Semi's Prove Too Much

It was a battle between the public schools and the private schools in Tuesday nights' CCS basketball  games. First Palo Alto got crushed by Archbishop Mitty and then the mighty LG got the same treatment from St. Francis.

The fans were out in force for the match up. Lots of Orange and Black in the crowd.

The captains met at center court then was the recognition and introduction of players both starting and non-starting.

Here's the Mikester shaking the opposing coaches hand.

The team listens surprisingly with intent as Michael fires them up in the huddle.  What a bunch of nice boys.

We started the game well and Michael suggested later that perhaps a forfeit after the first 5 minutes would have saved us a lot of angst. We were ahead with 13 to their 9 or 10 when we quit scoring.

We tried our darndest, but couldn't handle the ball well to their defense.

Couldn't make many of our free throws, which are one of our usual strengths.

Couldn't hit 3 pointers.

Couldn't hold onto the ball.

Couldn't rebound against their strong insiders.

Couldn't,

Couldn't,

Couldn't.

Michael did have some nice drives.

You've gotta click on this one to be able to see it well enough.

Here's some nice camera work by The Hubby. I think M's body positioning is impossible. I would be on the floor in a flash and never get back up.

"Help, I've fallen and I can't get up."

But not these kids. They have developed as good a balance as they may ever have. Nice job.

He also had some good threes. "Tres," he would say. Among lots of attempts.

Nice shot.

He ended with 17 points, and we lost pretty badly. We are all a little sad that it is over.

In the words of my friend, another mom with a senior.

It's been FUN.

Saints Win

This post is not about the big game, but thought it was a nice sentiment that the "Saint's Win." They (the saints that is) actually should win every time, but sometimes have to wait until judgement day to find that out.  tee hee
I am slowly figuring out just how to embellish my pictures through Photoshop to place in a blurb book. If I get one done before Michael graduates in June, I will be proud of myself.
Here are a couple of pages I put together of one (yes, just 1) play from a game a couple of weeks ago.

Obviously a two page layout of 3 seconds in time. The Hubby captures it very well with his Nikon D3.
I left out about 3 shots in the series, cause I felt like I didn't want them to be 2x2 pictures.
Michael jukes this kid pretty good.

Most of my creative time was spent on where and how to save the pages after I completed them. Macs are great and terrible, just like the end of the earth will be. I finally settled on saving the pages to desktop and then dragging them into a Photoshop Bridge folder for safe keeping. I think it should be easier to save them where I want them, but I could not figure it out

Photoshopped Iron-on Transfer

I added to the DCH' s Christmas tree skirt yesterday. I made them this skirt at the beginning of their marriage and left blank spaces for yearly updates such as pictures or changes of address. It'll take them through 20 years or so.
Well I wanted to put a picture of the little girls with the Christmas dresses I made, and the Christmas before the addition of another sibling (lil bro. Luke)
So I started with the main picture turned backwards (because I'm ironing it onto a cloth after printing it off. Therefore the printed version has to be a MIRROR image)
I then added embellishments of snowflakes and diamond sequins for a wintery affect.
(is that the right effect??)
I also thought I'd put the date in the picture for a cute affect and had to have that mirrored as well.

Here is the finished printable picture with all the embellishment.

After ironing it onto the cotton muslin, it is flipped to look like this. I do wonder how long the image will last on the fabric.

I still think they are the cutest little girlies ever. 

Christmas Dresses

Two adorable granddaughters graced my home today for a picture taking session.
I had made them their Christmas dresses and their Mom was thanking me by making me feel they were worthy of some poses.

I started these dresses in October thinking I'd get them finished by turkey day, but I always bite off a little more than I can chew. (Do you want me to recite a cheer from the 70's about that very thing?)

Here is a close up of the smocking and beading on the 4 years old's dress. 

...and on the two year old's. Notice the beautiful fabric. It is a silk dupioni and when I was working on it, I told everyone in the room to "Look at the amazing sheen", every time they talked to me. Pictures don't do it justice.

I made a little belt on the larger one, with two covered buttons. The corded trim around this, the bodice, and the collar, really make the dress look finished.

