Hair Today....Gone Tomorrow

Our little Jack had that surfer boy look going for quite sometime. His mom struggled with cutting it - he was so stinkin' cute with those curls. Earlier this summer, they were getting ready for a Florida trip and Carrie knew that something had to give with Jack and that hair.

So they visited Aunt Colleen, and the hair was HISTORY! It's "ok" Jack - you're still a little cutie!!

Successful Summer

I just found this photo on the Wahoo Softball Website. This was the organization that hosted the four tournaments our travel team played in over the summer. Of those four tournaments, we finished 3rd in the first one and won the third and fourth tournament. As for the second one, according to the website - MOTHER NATURE was the champion. (The entire weekend was a washout).

We saw many of the same teams throughout and we were the only team to win two of the four. This photo was taken after winning the final tournament.

Latest Layouts....

Scrapbooking is just not a summer hobby. Summer is the time to take all of the great photos that you spend your winter scrapbooking. Anyway, I scrapbooked on Sunday - 8 hours to be exact and I got a few things accomplished. I spent all spring working on a project for a customer and my own family layouts fell months behind. It's a good feeling to get back to work on those and here's two that I completed - both from last September. My goal....not to fall more than a year behind!

A Week at the Beach....

Ben's mom emailed me some cute pictures from their vacation week at their summer cottage. Kelli joined them for a few days last week and it looks like she had a great time - which would include fishing for the first time. For those of you who knew my father (an avid fisherman), he would have been so proud!!!

Ben and Jack

Ben Van Fleit and Jack Urbanski are cousins. Their moms are sisters. They live in the same neighborhood. They were born one week apart. These two fight like two little puppies. They love to play pirates and Star Wars and someone always ends up hurt. These two are going to be Chrissie and Brock's ring bearers. Should we be worried???

New Wheels

Our son-in-law Joe bought a new car yesterday. The lucky recipient of Joe's old wheels is Kevin. All of this came about in the past 48 hours and not only is Kevin on Cloud 9 - so is Kelli - because now, she is the lucky recipient of Kevin's Sunfire. It's in need of a good tune-up and a front end alignment - but it's got four tires and an engine that runs and when you're 16, that's really all that matters.

As for Kevin, he had to tolerate mom and her camera as he arrived home in his Maxima. And then he was off to share his new wheels with his buddies.

Look Who Made the South Bend Tribune.....

There's an article in this morning's Tribune about local veterinary clinics seeing a rise in Lyme disease and ticks. And just look who found her way into the Tribune - it's our lovely bride-to-be.

Dr. Kim Gruber, right, examines Freddie for ticks at the South Bend Animal Clinic. He is held by veterinary nurse Chrissie Knight, at left.

Mama Mia!

Kelli and I had a fun Sunday afternoon. Did a little "back to school" shopping at Old Navy. Stopped at Barnes and Noble to use up two gift cards she was holding onto since Christmas, and then went to an afternoon matinee of Mama Mia! at Movies 14.

This was just what I needed!! A fun, feel good "chick flick" full of music and dancing and laughing. We both thoroughly enjoyed it!

http://

A Change of Heart....

Two weeks ago, we had a bride who wanted black bridesmaid dresses and calla lilies. Absolutely no roses. That was it. She had her mind set.

Earlier this week, she gave in just a little bit. Maybe a few roses interspersed among the calla lilies to add some filler. And her dress color choice had changed from black to moss green.

So this morning, I get an email that starts off like this: "Your gonna kill me". (I knew it wasn't going to be good.) She found a photo of the perfect bouquet - kind of vintage - perfect with the moss green dresses - and full of ROSES!!! Yep, you heard me - roses.

Her exact words were, "I found these flowers and I LOVE them. I dont know what color the roses are, but there are some pink in it too. And i like how it has just a couple of dark roses in there too. I think it gives it an antique look. And it would look really good in front of the moss dresses. And if i have to go all roses I don't care. I just really REALLY love everything about this bouqet."

So.....does anyone have any use for 90 peach/pink calla lilies?

(If the truth were to be known - I like these bouquets sooooooooo much better than her original choice). Just don't tell her, because we tend to not agree on too many thing with this wedding planning stuff.

I Have My Life Back.....

