A sweet 16 in planning....

Taylor is 14, I know.  But I like to plan things WAY in advance.  Madison and Bailey didn't get birthday parties this year because I didn't plan early.  Jordan and Taylor got one each.  I know, I'm a bad mom.
So I am starting Taylor's Sweet 16 early.  I had thought about doing it at 15 like a Quinceanera, but I think I'd rather party like it's 1999, than go through the ceremony.  Quinceanera's have so many traditions and I'd rather not mess up a beautiful thing, so I'll do a typical American Sweet 16.  Most American traditions have been thrown out for the "modern America" so the Sweet 16 that used to be similar to the Quinceanera in it's coming out ceremony and tradition, it's crumbled into a bratty-rich-kid-slut-fest.  Or at least the one's on MTV are.  Which of course, we won't be doing.  But a lack of tradition, just have a good time- thing is perfect for me.

This is Taylor and Bridget after doing makeovers.  It's so much fun experimenting with makeup!

So I thought Taylor would be against this.  She doesn't dance, she doesn't like boys, she doesn't like parties- she is focused on preparing for her mission and graduating high school. (I know!  What happened!  I think she got mixed up at the hospital because she couldn't be MY kid!  It must be Jason's fantastic genetics.)  Taylor is not only for this party, she is excited for it!  Shocker!  Our theme is Midnight Owl Blast.  I don't know why Blast has to be in the name, other than Midnight Owl sounds dumb.  And at this point it is too late to change the name.  Because I bought a sign on the cheap.  (I love finding excellent deals!!)

Big sign for in front of the DJ on the stage.

Since we have a theme it is fairly easy going waiting for a good deal then buying the stuff.  I was able to find stuffed owls for about $4 each, most places were asking $10 for the same stuffies.  Taylor about died when she saw them.  They are cute.  No pictures of them, I recently ordered them and they haven't all arrived yet.

So she wants a candy buffet, that's when you have a table with all sorts of jars of candy.  The those who choose to can make little party bags of candy as take home gifts.  It should be really fun for everyone.  Google Candy Buffet Images and you will find 100's of pages of images to look at.

We will also have a Sundae bar.  That's basically where you are served ice cream and the toppings are put out for each person to choose what they want.

And one last thing, on each place setting I want a chocolate truffle.  Again, I'm friends with a woman who owns a chocolate store.  I don't think I could get anything but a bulk discount.  But I have 2 years to work on her. ;P

Taylor's colors will be light green, ice blue and silver. The sign is not the colors, but it's close enough.

I hope to have a corner where we can take pictures with Taylor and her friends.  I have a friend who is a photographer, so I'm hoping she will give me a deal!

I don't know if this is possible, but I'd love to get what is called a BOGO light.  It's a spotlight with a design, you see them at expensive weddings usually the initials of the couple.  They are called "Inexpensive" online, but that means about $200.  So I'm not sure if that is going to happen or not.  But a big 16 or an owl pointed at the floor would be awesome!

We will also need signs.  I found signs for free!  Only $12 for shipping....not so free.  But anyway, I can get two lawn signs with stands and shipping all together $12.  Not bad.  Those will go outside the church building at the two entrances.
And a sign for when you first walk in.  I was thinking I'd have the kids sign in on the sign itself.  But that idea is great, but who keeps that stuff?  Is she really going to be interested in it when she's 30 and having babies?  Not really, but another idea I have- that takes the party planner idea that I borrowed from online and tweeks it- Get a photo album each guest signs one page, or half a page, except in the center where a 4X6 area is blocked out.  That way when we are putting the pictures we had taken into an album (which is much more portable than a 24x36 poster) we know exactly where the picture goes.  Again, it's an idea.  We'll see how it goes.

Assigned seating is an idea I'm toying with.  It would be nice, but not necessary.  Balloons are a must!  Owl, moon and star theme center pieces, and painted cardboard cut outs to hang from the ceiling, that shouldn't be too hard.  I was also thinking of having a donations box at the front door.  Have each guest bring a new unwrapped toy to be donated to a local charity.

