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Just got home from a retreat this weekend, tired! I am ready to head to bed and sleep off the lack of sleep. I love girl time and hanging out and just being. Ate at McMennamins, Yum! I love the beach so beautiful, even when it is stormy. I was nervous to go, since I am still figuring out who people are and don't know them very well, but it was great. I was probably more quiet than usual, but I was observing and watching. But it was good and I am glad I went.

The kids are at my parents house, so once I got home Thad and I went on a date together. Went to see Fireproof. Not bad, certainly cheesy, but the message was the most important part. Then we went and had some mexican food.

So now I am off to bed to sleep the night away. Don't have to work tomorrow and the kids are gone. YAY!

i have them

i have the tickets in my hot little hands...........anyone else up for the 12:01 showing of Twilight. Just because I have to work the next day, does not mean that I am not going!!! I think we have decided that we are going to go to applebees before and have some appetizers and maybe some strong coffee, so that we can stay awake for the movie. One of the ladies I am going with said that if we were at home at 8pm, that we would be in my pajamas ready to watch some tv and then we would probably fall asleep, i totally agreed with that, so out on the town it is.

Anyone else up for it? I know the church group is going, right? We will be there, ready to watch our beloved book take its turn on the big screen. I have no doubt that Rob will live up to the edward fantasy, but hopefully it is well written and edited well. I know the soundtrack is going to be amazing!

Historic Night

No matter what you believe or don't believe. Last night was a historic night for America. My children will remember this election and it will be in the history books. They watched the updates with us last night and by the time my husband was home, it was decided. I can only imagine that the country feels like and has this ferver that is similiar to JFK. I don't know the statistics of margins and all that, but the feel and mood and tone reminds me of an era that changed our country.

This is not a political blog, but I felt it was important to remember the significance of this night in our countries history.

It is SOOOOO Almost Time

I was at the local movie theatre yesterday and saw the poster for twilight! It is almost here. all the waiting, all the blog checking, all the "should-i-go-to-the-set" thinking! I love this pix of the guys mocking their Huge, Phenomenal Hit in the making. I will have to say that the guy who is playing jacob, I love him. my kids still remember him from shark boy/lava girl movie, ha ha.

I will tell you that I am cautiously, optimistic about this movie. I am really hoping that it lives up to the book, but they never do. I have not been too impressed with the trailers that i have seen, I hope they have some serious editing going on, but if not, it will at least be fun to head to the midnight showing with my friends and just enjoy!

Worst Fears Realized

Took the kids to Gilbert House today with their cousins and my two had a blast in the amazon room, even went so far as to dress up. Until Noah looked over at his sister, both dressed like flowers, and he exclaimed

"Oh NO!!! I'm a girl flower!!!!"

He saw the bow on the neck and the immediately took it off....I am still laughing. This is going to be a great blackmail picture one day. He cracks me up. He has this serious aversion to all things girly right now. Last week I was going to take Syd to HSM 3 with some friends and their daughters, but I had no where for Noah to go and he begged me to not take him to a girly movie!!! So we waited until he could stay home with dad and do yardwork and build legos! He came home from school this week, so excited about a story he had written about going fishing with Grandpa. He is all about the boy stuff right now, but he still gets his feelings hurt when his one girl friend won't play with him at recess. So cute, how can you not just hug on him? He is dressed in a flower costume, from jedi master to flower 12 hours!

A Little Fruit

Rock Star

Anakin

Sleeping Beauty and Chiquita Banana

So here is the official recap......................WE HAD A BLAST!!!! We are still on a sugar high and hopefully will land in bed early tonight to recover from the costume wearing, candy getting, sugar eating, major hyper fun.

We started our day with our annual Book Character Dress Up day at school. Of course this year I had to participate as well and since it was a last minute decision, I went as Meggie from "Inkheart" a twelve year old who can read book characters to real life. We partied in Noah's room with some games and cupcakes, Syd had some serious cookie action going on in her room and I was completely exhausted by the time we left school. But being the super mom I am, I decided to make dinner for our guests that were coming and make a special, suprise dinner of Mummy hot dogs and ghost breadsticks for the kids. YUM!

