My Bucket List

With the New Year approaching, everyone is talking about changing their lives, making resolutions, blah, blah, blah. I hate making resolutions...I'm ready to take on Calvin's New Year's philosophy. OR
Every year it seems I make this big plan to be different than I really am, and every year it just ends up not working out. I'm sure it's because it is really hard to change the person you actually are. Therefore, this year I resolve to just love myself the way that I am. I am NOT going to lose weight. I am NOT going to try to be "more religious". And I am definitely NOT going to try to cook more and like it. I'm going to be "Me" and I am going to like it. HOWEVER...
There are a few things that I do want to accomplish or at least try out in my life time. So here is my "Bucket List". There is no way I can accomplish these things in one year, but maybe within my short time on earth, I might get to it. Here's the list (in no particular order):
1. Travel and Tour Scotland and Ireland. If possible stay in a hotel that looks like this (I'd also like to see a rainbow while visiting Ireland, you know there is nothing more Irish than that.)
2. Take singing lessons and then belt out a solo in front of a crowd.
3. Talk to the President of the United States (on the phone, or in person).
4. Go skiing in Switzerland.
5. Visit Italy: ride in a gondola and see Rome.
6. Meet a HOT movie star for drinks at one of those Hollywood restaurants. Any of the following stars would do...
Viggo Mortensen:Who doesn't want a guy who could kill you an animal if you were starving? (Hopefully he would even wear his Aragorn costume when we met up)

Robert Pattinson: Definitely post haircut. It might be a little Demi Moore/Ashton Kutcher, but that is all right in L.A. :)







Christian Bale: Loved him since Newsies and Little Women.


Jude Law: The accent is what gets me here, not the hairline :)


Gerard Butler: He is unattached and can also sing like nobodies business. Maybe he would serenade me. You think?

(Looking at this, I realize that my "HOT STAR" list is kind of weird,huh, I wonder what that says about me?)

7. Teach high school or college instead of elementary school. Planning just a couple of lessons, having an hour of prep every day, and throwing really annoying students out of class would really be the life.
8. Have a book published (even if it only sells 2 copies)
9. Win a huge sum of money, and by huge I'm talking something over $500. I'm not picky or greedy, I just want to win!
10. Watch all of my kids graduate from college, get married, and be happy.
11. Be a cool grandma. Take my grand kids to concerts, movies, whatever, and have them be happy to hang out with me.
12. Drive a race car... doesn't even have to be in a race. I just want to do it.
13. Run a half marathon. I honestly have no desire to ever run a full marathon. Look at what happens to people who run marathons, and these people train for it. Insanity! But I would like to run a longer distance than a 10K.

14. Live outside of Utah. I have lived in Utah my whole life, never living further away than an hour or so drive from my parents house. I want to see what it is like living around people who won't freak out if I accidentally swear or buy a caffeinated beverage.
15. Swim with the dolphins, really just scuba dive. The ocean really freaks me out, so I want to conquer that fear and just do it.
16. Travel into space. I really wanted to work for NASA for a long time when I was growing up. That will obviously never happen, but I would still like to go up in a space craft and experience weightlessness.
17. Go shopping in Paris.
18. Spend Christmas in New York, staying at a really fabulous hotel of course.
19. Have one of my students do something great and attribute their success to their awesome fifth grade teacher.
20. Surgery for the sake of looking awesome; my preferences in order are: varicose vein removal, laser eye surgery, breast lift, botox, and last but not least lipo on my thighs. No, I don't consider myself vain, but I am not against doing things that make me look better than everyone else. :)
This short list is going to expand as I get older, and it will probably change every other second, but hopefully by publishing this I will be more likely to do these things. Now last but not least, I'm off to find a really old, rich person willing to fund my crazy adventures. Maybe I'll make that number 21...

Christmas Awesomeness!

Christmas-Need we say more? However, it isn't Christmas without a bunch of grinning family pictures, and pictures of kids ripping open presents, and pictures of tired moms and dads. I have to say that I truly hate Christmas morning pictures. Just about the last thing I enjoy doing is taking pictures of myself first thing in the morning after about 3 hours of sleep. I mean, you'd look like a Diva idiot if you were in full makeup, with your hair done, but honestly I've never had a good Christmas morning picture of myself. The kids look cute and awesome though, so you gotta post those. Anyway, if you are as bored as I am with all this time out of school, you might enjoy wasting it watching a slide show of above mentioned pictures. Have a great time staring at us in full Christmas repose!

