money we raise goes to the cost of the trip.

Now, I can work on some other projects that I've been wanting to work on. I'll show you all later! :)

Adventures

2009-12-03T19:56:00.009-05:00

Ok, I have had company so that's why I haven't posted lately. But, here is what has been happening around here.

Anisa's boyfriend, Aaron, is here from Wisconsin. My cousin April came down from NY last week for a night. So, we took them into DC to explore. We went to the National Cathedral, Botanic Garden, Library of Congress, and lots of museums. Of course, the best part was all the squirrels we saw. :) Here are some pics of the trip....

My mom, sis and niece are coming out next week and we'll be doing a lot of this all over again, but that's ok. Oh, and the weathermen are calling for possible snow fluffies this weekend. heehee I am not getting my hopes up, but it's possible.

WINNERS

2009-11-22T12:19:00.005-05:00

The WSHS Dance team left the Paul VI competition with a 1st place trophy and an overall winner of choreography. To us parents and the spectators, this was a huge DUH. The team TOTALLY owned it! They performed their hearts out and it showed. I got all tingly and shaky when they were dancing....it was THAT good. Of course, I am biased since my baby is on the team. I felt the same way when I'd watch my girls dance in SB. :) This is a different kind of team, tho. Their coaches are dancers, choreographers and strict leaders. They don't allow drama, they expect only the best from their dancers, and there are rewards for good work and consequences for not doing what is expected. So far, I've seen that they are fair and even tho I don't necessarily like some of the consequences, they are consistent. I love that. :) Anyway, here are some highlights.

Here is a little zombie tower. Sara, Nicole and Nikky after they've been all made up and hair done.

This is some of the hair teasing process. I heard they went through 3 cans of hairspray.

This is the whole scary bunch with their first place trophy and their plaque for best choreography. Plaques were also given for Audience appeal and best costumes. They could have won those, too, but they couldn't hog all the awards. :)

lately.....

2009-11-07T19:56:00.005-05:00

Today we spent the day fixing my van. She's been running badly for a while...shuddering up hills, shifting hard, and making some funky noises. Turns out she had a bad distributor and needed a tune-up. We changed the distributor, cap, spark plugs/wires and fixed her timing. She is running like brand new! :) I'm very happy because we thought she was dead a couple of weeks ago. Travis was threatening to buy a new vehicle and I was mad! Now, I'm a happy girl, and so is Baby. :)

Last night I braved 36 degree night air to watch my baby girl perform at the football game. I can't post the routine, but here are a couple of pictures of the team. The dancers are all very nice...a couple of them need a little attitude adjustment, but they're teenagers! I've met some of the parents and so far, it seems like a really good group. One family even lives in our neighborhood and goes to the same church as we do! :) woot.

And that has been my life the last couple of days. Oh, and I've even gotten some sewing done. I'll post quilts soon! :)

Fall in Virginia

2009-11-01T20:01:00.009-05:00

Well, since winter is almost here and fall is just about over, I figured I'd better hurry and get these pictures posted. The leaves are falling like CRAZY here, but there are still some trees hanging on to their leaves. The colors are now starting to fade a little, but there are still some bright colors.

These were taken last week out at Burke Lake. It's just about 5 miles from our house. Travis and I have run the trail (we saw a little fox), and we discovered how beautiful it is. I wanted to get some pics of the girls, but they weren't cooperating, so they'll have to suffer through another photo shoot another day. dorks. Anyway, here are the shots we took.

Our (soon to be) baker

2009-10-04T20:04:00.003-04:00

Well, we finally got off our butts and got all the paperwork filed, gave away our money and now our baby is officially a college student. She's going to be working on her AA in Culinary Arts with a concentration in Baking and Pastry. Her future goal is to someday open a bakery with her BFF Karalee. They're both in classes and on their way to degrees, we'll see about the bakery in the future. :) Anyway, here she is in her uniform. Doesn't she look so cute?? We look forward to her homework. Keep watching, you may see her on Iron Chef or Ace of Cakes someday! :)

Blood and guts, well, no guts. :)

2009-10-03T10:10:00.003-04:00

Travis and I have found a really great running trail. It's called the Cross County Trail (CCT). It goes from the top of Fairfax County, to the bottom, and it's about 40 miles. The really cool thing is it's accessible from our neighborhood. Well, we actually have to go through a little tree path to the next neighborhood over to the trailhead to the actual trail. The first time we ran on it we didn't know how far it was, where we were going, or much about it, but we felt good, loved the fresh air (better than running close to the Parkway with all the exhaust), and we saw 8 deer. That was my favorite part. We ended up running about 6 miles. That was the first day of the rest of our runs.... :) We REALLY like the trail, so we've taken to running down there instead of on our old, normal route.

