Nature Walk

Miracle of miracles - I scrapped!
Second miracle of the day - I actually have time to blog about it!  Hello Summer Break, I love you!

Okay, so anyway, I've missed out on TONS of great kits and goodies that have come out during the month of May, because I have had ZERO time to scrap, or even look at new products or THINK about scrapping. It's been a busy month. Yesterday evening, though, I took advantage of some quiet(ish) time, and plopped my butt in front of my computer. Truthfully, I almost felt guilty about just sitting still. Sad isn't it? But true.

I'm a bit (*cough, a lot*) out of practice, and I sort of didn't even know where to start. So I decided to keep things super simple. Pick a few photos, crop them to standard 4x6 size, and pretend I'm doing a page with paper supplies. It all started coming together pretty easily from there. Here's what I came up with.



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The photos were taken on the day of Meagan's 8th birthday party (which was this month, although you wouldn't know that because I never blogged about it). She had a bunch of girls over for a few hours, but 2 of them stayed the night. Once the party cleared out, the 3 girls, Dublin and I went for a walk down to the nature reserve by our house. We found a trail through the woods, and we played in the river. Meagan and C literally played IN the river, but G kept her distance. It was a good time, though. Sadly, I didn't have my actual camera with me, so these are cell phone pictures. They work.

Picky Eater (???)

Two days ago, I noticed that Dublin's food bowl was full. And had been full for several hours. Odd? A little. But I thought maybe it was the heat, and he would just eat in the cooler hours. Well, night came and went, and the food still sat there in the bowl. Surely he would eat in the morning then, right? Nope. Morning came and went as well. And not only would he not eat, but he was actually spitting the food back out. I tried to get him to eat from my hand (because at this point I was a little worried... Weims have tummy issues as it is.  Combine that with being a large breed and running the risk of turning the stomach if they romp while their stomachs are too full...) and he would take it and drop it right back down on the floor. So I tried a treat. He would either not take it at all, or he would spit it out, much like the food. At this point, I had this nagging little something in the back of my head wondering if something was really wrong. 

One more little experiment to try before deciding there was a big issue... 

I took a tiny piece of Isaac's breakfast sandwich (turkey, cheese, croissant) and offered that to Dublin. He not only took it and swallowed it, but he followed me around begging for more. 

Hmmmmm..... what we have here is a case of a picky eater!! I don't think (although who knows what the kids do when I'm not looking) we feed him much in the way of people food. Not intentionally anyhow. But the counter surfing and dumpster diving must have given him a taste of what he's missing, and he thought he could shun the puppy food in favor of the people stuff. 

Not gonna happen. 

I told the kids right away not to give him ANYTHING but puppy food. He will eventually get hungry enough to eat what is being offered to him. 

He held out all morning. And much of the afternoon. But by about 4:00, he finally gave in and started nibbling at his food. I noticed, though, that he was still taking the food out of the bowl, dropping it on the floor, and then picking it back up to eat it. Well, over the weekend I had gotten him a food bowl thing that stands about a foot off the ground (to keep the ants out, and also because I guess it's supposed to be better for them to eat this way??). Apparently, though, he is not a fan of elevated food, because when I put the bowl down on the floor, he chowed!! Empty bowl. Full puppy. No issues. Just a picky picky eater. 

Project Life 2013: Week 12

Nope, I'm not even a little up-to-date on my Project Life. But I'm not giving up! I'm determined to make something of this project for 2013!

Here's week 12...

 

Right side close-up...

Left side close-up...

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The highlights of the week...
* snow day from school on Monday!!
* Lucas got a Camero rental car for work travel
* Bas is working on level stuff at gymnastics
* e-collar for Dublin
* Chili's for a bacon cheeseburger...and a really long wait
* Webkinz reemerge as a hot item around our house
* Family Survivor dinner date
* Handles on the kitchen cabinets - Meagan helped
* We met our pastor at church this weekend for the first time

Fiasco

Fiasco.
That one word pretty  much sums up our last 7 days with Dublin.
Last Tuesday, he and I took a nice long bike ride / run (where I ride and he runs along beside me... obviously... not the other way around).  We got back to the house, all was good. I got off my bike to open the garage door. The wind blew. The bike fell. One his foot. He started bleeding and never stopped. About 30 minutes after the incident, we were loaded in the van and on our way to the vet.
At said vet, he was given stitches and a cone of shame. The vet tech then told me, with all seriousness, to 'prevent him from running, jumping, or playing' for the next 10-14 days. I looked at her and said, 'Have you ever had a 9-month-old Weim? That's not going to happen.'  Apparently, she didn't get what I was telling her. She sent us on our merry way with strict instructions to make him lay down and stay calm. Yeah right.