After five months of softball, I have my life back. It seems like I've been sitting in bleachers and a lawn chair for as long as I can remember - and eating out of a cooler and a concession stand. I can't remember the last time I really COOKED a meal.

So...........what am I going to do with myself now???

First of all, I'm going to give my house a good cleaning and then I'm going to:

• Scrapbook.
• Make wedding bouquets.
• Try to create a beautiful wedding invitation.
• Take a calligraphy class (if I can find one).
• Catch up on a month's worth of Days of Our Lives (thanks to my DVR).
• Research ideas for wedding favors and reception decorations.
• Enjoy some time with my grandchildren.
• and lose weight so I can buy a drop-dead gorgeous mother-of-the-bride dress.

It's a good thing I have eight months until she starts playing again.

The Loss of a Young One....

Our son Bobby lost a friend last week - Bill Passwater. He collapsed and died on July 9th. He was only 33 years old.

Bill was living and working in North Carolina as a member of the Penske Racing Team alongside his childhood friend, Ryan Newman.

http://www.penskeracing.com/news/index.cfm?cat_id=282&cid=18001

I remember back to those high school days with Bobby and his friends at LaSalle High School in South Bend, Indiana - and I can still see Bill with that big smile of his. He was a great big old teddy bear.

Bill was brought "home" over the weekend - back to South Bend, where he will be buried from our home parish, Corpus Christi, on Wednesday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Heather and their daughter Lyla, along with all the family and friends who must now say goodbye to this wonderful man.

God Bless You, Bill.

Wahoo Shootout

Here's some photos from our last softball tournament of the summer - the Wahoo Shootout High School Invitational in Columbia City, Indiana. Our Clay Colonials were victorious once again - winning the Championship Game by the score of 10-0 over Homestead.

Kelli played 1st base in this game. She's normally a Center or Right Fielder, but she was headed to the infield for this game.

In the on-deck circle.



I swear, the kid can't play without biting her lips!



The "meeting on the mound".

Between games, this is the norm. Find a spot in the shade, catch a quick nap and send text messages.

...then there's always the smiling pose before heading back to the field.

...and for the second time this summer, the Championship Team Photo. (Kelli is smiling, even with the ice pack on the arm).

The Last Inning of the Last Game of the Last Tournament.....

This past weekend was the final tournament for Kelli's travel team - this one in Columbia City, Indiana - and like the tournament two weeks ago, we swept right through this one to the championship.

In the bottom of the 5th inning, Kelli came to bat with two on base. She executed a perfect slap and was in the process of beating out the throw at first, when the first baseman stretched wide to catch an off the base throw and tangled up with Kelli. It happend so quickly that I couldn't tell you what happened. A couple of the fathers thought it looked like their arms got wrapped up. Anyway, there was a collision and they they both went down hard, with Kelli landing on her right arm. I was sitting near home plate and I could hear her crying. By the time I got to the fence, two of our fathers and our coach were in the dirt trying to console her. She was covered from head to toe in dirt, with tears streaming down her face. Coach Olinger told me he was just happy when he pulled off her batting glove and didn't see a bone sticking out. They eventually got her off the field and got the arm iced down. We won the game a few minutes later by the 10-run rule, got another huge trophy and the much anticipated championship t-shirt.

Kelli was in a lot of pain and in no mood to join the team for dinner, so we started for home. As we drove through Warsaw (still an hour from South Bend), we stopped at the hospital. I had a feeling our wait time there would be substantially less than at Memorial in South Bend. The staff in Warsaw were wonderful!!! Luckily the arm is not broke - the diagnosis was a severe sprain with hyper-extension. She is in an arm brace for two weeks and very thankful it's not a cast. It was nearly 10:00 before we got home and we were both exhausted.

I'll post some weekend photos a little later.

A Bride With a Mind of Her Own....

We have a bride with a mind of her own. It's becoming hard to believe that this was my easy going, thumb sucking child. When it comes to this wedding stuff - watch out!! Don't get me wrong - I do love her wedding dress. Is it what I had envisioned for her? No. Is it the dress for her? Yes. Of all my daughters, she's probably the only one who could pull off that dress and the reason is that she's tall.

The other point she drilled into me from the beginning - no tiara. WHAT??!!! But she's my princess!!!! All princesses need a tiara on their wedding day. Her response, "no tiara". So, she has on the dress and they bring out the most beautiful veil and they attach it to the back of her hair and then they bring out two white magnolia blossoms and pin them into the side. I have to admit, it took my breath away. OK - OK, maybe we can get by without the tiara.

