G.N.O.

It was a Girls Night Out tonight. First the new scrapbook store in Memphis, Archiver's opened this weekend. We were so excited to finally have this store in Memphis. It was fantastic. My Christmas list grew ten times tonight. They have so many things I wish for. We spent 2 hours in the store. While there we got to make a card.
Here we are making our card:



And here the employees let us wear their aprons and took our picture for us. They are all scrapbookers that work there so they understood.



Then we went out and got some dessert and cheese dip at On the Border. Much needed laughter and girl talk. And just for the record we could have picked up two guys if we had wanted to because there sure were these two guys who kept checking us out all night. We had one of those moments where I said "look those guys keep looking over here at us" and all the rest of the girls in the group turned around to see. Either that or they were having a good time just laughing at us (this is probably the more likely story).

I can't stand it

I am so excited right now I can't stand it. We have a new scrapbook store, Archiver's, that opened in Memphis this weekend. Some friends and I are going tonight to check it out. It is currently 2:45 and we aren't meeting until 6:00. I am worse than a kid the night before Christmas. This is the best weekend I have had in a while. :)

Hot Air Balloon ride

My number one thing on my list of things to do before I die is to ride in a hot air balloon. I just think that would be really cool. Now this list really only exists in my head, I really should write it down. Anyway tonight at the Bartlett Celebration they had several balloons that you could take a little ride up in. Now these were tethered balloons and the ride was short but only cost $5.00. While this does not technically fulfill my number one thing on my list it does come close (and maybe as close as I ever will get), so I was super excited about it. Pat and Kyle rode up together and Kaitlyn and I rode up together. Then Paula and I went up in a different balloon so I got to go up twice. It was also real neat to watch them from afar. This was the coolest thing I have done in a while.





Here is me and Kaitlyn up in the balloon.


Here is Pat and Kyle going up in the balloon.


And here is me and Paula in the balloon.

Bartlett Celebration

Tonight we went to the Bartlett Celebration at Freeman park. It was really good. It was kinda like a mini fair. They had all the good fair food (corn dogs, turkey legs, cotton candy, funnel cakes, etc.), some carnival rides, and the best part hot air balloons. Pat went with us and Kaitlyn and Kyle really had a good time.

Here they are riding some of the rides:






Pat, Kaitlyn and Kyle all rode the sizzler. I was a little worried about whether or not they would not like this ride after it started going so fast but they loved it.




They also had some craft/vendor booths set up. One of those booths was a store called Once Upon a Time. They do birthday parties and other things of that nature. Sleeping Beauty and Captain Jack Sparrow were there.

A road turned into a castle

So my kids have played outside pretty much all afternoon. It was so pleasant outside now that it has stopped raining. They took the bricks and now say they made a castle.

I really should get them some real toys to play with I guess, you know ones that would not hurt them if they drop them on their foot. I know that the tip of a finger cost $2000, I do not need to find out how much a toe or a foot costs. And yes they are playing outside in their pajamas.

Little Civil Engineer

Kaitlyn and I went to a baby shower this afternoon. When I returned Kyle said "mommy come look what I did". So I went outside and he said "I built a road".

94 days and counting

I love Christmas. I love it for all kinds of reasons. Some I really can't explain. This is inherited from several family members of mine. My father loved decorating for Christmas. He was actually a little obsessed with it. When he died I got all his Christmas lights. He could give the Griswald's a run for their money. I am still waiting to use them. My Grandmother always cooked way too much and my Mother always gives way too much (not that I think you should stop this, in case you are reading). But that is what I love. All the "too much". The overdoing. The going insane with it. All the shopping, all the parties, all the agonizing over the perfect gift. Anyway I found this cool little Christmas tree countdown thing to go on my blog (it is on the right side). So I can't wait, 94 days to go.

Party

Kyle finally got to have his birthday party last night. His actual birthday is on Sept. 1 but we were a little late with the party. He is only four, he doesn't know the difference. So we invited some friends, had some pizza and cupcakes, and played a while on the church playground. It was a nice evening.

Here are some of the kids eating and playing:







Here we are singing Happy Birthday. Kyle got a little shy and did not want to blow out the candles so he got a little help.




Then he got upset that he didn't get to blow them out so we had to relight them and let him blow them out.



And here are some of the great gifts Kyle received:

Stupid Hannah Montana

Well Hannah Montana is coming in concert on Nov. 29 to Memphis. We in our household were so excited about this. We have been talking about it for weeks. So my stepmom offered to get us tickets. We knew this show would be popular and sell out so my stepmom was sitting on the computer and hit the buy tickets button at exactly 10:00:01. And what came up -- there are no available seats for this show. WHAT?? So her show sold out in about 8 seconds. I have heard of very few people who actually got tickets. They are already going on ebay for insane amounts. So we are still on the lookout for tickets, maybe something will work out. But right now it is not looking so promising. And yes I was the dumb mom who told her kids about this event before we had the tickets. Not my brightest moment but who would have thought it would be so difficult to get tickets to a pre-teen concert. I guess I will have to figure out a way to try and win tickets off of the 3 radio stations giving them away. ARRRGGHH!