Best Bowling Party, Ever!

The Whole Jordan Clan Oh Yes! I really am not a good bowler! I Maybe Can't Bowl, but I Sure Look Like a Model!
The Jordan family decided that instead of having the usual sit-on-Santa's-lap-gorge-yourself-on-food kind of Christmas parties, we would go out bowling instead. What a great idea! (Seriously Shirlene, nicely done). It was really fun, definitely not the usual cover-up-your-mouth-so-they-don't-notice-you're-yawning sort of get together. We bowled, we ate, we bowled some more, we lost my one-year-old, we ate, and we bowled some more. The Runaway before his escape
If Only He Would Stay This Interested the Whole Time!(Thanks to those kind BYU students who found Andy wandering the top floor of the building and thought to bring him back to the bowling alley, because of course, who else would lose their child but some idiot who was too into their bowling game!) I'm thinking we should make this a tradition. (the bowling party,not the losing children, of course). I beat my best score ever, but still have not caught my white whale (a game in which I score at least 100). I fully blame the machine which ate my ball on the last frame, forcing me to use some sub-par ball I wasn't used to, which made me completely choke. Therefore I scored a 97, so close to that ever elusive 100. Darn those cursed gutters, and that crappy ball with the too-small finger holes! Maybe next time, oh yes, bowling pins, your time is coming.
Anyway, thanks Jordan family for a totally fun, completely not feeling like the worst parent in the world, self-esteem boosting, party. You guys are awesome! See you next year, same lanes, same time (I hope). Merry Christmas!

In Memorium: Hampster

This is not an actual picture of "Hamster". Sadly we don't even have one photo of the original.
I am a killer of all things innocent and furry. I think it is a genetic trait passed down generation to generation in my family. It started when my dad was just a kid. He grew up in farm country, not a good place for family pets. All his dogs were executed by farmers for getting into their chickens. He couldn't even keep his stick horses alive, because his father would hide them never to be found again.
This curse continued in our family from the time we were little. My sister had a gerbil she put out in the sun to warm up, only to come back in the 100 degree heat to find it legs up in the glass bowl she kept it in. (See anything wrong with this picture?) Several goldfish followed with toilet burials. Next came our dog Macey which we had for about a week before the Avon lady accidentally ran him over.
Following this heartbreak, we adopted two twin dogs, which we lovingly named Thelma and Louis (Hello/?/). Thelma went for a hot night out out on the town and ended up "with child." Soon after, she disappeared. My dad said she had "ran away", but I knew better. After Thelma's mysterious disappearance, Louis was never the same. Her poor doggie heart couldn't take the separation and she hung herself on the back fence. There follow several other accounts which are too sad to re-describe. Let's just say pets = death in the Moore family household.
Because of this, I have never allowed a pet in my home. Reality is that I am just being merciful to the pets. I know what their fate will be if they come in contact with me. However, three months ago, I caved and allowed my school class to get a class pet. I thought this would be a good compromise. My own kids were begging for a pet, but I didn't want to take care of one, so I let my school class do it.
He was a cute, little, white hamster. We named him "Hamster" and he pretty much kept to himself...Up until one week ago. Starting Monday last, he began running in his green plastic hamster wheel, and running, and running, and running. I'm not kidding when I say he ran all day and most likely half the night. I know this because the Wednesday after was my work party and when I went into my room at 8 o' clock at night he was still running in that wheel. Thursday we cleaned his cage and refilled his food and water. He settled down, finally. Thank goodness, because I was starting to hear that spinning hamster wheel even in my sleep. Friday we left and his food and water were full. He was running around his cage, a happy hamster again.
Fast forward to today. I am giving the students their spelling pretest when I realize I haven't heard a peep from "Hamster" all day. I glance down at his cage and see him huddled "sleeping" in the corner of his cage. I try to be discreet as I nudge the cage, hoping he will pop up and start running. Nothing...I nudge harder. I shake. By this time the students have begun to realize something is amiss. I have to break the bad news that Hamster is dead. Chaos ensues... Should we bury him? (Yeah right, it's zero degrees outside), Should we throw him in the classroom garbage? (Uh, hello dead animal stink), Should we burn him and spread his ashes? (This idea is quickly squashed by me). So hamster is now in an unmarked grave in the dumpster behind the school. I am grateful it is cold enough that hopefully he won't start to stink before the garbage man comes.
I do have one question though... How did Hamster really die? We left Hamster with full food and water and in good spirits on Friday. Monday morning every drop of food is gone and there is not even one drop of water in its little water dispenser. Could Hamster have eaten that much food and drank that much water? It's doubtful. It usually takes him an entire week to consume the food and half of the water in his cage. I am starting to think there is a hamster murderer in our midst. There are several suspects in my investigation.
Suspect #1- Evil Sweeper/Cleaner Lady: She hated how we threw the old hamster bedding in the bottom of the garbage can each week. Maybe she off-ed him knowing she would never have to deal with that bedding again. Also she would have been the last one in the classroom on Friday with plenty of time to dump the food and water. Motive and no alibi.
Suspect #2- Cat-Sized Rat that roams the school at night: This rat has never been seen, but is rumored to occupy the attic of the school. He would be big and mean, just the type of bully to kill Hamster and then dump the food and water to make it look like an accident. How could a rat be this smart? Well he's survived in the school for this long; He just might have the guts and brains to pull off just such an operation.
Suspect #3- A Vindictive Student: (This is the scariest thought of all) Maybe one of my students who does not like our class, or our class mascot, Hamster, snuck into the school one night and dumped everything just so they could see the hurt/shocked/devastated looks on all the other children's faces. I currently have two students who are A-wall. It is possible that they might do this.
Regardless, Hamster is dead, and I am not getting another class pet. I mean, what if no one killed Hamster? What if Hamster committed suicide, just like Louis? And so the curse continues...
Fare Thee Well...Oh good and faithful hamster. May your cage be clean and your food be plentiful in heaven. Mrs. Jordan's class will miss you.

