Where Tranquility is achieved thru creativity

Prom 2

 

One more day and then Allen and I are off for Memorial Day and I cant wait!

 A nice night at Book Club with the ladies.  Although a bittersweet moment hearing one of our members may be relocating to Ireland for two years.  Our dear group is becoming smaller and smaller.  Happy for Shan, though!

Here are a few more pictures of Hailey at Prom.  Another bittersweet moment as Hailey hasn't been treated the best by one of the gals--one of them really making it hard to balance friends and a boyfriend.  As a mom, I SO WANT to let this girl know that she's behaving in a way that's like a bully. 

Yet--Bird puts on a smile, and she's thankful that squad came over to see her and for pictures. 

 

Had to do the pose with them leaning on the bridge. She's seen her sister do it for two years and of course we had to start her on the tradition. 

 

Cute family photo on the bridge. 

 The girls posing in a "DAB" position. Don't ask me...I honestly don't know what it means. 

 This was just a casual shot...yet it turned out so cute! 

The nice thing is, too, is that both of them won a prize at the After Prom event!  Hailey won a gift certificate for The Last Crumb of Cake cupcakes (Go Twila!) and Michael won a $10 gift card to IHOP!

The garden is watered!!  Come on sun!! Let's make those plant grow!

 

 

My Birdie goes to Prom!

 

She definitely doesn't look like she's only going to be 15 in these pictures.  I can also tell you that this smile is so authentic.  She was SO EXCITED!  

Of course they had to have a little fun, too. 

 

 They truly are adorable....

 Here are the other couples who came over for pictures as well. 

The night went great for Hailey.  I'll share more pics soon.  

 

My Baby Bird goes to Prom tonight

A busy week this week culminates to tonight, when Bird goes to Prom.

The calm before the storm this morning. Thankfully, there is testing going on at school, so she is getting to sleep in.  Her friends asked her to spend the night out last night for a sleep over and with her having a dance class that ended at 9:30 pm, we decided it was best she stay home.

We won't mention how loud Kait, Scotty and Allen were when they got home from the Kenny Chesney concert at midnight. =( 

After going to school for just about two hours today, we're off to get her hair done and then back here for Kait to do make up and "pre-pictures" here.

Nails and toes were done yesterday, and we picked out earrings and rings for her to wear tonight.

When we were done yesterday, she said to me, ok...so now all I have to do is wait for the time to get ready.

When she got in the car last night from dance, she said to me--tomorrow is going to be A LONG DAY.  I said, why?  She said because I just can't wait for Prom to be here!  (She finally let on that she's super excited!!!!)  

Hard to believe that this picture was taken 14 years and 3 months ago.

Wish us luck and I plan on posting pics on Monday. 

 

 

Poms & Breast Cancer Awareness

 Oh the fun of making plastic table cloth poms!! Thankfully, this year, we were smart and made the breast cancer awareness game out of the pink table cloths.  It won't have to be done, unless we have a huge amount of girls join the team. 

They certainly are a pretty color of pink! 

So much fun to see them in use!! 

 

 They definitely stood out, especially under the lights! 

And here are the pretty girls with their "ribbon" pose.

 

Hard to believe the seniors will be graduating in 16 days.

That's CRAZY to think that June 8th will be here in 16 days! 

Hope you have a good Tuesday.  Looks like we are back in the rain for today. 

 

Chapter of Elementary School

How would your chapter (or in my case, my chapterS) of Elementary school read? 

I have thought a lot about this question, lately.  It rose to the surface looking at pictures for my grandmother's funeral service program that I was working on with my brother and cousin.  We came across some pictures taken from an old camera when I was in 4th and 5th grade. 

My first "chapter" of elementary school was prior to 3rd grade.  I did not like school at all.  Haven't figured out what it was that I did not like. The resounding feeling when I think about elementary school prior to third grade is that of not wanting to be there.   My chapter would read about feeling sad and wanting to be home.  I also recall having strep throat a ton in elementary school and oh how I hated that throat pain! 

