100 Days of School Project

Thank you to all of you who helped Katelyn reach her goal of 100 emails! It has been an exciting time as we collected the emails. (although in hind site collecting buttons would have been a lot easier! Then again, it wouldn't have turned into such a fun time of guessing how far away emails would come from, or seeing who we would get an email from next!)

To begin with we sorted the emails by the place they came from. Then with Zach's help we alphabetized the locations and grouped them by states and countries. We finally found a use for the jr. globe that has been sitting in Zach's room for 3 years! We used it and Katie and I spent time figuring out distances between Ohio and the other locations by having Katie touch the two points on the globe so we could record it on our list. Zach of course helped out by remembering the numbers and then judging which was the farthest distance.

Katelyn also enjoyed answering the questions people asked her, and then creating her cover for the binder and the awards for some of the participants with Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus.

Congratulations to all who participated. Hope you enjoy viewing the awards. These are just the fun ways Katelyn came up with looking at her emails!

Here's the statistics for the project!
Katelyn's 100 Days of School Project
100 Emails
Some Fun Ways to Look at the Emails
Quickest Email Mrs Fields
From the Closest Location Zachy My brother, downstairs
From the Farthest Location Mr. Dan, Antarctica 10000 miles away
From the Coldest Location Mr. Dan, Antarctica
From the Hottest Location Miss. Whitlock, Anguilla
From a Doggie (and his Daddy too!) Jessie and Mr. Carl
From the most people in one Family Hamilton Family 5 emails
Favorite Email Miss Kaitie Worlds' Best Babysitter
Multiple Locations Coach Jim PA/NJ
Best Hockey Fans It's a tie between all the Strongsville Mustang
Fans and the Red Wing Fans
Mrs. Citro helped gather the most emails with all of her connections in New York

Mr. Eldred helped get the email from the farthest and coldest location

Locations, # of emails, Distance (based on our jr globe distance function)
States
Ohio 48
Alabama 1 530 miles
Colorado 1 1200 miles
Florida 3 880 miles
Illinois 1 360 miles
Indiana 1 180 miles
Iowa 3 550 miles
Kansas 1 840 miles
Michigan 3 290 miles
Nebraska 1 840 miles
New Hampshire 1 560 miles
New Jersey 1 460 miles
New York 16 480 miles
North Carolina 2 420 miles
Oregon 1 2100 miles
Pennsylvania 1 220 miles
South Carolina 1 400 miles
Tennessee 1 350 miles
Utah 1 1500 miles

Countries
Anguilla 1 2200 miles
Antarctica 1 10000 miles
Canada 2 390 miles
England 1 3900 miles
Indonesia 1 9800 miles
Mexico 1 1500 miles
New Zealand 1 8400 miles
Portugal 1 3700 miles
Scotland 2 3500 miles
Spain 1 3800 miles

Winning isn't everything, but!!!

What a weekend we just went through. I realize as first time travel hockey parents that this weekend was NOTHING compared to many more we will experience. Just the same it was intense. The weekend actually started on Thursday evening as our Mite 3 Mustangs took the ice at the Raymond A Robinson Memorial Tournament in Cleveland Heights. The Tournament was really put on well. Tickets for pop after each game for the kids, dog tags with the tournament logo on the front, flowers for the hockey moms to wear. Prior to the tournament we had a schedule complete with locker rooms in our hands. It was great.

As the boys stepped on the ice Thursday night they were geared up for an exciting time of hockey. They were set to play Euclid a team that we had come back to beat in our first tournament experience back in October when we placed second overall in the Halloween Hockey Tournament in Euclid. This same Euclid team we had also beaten fairly easily on our home ice, but then lost too in a "not so much fun to watch" game a few weeks ago. Needless to say this was the game we were not looking forward to. We knew the boys could focus, get their heads set in the game and with the great coaches we have make it through the game. The only catch...OLYMPIC SIZE ICE!

Let me just say, the ice surface was huge. The last thing I said to Z as I left the locker room was "pace yourself, this won't be the same as the rinks you are used to." Now I realize hockey players have to play in different types of rinks all the time, but when you're 7 and 8 years old, Olympic Size Rinks are just huge! Regardless, the boys took the ice and held their ground during the first period. The second period opened up with Euclid scoring 2 goals. But then we answered with a goal of our own. Our parents are an amazing group and one of our parents made a spirit gear shopping trip before the game and came prepared with pom poms and plastic horns and cow bells for the occasion. We chanted, we cheered, we hung in there with our boys. Encouraging them to dig in, play hard, and just letting them know that we were with them. Finally, in the third we did just that tieing the game with a goal by Zach. It was one of those don't let this rebound get away from you bang away at it goals that ended up on his back hand and he was able to bang in. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, and as we left the rink that night we were certain that they would be the team we would meet should we make it to the finals.

