My Little Winner!

In addition to all the other things we had going on, we also experienced Margo's first tumbling meet. It was awesome!

I tumbled when I was a kid. I wasn't great but I enjoyed it and actually stuck with it until I was 14 years old. My family traveled around Iowa to meets and a lot of my favorite memories as a kid are those weekend trips.

I discovered that a gal that coached when I was a kid was doing it again in nearby town. I take Margo over to the gym two nights a week and stick around to add any of my "expertise" to the cause. I must be doing OK since the head coach announced today that all the double-mini competitors that I coach got 1st or 2nd place. Not bad for someone that never competed or got on one herself as a competitor!

But enough about me...it was Margo's day! She was so nervous! We went to pick her and Meredith up at Grandma's (they stayed over while we had our soup supper) and Margo kept saying she didn't want to go. I was so nervous of what could happen beyond that. She asked if I could be down on the floor with her and I told her I would see if it was OK. When we got to the meet, I asked the coach if I could, since I coach too, and she said "No". Margo immediately welled up with tears. I got her calmed down and at least let her know I would be right in front to watch. OMIGOSH! She did so well. I couldn't be more proud of her! Although she was nervous and told us all the way down she didn't want to go, she did perfect. I just wanted the day to be about the experience, I didn't expect her to get 2nd place out of eight! I know, how awesome is that. The cute thing about it was that now Mitch is hooked! Not that he ever was against the whole thing but now that he sees how good she is, he's so proud of her he's already making plans for Nationals next summer! It was a great day!

Soup Supper

For the last three years Mitch and I have hosted our friends in the fall. The first year it was just a random weekend that felt like good chili weather and we invited a few friends over...now it's a full fledge party!

I took Friday off as did Mitch to do some last cleaning and decorating for the get together. Above is a close up of the centerpieces and I really wish I was thinking when I took this and went from the other side. The covered jars had a more appealing appearance from there. Anyway here are a few pictures of the decorations:

I wanted a fall theme of course but wanted to be little more bright and cheerful rather than the usual. The paper that I used around the jars were my inspiration. Because our garage is lighted on one side pretty well, I draped the lights on the other end and then made tissue flowers and hung them above each table. I got rave reviews from the guest and even got asked to help with another party that has been in the works for, um...three years! My friends Cathy and Missy have talked for awhile about planning a prom for all us ol' foggies and would like me to be on the decorating committee. (Oh, the memories that would bring back!) 80s theme and fun! I think we came to the conclusion that if it happens the invites would read: "Get Laid on Prom Night" and possibly have "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as the theme song. How can we go wrong with that one!?

Everyone enjoyed the chili, chicken tortilla and potato soup. All the guests, all 40 of us, brought wonderful munchies to go along with the soup. Lots of bread, dips, bars...it was all delicious. Not to mention lots of good wine and other beverages :) Mitch also made Hot Apple Pie...

We also played a game that was so fun! Mitch and I got together with our friends, Kevin and Andrea to come up with the ultimate scavenger hunt. We broke everyone up into teams of five and each team received an empty six-pack carrier with only one bottle that had the first clue attached. Andrea and I went around town and hid the bottles. Since the party was at night, we even supplied them with flashlights! I heard after the game that everyone was discussing during supper that they couldn't wait to hear what the game was, who's team they were on and so on...I think we did good this year although the winning team solved it in a mere 20 minutes! We even tried to make it hard! Here are the winners and a picture of the bottles: