Ramona the Pest

Rawrasaurus Freebie and a RAK

2011-03-29T07:00:00.000-06:00

Check out my new release! I love little boys and dinosaurs, so I couldn't resist creating this fun little kit!

And here are a few layout from my team, to show off the kit!

And last of all, look at this cute little desktop that Sarah made for all you! Be sure and leave some love!

Download HERE

And if you would like to win this kit for FREE, leave a comment here and I will draw and announce the winner on Monday.

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Sneak Peek and Winner

2011-03-28T07:24:00.000-06:00

Welcome to another week!! We have a winner in my RAK from last week for my Happy Thoughts kit! Through the help of random.org, I chose Orlie as the winner! Orlie, send me an email at ramsfam13 at yahoo dot com to redeem your prize!

This week, I have another new kit coming out tomorrow! It is fun and cute and for little boys! Here is a sneak peek:

Check back tomorrow for a freebie and all the release info! I will also be doing a RAK for this one, as well!

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Spring Break RAK

2011-03-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I showed you the cute Spring Break kit that is your ticket for your festivities starting April 1st at BrownieScraps! Well, today, I'm going to give you a chance to win the kit for FREE! Leave a comment here with what you WISH you could do for spring break this year if money and work and all that stuff were not important enough to consider! I'll announce the winner next friday!

Here is they flyer of events for our Spring Break!

A $100 gift basket of scrapping/hybrid goodies will go to the First Place winner!! Snag your ticket HERE today!

Spring Break at Brownie Scraps

2011-03-24T07:00:00.001-06:00

I don't know about you, but I am soooooo ready for Spring Break!! I am ready for warmer weather and no schedules and spending time with my kids. What things do you have planned for Spring Break?

At BrownieScraps, we are going to celebrate this fun time of year for the whole month of April! We have all sorts of activities and a super cute ticket to purchase to make your odds for prizes even greater! In fact, the Grand Prize is a big fun basket of scrapping supplies. Things you can use for hybrid, just for scrapping, etc. It will be worth $100.00 so you will want to find out how to win this! There will also be gift certificates for the Runner ups!

Here is the ticket, that can be purchased for $5.00. Some of the events will give you more tokens if you use the ticket. These tokens will be drawn from-at the end to choose our winners. The more tokens you have, the more chances you have to win! Plus, this kit is just a fun, summery kit to scrap with!

You can click HERE to purchase it!

I also have a little freebie cluster to go with this kit!

Click HERE to download!

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Happy Thoughts and RAK

2011-03-23T07:00:00.000-06:00

It's finally time to unveil my new kit! I'm sure you've gotten a pretty good look at it this week, but today, I have another FREEBIE, a Coupon and a RAK to go with my unveiling! First things first, though. I want to show off a few more layouts from my team! They do such an awesome job!

Didn't they do a nice job? Also, if you like these, some of them are also included for FREE as quickpages when you buy the kit! And without any further waiting, here is the kit:

Click HERE to buy! Also, use this coupon: rtp-happy to get an additional 10% off.

If you would like to win this kit for FREE, leave a comment here to tell me what makes you happy! I will choose a winner on Monday!

And now for the freebie. This was created by Shelly, another one of my amazing pests!

Click HERE to download.

Free Template

2011-03-22T07:00:00.000-06:00

In preparation of my new kit coming out, I thought I would share a FREE template and show a few layouts, to get you even more excited to see this new kit!

Click HERE to download! And leave some love for Kristin-she's my awesome pest who made it for you!

Also, Wendy made a darling a set of matching desktops with this kit, so make sure you are signed up for my newsletter to get it! It will be going out tomorrow morning!

And here are two layouts that show off this kit!

Sneak Peek

2011-03-21T07:00:00.001-06:00

Okay, I am really back now! I promise! Life just got really crazy, not only with all the changes in the shop and from a business standpoint, but even in real life! We had our basement flooded from a broken pipe and a few other things that just turned our life upside down!

However, I feel rejuvenated and back to blogging, scrapping, designing, etc.! I even have a new kit coming out this week! I'm very excited about it! It's called "Happy Thoughts", because in the middle of everything we had going on, I needed something to keep me happy! These colors definitely make me happy!

Here is a little Sneak Peek:

Check back tomorrow with a freebie! The kit will be released on Tuesday!

Winner and New Kit!