The back of this one has a lovely bow. Kara says she is never untieing it, she will just have Lena step into it. She actually kind of has to, because I made the zipper too short. I'm used to making button enclosures on little girls dresses, so when I opted for a zipper I underestimated the length needed. Live and learn, right?

On the front of this one I used silk ribbon embroidery. I haven't ever made a wearable item with silk ribbon embroidery before, and it was just right for this dress. A little Christmas poinsettia and mistletoe.

Finished front of the burgundy one.

....and with a beautiful little girl in it. She's just the cutest 4 year old I know! Lexy is very excited about the  puffiness of the skirt. "It's like a gown."

Her little sister looks like an angel. Notice the matching headband to go with her blond little curls.

Here they are in front of the tree in my Living Room. I photoshopped one smile into this picture from another of a similar pose. It only took me about 2 minutes. I can't believe I can do it that fast.


Just in case you were wondering, I think I WIN for the cutest granddaughters. 


I have one more, and I didn't even make her dress.

I did make the bow on top of her head.  Isn't she a cutie too?  I am missing her for Christmas.  "Enjoy Grandma Renee, Ellery!"

What You Do For Your Kids

My last week has been spent on a basketball program that will be sold at home basketball games starting in the new year.

This is the cover front (R) and back (L). All the Seniors go on the cover. Mine is on the far left.

It is always what I dreamed I would get to do the week before Christmas.  I took it to the printer today, and will just spend another hour or so on it tomorrow. Then I can wrap a few presents.
YIPEEE!!!!   I'M DONE!!!!!!!!  FINE' !!!!!!!!!   EL DONE O' !!!!!!!

Cards on the 21st?

 I am hoping to get the "Cards" out in the morning.
I have been working on the LGHS basketball program in all my spare time, and I pretty much completed it yesterday. I'm still waiting on a couple advertisements, but for now I can work on my tardy Christmas cards.
First of all, who to put on the card? Last year we had the whole family. This year we could put another family picture on it because we took some good ones at Thanksgiving when we were all home, or we could just do the grandchildren, they are the cutest ones after all. Or the grandchildren with grandparents. Or just the kids that are still dependents. (sort of anyway)
I settled on the 2 youngest dependent children, because this is Michael's last year living at home, last year Stephanie is in college and won't have a job, and last time it will sort of be about them.

Next October I will make the Christmas cards. This will be my 2010 goal.
So for a brief run down.
        1. Something always goes "Not As Planned" when I do cards
        2. Apple "address book" is not very flexible
        3. I have learned much from trial and error on "Abobe Bridge" and "Photoshop" but the learning
           curve is more than I bargained for (I can't even indent properly in this program right now)
        4. I am cheap is some ways, but lavish in others
        5. I don't want to have something that anyone else may have seen, touched, smelled, or smiled at.
           (even if it is way cuter and easier than what I'm doing)
        6. I do everything the hard way, and sometimes I want to not have to do this.
        7. Computers are frustrating
        8. My dowager's hump is KILLING me. I want to cry.
Here's the look I was after.

First I worked on paper and pictures, font and color. The little red buttons in the corners of the picture took me about 2 hours, but hey, now I know how to "transform" and I will not take so long next time.
Then I tried to put a little "Christmas update of our family" letter on the back, but needed real paper because the back of the photo paper that the card is printed on doesn't take the ink well and it ends up smearing all over the place, so copied my notes onto red card stock, then figured out a cute attachment which required then buying ribbon for the attachment.

Then came the labels. I have cute bright red ovals that I can't get the addresses easily onto, because I can't figure out how to export from Apple's Address Book. If I was simple and did an Avery label, then I'd have  no problem.

I called tech support, enlisted the help of my children and husband, and finally settled on cutting and pasting each individual address and then changing fonts and organization on each separate label. Listen to me complain. Thanks Hubby for at least copying them onto a preview document so that I did not have too call up each name separately when adding them.

