Thank you, Karen

The nine hours of class and practice under Karen Russell's tutalage has really paid off for me as shown in this photo. I now know how to adjust my white balance for the lighting. I now know how to adjust my ISO and aperture so I get a good expose most of the time (still practicing this one). And I can get catch lights in my little Eli's eyes. She had just finished eating (and smearing herself) with a peanut butter English muffin. What a sweetie she is! And I'm now able to catch those special moments. So, a big thank you, Karen.

Scrapping Old Photos

Since I'm an alumni of Library of Memories, I have joined an on-line group that receives a weekly challenge and has a gallery for us to post our layouts. So, when the challenge was to scrap a school related photo, it was a good time to go through some of the older photos and try to find a 'first day of school' photo. While I remember taking them most years, I couldn't find very many of them. This was the best of the lot. I think I'll add some journaling at the bottom right about how Sara loved having these photos taken and Eric hated it and only did it because I asked. Perhaps that's why there are so few.....he left early on the first day.

Backpack Love

I've had this photo of Sara on my scrapbook desk for a couple months. I must have taken it out for something and then not used it. In any case, when I printed out the photo of Eli, I had an inspiration. Two little girls, two backpacks. Mother/daughter. Definitely fodder for a layout.
These papers came in a kit from Cocoa Daisy sometime this summer. Yesterday I was doing some organizing in my craft room and found the kit. These papers were perfect for the photos. The rest went together rather easily. I love when that happens.

Eleven Years Ago

Eleven years ago today I made one of the top ten best decisions of my life. I married Willie R. McCarley. We had dated for two and a half years. Neither of us wanted to marry again at the time that we met....reluctantly. We had each had long, unhappy previous marriages. And he was 12 years older than I....it didn't bother me, but gave him pause when considering marriage.

The day was clear and cool - a very rare day for Oregon in January. Our immediate family members were gathered for the occasion. We had the ceremony in front of a beautiful rock fireplace in a room at one of the local wineries. Our pastor married us; Willie's son was his best man and my daughter was my maid of honor. The ceremony was simple. Afterwards, we all sat down to a lovely lunch prepared by the owner of the vineyard. We had such fun. There was much laughter and telling of stories.

Later we left for a couple days at the Oregon Coast. When we arrived the sky was clear as crystal and there was a stunning sunset. The whole weekend there was warm with almost no wind - another rarity for that time of year.

I would love to be able to celebrate 11 years of marriage today, but we had only slightly less than 4 years together. I would do it over again in a nano second even knowing that we wouldn't have much time together. Those were some of the happiest years of my life. Thanks for the wonderful memories, Willie.

Grammy Love

I got to spend four days with Sara, Greg and Eli over Thanksgiving. Eli and I got to spend quite a bit of time together and even had about 3 hours alone one day when Greg and Sara went shopping.

Sara and I shopped for a Christmas dress and found a very understated one on sale at Hannah Andersen's. Of course, Grammy had to get the red and white tights with the red ruffles on the bum and the red patent leather shoes to match. Then we trekked over to Pioneer Square for a photo with Santa. Eli wasn't afraid of him, but was too intent on all the lights and people to smile. It was a sweet photo anyway. Santa said Eli told him she wanted a Harvard Law degree and a Mazaratti. Sara thought that was perfect.

Eli is mobile - either rolls over and over or pushes herself backwards to get where she wants to go. It's just a matter of time before she's crawling. Her two bottom teeth are just sharp enough to hurt if she bits down when sucking on your hand or fingers. She's enjoying peas, squash and rice cereal - not too sure about avocado. She's such a happy, contented baby. Goes with the flow most of the time. She'll be 7 months old on the 7th - how can that be possible?
I'm so grateful to be close enough to see her at least once a month.

Over the River and thru the Woods, to Grandmother's House we go....