2011-03-08T14:46:00.001-07:00

My blogging has been so bad lately. I apologize. I'm hoping now that our store switch is over and things are settling down a bit, that I can catch up.

The winner of Splendidly Spring was TJ! Random dot Org chose the lucky number 7! Congrats and send me an email at ramsfam13 at yahoo dot com to redeem your prize!

Now for my new kit! I wanted to make a cute kit about chores and cleaning and working together! With 6 children, we have many chores at our house! They keep us pretty busy! My kids, of course, think they are the worst things ever! But hopefully this kit will show the "cute" side of chores!

And, how about a freebie to go with this kit? I have a cute one made by Shelly!

Splendidly Spring

2011-03-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

I love spring! As soon as the calendar reads March, I find myself waiting and watching for kites in the air, the laughter of children in the neighborhood, blossoms popping out on trees and that smell in the air that says it is spring!

This week has been perfectly crazy! With the shop, we switched over our store to a whole new program. At home, my hubby was gone all week, so things were pretty crazy with driving kids all over and keeping up with schedules. Plus, this week I started homeschooling my 9 year old daughter! I'm loving it, so far, but it has been a bit more work and less mommy time! As for the weather, it has been typical spring like weather in Utah. It was perfectly beautiful yesterday and blustery and cold today! I have no idea what tomorrow will bring!

Are you ready to see our new kit? I'm so excited about it and I have a freebie too.

How fun is that? I love the colors and had so much fun working with them! Here are a few gorgeous layouts from my team members:

And one of my amazing pests, created this cute little matching word art:

Click HERE to download!

If you would like a chance to win this kit, please comment here with your favorite thing about Spring. I will choose a winner on Monday! And if you are in a hurry and want to buy it, before then, here is a coupon for 25%. It is only good through Sunday!

code: splendidspring

Here is the link to go pick it up!

Winner of Toothy Grin

2011-03-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I certainly didn't expect to be almost a week late in posting the winner! If you've been over to BrownieScraps, you have seen our changes and how hard we have been working to install and set up x-cart! It was a huge project, but one that we have been working towards for over 2 years! I am so happy that it is done. And while we still have a few bugs to work out, overall, it is working well!

So, the winner of Toothy Grin is Betty! Thanks to all of you who played along! Betty, please email me at ramona @ browniescraps dot com to claim your prize!!

I'll be back later today with my new release and a FREEBIE!!

Toothy Grin and Freebie

2011-02-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

I just released my tooth kit, that was for sale, for one month over at Polka Dot Plum.

This kit is so versatile and fun! You can scrap for a boy or a girl with it and show off all their toothy grins!

Here are a few layouts by my amazing team!

And there are many more, if you want to check out my gallery!

Would you like a chance to win this kit? Then leave a comment here and I will come back this weekend and choose a winner!

Also, Mary was our winner of the $25.00 gift certificate to Persnickety Prints. Mary, if you read this, please contact me at ramsfam13 at yahoo dot com so I can send you your prize.

Last, but certainly not least, I have a freebie for you! This cute cluster frame was made by Shelly, one of my awesome pests! (although she definitely is not a pest!)

Click HERE to download!

We Have a Winner!!!

2011-02-18T16:44:00.001-07:00

So, I wanted to have a little fun with drawing the winner for the $25.00 gift certificate to Persnickety Prints. For this, I enlisted the help of Mr. Pest! I tore up 6 pieces of paper, one for each layout that was submitted. I folded them up and put them in a cup for him to draw from! He drew the lucky number 3! Mary is our winner! Congratulations! Email me at ramsfam 13 at yahoo dot com to claim your certificate!

I'm also excited to share with you a great little printable you can get on Wendy's Blog. Wendy is on my creative team, as well as our hybrid designer at BrownieScraps! She created this darling purse, using my kit "Olivia".

Click HERE to go to Wendy's blog and download!\

Printing and Persnickety!

2011-02-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Being the featured designer at Persnickety Prints this week is such an honor and I want to share a little bit about why I love their work so much and why I am one of their biggest fans! I live in Utah County, which is where Persnickety Prints is located. I have been to their shop several times to pick up my prints. I will seriously never print anywhere else because of three things that are very important to me.

