Busy Bee Weekend!

Happy Monday everyone!~

My friend Denise in Texas commented on my Facebook page the other day "How do you have time to do all you do? I can't keep up with you!" Well, Denise, sometimes I can't keep up with me either! HA! And this weekend was a great example of that!

First up was our fun, first ever NOVA Demonstrators Shoebox Swap!
Me and Kimberly VanDiepen got together and hosted this really fun even on Saturday morning at the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company. It was open to any and all area Stampin' Up! demonstrators as a day of stamping, fellowship and networking. This first time, we had 28 stampers join us - it was a great day!
Here's a group photo minus a couple of gals who left early:

Yeah, we're a good lookin' bunch!

Here's Shannan, Lisa and Rose-Ellen:

Carol, Ruth, Lindsey and Becky:

April, Erin, Wendy and Della:

Diana, Kelley, Stephanie and Michelle: (Michelle and Stephanie volunteered to help us set up and break down!)

Did you see crazy Kimberly taking a picture of me taking a picture?! Yep, we had a good time!

Here's Phyllis, Pat and Jaimie:

Lisa and Jane again: (they were our registration volunteers!)

Here's two of my favorite stampers in the world! Laura and Betty, two of my Stampin' Fools! They aren't demos, but this event couldn't have happened without them! They are both with the MVFC Ladies Auxiliary - which was where all our proceeds for the event went to support! We raised over $600 for them! Way to go!

And here's the pic of the two biggest crazies of the day - me and Kimberly.

As I said, it was a very fun day and I'll hopefully have some more photos to share later this week - these are I took with my camera. Thanks also to our other volunteer, Nancy (who also donated our hugely popular raffle item!) She was avoiding the camera for some reason!
All the demos who attended also brought amazing food to share with each other and some even brought super cute display items. We have such talent in this company - I love all the creativity we share!

Speaking of creativity - on to the 2nd part of my crazy weekend!
I have to brag on my sweet girl here for a minute. She is just awesome! I'm so proud of her for so many things, but this weekend, she had us smiling from ear to ear!
So, on Saturday afternoon, we drove out to one of the local high schools to the All-County Art Show. You see, one of Emma's art pieces had been chosen to be displayed there! This is actually the third time in 7 years she's had an art piece chosen for the All-County show. How cool is that?
Here she is holding her Altered Wheel-Thrown Platter:

and here's a close up of her piece:

Definitely a proud Momma moment! :)

So part 3 of my crazy weekend had me headed out to my friend Kim's house for a fun Stampin' party and I have to say, it was the most relaxing part of my day! She had great gals there who loved the projects and made this demonstrator's job so easy! Thanks Kim for a great time!

Obviously I spent most of my day Saturday talking up a storm and really paid the price for it on Sunday morning when I woke up to "rasp, rasp, rasp" when I was supposed to be singing the special music in worship that morning! Ummm, yeah, no one wants to hear that! But, thankfully God had other ideas because when the time came - well, lets just say that He sang that song for me, cuz it sure wasn't the sound that had been coming out during my sound check! Thank goodness! Believe me, no one needed to hear that! :)

Now I'm sure that you're thinking by now that my weekend had to be complete - however in my best infomercial voice "But wait, there's more!" let me share what capped it all off for our family!

Emma's skating team banquet was Sunday afternoon at 3 and needless to say, I was pretty whooped still, but you know you don't miss those things! Not for a million bucks! It's been a pretty taxing season this year for the team (and the parents!) and you know that if you follow my blog on a regular basis, but it was very special for many reasons - not the least of which was watching these girls skate an amazing routine each time they took the ice. They earned two medals at two of their major competitions and earned the reputation as the little team that could!
Here's Emma with two of her best friends on the team: (Julia, Emma and Lauren Ashley)

All the girls were given an award by their coaches and Emma once again made us smile when she was recognized as the "skater who steadfastly found the good in all of her team-mates!"
Can I tell you as a parent to have your child recognized for a character trait is the biggest blessing? We know she is a good skater or she wouldn't be on the team, but for her coaches to see that quality in her and award her for it just made this entire difficult season completely worthwhile! LOVE my girl!

And lastly, here I am with two ladies who make me smile throughout each season with the National Blades, Justine and Patty. Love these two! Here's to another great season next year!

So stampers - I hope I didn't bore you with this snapshot into my crazy life! I know you are wondering - "did she collapse after the banquet?" Well, kinda! Both Emma and I got into our pj's the minute we got home last night and didn't move a muscle off the couch until Chopped All-Stars was over! Aaaah, a relaxing end to a great weekend!

Back tomorrow with something pretty, but for now I'll leave you with the song I sang at church on Sunday. This is NOT me on the video - but one I found on YouTube!