Well, maybe in the song that's how it happens, but for this grandmother-to-be it's more like over the rivers and up the freeway to my kids' houses I go. For Thanksgiving I drove up the freeway about 190 miles to spend the holiday at my daughter and son-in-law's home. But first there was a stop at my son and his family's home. Eric and Jannaeah both had to work the next day and chose to stay at their own home for Thanksgiving. Jannaeah made a butternut squash pie for me to take with me to Sara's...yumm. So here they are: About an hour later I arrived at Greg and Sara's home. They were expecting 7 guests in addition to me and the cooking was in full swing when I walked in the door. Everything smelled heavenly. Each guest was assigned a category of food to bring, but the specifics were left up to the cook. We had a wonderful savory apple/bacon tart appetizer from Kim; three delicious appetizers from Kristen - a shrimp one, an artichoke one and one of cream cheese with a cranberry/orange chutney, and some yummy green beans; Alexis's famous brussel sprouts, delicious rolls and a wonderful squash risotto; and I brought an apple pie. The hostess cooked the turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes and giblet gravy, a caramel toffee cheesecake and a chocolate peppermint three layer cake. Wine, beer and juices were also available. This is a bit blurry and does not show everything but it was my plate as I started to eat.

Before eating each person got a chance to say what they were thankful for this year. It's always a moving experience as some people wax poetic. After eating our fill we played a couple games that created much laughter and playful banter. What a wonderful day spent with family and friends.

I headed home the next day after being able to grab a rare photo of Greg and Sara - who do not like to pose for the camera.

Thank you, my dears, for a wonderful couple days, for the hospitality, the fun, and just being able to spend time with two of my favorite people.

A Quilt for my Son

My son celebrated his 40th birthday yesterday. In honor of this momentous occasion, I made a rag quilt. I am famous in my family for starting homemade gifts and not finishing until months or years later, or not at all; so the fact that I have finished this on his birthday and will mail it to him today is also momentous. He loves to fish, so I was able to find a fish printed flannel and several other bolts of masculine looking flannel to coordinate. Here is the finished product after being washed and dried twice to get most of the bitty strings of fabric out of it.

Happy Birthday, Eric!!!

A Card for Amanda

My step-granddaughter graduates from high school next week. When I first met her grandpa, she was a long-legged seven year old; now she's a six foot tall young lady who's headed to culinary school in the fall. Where does the time go?

So, it was time to make a card for Amanda. I can't remember the last time I bought a card....I'd much rather take the time to make one so it's special for the recepient. So, here's Amanda's card.

(cardstock: Bazzill, PP and rubon: Basic Grey)

The inside reads, "Congratulations" "Spread your wings and fly." Hope she likes it.

Finally Scrapping Again

It's been over a week since I got in my scrap room and did anything. I feel like it's been ages.

I have a kit from PersonalScrapper that came the first of the month, filled with Chatterbox papers. I looked at it and thought, "what I am going to do with this?" as it was filled with pp that would be good for doing kid photos. Since my youngest kid is in her early 30's, I was stumped. So today I took it all out again along with the idea sheet that came with the kit. One of the ideas struck a chord with me and I remembered that I had several goofy photos of my wonderful son-in-law Greg. It didn't take long to put a page together after that.

Greg is/can be a very serious person when it comes to his job with The Energy Trust, but he has a wonderful sense of humor and is often seen being ridiculously funny. These photos capture his child's heart perfectly. Don't ever lose that childlike quality, Greg. Be yourself - you are an original.

So Proud

I'm headed out in a few minutes for the Farmer's Market, the local Quilt Show and the Earth Day Celebration. BUT, just had to share this story first.

When my daughter was in school, she struggled to understand math. It wasn't until she was a senior in high school that she had a teacher who could explain it in a way that she could understand.
Fast forward several years...she's teacher in the Portland public school system and has a passion for teaching math. She has been involved with groups that advocate for teaching math in ways that students can grasp the concepts rather than memorize algorythmns, and she has been quite successful. Recently, she was one of four Portland area teachers who were selected to be videotaped in their classrooms while teaching geometry to students. The tapes would be included on a CD as part of a book about teaching geometry that will be published for the use of classroom teachers. She teaches middle schoolers - I firmly believe there is a special place in heaven for middle school teachers. Last Wednesday she was wired for sound, cameras were set up, and the tape was made. She was so excited to have this opportunity to be a part of something about which she is so passionate.

I'm so proud of her. She has turned what was challenging for her into a gift for creating understanding in her students so that they would not have to struggle with concepts that were such a huge barrier for her. Congratulations my precious daughter.