We are the Champions!

What a long, cold, exhausting, FUN weekend!  K had her soccer tournament this weekend and after 4 VERY close games, they came out the champions for the U14 girls.  Last night was probably the worst weather with 45 degree temperatures and wind gusts of 20mph.  Those poor girls were wind burned and frozen by the end of the game.  We rolled back into town at 9:45, tired but happy.

After a bit of a rough start trying to find the right team for her in town, she has landed in a good place. These girls are sweet, supportive, fun and committed. Looking forward to the winter season.

My sweet in-laws came this weekend to take L to her gymnastics meet so that we could go to the tournament, then they drove all the way to Michigan because L wanted to support her sister and at least see some of her games. I think grandma and grandpa were happy to be there too. :)  L did well at her meet, getting 5th all around for her level and mastered the fly away on the bars.  I am so proud of her! She has been struggling with this skill and she did it at the meet!

Wanted to share a layout I did for Emma's Paperie last week.  I didn't realize my banners were a bit crooked until I posted this, sorry. Hmmm... Anyway our assignment was to use banners and the banners on this layout are straight now :)

Sending out prayers to all may friends on the east coast.  Thinking about you in the next few days! Hugs.

Fall is here

Oh the weather has been glorious the last few days.  We had some rain and nasty wind this weekend but once that blew over it has been absolutely perfect.  I just love this time of year.

The rain held off for K's game this weekend and I must say it was worth sitting in the cold to watch them.  They did not win but put up a REALLY good fight.  The team they played were ranked 3 divisions higher than her team and only won by 2 points, one of them which was a penalty shot.  Her coach has set up another scrimmage against them this weekend trying to get the girls ready for a tournament at the end of the month.  It should be good.

L's meet was a good show for their first meet of the season.  Although not perfect, I can definitely see a HUGE improvement from last year.  She is just so much more polished.  I am looking forward to seeing her compete more this winter.

In between rain drops we were able to get some fall pictures taken this weekend.  We literally had to dart to the car as the rain started coming down.  They always say that overcast days are good for photos and the proof was this weekend.  I was happy with so many of the photos.  These were taken on a hill near L's old school, not too far from here.

Found this great frame at Hobby Lobby and thought I would give it a try.

So now for a quick layout before I go and snuggle with my sick L.

Have a wonderful rest of your week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Family time

I spend a fair amount of time posting about my sweet girls.  It is so easy to get tied up in everything that they are busy doing that marriage can get put on the back burner.  I know I am not the only one in this position. :) DH and I have starting using their activities to our advantage for the last couple of weeks.  On Wednesday nights both girls go to youth group for an hour and a half.  DH and I have started going together to drop them off and then heading out somewhere for dinner.  Now, it may not be the best for our waistline, eating out every Wednesday but in this case I think it is worth it.  The girls can get pizza at church to it works out beautifully and I am loving this time for us to catch up and spend some 1 on 1 time.  I love the message it is sending to our girls too. The message that our marriage is important to us and that we want to spend time together.

Looking ahead to a very busy and hopefully healthy weekend.  L has her first gymnastics meet of the season. I am excited to see her perform her floor routine.  It is going to be cute.  She chose to do the routine to Walking on Sunshine (such a perfect song for her bubbly personality) and has been working so hard on it.  Her tumbling capabilities just blow me away. On top of a gymnastics meet, we have a soccer game this weekend for K.  This is going to be a tough one.  K and her team are probably in the wrong league.  They have been smoking every team they play.  The last game their coach told them they could only shoot and pass with their left foot for the whole first half to try and challenge them a bit.  So he has set up two scrimmages for this weekend and next against a local team that is really good.  I don't want to see them lose of course, but I think the challenge is going to be good for them.  Please say a little prayer for both my girls though.  They both need to be 100% on top of their game this weekend but they both are coming down with something.  K had a sore throat all day yesterday. This morning L, DH and I have one as well.  :(

Have you signed up for the Crafts N' Things newsletters?  You can get great holiday ideas sent to your inbox every day and then once a week there is a weekly newsletter that comes straight to your email.  These Halloween jars I created are part of the newsletter this week.  They were super easy  and quick to make.  It took no time to create a bunch to give to a few neighbors. Check it out here alone with lots of other great Halloween ideas.

So I have layout to share with you today.  This last week we focused on Carte Bella paper products over at Emma's Paperie.  Here is the layout I created using Beautiful Moments Line.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!!!

Happy Fall Y'All

I just adore fall. It is my absolute favorite holiday.  I love the cool crisp temperatures and the gorgeous colors.  I am actually more one top of my decorating this year and had all my fall decorations up by the beginning of October.  They just make me feel so happy.

I had to laugh at the saying that I used for my post today.  We have starting hosting a small group for our church at our house on Sunday nights.  The study is call "Not a Fan". We did not know any of the couples before we started meeting, but we all get along so well that after we finish up at 9, many of the couples stick around to talk. This Sunday we started talking about teaching, as it turns out several of us either teach or used to teach.  The conversation turned to schools in the south (I used to teach in TX). One of the women was talking about how she knew she was in the south when her daughter came home with a scarecrow that said "Happy Fall Y'All".  :)  It made me smile at the memories that this simple statement brought back.

There is another new challenge up at Challenge Me Happy.  This is an easy one to participate in, Anything Goes.  For this challenge I decided to focus on my sweet youngest DD.  Middle School has not been easy for her.  I decided that this was something that I really needed to document.  The hardest part was finding a photo to use.  She is such a goofy, happy kid that anytime I pull out the camera, she is in full goofball mode.  I actually snapped this photo on Mother's Day while she was sitting by a pond at a gorgeous park near here. I caught her off guard and got a great picture.

We would love to have you join us for this challenge.  You can use any theme and any embellishments for your layout, as long as it is created exclusively for Challenge Me Happy.  Upload it to the site using the inlinkz link provided by October 14th.  Good Luck!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!