Does your family have a mission statement?

I've been mulling this over since I read Simple Mom's blog post earlier this week. No formal discussions with the family about this yet...just thoughts running through my mind. I can guarantee you we will be working on this in the near future. In today's crazy, busy world, I think we could use a clear-cut standard to measure against the activities we involve ourselves to see if they are helping us or hindering us from achieving our long-term family goals.

If you have one, please share it (and you can also share it here)! If you don't, do you want to join me in formulating one for your family?

Thank you Addison!

We just got back from a little vacation to the Smokies. We stayed in a wonderful cabin way up on Ski Mountain in Gatlinburg with the most spectacular view from the back deck. The drive up was a little unnerving at first, but we got somewhat used to it. Our excitement was when this visitor showed up going through our trash can....no more than 20 feet from the front door!!
And then he wandered off just as nonchalantly as he showed up. We didn't really do much tourist-y stuff except the Ripley's Aquarium which everyone enjoyed.

But yes...it was because of Addison that we scheduled our little getaway. Her dance team participated in the Stage One National Finals Thursday and Friday. They didn't make it to the Shootout today, but I am so proud of how well they did...especially since this was the first year of competing for most of the team.

It's no secret (at the studio or to my friends and family) that Addison has struggled with her backbend for "Germs". She nailed it during Friday's performance, but when I saw this picture I asked her why she and her friend on the far left are looking at each other.
Her answer: Bella was saying "Great job Addison!" and I was saying "Thanks." You gotta love the sweet innocence of these little girls!

And who can forget "The Cars That Go Boom!" It will be hard to find a costume or a catchy little tune to rival this number.


Great job Hubbies! Thanks for the trip to Gatlinburg! :)

Dress Rehearsal

After spending almost 9 nours at dress rehearsal today, I'm too exhausted to say much. But here are some pics of my little diva!

Remember the hat that goes with this?

Another Long Hiatus

I'm afraid I've had another long spell of neglecting the blog. It seems I've just moved from one crazy deadline to another lately. Tax season ended officially two weeks ago tomorrow...then we switched immediately into competition season for Addison's dance team. But life has not been all work and NO play.

We did find time to color Easter eggs.


And have an egg hunt.

Ride with daddy on the lawnmower.


I will admit the only creative thing I've done is to turn this plain pink felt hat


into this:

Addison's costume is definitely not one of those "off-the-shelf" numbers. Lots of time went into it, but they are definitely out of this world.

My next project is to finish 6 pages in 22 scrapbooks for the end of school!!! I hope to be back soon to a regular blogging schedule! Where is that darn Calgon??? LOL

Still no Thank You cards

It's just been too busy to find ANY time at my craft table. We've been getting people off to a Daddy/Daughter dance at school, playing outside,
getting connected with an uncle who lives out of town and we don't see as often as we'd like to,
and building the Washington Monument out of sugar cubes.
Add in the tax work, lots of phone calls and details to attend to, and crossing my fingers and toes that one of the prospective tenants for the condo will actually turn in an application and have good credit.

But Hope Springs Eternal so I'm holding out some grand intentions to find some time to play in the craft room this weekend....

Hoping for a little time this weekend

to get back to the blog. My MIL passed away on Wednesday so right now my "cup runneth over" with all the different hats I'm wearing and emotions we're experiencing. I do need to get some Thank You cards in the mail, so I hope to be back sometime this weekend with those to share.

A Dusting of Snow and a CASE Challenge!

Lest ye think that the view from our backporch is always as green and lush as the blog banner would lead you to believe, here is what I saw this morning from the porch. Quite a difference, eh? Just a dusting of snow, but enough to make the kids happy. And yes, the tree line is quite different. The ridge behind the trees is "our" railroad track...I've been told it's a local line that ships mostly between Nashville and the Saturn plant about 25 miles away. It only runs a couple of times a day, and now we can actually wave to the conductor when the train goes by! Between the track and trees is our little creek. Carl cleared out all the underbrush so that we have a better view of the kids when they're playing back there.

Addison has ALWAYS wanted to keep snow around. So this big bowl of snow is now residing in the chest freezer. Around July, she'll decide she wants to eat some of it. LOL

And my inspiration for the challenge....my bedside bookcase that I was dusting today. I've hung onto the idea books, that stack of Papercrafts magazines, the Cards and Scrapbook Trends issues. I'm really not ready to part with them, but I need to use them. So I'm challenging myself to CASE (Copy And Steal Everything) one project a month from one of these publications. It's just another part of my "stash" that I need to dig into occasionally.

If you want to join the CASE Challenge, leave a comment on this post with a link to your CASE-d creation. Your inspiration could be from a printed publication or anywhere online, but you also must link us up with the project or artist that inspired you. CASE-ing etiquette demands that you give credit where it's due and never use those creations for anything other than personal use. Have your project linked here by March 31 to be in the drawing for a RAK of goodies from me. :)

On a side note, seeing that pic of the bottom shelf makes me thankful that the heating pad, back brace, and inflatable lumbar pillow are all neatly stacked. That means my back is behaving itself right now, and that is always cause for some gratitude.

Not Quite Ready for Spring Yet!

The challenge at Stamp Something this week is to create something reminding you of the cold winter winds. I've been playing with the challenges at Stamps and Smiles this week, and I used Sketch Challenge #3 for this card. (Don't worry, I'll show you the other SAS challenges soon....I'm just keeping a little backlog of things to post over the next few weeks when life will be keeping me away from the scrap table). The stamps are from Treehouse Stamps colored in with my Prismacolor pencils and OMS. After I finished this one, I wished that I'd thought about using liquid applique on the marshmallows. Oh well...there's always next time.

We're actually under a winter weather advisory tonight. It remains to be seen whether we'll get any accumulation, but since I have all the fixin's for some homemade vegetable soup & cornbread and my sweet family all around me, this card says it all for me!!!

Blog Candy Winner

We printed all the comments, cut them into strips, folded 'em and put them in a bowl. And Addison picked:

Denean!!!!

Denean and I were on a design team together way back when. She is always so good about leaving comments, and her photography is awesome!!! Make sure you check out her blog. Denean, let me know which prize you choose!

I'm about 95% finished updating the blogroll in the sidebar. When you have a couple of free minutes days, check out these links. These bloggers are my constant source of inspiration.

CPS 104 Paper Tray

In the back of my mind, I know that because of my work schedule it won't be long before I need to pack up the craft room for a while. So I've made my list of cards I need before the middle of April, and I'm going to try to knock out as many as I can in the next few days. Of course, there are several birthdays on that list.

After I saw this card a couple of weeks ago, I made a mental note to rectify the fact that my Paper Tray set has been somewhat neglected lately. When the CPS 104 sketch was posted with Papertrey Ink as this week's sponsor, I realized this was the perfect opportunity to pull out this set (PTI's very first release). I love the clean, simple look of this card, and it will be a one-stamper so no worries on sending it through the mail.

Addison.org is down for maintenance sleeping like a log. We'll pick a blog candy winner Thursday night after I get home from work.

Enabler Alert!!!

Have you seen the new Elzybell releases???

I've been watching a few of the sneak peeks, and I just need to say....See the Cool Beans set?............

That sentiment is SOOOOO me!!!! Especially this time of year. :)