First Magical Day!! 9/4/11

We woke up bright and early and headed to Disney's Pop Century. It was really big. I loved all the huge decor outside of the buildings. We had a room right across from the big wheel and next to the Mickey phone. We were in the 70s section of the hotel. We checked in and went to our room to put up our luggage. I packed a backpack with all the things we could possibly need plus my camera. We loaded the bus to Magic Kingdom for our first day at a Disney park! It was so nice not having to drive to the parks. We walked in the gates and the park was all decorated up for fall! It was truly magical!! The first thing we did was go get our buttons. A My 1st Visit for Mana and a Happy Birthday one for me!! Everyone was so nice and asked Mana how she liked her first visit and told me Happy Birthday. Mana told me that I could not wear my button until my actual birthday. She just did not want me to get any of the attention!! Hee Hee. I was just trying to turn it into my birthday week! What is so wrong with that? We went to the Tea cup ride. You see, Mana and I are not big ride people. I like my feet firmly planted on the ground. We got in the cup and Mana and her dad started spinning it like crazy. I had to stare at Brian's shirt not to get sick. Mana loved it. Then she met her first character - Alice. Then we rode the carousel and Its a Small World. By the end of that, Brian was getting tired. We went to dinner at Tony's Town Square. It was pretty good. Brian went back to the hotel for a nap and Mana and I stayed for awhile longer. We saw the Celebration parade.

We visited the princesses, Mickey and Minnie. Then we watched the electric parade. I loved all the lights. By the end of it, we were tired and decided to head back to the hotel. We had an early breakfast to go to in the morning. We missed the big parade at the end of the night and the big fireworks show with Tinker Bell flying out of the castle. That gives us something to look forward to the next trip!!! More to come. Here are some pictures from Mana's first day ever at Magic Kingdom!!!

Family Vacation 9/3/11

Brian and I have been married for 18 years and we have never been on a week long vacation. We have had several weekend trips but no extended ones. I have been wanting to take Mana to Disney for a long time now. She is eleven. We decided that now would be the best time to go. We left the house at 5:00 am and headed to Orlando, Florida. I had printed out a google map for directions. It took me off an exit that was a SunPass toll only. I saw that at the last second and ended up having to go through it. I could not back up the exit. There on a black and white sign, was $100 PENALTY. SunPass Only! I am sure the camera has a lovely picture of me screaming! Can't wait for that bill. We were not checking into our Disney hotel until Sunday so we stayed on International Drive. The last time I was at Disney was for Grad Night in 1990. We decided to go early so we could go to SeaWorld. We went on Saturday. I love SeaWorld. I think it is my favorite. I have always wanted to swim with the dolphins, and I still would like to. One day I will. Petting them and seeing the shows were amazing. We rode the IRide bus system to and from the park. I did not like that at all. We had to stand up and hold on to the hand straps. I was afraid I was going to fall into someone's lap when we went around the turns. I am glad we got a seat on the way back to the hotel. The hubby's wallet dropped out of his pocket while on the bus and we did not know until we were back at the hotel. I had to call the bus office and someone had turned it in. They also stole $140 out of it. This was an adventurous trip to say the least. It doesn't end there. Here are some pictures from SeaWorld. More to come in the next post!!!!

August Update

Mana prepared for two auditions. Both were in the same week. She auditioned for "Thoroughly Modern Millie" at TCT and "Willy Wonka" at BCT. She made both shows. She is in the ensemble for Modern Millie and an Oompa Loompa for Willy Wonka. She is so excited. It will be a busy schedule but a fun one!

Homeschooling is good so far. A lot more work then last year. She is adjusting to the work load. We both are not adjusting to waking up at a reasonable time.

2011 God & Country

Our church's God & Country Celebration was Sunday night. I am so glad Mana and I were able to go. Everyone did an amazing job putting it together. The food was great, the singing was wonderful and the fireworks were amazing! We even had a car show. Two of Mana's friends came and they walked around together. I took pictures all night. I was having so much fun taking pictures, that I ate really late and about missed the fireworks. I managed to get outside and make a few shots. Wish I had my tripod, but I really do not like lugging it around with me so I left it at home. I thank everyone that worked to make the night a wonderful one. They worked really hard planning, setting up, working during and taking down afterwards. Just wanted to let them know that they all did a great job and they are all appreciated!!

2011 VBS Set

This was my sixth year painting the VBS set at my church. It is something that I really enjoy doing. Most of the years, I have had a few helpers come and paint with me, including art students and friends. This year meant the most to me because my own daughter was old enough to join in and help me paint. We had a lot of fun together, planning and painting. She did a wonderful job and I am very proud of her. She is becoming a great artist. I am so glad I get to watch the artistic abilities continue to be passed down through out the generations. My grandmother and mom were both amazing artists. My grandmother painted mostly in oils. Beautiful landscapes. I remember my mom painting the background sets for my sister and my dance recitals. She also painted the most amazing little paintings to go in dollhouses. I so wish I could find those. I have a few of them. I am sure I put them in one of those safe places that you are sure to remember where you put them! Well until next year, here is some pics of this year's VBS set.

