hard work

what a memorial day weekend! for many years, and for many people, the three day weekend symbolizes outdoor work...and it was no different for us this weekend (even though jason had to work on saturday!)

so we got started a day early....on friday morning, this is what my front 'landscaping' looked like...


and then came the trucks, and the men...and the best entertainment the kids were going to have all weekend!!


and by saturday night, those same areas looked like THIS:


not having a tree in the middle of our driveway has made it so much more functional (go figure!) i was able to retrieve our camper from winter storage (aka my in laws property) and actually back it up into the side driveway area to get it set up and ready for the camping season...and, we no longer risk ripping off another side view mirror on one of the cars...

i bought some plants new, and transplanted some others, to give the front area a new look (as opposed to the bush stumps that have been decorating it since last september when i could no longer stand the dead bushes there!) then jason (and i - though primarily jason!) filled in the HUGE hole left by the tree with concrete. we can now add concrete to our growing list of home improvement dyi experiences! (yes, we have safely driven on this area of the driveway!)

and then we moved to the BACK yard - where we are in the process of setting up the 'mac daddy' play area...even though we live only two houses away from the school playground, having stuff nearby, particularly for molly, became a priority in this house...and now we've got just about anything their little hearts could desire. both sets of grandparents joined us on memorial day for the playstructure construction extravaganza! i likened it to how the amish work - the women did the cooking and caring for the children, and the men slaved all day with the tools (well, I did eventually get in there and build the rock climbing wall!) it was a beautiful day for construction...a little warm, but sunny with a slight breeze. the playstructure still isn't quite complete, but after a few more hours of work by grandpop and daddy yesterday, all that's left are some of the aesthetics...


so here's molly making the first trip down the slide!!

twinkle toes

you may recall that i 'took up' dancing in the fall - well, this weekend was our recital - a year's worth of learning and exercise and weight loss and blisters and sweat!!

the theme of the recital was a calendar year -many, MANY thanks to those that made the trip (and/or watched our younger children!) to see the show. how fantastic that kate had her camera, in the second row, with no one in front of her...and she captured over 200 pictures of the girls and i dancing!

the girls were fantastic! they are so fun to watch...

here's maya as a sugar plum fairy and leprechaun:



lilly was a snow angel, toy soldier and danced to 'schools out':


and then, of course, there's me...in my opening number "need a little christmas" and the closer "jing a ling" and then in our spring break number (where we danced to britney spears and janet jackson - whew!)

while i am no stranger to the stage, aside from whatever i learned to get me through the musicals i was in, i am NOT a dancer...this year was a challenge for me. being in the opening/closing number required three rehearsals a week! in the end, i'm very happy with what i've been able to accomplish this year. i'm not ready to say that i'll continue next year, but it was an interesting learning experience this year.

the best part, by far, occurred during my opening number. both lilly and maya were 'christmas/winter' related themes - with their dance numbers being right after the opening number. during the opener, i get a chance to exit stage right, run behind the drop and re-enter on stage left - which is where the next two numbers are lined up ready to go on stage. there were my girls....as beautiful and as excited as can be that we were all dancing together...and they gave me high fives each night before i went out to finish the opening number. it doesn't get better than that.

mega meet

i've survived the first two weeks of may!!

and, for those of you that don't know, it's really been a challenge...

first came the great lakes mega meet held each mother's day weekend in novi...i'm the exhibits and special events manager, among other things, which means i build relationships with my exhibitors (83 of them this year!) and coordinate our evening events - opening ceremonies, with keynote address by scrapbooking "celebrity" stacy julian and our crop parties (1000 croppers over two nights!!!) we had over 8,800 crazy scrapbookers join us this year!

here's some pictures of the weekend...

this is kate, tara and i on the little 'car' that tara had for the weekend to whip between our exhibit and event halls and down to the classroom area (we use a HUGE facility and this was an EXCELLENT mode of transportation - however, tara drove it like a little red corvette...)

me, holding the sign for one of our evening events - i was SO proud and excited for this event and that i was able to get Stacy Julian to come all the way to Michigan (from Spokane, WA!) ...unfortunately, we didn't sell as many tickets as we would have liked, but it was an awesome evening for those of us that were there (& kate made me bring the sign home to hang in my scrap room for at least a month to justify its cost!)

this is me teaching at the mega meet for the first time- oddly enough, my class was titled 'life is nuts!'

i get kate and tara a 'have a good show' gift each year - this year was specialty cookies from 'cookies by design' and i had them decorated to look like our logo for this year's event (which i also designed to resemble the logo from the upcoming beijing olympics)

and of course, here we are enjoying our cookies - kate's with the rolling tote girl, tara with the photographer, and me, running with scissors!


and here's most of the 'green shirt posse' - the management responsible for making this event possible every year - nicely done, ladies!!!

and during all that madness, and MANY thanks to my roommate donna who lent her sewing fingers, i was busily altering SEVEN costumes for our dance recital the next weekend! as usual, the whole event was exhausting, but an excellent product of our year-long work!

new "business"

i've gotten compliments on my own design, and even designed for a few others...who then pushed me into this venture...

so feel free to check it out:

blogsbycara.blogspot.com

reunited

as part of maya's birthday present, and the convenience of having a 'school day' off for teacher's professional development day (which they actually do once a month, here) - i took the kids and headed the long journey back to our old stomping grounds for a day to give the kids a chance to spend some time at grandma jane's day care....we were only there for about 4 hours, but it was four hours (and then the 3 back home!) well spent...

it took maya and her friend tori about 15 minutes to warm up to each other, but then it was back to 'normal' while we were there. it was great to see all the kids (and how much they've grown!) many thanks to grandma jane for letting four extra kids crash the joint for a day!