A Visit With St. Nick...In Poetry

Took kids to the mall yesterday.
Didn't have to wait in line.
Couldn't pay the Kiddie Kandid lady...
Took my own pics instead.
Kids were awesome.
Santa never said Ho-Ho-Ho.
Kids told Christmas wishes.
Kids were happy.
No crying involved.
Ran out of the mall.
On to do more Christmas errands.
Whew!

Micky's Christmas Concert

I don't know why, but Micky is doing the same pose in almost all of her pictures lately. It's her model pose.


On Tuesday, Micky had her first ever Christmas Concert. My mom, dad, sister and her husband, and some cousins were able to come. I need to figure out how to download video so I can show you how cute it is when Micks is singing, but none of the motions of her mouth are actually matching what is supposed to be sung in the song. On the choruses she was awesome, though. The concert would have went off perfectly if not for a certain 1 year old whose first name starts with an 'A'. I don't want to name any names, but Andy was a stinker with a capitol 'S'. What is up with toddlers and going exactly where they shouldn't? The whole time (and I am not exagerating when I say "whole time") he kept trying to run up on stage, so we took him in the hall, and sure enough, he kept trying to escape out the doors into the cool night air. I think all of us were exhausted my the time the concert ended. Once again, wish I could show the video of him throwing himself on the ground in front of the singing kids. Good times! Great Job Micky! I'm proud of you! Andy, all I have to say to you is "One day your kids will do the exact same thing to you..."

Christmas Cheer

I basically have to redeem myself and prove that my house can actually be clean too. Don't faint, but I cleaned this myself. I will admit that it doesn't still look like this, which is why I had to take the pictures. Also, I can never remember how I decorate my house from year to year, so this might help me next year. It feels so much more Christmas-y when it's clean.

A Few of My Least Favorite Things

This last weekend was spent in humongo preparations for setting up Christmas Decorations...aka I had to clean my house. I have realized something in the last couple of months that makes this very hard for me. I HATE CLEANING MY HOUSE. Now in all fairness, it isn't all bad. However, this post is a tribute to the things I truly despise when trying to clean my house. Here is the list, not in any particular order...