So if my recipients of card don't receive these by Christmas, at least they'll know I am thinking about it.
  ..... and I actually think I can finish and get them in the mail tomorrow.
Did I mention my NECK???? Ooooooo OUCH!!!

Good Day, Sunshine

It was a great day. All the family home and enjoying one another.

The table with it's new Chocolate tablecloth to match the napkins I bought in Harogate last year. (The entire cloth cost as much as one napkin, a 60" X 144"er at Bed Bath and Beyond - good deal? Or maybe the napkins were a bad deal? They are very beautiful though.)

The placecards all labeled for the day. Labels made with sticky paper and digital thanksgiving papers and embellishments.

Here's a close up of the semi-finished product. I put the names in green on the little tag. Very cute if I do say so myself.

Ells Bells all set for the day.

Adorable little rolls to scarf down.
And of course a turkey that we had to frantically cut parts off of and microwave, because it was still a bit pink when we were ready to eat.

Oops?!!! Thanks for pitching in everybody.

Getting to be a Big Girl

We all packed up and drove to Chuck E Cheese for Lexy's 4th.  She was so cute and all her cousins and sister of course had a great time.

I should really fix the red eye on these before I post them.

There that's better. Cute Mother/Daughter shot.

The sister and little cousin "driving" the cool Chucky car.

The birthday girl with her bigger cousins.

Can't forget the Dad dancing with sis to the Chucky beat.

Thanks for turning 4 and inviting us to your sweet birthday.
You were such a big girl and acted so grown up. The thank you note was very polite, and we really had a fun time watching you and your cousins play, and of course you opening your presents.

Shoot, I just burned my pies.  You'd think after 50 some odd years, I'd learn how to set a timer.

More Toys at Hodgman's House

Lani Soelberg had a really fun house.  I was only about 5 years old but, this I knew, I wanted to have a fun house too. I believed the only way to achieve this goal was to talk Sam and Joyce (my parents)  into purchasing a trampoline for our back yard.  The Washburn's had one too and even though Paula was my sister Camille's age, I also loved playing at their house.
Well, my parents were not to be talked into such a scary and dangerous toy. It was okay for other people to have one, but we weren't "other people" and so we didn't have to have one too.
Several more of my friends received "tramps" as I grew older, but the Kelly's were never to attain such a treasure.
I vowed that I would someday be a fun mom and buy my own children an exciting, enjoyable, never-get-sick-of toy that would grace our yard.

In the 2 or 3 decades between my desire and my parental right to follow my dream, trampolines changed immensely. They were now usually 14 feet round instead of rectangular and the jumper/jumpee tended to be led to the middle of the tramp as they jumped. The spring wasn't quite as tight so the bounce didn't bounce quite as high as the "old ones". They were actually now designed for the backyard play area instead of a gymnastics or diving gym. In essence, they were actually now quite more safe.

So in 1987 (as far as I can tell) I finally achieved my lifelong dream. I bought my children a trampoline.
We researched them out and located one in Salt Lake City. We didn't want to pay shipping costs, so we packed it into our standard size van on one of our western cross country excursions and schlugged it all the way back to Portland, Oregon.

Look how happy my cute little boys were!

This old picture shows Jonathan (7 yrs) and David (5 yrs).  Leeding's house in background across the street, and the side yard was now repurposed for fun instead of a garden.

The entire neighborhood loved the Hodgman's tramp. Here is Kathryn (1 yr), Jan Leeding, and Kelsey Leeding.

Scott (Leeding's dad) used to "jump" each individual kid to try and get them as high as they could fly. The kids would play "break the egg", and "duck, duck, goose".

The best advantage to the tramp (and Leeding's new pool) was long hard night sleep for everyone. I believe that's when Jan got to start sleeping through the night?

We moved across town to NW Portland in 1990 and our trusty tramp came along with us.

We now had room for both a larger play area and a garden. I'm standing on the sandbox lid in this pix of watering on the sabbath.

The kids all learned more and more tricks on the trampoline.

Jonathan usually spotted himself by never taking his eyes off the tramp. Good trick!

David had a little reckless abandon in his approach. WoooHooo!!!!!