Three days later we were back at the vet because, with the cone on - the cone that supposed prevents him from being able to reach his foot - he chewed a giant hole through the bandage and pulled a stitch out. THIS time we saw a different vet. This vet has a Weim of her own, and had a very different perspective on all of this. First off, she out right LAUGHED at the cone. It was, clearly, not big enough. And then she laughed at the attempt to sedate a Weimaraner without sedatives.
We left the vet last Friday with a staple to replace the stitch he tore, a fresh bandage, and a bigger cone. I though, surely now he would  not be able to chew his bandages.

I thought wrong.

Today we were back at the vet. Again. This was actually a planned visit to see how he is healing (very well, by the way), but still he had chewed through his bandages yet again. We left with fresh bandages and an appointment to have his stitches removed Saturday morning.

Within an hour of getting home, he had already chewed through the 3rd set of bandages. He now has one of Isaac's long tube socks over his bandage and taped to him way up high where he really SHOULDN'T be able to reach it to pull it down. Truly, Saturday morning can't get here soon enough!!!  This has been a fiasco!

Funny note, though... If ever you are in need of a good laugh, you should watch a Weimaraner that is on a sedative. It's good stuff! He'll be going going going and then all of a sudden the meds kick in, and he crashes! Drops pretty much wherever he is. The other day, he flopped down and went to sleep two feet from the back door. He had been on his way to the door to 'knock' to come inside, but he never made it to the door. We found him passed out in the sunshine. Thankfully it wasn't pouring rain or anything. And he walks like he's had a bit too much to drink (especially with the satellite dish on his head). Our walls may need a touch-up when this is all said and done.

Updated Chore Charts

For quite a while, we used a button chore chart for each of the kids, and it worked. As the kids got older, though, they sort of outgrew the old system. My response, until now, has been to just not have any kind of chart in place. I thought it would work. But really, more than anything, it was me dropping the ball. Weeks would pass, and it would totally slip my mind to give them their rewards. We were doing allowance $ for a week of chores. Inconsistency quickly became our biggest issue... the kids were inconsistent in what they were doing... I was inconsistent in how I was rewarding... and soon it just became either (a) I paid them all whether they earned it or not, or (b) I just forgot to pay them altogether. Neither is good. Time for a new plan.

Nothing a quick stop at Target can't fix. I got a few supplies: a black dry-erase board, some wet erase markers, Mon-Sun magnets (all found in the office supplies section), and a packet of Smash journal strips (found in the scrapbooking section).

And I put together a chore chart for the week... 

It's pretty basic... Days of the week across the top, chores down the side. If your initial shows up in the box, it's your chore for the day.

As for rewards... it goes like this:

• For each day that you get ALL of your chores done, you get a dot. The dots will be tracked at the bottom of the board, under their names.
• Once you  have 7 dots, you get whatever the individual reward is for that week (I'll get to that in a second). Dots carry over from one week to the next until you get to seven... it could take you one week or three weeks to earn 7 dots. At the time you DO get 7 dots, whatever the individual reward is for that week is what you earn. 
• There are 2 sets of rewards... Individual Reward and All Together Reward. The Individual Reward is earned by accumulating 7 dots. The All Together Reward is earned if, and only if, all three of them get all of their dots for the given week. So, EVERYONE does EVERYTHING Monday - Sunday of the current week. If that happens, they get a collective reward as well as the individual reward. It's my hope that this will encourage them to support and encourage each other. We'll see how it goes. 
• Each week, we randomly pull out one Individual and one All Together Reward Card. That's what you  see in the top left corner. It changes each week. 