Now, some of the trail is paved, there is a creek that runs by it and sometimes you have to cross over it, but there are built up stepping stones to go across without getting wet. Some of the trail is dirt or crushed rock. I like running on the dirt better just because it's softer than the asphalt part. But on Wed the unpaved part of the trail got me a good one! There are hills on the trail, and Travis likes to bonzai down them. So, if I was in the front and we came to a downhill, I'd let him go first so he could go full force down and I could be careful. I had warned him early in the run that I had to be careful so the children would still have one parent if he killed himself! hee hee So, we were done with about 5 miles, had one mile to go. We went up this rooted, rutted, dirt hill and had to go down the other side. I let Travis go in front of me so I could "be careful" and a root just jumped out and grabbed my foot and I went down! Travis said all he heard was my scream. I hit with my hands and knee, then rolled. I told him I wish he had been behind me so at least one of us could have seen how funny it looked. He rushed back to me and made me get up before it stiffened up. We walked a bit and it actually didn't hurt too much so we finished our run with blood down my leg.

Here we are after we got home. I'm pretty proud of my Gnarly Trail Run Injury. :) I don't want to do it again, but we are definitely staying on the trail to run. We'll just take a pack with bandages and maybe some little medicated towelettes. :) Today is Saturday, my knee looks good, just a few scabs, not nearly as cool as when I did it. We're going to attempt 10 miles today. I'll keep you posted. :)

college

2009-09-24T20:38:00.002-04:00

Well, it's official. We FINALLY got Anisa enrolled in school and she starts Oct. 5!~ :) She'll be going to Art Institute and working on her AA in Culinary Arts specializing in Baking and Pastry. I'm sure we will LOVE her homework! :) Sorry for no picture, but when she gets all her supplies, I'll post a picture of her in her uniform.

Postcards anyone?

2009-09-22T10:14:00.003-04:00

Hey gang,
One of the sweet daughters of the family who moved into our Sturgeon Bay house is asking for postcards from all over the world for a class project. If you can send a postcard to her, email me or comment me for her address, or if you have my old SB address, you can just send it there to Ashton Spritka. Thanks!! love you all! :)

BREAKING NEWS.....

2009-09-19T08:46:00.001-04:00

Sara made Dance Team!! woot!

She went on Thursday to try-outs. They had to freestyle and learn the try-out routines. She came home tired and sore and has a huge bruise on her leg.

Well, Friday she said she might not try out because she couldn't remember the routine. She said it was harder than the finished routines on her last team. She couldn't do some of the moves, etc. Anyway, we all tried talking to her, but her mind was made up. She wasn't going to finish try-outs. We picked her up after school, got home and the phone rang. It was the coach. She asked Sara why she wasn't there, Sara told her the same thing she had told me....she didn't think she could do it, couldn't remember the routine, blah blah blah. The coach told her to come and try. If she couldn't get it after they reviewed the routine she could leave. Well, we never got a phone call to come get her. Anisa went to pick her up at 7, and at 7:45 she came out....ON THE TEAM! :)

She is a very sore girl. This team has a really hard work-out schedule, well, really hard if you're not used to it. ;) Anyway, we look forward to spending all our money, um, er, I mean watching our girl dance again this year. :) We had so much fun watching both girls dance at SB. These are the times I love being a mom. :)

Tea Party, anyone?

2009-09-17T15:12:00.019-04:00

We decided at the last minute to head into DC on 9-12 for the Tea Party. There was no tea drinking, just jillions of people in crazy outfits, t-shirts and carrying signs telling the government to stop spending all our money on stupid stuff. It was cool. Lots of energy. Everyone seemed happy to be there. Here are some highlights....