1. Clothes Left on the Bed and Bed not Made
Now I love my hubby with all the tender mercies of my heart, but he does this to me all the time. He decides that the sheets on the bed need to be cleaned (I mean, it's only been a month :) So he strips them off the bed and puts them in the wash. Next, he takes whatever was in the dryer and throws it on the bed. Last, he leaves for work. I come home and in my hustle and bustle do not notice this until it is time to go to bed. Thus, to finally lay my weary head on my pillow I have to wait for the sheets to dry, fold and put away a load of laundry, then make the bed when the sheets are done. Not pleasant. Sometimes I just get a blanket and throw the clean clothes in the corner. It is the only way I can rebel against this lot I have been given.

2. Human Road Blocks
Every time I try to vacuum my floor, my 1 year old decides to stage a sit-in strike against clean floors. It goes something like this... I turn on the vacuum, he dashes in from some other room in the house, he lays down in the middle of the floor, I turn off the vacuum, he stands up and goes back to playing, I turn on the vacuum, he comes running back in...and the cycle continues. I guess he doesn't want me to clean the floor so that he can eat the leftover crumbs underneath the table or something, but UGH! Drives me crazy.

3.Counters So Messy I Don't Where to Begin. Have your counters ever looked like this? Mine either. I mean, this is just a picture I found on the internet. (wink, wink) I can not stand so many things smooshed altogether like this. You pick one thing up to put it away and the others multiply and replenish while you're gone. It takes me forever to clean up when my counters get like this. I try to keep them sparkling, but sometimes I get so busy and the next thing I know it has degraded to...well...see above picture.


4. Bill Paying and Drawer Cleanouts 101 Okay, once again... Love my hubby. BUT...bill paying is a disaster. Whenever he pays the bills, he leaves everything out. I don't know his filing system or how he has it organized, so I just have to pile it into a pile and throw it on top of the fridge (picture of fridge afterward not included). The other thing he does is clean out what we lovingly refer to as "The Junk Drawer". The only problem with this is that he leaves the contents just sitting on the counter. Hello! I have shoved all those papers, knick knacks, old paper clips, broken pencils, and hotel matchbooks in there for a reason. The reason you ask? So they won't be on the counter. I seriously want to tear my hair out when he does this.

5. Old Wrappers Shoved into Heating Ducts.
Okay, I don't have a picture of this because I was so mad about it, I just had to yell at my kids and send them to their rooms when I discovered it. I found out that garbages are not the "in" thing in my house anymore. I mean, why go all the way to the garbage can in the other room, when there is a sweet and convenient place to store trash in every room. It is called a heating duct. You just lift up the grate, shove your undesirables in there, replace the grate, and voila,you have a secret hiding place for that fruit snack wrapper from the fruit snacks you gobbled down in two seconds. I was wondering what that weird smell was whenever the heater kicked on. DISGUSTING!

So if I ever become a saint,make it to the Celetial Kingdom, and become a Goddess, my worlds I create will never get dirty. Everything will be clean all the time. Cleaning will be banned. But! If I ever want to make it there, I better go give my kids a hug and apologize for my ranting and raving. Hoover vacuum...here I come! Wait, where is my one year old?