Our rewards include things like $5 cash, a $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble, 2 1/2 hours of electronic time, and having a friend over (maybe for a sleep-over or something more special than just the random friend who shows up to play for a bit).  All Together rewards include things like Cupcakes from the specialty cupcake bakery in town, a trip to Dairy Queen, a day at the zoo or museum, put put, popcorn party & movie night... stuff like that. 

It's new. It's untested. But the kids helped develop it, and they are excited about it. I think the degree of its success will actually depend on me. I need to follow through in a timely manner with the rewards. Otherwise, their motivation will drop off pretty quickly, and we'll be back to where we've been for the past several months. 

Spring Sports & Crummy Weather

What a week we've had!! Wednesday was the official start of lacrosse games, and it was also Meagan's first soccer practice! The return of Spring sports.  Unfortunately, it was also the return of crazy Spring weather! 

So, Wednesday, Isaac had to be at the field at 5:30 for a game that started at 6:00. Meagan had to be at her field by 6:15 for a practice that started at 6:30. Meg's practice was to last until 7:30, and Isaac's 2nd game was to end at 8:00. Throw in Sebastian's gymnastics practice from 4:00 until 6:30, and factor in that Lucas was several states away for work, and you have one insane effort at playing SuperMom on my part. Thankfully, I had a little help from the weather! 

Meagan was all dressed and ready to go for her practice. We took Isaac to the field, with plans to stay until about 6:10 to watch a bit of his game. But... around 6:00, lightening started in up north of us, where the soccer fields are, leading to one canceled soccer practice. This freed us up to just hang out and chill at Isaac's games.

Meagan, all dressed up and ready to go.

It was a good thing I was able to hang out at the lacrosse park... it started raining and lightening there shortly after. The game was delayed twice for weather, and was finally called at the end of the 3rd period. The second game was nixed entirely, but we still ended up getting home at 8:30, so it lasted as long as 2 games would have on a regular day. 

Isaac's team played great! Considering that last year they one all of ONE game, and they had seemingly NO concept of passing or setting up plays... this year, first game, they scored twice on a series of nice passes and play set-ups! They ended up winning 4-3!!  Good start to the season! Hopefully they continue to improve as the season goes... win or lose, it's always more enjoyable to play when you know you're playing well!

Know what else lacrosse sticks are good for??  Sword fights. 

 This year, Isaac has been getting some nice compliments from his coaches about his defensive play, and it really showed in the game. He is a lot more aware of the plays this year, and plays a lot more aggressively.  Good to see him gaining confidence and understanding of what's happening. It's a tough sport to learn, and the first year was one giant learning curve.

*****

Okay, so on to soccer. With no practice to date, today was their first game. Her coach had emailed me and told me their jersey's were green. Since she does not yet have her jersey, we went with the green m&m shirt. Perfect! Meagan even said, "maybe it will distract the other team because it will make them hungry for m&m's!"  Love that girl!

 So.
This sport fits her. It's full-go and non-stop. There's always action. There's always something to do. And it's intense. She got about a 15 minute crash course on the VERY basics before the game started. And that was it before go time. Even with all of that, she played rather well. And she's QUICK! When she gets the hang of dribbling and passing and shooting, this could work out well for her. She even ALMOST scored! So she's feeling okay about things, and has plans to score at her 2nd game, which is tomorrow.

 

I love the intensity and focus on her face. And the pink socks. Love those. ;)

This is what you do when it's FREEEEEZING outside and it's not your turn to be in the game. *LOL*

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Moving Forward

Truthfully, my scrapping has been slim lately. Mostly because my creativity seems to have fizzled and slumped away to hide in a deep dark corner somewhere. I was pretty excited to pull together a layout that I like in a relatively short amount of time. True, I used a template. But a done page is another page done. And I'm totally okay with that. Sometimes a template is just what is needed to take all the over-thinking out of the matter.

I just put together a quick layout to document Meagan's decision to leave gymnastics and try new things. I like it. I think the color and energy capture her perfectly.

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free spirit and fancy feet (and a bit of big news)

Our Spring Break adventure for Tuesday was shopping for shoes and clothes for the kids. The boys had outgrown their pants, so they all looked sort of like capris instead. And all the shoes were completely shot. It was time. So, we headed out.