Another gift that we want to give out are tiny buttons.  You see teens with them all the time.  They are about 1" and have all sorts of sayings, the kids usually put them on their backpacks.  Taylor wants to stick with the owls.  Again, expensive.  So we will have to see about the buttons.

We'll have buffet style foods.  That's a can of worms I have yet to even think about!

And I have a DJ already lined up.  He is a member of our stake, so he gives discounts to his LDS family.  Yeah!

So that's what I have so far.  We have yet to purchase 99% of what we need, but I still have 2 years to save up, plan & buy.

Photography Class

So I teach a monthly photography class.  I thought it would be fun for the sisters to be able to learn how take close up of flowers at different angles, capturing interesting backgrounds.  So we went to a nursery.  It was kind difficult, because of the green house ceiling, to get certain angles.  But over all there were many nice pictures.  My camera battery was dead, so, No Problemo! I grabbed my other battery.  It was also dead!  I must have forgotten to charge them!  So I got off one picture and them helped them with the rest.

Overall I'm happy with the image.  The flowers are beautiful, the color is excellent, and the background neutral.  The grout in the bricks are actually leading the eye to the center, in a way pointing to the flowers.

I have convinced my students to take their best images and print them to be entered into a local fair.  As well as to show them off during Relief Society.

RPG's

RPG stands for Role Playing Game.  And if you know Jason then you know he loves RPG's.  When we lived in Attleboro we knew one guy who played RPG's, in our new ward, half the men in the ward play RPG's and one woman, other than me!  Can you believe it?  Don't worry guys, I won't let out your secret geekdom.  But I do have a picture of the boys that were at the house tonight.

Arthur- left, Joe- middle and Blake- right.

I and Jason also played, it was really fun!

Taylor's Retainer

I thought retainers were supposed to be uncomfortable bulky metal and plastic things.  In reality, Taylor's looks like invisilines.  They are plastic but they are more like covers for her teeth.  She only wears them at night, and you can't even see them.  The first three days are hard, because she has to wear them 24/7 except at meals and brushing.  But she says they aren't uncomfortable at all!

You can kinda see that her teeth are shiny.

Here she popped out the tops.

Braces are much better than what they had in the past.

Free blog designs

So I have this block background from "The Cutest Blog on the Block" and they are discontinuing it.  This is just a slight annoyance.  I would rather not have to change things around, because of the formatting of every single post.  When I first got this particular background, which you may or may not be able to see at this moment, I had to change the format of all my posts.  But it was early, so it wasn't that big of a problem.

The point: Why does everything have to change?  Why can't I clean my house and it magically not change, and stay clean?

Which leads to: Why can't we have magic?  I just want a magic floor and counter top.  Something that as soon as something touches it it goes into a magic spot where it can be retrieved at any point in time, excepting garbage.  Garbage should just magically be transported to the trash can.  I had to scrape up chewed gum off the floor the other day because "Someone" missed the trash can.  "Someone" either didn't notice or didn't want to clean it up because of the grossness of it.  I wish "Someone" would stop visiting our home, it would be much easier not to have to clean up after him/her.

And when I say I had to scrape up chewed gum, I mean Taylor had to scrape up chewed gum.  Because she provided the gum she graciously donned gloves and a scraper.

I will be taking pictures this week, so the blog will have some posted soon. (My laptop is giving me trouble, but it's the only computer I have that still has space for large files!)

Background is changed.  You like it or want to see more backgrounds from this site?  http://hotbliggityblog.com/
Hot Bliggity Blog

LOL, I love it!

No more braces!

Taylor got her braces off yesterday!  She looked in the mirror and said, "My teeth look big."  And really they do,  the braces used to hide most of her teeth and it will take time to get used to them.  She also has J's larger than mine teeth.  She will get her retainer in a few days and wear that for as long as the orthodontist tells her to.  Then Jordan will be ready for her braces.  She has only 2 tiny baby teeth left, one is half way out the other refuses to budge.  Which is fine because I need time to save up the $1500 deposit!  A year later it will be Bailey's turn and two years after that Madison's turn.  

