Ryan's 13th Birthday aka The All Night Party!!!

It was great! I went as a chaperone. They all sang a special song to Ryan for his birthday. It's a middle school yoth group tradition. It's a birthday dirge.

The kids had pizza for dinner, then we went to Laser Quest. When we came back we played a game of Live Clue where the youth pastor got murdered and all us leaders played different parts. The kids got divided into teams and had to solve the murder. Ryan's team won and they each got $5. We cut and shared his birthday cake (a full sheet!), had snacks, then moved into 3.5 hours of "free" time.

There was a movie in the sanctuary, sports in the gym, or video games in the fellowship hall. Yes, Ryan was playing video games. He said afterwards that it didn't seem like 3.5 hours. Last year at the all nighter, a lot of the kids fell asleep. This year, we had it so jam packed with activities that out of 90 kids, less than 10 fell asleep and only 4 did so purposely, in the sleep rooms. Ryan was not one of them. :)

The next day, while Ryan and I slept, Vance went to the sporting goods store and bought us an inner tube type sled. Ryan and I had gone sledding on New Year's Day and discovered that what works well for a young child doesn't work so well for an adult (can you say bruised tailbone? OW!)

So we got this great thing here!

And away we went to check out the sled hill by the house!

I took some pics of Ry, Vance tried to get some pics of me and I of course took some pics of the scenery. ;)

4H

Ryan does electronics/electricity project stuff with Vance. Vance loves teacing him this stuff, since he's loved it since he was a little kid and it's been his career field for so long. And Ryan loves that he can make something that works, turns on and lights up from a "paper clip and chewing gum." Haha!



I take Ryan and Harley to dog training classes on Wed. nights. At the last major turn before the fairgrounds, Harley knows where we are going and starts going nuts. He loves it! Well, he loves seeing the people and the dogs. He also loves the chicken jerky treats he only gets during training! ;) But he hates the cold concerte floor! He balances on his tail most of the time instead of completely sitting down. It's pretty hilarious!


Ryan is enrolled in several outdoor/wildlife projects so we go to several places for these types of activities. Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in the middle of Denver, has a lot of really great free programs, that's where we were at this day.


Ryan was "helping" the cattails spread their seeds.


We had been to a photography program and were walking around the lake afterwards.

He took some really good pictures that day. . . . .






The outdoor/wildlife projects he's in are:
Wildlife: Small Game
Outdoor Adventures: Camping
Outdoor Cooking and Living
Forestry











This one I call "Ryan's harem"
but don't tell him I said that, lol!




We also go to Barr Lake State Park in Brighton, where we are volunteers. They have a lot of great free programs too!










His other 4H projects are ~
Photography (almost done)
Dogs (Wed nights, then show on Aug)
Electronics/Electricity
Shooting Sports: Air Rifle, Air Pistol, .22 Rifle (Tue nights then competition in July)
Consumer Savvy
Financial Champions
Fooods & Nutrition: Cookies
Heritage Arts: Needlework
Ceramics (if our ceramics leader can ever get through the snow to her shed before he goes to KS for the summer!!!)
Bicycle (done)
Leadership

More to come...........

~Christmas Ornaments~

I'm putting away the Christmas ornaments, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to post some pics of the Christmas ornament needlework I have done in the past.





I designed this one myself.


This is the front.







Here is the back.












This is the first one I ever finished for our tree. It came from a pattern in a book and took a long time to finish. I had a hard time working on the black cloth.

These next two are ones I designed from quilt block patterns. I like to do quilt block patterns in cross stitch because cross stitch is so much quicker than quilting. ;)

I try to match the name of the block to the theme for the year, if I can. I have only done 2 so far, but I plan to continue this.

The first one is "Ruins of Jericho" done in 2003.

This next one I did in 2004 for my dad who passed away on Nov 30, 2004.

It is the "Memory Wreath."

Hussif Tutorial

From Camille's Place ~

My Hussif Tutorial

Crazy Quilting Lesson

Crazy Quilting Lesson from Annie Whitsed ~

Table of Contents

Needlecase Tutorial

From the Hand Embroidery Group~~

Needlecase Tutorial by Cara Switzer

What Color Purple are You?

You Are Grape

You are bold and a true individual. You are very different and very okay with that. People know you as a straight shooter. You're very honest, even when the truth hurts. You are also very grounded and practical. No one is going to sneak anything by you. People enjoy your fresh approach to life. And it's this honesty that makes you a very innovative person.

What Color Purple Are You?

Sledding into the New Year

Well, we brought in the New Year the old fashioned way - we went sledding!



We had a blast, Ryan, Harley and I. I even managed to go down the hill a time or two. Granted, I didn't get to see much of the trip, but Ryan was able to get one shot of me.






Harley had started out in my lap for most of the trip, but when I got really out of control, I let go of him. Good thing too, because I ended up on my belly in the snow! :)
We've had plenty of snow and icicles here lately, even been snowed in a time or two.

Let's see, can I remember December.......

Well, December 2 I drove Ryan to KS for his holiday visit with his dad. While he was gone, I worked my regular nanny job and also helped out my nursing agency by taking on a few CNA shifts.


Vance, my dh finished his bachelor's degree,
so we went out to dinner to celebrate.



Right after that, I went to the Christmas program put on by the children I had taught in a multi-age preschool for 2 years. It was wonderful! The very next day, Dec. 16, I drove to KS again, to pick Ryan up and bring him home! :)


Then, the real fun began!


Sun Dec 17 - shopping, libraries to get videos for.....
Mon Dec 18 - Ryan had his tonsils and adenoids removed
Tue Dec 19 - Vance had back surgery (triple laminotomy and discectomy)
Wed Dec 20-Fri Dec 22 - I got snowed in at work by the infamous Holiday Blizzard!



Luckily, my employer was able to drive me home. We shoveled the driveway and a path to the road and he was able to drive me home on Friday afternoon. Ryan was a huge help in taking care of Vance, he always is! He has such a servant's heart!


I was also blessed with having paid vacation from the time I got home until Wed Jan 3, 2007! Woohoo! Good thing, too, cuz we had another snowstorm the very next week!

We had a nice Christmas, had a friend over for dinner. We managed to get back up to my employer's house to retrieve my car the day before the second snowstorm. Also got in more shopping! Then, we had more snow just this past week and are expecting more again next weekend! The snow from the blizzard never fully melted before we got pounded the 2nd time. The roads were still a mess. Luckily by the 3rd snow most for the roads were clear so all we had to deal with was the new snow.

Like I said up top, we rang in the New Year by going sledding and hurting our tailbones! Both of us! Mine is still giving me fits, as I've just learned I have arthritis in my spine (apparently hereditary). I will see my PCP tomorrow to see what we are going to do about that. Right now it's Motrin, heat, and light exercise, whatever I can tolerate. Feel free to send me suggestions. I have to ask my PCP if I can take MSM, glucosamine or chondriotin because of other meds I'm on. I don't like the idea of acupuncture besides which my healthcare is all VA and I don't think they are that progressive yet. :)