Another sick day for one of the girls...another productive creative day for me.

Yup, Melissa had a fever this morning. She also claimed that her tummy was not feeling good. (Thankfully, nothing came of the tummy ache.)

I had to take Megan to school, and decided to swing by the store and get more children's drugs. So I thought I would get the ingredients to make the flower pens for the Mother's Day PTA fund raiser. I have volunteered to make and donate flower pens to the elementary school PTA for the past several years. Last year the PTA decided to go a different route. There were so many requests for the pens that they decided to ask for the pens again.

So, I picked up pens, flowers and florist tape to make approximately 200 flower pens for this year. I got about 100 of them done today. My fingers were a bit sore, so I took a break until later this week.

I also picked up these applique' flowers. I didn't know what I was going to do with them. Only that I HAD to have them.

I scrapped a bit today too. AND used those new flowers.

Powder Puff Derby 2008 - 4th Annual

Four months of planning and preparing paid off.

This was another successful derby. This year we placed a Tropical Theme on top of the car theme. And what a hit it was.



Saturday was the fourth annual Powder Puff Derby.

Tiaras and Trophies for the winners.

Trophies were a great deal at Riherd's.

Melissa got to play with the cars before we put the goodie bags together.

Goodie bags for every participant.

Contents obtained thru Oriental Trading Company.

The design in the middle is the patch for this event.

Girl Scouts LOVE their patches. Got them from The Patch Place.

There were 78 racers this year.

Morgan's car is the black one in the lower right corner.

She really did a great job.

Between heats.

It was great fun. The girls enjoyed watching their cars race.

Lots of rave reviews.

Catching up on the Last Weeks events...

Have I mentioned that my middle daughter has an angelic voice?!

She was in 4 different chorus groups this year. Her elementary chorus, the Select Corale for our city, the All City Chorus and the All State Chorus. Here is a picture of her performing with the All State Chorus. They sounded amazing. I had to miss the All City performance because one of the other girls was sick that day. (But let's face it, the odds were in favor of something happening to interrupt at least one of her performances.) Children from all over the state met for one day to rehearse and perform. I am very impressed with the coordination that went into this event.

And Megan was in the All City chorus. Hers wasn't any less impressive. I have no idea where my girls get their beautiful voices from, certainly not me or their dad....

I talked about the Science Fair. Here is Morgan, my cutie pie, with her display and her First Place Ribbon.

And here is Melissa, my other cutie pie. 2nd grade still does class projects and they don't get judged until next year.

Megan made her first cake by her self. I was in the house, but not hovering like normal. She really impressed me. Except that she made Chocolate Fudge cake with Chocolate Fudge frosting. Not my fav. I know you are all saying, "Oh my gosh, how can she not LOVE that?!?!?!". Well the truth is, I really like yellow cake with chocolate frosting. But not just any yellow cake. It has to be the moist, dense yellow cake. Anyway, didn't she decorate it great. She took a cookie cutter and used it to guide the sprinkles into the Mickey Mouse shape. Clever isn't she?!?!?!

And here is Morgan making her car for the Powder Puff Derby.

Danny showed her how to use the sander, and she went to town. I am really proud of her.

(We watched her like hawks watch defenseless little bunnies.)

Melissa and Danny made Banana Cream Parfaits.

They turned out very yummy.

I have finally put the Easter Bunny decoration away.

In case you were wondering.

Color me pegged.

Take this little Color Quiz.

Pretty accurate for me. How did it do for you?

Love you.

I have a little special ritual with my "baby". She is actually my oldest, but will ALWAYS be my "baby". I am going to be one of those mothers that won't let go without a fight. She is in middle school. It isn't "COOL" to hug and kiss your mom and dad anymore. (we lost our "Mommy" and "Daddy" titles too :-( in this evolution.) So I started doing hand signs to her. (Not that kind, okay, not to her face, and only in my mind, and only when she is being a, well, a.....teenage girl.)

The rituals goes like this: I will quickly point to my eye, then my heart and then to her. She is okay with this. She will then quickly point to herself and then hold up 2 fingers. I love this little ritual. I know she does too, because she ALWAYS looks back at me when we part for the day. And SMILES. REALLY BIG.

The other two are still little enough for hugs and kisses.

So I am taking all I can get. Until we have to start the ritual.

I also have started using my paper scraps and left over die-cuts and stickers (plus the little stickers that I won't use) to make these little love notes.

