My Photo Pick

By now I have literally hundreds of photos of my niece, Ellie.  After clicking through them numerous times, I finally selected this one to grace my hallway wall of photos of the kids.  Something about the green really looks good on her.  Of course it's hard to mess up a photo of her, but I am pretty proud of this one.  It was taken at a state park near my house and the background was perfect.  Hope you like it!

A Queen in the Family!

Last night was our school Homecoming and my beautiful niece, Ellie was crowned the Homecoming Queen!  We were so excited for her.  She is just as beautiful inside too.  The second photo is my son, Peyton escorting his friend, Chesney who was the Junior class attendant. 

Summer At Last!

It is hard to believe it is July already!  I have been a busy bee indeed!  My son, Perry, pictured above with his girlfriend, Taylor graduated this year so I had a major party to throw in his honor.  Then I decided to have a major scrapbook/garage sale and got busy with that.  By the way, I am continuing my scrapbook sale tomorrow and Saturday from 8am to noon.  Everything is 85% off!  Stop by if you get a chance!  Taylor won Reserve Champion Market Goat and Reserve Champion Market Lamb at her county fair.  We are very proud of her and of Perry.  He was a big help to her in getting her animal projects ready.  Next they will both show at the Ohio State Fair and then Perry will show at our county fair.  This is their last year, so we are trying to enjoy every minute of it. In fact, Perry turns 19 tomorrow!  Happy Birthday!  It is hard to believe it has been 19 years. 

In Close to My Heart news, I will get a sneak peek at the new Autumn/Winter 2011 catalog tomorrow.  It goes into effect September 1.  If there are still items you want from the Spring/Summer catalog, be sure to order them by August 31.  I will be having a new catalog launch party at the beginning of September!

Proms!

What a weekend!  My oldest son, Perry had two proms back to back.  His first was for his high school on Friday night and then for his girlfriend's school on Saturday night!  Whew!  I took over 400 photos during the course of the weekend.  And to end things, we had my niece, Ellie's 17th birthday party tonight!  Here are Perry and Ellie (cousins) from their prom Friday night, Ellie in a close-up (wish I could claim she gets her beauty from me!), Ellie with her boyfriend, Cody, Perry and his girlfriend, Taylor from Friday night and then Saturday night.  Yes, Taylor wore two different dresses!  Guess I got off easy paying for only one tux with just a different tie and vest.  Whew! 

On a sad note, I also had to do something this weekend, that thankfully I have never done in my almost 25 years of teaching.  That was to attend the funeral of a former student.  Her name was Jamie and she was only 20 years old.  She was killed this past Monday in a car accident.  Another driver went left of center and hit her nearly head-on.  She was on her way home from her job to have lunch.  Her parents and older sister (also a former student) are all wonderful people.  It was probably the lowest point of my career.  I hope I never have to do this again.  My students should come to my funeral when I'm about 94 years old!  I did see a lot of my former students at the funeral and I was glad they were there for one another. 



A Great Night!

Tuesday night we attended our sons' high school FFA banquet.  Our older son received the DeKalb award and a scholarship from the local farm association.  Our younger son received the sophomore leadership award.  What a great night for both of them!  We were so proud.  Our oldest will be graduating in just a few weeks and will be attending the local branch of The Ohio State University.  His brother is finishing his sophomore year and will be going to high school part-time next year and also attending college classes.  Can they possibly be this old?  Yikes!  That must mean I'm getting old!  By the way, the son on the left (oldest) looks just like my husband and the son on the right is the spitting image of me!  And they are NOTHING alike!  Sigh...we are so blessed.  I thank God for these two every day. 

Ellie!

Well I'm starting my own little fledgling photography business and I took some photos of my niece, Ellie today to use for my portfolio.  This one was one of my favorites!  She is such a hoot with her big old bling sunglasses.  We had a great time and she was pretty pleased with her pictures. 

New Sophia Kit

Finally!  I have not posted in forever!  That's what happens when I get busy!  I have been working on getting displays ready for the Memories Expo in Columbus on March 25 and 26.  Here is my newest layout featuring the new Sophia Level 2 paper pack.  That beautiful creature is my niece Ellie when she starred in our high school production of GREASE last spring.  The colors in the paper pack look perfect with her costume from the musical.  The layout is from the Sophia Workshop on the Go kit.  I love these kits because they are so quick and easy.  Everything you need is included in the kit.  This one included buttons in the pink collection and waxy flax in colonial white.  The directions for this layout were included in the kit along with directions for 3 card patterns.  You can also access an additional 2 page layout and 3 more card patterns on the corporate Close to My Heart website.  Wow!  That's a bargain for the price-$29.95!  You have plenty of leftover scraps to get creative with as well.  If you haven't tried these kits, you definitely should.  Contact me for the newest catalog and kit choices.

New Layout!

I finally had some time to work on my Christmas photos!  This layout was from the Mistletoe Workshop on the Go kit.  I love these kits because they take the guesswork out of scrapping.  The directions are included so it is quick and easy to make.  Great for those times when you want to relax and not have to do much thinking.  I included a photo of hubby and I.