1. Price. I searched high and low for the best price in digital scrapping and it led me to Persnickety. For $1.99, you can print a customized 12x12 layout. Many places like Wal-mart, don't offer the 12x12 size, so even though the price may be cheaper for other things, you just don't get the option of customizing it exactly like you want. Also, more places are allowing customized pages, rather than formatted-stick your picture in, because I think they are seeing how popular digital scrapbooking has become. But I remember the frustration of not knowing how I would ever print my layouts. I even bought a 12x12 printer, but that thing went through ink faster than I could keep up. And if you only get 5 layouts out of a $30 ink cartridge-you can see how quickly that would add up!

2. Quality. The first place that I finally found (about 2 years ago) that I could print my 12x12's at was Costco. I believe their price was the same, if you had their yearly membership. I bought their membership, just so I could print through them. I was happy for awhile, and it wasn't until I saw a layout printed at Persnickety that I realized how different the quality is. I wish I could describe it, but the layouts are just more clear and everything seems to just pop right off the page! I could never go back.

3. Customer Service. This definitely can not be beat anywhere! Chari takes a personal interest in her customers and she treats us all so well. She offers sales and 100% guarantee with their products! One time, I sent the wrong image for printing. Instead of my 300 dpi, I sent my websized version. It was so grainy and one look at it, I instantly knew what I did wrong. They offered to reprint at no extra cost to me. This was completely my error, not theirs and they still offered the 100% satisfaction. That is impressive to me!

So, now you have my reasons of why I will print nowhere else. This past Christmas, I printed my first full album. I also printed 2 smaller ones at 8x8 each to give to the grandparents. My mother-in-law was so happy with the gift and just loved it. These memories we are scrapping and preserving are so important! Don't trust your hard work with anyone, but Persnickety!

And, if you want to try them out for FREE, then make sure your layout is entered, in the comment section below for the drawing! I will be choosing one lucky person-tomorrow afternoon-to win the Gift Certificate!

Daughters

2011-02-16T11:29:00.002-07:00

This week, I don't have a new release, so I thought I would spotlight an older kit! This is one of my favorites and was made in honor of my beautiful 4 year old daughter!

And here are some layouts using this kit:

For this week, this kit will be 25% off it's normal price! You can click HERE to pick it up! Coupon code: rtp-olivia-216

And, I have a Free Word Art for you today! I made it in honor of all daughters! I hope you enjoy it!

Winner-Free Template-Challenge

2011-02-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Boy do I have a full post for you all today! I am so excited to share the news that I am the featured designer at Persnickety Prints! Can I just say how honored I feel and how much I LOVE their product! I do all my printing at Persnickety and not only do they have the best quality anywhere-they are also the nicest! Their customer service is amazing! As a special treat, they have given me a $25.00 Gift Certificate to share with one lucky winner! How cool is that? That means about 12 12x12 layouts printed! I don't know about you, but that is an awesome deal!

First things first! We have a winner from my giveaway last week! I used Random.org and the number 1 was chosen! Congrats Jennifer! I will send you your coupon for my new kit, "Love U Still"! I hope you enjoy working with it!

Next, I have a FREE template for you all to scrap with! I created this template based on a layout I recently scrapped. Here is my layout:

Isn't my little Noah, just a doll? I love him so much! I used a brand new kit, by Scrappin Daisies which will be released tomorrow at Browniescraps!

So here is the preview of the template for all of you!

Click HERE to download!

Last of all, if you would like to be entered for the chance to win the $25 GC to Persnickety Prints, then use the template above and ANY of my products (past or current) to scrap a layout. Upload your layout to any gallery or photohosting site and link it in the comment section here. On Friday, I will draw a winner for the certificate! I can't wait to see all the fabulous layouts!

Love U Still

2011-02-08T21:44:00.001-07:00

This kit is dedicated to my wonderful husband! Who, after being married for over 15 years, I love him still! I love him more than I ever could have imagined-15 years ago! He is my best friend, the one I want to see and talk to every day! I'm so thankful for him in my life!! And I don't care how many years pass by, I will always love him still!

Click HERE to buy it. Here are two examples of things that can be scrapped or crafted with this kit:

How cute are those?

Would you like the chance to win this kit for FREE? I haven't done a RAK in a long time, so I'm going to make up for it! You can earn 3 chances to win this kit:

Tweet about it or link this here in facebook-report it here
Leave a comment here
Blog about it and leave the link here

For every ten comments here, I will give away one kit. So, if I end up with 30 comments, I will randomly draw 3 winners! Sound fun? Spread the word and check back on Friday to see the winners!