It also contains some great memories about specific projects...art projects, to be exact. And then trying to recreate the project on a shoestring budget. 

The Christmas Bizarre that the school had to where we could buy Christmas presents for our family was another fond memory. There was one candy cane pen that I bought for my mom or dad, only hoping and wishing they didn't like it as much as I did, and it would be mine!  

I remember a present I got for my brother that he loved, and boy did that make me feel so incredibly good! (It was a little troll that had that funky hair---you spin the troll back and forth in your hands, and the hair went crazy!)

The elementary school had a GREAT playground that had lots of trees and I loved to go and hang out among the trees with friends who were just as interested in the acorns as I was. 

The second chapter of elementary school started with our move to Gaithersburg.  

I like my elementary school, except the afternoon care we had to go to.  There was nothing more that I wanted than to be home, and I remember being miserable.  I hated Great Horizons.  The counselors were mean and I just remember being so tired and could not convince anyone that I really was tired.  It was hard to have my feelings dismissed.  

This created a strong need within for me to be aware of people's feelings.  I'm able to intuit, pretty accurately, the non-verbal feeling people sometimes emit.  Sometimes I wish I could turn it off.  I'm learning, though!!

What has your chapter of elementary school created for you in your life? 

 

 

 

Kait's Birthday

 

 

Kait, a planner like me, figured out how to capitalize on being home for her birthday.  I LOVED that she did that!!! 

Her 18th birthday took us to Sakura.  I really do love Sakura!

 

 

The boys and Kait.... we were messing around with phones and taking pictures. 

 

 AB and Bird....

 

 The boys not really impressed....and me, skipping the yum yum sauce...just the ginger sauce! 

Always fun to see the onion volcano!! 

Looking forward to this weekend and not having much planned during the days! Plan on trying to smoke some ribs on The Big Green Egg!  That, and I think I'll finally be able to try to use the EGG as a pizza oven!!  Yippee!! 

 

GHS Homecoming 2015

 Well, Tuesday and Wednesday surely got away from me.

The clouds persist and man, even though I'm not a sun worshiper, I am beginning to REALLY just want the sun!!! 

Especially when I look back at pictures like this:  

 

The Marching Band on the field for Homecoming at GHS!!  It was a spectacular day for weather!!  

And a friend was able to catch this shot of Kait and Hailey taking a pic together. 

 

And here they are again as Bird is off to the Homecoming Dance. 

 

This was a pretty neat shot I thought I would share as well. 

 

Can't believe we are looking at Pom try outs for the next school year in about a week.

 

A little more WVU

 

The weekends are never long enough. For me, that's where love and living takes place the most for me.  

Any chance I get during the week to chat with my girls, just be around them, even if they are catching up on a show feels great! A little respite during the week when we are all going in different directions. 

Yesterday being Mother's Day was very nice.  We all got to do what we wanted to do.  The girls slept in past 10:30, I had some time with Kait before she went to work, saw Scotty, met Michael's mom, received some great gifts from my girls, and celebrated being a mom.  

Allen bought me a Big Green Egg Grill for Mother's Day!  Let me tell you, this thing is amazing!  (It's amazingly heavy, too! Thank god Michael was around for a minute to help Allen get it off the truck!) 

For my first cooking experience on it, I think I did pretty good! I did chicken thighs and legs on it, and it was SO JUICY!  I can't wait to try a few more things on it.  I may have to go to the grocery store (I know, I can't believe I just said it--) to get something to put on the grill.  I should have taken pictures of the chicken.  It looked fantastic! Next time.

Taking a look back to WVU...

Having heard Allen speak of the PRT so often during his tenure at WVU, I couldn't wait to actually ride on the PRT!

Very cool to travel around and between campuses.  We even took it from one side to the other at night to get back to our RV for the evening!!  

It was also very neat to meet up with a bunch of former GHS students who also decided to head to WVU for a game. 

 

And we were lucky on such a beautiful day to have the Mountaineer come by the RV! 

 

The school spirit during the games is so neat! Check out the sea of yellow!!!!

