Progress Map

I didn't make much progress the last couple weeks... I'm still out in the Arizona desert:

Thank-you Cards

Here are what my son's thank-you cards look like:



And look who made them... Yup! He made his own thank-you cards... pretty good, huh?

Happy Birthday, Big Guy!

It's the "Big Guy's" 15th birthday! We had all his favorite food: pizza, spam musubi (the spicy kind), chili/rice, AND his favorite lemon cupcakes! Here's the recipe:

Lemon Cake
1 small package lemon jello
1 cup water
1 lemon cake mix
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
Dissolve jello in water. Beat cake mix and oil together well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add jello and beat well at low speed. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13" or bundt pan and bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Glaze: 2c. Powered sugar mixed with juice and grated rind of two lemons.
As soon as cake is removed from the pan, pierce all over with a fork and pour glaze over the top.

C's in High School now, running cross country, and long distance track. He has new friends and turns in his homework most of the time (Well, it's better than NOT turning it in most of the time). He is getting better... he hasn't missed a homework assignment all semester.

It's required now for all kids starting with the class of 2011, to pass a physical fitness test to graduate (They are required to pass 5 out of 7 tests). C is taking his physical fitness test during health class. The first test is Friday... and it's running a mile in less than 19:30. He thinks it's hilarious, since he can run a mile in 5:57. He's trying for a personal record this Friday. His goal is 5:30.

Book Reviews

A month has gone by... time for another monster book review! LOL!

"Alchemist" has a lot in common with the "Children of the Lamp" series. They both feature twins, who discover that they have secret powers. They get hooked into helping Nicholas Flamel save the Codex from the evil John Dee. There are two reasons to get the Codex. One is to keep John Dee from releasing the powers of the dark ones. The other is that the recipe for the immortalitly elixir, which Flamel needs to take every month, is written in the book. If Flamel doesn't make and drink the elixir, he will be dead within the month. I really dislike authors that don't let on that it's a series until you get to the end... but in this case I forgive them. I look forward to the next one...

"Princess Academy" is the Newbery Honor book by Shannon Hale. I expected something akin to a Disney princess story, but what I got was a wonderful story about girls with character. The plot is simple... it is decreed that the next princess will be from Mount Eskel, a poor mining community. So, to ready themselves, all the girls from Mount Eskel are sent to the Princess Academy to learn how to be princesses. The prince will pick one of the graduates for his bride. The girls learn to respect each other and work together. I can't tell you too much without giving it all away, but this book is a MUST READ!

We are BIG Alex Rider fans! Anthony Horowitz has us hooked! Unfortunately we were disappointed with this latest book. Snakehead lacked the action and excitement of the previous books in the Alex Rider series. Alex teams up with Ash, an old friend of his parents, in the hopes of learning more about his parents and his parents' death. The bad guys are easy to pick out from the beginning, Alex knows he's been betrayed, but doesn't care doesn't tell anyone. Because of it all, he ends up in big trouble. Very frustrating to read. But, we are die hard Alex Rider fans... we'll be there to pick up the next book!

"Titan's Curse" is the third book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. This is another wonderful parody on mythology. Percy and his friends are on a quest... again. The enemy captures, Annabeth by the General (he's working for the Titan Kronos). The General has also captured the goddess Artemis. Now it's up to Percy and his friends to rescue the goddess, find Annabeth, and stop The General's plans before it's too late. If you have loved the first two books in the series, you'll love this one too.


I either love or hate Margaret Mahy. Her books of fantasy are definitely for the older teen audience... dark, menacing, and never seem to end with a "Feel Good" type ending. This book, "Maddigan's Fantasia", fits all three descriptions. In the world of the future, the Earth has been ravaged in what they call the "destruction." Garland Maddigan travels with a circus called Maddigan's Fantasia between the isolated human settlements bringing joy in the way of circus performance. This time their journey involves a mission. They must pick up a solar converter and return it to the city of Solis, or civilization will be destroyed; and three time travelers from Garland's future travel back into the past to help her complete her family's mission. This felt more like a collection of short stories. The stop at each city being a different story. It was an interesting book, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Hey, look!!! I read a book written for adults! This book has been on the best sellers list forever, so I had to read it and see what all the hoopla is about. I read it... I don't know what the hoopla is all about. It's sad. It's miserable. It's tragic. I don't know what the attraction is... Perhaps those interested in history and social oppression, will get a kick out of it? I don't know why else anyone would want to read such a sad book. I like books with feel good endings. That's probably why I like reading children's books.

