Milton Freewater Meet

This was Joshua's second meet and the first time he got points on the board! It was double elimination and he lost both of his first two matches (wrestled novice 85 pounds again) BUT the first match was a score of 13-3 AND they went the entire time. He lost on points but did not get pinned. I got some great pics and my friend Tina from MF also sent me some. This is one of hers and my favorite. Look at the determination on his face

Gratitudes

Have I mentioned how excited I am for thanksgiving this year? For one thing all 4 of my children will be around the table for Thanksgiving. Also when I think about where I was emotionally last year at this time I have sooooo much to be grateful for. The kids and I are happy! Happier than we have been in a long time. Rex and I are on friendly terms and this makes his relationship with the children better also. I think maybe we have finally worked past a lot of the anger issues that come with separation and divorce and are learning how to still be parents to our children even though we no longer live under the same roof.

My Guest Creative Team Member Creation

for Scrappy Jo's



From the kit I received: Bazill cardstock, K&Co. patterned papers from the Blue awning collection and K&Co. Lace cardstock, Prima leaves, Doodlebug glittered chipboard letters

Notes: I did not have all the letters to spell what I wanted so I altered some with scissors to make them the letters I wanted them to be. I trimmed sections from the lace cardstock and layered them over the lower left corner of my photo and mat. I printed my photo (shared with me by my friend Donna.......... thanks D!) on textured white cardstock to give it the look of a painting. I inked the green cardstock using the direct to paper technique. I added some stamping and CTMH outdoor denim buttons tied with hemp. I based my layout design on November's week 2 sketch on the Scrappy Jo blog
http://www.scrappyjos.blogspot.com/

Joshua's first wrestling meet

We got there early, got weighed in, had breakfast, then he worked with the coaches and team members on warm ups. It was double elimination and he lost his first 2 matches but did a great job for his first time out and more importantly had a great attitude. I missed his first match because my autistic one was having issues dealing with the crowd and noise level (Grandma offered to keep him next Saturday) but got some great pics of his second one. Pics in order: getting weighed in (wrestled in the Novice 85 pounds class), team before the matches started, and pics from his second match.

Our first wrestling tournament

is today. Josh is so excited! Both of the boys tried to get up with me at 5 am but I sent them back to bed for another hour. We will leave for LaGrande at 7.

We were going to wrestle in Hermiston today but they scheduled a last minute day in LaGrande that is just for first and second year wrestlers. the coaches recommended that the newer kids do this one if possible.

holiday cards for soldiers

At this time of year let's not forget all the courageous men and women we have overseas. It must be so hard to be separated from your family like that, especially at Christmas. Here is a way to send a little Christmas cheer to a soldier.

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD. 20791-5456

All cards must be postmarked no later than Dec. 10. For more information, visit www.wramc.amedd.army.mil or www.redcross.org/holidaymail for Holiday Mail for Heroes program guidelines

Keep track of how many you send and let me know at my December open house to be entered into a special prize drawing

Guest Creative Team Member goodies

As promised here is a photo of the free products I received to use for a project as the GCTM for
http://www.shopscrapbooksupplies.com/store/



The papers are K&Co. from the blue Awning collection. The photo does not do them justice. They are gorgeous! The leaves are from Prima and the pattern on them adds a lot to their already cool texture. I also got a sheet of the K&Co. lace cardstock which was sooo much fun to play with, 2 sheets of Bazill Cardstock and some glittered chipboard letters. I added a bit of the stamping which has pretty much become my signature on anything I do. I used the week 2 November sketch from the Scrappy Jo's blog ( http://www.scrappyjos.blogspot.com/ ) as my layout inspiration

I completed my project at my second Friday crop last night and am just thrilled with how it came out. I will share here as soon as Jo has shared on her site

more wrestling photos

Last night the kids got divided up by size and experience and actually got to do some wrestling. I got tons of great pics. Here are a few of my favorites

Joshua's first wrestling practice

Man they really worked these kids! And I was so proud of of how hard Josh worked. They ran and stretched and practiced moves and relays for over an hour. At the end he was dripping with sweat but so happy to be doing it :-)

sharing my guest Creative Team Member fun

Those of you who have known me for a while know that I had a DT position for the newsletter at www.tomemories.com for many years until Kelly had to stop putting time into the business to concentrate on some personal needs. I LOVED my DT gig................ getting new products to play with at no charge and hopefully designing projects that made other people want to buy them........ what could be more fun?

Most of you also know that I was selected to be a guest Creative Team member for http://www.shopscrapbooksupplies.com/store/ for the month of November. This is a bit different than my Tomorrow's Memories position in that my product to work with is selected for me rather than my getting to select it myself.

I am excited at the possibilities and thought I would share the process here for those who are interested. So........ the first step..... I received a shipping notice yesterday that my package of goodies was shipped to me. I still have no idea what is int he package but can't wait to find out! I will share pics when it arrives.

My son is a wrestler!

Josh has been after me for a couple of years now that he wants to wrestle. I have been hesitant. I don't know much about the sport and the whole fixation on weight thing worries me. After talking with a friend over the summer (he was a wrestler through most of his school years) I decided we would give it a shot this year. Then the sign ups came home and of course it was at a time when I had NO extra money in my budget. An angel made a few phone calls and got us a full scholarship :-) We went to sign ups tonight and also were lent head gear and wrestling shoes.

So..... every Tuesday and Thursday from now until February we will be at practice and almost every Saturday there is a meet Tomorrow night is our first practice and you KNOW I will have my camera :-)

Yay for Saturday!

It has been a VERY long week at school but long in a good way for the most part.............. lots of good things happening in our classroom.

I had a difficult time recovering from the severe migraine I had on Monday. I don't get them much anymore and this one really took a lot out of me. Also have lots of trouble sleeping this week but on a good note................. I have been without my crutches since Tuesday! I still feel some tightness and occasional twinges of pain but I find if I don't walk too fast and take smaller steps i am doing ok. The kids in my classroom think I look funny without my crutches because I have used them since the beginning of the school year :-)

Now the challenge will be getting my house and scrap studio clean and back in some kind of order LOL I will be beginning on that hopefully this weekend