A quick update...

Hello Readers!
Here we are once again, I find myself at the end of a weekend on Sunday night finally caught up with everything and ready to "blog" only now I'm tired and can only think of going to bed.......

this week:
- Andrea's swim team swam against Forest, I think we lost, only it was too crowded to tell and too small a pool to see anything. We competed at CFCC and I was really disappointed by the pool. Man, we are spoiled!

- I registered for two Heidi Swapp classes at the beautiful new SHE Scrapbooks store!

- I taught, well, really "hosted" a computer workshop at school this week - imagine, me?!!

- My favorite nephew turns 23 today, that means his mom and I have been the closest of friends for at least that long....I love you, Donnie, David and Sue!!!!!!!!!!

- And my dear, amazing husband holds on to one more year of his 30's. He turns 39 tomorrow.
Happy, happy birthday Honey. :o)

- And I crafted just a little this weekend....didn't finish, no surprise, but I got to work a little

These are intended to decorate the outside of Crystal Light containers for Halloween treats for McKenna's teachers.....my intention was that I would have made a dozen of these this weekend and I was going to sell the extra's at work.....can you believe it? You would think I'd know myself better than that by now. Well, it wasn't my fault. The mounds of laundry kept getting in my way!

Have a great week everyone.
Love you!
Melle

Fall is in the air

Well, if I have to accept that summer is over, at least I have the blessings of fall waiting for me.
We had our first cool down this week. Since Wednesday we've had what I like to call "a Boulder Day". Lucky for me, my summers were spent in my birthplace of Boulder, Colorado and to me, the weather was ALWAYS perfect. (Note I didn't spend winters there.) It would be cool in the morning and warm up to a comfortable 78 by midday. The sky was a gorgeous blue and not a cloud for miles.
Another sign of fall in our front yard (since our leaves don't turn) is our "yellow rain tree".

I don't know if that is it's official name, but "rain" yellow it sure does. I couldn't seem to capture that on film. It leaves these beautiful tiny yellow buds all over our driveway and coats our cars by morning. In turn, those little buds get tracked into the house. So we endure the inconvenience for about two weeks, in exchange for the beauty and comfort of knowing our family favorite season is just around the corner. An added bonus, once these buds fall off, they leave behind beautiful rose colored buds for us to enjoy for a few more weeks.

More signs of our blessings around here this week are ones of love and friendship.
While at church just a few weeks ago, McKenna actually won a Wii gaming system, however, she and her sister already had one that was from Santa last year. She was happy to give it to a friend. Everyone left church that evening happy and feeling great. Well, imagine our surprise when a gift certificate arrived in the mail about a week later for McKenna to pick out her very first American Girl Doll. It was a thank you gift from the friend she shared the Wii with. Talk about kindness! It took a weekend to decide if she wanted Molly or Kit or Ruthie. In the end, she chose a "Just Like Me" doll. It arrived this week:

She loves it. :o)
And I love the friend who gave it to her.

Andrea's team remain undefeated, but the boys did lose their first meet this past week. We face Forest High School (my high school rivalry) this week. I'm pretty nervous about that match. I'll keep you posted.

I want to wish the very best of luck to two of the most deserving, creative and dynamic people I know......Stephanie and Yvonne who open SHE Scrapbooks this weekend!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for you and so happy for ME!

Best wishes everyone.
Love,
Melle

Well, it is almost my one year "blogging anniversary"....do they make a card for that yet?!
It feels good knowing that I actually stuck to something and even more rewarding knowing how many of you have followed along with me on this journey. Thank you. :o)

Andrea's swim team had two meets this past week, and they remain undefeated - woohoo! Go Buffalo! This week is a meet on Tuesday, then Saturday is a swim conference in Orlando.
It's too bad we will be up REALLY early on Saturday (@ school by 5:30) 'cause I was just thinking (as I stayed in bed until 8:00 yesterday) how much I LOVE Saturday's. I even cooked bacon for breakfast nice and slow, just the way my grandfather said it should always been done. It tasted perfect. He also said, only Oscar Meyer. Now, I make it a rule not to eat pork, but bacon (and sometimes some link sausage) is the exception to that rule.
Another Saturday ritual the girls and I have started, is we pull out the sofa bed on Saturday nights and watch a movie until we fall asleep....course, I'm always the first one....out like a light! Then McKenna and of course Andrea could out last us all. Hmm wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that she can sleep past 10:00 in the morning.