 

Clothes shopping took place at Old Navy. Because I had a $100 gift certificate there. A gift certificate I had intended to actually use on me. Turns out, that didn't happen. I did get a $3 pair of flip flops, though. Woo hoo!

 

 

With clothes purchased, we headed off in search of shoes. Tennis shoes were the main priority, but some casual shoes were in order as well. The plan was, "let's see what we find."  Good plan, huh?

Our first stop was at Rack Room Shoes. Yep, buy one get one 50% off, so let's look there. Um...or not. Even with the sale, it would have cost me about $140 to buy 4 pair of shoes. That's dumb. The kids weren't very impressed with me when I told them to put their shoe selections back on the shelf because we were leaving. We hopped in the van and headed straight to Payless, complete with under-breath grumblings from my youngest 2. Oh well.

 

Funny thing. We found shoes they liked! AND... everyone was able to get 2 pair each... AND it only cost $80. Yep. They got a little life-lesson chat from their mama about using their money wisely and not just buying the first thing they see that they like. I'm sure they all loved that chat.

 

So, here is Meagan, in all her Meaganness, showing off her new pink shoes. These are her super model poses, in case you can't tell what that is. I think modeling might not be in her career future. I'm good with that.

 



Okay, so now for the big news - well, big news for us at least. After many discussions through the course of the competitive season, and another conversation or two recently, Meagan has made a clear and definite decision to quit gymnastics. It's just not what she loves. She likes it okay, and she is good enough to do it, but... meh. Why spend that much time and energy (and, let's face it...money) on something that you sort of like a little. Not worth it. When I asked her what she would rather do, she immediately answered with a list that she rattled off without hesitation... soccer, swimming, diving, lacrosse. Yep, she's given this some thought. And so have I.... here's the conclusion I've come to... Meagan is just too much of a free spirit for gymnastics to be a good fit for her. It doesn't fit her personality. She isn't the self-driven-for-perfection kind of girl, and that's really what the sport of gymnastics requires for success. I feel like this is a good move for her. It's the right thing.

So, notice the soccer balls in the photos above... She is officially registered for rec league soccer for this spring. She has one month of gymnastics left, and she will be done at the end of April. Soccer practices once a week for 45 minutes, and games on the weekends. She's not even going to know what to do with all that extra free time!!  At any rate, she is SOOO excited! (She even bought the sparkly silver & black soccer ball with her own money at the Old Navy check out).

In other big news, Sebastian had a private lesson with one of his coaches yesterday. He spent an hour with him, focusing strictly on high bar (specifically on his fly away dismount). And guess what!!  By 30 minutes in, he was back to doing fly aways like a PRO!!  The last 30 minutes were spent just getting reps in to increase his level of comfort. So great to see him doing these again after a month-long mental block! 

Yes, so this is like the worst picture I've ever taken. But I was hiding and trying not to distract him. So I was peeking out from behind a steal beam, and I was shooting through the bars of a metal railing. Sorry. But still a cool moment in our week!

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Cherry Chip Recipe

Since I posted my Cherry Chip layout online, I've had multiple requests for the recipe. I fear this will be rather disappointing for you all, but I really have no recipe to speak of... unless you count the 3 easy steps on the back of the Betty Crocker box *giggle.*

Seriously, I use the Cherry Chip cake mix, make it exactly like it says on the box (other than I use EVOO instead of veggie oil). And then I eat it. The end.  See, super boring and disappointing. The good news is, anyone can do it!! 

Out of curiosity, I did search for homemade cherry chip recipes, for those of you who turn up your noses at box mix cakes.  I found THIS. It has pieces of real cherries in it, which I'm sure is divine. I, however, have other things to do with my time than bake cakes from scratch, so I shall be sticking to the ten-minute variety.  ;) 

Cherry Chip

The other day, one of Isaac's friends, Macy, was talking to me out at recess. She told me that one thing she loves is that her mom can make up excuses to make a cake... Friday cake, half-birthday cake, etc. This got us started talking about cake, and I told her my favorite is cherry chip. She told me she had never tried it, so I told her I would make it for her when she came over.