What a clutz

Well those of you who know me expect to be reading a post about Kaitlyn and I going to see the Lion King. And you are, sorta. Kaitlyn and I did go see the Lion King last night at the Orpheum. It was fantastic! Kaitlyn watched every moment with awe. She loved the animals walking down the aisle beside her (she had an aisle seat) and thought that was really cool.






We dropped Kyle off at my mom's to spend the night. He was not happy at all that he was not going to the Lion King.




Well during the first half of the show Kaitlyn of course had to go to the bathroom. I tried to hold her off as long as possible but she finally was like 'Mommy, I really have to go'. SO I said okay let's go. We had the stampede scene and Hakuna Matata scene left before intermission. We scurried out and began down the stairs to the bathroom. I said 'Kaitlyn let's hurry so we don't miss much'. About the time those words came out of my mouth, I tripped and fell face first as if I were sliding down the stairs. I thought to myself 'I am going to fall all the way to the bottom of these stairs and crash'. Well I stopped about 3-4 stairs from the bottom. My ankle hurt, my chest hurt, and I was thoroughly embarrassed. Luckily there was no one around to see me except Kaitlyn. She says 'oh no mommy are you okay'. Well I guess one of the ushers heard her and came down there. Oh mam are you okay. I said yes, yes I am fine. So I get up and go to the bathroom. While in there I began to feel fainty. Those of you who have known me long enough know this is a slightly common occurance. So I get myself kinda together and go outside the bathroom to sit on one of the couches. The manager guy comes over and says 'are you the one who fell, are you okay'. I said yes. He looks at me and says 'do you feel faint?'. I said yes. Then he says 'do you need me to call an ambulance?' I said no but thought to myself 'oh goodness no, don't make this worse than it already is'. So he gets me some water which I was thrilled about because I was going to stand in line for some anyway and probably paid $2-3 for it. Then he had to fill out an incident report. He kept asking me these questions. I wanted to say, you know I am really not the kind of person who would sue you, clearly it was my fault. Anyway so we sat there a few more minutes, missed the stampede and hakuna matata song (despite our attempt to be quick) and then went back to our seat to enjoy the rest of the show. On the bright side we did not have to stand in the obscenely long line for the bathroom during intermission and got a free bottle of water out of it.


Here are some other pictures of us that my mom took before we went off to the show.

Dragster

The NHRA is in town. This of course thrills John. Every year the army car comes to school. They are really there to recruit kids for the army but the kids can go down and see the car and they give away some fun stuff. This year the principal said any teacher could take their class out there if you had a subject that you could work this in your lesson plan. So my 4th period is a pretty fun class and they wanted to go (why I don't know, really just to get out of class). It was such a nice day out (except for a few sprinkles) so I said we have to come up with some geometric reason to go. We decided we would 'count the number of geometric shapes on the car'. Now even though this was just a ploy to go outside we really did talk about some of them and there were several.

How cool is this?

Kyle has decided he wants to be a Transformer for Halloween. In searching the internet for a costume I cam across this video:



How cool is that? Although I do think this proves some people have too much time on their hands. Now of course Kyle is sitting beside me and keeps asking to see the transformers (and now he wants to see Power Rangers). How am I going to find a costume as cool as this? The ones from Target kinda seem like a let down compared to this.

Why is she naked?

We were over at Luke's house today (our usual Sunday routine). The boys are playing pool and Kaitlyn and Aaliyah are sitting at the table playing with their Barbies. Kaitlyn says to Aaliyah "why is she naked?". No lie, all 4 guys stopped their pool game and turned around, at the same time. I looked at them and started laughing. I said she was referring to the Barbie, you can keep on playing pool.

Tractor Ride

Uncle Luke got a new trailer that attaches to his tractor. So he took the kids for a ride around the yard.









They had so much fun this might become a habit.

That kind of friend

We all want to be a good friend and have been taught from the time we were little that you have to be a good friend to make good friends. But even more than that our human nature makes us want to have that friend that supports us, gets excited with us and always tries to make us feel special. For me that friend is Wendy. If I am hosting something, she makes all efforts to come. If I am totally excited about something, she will be excited too. We go to church together, she is in my bunco group (one of the founding members) and she has a daughter who is one year younger than Kaitlyn. We have lots in common. Every time I am around her we seem to have one of those 'oh yeah, me too' moments. She is very caring and extrememly photogenic, you will never see a bad picture of her. She is one of those people who still believes in an encouraging word.