Kathryn is 6 years old and never tired of doing this. You go girl!!!!!

Then of course fearless Stephanie. (very high, but you'll notice no flip) This was a preview of things to come, as she became our little gymnast, double fronts and backs, and eventually a bit of a diver.

Still in the Portland house. Michael getting in on the fun.

The kids would sleep on the tramp in sleeping bags during the summer. They would use it for a fort underneath (no jumping today please). It was a gathering spot for young and old. Snow angels were made on it. Fireworks were lit on it, causing it's first little cauterized holes thanks to Jonathan and his buddies.

Here it sits all erect near all the play things on NW Joseph Ct.

(Sometime I'll show more of this yard, but for now I'm nearly done with this scanning stuff.)

Again we moved, and again we disassembled the trampoline and brought it along to our new house in Northern California.

Michael playing under the trees and near the tramp. We didn't duplicate the sand pile in this new place and sometimes I regret that Michael missed out on the digging, tunneling, flooding, erecting, etc. that the other kids got to be a part of. Sorry Buddy.

The tramp was more than once, a source of trouble. Michael (and Gregory or Scotty) used to duct tape his feet onto a non-trucked skateboard and slide along his kiddie picnic table.... while jumping on the tramp.  NOT A GOOD IDEA.

Stephanie and friends once put dishsoap and water on the surface and slid as far as they could go without falling off, or into the springs, or breaking their necks. Again...NOT A GOOD IDEA.

One day the kids were bringing the tramp over to the pool on the brick surrounding area so they could jump into the pool all wet and crazy. You bet I stopped them.  NOT A GOOD IDEA.

Jumping off the roof of the house onto the tramp is also NOT A GOOD IDEA.

I did allow them to jump from the tree or swing from a rope on the tree to the tramp below. I'm not sure how good idea that was, but somehow I let them do it.

After about 13 years, Kathryn and her friend Katy Mac were jumping one day and the tramp ripped. A non-repairable 2 foot gash. So.... we replaced the tramp with one that they were now selling at Costco.

It cost us 2/3 as much as the first one, and was not as sturdy around the edges where it attaches to the springs, but it has lasted us another 9 years.

The other day Michael, who is now 6'2" and a slight 165 lbs., was goofing around on this old toy of ours and it ripped away from the springs in one place.

After thinking about it for a few days, I said with tears in my eyes, "We don't need a trampoline anymore." It seems silly to keep it for the grandkids to use a few times a year. Some of their parents may be like mine and not feel comfortable with them using a trampoline anyway.

So, I am preparing to say goodbye to an inanimate object and am so sad that this stage in my life is gone.

Perhaps wanting this toy for so many years and then being able to enjoy it vicariously through my own children, I never considered that it would be over one day.

Kinda ridiculous, huh?

.........and I just got home from my last Back-To-School Night. That's pretty sad too.

Back to Homework

Michael started back to school for his senior year this morning. Last night seemed to be no different than any other end of weekend night in the school year. Although he did his darnedest (is that a real word?) to complete his summer work last week, he was still last minute on getting it all finished, keeping him up until about 1 am this morning working on AP Biology.You ask, "how come he already had homework?" Well the advanced classes have more and more pre-class work as the years go on, and he had to categorize and write about the life of this planet.

English always has summer reading, but he was thinking he wasn't going to be able to take the Bio class, and so he just started the hw for it last week.

He took some cool pictures of his selected "plant" and "animal" on Saturday. I helped him edit and the Hubby helped him with the pictures, but they did turn out pretty good didn't they?
Here's a close up of the "Carpenter Bee".
..... and his favorite flower the "Passion Flower". Nice pix Michael.
There's the big bee inside this flower, so we lightened it up a bit more so the bee could be seen.
Pretty cool, huh?

I think he's going to enjoy the class, even though there will be scads of homework. He has a great teacher. (I think my only other kid to have Mr. Hammock was Jonathan for Physics. J says he learned more from him than his college Physics class)

Well, I'm off to Grand Junction for the week. My parents need to be visited, and my lil sis is having a partay for her newlywed son. (See previous post.)