Oh, and I have another little goodie. Just tweet about this wordart or add it to your status in facebook and you can download it!

Sometimes Love Hurts

2011-02-07T22:23:00.003-07:00

I love Valentine's Day! It's such a fun time to show love to all around us! For me, it isn't just about showing my hubby how much I love him, but also my children and friends! When I was a child, I loved making and exchanging valentines! It was just a great time to focus on the ones we love.

It can also be a hard time of year, when we think of those we've lost. Today, I was driving home when a song by Chicago-from the 80's came on the radio. In an instant, I was taken back 20+ years to highschool. It only seemed like yesterday, that my cousin Ronda and I would sit on a bus ride, blaring or singing our favorite slow songs and dreaming of the day we would have a boyfriend! I remembered her daring me to do crazy things like take all the crackers from Wendy's on a theatre trip. In a moment, I was back in that time and then it hit me. Ronda is gone. She was one of my dearest friends and we planned to live our lives close together and raise our families together and continue our adventures. But death came too soon for my dear friend and sometimes the ache can just hurt. I cried, as I once again realized how much I love her and miss her. One more reminder that life is too short to wait even a single day to tell the people we love-how much we love them.

I made a little wordart in honor of this upcoming holiday and to give a sort of sneak peek to my new kit which will be released tomorrow! Today's freebie comes with a little twist though! Just click to Tweet or post on facebook about this freebie and then you can download it! Enjoy!

Sunday Reflections

2011-02-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to have a reflection day, once a week and what better day than Sunday! I think it is so nice to pause and look back on the week and think about the highlights and low lights! Here are a few of mine:

Highlights:
Chipper got the lead in the school play
Mitchell made the Musical Express group
I lost 2 pounds
I finished a Valentines craft
shared a great date night with hubby

Lowlights:
Abby had to have her tooth extracted
Stress over getting the van fixed
Too many toys to sort through

What are your highlights and lowlights of the past week?

Simplify

2011-02-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

This is my theme for 2011! I'm hoping to simplify all areas of my life! Here are just a few ways that I'm working to simplify and maybe they will inspire things in your own life!

Eating!! This is a big one. I have been on more weightloss plans than I can count and they all failed! The more complicated they were, the more I was intrigued, but after 2 weeks, I was done and back to eating all the crap I ate before. That would last until the next fad diet came along and then it would start all over again! This year, I decided to simplify! I simply cut out most of the refined and processed things in my life. I took it back to the basics and we mostly eat fruit, vegetables, rice, meat and occasionally we add in some stevia. It's been amazing! I feel better than I have in years and so far, I've lost 13 pounds! The best part is that I don't feel like I'm starving, it has just become habit and what sounds good! It may take me a year to lose all the weight I need to, but I feel like I'm finally doing it the right way!

Toys!! I don't know about your house, but we have far too many toys! So many days, I feel as though I am drowning under all these toys and the constant mess they make! Today, I dragged every single toy we own out into the family room. I am going through them one by one. Some I will donate. Some I will throw away. Some I will put in 2 containers to take upstairs to their room. All of the rest will be organized into boxes and stacked in my garage. Every month, I will rotate one box of toys in and refill that box with toys they have been playing with. Not only will they love getting "new" toys each month, but I'm excited for how simple it will be to clean up each day!

This is my start, and I know I still have many more areas to tackle! What things would you like to simplify? What do you think your life would be like if you could simplify things and not feel so ragged all the time? How can simplify be applied to scrapping?
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Friday Freebie--Journal It

2011-02-04T20:33:00.001-07:00

I'm a huge fan of journaling! I think every layout should have some! Sometimes it is fun to journal on the main background paper, but sometimes it is fun to have some journaling tags, so I thought I would create some for you today! These match my latest release, Home Sweet Home and they will be available for the first 100 people to download! After that, I will put them in my store for sale, for $2.00.

Here is the kit they coordinate with:

Click HERE to purchase!

And here is the freebie for today:

Link has expired.

Thank you for all the love you left last friday and during the past week! You have no idea how much I enjoy knowing that someone is reading my babble!!! Please keep leaving the comments-they make my day!!

