New Growth Charts for You and Your Children

How many times have you lived at a house or apartment, enjoyed beautiful times with your children, watched them grow and pulled out your pencil and marked their height on the wall or door frame. We've
all done it. It's so much fun for you and your child to see how much they have grown in just a few months, heck sometimes weeks.
 Now when life dictates you have to move on to a new home, you can take your removable growth chart with you and not have to be saddened by leaving the old back at the old house under coats of new paint.


Take a look at these, they are so cool......Call me for more info623-889-1327  

Watch your child grow!

Feel like your little one is growing up too fast? Keep track of it with a personalized Growth Chart. A Growth Chart marks your child's growth it becomes a keepsake after your they are grown. They measure up to 5 feet in height and can be customized with your child’s picture and name. Stick in on the wall and write on it to document their progress, a fine-tip permanent marker works best. Plus, with a number of fun, colorful templates available, they’re the perfect complement to your child’s room décor.
Finished size - 13"x48"

Measurable height up to 5'

Printed on premium Photo-Tex material

Back with low-tack adhesive

Sticks on walls, doors, and more

Apply and remove as often as you like
 

Hope Kids and March of Dimes Kids meets Cinderella

When Disney on Ice came to town last month for most it was a another great Ice Capades style show, but for a select bunch of special children it was an event that they will probably never forget.

Together, Hope Kids, The March of Dimes and Disney on Ice put a great event for some special children.

Hope Kids, which is a non-profit organization in Arizona, gives hope to kids that face a life threatening condition. Hope Kids was started about ten years ago with the idea that kids fighting life threatening illnesses need hope because their lives are filled with hospital stays, treatments, cancer treatment ,pokes and needles. Hope Kids give these children something to look forward to, not just their next hospital stay or treatment. Hope Kids provides these type of events free to these children and their families as well as giving them the opportunity to meet other families and make new friends.

March of Dimes is a non-profit organization that was started years ago originally set out to cure polio. Polio today is cured and the March of Dimes were instrumental in doing so. They have now moved on to "Healthy Babies Every Time" and provides work and research to help assure all babies are born healthy. The March of Dimes works with pre-mature babies and supports how these babies should be cared for.

All the children that attended were made up to be either Prince's or Princesses. EVIT, a vocational school in the east valley had their cosmetology students do their make overs. The children were then transported by Limos from US Airways center on Phoenix to the Castle at Ashley Manor in Chandler . The children then received flowers, ate lunch, played games and danced. Later they were taken outside to see a beautiful horse drawn pumpkin carriage coming down the drive with who else but Cinderella. They all met and spoke with Cinderella with ear to ear smiles.

It was celebration of life and fun. One I will never forget.

McPhee Photography Opening Private Based Studio- Coming in April

 Located in Avondale, Arizona, McPhee Photography will be opening their premier Photographic Studio, providing clients, both corporate & private, the finest in visionary portraiture, portfolio work, fine art, product, head shots, senior portraits and fashion photography services. Our comfortable and relaxed, private based studio is fully equipped exclusively with state-of-the-art Profoto Lighting and rivals the capabilities of substantially more expensive commercial based studios. Watch this blog for upcoming details and specials.

BlaineGabbert, Will He Come To The Cardinals?

As I keep my ear to the ground in the Arizona sports world, I keep hearing the name "Blaine Gabbert".

Blaine is the quarterback for the University of Missouri Tigers and recently announced he's coming to the NFL. Several mock drafts have him coming to the Cardinals as their first pick, 5th overall.

Blaine Gabbert warming up before the 2010 Insight Bowl

Blaines stats have him at 127 overall in the college scene with over 3000 yards (including post season)  and 16 touchdowns in the 2010 season, with almost 7000 career yards and 40 touchdowns. At 6'5, 235 pounds Blaine is the paramount type of quarterback we see in the NFL today. With big stature comes a big arm that can go long  as well as being able to thread a needle in short and medium situations, however his 2010 passing yards were the lowest in Missouri history since 2005. Blaine did struggle in the later part of the season, throwing only four touchdowns and having four interceptions in the last five games, two of those games without a touchdown. His performance in the Insight bowl were impressive throwing for over 450 yards and a game loosing interception late in the fourth quarter. He's a junior and as history has it, coming into the NFL that early has not been very productive for most. Sam Bradshaw of the Rams is an exception to that, but Bradshaw I believe is an  extremely smart player on the field with instincts of a cat.