It's not about winning, it's about doing your best and having fun. It's also not about thinking that just because you have beaten a team every time you've faced them this year that you are going to win the game. Our second game was against Parma, and the boys knew it was in their grasp. They dug in and scored 7 goals, and held Parma to only 2. Zach scored 2 of the 7 with a hat trick for Wyatt and a goal for Joey and Gavin. WOW! Somehow it seemed like just maybe this could be our tournament.

Then you get to the rink on an icy cold day. Check the standings and think....what is going on! We tied Euclid 2-2 in a tough game, beat Parma 7-2 in a fairly tough game that we were able to dominate in, BUT Parma Beat Euclid 3-1?!? I literally had to ask several of the other parents of our team to go read the score board. Is that right?! It was and it sent us back to the locker room to remind the boys not to get it in their heads that they could win against the team we now faced. That's not to say that we couldn't but. The team we now faced Cleveland Skating Club, had tied Parma, and tied Euclid, and we had beaten in regular season play. From looking at the standings though you soon realize anything is possible.

And anything was possible. We played an intense, edge of your seat game with CSC. Blake our goalie was incredible. He had some stops that were unbelievable. Our parents cheered, their parents cheered. We encouraged our boys (and possibly girls, not sure) and lived each moment of the game as though it was never going to finish. We hit the post again and again. Z had amazing breakaway only to have the puck slide off his stick right before he went to shoot. In the end we scored 1 goal to take us past them and into the championship game against....PARMA!

The team headed off to dinner at the Mongolian BBQ, and had a good chance to try to unwind from the game. The problem with 7 and 8 year olds, as they get tired they get hyper. They were so wound up many of us wondered if they would wind down to much before game time. We headed back through the frigid air to the rink. The boys put their sweaty, stinky gear back on. They wore one sock of each color at the suggestion of their coach and got ready to play. I'm not sure what Coach Matt said to them before the game, but whatever it was he was able to get them to focus on the task at hand. (wish he could of given us a pep talk as we were all nervous wrecks before the game ever started). Once again we learned that you can't judge one game by another one. The game was close, and hard. We spent the majority of the time, in their end. Their defense was strong and kept shutting us down. We hit posts, we had an awesome shot that the goalie really should have been applauded by us for as he snatched it out of the air.

In the end, our hat trick boy who had missed the CSC game as he was at his brothers game out of state, came back in the nick of time to lead us to a 2-0 victory. We jumped to our feet cheering on the boys that had worked so hard together. A team that has learned so much this year from 3 great coaches. A team that knows now that winning isn't everything but it sure feels GREAT!

Way to go Mustangs! The Queen song "We are the Champions" is yours to enjoy! 2 Tourny's so far, and we've walked away with a First and Second place finish. Not sure what is in store for us as we head to our next tournament next month in Niagara Falls, New York. The only thing we do know is that we face.....PARMA in our first game there, and I'm sure it will be an edge of your seat kind of game.

Time for a little Queen

As soon as 2 loads of laundry are folded, menus and grocery list are made for the week and 2 days of bible study homework are completed I will be posting a very exciting update from a very exciting hockey weekend.

You might want to find a Queen CD so you'll be ready to sing along...

How hard can it be?

I believe I am fairly computer savvy. I check email, a lot, obviously I blog, and I shop online so HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO ORDER PIZZA????

I just spent the last 40 minutes trying to find the best deal. After all the kids only want cheese and I thought other toppings might be nice. Then we decided a dessert to go with it would be fun. With Phil enjoying Lotusphere, why not. Finally settled on domino's. Of course, to order on line you have to register, and have to use a password with 6 characters, 1 of which has to be a numeral. Ok, made it past that, added the online computer coupon, selected what I wanted on what side of the pizza, and I'm off and running. Finished ordering and then was asked if I would like to track my pizza?

Track the pizza??? Is that necessary? Isn't the teenager working at Domino's tonight going to read the screen with my order, slap it together and send it over? Do I really need to track it. Man I feel old, what happened to opening up the phone book to pizza. Picking the one you felt like having, calling the number and having it show up at your door. While waiting for it of course you frantically had to search the house for cash to pay for it, or better yet find the checkbook.