My adorable niece and equally cute and cudly nephew came to our house to trick or treat, thus the princess and the chiquita!!! We were walking door to door and the older kids would run and leave ryen in the dust, but the princess just hiked up her skirt and ran right after them! At one door she even won the motherload of all candies and received a huge, giant candy bar for being so cute. It was a really great night to be out and have fun with family.

So of course once we got home the kids rifled through their candy, picking out their favorites and deciding which to keep and which to give to the candy fairy! Sydnie received the HSM3 Soundtrack and Noah got a lego set. This morning he ran in to the art room to tell me that he already had this lego set, I said that maybe we could exhange it at Target to which he replied....

"I knew it, I knew you were the candy fairy!"

"Are you the candy fairy?"

I am not sure how much longer I can pull off the whole candy switcheroo, but at least they know that they get something really cool in return!!! I love halloween. I think I wanted to go to more houses than they did. When your eight year old tells you that she has enough candy, you know it is time to stop. ha ha.

Another Week Gone By

I honestly cannot believe what a bad blogger I have been. But life has been chaotic around here. I used to be a scrapbooker (ha ha) and I could never understand why these women who had older children were not caught up on the pages? Why did they just not take the time? Now I fully understand. With two kids in sports, a part-time job, awana and the basic household chores, I have no time for anything extra. I don't even pick up my camera anymore, let alone try to improve my photography skills. My days are packed with working, cooking, laundry, homework, awana memorization and then off to bed.

I thought I had this sytem down pat, but then I caught the dreaded head cold and the whole thing went off-line. I still have not caught up. At the beginning of the work life I would tell myself that if it did not get done then, it would never get done and suddenly my life was organized and my house looked great. But once I got sick, it was all hands "off" deck and nothing got done. So now I find myself knee deep in the "pick" up phase of house work, where I am finally digging out from under the pile of "stuff" that did not get done before. Then I can finally get to the real cleaning.

I am hoping that this is the last week of being gone every night of the week and life can be a little more normal for a couple of weeks, until basketball starts. Today is especially stressful since I have a little one who now wants to be indy for halloween, a class party to finish for tomorrow, work, buy more stuff for said party, grocery shop, take children to upward evaluations and fix dinner! But it will all get done and life will be back to normal on saturday.

The Bald Song

Today was our jogathon recognition assembly and boy it was crazy. As a school our goal was to raise more than we ever had before, which was $31k and then we would get shave our music teacher's head!!!! The man had some seriously long hair. Well they completed over achieved their goal as a school (by $3k)and so today the shaving was done. Since I am working in a fifth grade classroom as well as my health job, I got to participate from the working side....rather than the pta side. It was great. Yesterday our classroom wrote a song to sing to the school in honor of the occasion. I would like to share that song...........think brady bunch tune:

Here's the story of a man named jason

who agreed to shave his head

if we raised money

it was touch and go

for a little while

the longest hair in school

till the one day when you're head met the razor

we knew that it was time for it to go

that this hair, must somehow for a wig

and that's the way it went to locks of love

the locks of love.................bald man

the locks of love..................bald man

that's the way you became a bald man!!!

It really was a ton of fun. I love my job. just thought i would share.

When In Fall...........enjoy the flavors

I tried this out today. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/delicious-nutritious-pumpkin-butter/

YUM! I have to say that it truly is a little slice of heaven, with the creamy goodness and the yummy pumpkin flavor. I am not sure that I would call it nutritious, with a cup of powdered sugar in there, but it really is fabulous. When we went to the pumpkin patch last weekend they had a little display of pumpkin pie pumpkins....I have been waiting all week to make this. It is super easy to do and well worth the wait. I am totally addicted to Pioneer Woman cooking and I cannot wait until her cookbook comes out. I make some changes to the recipes and try to make them a little more low fat or healthier for our family....but when it comes down to it, it is all about the butter.

Yahooooooo

I filled up my tank today and it only cost me $45!!!! It has been so long, it felt like a huge blessing to see that number on the pump. It made my day. just thought I would share.

My New Man

Some might say that I have seen some action these last two weeks. My man has not been faithful to me and I have replaced him 4 times now. Who needs an ungrateful, unfaithful, unworking "man" when I can upgrade at any given time. All's it takes is a simple phone call and suddenly my new "man" arrives at my doorstep, fully loaded and ready to go. Until I overwork him and he gives out on me, then it is time to call in the newer model.