Now, she has a vision of how she wants to wear her hair - and we are in agreement on this one. We're collecting photos and putting them into our notebook. Her sister (the hair stylist) has already informed her that she will NOT be doing her hair that morning, because she'll be part of the wedding party and will not stress out over the bride's hair. Knowing there will be at least a dozen of us at Salon Fusion that morning, I'm not worried. We'll be in good hands and the bride's hair will be beautiful!!!

Here's one idea for our suggestion book.

Remembering Back....

Bob and I met when we were high school juniors. We dated through college and eventually married. I remember all those summers - baseball games, drive-in movies and spending time with our friends. Doesn't seem that very long ago.

I look at this photo of Kelli and Ben taken on the 4th of July and and think how young they look and how fast these high school years will fly by.

Enjoy this time. You'll blink and it will be gone.

The Spoils of the Sport.....

This coming weekend is our last on the road with Kelli's travel team. Of course, it's supposed to be in the 90's. Can you tell I'm looking forward to another weekend in my lawnchair, with heat and humidity and smelly softball player feet? So, the other day I find this picture on Kelli's camera. Looks like it's one of those "self portraits". This is my child who would put a bandaid on a bruise when she was little - a major hypochondriac. Looks like this scraped knee has put her into a state of panic!!

She has toughened up over the years - had to if she was going to play softball. If it's not the knee, it's the hip. Look at this way honey, after this weekend you'll have all fall and winter to heal up before you do it again.

Perfect Dog Names....

Have you ever seen a breed of dog and think about the perfect name?

We didn't do that with our Cocker Spaniel. We decided to name him after a Beatle song and we came up with Rigby. Nothing about him reminds us of the Beatles, but we still like to sing Eleanor Rigby to him.

Some breeds just attract the perfect name - like a Chihuahua name Chico, a German Shepard named Sarge, a Bulldog named Buster, or a Boxer named Rocky.

Yesterday, after work I stopped by the clinic to see Chrissie for a few minutes and as I was leaving, a couple walked through the door with a HUGE Bloodhound. He was just shuffling along, kind of slow and Chrissie says, "Buford - is that you?" I looked at him and thought, "yep - that's a Buford". That was definitely the perfect name for that old guy.

We Have a Dress.....

We started our afternoon with lunch at Olive Garden - just us girls - one bride, one mother of the bride - four sisters (bridesmaids) - and one flower girl. Then it was off to David's Bridal for our 1:30 session.

As requested by the bride, I was not allowed to take photos. She knew they'd end up on my blog and the groom reads my blog. But, there were no rules about photographing the potential flower girl, and of course Grace couldn't wait to pose.

So, let me just say that the dress IS Chrissie. It's exactly what she wanted - very much like the original favorite she chose, but with a longer train and a little more glitter. (Total strangers were walking by, telling her how beautiful she looked). Unfortunately for ME, it was more than double the price of the original favorite. The smile on her face was too much for me as I wrote out the check. The dress has now been ordered and will take at least three months to arrive, at which point she will have another fitting to determine that it is in fact "perfect". After that, it will hang in our guest room until next spring when a few alterations will take place. We also purchased the veil and the hair accessories. This bride did not want a tiara. All I can say is that what she ended up with is beautiful and definately "her". As Carrie kept telling her, "Chrissie, you could walk down the aisle in a brown paper bag and be beautiful".

We weren't as lucky when it came to bridesmaids dresses. I should have known that her four sisters couldn't and wouldn't agree on anything. What looked good on Kelli (age 16), Carrie shot down. When Kelli and Carrie finally agreed, the twins were a "no go". At this point, I'm going to worry about my dress and let the bridesmaids fight it out.

The Church.....

This is the church where Chrissie and Brock will be married on August 22, 2009.

25 Years Ago.....

....Elizabeth Christine Knight joined our family. After four little blondes, along came a baby girl with a head full of dark hair and it stuck out CRAZY at all angles. She was my only thumb-sucker and has always been my most easy going child. Could have something to do with being Number 5 - and just being forced to "go with the flow" from an early age.

Anyway - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, my Chrissie. I love you very much!!