So, last week she came home from school with Isaac, and I kept my promise. We had cherry chip cupcakes  for snack, and they were a huge hit! Two of my kids now declare cherry chip to be their favorite flavor.

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Easter

It's been well over a month since I last blogged. I've determined that facebook has pushed and shoved its way into my free time, and has attempted to replace my blog. BUT. I started my blog because it's much more personal and valuable to me than a quick blurb on facebook could ever be. And I don't want to lose sight of that. That being said, here is the start of my efforts to breathe life back into the blog that has been neglected for too long.

So let me start by saying HAPPY EASTER! My favorite holiday of the year! I love and am humbled by the reason we celebrate this holiday. Love.

This morning we got up and went to the early church service, then had a brunch made of omelets (and scrambled eggs for Bas), cinnamon rolls, and croissants. Good stuff.

I admit, my OCD kicked in this morning, and I felt the need to do a quick, all-inclusive clean-up of our main floor. I had just had enough of the random piles and clutter. My brain can't take clutter. I NEED CLEAN and clear to feel relaxed and de-stressed. My family graciously obliged, picking up the random stuff, sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping the floors quickly while I made lunch. Happy sigh at the end of it all. A clean house makes me feel happy.

With cleaning and eating out of the way, we moved on to more important matters... Easter baskets and egg hunts. Thankfully the sun came out by the time we were ready for all of that, so we were able to hide eggs outside.

Of course, the kids colored eggs... they did this last night so that we could hide them today. They turned out pretty! And I love that they do pretty much the whole thing themselves now, including clean-up!

They left us notes to make sure we hid the eggs really well... that's all the encouragement Lucas needed. Under the truck body, in the muffler, on the ceiling of the garage, on the bike seat that's hanging from the ceiling of the garage. We had eggs in holes in the garden, eggs in downspouts and light fixtures, and eggs up the tree. We ended up having to play quite a bit of hot and cold for them to finally find all of them, but it was fun hunting!!  

Of course, we had to do the baskets before the hunting could ensue... they had to get them emptied out so they had somewhere to put the eggs!  Here's Dublin's Easter goodies... the Tuffies tennis ball is HARD. I'm hoping maybe it will hold up to his monster jaws and dagger teeth better than the last ones we bought. And he L.O.V.E.D. the Busy Bones. Good buy.

 Kids' baskets... not a whole lot in them. Part of their gifts were new socks & undies, which I gave them the other day out of necessity. Part of their gift we ordered online yesterday after letting them pick out what they wanted. So the baskets were basically just candy. Funny, though, we had no complaints!!

In fact, quite the opposite... love the reactions!!

So, out we went to find the hidden eggs. Of course, I wouldn't be doing my mommy job if I didn't get at least one photo of all 3 of them together.

Why are they turning over rocks?? Well, that would be because their dad hides eggs under rocks. True story. Actually, the very first egg was hidden under one of our stepping stone, which Meagan proceeded to  step on, thus squishing the egg and making it a Dubby treat. 

She was so proud of herself for finding some of Daddy's tricky hiding spots in the garage!

I was really just trying to photograph the egg under the tree, but I ended up getting Meg's precious little feet in the background. I love that.

And look who got busted with Easter basket grass hanging from his mouth! Haaa! He had a grand ol' time trying to snag the eggs that the kids were finding! He was successful a few times actually. Happy puppy!

Sebastian was the last one to find all of his eggs. He looked everywhere he could think of, and eventually stood on the back of the truck for a birds-eye view (?). Goofball! He did eventually find them all, but we had to give quite a few hints!

How can this not make you smile?! And look, Dubby's busted again, with his nose up on the table scouting out the candy stash.

To round out our Easter afternoon, Lucas and I took a trip to the Chevy lot to drool over a Camaro or two. And then a quick trip to Home Depot, because it seems lately we are always needing something or other from there. Today it was hardware to fix our pantry closet doors, and floor cleaner. The kids played a little Minecraft and are now playing outside. I'm thinking later we'll walk Dublin down to the woods to play, and then we have a ham dinner planned. Should be a pretty chill afternoon. And then tonight is the Game of Thrones season premier, which I am very much looking forward to.

