How about a new photo assignment?

I didn't really realize it, but my picture taking has severly diminished since the photo assignments have been put on hold.  Plus, Tricia over at Mommy's Missing Pieces said that since the holiday commotion is over, she was ready again.

So let's go for it.  This assignment will be:


The Great Outdoors

In case you need a refresher on how these photo assignments work, go to This Post and it should tell you what you need to know.

So grab your cameras, get back outside and snap some pictures.

It's kind of a brown and grey time of year here, so try to find some hidden color somewhere outside. 

I'm so very very sad that Picnik is shutting down in April.  I'm going to have to search for another free editing page. I'll let you know if I find anything.  For the time being though, they have opened up their site and all premium features are free until they close.  Feel free to edit your outdoor pictures for this assignment!  Fun stuff!  Please have your pictures either uploaded to The Flickr Group or sent to me via email sometime on or before February 24.

Cooooool.

XOXOX

NH

100!!!!!

I made it!  This is my 100th post!

YAY!

It's very exciting!

Thank you thank you thank you for reading my blog.

I am having so much fun with it, I hope you are enjoying it.

Please, please keep coming back.  I never thought I'd make it this far, but I DID IT!  Yay!

XOXOX

NH

Ladies Night!

First of all, I'm going to tell you that I am SO bummed that I can no longer blog on my lunch break at work.  This is the main reason for the decline in posts.  Dangit.

This is how the Hooper ladies spend the night when the boys go to a high school hockey game...

First, the princess is picked up at auntie's house after school.  Yes, that is a cow hat with a built in scarf.

Then it's home for a quick craft project and some dinner.

These are painted jars the kids made for a project I'll describe in another post.

Next, off to do a little shopping.

We had to stop for some duvet clips for Morgan's blanket.

Whoa mom!  Those are some BIG forks!

Fluffy bunny tail!!

Well, as long as we're out...

And she can't leave the store without checking out the formal dresses.  :)

And then we were back home for some homework.  Homework is easier with Kool-aid in a wine glass.  We do it right here.

A fun project?

Oh yes we did.

N/A Raspberry jello shots.  Don't you wish your mom was as cool as me?

Then it was time to gather up all my favorite things.  Trader Joe's decaf Chamomile Tea with milk in my favorite mug...

A mystery knitting project that should be in the mail in the next few days... 

And my princess, who was really happy to be snuggled on the couch by me, but was totally sick of me taking pictures of her by this point in the night.

Ahhhh yes.  A good two hours of The Bachelor trash TV.  Kacey B, you better win this.  I really don't understand why Courtney is still there.  I thought Morgan was going to get up and punch the TV when Ben gave her a rose.  Gaaah.

Then, I taught Morgan the proper way to roll your jeans, just like I did in 1990.

Then it was time to tuck her in, after clipping her duvet in place, of course.

Thanks for the fun night, Morgie Pie!  I love you!

XOXOX

NH

 P.S.  I can't wait for it to be light out in the evening for more than 5 minutes after I get home from work so my evening photos aren't so grainy!  I hate using my flash, so you all will have to deal with grainy pictures for a while.  :)

Do you Hear THAT?

Do you?  It's nothing.  Nothing at all.  I'm at home alllll by myself.  Nobody else here.  This is such a rare occasion, I felt it necessary to mention it to everyone!  I have control of the remote!  I'm having (another) glass of wine!  I'm searching Ravelry for a new shawl/scarf pattern!  American Idol is about to start!  I'm in my jammie pants!

It's the perfect ending to a kind of stressful day.

So I'd like to make a scarf out of some recycled rosey colored yarn that I have that is probably somewhere around sock weight.  I'm looking for a pattern that isn't too wide, long enough to wrap around my neck a few times, and I could wear as a warm scarf in the winter, and also an accessory to work.  Something girly.  With some lace or ruffles around the edges.  I have a few in mind, but can't decide.  Do you have any suggestions?

Or maybe I should sew something.

Or go take a bath.

Hmmmm..........

I think I will go watch American Idol, and figure out something to cast on.......

yay!

XOXOX

NH

So, Here's What I Think...

Not that you asked.

1. My friends are awesome.  I have been thinking a lot lately about how lucky I am to have the friends that I do.  Whether at Hockey Mom Club, Knit Night, emails, work, or drinking wine together while our husbands bust a move with our daughters, I'm grateful for every single one of them.
2. Courtney and her scrunched up lips need to go home on The Bachelor.  They elude to it in the previews for next week, but she will not go home.  She's the reason I (and probably thousands of others) are sucked into that show.
3. I should be able to find a part time job where I can make the same amount of money I make right now.
4. We are due for a huge snowstorm.  I'm tired of getting these 1-2 inch snowfalls that are just an annoyance and make everything slippery and dirty for one day.  I'm talking a Mother snowstorm.  Preferably 2-3 feet, where it shuts down the whole town for a day or two.
5. I am so sick of everything having to do with the upcoming presidential election.  Hurry up and be over so I don't have to hear about it anymore for crying out loud.
6. Receiving packages in the mail from friends with surprise gifts in them for no reason at all brightens my day, week, month!
7. More people should comment on my blog.  I know people read it, but I want to know who you are!
8. There are some people in this world that are so different from me, I have a very hard time understanding their thought process.  I'm trying to get better at accepting that.
9. If you knit something all the way to completion, and don't love it, rip it out and use the yarn for something else.  That being said, I just finished the sweater I was working on, and it looks rediculous on me.  I love the yarn and I know ripping it out is the right thing to do, but it still stings.
10. Whoever invented tacos deserves a big kiss!
11. My husband is awesome.
12. It's way more fun being happy.