AMY gave me the idea. I know that after reading your BLOG one day a while back, a light bulb went off in my tiny little brain. I don't remember what it was that sparked my inspiration, but I remember that it was your BLOG that did it. So, Thank you Amy. (Go over and check out her BLOG, if you haven't already. It is VERY inspiring.)

This is the one I sent with them on St. Patricks Day. (I really am the lucky one.)

They didn't even mind that I wrote the same thing on each one of their notes.

(I am not a morning person. And I forgot to write them out the night before. Silly me.)

Anyway, back to the love notes. I have taken to include them in their lunches and after school snacks. Danny and I both work, so they go to an after school program. They REALLY like these little written reminders. They told me so. (Can you feel me smiling at this?!?!?!?) Oh, and I don't send them everyday. Only every once in a while. Makes them a surprise when the girls do get them. Sneaky of me, isn't it???????

Here is the set of ATC's I sent for a DISNEY SWAP on the CK message board. I don't really go to that MB, but Rosemary put me up to it. I have to admit that I enjoyed this one. And I LOVE all the cards I got in return. I will show them another day.

Juice anyone???????

A while back I told you I would explain the science experiment weekend, so here goes.

Both my older girls needed to come up with science experiments. They both decided to see how much Vitamin C is in different juices. M1 picked apple, grape, cranberry, orange, V-8 and pineapple juices to test. M2 picked fresh squeezed, refrigerated, frozen and off the shelf orange juices to test. Here's where the fun comes in. HUBBY goes to the store to get the juices.

Yup, you guessed it, FULL SIZE bottles of every stinking juice on the list. Geesh. We had juice around for quite some time. No scurvy in our family.

Paid off though.

M1, who is in 7th grade, got an "A".

And M2, who is in 5th grade, won 1st place at the elementary school science fair.

(Got the phone call that she was receiving an award and we should try to be there last Thursday. The science fair was Thursday night. I missed another Belly Dance Lesson.)

Sometimes it sucks to have smart kids.

Moral of this story, don't send hubby to the grocery store with less than a VERY detailed list.

Blog, blog, blog

I want to update this blog more frequently.

I want to post (brag) layouts, projects and creations.

I want to vent.

I want to do a lot of things.

But, I can't wanna get motivated.

I keep trying to want to get motivated. I think that aliens have abducted my brain. They don't want me spreading my personal brand of sunshine.

I have decided to book my family some mini-vacations this year.

So far, NOTHING to brag about. And I want to brag.

January we had Melissa's birthday outing to Laser Quest. And Danny had to go to Hawaii for a week on business. (poor guy)

February we had NOTHING to brag about.

March was the Michael Buble concert. OH YEAH, that is one to brag about. On top of being a cutie pie, he puts on a GREAT show too.

(I am not counting the everyday/week activities of the girls for this drill.)

April has us attending events (singing concerts, horse riding lessons, swim lessons, my belly dance lessons) every weekend, so this month is out.

May - now this looks good. (or so I thought...)

I managed to pull the stick out of my "ear", and booked a room for the first weekend in May at the Great Wolf Lodge. We are all very excited about this. (Naturally I am concocting a mini book project to take along to commemorate the occasion.) So, the first weekend in May is taken.

Admit it, this looks like FUN.

Then I find out/remember that the Girl Scout Camping trip is the second weekend in May. AND I find out that Melissa's troop is planning a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge for the third weekend in May. And of course there is Memorial Day. We almost always have a cook-out to set SUMMER into motion. MAY IS BOOKED. HURRAY. I am starting to think I have a life.

(Don't burst my bubble just yet. Let me bask in the glory of a "LIFE" for a little while longer. Don't make me return to reality for a bit longer.)

Funny how when it rains, it pours.

June is the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly Virginia. I am taking Megan (my 13 year old) and we are meeting up with her Godmother, Rosemary. We are going up Thursday for the pre-show crop. We have classes booked for most of the days both Friday and Saturday.
Anyone else going to be there? Let me know. We should "High Five" in the hallway. The week after that Danny is taking Megan to an INDY race in Richmond. This will be the third year they have gone together. I LOVE that they have a tradition too. Danica rocks.

I tend to want to plan the rest of my life, so I will stop here. (For now) July will have to wait until I come up with a theme for Danny's birthday party...