Check out my website for pictures of the other kids.  I'm not sure if I have many showing their teeth in close ups.

Rebecca's Photography ~ Capture the Moment

A new website

I've got a new website!

http://rebeccasphotography.zenfolio.com

I'm putting up some of my favorite pictures, so far over 200, for sale.  I'll also be able to put clients photo's there with a secure log in so that only the family can see the images.  Protecting the kiddies!

New England Classic Tour de Cure 2010 Days 1-3

Hello All,

I realize it's been a while since I last posted. I've just had so much going on lately, I haven't had time to post. Currently, I am in a hotel room at the Attitash Grand Summit Resort Hotel in New Hampshire. Now why is this? This is because I am riding in the New England Classic Tour de Cure. It's a bike ride for diabetes research. There are two rides for the NEC Tour de Cure. One is a 2-day 150-mile bike ride from Woburn, MA to the University of New England in Maine. The other ride is the 7-day 550-mile ride through MA, NH, VT and ME. Some ask how I got involved with the Tour de Cure? Mr. Cousineau's co-worker was the team captain of "Sweet Support." She tried getting him to do the ride, and his response was, "Are you kidding me?!? I work on computers. I'm not gonna kill myself riding a bike for so many miles, but I know someone who might." He referred me, so I went and signed up for the 7-day 550-mile ride. Everyone thought it was a mistake and that I meant to sign up for the 2-day 150-mile ride. It was no mistake. I want to push myself to do my very best. Now, I ride a 10-speed Motobecane Mirage, which is about 35-years old, made in France, that I bought last year at a used bike shop in Amherst, MA, for $142 after my 10-speed Columbia USA was stolen from school. Let me tell you a little about my ride, so far...

Day 1

On Friday, July 9, 2010, I woke up right around noon and then headed to Dick's Sporting Goods to buy bike shorts, jerseys a tool kit, and some tube patch kits and spare tubes. I then headed to work in Agawam to work at Bridgeport National Bindery 3:30pm-midnight. Once I got out, I headed home and got about 2 hours of interrupted sleep. Yes, I said "interrupted" sleep, not UNinterrupted sleep. I then got up and drove myself out to Woburn, MA at 4am. We signed in right around 6am, got our jerseys and NEC Tour de Cure t-shirts, and met with our teams. We left Woburn on our bikes around 8:30am and didn't stop until we hit the University of New Hampshire, 82.37miles away. When we left Chomerics in Woburn, I was riding with the front of the pack. I was feeling really good, being able to keep up with everyone riding. But that didn't last for long. We hit a downhill not even to the first rest area and my chain fell off. I was in the middle of the pack and had to pull off to the side to put it back on, and turn my nice clean hands and brand new cycling gloves black. I put it back on and continued on. I caught up with a few people that passed me, and eventually started riding with a group of riders. We all took turns leading and kept each other going at a nice pace. Later on in the ride though, it felt like the muscles in my thighs exploded and sucked all of the energy out. It hurt so bad and I couldn't keep riding. I pulled off to the side and pulled some energy chews out of my back pocket, that I had picked up at the last rest area. Somewhere during that day, another rider saw me falling behind, so he gave me a packet of energy gel and that really helped me out a LOT! I love the stuff now and try not to ride without it! The day was great and I was glad when it was over. There was a strong feeling of accomplishment finishing the 82.37miles, seeing as how before the Tour de Cure my longest bike ride was about 40-60miles long :-P. Everyone was soaked in sweat and rain (from the thunderstorm we got caught in). We had dinner at UNH around 5pm, and then I headed to bed. Fell asleep before 7pm and woke up around 4:45am. Dang that was a good night's sleep :-).