So thanks Wendy for being that kind of friend to me. The more I get to know you, the more I love you.

More important thing in life

Last night at Bunco I heard many funny stories. That is what we do, we tell each other funny stuff, laugh and act silly all the while rolling dice and trying to keep up with our score. We are not the kind of bunco who really cares about winning. I think that is somewhat to do with the fact that we do not pay each month to be a part of this group. Each month the hostess just buys three inexpensive gifts for the prizes. They are always nice (we all have the best taste) and we are sometimes jealous of the person who wins but really we don't care. Anyway back to the funny story I heard last night. I won't tell you who told me this (even though I don't think she would care) but it is not my story although it could be.

A lady was trying to sell some shacklee products (cleaning products) to my friend. The lady is really upselling the shacklee products. "They are good for the environment, can get anything out, won't bother those with allergies", etc. Then she makes the statement that regular household cleaners have stuff in them that can make your kids sick. My friend (who is not wanting to buy the products but is trying to be nice about it) says "well my kids may be getting sick from dirt and germs in my house but I can assure you that they are not getting sick from the use of household cleaners".

I have been thinking a lot lately about clean houses. I do have some friends and family that I would not really think twice about eating off their floor (it is that clean, on a daily basis). Leigh and my Mom are a couple that come to mind. My Grandmother was like this as well and she is the person who I most want to be like so maybe one day people will think my house is clean enough to eat off the floor. Right now there are no surfaces in my house that are that clean, especially the floor. I sit at night looking around at my house and just feel so overwhelmed and frustrated. I even pay someone once every two weeks to come in and clean my house. The cleanliness lasts less than 24 hours.

When people visit our houses we want them to think that we keep a clean house. If we know we are having bunco or care groups or some event of that nature, we will clean for days and just dare someone in our house to mess it up. Why is this? I have learned that most of the people who will come to my house (although I don't have very many people over) feel the same way. We want to impress, make our guests feel important but this is not our usual way of life.

Don't get me wrong, we don't live in a germ infested house. I do wipe up the ecoli (sp?) off my counters. I just don't get things put away as I might like to. Actually let me rephrase that, my children and husband don't put their things away as I might like to be.

So let's make a pact. You don't run yourself over trying to make your house immaculate when I come over and I won't either. I have learned there are much more important things in life.

New Camera

I finally broke down and bought a new camera. I had a good camera and it broke and of course I cannot find my receipt so the warranty is void. I went to Wolf Camera to see how much it would cost to fix it and they said @$130. Well I paid $150 for the new camera. It is slim and small (and purple!) and I plan to carry it in my purse all the time (just in case cuz you never know when a kodak moment will happen). I plan to eventually get my other one fixed because it is a better camera but at least I have one for now to snap all those photos I have been missing lately. Here are a couple I took just to try out the new camera:





I consider this a birthday gift to myself (especially since my husband never buys me anything) and I did make about $135 recently at a children's consignment sale.

I've been tagged

Well my friend Amy tagged me. I actually think she made this up kinda.

RULES: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...they have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

What is your name? Jennifer

4 letter word: Just

Vehicle: Jeep

TV Show: Jerry Springer show (and no I don't watch it)

City: Jackson

Boy Name: Justin

Girl Name: Julie

Alcoholic Drink: Jack Daniels

Occupation: Judge

Something you wear: Jeans

Celebrity: Jay Leno

Food: Jello

Something found in a bathroom: Jewelry (it is mine at least)

Reason for being late: John

Cartoon Character: Jasmine

Something You Shout: Jerk! (to the driver who pulls in front of you)

Okay so J wasn't as difficult as I originally thought it would be. However I don't really have anyone to tag because Amy and I have the same blogging friends and she tagged them already. So if you are reading this and have a blog and are not Abbie, Carrie or Amy, you are officially tagged.

My non-baby boy

Kyle turned 4 yesterday. I told him it was his birthday and he says "are we going to it". He doesn't really understand that your birthday and birthday party aren't always on the same day. I said no today is your the day you were born, the party comes later. Then I told him it was also his Uncle Justin's birthday and he said "can we go to that one". So obviously my explanation did not suit him. I took him to Target to let him pick out a new toy for a present for his birthday. We spent a good thirty minutes in 'that aisle'. You know the one with the power rangers, ninja turtles, transformers, super heroes, etc. all on the same aisle. It is about more than my sweet little boy can handle. He had to touch everything and could not make a decision to save his life. He could not be persuaded either. Finally he decided on a package of hot wheel cars. I mean we have about 9000 of these already, apparently we needed 10 more. He also got this racetrack for them that hangs on the door and the car races down and jumps through a hoop. He played with this all yesterday.

Here are some photos of my non-baby boy. He loves to smile for the camera.



I was trying to get some nice photographer style photos with these next two, obviously not my talent. But they did turn out as some unposed shots.