New favorite picture!

Caught this one as they were rolling around on the kitchen floor! LOVE the way it turned out! :D Just thought I'd share!

Indecisive

For those of you who frequently check my blog, sorry for the the many looks you've been seeing from me. It just seems that no matter how cute a background is, I can't get used to it because I like the black. So, sorry that it's been kinda crazy. But I think I've finally decided that I'll just stick with the black. Well, until another cute background comes along! :)

Fun pictures from the weekend

What a fun weekend! Josh's parents came up on Saturday and met us downtown. We ate at Tony's, which is one of our favorite restaurants in the Art District, then we took the walking bridge across the river to Coolidge Park. And man was it hot!! But we had fun too! Here are some pics from Saturday:

On the walking bridge

Chattanooga has 4 bridges that cross the Tennessee River, one of which is a walking bridge that connects the downtown area to the North Shore.


The 4 of us


1st carousel ride

Coolidge Park has a great old fashioned merry-go-round. And I was completely shocked when we walked up on it and Caroline knew exactly what it was! And she just HAD to ride it. Obviously, she was a little scared at first. But then she preceded to ride it about 10 more times! LOL! And once she figured it all out, she insisted on riding the pig! (Nonnie has those pictures.) And believe me, she comes by that bottom lip all on her own. She's had it since the day she was born! (SK has it too!)

Sarah Kate and Nonnie

It was also SK's first time to ride, but she was so sleepy that it really didn't phase her. Poor kid!

Adin and Caroline in the fountain

Before the day was over, we definitely had to let the kids play in the fountain. It was so stinkin' hot that it was really the only way to cool off! Caroine was timid at first, but she finally walked in after she ran circles around the fountain first!
Saturday was really fun, but we were all exhausted too! Heat, humidity, and lots of walking will do that to ya!

Yesterday we had a nice restful day. The worship service was amazing, and I was really moved by what Gary had to say. (Hopefully I'll get to download it soon. You can find it here.) Then it was home to rest. While everyone else napped, I got to scrap. At 6pm we went to a picnic with a new small group. (We're just visiting this church, but it seems very promising.) Everyone was very nice and welcoming, so we'll have to see if this is where the Lord wants us to be for now. It's hard going somewhere new where everything's so unfamiliar. But then it's kinda refreshing too.

Enter cliches here

that's how the cookie crumbles, gotta roll with the punches, when life gives you lemons you've gotta make lemonade.....yeah, any of those will do. Yesterday wasn't such a great volleyball day. And though I try my hardest not to let it (the sport) dictate my mood, it's still hard to do sometimes. I guess it's needless to say that we lost. That's usually not too big of a deal to me, especially for the first game of the season, but this time I saw where not having a net for the last week really hurt us. Yeah, you read that right. We were a volleyall team practicing without a net for the entire week leading up to our first match. Not fun. Definitely not easy. And I feel like our match would've gone in a completely different direction if we'd had a net....so today we move on. Our net is up, and we have to move passed the disappointment of that first one, and just move on. But I'm so stinkin' competitive that it was still a hard pill to swallow. (sorry. had to end on a cliche too!)

for all my scrappy friends

thought you'd appreciate this!



Yep, those are my all-time favorite Thickers---and all the E's at that!

Pictures!

I just realized that it's been a loooooong time since I've posted pictures of the girls! Sorry fam! So here are a few that I've taken more recently.

Me and Sarah Kate on one of our picnic days.


Sarah Kate


Caroline playing after she'd finished her picnic lunch.


our little princess


I've found that now that volleyball season has started for me, I tend to take less pictures. However, now that I'm aware of that, I'll try to do better. Especially since these are kinda old...like taken last month. But I'll do my best to remember to throw my camera in the diaper bag next time we go somewhere.

Good news!