Gabbert is a big strong kid with a good arm. I don't know if he is a franchise quarterback. The Cardinals have a very similar quarterback in John Skelton who I believe is as good if not better than Gabbert. Quarterbacks have definitely been an issue with the Cardinals this year. It will be very interesting to watch the draft and see how it all unfolds.

Happy New Year!

Well allot has happened in the last month. The 4A and 5A championships were nothing but stellar.
Four great games, tremendous athletes, great coaching were ingredients to fantastic finishes.

4A Champions were Thunderbird High school in the 4A2 Div. and Saguaro in the 4A1 Div.
Chaparral took home the 5A2 Title and Hamilton retained the 5A1 for the third consecutive year.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday. I find my time spent with my family is more important every year. I guess as time goes on you realize everybody wont always be around. My love for photography gives me that opportunity to catch that "moment in time", that without a lasting image in media, it just  seems to be a fuzzy image in my mind as the years past. ..LOL

Wishing everybody a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Be safe and we'll see you in the funny pages.

AIA Football Playoffs Update

The last few weeks have brought us some great playoff games. I first covered Desert Edge vs. Seton Catholic. Desert Edge played a great first half, commanding a large lead. Seton Catholic came back hard in the second half , unfortunately falling short at the end of the game.
We then moved to the east valley to watch Pinetop vs Show Low in 2nd round 3a playoffs. This game proved to be a show of offensive skills from both teams. Touchdown after touchdown exhibiting great athletic skills from some very talented players. Both teams showed up to win with Show Low coming out on top 68-48. Number 1 Show Low will Meet #2 Blue Ridge in the 3A State Championship this Saturday at  the NAU Walk up Skydome in Flagstaff  Nov. 27th at 5:00 pm following the 2a Championship game.
The second round of 4A2 was probably the game of the year so far when #8 seeded Desert Edge took down #1 Cactus in what proved to be Desert Edge's finest game ever as they came back six minutes in the third quarter scoring twice, a offensive four yard run and a fumble recovery from the defense that was taken in for six points to take the lead. From that point on the defense and offense played text book football completely shutting down the Cobras in the second half. Desert Edge's offense ate up the clock with a couple of great drives finally giving up the ball to Cactus with just over three minutes remaining. Cactus was unable to produce any results succumbing to Desert Edge's defense.

Off to North Canyon High School. We caught  2A'sYuma Catholics Shamrocks against Thatchers Eagles. A very evenly matched football game. Great plays and Talent from both teams. When the dust cleared Yumas Shamrocks walked away 22-20 with the win moving on to the finals.
The second  2A game found Northwest Christian matched-up against Thatcher. The games intensity was on fire the first quarter,then Northwest Christian fired up their offense and ran away with this game 42-13. The Crusaders running game was very impressive to say the least.
We then find Northwest Christian vs Yuma Catholic grinding it out at NAU's Walk Up Skydome this weekend November 27th @ 1:00.

On a personal note, don't let 2A small town football fool you. I have seen some of footballs best athletes at this level from all four teams mentioned above. The 2A State Championship at NAU in Flagstaff this weekend will prove to be one of the best match ups this year.

5A1 playoffs semi match ups
-Hamilton vs. Mountain Pointe
-Desert Vista vs. Desert Ridge


5A2 playoffs semi match ups
-Chaparral vs. Westview
-Centennial vs. Ironwood ridge


4A1 playoff semi match ups
-Canyon del Oro vs. Cienega
-Saguaro vs Queen Creek


4A2 playoffs semi matchups
-Notre Dame vs Williams Field
-Desert Edge vs. Thunderbird


See you next week...and have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your family!

Arizona Special Olympics fund raiser sending people "Over the Edge"

As Frank Gilleski, a Special Olympics athlete repelled off an 18 story building at 101 E Lexington in downtown Phoenix on Wed Nov. 10th, he stopped for a moment and raised his hands in victory as he and many others raised thousands of dollars in " Over the Edge", a fund raising event for Arizona Special Olympics. Each participant repelled off the high rise almost 200 feet, all of them with a big smile when returning to earth.

Arizona Special Olympics have over 10,600 athletes 6 of which are being sent to Athens Greece to compete in the world competition next year. Arizona Special Olympics have just completed their fall games in Surprise last month and the winter games are around the corner.
For more information about Arizona Special Olympics go to specialolympicsarizona.org .