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We Love a Long Weekend!!

Long weekend?! Yes, please!
This weekend is much the same as many others we've had recently, with one big difference... we get Monday off!! Recovery day! Sa-weet!

Yesterday was pretty typical for a Saturday, with practices in the morning. After gymnastics, we did some browse shopping... Uncle Bill's (no tempting puppies this time), Lowe's (I have a to-do list a mile long), and Meijer (because I actually needed some groceries... boo for grocery shopping on Saturday).

We did do one fun thing that we haven't done so much lately. We had ourselves a family movie night! Love that tradition! Last night we watched Here Comes the Boom! And we laughed. A lot. Good fun movie!!

This morning, we all forced ourselves out of bed e.a.r.l.y so we could get to Sebastian's meet on time. He had another great day! He placed 2nd on high bar, 1st on all other events, and 1st all-around. But the cooler thing was that he was brave enough to put a new bonus element into his floor routine - a handstand pirouette that has plagued him all year! But today, he totally owned that pirouette! And he did great on floor! I was proud of him for going for it! He told us afterwards that he is planning on trying flares on mushroom at his next week (which is another bonus move he's been working all year but has never competed). So happy to see him getting bolder! Love it!

So this afternoon, I think we're going to lay low... maybe do some laundry, watch some hockey, take a nap (at least that is on MY list of things to do... not sure about anyone else). Enjoy your Sunday afternoon and your long weekend! I know we will!

Project Life 2013: week 5

Keeping up!! I like it!!

Unfortunately, not every week is full of happy memories and good times. Sometimes life just doesn't roll that way. This week was one of those not-so-great weeks! By the end of it, I felt moody and grumpy and junky all over. Lucas was out of town. Meagan was sick. We rushed, rushed, rushed. And there were some weird things that happened during the week that just built up to a bunch of yuck. Such is life.

Left side:

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Right side:

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32

It's the magic number these days! Meagan needs 2 32.0 All-Around scores at 2 different meets this season to qualify for state. Her first 32 came at Circle of Stars. But it didn't come easily, and her score came in at 32.0 exactly!

Since then, she's fallen short - not by much, but by enough that it's not a 32. Yesterday was her LAST chance to get that last score to qualify for state before the qualification deadline.

Beam came first. She did great!! It was the cleanest, steadiest routine I've ever seen her do in a meet! So proud of her! And she scored an 8.025!

Floor was next. Again, the BEST routine she's done in competition all year! Unfortunately, the judge was judging hard. All of the scores were pretty low, unless the routines were near perfect. Her best floor routine earned her her lowest floor score she's gotten. A 7.25. Sometimes it just works out that way. Judging is subjective, so from meet to the next, scores can vary greatly. Anyway, a low 7 was a big blow to needing to average 8's on all 4 events. But not a deal-breaker. Yet.

Vault. Oh my gosh!!! I didn't know my girl could vault like that! She looked great!! Score... 8.9!!!  Almost a 9 for her!! Sweet! That' more than erased the deficit she carried over from floor. It's okay.

And bars is one of her strongest events. At this point, she needed a 7. 825 to get her 32. Totally doable. And then... At the beginning of the routine, there's a combination series, where the girls are supposed to combine a few elements without a pause. If you DON'T combine them and you stop between, it's a small deduction. But not major. Well, she WENT FOR IT!! She had a pretty decent first element, and she went for that combination. And missed. She fell on the 2nd element. Stink. The score posted as a 7.45 or something like that. She missed the 32 by a few tenths. But at least she didn't hold anything back!!

But wait!! The meet was all over. The last gymnast was just finishing up on floor, and all the other events were DONE. The only people left in the stands instead of the award room were those of us from our team who staid to watch the girls finish on floor. All of a sudden, Meagan's  name starts flashing up on the score board again. Bars: 7.850.  What?! They changed her score!

Come to find out, when her coach got the score cards back (or something like that, I'm not exactly sure how that all works), there was a pretty big discrepancy between the 2 judges' scores - a 7.2 and a 7.9 or something like that. So he, being the incredible person that he is, inquired. And there had been a math error in calculating the deductions taken by the 1st judge. The result... her score was bumped up to a 7.85! And her ending all-around score was a 32.025!!!