Ok, it's a lot harder then it used to be, but in the name of modern conveniences my pizza might be in the cooking stage?!, Don't know the pizza tracker page is currently not refreshing!

Next time, we'll be prepared!

American Heart Association

If you've ever considered donating to the American Heart Association both my kids would appreciate any help they can get. They are participating in programs designed to raise money for this worthy orgainization. Zach is doing hoops for hearts and Katie is jumping for hearts. The following are the email messages that can be used to gain support. Having just sent emails out to get 100 emails for Katie it seems like a poor time to send out emails to get support for the American Heart Association.

If you are intersted follow the links below.
From Zach:
Hearts are important, ! I'm participating in the American Heart Association's Hoops For Heart program at my school. I can't wait to shoot some hoops on the basketball court at school to fight heart disease & stroke. Can you help by making a donation? Thanks!The American Heart Association's online fundraising website has a minimum donation amount of $25.00. If you want to donate less, that's ok. You can just send the check right to me and I'll make sure the American Heart Association gets it.Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support American Heart Association – Great Rivers

Some email systems do not support the use of links and therefore this link may not appear to work. If so, copy and paste the following into your browser: http://www.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=249041&u=249041-202186072&e=1465161804



And For Katie:
Hearts are important, Hi! I’m joining in the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope For Heart event at my school. I will be jumping rope to help the American Heart Association raise money to fight heart disease and stroke. Can you help me by making a donation? Thanks!The American Heart Association's online fundraising website has a minimum donation amount of $25.00. If you want to donate less, that's ok. You can just send the check right to me and I'll make sure the American Heart Association gets it.Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support American Heart Association – Great Rivers Affiliate******************************************************************************Some email systems do not support the use of links and therefore this link may not appear to work. If so, copy and paste the following into your browser: http://www.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=249042&u=249042-202186072&e=1465081077******************************************************************************Katelyn Randolph


Thanks!

100 Day Project Update

Katie's goal of reaching 100 by Saturday did not happen. With 2 weeks left before her project is due she is sitting at 95 emails. I'm really not worried as there is so much time. While we're waiting for the last 5 emails we're starting the sorting process. We're going to try and group them in categories and tally up our results. Hopefully, by the weekend we'll have a listing of where we've received all the emails from. Check back...it could be surprising!

Flat Stanley in NEW ZEALAND!!!!

This post has been written by Zach!
I just received news that Flat Stanley made it to Wellington, New Zealand.

While there he got to sail to the South Islands. He saw the oddly-shaped "Beehive" building, the executive office building for the New Zealand Government. He also got to hang out with cousin Matt Mueller. http://www.muellerworld.com/wheres_matt/. Matt has this really cool job, he gets to work on movies! It was really nice of him to take him all the way back to New Zealand with him. Maybe someday I'll get to visit there too.

I wonder where he will turn up next?!

100 emails!

WOW! So far Katelyn has 47 emails. Ranging from up at our school from our son's teacher, all the way to Portugal, Spain, England and The Netherlands! We still need 53 more. Katelyn's hopeful that she will reach her goal by Saturday. We'll see.

100 Days of School

The 100th day of school is quickly approaching. Katelyn, our kindergartner has been asked to collect 100 items to bring to school. The first thing she thought of was books. Now we of course have well over 100 books, but...I AM NOT LUGGING 100 BOOKS TO SCHOOL. So, we began to brainstorm we came up with paper clips, hot wheel cars, buttons etc. We figured most of these other kids would think of. That's when I suggested what about emails Katie?

She thought that was a fun idea. We sent an email last night to those in our personal account and then in my business account. We simple asked that people send her a quick email to say "hi" and where they were from. Five minutes after we sent out the email we received an email from Houston. Since then I have received 34 emails. Ranging in location from Strongsville, Ohio (which is just down the road) to England! She is so excited to hear from people, as most have sent her a little message. It's made it even nicer today as she is home sick from school.

We still want this to be her project. Therefore we are reading each one, and then will be locating them on a map together to figure out which came the farthest, the closest, the fastest. She also predicted that it will only take 3 days to get 100 emails.

If you would like to help out with this project just drop her a note to Katelyn at randpkz@yahoo.com

Night with the Monsters!

Last night our team joined the rest of the Strongsville Youth Hockey Club at the Lake Erie Monsters game.

Here's the team with their brothers and token sister, as they are waiting for the most exciting part of the whole evening...

GOING ON ICE THROUGH THE BLOW UP MONSTER TO START THE PLAYER LINE UP!

