Time Management Math

This store

+ this class

+ this fabric ("Martinique" by Moda)

= why I have had no time to blog/read/scrap!

But the results were well worth losing a month of my life!

Long arm quilting done by Louise Haley:

Really????????

OK, Arizona, you've gone too far!!!!!

Our legislature has passed a bill that allows law enforcement officers to arrest people based on "reasonable suspicion" of being illegally in this country. We are not talking about immigrants from Sweden or Canada, etc. We are talking about Mexicans.

Let me walk you through this: How do you have "reasonable suspicion" that someone is illegally here? If my husband, or son, and I are walking down the street, on what basis will law enforcement officers determine our legitimacy? Well, my guys are brown. Bottom line. They can be stopped, questioned, and if they can not produce ID at the time, arrested. For what? Being brown. They will pay a fee for being arrested, for being brown. Will I be randomly asked to produce ID by an officer? Ever? Doubtful, because I am not brown. Can you tell I am pissed?!? Our state is infringing on our civil rights here, and yes I am pissed.

Our Governor has a chance now to review this and veto it. Here's to hoping she will do the right thing. Yes illegal immigration is a problem in AZ, as in all the border states. But, taking away the civil rights of American citizens is unacceptable. Having a law allowing discrimination based on ethnicity is an outrage, and a huge step backward.

Does anyone in America want to have to always carry ID to be produced at anytime to prove we have the right to be here? Why is it OK to require this of only those with brown skin and a Mexican ancestry? I will begrudgingly ask that my guys always carry their IDs to avoid such an issue, not that I think it will ever actually happen, but what if? And, in the mean time I must voice that I am ashamed of AZ, it's lawmakers, and it's citizens if we stand by and allow this to happen.

Ren Fair

I want to start by saying (yet again) thank you to all our friends and family who have been supporting our fundraising for Alexa's trip, and to let you know that HER TRIP IS NOW PAID FOR! That's right, 100% paid off! We are now focusing our efforts on the smaller task of spending money and items needed for her trip, but that seems small potatoes now!

Our last fundraising effort was a booth at her school's Renaissance Fair. We sold our hair accessories, jewelry, and small purses:

Alexa was at a softball tournament which left me and the little girls to man the booth, and have some fun:

We really had a great time and made a little over $100. Added to the $700 from our crop, and our first payment from the Fry's card donation, we had all we needed for her April payment. Boy did that feel good!

Crop Till You Drop= Success!!!!!

I have to give a big shout out to all my friends that made our crop fundraiser a huge success. The room was totally cute, and we had 39 croppers to fill it! The food was great, goody bags were full of fun stuff, and the prizes were AMAZING! And all of the above were DONATED by our wonderful friends and co workers.

Everyone seemed to have a great time,

And the girls made $457 EACH for their trip! Alexa made just over $700 total that night with her sales included. WOW!

I really can not express enough how much it meant to me to have such support in this. I must have the best friends in the whole world!

Star of the Week

Sophie was FINALLY star of the week in her class. They had all the names in the bowl at the beginning of the year and drew a name for each week. She was second to last. So nearly 3/4 of the way into the school year it was her turn. She told me it was the best week because Monday she got to bring in her poster:

And, yes, she made it herself, with limited help from me (I cut out her name and printed pictures for her).

Tuesday: Mommy came to class to volunteer

Wednesday: she had pizza lunch with her teacher as a reward with some other students

Thursday: no uniform day her class earned

Friday: she got to bring in a box of items for show and tell and it was a half day!

Not a bad week for a first grader!

Checking the Mail

Who likes checking the mail? There's hardly anything fun in there, as no one seems to send actual letters anymore. It's all junk mail, ads, and of course, bills. What fun is that? Until recently I hated checking the mail! But here is what our mail has looked like lately:

Beautiful, handmade card from my aunt Barbara, for Alexa's sweet sixteen.

{Photo Removed}

Sweet, sentimental card from Baba, with a VERY generous 16th birthday gift of money for Alexa's Europe trip. That was a fun one to open!

And-

These. Everyday. Since turning 16, or coincidentally(?) we have been getting SEVERAL OF THESE EVERYDAY! This batch of 5 came all in one day. I am not exaggerating, everyday we get more. I wonder if this happens with every TPA student? Michael got a few, but nothing like this. And she's only a sophomore. Sheesh! It's sure fun to see who is soliciting her though!

{I could get used to opening mail like this}

Sweet Sixteen

I can not believe my baby girl is sixteen years old today!

Here she is as a baby, awwww:

And since she hates her picture taken, here she is with some of her school friends when they went to see another classmate perform in the musical "13":

Alexa has grown into a smart, responsible, helpful, funny, athletic, beautiful, wonderful young lady. We are so proud of her and can't wait to see what fabulous things life has in store for her.

Happy Birthday, Lexi!