Sunday, May 31, 2009

I ♥ Faces

YAY!! It's time again for PETS week! I thought I would go a bit different this week. I guess folks are tired of my kitty cats...so I thought I would throw in some pictures of my husband's 90 gallon fish tank. I can't wait to see all the PETS pictures at I Faces this week!


Monday, May 25, 2009

I ♥ Faces-Silhouettes

This week on I Faces the theme was silhouettes. This was a difficult category but once I found the right picture I had fun with it. I played around with the editing and by the end I fell in love with this shot...This is Ryan feeding her horse Rusty, go to www.iheartfaces.com to see other silhouette entries like this one!

Monday, May 18, 2009

I ♥ Faces-Favorite Faces--Special Contest Week


Oh how I have missed I Faces! The good news is that while I have been absent, I have taken tons of new photos. This one is one of my "new favorites". We just brought home our new kitten last week and this is a shot of Ryan the first time she held her baby...

Head on over to I Faces to check out this week's entries. We have a special contest going on this week...see the disclaimer below or go to the site for full details.

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I Faces web sites.

Relay Post (finally...)

Relay for Life 2009
This was my second and final year as co-chair. I had a wonderful time but I am ready to go back to being a plain old team captain....and steering committee member. I keep thinking maybe now I can cause the problems instead of having to solve them...hahaha. The above shot is from the Survivor's reception. The committee did a beautiful job and it looked fantastic. Ty's quilt was set up in the corner with plants and lattice work and it made a beautiful picture back drop for all of our Survivors.

Kevin and I at the campsite. I would sneak over to FFL whenever I had a chance. I hated not being on site to help out but I left the team in great hands and everything went smoothly. We boosted our team totals by a few thousand dollars. Not too shabby for one night's work...
Daddy and the cow...enough said :)
a shot of the masses...
I'm the little orange dot on the stage...can you see me?
This is the Survivors lap. Makes me cry every time. I still remember Jen and Ty taking their first lap...that was so long ago. This man in the hat made me cry this year...he was all alone, no one walked with him and it took him twice as long as everyone else. He's actually walking with the kids lap, they had caught up to him. This picture also makes me smile because you can see someone reaching out to pat him on the back...THAT is what Relay is all about!
Rob and Jared are giving a Survivor a lift during the Survivor lap.
Me and my bubby...the kids we SO excited to stay overnight this year.
Me looking official and Ryan waiting for the Mr. & Miss Relay contest. She didn't win but she was a crowd favorite...
This about sums up Relay...We had wiped our schedule clean for the next couple days and had recorded shows to watch in our vegitative states. We all came home and crashed on the couch...some harder then others :)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Chattahoochee Gold Banquet

Thursday night we had our banquet for Gold. The kids had a great time hanging out with their friends. We had no major awards come to the HomerHouse but I think Jared got fired up for next year. He has made some awesome friends this year and that makes me SO happy. Ryan just had a blast, from beginning to end,she is ready for long course to start. It's so funny to watch her with all the "big" girls.Ryan and "her" coach--Coach Falco
We couldn't find Ryan before dinner, well-she was with the big girlies. They are all such sweeties and awesome swimmers too!Ryan with her first year pin. She was sad about no ballet recital this year, but after going to the banquet, all was forgotten.Jared, Aiden and Anthony. These boys are going to make an awesome relay team someday, I wish Jose was pictured, he could take the freestyle leg! I can totally see them going up to get an award in the near future...

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Three days until Relay

I loving Memory of Donna Spaulding
October 31st 2005
Some of you know what I do for a living, a volunteer living that is. If you don't know by now we really need to do lunch cause it's been way too long. This is my second year as the Chair of the Cobb County Relay for Life. Yes, I am crazy about it. Yes, I annoy people by always bringing it up in conversation. BUT, I can bet that every one of you wants to find a cure for this awful disease. It put me on this path and though I am grateful, I still hold a grudge. My HOPE is that one day my grandkids will say, "what was Cancer?" and Rob, our kids and I can tell them that it is something they don't have to ever worry about because we helped find a cure.
In Loving Memory of Ty Harvey
April 5th 2007