Apparently I am too much for these "men" and they have to go away and rest and be restored to proper working order. he he. I on the other hand am still excited and ready for the challenge. Just give me 30 minutes or maybe an hour or two with the new one and it is broke in and ready to go. But I am just getting started. I want to push the buttons and be in control. I want to be able to pause or say go whenever I want. I want to be able to record it and watch it over and over again. wow is it getting hot in here? ha ha ha.

okay, okay enough with the dirty dvr talk........i am a mom that has been at home for two days with a sick child. i need to work again, i need human interaction, i need a working dvr!!!! This is what happens when you take a woman who is now working, then has to stay at home and finally has time to blog. The imagination goes wild!!!!

The Great Divide

Mom, take some pictures of this. this is so fun. i am awesome. i can jump across a grand canyon and still land on my feet. i was getting really bored at the pumpkin patch, until i discovered this. i really wanted to go home and log onto the computer and watch star wars clone wars, but i think i could stay here and do this for a while. I might just have a little superman in me, i mean come on........who can jump a canyon like this without getting hurt. no one but me. and the most important part of jumping is to make sure that you have your face and your hands positioned in just the right "superjump" way. face: must always have mouth open, like a fake a scream, no serious looks are allowed. hands: must be pumped and ready to catch yourself, just in case a little stumble happens (but since we have established I am a superhero, that will never happen, they just look really cool like that). i rule the universe!

Pumpkin Patch

Today was such a gorgeous day that we decided to head to our favorite patch and enjoy the sunshine and fall decorations. It was well worth the cost and everyone had a good time, despite the current cold/flu that has invaded our home. The kids were super pumped to go through the dark hay maze with their daddy, they even brought their headlamps, but once we found out it could take up to four hours to find your way out we decided to skip ahead to the zip line instead. Noah was totally enamored with the haybale pirate ship and sydnie loved the swings. Once we had all of the fun out of our systems we decided to head over for the apple juice demonstration and a couple of bags of fresh homemade apple donuts. YUM! Once we had consumed our weight in the sugary goodness we decided it was time for the pumpkin picking out experience. Now let me just say as a mom who has done this thing before, it is so much fun when they are little. This year, they basically walked up to the first pumpkins that they spied and that was it. No muss, no
fuss, no fun. Plus my camera battery died about half way through the day. I was not very well prepared. But the experience, the memories is all worth it. I know that when they are older they will remember their patch experiences and look back on them with fondness. I think now that they are a little older, the real fun comes in the pumpkin carving! Something we have not been very good at around here. I think this year we will have to "carve" out the time to make some spectacular creations.

Weekend Sports

There she is..........the next Gabby Reece. Well maybe in a few years. She is loving volleyball and enjoying the competitive edge. We just need to conquer the fear of the ball hitting anywhere on her body. I remember that pain that can only come from hitting a volleyball over and over and over....the wrists are a killer. It has been a great experience so far and after their second game they are starting to pull together as a team. They were late in the game getting a coach, so they are a little behind, plus our team consists of newcomers to the game. I expect by the last game we will be able to call it and get some good volleys in there.

And then there is football. Love the fresh air, the touchdowns and my son who only has the attention span to be the hiker! Once that ball is hiked, he tends to just stand there until he hears the word run!!! Then he goes after someone who does not have the ball and tries to pull their flag. ha ha ha. Hopefully next year, he will have more fun with it and really enjoy it. If you ask him, he loves football, his favorite sport. I never have to fight with him to get him out the door, he loves wearing his jersey and a friend reminded me that at the very least he is being active and getting exercise! I am super glad that Thad is coaching, gives me a bit of a break so that I don't "have" to go to all the practices!

Next up..............Upward Basketball

OME

Twilight HD Exclusive Trailer



Oh My Edward.

this trailer is soooooooooooooo much better than the last couple. I am super excited for the movie now! Just wanted to share on this late friday afternoon.

