Memory Lane

My goal is to eventually scan every photo I took of my kids via film and compile them on to a CD for each of them to have. It will take quite a while but the effort is so worth it and it is sooo much fun to look at the pictures once again. Here are a few of my sweet memories.

The kids are now teens and the pup, well he's now our lovable geriatric
Freckles whom we adore!

CHOP Parkway Run for Pediatric Cancer

We did the walk and run (hubby and I walked and the two kids ran a 5K) yesterday on JFK Parkway in Philadelphia. Although I don't have any pictures to document (it was raining the whole time so I didn't bring my camera), you couldn't dampen the spirits of the 6500 people who turned out for this wonderful event. In this time of not so good stuff going on in our world, it is encouraging to witness what we did yesterday - people coming out because they care..... My son, Danny, ran the 5K in 25 minutes - not to shabby for someone who hasn't run a distance like that since last years event, and also he completed the race in sneakers that were two sizes too small. Colleen did well also, coming in at 33 minutes. I'm proud of both of them for wanting to be a part of this great cause.

It was a good day despite the crummy weather.

No Nor'easter Came

Aside from basically humid, drizzly weather, it's been calm here weatherwise. Love to know how the weather forecasters could be thaaaat wrong, but they were!

I think my kids are getting a bit tired of my camera. What do you think? Any suggestions on how to keep them happy for my random photo sessions would be greatly appreciated.

I missed the debate last night. I wanted to watch so I could be more informed but I had to go out. Apparently, McCain started off rather weak but improved as the debate progressed. Obama sounded good throughout and, according to my husband, maintained eye contact with McCain whenever he spoke.

It's going to be a very tough decision for me this year. Very confusing.

I baked a cake tonight - supposedly it's the same recipe used at Liberty Tavern in Disney World. It's called the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake. It's cooling now and we will try it tomorrow night at my friends' birthday celebration here. It was awesome when I had it on vacation. Here's hoping the recipe tastes close to the original.

O'Hara Runs and Walks for Danny

This is what my family and many others will be doing on Sunday - our fifth year taking part in Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's fight against pediatric cancer!! Whahooo! Click on link below to see the boy that started us and many others on making this an annual event. Danny is friends with and goes to school with my oldest. Here's hoping this year it will be bigger and better than ever. We will also be thinking of our friend, Kody, down south and his upcoming surgery and how wonderful it is that there is the technology available to his docs to help keep Kody feeling good.

We will also remember Lauren B. who left us at age 3, Christi T., and many, many others who earned their wings.

http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=20138527&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=635409&rfi=8

Go TEAM DANNY!

Bracing for our Nor'easter!

Welp, it appears we've got tons of "moisture" heading our way tonight, tomorrow, and I think into Saturday. While it's not the best weather for hiking, biking, fishing, or doing yardening, it will be perfect weather to sit and try to improve my photo/Photoshop skills. Re-read all of PW's entries about aperture and shutter speed and tomorrow we will be looking forward to Miz Booshay's entry on printing. Very much looking forward to that. Tonite I just fooled around with enhancing - made Colleen's eye twinkle a bit.

Maybe over the next couple of days, I could practice capturing rain drops freeze frame??

Kinda like the freeze frame shooting fountain in Epcot here.

Equal time for my son.....

Freckles

Sunny day on the deck, one resting beagle - perfect combination for a photo op!

Miranda Day Bag

Here is my first foray into sewing something other than a quilt! My sister and I took a sewing class together that produced this as the final product. Pretty fancy shmancy I think... I take pride in the fact that I only made one error in cutting. I can't cut and talk at the same time...actually I cannot do ANYTHING and talk at the same time. I've been known to make baking, cooking, and sewing errors just about 100% of the time if I am carrying on a conversation simultaneously. You will never see me on a cell phone while driving!!! My kids know that they must play receptionist to me if I'm driving and my phone rings.

Well, I was talking to my sister when I sliced into my fabric 1/4 in too short!!! Thankfully, my instructor was able to help me make a repair and all is well. Anyway, back to my roomy, 10 pocket Vera Bradley almost lookalike bag - ta da!

Back into Quilting ..... sort of, and starting knitting soon!

I'm just posting a few pictures of projects that are actually finished or near finished. Because someone asked to see them (thanks Donna), I'm willing to show them off. Keep in mind that I haven't ventured to do anything complicated as I'm only in my 8th year as a beginner quilter.

Isn't it Just Beachy!

Next to clouds, the beach is my second favorite thing to photograph.....

Some Photos from the Summer

A couple of my great-nephew, and he truly is great! One of the most sweet, cuddly, charming little boys I have ever met.

And then, baby feet!! I took some photos of my neighbor's newborn son. Who can resist baby feet? Nobody, I tell you, nobody!

Good weekend! Lots of down time!

This weekend was the best kind of weekend - no committments to fulfill other than mass on Sunday. While I fully intended to do a bit of yard work, the heat/humidity precluded me from venturing outside to work. Soooo, I stayed inside, did my sewing homework for Thursday's class which will be the last class for making this really cute handbag. When I got the sewing homework done, I then decided to get back to one of my quilt projects. I put together the last of of the thirty blocks for my son's bed quilt. It's a pattern called "Turning Twenty" and it's made up of all the fat quarters I had in my stash plus a few more I had to purchase. It's such an awesome project in that you really have to avoid putting too much thought into pieceing it together. The idea is that it should be randomly assembled. The idea is to make a fun quilt and it truly is fun. I have several UFOs to complete (any quilter should know what that means) and if I get this quilt done, I'll have one less UFO.

Do any other quilters have several UFOs like I do???

Oh, and I found the photo my husband took of the kids and me back in May standing in the same lineup as the photo from March 2007. For fun I wanted to compare the two to see how much my son did indeed grow over the 14 months.

Hope to some day come up with some catchy items to post here. In the meantime, hello to anybody who happens to drop by blog!

Disney Memories (and my nerdy family)

We had an awesome time in Disney World two weeks ago. Lots of fun, meeting up with friends, and way too much food. It was really a vacation to remember. Here are a few snippits of the fun we had...

Mid week, first full week of school.....

I cannot believe summer has ended, well not officially by the seasonal calendar, but by the school calendar it's OVER!!!

The kids are now full throttle into school work, music lessons, and other after school activities. Mornings are tough, though, for both of them but what is really cool is watching brother and sister heading out together to the bus stop together. Danny's the little brother - I can't believe how he is growing. Actually, I guess I can as the most common mantra of his right now is "I'm so hungry". So, obviously, he's burning it off somehow and it must be by growing.

Here they are headed down to the bus stop together for the first time ever.....


Freckles is enjoying being and "only" dog now. Life is so much easier and relaxed when you don't have to worry about your little dog attacking anybody, but oh how I miss the sweet side of her. In really thinking about the 20 second outbursts she would have, and then the fact that she would just go to sleep afterwards, I wonder if she suffered some type of seizure disorder. We will never know but what we do know is that we made the right decision for Ceili. After her outburts, we could tell she definitely felt remorse - she just couldn't help herself. We truly do have some happy memories of her and although I think she was happy deep inside, she's even happier where she is now - free of her demons....

Above is a photo of Freckles that captures a single moment of how he spends most of his 24 hours - in a supine position!!!!