Now, in a gymnastics world where most of the girls are getting 36's, 37's, and even 38's as all-around scores, this may not seem so spectacular. But to me, and to Lucas, and to those around us who know and love and have been rooting for Meagan all year, really it meant the world. Sappy as it is, it choked me up a bit. Not because I care if she goes to state or not. But because I've watched her struggle. And try. And struggle. And try harder. And struggle. I've watched her watch her teammates load up on the medals while she walks away empty handed. And I've watched her continue to support them and congratulate them and cheer for them. And I'm just happy for her. That's all. I'm happy that she's been rewarded with the chance to compete with her team at state. No matter what the score is.

Project Life 2013: weeks 3 & 4

It's been yet another small eternity since I've blogged. I know. I'm sorry...again. I really DO want to do better with keeping up on this stuff for you. To be truthful, I think blips and blurbs on facebook have taken the place of my blog. I'm not okay with that, though, because truthfully my blog matters more to me than updating my facebook status.  One is definitely just quicker & easier than the other. But I will try. From this point forward, I will try to get back to some quality of blogging. Because it matters to me. So there. Enough said.

Anyway...

I'm still doing pretty well with my Project Life for 2013. So far I've gotten through week 4 done. Yea me! I've shared weeks 1 and 2 previously.  Moving forward -today I'll share weeks 3 & 4.


A couple random thoughts about my Project Life so far this year.... First, I've noticed myself using a TON of neutral backgrounds in my scrapping lately. Mostly just white or gray or some shade very close to white. I'm just drawn to the cleanness it gives to the page. This has been a shift for me from my historical way of building a page, but right now it makes me happy, so I'm going with it.
Another observation about this project for me... In years past, I've struggled with the format - all digital? paper? use the standard templates? use the actual PL products? photo pockets? page protectors?  Seriously, WHY did I make it so complicated? This year I've gone back to what I know and love. I've just decided to plop the pictures on a (digital) page in whatever layout strikes my fancy at the moment (using that phrase makes me think of my grandma *lol*). And so far I like the look. Nope, there's no continuity from page to page and week to week - not in color scheme or layout format or anything. But really, that's pretty appropriate for me, I'd say.

So for those of you tackling this for the first time, or considering it but standing back out of feeling overwhelmed, take heart! You can do it however YOU feel like doing it. Just do SOMETHING with SOME of your stuff. It's better than nothing. And perfection is NEVER the goal... being DONE is.

Okay, on to the layouts...


WEEK 3: We finished the first round of puppy classes. Lucas left for Ohio for the week. And Isaac spent the night with one of his friends while Sebastian, Meagan and I headed to Chicago on Monday for the Windy City meet.

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Why is it that every picture of Dublin looking at me sort of looks like he's a possessed zombie dog? Really, he IS a cute dog, but he sort of always looks a little off his rocker in photos!! Ha!!
Oh, and this was the kids' first encounter with Starbucks. They got steamed milk with syrup. And whipped cream. And they were happy kids.

(Oh and one more thing, that's NOT our dog. :)  He's a sweet doggy named Abner, who belongs to our trainer. The kids were so happy to finally get to pet Abner once the class was all over because he was finally a 'free dog'... no longer on teaching duty!!)

 WEEK 4: Meets, meets, and more meets. I've really not been doing a great job of taking photos all the time. But I'm okay with that. Sometimes our life is pretty repetitive, and I don't need 700 pictures of us in the van, or the kids doing homework, or the dog playing with toys. It's all kind of the same. Sometimes, it's okay to let myself off the hook and just get the highlights. That's what happened this week. It was another week of Lucas traveling, and I was just busy. Not a thought was given to photography, except for at the meets.

Meagan had a meet on Saturday, and Sebastian on Sunday. One in Indy, the other in Cincy. Lots of time traveling and sitting on uncomfortable bleachers. The tough thing about meets is that you sit for SOOOOO long to watch a sum total of about 5 minutes of action from your own kid. That's just the way it is.

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In my journaling, I did document some of the other things that happened during the week.

