baby Lauren

did I mention we have a new baby in the family? meet baby Lauren. she was born on Wednesday the 22nd and she weighed in at 8'13". she is my new niece. she is a wonderful baby and is fitting in nicely to life at home

busy back to school crop at Scraptures

what a crazy fun crop weekend I had over at Scraptures this weekend. Of course, the theme was back to school. I am usually not very good about getting things done at a crop but every once in a while, the inspiration strikes. well, that was this weekend.
got lots done and the best part is it's still going on for a few days yet. go on over and check it out.... maybe go back to school and do a challenge or 2. tell em Wustaz sent you ;)

spent a great day at the fair

we had so much fun at the fair on the weekend. we went with my brother and his family. I can't remember having that much fun in a long time. I also got to try out my new lens..... there is a slight learning curve with it, but the shots I got are definitely workable.

I highly recommend getting out to your local fair. the weather is beautiful and who knows what fun you will have

She passed!!

I am so very thrilled to let you know that Jessica passed! I couldn't be a happier Momma than today. I always wanted my daughter to have a career that she would never have to rely on anyone to get through life and this career is perfect. It was a rough journey and many times she called my bawling just wanting to quit. The part that was the hardest was she was responsible for finding all of her own clients to work on for school. not only did she have to find clients that would commit to coming 3-4 times and for 3 hours each time, these clients had to meet all the criteria that was required for school. that was the most frustrating part of the whole school experience for her. (and for me too) That is my peeve with the private school that she went to. this is far too stressful..... especially since having already paid $35000.00 to attend the programme.

this is all water under the bridge now. I am so very proud of my little girl!!!

what does this look like to you? a Sterilite container on my counter perhaps? if you thought that, you would most definitely be right. To me, that container looks like 2 years of dreams, frustration and an awful lot of hard work. That container is my daughter's bin for dental hygiene school with her scrubs in the garment bag on top. She has already passed her board exams with flying colours. Yesterday was her practical exam. We travelled to the city at 6:30 yesterday morning with my brother in tow..... Happily, my brother Kent was a suitable candidate for her practical exam. I sat anxiously in the waiting room as support. 35 minutes into it, Gary was asked to go upstairs....I thought that meant that my brother was rejected as her candidate -much to my surprise, my brother didn't come back down from the examination. It turns out that the only other girl there from her class had her client rejected and my daughter offered her Dad up as a replacement. Gary was accepted as her client and she was able to complete her practical exam too. (had no one stepped up as her replacement, she would have failed and lost her $500 exam fee -how unfair!!!)

now we wait to see how it all turned out. the next 2 weeks will have many trips to the mailbox I am sure.

so look at that container on my counter again. What do you see? I see possibilities, I see the future. I see my little girl growing up.

I am officially a redneck!

we are back from Nascar. we were at the Carfax 400 at the Michigan Internation Speedway. what a time we had! you have to tailgate at least once before you die.... I can cross that off the bucket list now!. there is something about drinking beer and barbequing in a field that's been turned into a parking lot for 100000 of your closest friends for the day. and to think we started tailgating at 9:30 am on a Sunday!

you have to forgive me, I forgot my camera at home..... I know, shocking isn't it. I had to rely on Gary for the photos. (there aren't very many of them.... I would have taken about 300 LOL) there I am in the middle photo.... the one in the orange shirt and Nascar hat and a beer in my hand (tailgaiting started at 9:30 and the drinking didn't stop til the race was over..... when in Rome!)

Michigan is beuatiful and I would go back there again in a heartbeat. we had such a good time there.

some benefits

there are some benefits to being up at 3am..... I got the dishwasher unloaded, loaded, cleaned and unloaded again. I also folded up 2 loads of laundry. the best part is I used the Aug kit from Scraptures. I am happy with the way the layout came together...... now I am exhausted and it's time to start my crazy busy day....