 

Sounds like rain is back in the forecast.  Ugh.  Yesterday was such a nice day, too.  

 

 

 

September feels so far away from today

 On this dreary, rainy Friday, it is nice to look back on some sunshine while we were at WVU last semester for a football game. Supposed to rain all day today and not really get out of the 50's. 
This is a panoramic of the "scene" in the morning of the top of the stairs overlooking the stadium, and the RV parking lot. 

Here we are all set up.  So nice just hanging out for a bit. 

 And our lovely girls--reconnecting after Kait had been away for a few weeks. 

I thought this was so neat....

It's Kait who took the picture of AB and Bird as the stadium sang country roads since WVU won.  Isn't this adorable???

 

 

 A little sunshine on this Friday morning. Have a great weekend. 

Why are boundaries important?

Rain continues...looks like we will be under the clouds for today and tomorrow. 

Seems like April has taken the liberty of extending itself into May.  I wonder how May feels about April not respecting its boundary??!!

 

boundary

play

noun bound·ary \ˈbau̇n-d(ə-)rē\

Popularity: Top 40% of words

Simple Definition of boundary

• : something (such as a river, a fence, or an imaginary line) that shows where an area ends and another area begins

• : a point or limit that indicates where two things become different

• boundaries : unofficial rules about what should not be done : limits that define acceptable behavior

Source: Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary

 

So April decided to infringe on May's boundaries, huh? Of course there's really no control over what happens with the weather, and of course there could never be a discussion between April and May about the crossing of boundaries, yet it is interesting to think about.

 

We can establish our own boundaries.  We can control our own boundaries.  We can't control whether or not someone respects our boundaries.  Why are boundaries important? 

 

Take a look at the last definition of boundaries.  The "unofficial rules" part.  And also note the "limits that define acceptable behavior". 

 

The more I think about this last definition, the more I realize how important respecting of boundaries is an important part of my relationships--personal, family, business.  Yet, the definition speaks to boundaries being "unofficial" standards.  I think it should be "official" standards, especially when it comes to forming a deep relationship.  

 

To me, respecting ones boundaries is more than social etiquette. It tells me a lot about a person who respects my boundaries.  It also tells me a great deal when someone DOESN'T respect my boundaries.  I also feel like if boundaries are not respected, it shows "the point or limit that indicates where two things become different." How can a person trust another, to enter into a deeper connected relationship when their boundaries aren't respected? 

 

Time is one of the boundaries that I absolutely feel needs to be respected to have the relationship start off toward a deeper connection.  I go out of my way to make sure to respect time boundaries of others.  Especially those I desire to connect with.    If someone says, "Hey...would love to hang out, yet I've gotta be someplace by such in such a time" I am SO aware of the time.  I want to show them I'm respectful and that what they hold as important (their time) matters to me too.  When it gets close to departure, I'm the first to make sure departure can be made easily, and quickly, without regret that we have to end.   

 

I can remember meeting a friend for coffee and being late to picking up one of the girls because my time boundary wasn't respected. (Totally my fault for not closing the conversation sooner...) I did feel dismissed when my time boundary wasn't respected.  It happened one more time with that friend, and then I gently said, "hey, I can meet but I have to totally be in my car by xxx time" When that wasn't respected, I regretfully had to say thanks, but no thanks to the next invitation.  I really wasn't feeling as though there wasn't the space for me to make a deeper connection. 

 

Answering "No" is another boundary that often goes disrespected.  Saying "no" should really mean NO when that answer is given. We teach that "no means no" in sexual relations, but why is there the idea out there, that if someone sets their boundary and says "no" in any other situation than sexual relations, is it OK to disrespect that "no"?

 

Boundaries are set by individuals for a reason. It shows a level of care and compassion by respecting those boundaries.  We don't always know what that person is dealing with to create that boundary. Care enough to find out about that boundary if you are curious. If that boundary makes you feel like you can't get as close to the person, talk with them. You'd be surprised of how a question could unlock something for that person and could lead to a deeper connection. 

 

Enjoy your Thursday!