Off to tackle those lesson plans I keep putting off.
Best wishes everyone - have a great week!
Melle

Hello my faithful blog followers!
I had every intention of filling you in on "the little details" this evening, but now after spending so long updating my classroom blog andwebsite and then looking up my childrens' school grades on the internet, I'm pooped and want to go to bed.
However, I couldn't go without at least a quick homecoming dance update. Saturday night was Andrea's first high school homecoming dance and thanks to some wonderful new friends in her life, she had a great time. In fact, "she had lots of fun and danced, and danced". Mmmm, beautiful words to hear.
Thanks Breanna and Rachel!

We searched for just the right dress, but in the end, I think the jeans, new black blazer, new cute top and new hat worked for her. Andrea looked beautiful.

Okay, since I'm here, just little details to include this week:
I finished a new set of notecards for a friend's birthday gift;

I designed a new card using my tim holtz ink and my cricut machine;

I played with paint;
and while waiting for our oil change, I thought about how McKenna and I always are wearing Crocs and that one day people may not know what they are. They may not know, that 2 years ago I thought they were the ugliest things I'd ever seen, yet now, they are so comfortable on my feet I can't imagine wearing anything else.

Love to all,
Melle

A Perfect Birthday

If I had known that celebrating my 45th birthday would have been so fun, I would have done it earlier! I didn't go white-water rafting, or parachute from a perfectly good airplane, but I was thought of and remembered by the ones I love. That's all that really matters.
-Thank you Sue for being the first one to greet me with my birthday wishes as I checked my E-mail at 4:30 in the morning and found your E-card;
-Thank you McKenna for being the first person to sing me "Happy Birthday" (and thank you for the 2 more times before we got to school);
-Thank you Pam for calling me at 7:11, just before I started my work day;
-Thank you to all my colleagues, especially Pam who got up early to bake me the most delicious brownies, thank you Misty for picking up the cutest little cake and for finding the most perfect art teacher card and thank you Wendy for my ever so awesome new John Denver CD!
-Thank you Donnie for texting me with your happy birthday wishes;
-Thank you Andrea for texting me not once but twice, "happy birthday" AND "I luv u"
-Thank you Barb for the whole STACK and tapes of Tomie dePaola books;
-Thank you Michele, for just whipping out a new pack of paper, when I was "flappin' at the mouth" that you wouldn't have it yet;
-Thank you Darlene, for your cash contribution to my additive habit (scrapbooking!);
-Thank you Lisa, for my beautiful home decor, esp. the candles - very cool! (or should I say "very hot"?)
-Thank you Grandma Gail, for my Crocs, for my manicure AND for my pedicure!,
-Thank you Mom, (who wasn't suppose to give me gifts at all 'cause we are saving for a trip), thank you so much for the gift card, for the sewing box and for the absolutely beautiful buffalo pendent;
-Thank you Kendra for my very first and oh so beautiful bible;
And finally, thank you Honey for buying me the TV trays that I've wanted from Wal-Mart for about 6 months now, but am too weak to pick up!
See what I mean, can you think of any better way to celebrate a birthday, or any more thoughtful gifts then the ones I received?!

I also realized that I will longer take my photography skills for granted.
After our birthday dinner we passed the camera to someone who works at Kotobuki's . I so wanted to document all who could be there.
Can you believe this photo?! My mom didn't have a chance to look at the camera and Scott's head is cut off! That's Darlene who is hidden and Barb, you almost didn't make it in the photo either! :) I love you all and am so grateful you could be there.


Sorry for the long post - now that I found a place to publish my blog (blog2print) I'm trying to be a little more detailed about what I write.
Just some ending thoughts:
-Andrea's swim team did great again this past week. I still don't have any great swim photos to share, but I'll keep trying. They do not compete this week, but they will twice next week.
-There were several notes I took during the message at church this week, but the one that hit me the hardest was, (parents' and teachers')
" our words can build confidence or destroy hope".