YAAAAAAAAY! I DID find a sitter! I was eating lunch and I randomly thought about my old student aid who still lives at home while she goes to school. I tracked her down, and she agreed! Yipppppeeee! All is not lost! :D Sorry for that sad post earlier, but when your home with no adult to talk to, sometimes ya just gotta blog about it! hehe!

And here are 2 more LOs I've just finished. Yeah, the first one? It took me a week! It stayed on my fridge for about that long! I couldn't get it "right" to save my life it seemed! But now it'll do! hehe!

"Splash!"


And this one is of my friend's girls. They're all 3 sisters, and they're the most precious girls! Had to make one for her!

"Sisters, friends"

Well isn't that just great...

I hope you sense my sarcasam. It's not been so good of a day today. Grr! When I got home from practice last night, I had a message on my machine that the girl who was going to babysit for me all of volleyball season has decided that she can't do it. SO, I'm left with no sitter, practice this afternoon, and staring at the last week of August and ALL of September with no one to watch the girls. It's bad too, because this girl needed a job, I needed a sitter, so I thought it was going to be so perfect! But, not so. So today I've been on the phone, and so far I haven't found anyone who's willing. It just reconfirms the fact that my coaching days are quickly coming to an end, and that makes me really sad.

Besides scrapping, and maybe taking pictures, coaching is one of my passions. I absolutely love it! I love seeing the girls in 6th grade figure things out until in 8th grade they're really getting the hang of it. I also love that I feel like I'm making a difference. Coaching is way different than teaching---it's so much better! I connect with the girls, I'm able to share with them, and some of them open up to me--those that can appreciate my sacastic sense of humor that is. But I really try to pour my life into these girls for the 2.5 months that I have them. We struggle together, we win together, but more than that we talk non-volleyball too. I mean let's face it, middle school volleyball is not the life shattering event that will sculpt them and change them forever. BUT it's the relationships with their teammates and hopefully their coach that will last a long time. I can't tell you how much my girls (my big girls, not my 2 little ones) mean to me. I've got girls from broken homes, blended families, "normal" ones too....and for some volleyball is their solice. I have one player who lost her mom about 4 yrs ago. I was teaching her in Elem. school then, and when I went to funeral and saw her lay her head on her daddy's lap, I just weeped, and vowed to myself that I'd minister to that kid. She's so precious and has come such a long way---she's now the captain of my team. Her mom would be sooooo proud of her! And I'm crying as I type because of what a great kid she is, and the thought of all the great kids I coach, and then not getting to do it anymore. Ugh! It just tugs at my heart.

For me, volleyball is more than a sport, a coaching job, it's my out reach. It's my time to pour into young girls the way that other influential people have poured into me. And it kills to me to know that it may all be coming to an end. My own girls are getting to be too much for me to handle when they're in the gym with me. They just get in the way. Practice can't run efficiently with them there. And then they don't really pay me enough to even afford a babysitter, much less the gas money it'll take to get to all the games this year. So, it looks like it's a lost cause. Somehow I'll survive this season. I'm determined to. But to know that it's probably the last just breaks my heart.

**********************************************



On a much lighter and happier note, Simply Obsessed posted their kit for September, and it is GAWGEOUS! (that's my Southern accent girls!) It's full of brand new October Afternoon papers, with a little dash of some Fancy Pants and a sprinkle of Jenni Bowlin in there too! I may say this every time, but I can't WAIT to get my hands on this kit! I've already pulled pictures for it and everything! :D I can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!!

Did I forget to mention?

Yes! I think I did! I forgot to let you guys in on a little secret.....I made another DT!!! Wooohoooo! I'm now officially a Crop Chick for shopcropsuey! Yay! I'm so excited because Bree and Camille are into the random scrapbook materials, and let's just say that their kits aren't going to be your ordinary single paperline kits. Anywho I'm really excited to be a part of the team and can't wait to get started! :D

Long time no post!