Catching up

I guess I will continue to try blogging. I have not been that great at it, plus no one leaves any comments anyway. So to try and make two months shorter, here is my effort. Finally finshed up our first year of homeschooling. It was a long one with everything that went on this year. We ended up only being two weeks finshing after the public schools. I did not think that was bad at all. Brian's 4th surgery, on his arm, for the fistula, finally went well and they pulled the port out of his chest. Now he can go swimming with us! I have a job now. My friend got her license for our photography business, so now I am a photographer/graphic designer for her! I got a new Nikon D7000 camera. We have finally started to recover from the hubby being unable to return to work. Mana has started voice, drama and ballet lessons for the summer. It finally seems like life is getting back to what we would call normal. Or as close as it will ever be. I finished up the VBS set for my church and the storybook for the ballet. Was not sure if I was going to be able to do those two things this year. Glad I did. My computer died last Monday. I got a new one last night and I am now trying to type and find my way around a laptop. Not so great at that yet. Tried to load photoshop CS2 and found out that it is not compatable with Windows 7. I have to upgrade now. It will be about two or three weeks until I can even order it. No editing pictures for awhile. :(

We have had a lot of deaths in the family. My grandmother's brother, my Aunt's husband, and yesterday my Paw Paw died. I got to go down and stay with him in the hospital a couple of days before he passed. I loved his grin and I am glad I got to tell him that! The funeral will be Saturday.

Well, that about sums it all up.

My Helper

I had a project that I needed to do for a lady today. Brian had his surgery to rework his fistula this morning. I thought that we would be home by lunch. It turns out that we were at the hospital for eleven hours. It was a very long day! I still needed to finish this project. I am painting some signs for a new store that opened today. Mana wanted to help me so I let her. She did an excellent job and was a big help. We got all the signs done in a reasonable time.

Tornadoes

Here are some pictures of the damage from the April 27 tornadoes.
Mana took these!

A Wonderful Family

Last Wednesday, I got the opportunity to photograph a very special family. Mana has taken dance from this sweet lady for several years. I was thrilled when she asked me to take some shots of her and her kids!! I had two of my friends with me to help out! Thanks Sherry and Lisa!! We make a great team!

A funeral and two prom photo shoots

Saturday, April 9 was a very busy day. My Uncle passed away and his funeral was that morning. It was out of town. We got back in town just in time for me to meet up with my friend Sherry to shoot a beautiful couple before their senior prom. They were really fun to shoot. The guy kept Sherry and I laughing the whole time. After that I went home and dropped my hubby off and changed batteries in the camera. I then went to meet some friends of mine to take their before prom pictures. All went well. I was extremely tired at the end of the day.

My sweet friend Heidi and my adorable daughter.CJ and Zena's picturesAdriana and Michael's picturesMy sweet girl

The Return of Scrapbooking!!

I use to do a lot of scrapbooking! Every Friday night, my friend Anggie and her daughter would come over and the girls would play and we would scrap. I miss that so much. We had the best conversations those nights. They wouldn't be over until way past midnight, but we never cared what time it was. We would paper scrap on those nights since I have printed pictures of when Mana was little. On other days, I had started a digital scrapbook for her 1st grade year. I was about done with it when I lost all her 1st - 4th grade pictures. I was not one for backups!! I have learned my lesson well! Now I have my pictures backed up in two different places. I have been downloading free scrapbook papers and elements for a long time now. (I lost all that also!) I have finally scrapped my first page since I lost everything. I enjoyed making my first page and look forward to doing others really soon.

Just had to share!! :)

Background paper and elements came from
scrappingsisters.blogspot.com
from the kit - Got Game Tennis.

Spring Photoshoot

I took spring pictures of my friend's little girl and niece this morning. I have not taken any pictures for awhile now except for the pageant. It was great to be able to take their pictures. We had a lot of fun and got home right before it started raining!

AC giving Mana some love!

BCT Spring Break Intensive

This week was Spring Break. Mana went to BCT Spring Break Intensive all week. It was from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. She had the best time. She got to see all her friends again that were in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with her. A friend from her school she attended last year was also there. That was a nice surprise. She had music, dance, arts & crafts, monologue, puppetry and drama classes. She got up every morning before me and got ready to go. I know she loves it when she does that!!

Mana and Mrs. Kristy White (Music teacher)Set design by Mana's group