The boys skated through the Monster with their Coach and then were able to stand with the players for the National Anthem. They looked so cool standing there on the ice with the team. After the National Anthem they exited through the Monsters bench and then came back up into the stands. After watching the rest of the game, I'm thinking the wrong team exited the ice. Maybe they should have let the Mustangs take on the Bull Dogs as the Monsters truly were not that scary.

Regardless of the score the kids had a good time. Eating junk food, and watching a live hockey game.

The game had a pretty good crowd. Strongsville Youth Hockey contributed with representatives from most of the teams that play through the club. Katelyn, who will tell you she really doesn't like hockey, also had a good time. Especially when Daddy snagged this t-shirt as it was launched into the stands.After the game Phil and Zach were able to go on the ice and skate and get autographs from many of the players. They had a great time, and we were glad that Zach and his team were able to be a big part of the evening.

Zach got both of his gloves signed and his t-shirt too. Here is Zach's impression of Dan Cleary, with a full face mask on that is. Notice the black eye?!? Unfortunately, we can't even say that it was a hockey injury because of the face mask. Instead, he has to fess up to the fact that his snow board hit him in the face this weekend when he went sledding.

Sorting Photos

Just received 200 photos in the mail today! I now have all of the photos from 2007 either scrapbooked or at least printed. This is the first time I've been this close to having the year prior done at the start of the new year. Why is that?

Well 2 things really. First, Memory Manager software from Creative Memories has allowed me to sort, edit and delete pictures so that when I go to print my photos I have only the ones I really need. It also tracks what photos I'm printing so I don't have to worry about that either.

Secondly, the power palettes by Creative Memories are phenomenal. They allow me to quickly crop photos, match with paper, and get them into my album. In a moment of true honesty I'll let anyone reading this in on the secret that my pages are done from September - November but not one is journalled. It's the hardest step to take. Oh, well. So, next Thursday at my all day workshop I plan on powering through the rest of 2007!

How awesome it will be to have it finished.

For more tips checkout www.mycmsite.com/kropwithkathy

It just figures

Starting off a new year is like starting a new blank piece of paper. Everything is fresh, clean..ok well not clean, but it's a new start. Hung the calendar in the kitchen and carefully marked things out that will be taking place this month. Finished transferring all the info from my consultant calendar, and made sure to mark all of the hockey games in red. This morning, I put the new tournament schedule on the calendar, walked down to my computer and IT"S CHANGED! UGH!

I'll admit I quite type A. I like things to be just right, not that they always are, and not that I can't be flexible, but on occasion I rewrite the to do list if it looks messy. It's my area of control what can I say. So now, I need to go back up to my calendar and cross off and rewrite 3 hockey games. Just goes to show that even in 2008 I need to be more flexible, or use a pencil to write things down.

Let's Get this New Year Started!

WOW! Did 2007 go fast or what?!? Seems so hard to believe that it's 2008, but here we are and in 363 days we'll be saying wow...didn't 2008 go fast too!

Kiddos are back to school today. It's been so quiet...ahhh the sound of the washing machine churning away. I've really enjoyed having the kids home, it has just been hard since we've had so much going on. Kids sick, family in, hockey tournament, family in. Of course with them going back to school means time to get restarted on everything. Laundry, cleaning, Christmas decorations put away, bedrooms taken back over...the list goes on, but so does time. Eventually, it will get done.

The thing I'm really excited about getting back to is my business with Creative Memories. I took a bit of a break while the kids were on break. What a great advantage to working from home. I was able to continue to take orders, and process orders, but not have to leave the house for work. So, now it's Jumpstart January. I'm working on finishing the 2007 album, doing a digital Christmas album and booking some events for January and February.

There is the cutest mini display board that hosts can earn for free. I have mine with the kids Christmas cards, sitting on my work table. It's such a neat product.

The everyday display board is also incredible. We currently have ours in the Red Wings Room (ok, we're obsessed with hockey around here). The board itself comes with magnets and clips to attach memorabilia in a great display format so that it can be changed out or left as is. We plan on changing ours out whenever we get to the next Red Wings Game.

The thing I think I continue to love the most about Creative Memories is the something for everyone product line. I still love the traditional album making products but the new stuff is so exciting and fun that it makes treasuring family memories all the more fun and easy. Off to work...I just love what I do.

I'm always looking for consultants to join my team, if you want to love working...drop me a line! or look on my website www.mycmsite.com/kropwithkathy and sign up today.