Feeling Mellow Yellow

Hello out there world! I am here to Inspire you! and a little bit of helping too. I am a person in the yellow, someone who is an extrovert, tends more towards feelings and intuition. Apparently I cannot make a thoughtful decision or sense that I am in danger, because I a yellow. (according to Discovery Personal Profile)

I will become impatient with routine or repetition. I will not follow through to completion a task. HUH? I do not like to be bored. I get home from work and I cannot sit down, I have to be doing something. I really like to be occupied, but I can sit and work on something if it holds my interest for a long enouch time?

Now here is my question, based on my whole personality profile.........is it possible that I have adult onset ADD? I really do not like to be doing the same thing over and over again. I need something to attract my attention and have variety. But sometimes it is hard to focus. If I am at work and there is nothing to do, I literally start going crazy. give me something, anything to keep me occupied.

So do you ever have those ADD moments? Or is it just stay-at-home-mom-who-is-transitioning-back-to-a-working-mom moments? Have you ever taken a personality profile, what did yours say? I have taken spiritual gifts and quite a while ago taken a personality one. But now that I am older and more cemented in who I am and know myself better, I was able to predict the outcome. I could see all of these things and as my friend was telling me the finer nuances of my personality in my mind I was relating it all back to an experience in my life.

Some Fun

I just needed a good laugh today and this did it for me! you gotta love star wars though or just really hate oprah!!!

Funny Story

This morning the kids and I headed down to church, now let me say that in my present UTI condition I would not normally go to church, considering how many times I would likely have to get up and well............go! But this morning we were voting on our new pastor, must go to church today. As we were picking out our spot, which if you are baptist you know that that means you sit in the same spot every week. ha ha. I told my dearest husband that we should probably sit in the back, once again considering my nether regions would need to be up quite often! But instead we sat smack dab in the front of the church. As I predicted I got up about 3 times in the course of the hour, had to walk the walk of shame back to the back of the sanctuary to go "visit" the ladies room. Each time I got up, I wondered, do they know I have an infection, do they just think I cannot hold it, do they think I am being paged, part of the sound crew...........hopefully no one notices!!! After church I did some shopping and was just stepping in the dressing room to try on some stuff when the phone rang, it was Thad calling to tell me that one of the older deacons approached him after church today to ask if he and I were having problems? "I noticed your wife getting up quite often during the service and wanted to make sure that it was not maritial issues?" hahahahahahahahaha. As a woman I can honestly say that I wish it had been that and not the dreaded nether regions affliction!!!! I am still giggling over that observation.

Updates

So the big party was a good success! Thad did not really know that we were having a party, but he had his suspicions. The rain held off and we were able to sit outside for the tailgate party and as we were sitting out there, could not help but think it was a little white trash.......but there were no trailers around!!! ha ha.

Yesterday was jogathon at our school and it did rain quite a bit, but for most of the kids the rain held off. I had to run the track 4 times yesterday, once with staff, once with my fifth graders, once with my DLC kid and once with Noah! It was a long day. For the first time since my kids started at their school, I was not able to stand out there and take pix of them while they were running. So I was a little bummed about that, but it is all good.

Today I woke up this morning at 5AM!!!! with a nice little bladder infection. I have drank about 40 oz of cranberry juice so far today and it seems to be working. Thank goodness.

A friend stopped over and gave me my personality test and it was pretty much what I thought. But still fun to hear that what I think about myself is pretty spot on. Even my weaknesses. ha ha.

We also had a football game and sydnie's first volleyball game! It was great. There were some real volley's in there, it was pretty fun to watch!

And now I am going to go drink some more cranberry juice and go lay down. hopefully kick this infection before it gets to big!

Today is the Day

Today we get our party on and celebrate Thad's bday. Yesterday cable finally decided to show up, after I had waited for over 3 hours! So we headed out to awana and made sure that we hid the evidence from Thad. Made sure that all the lights were off, so he would not notice the dvr sitting in the front room. Of course when he tucked noah into bed last night he was talking to him about practice and noah kept insisting that he was not going to practice, because it was daddy's bday!!!! ha ha. I went straight to our room to make sure that the cable was working correctly and thad comes in and asks why I got cable installed? Now let me clarify that we had talked about hooking it up, but I just went ahead and did it.......not something I would normally do without talking to him first! I told him that it was so he could be at home watching sports, rather than at his moms!!! So I am pretty sure that the cat is out of the bag, but we will have fun anyway. Hopefully it does not rain until we have tailgated!