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Angels on Earth

2011-02-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight I attended a planning or zoning type meeting as the plans for Sam's new school are in the works to be passed. They are hoping to break ground on March 1st and that is so exciting! This school is truly one of a kind and one of the greatest blessing in our lives. It has made all the difference for Sam, which in turn is life changing for all of us. I don't want to say that the mainstream way is not a good way or that the public schools don't have plenty to offer, they just weren't what we needed and what Sam needed. I think that I've always liked looking for answers outside the box, liked learning ways that are different and not mainstream. I'm the parent that has homeschooled and now has all her kids, except Sam, in a charter school. I like alternatives! In every way! So, when I first began learning about the DIR approach and the Floortime Method, I was intrigued. I read and studied all I could. It meshed with my belief system and the behavioral methods they were using at school, just weren't working. I was literally watching my son slip away from me-more and more each day. He began hating to be touched. He wouldn't look at us. He was angry all the time. He would have violent outbursts. If we put him in his room for timeout, he would destroy everything in there. It felt impossible. I had already dealt with knowing he may never have full speech. I had come to terms with the fact that he had a white brain matter abnormality. I was ready to deal with an unknown future that may entail me caring for him for the rest of my life. I wasn't prepared for the anger, the messes, the fights. I was overwhelmed beyond belief and there were many times that I would just sit and cry-amongst the mess. One day last spring, he got mad at me and threw a glass across the room. It shattered at my feet. I was horrified. He showed no remorse. There was no reaction at all. How do you reach in and pull emotion out of a child that seems to feel absolutely nothing. Up to that point, I had never had him say I Love You or show any sign of affection in that way. When I told him I loved him, he would pull away. That is a hard thing to deal with as a parent. That was harder than just about anything else we had been through.

Then I met our angels. It started with a friend from highschool. She knew my world because she also has a sweet boy with similar challenges. She told me of this school-a school she had relocated her family from several states away to attend. I knew it was an impossible dream. We didn't have money for a private school. The school was at least 30 minutes away from our house, etc. And then I met the headmistress of the school, at a class she was teaching. She was amazing! And I wanted so much for her to work with my Sam! She has a passion for these children and this method of teaching that was contagious! Through several other meetings and circumstances, this past Fall, Sam started school at Clear Horizons Academy.

I won't go through all the details of the past 5 months, but I will tell you the little boy who is so different. I almost feel like I am finally really meeting him! He still has a few meltdowns here and there, but compared to a year ago, it's nowhere even close. Sometimes, he just sits and talks to me. His language is still tough to understand, but I know it just about better than anyone, and I love his words! Tonight, as I was tucking him into bed, he said, "you and daddy love me". Those words brought tears to my eyes and sum up what we have gained from this method of teaching. He is happy and loves his teachers and friends at school. For the first time in his life, he has a best friend and as a parent of a special needs child-that is a pretty awesome thing to experience!

Tonight, at the planning meeting, I met the man who made this all possible. He hasn't been alone, but through his efforts and his vision my life has been changed. He is an angel on earth and I'm so grateful he has spent the time and money to make this dream a reality! Each teacher and admin and therapist and aid are angels to me! They work each day to make my little boy happy!

I hope I didn't bore anyone with my post tonight! I just felt so much gratitude and have so much hope for my son's future thanks to these amazing angels!

Double the Love...

2011-02-02T10:49:00.001-07:00

I am not usually a double page layout type of girl! Most of my pages are just one side, however, I think there are times when they serve a great purpose! Double pages are great for getting in lots of pictures and capturing special events. They can also be good when you want your pages to match. I think that Christmas layouts are perfect for Double pages. Who doesn't have hundreds of photos to try and scrap of this special time of year? I am still finishing up my 2009 album, so I can get it printed within the next week. One of my last layouts in this book, will be of Christmas 2009! I decided to scrap this as a double pager. Here is how they turned out

I can't get them to post side by side, so you'll have to use your imagination!

What events do you need to still scrap? Will any of them be benefitted by a two page layout?

I have a Free Template for you today! It is a template of the layout above! I will release a pack with 2 full page templates on Tuesday, so check back then to see them! Leave me some love if you are enjoying these free templates, once a week! I would also love to hear feedback on what you like or don't like about my templates!

Download HERE

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Home Sweet Home

2011-02-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I released my new kit, Home Sweet Home! I created this kit because I think there are always family and home pictures to scrap! It's neutral enough that it can be used for all sorts of layouts!

And I scrapped 4 quickpages for you, if you want an easy way to do a layout!

You can buy the kit HERE or the Quickpages HERE

Check back on my blog on Freebie Friday for an add-on to coordinate with this kit!