Day 2

We had an amazing breakfast at 6am in the University of New Hampshire dining hall. After I finished packing, I found one of the riders I had been riding with the day before, and started talking to him. We ended up riding together in a group and left campus around 8:30am. Day 2 was a BEAUTIFUL day. We rode by so many beaches in our 69.78-mile ride from the University of New Hampshire to the University of New England in Maine. My favorite part was riding through York, Maine because I haven't been there in too many years. We stopped at a rest area not to far from York Beach, ME. Our group hung out there for a good 45-minutes. The weather was nice and cool, with a slight rain. The scenery was beautiful and we all had our pictures taken together in the groups we were riding with. Finally, without falling behind our group at all (until the home-stretch about 1/4mile long), we arrived in Maine at the University of New England just after 2pm. That gave us plenty of time to get ready to watch Spain defeat the Netherlands 1-0 and become the 2010 World Cup Champions!!! At dinner that night, I wasn't too hungry so I only had some pasta and rice. I headed to bed after talking on the phone with family. But the room was so stuffy and hot, I couldn't get to sleep and ended up waking up 3 times in the middle of the night, sick as a dog and sweating like crazy. I did not sleep well at all that night.

Day 3

When I finally woke up, it was so difficult to pack up and go eat breakfast because I felt so sick. I didn't think I was going to make it across campus to the dining hall for breakfast without passing out or vomiting. I ended up riding my bike to breakfast, but only eating half of a pancake and a bowl of fruit loops. That was the worst breakfast I've ever had. I then went to the mechanic, had my front derailleur adjusted, and found a cyclist slowly straggling out for the day's ride. His name is Bella (sp?). He's been riding in the Tour de Cure for a couple of years now, and we rode and talked together for a little bit before I picked up my pace and made my way to the first rest area a bit quicker. About 4-5miles before the rest area, I met Tim. He coached me along, got me to pick up my pace and encouraged me to keep going. Later on in the day, I came to find out that he's a soccer referee!! He and I had a great long conversation as we made our way up the hills and to the Attitash Grand Summit Resort Hotel in New Hampshire. When checking in, the hotel didn't have my name on the list (just like the day before at the University of New England). So Tim went to get Ryan, the coordinator of the NEC Tour de Cure, and even used his own credit card to verify me checking into a room! I ended up getting a room all to myself, with 2 couches, a big flat screen TV, a refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and stove, and a bed that folds down out of the wall!! This hotel is amazing!!

I've met so many awesome people while on this ride! Most of them I haven't mentioned in the previous paragraphs, but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate all they've done for me. These people are AMAZING! They helped me clean up my bike (actually, they did it for me while I took a nap), fixed my bike (made adjustments), and give me the motivation to keep moving forward. Everyone has told me that I'm unbelievable for riding a heavy, old bike with no clip-in pedals and riding in only indoor soccer shoes. My seat post is frozen and can't be moved, so my seat is too low, putting a lot of strain on my knees and thighs. And somehow, I'm still able to keep up with the riders that paid thousands of dollars for their bikes! Everyone has told me how impressed they are with me and that I'm doing twice as much work as everyone else and am out-riding my bike. Most have said that if I had a new bike and the right gear, I'd be a monster flying down the road! They've told me plenty of times that I'm crazy, but they're so proud of me for doing what I am; riding 550-miles for diabetes, keeping up with the rest of the riders on an antique bike. Tonight, one guy actually offered to sell me one of his old bikes that he bought back in 1994 for over $1,000, for only $50!! I'm going to have to get his number and take him up on that offer!!

Well, it's time to go down to the laundry room and get my clothes out of the dryer. Then I have to rest up for tomorrow's 97.03-mile ride from Attitash Grand Summit Resort Hotel in New Hampshire to Capitol Plaza Hotel & Conference Center in Vermont. I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow's LONG journey up what they call Crawdord Notch (sp?). I here it's killer and not many will make it up. If I'm still living tomorrow night, I'll try to get back on here and post about the day's ride. Wish me luck!!

Oh, one last thing.... If anyone wants to sponsor me for riding (pledge money for American Diabetes Association), you can do so at http://main.diabetes.org/goto/manning_rides. I'm still a couple hundred dollars short of my goal to raise $2,500 for the ADA and I need to raise the rest of the money and turn it in by August 15, 2010, or I'll have to pay it out of pocket, and I just can't afford that. Thank you to all those who support me on this ride!!