It is Not All About Winning

During a football game last week two rival football teams from NW Missouri did something great for one special player. Please check out the link below and read the article if you haven't already heard about it. It reminds us all that it is not all about winning!
http://www.kansascity.com/934/gallery/1452386.html

Sunday Photo Shoot

The weekend went fast but I did get out to get some pictures taken again. I got a new model today. Our friends' daughter, Shelby, is a senior this year and we spent the afternoon together taking some pictures. Shelby and Jessica are good friends and spend a lot of time together. Shelby was so patient with me and my lack of experience at taking pictures. She is a beautiful girl and very photogenic. We ended up taking a lot of pictures but we were having so much fun we just couldn't stop.

The light was probably too bright in this last one but I still thought it turned out neat.

The afternoon got my creative juices flowing and I would love to stay up working on some scrapbooking and photography stuff but not enough time. We have another busy week planned with ballgames and appointments. Everyone is well and will continue to keep our fingers crossed that we avoid the flu.

Thanks again Shelby for a fun afternoon!

Remembering 1987

Today I was sorry to hear of Patrick Swayze's death. It is hard to believe that it was 22 years ago that my friends and I went to the movie Dirty Dancing. We were only freshman in college at the time. Life was full of fun. I remember how much my friend, Brenda, loved the movie and Patrick Swayze. You don't realize at the time how going out to a movie with friends will 22 years later be such a great memory. It is still on my list of favorite movies and favorite music. Listening to the CD brings back that care-free happy feeling. I think I'll try to watch the movie again this weekend.

Other things going on: Kyle got his flu shot yesterday. I am taking Regina Brett's Life Lesson number 22( see previous post) to heart and over preparing and then going with the flow. I have bought extra hand sanitizer and lectured the kids again about frequent hand washing. I think we are as prepared as we can be- going with the flow though is something I still need to work on. The entire "flu" thing makes me nervous.

We also took Kyle to the eye doctor. He is going to be getting glasses. He went in to get his learner's permit about a month ago at the license bureau and although he passed the eye test, they suggested he go to the eye doctor. Glasses should be here in the next week or so. It is just another sign that the kids are growing up way too fast. I'm amazed that they are already 16 and 14. Although I love the young people they are becoming, I miss the great times I have had with them when they were little. It has all went so fast.

The weather has been beautiful here. I hope to get some more pictures taken and posted later this week.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Now that the kids are back in school full time we are sure busy. I look forward to Sundays, to sleep in, have a good meal, rest and catch up on things at home. I am already falling behind in my "Learn Something New Everday" class. I have been jotting down notes though so the journaling will be done and I can do the scrapbooking next month if need be. My title page is finished though and I have cut out the basics for the pages.

The things I am documenting are nothing profound but interesting things I am making note of about myself and our lives. I did find an inspirational column by Regina Brett, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio. Many of you might have already read it but I thought I'd share it here.

50 Life Lessons by Regina Brett

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.
It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don't ask, you don't get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Learn Something New Everyday

I started a new scrapbooking class by Shimelle Laine. It is Learn Something New Every Day.
Basically it is about journaling things you observe or learn in daily life and adding a picture if appropriate. Shimelle's classes are creative and fun to do. I got to take a class in person from her a few years ago at the annual scrapbook convention I attend with some of my friends. The good thing is that you don't have to keep up and can work at your own pace which is great because with work and stuff at school I don't always have time to scrapbook, but she helps make it fit into your schedule. We are to do a page a day for September. I might post some of them here but not all of them as some of them I'm sure will be more personal. I have been documenting in a notebook and hope to do a few quick pages this weekend. Join in and play along if you like. www.shimelle.com

Back to School

We survived the first week of going back to school. By the weekend we were all tired and wore out. I have found it is even busier having two in highschool this year.

Thursday Kyle had another cardiac cath at Children's Mercy. He and I went down early that morning. All went well. The pressures looked good and the biopsy came back as a "0" meaning no signs of rejection. We are getting to know a lot of the staff there by now. The nurses know Kyle is a child of routine. He likes to have versed before his procedure so he is pretty sleepy when he goes in. When he wakes up he always wants breakfast food, usually waffles and bacon.

It was a long day but we are excited things went so well. I have talked with Kyle's school nurse who is really trying to get a plan ready for when flu season hits. We are a little more concerned with the H1N1 out there now too. Kyle is doing well at washing his hands and we will hope and pray it doesn't find us.

Friday night Bedford had their first football game of the 2009 season. Kyle is the team's manager. He loves football and although he has a good heart now and could play he chose not to.
He feels he is still too thin compared to the other guys and doesn't want to risk getting hurt. As you might expect I was OK with that. He loves being the manager though and being with his friends. He still gets to throw the ball around some. The Bedford team won so everyone was excited!

Jessica plays in the marching band and does a great job on her trumpet. She is very talented and loves her music.


After the game we camped out at the Lake with some friends. We are so lucky to have a campground and lake so close. We stayed again last night and had some wonderful chili while we sat around the camp fire and visited. Jessica and I came home late last night though as her allergies got really bad and she couldn't stop sneezing. Kyle and Kenton stayed and had a wonderful breakfast with everyone this morning. Being as Kyle loves breakfast food he was in heaven!

I finished my online photography class this week. I can really tell a difference since I took it although I have a long way to go. Jess has been a great model for most of my lessons.




If you are wondering I put my name on the photos it is because I have heard of people taking pictures off on the internet for other uses. One family found their Christmas picture on an advertisement. I just would hate to see that happen.
It was a busy week and now that school is back up and running I am sure we will have many more. We are all enjoying life right now though and feeling so blessed!

Summer Went Too Fast

Although Summer is not officially over by the calendar, it is coming to a close for us as the kids
start back to school next week. I took these last few days off of this week to spend some extra time with them and to get everything prepared for them to go back. Summer sure went fast and we found it hard to keep up. I sure felt like we were chasing it. My garden and flower beds are plum full of weeds (as usual they got away from me sometime around County Fair time). I have a few more dust bunnies in the corners of the house and some of the big projects I wanted to get done around here have yet to have happened but all in all, it was a good summer. We were happy to be at home and spending time together.

We are all avid readers at our house and the kids and I all caught up on reading some good books.

I have only two weeks left of the online photography class I have been taking. It has taken up most of the free "me" time I had but was well worth it. I am not interested in doing it for a career. I am only wanting to take better photographs of my family so as to better document our lives. Jessica has been a great trooper to be my model for many of my assignments. This photo was taken in full manual mode which I had never done before. I am still not sure what I am doing but have seen an improvement in my photos so I am very happy about that.

Kyle is doing well. He has grown up a lot this summer. He has enjoyed spending most of his days with Kenton farming. He drives the tractors now quite easily.

If you remember from an earlier post this Spring we had a bottle calf this year, actually we had two of them. This is "Apples." She has grown quite a bit also. She is even bigger than her twin sister who we didn't have to bottle feed. She is pretty tame and Kyle has really enjoyed her.

We hope to spend the next few days enjoying what is left of summer as the kids are already getting started on school activities. I only wish summer could last longer!

You might have noticed I am in the process of changing our blog a little. I gave it a new title as we really are "Celebrating Life" now!