I also have a new template pack! Remember the template I gave away last week? It had room for several photos on it! Well, here are four more templates that are for multi-photos.

You can buy this pack HERE

I'm releasing two page templates for next week's release! Check out my blog tomorrow for a FREE sample of one!

Freebie cluster frame created by Kristin on my team!
Download HERE

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Love at Home

2011-01-31T23:00:00.001-07:00

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I have a kit coming out that is devoted to Love of Family! I love my family so much! My husband and children are my whole life. I also love my sisters and brother, my parents, my husband's family! The wonderful thing about family is how much the love grows as the numbers do!

Tomorrow I will show off my new kit, "Home Sweet Home" and will have a freebie cluster to go with the new release!

Also, tomorrow at BrownieScraps begins our Winterpalooza! You don't want to miss this! We will have so much fun and you can spend the whole month earning stamps to trade in for a FREE Mega that we all put together! Here is the Mega you can earn:

And if you are here, looking for a clue of the next blog to visit:

This Baker can be found down the road.

Now for my freebie! This is to get you ready for tomorrow's kit! I made a little wordart to celebrate home and family! I hope you enjoy it and can scrap with it!

Click HERE to download.

When Success Comes First

2011-01-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

Today was a super long, but fun day! My 11 year old son, Mitchell was in his first State Lego Challenge. There were 56 teams which equaled about 400 boys and girls ranging in age from about 9 to 13. They had all spent months designing, building and programming their robots to do certain missions and now it was time to compete with others! Mitchell's team was a last minute entry, because another team had dropped out. So, we only had about a week to put everything together and practice.

We arrived bright and early, at about 7 am (after an hour long drive) and we were excited to be there. None of our expectations were high, we just thought it would be fun to experience it and see how it all worked!

The first round began and our team was the 14th team to go. They did pretty well and we were happy they hadn't bombed! When the scores came in, they were in first! The kids were elated! They jumped up and down. They hugged each other. Parents took pictures of their wide grins! It was exciting and suddenly I found myself thinking they had a shot to really come out in first or close to it! More rounds went by and 2 other teams scored higher (quite a bit, actually, they were amazing), but still our spirits were high! We ended round one in third place!

With two rounds to go, we knew that anything could happen and we couldn't wait to see what future scores there would be! Lunchtime came and then we headed back to compete in round two. I was so excited and so happy to see my quiet son beaming from ear to ear!

They got their robot ready, the countdown began and then their little robot was off. Things didn't go quite as smooth and as the boys worked to get it to do its missions, they began to get more and more flustered. By the time the buzzer rang, it was clear to all of us that this score would not be so good. The way the judging works in this type of challenge is that it is the best score of 3-so they don't get averaged, you just get 3 chances to do your best.

The boys were a bit bummed, but we all worked to cheer them up and they went off to practice some more. They had 45 minutes until their last competition and they spent the whole time trying to improve. I was hopeful and excited! I watched other teams who had started out with only a few points, jump ahead of us as round 2 and 3 went better for them. Surely our round 3 would be our best yet!

The time came and they set it up. Again they started off good and then it all came crashing down. One of the girls, no matter how hard she tried, couldn't get the arm to stay on. She worked and worked until you could see the pain on her face. The others watched and waited-all wanting and hoping to beat their first time. The buzzer rang and I saw 8 sad faces, slowly pick up their pieces and leave. By the time I met them on the side, 4 of them were in tears. It was heartbreaking to see it end on such a low note. Mitchell was sad the whole way home and said he wished he had never gone. I knew he didn't really feel this way, but it made me ponder a bit about the order of success sometimes.

I even posed the scenario to him of how different it would be if their scores were reversed. Instead of getting a 125, a 55 and an 80, how different the end result would have been if they had not achieved their best score until the end. And why should it really matter? A score is a score, right? I think the difference is that when we work and we work and we work, getting better, struggling, but improving, we feel success. There is something so sweet about succeeding, after you have tasted the bitterness of defeat. However, if something comes easy at first and then gets harder, we seem to be more easily discouraged and the reward is not as great. I thought this was a nice little life lesson for Mitchell and I today and I look forward to him having more successes in the future!

Where in your life have you succeeded quickly, only to then experience the challenge? Was it harder to reach that first level again? Did you feel more discouraged? And for those things that don't come easy, did you appreciate your success after working and failing and working some more?