How many times have you heard that one before? Volleyball season started last week for me, but with the kids returning to school this week, it's been a lot more hectic lately. I wake my girls up from their naps to beat the carpool line rush, then lead practice. Once it's done I rush home to get supper on the table, the girls bathed and in bed, then I end up crashing on the couch. BUT I've also stayed up too late watching the Olympics! They're just too addicting and they only come around every couple of years, so they're a MUST watch for me! So I can't blame it ALL on volleyball I guess. If I'd go to bed at a decent hour I'm sure I wouldn't be so tired! Gee, you think? Duh.

Anyway, that's really all that we're up to right now. Caroline wants to play "bolleyball wit da big girls." But of course I won't let her. She just gets in the way--literally. She's almost been hit by the ball a coule of times, and Sarah Kate HAS been hit. So there ya go. No more "bolleyball wit da big girls."

On a scrappy note, Simply Obsessed had their birthday crop this weekend! Here's what I got accomplished, and I'm still working on one more!

"Sparkle"


"Star Spangled Girls"


I was finding that I had a lot of pictures that I've taken over the summer that weren't necessarily LO worthy. So I combine a handful of them in this mini. It's made completely out of envelopes. I'll make tags and journal on them and slip them inside the envelopes that correspond with each picture...I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and completely addicted to making them! I'm sure you'll see more of these from me! :D

Envelope mini-album "This summer we..."


Here are a few of its pages. There's 10 pages in all, so this is just a sampling.








And I also did this one for fun with a lot of Fancy Pants!
"Celebrate!"

Simply Obessed August kit LOs

Pouty Face

She did NOT want to wear that hat! LOL!

In Her Own Little World

playing on the island at the lake. When no one else is there it really does feel like you're in your own little world!

A birthday card for my FIL


Hi cardwith flock



I really loved this kit from Simply Obsessed! I wish I'd had more time to work with it, but life got in the way. I'm sure I'm going to pick it up again though. These papers from MME are just fabulous! I love the colors, and they work so well with so many of my summer pictures! And then there's flock in the kit too! If you haven't worked with it yet, you need to try it. I was a bit intimidated at first, but let me just tell you that it's so fun! It adds great texture to your page! Love it!

A LO, a tag, and a winner!

First, a LO! This is one of my favorites right now mainly because I love the pics and the paper! hehe! But it was so much fun to make too! I created this LO based on a sketch by Becky Fleck that's posted at Back Porch Memories. The sketch is for their GDT contest, but I'm not going to enter the contest. September is going to be WAY too busy for me to do more than I'm already doing. But it's a fun sketch, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I really like the outcome! :D



Second, Virginia tagged me with this blog award, so I'm in turn passing it on. She's such a sweetie, and she IS a real person Scott!!! hehehehe!

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to add random facts or what, but here's somethings off the top of my head....

I coach volleyball, and when I was a player, we went to Nationals when I was 13.

I don't like to eat tomatoes, mushrooms, most things that are green, and any sort of melon (honeydew, canteloupe, watermelon....Yuck!).

I could eat shrimp every single day and love it more each day! I'd try it every way that Bubba Gump would fix it!

Crazy me is going to try for the Fancy Pants DT, only because I'd be disappointed in myself if I didn't atleast try. I DO NOT expect to be picked(and don't think I will)--it's just another excuse to play with my fave papers! LOL! :D

My favorite smells include freshly cut grass (but our yard is 10 ft tall!), freshly baked bread (but I don't bake it), and coffee brewing (even though I don't know how to make it, and HATE drinking it)! I know, I'm weird!

And now I think I'm supposed to pass this award on....so I choose these sweet, fun, and very talented gals! Jennifer, Jen, Jenn, Jenni, (hehehehe!), Elizabeth, and Brandi

And last, but certainly not least...the winner of my 100th post RAK goes to...



Jenni!

Congrats Jenni! My Josh picked your name out of the the list, and so I'll be sending you a fun little RAK! Just email me or PM me your most recent address(hehe!), and I'll send it on out to you! :D