The Weekend

I'm in a rambling mood so I thought I'd talk about my weekend. Surprisingly, it wasn't as busy as I originally anticipated. Friday night was pretty unexciting with the three of us at home. I ended up crashing in front of the TV about the time Spencer went to bed...not sure why I was so tired.

Saturday morning started with Spencer's baseball game (pictures to come later). They lost so they are are 3-2 now. The cool thing is that Spencer's teacher came to the game. Very sweet of her. I totally forgot to get a picture though - shame on me!

We got a cover for the back of Matt's Explorer Sportrac - awesome deal. Basically we got it for free and just have to pay to have the locks fitted. We need this - now we can take his truck on road trips, etc.

We enjoyed a lunch out at Firebonz where they have lots of flat screens so we were able to watch the draft while we ate. We were going to attend an Earth Day event at the museum but Spencer opted to go home and watch the rest of the draft instead (not exactly your typical 8 year old).

Matt had to work Saturday night so it was just Spencer and I. He finished up his weather project for this month and then we watched last week's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?. Good episode. Love that show. We played football in the yard for a bit. That night I worked a little on the foundation's website but I have a lot of learning to do.

Sunday morning was low key. Matt had to sleep. Spencer and I watched our neighbors shoot their bows into the woods. I managed to try on all of my capris and shorts from last year - figured out what fits and doesn't. What I need and don't. Also got some stuff ironed that had been crumpled on a shelf since last season.

After Matt got up and we had tacos for lunch, I joined my sister for a tour of four local houses. We hit one store for shopping (Talbot's - I didn't get anything). I dropped her off at church and was able to count how many people we can accommodate at the church. We will definitely be able to fit 100 scrappers so I hope I can get that many. That's a pretty big goal!

I went shopping at Kohl's -- felt a little guilty for spending more than I should. But after getting home and trying on some more things I decided that I'll take back a necklace and pair of pants that I'm not really *loving*, so I feel a tad better. I was able to get two shirts that are super cute and a necklace that I think I'll get a lot of wear out of. I bought the cutest pair of shoes but had a hard time choosing a color (navy, red or black). I went with black and have left the tags on, just in case! I also picked up a tee and flip flops for Spencer.

Over the course of the weekend I was able to make 9 cards for Spencer's related arts teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week (pictures to come). I also finally finished up a mini album that I started in October - ridiculous! Glad to have that completed (pictures to come).

I had a horrible time falling asleep last night and I'm functioning off about 4 hours of sleep right now, and that's not consistent sleep by any stretch. But I did watch 4 episodes of Desperate Housewives in order to get caught up. Sad, huh?

The First Step!

I'm very excited!! I am planning to host a charity crop for the autism foundation that I help with (Dalton Help Foundation). The first thing I needed to tackle, and was a bit concerned about, was finding a place that would accomodate a crowd of scrappers and not charge us. I'm super pumped to report that my sister was able to get us the gym of her church. It's perfect!!

You'll probably be hearing a lot more about this crop as things get rolling with my plans. It looks like we'll most likely hold the event in August so I have about 3 months to plan. It seems like plenty of time but I know it will fly by!

Also, I've agreed to take over their website for them. I have no experience with this and Strait's coming over tonight to show me the software. Should be interesting!

Easter

I didn't spend Easter with my sisters but they sent me pictures of their families. Aren't they adorable???

This is my oldest sister, her husband and two boys (14 and 10).
















This is the middle sister with her husband and daughter (almost 9 years old).

Coming Soon...

OK, I can't stand it any longer...I have to share our "soon to be" good news...

Matt & I have decided to adopt another dog. I was leaning toward something a little smaller than Rio - a lap dog of sorts. But I've always preferred larger breeds so I was stumped.

Then Matt discovered a rare breed that neither of us had heard of. It's the Carolina Dog, also referred to as the Dixie Dingo based on its relation and resemblance to the Australian Dingo. After reading up on the breed, Matt was convinced he wanted one. I was sold that it'd be a good dog for us but I do not like purchasing from breeders. There are too many dogs out there that need good homes. So, I searched for a rescue dog of this breed and was quite successful.

We found Caroline. She is at a Humane Society that is about 1.5 hours from where we live (but only about 1/2 hour from where I work). We've talked with a lady there as well as the foster mom with whom she's living right now. They sent us pictures and lots of details on her. She's a Katrina dog, also.

Matt and I went to meet her this morning and I believe we're sold. I fell in love. She is the same size as Rio and acts a LOT like him. She has all her shots, is leash trained, house trained. She only barks when there's a real reason (such as a stranger in the yard). She loves the outdoors for play and is definitely an indoor dog, but loves other dogs (they wouldn't place her in a home w/out one). She is probably almost three years old and has passed any puppy tendencies for chewing or destroying.

The only thing is that we HAVE to get a fence before we are able to take her. So...we're working on that now. We got a quote today. It's much higher than we'd hoped, but it needs to be done. Not just for Caroline, but for Rio. It's going to cost us significantly more to do a split rail fence in this house than it did for us to do a 6ft privacy in our old house just a couple of years ago. The guy said that the price has gone up insanely because of gas prices. Joy joy. Matt is calling around for a few more quotes first though. It'll probably take a few weeks to get the fence in so I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer! These pictures are all onces shared by the foster mom. Caroline is actually smaller than she seems in the pictures. She is only about 40 pounds. Isn't she precious????

The Zoo

Spencer went to the zoo with his one of his friends over Spring Break. The mom sent me a couple of snapshots. She said they had a really awesome time. These guys have been friends for quite a while considering they are only 8. They started Mother's Morning Out together when they were 3, maybe even younger. They haven't been in school together the last three years because they live at opposite ends of the county. But they've played some sports together and we try to get them together like this every so often.

Professional Baseball Pictures

This is Spencer's baseball picture, taken by TSS Photography. I think it came out pretty cute!

Movie - Blood Diamond

This probably isn't a movie I normally would've rented or gone to see in a theater. However, we got a call from the neighbors asking if we wanted to come watch Blood Diamond with them - and we did. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. It actually has a good message - how the diamond trade (and other things) have caused civil wars in certain countries, etc. But I must warn you...it's a tough movie to watch. No kids allowed. It is quite graphic and gory with the violence. But it's worth watching if you can handle it. Critics gave it a B-, Yahoo users gave it a B+.

Book - Miracle on the 17th Green

I know nothing about golf, don't really like golf, and wasn't planning on reading this particular James Patterson book despite my obvious devotion to him. However, when browsing the library shelves, I ran into a copy of Miracle on the 17th Green. It was small and looked like an easy read so I scanned the back of it. It sounded like it might be a neat little story despite the golf topic, so I gave it a whirl. I was right in all assumptions.

It was a quick and easy read (seriously, I read it in 2 days). It's a heart-warming story and is written with a nice touch of wit. If you like golf, I'm sure that would make the book even more enjoyable. It would probably make a nice little gift for a golfer that likes to read, or a reader that likes to golf.

Rock Climbing Competition

Last night Spencer participated in a local rock climbing competition. This is the first year he's been old enough to compete and I am SO incredibly proud of him for tackling this. His age group is 8-10 and I'd say there were about 10-12 kids in that group. They competed in three areas - speed, difficulty and hang time. He didn't win an award (1st through 3rd place) so he thought it was the end of the world (he's incredibly competitive). But considering his age and that this was the first time he'd climbed here, I thought he did awesome! This place is pretty cool and allows kids to come and climb on Monday nights so hopefully we'll be able to take him up there every now and then to practice. He really does enjoy it.

Rio

Here's just a random, but adorable, shot of our most precious four-legged family member.