Progress Map

I like posting the map every other week instead of every week. I feel like I'm making more progress. Here I am... Just crossed the Arizona border... on my way to Woodsfield, OH.

Scrapping the Music - She's not Just a Pretty Face

It's been a while since I've done a Scrapping the Music Challenge. In fact, I haven't done much scrapping at all this year. I have the perfect photo for this challenge. My daughter hates this layout! LOL! All the paper, alphabet, and bling are from the TallyScrapper February kit.




Journaling reads: After not making the Varsity Soccer team, Cheryl didn't give up. She announced that she was going to try out for Capo's first Varsity Lacrosse team. She made it! We now have a Lacrosse player in the family. None of the girls have ever played; most of them don't know the rules, but it looks like a fun game. The coach declared the first scrimmage of the season a success! They lost against ETHS 8-9, but El Toro's Lacrosse program is in its second year.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hahaha! This photo was actually taken last year. Our Valentine's Day this year consisted of work and school. My daughter turned her ankle at Lacrosse practice and my hubby took her to the doctor; and then for x-rays. The good news is that it isn't broken. The bad news is that it's a bad sprain. She could be off of it for 4-6 weeks. While my hubby and daughter were doing their thing. I made dinner for my son and me, then took him to soccer practice. Just another night at our house...

Mammoth Videos

You Tube only allows video of 100MB max, so I split the video up into two short videos. Each one is about 2 minutes long. ENJOY!

Skiing:


Snow Mobiling:

Progress Map

I didn't post a map last week because I've been disappointed with my progress. It's taking me forever to cross the Mojave Desert. Here's my current progress to Woodsfield... I'm almost to the Arizona border!

Mammoth Vacation

The trip was quite an adventure!

When we arrived Thursday night, they were just getting ready to close highway 203. We had to put on chains and we were in one of the last groups escorted up the mountain. We didn't arrive in Mammoth until 11pm, and by then the snow was falling so thick it was very hard to see. It took us another half an hour to find the condo where we were staying. Here is a photo of the trek from the parking lot to the condo... not easy finding it in the dark and falling snow.



Friday we skied. We went to the smaller of the lodges, Canyon lodge. Since the kids were just beginners, we didn't want to have to fight the crowds at the Main lodge. As we were in line to rent our skis, we heard that the road to the Main lodge was closed. Everyone was heading either to Eagle lodge or Canyon lodge. Since it was Friday, the crowds weren't that bad. The kids were dead tired with only half a day skiing. It was windy and cold on the mountain. That really took it out of them too. They slept really good that night.






Saturday, we headed to the snow mobile area, the weather was beautiful! BUT another storm was supposed to hit about noon. Chris rode with Jim and Cheryl rode with me. We all took turns driving. In the second picture, you can see the storm starting to come in.





It snowed all afternoon, and it snowed all evening. We went out for ice cream... why? Well, because we had a coupon! Ben and Jerry's two sundaes for the price on one! LOL!





It snowed all night and all Sunday morning... and here is what we woke up to. That picture of my daughter was taken in the same place as the photo of the way to the condo that I posted above.







The pass was closed and was not expected to open again until 7pm Sunday night. My hubby had to go to work on Monday or he wouldn't get paid for the vacation day that he took Friday, and the kids had the first day of the new semester. We tried leaving at 10am, and again at noon. When we tried again at 1:30pm, we saw that they were escorting groups through, so we jumped in line. It rained most of the way home. We got home about 8:30pm.



So that's our Mammoth adventure. It was cold and windy and a lot of FUN!!!

I've Been Tagged!

Thanks Kim for tagging me!

1. My 2 favorite scrapbook topics are: my family and nature
2. The 2 best places I've been to are: New Zealand and Jamaica
3. 2 things I do everyday are: Have a cup of coffe (or 2 or 3) and check my email
4. The 2 things everyone knows about me are: I'm a runner and I do not wear dresses
5. The 2 places I wish to visit are: Greece and Italy
6. 2 things you may not know about me are: I do not like bananas or pancakes
7. My two favorite foods are: salted nuts and beef jerkey
8. My two favorite musical artists are: Lionel Ritchie and Aaron Lines
9. What is the last two shows you watched on television: Star Trek Voyager and that new Star Trek show with the first Enterprise (both with my hubby. He's a Star Trek fan.)

I tag Mary and Beth.