Originally with this second page, I wanted to just highlight some extra photos of the kids from their meets. But as I was looking through the pictures, I was really struck by how very different their gymnastics experiences are right now. Meagan is struggling. She's not scoring anywhere NEAR what most of her teammates are scoring. On any event. And she's struggling to get the minimum qualifying score for state (which is a 32.0). This particular meet was her 2nd to last attempt at getting the 2nd 32 of the year so she would qualify for state. She missed it by about a tenth. She was so discouraged at the end of the day. It breaks my heart to have these conversations with her - conversations about trying and keeping a good attitude, even when things don't go your way. I mean, they are great life lessons. And I'm sure God will use these to temper her and to shape and mold who she is. Still, those realizations don't make it any easier to see the hurt in her eyes. I just want to hug her until it's okay. But I can't make this okay for her. She has to work through it on her own. 

That, in contrast to Sebastian, who is having a stellar competition season. So far he has won all-around at every meet he has participated in. Translation - he's getting lots of medals, while his sister gets few or none. It's been a bit of a challenge to navigate through these waters. Thankfully, Meagan has a great heart, and she IS genuinely HAPPY for her brother when he does well. It's simply that she wants to also be doing well. 

So, my page 2 morphed from a few extra photos to a documentation of this experience. It's part of our life - a big part - right now, and I thought it was worth noting.

Also this year, I'm going to throw in extras. I want to have more of a comprehensive album when I'm done, rather than just a week to week to week. The plan is to try to stick 'regular' layouts, as well as documents (like report cards, art work, and other such goodness) into the album as well. True, this may require more than one physical album to get through the year. But in the end, it will all be in one place, and I will give a happy sigh.

This is one of those extras I'm planning to include. Because a book about our life is NOT complete without Dublin. This dog and his outside play time!! He LOVES it! Loves to run and chase down the frisbee. As to whether or not he'll give it back to throw again, that's a toss-up. Sometimes it turns more into a game of keep-away than fetch. It's all good. As long as he's happy, I'm good with it.

Back to Back to Back

We have had our fill of gymnastics meets in the past 2 weeks! Last week was Circle of Stars, and both Meagan and Sebastian competed on Sunday. Meagan had a milestone meet!! For starters, she got her roundoff back handspring and was able to compete floor!! This was a first for her this year! And then, on top of that, she got her first of the two 32.0 all-around scores that are required to qualify for the state meet! Now she just needs to have one more good meet to get her second 32!!  Sebastian competed in the evening, and did very well! He placed in every event and won first place all-around!

Then, this weekend Sebastian had another meet. This time in Chicago. So Sunday, Sebastian, Meagan, and I (Isaac stayed the night with a friend, and Lucas stayed home with the dog because he had to work Monday morning) hopped in the van and trucked it up to Chicago. We stopped at IHOP for dinner on the way (sshhhh!!! don't tell Isaac he missed out on IHOP!!).

We stayed at the Hilton Chicago, and can I just say that the kids had sticker shock of sorts! Sebastian kept ogling at the chandeliers and the marble and blah blah blah. Let's just say it was a bit fancier than the Holiday Inn Express that we usually stay in when we travel. Our room was on the 22nd floor and looked out over Lake Michigan and Navy Pier. Beautiful! I only wish it hadn't been so polar outside so we could have walked around and enjoyed it a bit. As it was, we had to settle for our view of the 5 degree night from the window of the hotel room.

At night... Navy Pier all lit up...

And in the morning... this is looking the other direction, toward the museum and out over the water.

There was a shop in the lobby that served Starbucks. After all the driving and the freeeeeezing cold weather, a chai tea sounded delicious!! So the kids and I headed down to the lobby for a warm drink (they got steamed milk with caramel flavoring) before bed.

 And we headed to the meet bright and early this morning and had a full day of competition.

Again, Sebastian had a pretty good meet! He had a few hiccups, but still ended up placing first on p-bars, 2nd on floor, pommel horse, and high bar, and first all-around! Great job buddy!!

It was good to get home and relax after a lot of traveling. Now, apparently, the kids are on a 2-hour delay for tomorrow morning due to cold temperatures...????

Now I'm off to watch the new show on Fox - The Following... we'll see how it is, but it sounds intriguing. So have a good night!!