Camp

Julianne loved Windermere. She had a friend who got on her nerves a little (but she still loves her) but she had a ball. Her camera is acting up and she didn't take a single picture, though! That's killing me! She rolls her eyes when I ask if she might want to ever work there. She still loves our Baptist Association's camp better. Bates Creek is much more primitive than Windermere. It's much, much smaller and is only used for a few weeks each summer so it doesn't have bells and whistles. It was my favorite place on the planet when I was in school. Our church here in the city doesn't use Bates Creek so Julianne goes with the church where I grew up or with my aunt's church. She didn't get to go last year. We had some bad storms and the camp had no electricity. Shortly after that there was another storm and the dining hall blew down (my brother, Ed, poured the floor for the new one this year). I love Bates Creek for sentimental reasons, too. My Grandad and a group of boys planted hundreds of pine trees back in the 60's and they are huge trees now. I went there first when I was eight. You're supposed to be nine, but my Nanie & Grandad were working at camp during Girls' Week and they took my cousin, Mary, and me with them. Mary was eight, too. We stayed in a cabin with girls we didn't know but we got to know them fast. It was FUN! Many years ago Grandad made up a story for the camp, The Legend of John Bates. It's a spooky story and it is still being told--with many twists that Grandad never thought of. The girls in our cabin told the story the first night we were there and scared everyone. The whole rest of the week was about scared girls seeing things in the trees and a LOT of screaming! There was nothing Grandad could say to convince those silly girls that there is no John Bates. I don't remember if Mary ever went back, but I did several years while I was in youth group. I sure miss those days. Julianne was saved when she got back from camp the first year that she went. She asked Grandad what she needed to do to be saved. He prayed with her. He baptized her a couple of weeks later. It was the last baptism that Grandad ever did. I love that Julianne loves camp so much. I love that she wants to just move in like I did. I hope she's still getting more out of it than just a good time.

Julianne is off to camp. She's going with the youth group from one of her friends' churches to Windermere. I worked there for a couple of summers when I was in school but have never been there as a guest. I'm so excited for her! It's a wonderful place. I'm trying to convince her to work there next summer. I miss church camp. It was always my very favorite part of the summer. Times have sure changed, though. Now they have air conditioners in the cabins. We really roughed it--and loved it! Kids pack differently, too. We had one suitcase and our bedding. Julianne has a huge rolling suitcase, two bags, and a couple of other things. I'm not sure if either of us thought about bedding. Oops. She also has THREE chargers! She has one for her phone, one for her camera, and one for her Ipod. Amazing. We never took a single charger to camp with us. I don't think we owned anything chargeable. I remember working at Windermere and going to the payphone to call my folks collect. We had never heard of cell phones. In my early 20's I knew a couple of people with car phones. I could never imagine a day when almost everyone has a phone in their pockets. Of course we had to walk to camp, six miles, uphill both ways, barefoot......

MRH School News

This is from our school district newsletter. NO, I'm not proud!

Shew!

Recital and cheer camp are over! Now we can relax a little. The junior varsity girls won the competition at camp and got a spirit stick. Ain't they cute? The bottom picture is with her teacher, Miss Pam.

How many dancers

does it take to make a ponytail? I took some fun pictures of Julianne goofing off with her friends during recital last night. I get such a kick out of them!

Ack!

Our weekend is not going to be a restful one. This weekend is recital and cheerleading camp for Julianne. Besides I have two jobs. Recital started last night and goes through tomorrow evening. There are four performances, but J isn't going to make the matinée tomorrow (and of course that is the one that her dad & other grandma will attend). Yesterday and today I have to come home from work, get stuff done at home, pick her up at cheer camp, and go to recital. Today I also have to make cookies for concessions at recital and get the secret pal gift that we forgot for dress rehearsal on Wednesday. Last night I got there missing a couple of things she needed including black jazz shoes. I still can't find those shoes and I refuse to stress out about ONE MORE THING. My house is a wreck because I am cleaning out a closet and the landlord wants to come by in the morning. Something about the roof and the ceiling. I have to get all of that stuff back in there and clean the carpet before I go to bed tonight and make the cat disappear. I sure do look forward to Sunday! I work, but have no obligations after that. Maybe I'll make a special dinner.

I'll take more pictures tonight and tomorrow at recital. Meanwhile I do have a couple. Julianne got her new uniform and tried it on for me. She looks so cute! She took pics at camp and I swiped a cute one. The others are at recital last night.

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Since this is supposed to be a scrapbooking blog

(as if I could really stay on subject), why don't I show ya'll a couple of pages from the babybook JuJu & I made for our Abby? It's an adorable little 8x8" book and we've had fun with it. Ain't she sweet? It's amazing how much her looks have changed! Julianne did the third page.

I'm not proud or anything......

This is from my hometown newspaper:

My blog

I'm enjoying playing with this blog. Composition has never been my strong suit. Ever. I love to read more than almost anything, but I don't write. I want to so badly but it just does not come naturally to me. I hesitated to start a blog because of the writing. I don't write stories and while I have very strong opinions about the things going on in the world I could not imagine anyone wanting to read them. I joined some digital scrapbooking boards and needed a place to post pictures of the layouts that I had done to share them with the other ladies there. You can see how little focus there is so far on scrapping! There's not one darned layout yet! I've needed a place to put links for the affiliate programs in which I participate and this looks like a good enough spot for that. I always have fun playing with stuff like this. I'm having a party right now just messing with the affiliate buttons! I wish I had started sooner! I promise that this blog will look better soon as I learn more about html coding. Come back to see pictures (I take so many) of my family and read about our adventures and to shop. As long as you're not expecting Jane Austin we'll be just fine!

Dancin' Queen

Julianne had her first recital for the year last night. Her studio has two locations--a new one a few blocks from us where she takes her regular classes and a bigger one where she goes for competition team classes. The smaller studio had their recital last night. The other one will have four performances over three days--the same three days as cheer camp, of course! At the small studio Julianne is the only dancer in any of her classes, which made three recital solos plus her competition solo. I really enjoyed watching her. Her dad was there as his other daughter's mom owns the place. It was the first time J's dad has seen her dance (besides shaking her groove thang at her graduation party) and her first recital with her sister. We met some of Devin's family that we didn't know and they couldn't believe how much Julianne looks like Devin and even sounds like her and has a lot of the same mannerisms. It's funny to think that those things are hereditary and not just habits picked up from the person who raises you. It's cool. It was too dark to get pictures (I tried) and I thought I had a video of each dance, but I did something wrong! I do have a couple of dark photos and a couple of her helping her dad to roll up the stuff on the stage. I think he called it marley. I'll take better ones next time!