THIS is your personal invitation to come out to our Relay May 8th and 9th at Jim Miller Park (the Cobb county fair grounds). Granted I may not be able to greet you at the campsite since I may be on the main stage talking to 10,000 of my closest friends, but I will know that you came out to support me and our little team that could. Rob, all three kids, my parents and my brother will be there as team members. So if you haven't seen us in a while this is a great chance to catch us all in one spot! :)In Loving Memory of My Grandma Lou
December 1, 2004

Friends for LIFE started 6 Relays ago with just 10 people. A handful of those originals are still around to witness our groundbreaking year. In that short period of time we will have raised over $200,000.00, just our team, in the fight against cancer! Words could not even come close to what the Relay experience is like, so please try and come out to the track. It is a night like no other with plenty of time to Celebrate (games, food, activities, Survivor reception, survivor lap), Remember (Butterfly release, Luminary Ceremony) and to Fight Back (every dollar counts towards finding a cure).

Here is the Schedule in case you can make it out to the Track:
FRIDAY MAY 8th
5:30 pm Survivors/Caregiver Reception Begins
6:00 pm KidZone activities and fundraising (food, items for sale, face painting, games, etc)
7:00 Opening Ceremonies, Butterfly Release, Survivor Lap, Kids Walk Lap and Team Lap
10:00 pm Luminary/Torch bearer ceremony
SATURDAY MAY 9th
7:00 am Closing Ceremony
Working hard to find a cure for my future and theirs
since 2004
This is my last year as chair, but I will always be the captain of Friends for LIFE. If you cannot make it out this year, please try and come in 2010...I'll be there for sure! I made a comment to my folks that "just a few more weeks and I'll be done with relay (meaning serving as chair)". Jared overheard and with great anticipation he asked, "they've found a cure?!?!" No, not yet, but won't that be a great day! We are making so much progress, every day, every dollar. Did you know that 90 lives a DAY are saved by work that the American Cancer Society is doing? That could be you, a loved one, a child or a friend. If you would like more information please click on the Cobb County Relay for Life link to the right. If you would like to know more about Friends for LIFE please click that link as well. If you have any questions, please email me or give me a call

Monday, May 4, 2009

Happy Birthday Jared!

Happy 10th Birthday Jarebear!!
Can I still call you that? I'm thinking that's probably not very "cool" anymore...too bad ;)
Mikey and his family go to the same Mexican joint every Friday. We join them when our sports schedule allows. Mikey's birthday is in March and for his special dinner they brought out the "big red hat" and sang the birthday song. Since March the boys have been planning on Jared's bithday being here as well. I guess part of the fun is that the guy behind you whacks you on the head through out the entire thing and then at the end they smash your face into your dessert. Funny when you're ten. Wonder if they do the same thing to adults.The BEST part was that it was Cinco de Mayo Friday so the place was jam packed. So many people were clapping and singing, it was really great, very memorable! :) He had a blast...
....and loved getting smooshed into his dessert.The boys (Mikey and Anthony) were spending the night so we headed back home to play, have gifts and dessert for those who did not already wear theirs.
Like Jared's "cookie cake"??...I crack myself up. He actually LOVES these things from Publix. Not my favorite but all the little people love them. Good thing they have them in the bakery all the time, that's what he insisted on for his birthday. I had cupcakes on standby just in case. Ok, they were really for me-Publix vanilla frosting on vanilla cupcakes--my criptonite.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Haley Visit

Happy Haley Day!
We got to go have a visitation with Haley today, we have waited for quite a while to see this little one. I love the look on Ryan's face when Christina brought her out. This picture of her holding Haley is so precious! Can you see the excitement?!
This was the last moment that she stood still. Haley is definitely going to keep us on our toes. She has a ton of spunk and Ramsay will have one energetic playmate :). I think Ryan was a bit upset that she didn't want to sit and cuddle, but for the kittens-it was playtime!
Watching what's going on. One of the few non-blurry pictures.
She is such a beautiful kitten, it will be really neat to watch her grow!
Her eyes are still the Baby color but soon they will turn into a beautiful blue, almost like a Siamese.
Thank you Mama Christina for letting us come visit!
Just a couple more weeks and then she can come home :)