XOXOX

NH

A Day Fit For a Princess!

Last night was the annual Father/Daughter Ball held at the DECC.  This is the first year we decided to give it a try, and I have to say, the day was perfect for my little Princess!  Her Daddy took her out on a date, and she was pampered all day.  They went with Morgan's BFF, Cassie and her dad, Scott.  Thank you so much, dads, for making your girls feel like princesses.

Here is a recap of the day:

 We took the girls to Mirror Images here in Duluth to have their hair done.  Cassie was up first.

Gorgeous girl!

Next it was Morgan's turn. 

Curls...

Curls...

More curls!  The girl has a LOT of hair.

Practically a full can of hairspray, and 47 bobby pins later...

And we're done!  Leah, you did a fantastic job!  Thank you so much!

I cannot for the life of me get this picture vertical.  What the heck.  Sorry.  Here she is all put together in the dress I made for her. 

My baby girl!  (sniff, sniff!)

Morgan and Daddy

The shoes!

BFFs!

The girls with Cassie's Papa...

And with Cassie's Nana, who got the girls gorgeous wrist coursages.  Thank you Nana!

There are more pictures on Morgan's camera that were taken at the dance, but of course I can't find the cord that connects the camera to the computer right now.  If I ever find it, I'll show you some more pictures of Big Daddy gettin down to YMCA.  They are pretty funny!

Thank you again, Dads, for giving your girls a day they will never forget!

Morgan wants to go shopping for the pattern for next years' dress already.  What have I gotten myself into???

XOXOX

NH

Sportsmanship, In My Opinion

This post has been brewing in my mind for several weeks now.  I've wanted to start it a few times, and then decided against it because it has the potential to cause some friction.  I promise, I'm not trying to stir the pot in any way, but the need to get this off my chest is so enormous today, that I'm just going to go for it.  I'm very, very sorry if this offends anyone.  Here goes...

Both of my kids are actively involved in sports.  There are many reasons why we chose to involve them in sports at young ages.  For me, it's about so much more than learning how to play hockey, how to dance, how to field a baseball, or throw a football.  SO much more.  My kids have made life-long friends that they probably never would have met if they weren't involved in these things.  They have learned what it means to be part of a team, and how each person is an important contributor to reach your final goal.  The team is slightly weaker when even one person is missing.  They have felt the "highs" of winning, and the "lows" of losing.  Teamwork.  Determination.  Setting goals, working hard, and achieving them.  Following rules, and paying the consequences if the rules are broken.  Having fun with a little competition thrown in.  Sportsmanship.  So so many important life lessons that I know I couldn't teach them on my own.

I turn them over to their coaches and teachers every day, and I trust that they will teach them to the best of their ability. I honestly believe they have done, and will continue to do an amazing job.

I turn them over to their coaches and teachers.

I give my support, and I cheer them on (quite loudly!)...

I celebrate with them, and I wipe their tears when needed...

But I let the coaches and teachers do their jobs.

I am not the dance teacher.  I am not the referee.

I will get a little more specific.

There are PLENTY of times in a PeeWee hockey game that a ref will either make a call I do not agree with, or fail to make a call I think they should have.  Plenty.  Do you know what I do about it?  Nothing at all.  Sure I get disappointed and may mumble a little something, but I have never, ever yelled out anything at a ref.  It is my opinion that shouting at refs, coaches, or players with anything negative is a waste of time, and annoys EVERYONE around you, and makes you look like a fool.  I am ALL FOR making noise in the stands by cheering your team on.  Asking a ref for a tripping call 37 times in one game is unacceptable to me.  When someone around me does it, it absolutely ruins the game for me. 

SHUT

UP

And I'm not even kidding.

This is a game.  For fun.  Negative comments from people around me are making games not fun for me.  Maybe I'm being a little overly sensitive on the issue, but I'd like to think that I know a little about watching from the stands since I've been sitting in them for the past eight years.

I guess there are three things I'm looking to accomplish in this post:

1.  What are your thoughts on this?  Have you experienced it?  What have you done about it?
2.  I absolutely had to get this off my chest somewhere.  I'm sure hubs will not be pleased with me for posting this, but I just had to.
3.  If you are a spectator to any sport, PLEASE think before you speak.  Yelling at the refs will do you NO GOOD, and will only get them mad at your team, and will begin to make calls against your team.  Trust me.

I try so hard to teach good sportsmanship to my kids.  I cannot understand what the Negative Nelly's are trying to teach their children buy being so disrespectful and rude.

On a happier note, our hockey team won first place in our home tournament last weekend, and second place in another tournament we were in this weekend.  We won our first three games this weekend 2-0, 14-0, and 3-0.  When you are a goalie mom and your son has three shutouts in a row in a tournament, you are beaming.  We ended up losing in the championship game 6-3, but it really was a very close game.  The team we were playing against got two empty-netters when they pulled Andy to get an extra skater at the end.  I'm so proud of every single boy on our team.

Also, one of the hockey moms from our team posted this as her Facebook status yesterday, and I absolutely couldn't agree more. 

         "With all of the inspirational stories in the world and constant prayers being said by so many for people like Jack Jablonski and Barb & Jerry Heil, I could absolutely CARE LESS about the GOP presidential bid, exit polls, front runners and open marriages. What a waste of news time and ink."

Well said, Kristi.  Hope you don't mind I shared this here!  Just think of what the government could accomplish if they spent as much time, energy, and money on more important things than campaigning!

And Jack, the Hooper's believe in miracles.  Never give up.

So, please everyone.  Remember what is important.  Teach your kids to be good people.  Be a good person. 

XOXOX

NH