Love to you all,
Melle

the latest around here....

Yippee, here is it Sunday and I have a new post - back on schedule. Okay, who am I kidding? I probably only have a post because, thank goodness, but we don't have school tomorrow!!!
Happy Labor Day everyone! It's a good thing, 'cause I still haven't completed lesson plans....

I have on the other hand, created a title with my new Cricut machine for a new mini-book I want to do.
I've had some pretty crazy dreams come true in my lifetime and I just wanted a place to document those. Hopefully the next post or two will be photos of the completed book. Okay, those of you who know me well.....stop laughing! :o)

McKenna has also been productive this weekend. She has her first ever science project to do and she's already finished with the diorama. She has 3 weeks to get it done. Thank goodness she hasn't inherited my procrastination gene like Andrea has. Each tiger even has it's own meal. I can't help but think she must of gotten her appreciation for tigers from her Aunt Sue and from Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, FL.


This past week, Andrea had her very first high school swim meet. The Villages competed against Mount Dora and Umatilla. I am proud to report, that VHS kicked butt! And I found out, I have a lot to learn about being a sports photographer. I have no action photos, but I do have this cute shot of Andrea and her friend Caitlin.
At the very last minute, I thought how cool it would be to post Andrea's swim debut in video. So I switched to my handy point-n-shoot Kodak, only to realize when I got home that it didn't work - argh! Good thing we have another meet next week. Hopefully I'll have more to show you then.
Here's a picture the school took of the team for an upcoming football program:

Andrea is 3rd from the left on the front row. (I believe you can click on photo to enlarge.)

And before I close for tonight, I can't help but share two really cool things that happened to me Saturday. I'm sure my words won't be able to describe how I felt, but I am grateful.

First, I received one of those letters from a former student that we teachers always hope for, at least once in our career. He said, he is "truly thankful and blessed for having me for a teacher". OMG - isn't that just so cool?! I am the one who was blessed.

And second, I found myself in church this Saturday, with 3 very special friends. Friends who have touched my life in different ways, yet Saturday found us all together, listening to Amazing Grace. I was so moved by my blessings; so moved by my gifts from God.

Best wishes everyone!
Until next weekend.....Melle

I'm so sorry this post is late...I was off to a pretty good start, updating every Sunday night, but I am here to admit, that our second week back to school was a little bit tougher than the first week.
Monday started w/ McKenna's Open House - we made it home by 8:00;
Tuesday was Andrea's Open House where we rotated through her schedule every 10 min. That took 2 hrs plus the additional 20 minute wait for a terrible rainstorm to pass - we made it home by 9:10 and everyone tucked in bed by 9:30.
Wednesday was my Open House (fortunately Scott picked up the girls) and I made it home by 8:30.
Andrea actually had to lift weights in PE class on Monday and by Tuesday was EXTREMELY sore, making swim practice almost impossible.
While at practice on Wednesday, Andrea was stung on the underarm by a bee. OMG, 48 hrs. later her arm was so red, so swollen, so painful and still, so itchy. I couldn't believe the week she was having.
McKenna and I both caught the back to school colds........

Now as we begin week 3, summer already seems but a distant memory......169 school days left until summer vacation!

On a brighter note, tomorrow is the first day of September; my birthday month, yippee! And look at that - a 3 day weekend coming up!

Also, this week is Andrea's first ever swim meet. She will have one every week from now until the end of October. Sometimes they are on tuesdays and sometimes on thursdays. If you ever want to come, just let me know and I'll fill you in on what time, otherwise, don't worry, I'll keep you posted :o)

I forgot to share what kept me from posting last night.....I was busy trying to finish this for McKenna's classroom teacher. (you know, when you have a student whose parent is the art teacher.....you can guess from there) Of course, I don't mind helping in any way I can :o)
It doesn't matter what this is (a sign w/ the class theme), I just wanted to share that these red stripes were a little harder than I thought to do!
It was a special treat that I got to work on this in my studio!
Love to all,
and hopefully, check back sunday :o)
Melle