Reflecting on a Busy Week

It has been a very busy week for me. Report card time is upon me and I have spent the whole week getting assessments finished and getting all my ducks in a row to be able to get my report cards completed on time. It has been a week of long nights at work and I was happy to see the weekend come.

Of course the weekend was not quite as relaxing as it could have been. On Saturday morning at 8:30 I had to be at school because I am taking a course through the county that started yesterday. This class is going to be so informational and helpful to me in creating a more harmonious classroom. It is a class on a system called Classroom Learning Systems and it is based on goal setting and giving the students more say in how things work in your classroom on a daily basis. It is really great because it gives a lot of responsibility to the kids, even at a young age like my little guys. Anyway, I am really excited about this class and what new things I am going to learn throughout the course of this class.

After spending the morning and afternoon in class, Shawn and I went to see a movie. We had gone to the movies a week ago to see Juno, but it was sold out when we got there so we ended up seeing Alvin and the Chipmunks instead (such a cute movie). So last night we headed out early to try and catch Juno and we were successful. Such a smart and funny movie. The dialogue was great and the whole story was just entertaining.

Then today I slept in a little and then Shawn and I decided that we would go to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. We took Courtney with us and we all had such a great time. It is such an interesting place, there was tons of great, unique artwork. Their current exhibit was all about faith and religions and so it was interesting to see how that was interpreted by the different artists. I enjoyed it because it was a lot of local artists and not the same type of art you would see in a regular art museum. They had a second building that was full of very unique things. There was a giant Divine statue, dedicated to the local actress who played a huge role in many of John Waters' films, which was so cool to see. There was also an exhibit dedicated to the painted screens found in Baltimore in the row homes in the city, so cool. Overall, it was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go back again when the exhibits change. After the museum we had dinner at Johnny Rockets, which Courtney was excited about and then ColdStone for dessert.

This week promises to be just as busy, but there are only 2.5 school days for the kids this week, with 2 days of professional development at the end of the week. So the workload should be a little lighter this week with the only focus being getting my report cards finished. Then a nice long weekend!

Here are a few pictures from today, the three of us playing in the sculpture garden at the museum:

Back to Scrappin'

Well it has been a very, very long time since I have done any scrapbooking. However, after about 10 months, I finally got some pages done. I am about a year behind on scrapping, not to mention the California album from 2005 I have yet to finish, or the Alaska album I have barely started. But I am hopeful that I will be able to catch up in no time.

I joined the Calendar Girls again this year on 2Peas for the fourth year. This is a group of women who conduct a monthly scrapbooking challenge based on the Designing With...Page a Day calendar, which has a different layout for scrapping inspiration for every day of the year. So I am hoping that this will give me some motivation to get all caught up one of my favorite hobbies.

So here are the two pages I worked on last night...Enjoy!

Courtney Turns 13!

Courtney celebrated her 13th birthday (which was Friday) with her friends on Saturday at Bounce Party. Bounce Party is this big warehouse filled with moon bounce activities. There was a boxing ring, a barrel of monkeys moon bounce, a few obstacle courses, and a giant slide (like at the carnival). Everyone seemed like they had a great time. It really was a lot of fun for all ages. Shawn and I were invited to the party and he took a lot of great photos that can be seen here...Courtney's Party

So to Miss Courtney...Happy Birthday and welcome to your teenage years!

Photo Goal for 2008

This year instead of making New Years Resolutions that I would not follow through with, I have decided that I would like to make a list of Things to Do in 2008. On this list one of my goals, is related to my photography. After taking the photo class this fall and learning a lot, I have realized upon picking my camera up after a brief hiatus from taking pictures, I had lost a lot of what I had learned and do not want this to continue.

So after doing a little bit of research and finding a little inspiration, I have decided that my photo goal for the year will be to take a photo every single day this year. Being a scrapbooker, this will be helpful in that arena also (where I also have some major goals for the year). So in the interest of trying to get this jumpstarted, I am going to go back and post a few pics I have taken this month already with the official count starting today.

I will post my photos on my Photo Blog, at least once a week if not more often, and will also post them in my Picasa Photo Gallery
and my Flickr Gallery

So I hope that you will check out some of photos from the year and maybe be inspired to set a similar goal for yourself. Happy 2008!

Welcome 2008!

Well I can hardly believe 2007 is already gone, so very bittersweet. This year for New Years Eve, we had Courtney's 13th birthday party (omg!) and welcomed the new year with family at my house. It was a great time. First we celebrated Courtney's birthday with a house full of people, mostly family and the Eichners and Bounds'. Then after the party died down a little, we played the Wii and welcomed the New Year! Not terribly exciting, but it was a nice evening. Not much else to say...Happy New Year to everyone! May 2008 bring you love, happiness, health, and good fortune.