And this is Karen

My oldest child is doing well. She is happily married and raising a beautiful little family. Seth is 6 and Stella is 6 months old. She and Joe have just bought their first home and are in the process of acquiring those essential things you need in a house and will be moving soon to Saginaw, Tx. She has been fortunate enough to stay home the last year and half with her kids and I believe everyone involved has benfitted from it. Although losing her job was traumatic at first, it all worked out. She plans to begin job hunting again once they get settled in their new home.

Karen keeps us entertained with her facebook updates and her daily adventures with her children. There is never a dull moment at her house. She likes me to take pictures of them which I love.

I am so proud and happy with the woman she has become. She is a wonderful mother. She is best friends with her sister. She fills my heart.I am also so proud of the way she ferociously defends her kids and looks out for other children, too.

Look, I'm back

As promised, let me tell what is going on with the girls. I will talk about Allison today.

Allison has finished up her first year of teaching physics at Colleyville Heritage High School. She also taught a Geology class and a TAKS recovery class for kids who did not pass the science portion the first time. She now knows what it is like to stand on your feet all day and to catch every cold and sickness the kids bring to school with them. Her teacher friends assure her that her immune system will toughen up. The feet will probably continue to hurt, though. Next year, she will be teaching a new class called Aquatic Science. She is really looking forward to this one as her major was actually Biology and this is more her "thing." Right now she is searching for donations to supplement the budget she has been given to buy enough supplies (tanks) for the kids to take care of their own ecosystems as their year long project. She has applied for a grant at this site and is looking for help  from anyone who wants to help out her cause. Here is the link to her grant proposal.

Raising Nemo in Aquatic Science

Allison is living in her own apartment not far from here. She has a serious boyfriend, Ryan, whom we like very much. Poor guy is an only child and is sometimes bewildered by all of the very large family shenanigans that goes with my extended family. She has also recently adopted a dog that she named Beaker. How's that for science geekdom?

Here are a couple of Allison layouts I've done recently.

Hello Blog

Hello Blog,

It’s been a while but I’ve been kind of busy. I’ll do a quick catch up on what I’ve been doing and see if I can make you feel appreciated. I’ll try to visit a little more often after today.

I spend quite a bit of my time at Memorable Seasons where I am the design team coordinator. Between keeping things going on the boards and doing the projects required, I stay pretty busy and my scrap room stays terminally messy. Come see me there. The Last Scrapper Standing contest is going on right now and we already have some amazing entries. Jill keeps me supplied with enough supplies that I don’t even need to go shopping anymore. The ladies on the design team are super, too.

I have also been taking some photography classes at the University of Texas in Arlington. It is part of their continuing education department and can lead to a professional photographer certification. I’m still not sure I’ll go that far, but I might. So far, I’ve taken Digital photography basics I and II, Photoshop for photography, and am now in the first lighting class. There are classes for portrait photography, wildlife and nature photography, weddings, Lightroom, photography business, etc. If I take things one a time, I should be in the program for a while. I can shoot in manual. I spend more time in aperture priority but manual does come in handy for certain things.

I am really enjoying learning to use my camera. I am now shooting with a Nikon D90. I have two lenses, an 18-200mm 3.5 VR and a 35mm 1.8. I am always willing to take your picture. Please feel free to ask. I really want the practice. I’ve taken three nephews out to fun locations and done some photo shoots. I’ve taken family pictures for Karen twice and some couple shots of Allison and Ryan on their way to a wedding. I think that with each one, I’ve learned some different things. I am constantly reading books and searching for tutorials and help on the internet.

I have also discovered facebook. It manages to eat up much of my time, too. It is so much fun looking at everyone’s pictures and catching up on what every one is doing that time seems to just fly by when I am on there. I am also seriously addicted to Bejeweled and really need to beat my son-in-law’s score. It is my number one goal. At this time, though, I get positively giddy if I am in the top 10 scorers of my friends. Yes, I know that is pretty sad.

Of course, I do spend time in the recliner, too. While I don’t watch a whole lot of TV, Curtis does and I keep him company. I like to read or thumb through magazines while he watches the Discovery or Learning channels. Most of those shows just do not interest me.I mean, really. Why do I want to know how things are made or watch some guy eat a 30 pound hamburger in an hour?

Here are a few layouts I’ve done recently.I know if any of you are actually reading this, you know me from scrapbooking. 

Next time, I’ll catch you up on the girls.