Storybook Stew

Matthew's first grade school play was yesterday. The four classes put on Storybook Stew, and each did an adaptation of a different fairy tale. Matthew's class did The Sky Is Falling and he was one of the forest squirrels. They had two showings, one at 9:30am for the Kindergarten and pre-K classes, and one at 1pm for the parents.

Since I was way back in the theater, I bumped my ISO up really high (1600) and got some decent, if grainy, pictures of the kids on stage. Matthew's the one to the immediate left of the tree in the first picture, and directly in front of the tree in the second. He had a great time, and we could hear him from our seat. (Yes, he is the loudest human alive.) We were a little surprised, though, because he's always telling us he doesn't like to sing where people can hear him.

After the play they had a cast party. Here's a picture of all three of the play's squirrels.

Aren't they just the cutest?

Spring Doings

Spring blooms are nearly done here, but I thought I'd share what's around my yard:

The early season cherry trees were really beautiful this year:

And the lorapetalum put on quite a show as well.  Here is a photo of the nearly 5-foot tall bush in front of the house...

and here is a close-up of one of the flowers.  I think they look like exploding fireworks.

This is the later-season cherry tree that's in the backyard.  When we moved in nearly 9 years ago, it barely reached the eaves of the roof on the shed next to it.  Now it towers over that whole area.

And the phlox near that cherry tree is so pretty, nestled up in front of the day lily leaves:

The day before Easter, we went to the NC state zoo in Asheboro.  They were giving "Easter egg" treats to a number of the animals.  They blow up a ballon, cover it in paper mache and paint them to look like Easter eggs.  Once it's dry, they deflate the balloons and put snacks into the eggs, and place them around the animals' enclosures.

The cougars were such fun to watch!  They really went into hunting mode, and stalked their prey before pouncing on it and ripping it to shreds.  Here's one climbing up a tree to get the egg:

The black bears weren't quite as observant as the cougars, and it took them a while to figure out food was available.  But once they figured it out they had a ball getting their treats out.

The boys were on spring break last week, and it got into the low 90s on several of the days.  We traditionally open the pool at Easter, and by Tuesday, when it hit 92 or so, the pool was ready to use.  Ready from a balanced chemicals and clarity perspective, that is.  The water couldn't have been more than 63 degrees.  But that did not stop my boys from getting in.

They were freezing, but managed to submerge and have fun for a good 15-20 minutes before they were cold enough that the testosterone was no longer in charge of their brains.

Oh, and the dog went too...

I'll have a few scrappy creations for you tomorrow or Friday.

Apologies All 'Round

To my friends, family and followers who like to catch up with me and the boys...  for not posting in 6 weeks now!  Between Jeremy's cheek wound not healing and nearly needing surgery, to working again and trying to re-balance my life so that work, play and house stuff all get a chance, I just haven't had much time.

To the Peeps... for not commenting on your wonderful and inspiring blogs, and your patience with my absence in the last 6 weeks.

To all of you who have stayed at our house and used the shower in the guest bathroom...  Ryan's used it a bit and said it was fine.  We recently had our sunporch tiled, and re-grouted the master bathroom.  So for a few days I had to use the guest bathroom.  And am embarrassed by how truly horrible that shower was.  The shower head has been replaced and hopefully at your next visit you will have a better experience.

Poppy thanks and small changes

Over the weekend I got a little time in my craft room.  I pulled out the scrap paper files and decided to make a bunch of thank you cards using only scraps.  I had this great poppy paper, with 2" squares of poppies (buds, full flowers, leaves only) printed on it.  I cut them all out, inked the edges and adhered them directly to the cream-colored card base.  (I had enough to make 9 cards.) Then I stamped "thank you" on them using a sentiment from PTI's Vintage Picnic set.  It still looked a little plain, and I wanted to make it a bit more elegant but still keep it simple.  So I added two scored lines above and below the row of poppy squares.  I really like the way they came out.

We all know that January is all about resolutions and fresh starts.  I generally don't make resolutions, as I've found that if I decide to make big sweeping changes to my life that I fail.  Usually miserably.  Especially if the resolution had to do with weight loss. But in March of last year, I decided to make small changes, one at a time, and try to incorporate it into my routine, and see what would happen.  When I felt comfortable with it, I'd add a new one.

So last March, I changed my breakfast to a protein-fruit smoothie (usually 2 fruits [whatever was on hand], milk and protein powder).  And felt fuller in the mornings and found that the hungry horrors that hit me in the late morning largely disappeared.

In October I gave up diet Coke.  May not seem like a big deal to most of you, but I was drinking a solid 2L (or more) a day.  It went way better than I had expected, with very few headaches.  And haven't had any diet Coke in the house since then.

By mid-year, I decided that I really need to incorporate some form of exercise into my life.  Yup, there it is - the dreaded "e" word.  Going to the gym was out - I know I'd never go.  I waffled for months over whether to get a treadmill or not.  (You know - would I actually use it or would it just become a glorified place to hang clothes.)  By the end of the year, I'd lost 15 pounds - despite not having begun to exercise.

After Christmas I decided to get that treadmill.  Ryan and I looked online for a used one and found it on Craig's list.  He and a neighbor picked it up last night and wrestled it up the stairs to the guest room. I did a 25-minute walk on it today.  A friend pointed me to a site that gave me some info on working into running.  We'll see how it works into my routine.  But it's a start.

Apparently I'm Ancient

Matthew is 7 and in first grade. Part of his English homework is to write a specified number of sentences using the spelling words of the week.  He came running into my office a few minutes ago, delighted to read his sentences out loud to me.  And I nearly spit my drink all over the keyboard when he read:

"I hope my brother lives to be 20 years old."

Oh, to be young enough to think that 20 is old!  He must think Ryan and I are ancient.  Who knows what he thinks of the grandpeeps!

Winner, Winner...

...but not a chicken dinner! 

I discovered Papertrey Ink (PTI) late last summer, and fell in love with their products, particularly their acrylic stamp sets and templates.  You've seen the gift house that I made from the Home Made template.  And though I haven't posted a picture of them yet, for the holidays I made over 20 notepads for various teachers, friends and family members using the "Take Note" stamp set and their ingenious 2.5x8 inch notepads.

PTI releases new stamp sets and other goodies every month.  And has a big party on the release night.  All you have to do is comment on the blog post about the giveaway and you are eligible to win.  Last night, by some miracle, my name was the one pulled from the electronic hat.

So, what did I win?  The whole collection of new stamps and paper!  I won the "I Want It All" prize from PTI.  For this release, it was 8 stamp sets and a paper pad.  The sets are just super, and I've been drooling over two of them in particular:  Through the Trees and Baby Button Bits. There are several sentiment sets, and journaling set, and a through-the-year sentiment and images set.

Now to find some time to do a bit of cardmaking and scrapping again...  I have a thank you card to prepare.