Thankfuls

It's been while since I posted. Since the election and economy shut-down frantic-ness, life has pretty much evened out. It's like the post-Y2K sigh of relief when the world didn't explode, or even worse,;) all the computers shut down. We actually bought gas the other day...can you believe it... under $2. I know, I know, don't pass out!
It just goes to show that all the frenzied hype usually turns out okay, and people get all worked up for nothing. Not that we aren't still in a recession and money is still tight, but Obama won and we are still living.
I hate going along with the crowd, but I thought today would be a perfect day to count my blessings and be "Thankful". It will be kind of a new twist for me to be optimistic instead of pessimistic. So here goes my (*deep inhale)...spewing of the thankfulness...
1) My kids: My one year old has a cold and has only wiped his nose on me twice... pretty good since he has a consistent snot river running out of his nose, and (I Know) he could have wiped on me a lot. I'm grateful for his thoughtfulness. Also my other two have actually asked for a couple of things for Christmas that I can semi-afford. (I mean using a credit card of course :O)They are very patient with a forgetful mom who doesn't always remember to pack a lunch or take them to practices on time. I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of mom and they roll with it.
2)My husband, who actually wants to go see the new 'Twilight' movie with me. (As an aside, I think he's just hoping to get lucky afterwards, but still the 'thinking-only-of-his-lovely-wife is still there).
I also feel grateful that he still finds me attractive enough to still try these underhanded things to be with me. :)
3) Weight Watchers. They taught me how to balance my food intake and helped me lose 30 pounds in this last year. Without them I would still look like this...
Oh wait, I ripped up/burned/threw out those pictures. And I really didn't mind counting out those cashew, peas, kernels of corn, grains of rice...too much.
4)Student Teachers: I have an awesome student teacher right now, so I am getting paid and basically doing nothing. Heaven Bless great student teachers...Thanks Camille! Tomorrow I think I'll do some online Christmas shopping while you are teaching math.
5) We finally finished our basement this year and have an awesome place to store more of 'stuff we don't need'. Plus the flat screen t.v. isn't bad, and I have been able to decorate it the way I would decorate the rest of my house if it didn't have green pile carpet.
6)Having stuff we don't need. Now this seems crazy, but I feel grateful that every once in a while I can go to the Dollar Store and purchase things I don't need simply because they are a dollar. That is living the high life when you can buy things you don't need and still survive. :)
7)A Crazy family, that is still in the normal range. My family is quirky, opinionated, out-spoken, insert foot in mouth kind of people. BUT... they are loyal and stand by you no matter how big of an A** you make of yourself.
8)My church calling. I play the piano for the primary at my church. I love sitting back, watching the 'sweet spirits' (kids) yell, talk out, talk back, squirm, and poke, and I don't have to do anything about it. It's nice to not be in charge of the kids for once and just be able to watch others do it.
9)Great neighbors! They don't judge when I go out to get the Sunday morning paper or take out the garbage with my hair sticking out like Einstein and a hole in the behind of my favorite pajama pants. Or at least if they do judge, they are still nice to my face, which is all I really care about. :) (Also really awesome when they took my kids in after they were locked out of the house 2 different days this week when they got home from school)
10) Facebook,blogging,etc. After teaching kids all day and then coming home to hang out with only kids all night, it is nice to be able to "talk"/IM with some grownups once in a while. It is a sanity for me to pretend that I am chillin with adults, even if it is my cyber friends.
11) Kids Shows: I know it is wrong to do it, but I am grateful for those great shows through the years, like Barney, Teletubbies, PB &J Otter, Rolie Polie Olie, and Charlie and Lola that have kept my kids entertained when those summer days were seeming too long to fill (6 hours isn't that long to let your kids watch tv is it?) :)
12) Books-I have loved books my whole life. Even when I was younger, I would go to my friends house and want to read the books they had at their house. Reading is a wonderful escape. When I was younger, it was imagining that I could be magic, or find out I was a princess. Now it is reading depressing books that make me glad that I don't lead those people's lives (Thanks Jodi Picoult for always reminding me that life could suck so much worse than one would ever think).

13) I know I just said books, but I want to do a special shout out to Twilight. This book make it cool to have pale skin again. Being one who burns, peels, then freckles, this is very important to me. I still live in a fantasy that pale white skin will be all the rage again. I'm holding out putting on a swimsuit again until it happens. Thanks Twilight for taking us one step in the right direction. It also made me feel like a smitten teenager again, which I appreciate since my wrinkles have staged an all-out assault on my face recently.
14) My I-POD. I know it isn't right to be grateful for such "wordly" things, but I love my IPOD. I love that, instead of purchasing a whole CD and only listening to 3 songs on it, I can just buy the three songs. My IPOD has actually saved me a lot of money in not having to purchase CDs anymore. (Now if I could just get my husband on board. He is very anti-technology. I think I could post anything about him on here and he would never read it...not from the "Devil Computer". Just kiddin' babe. I luv ya)
15) Learning and Knowledge: Where would we be without it? I seriously love learning new things. I get a little obsessive when I have something new to conquer or puzzle out. I love taking the lessons I need to teach and finding a new way to teach it that is better. I love watching TV channels that make me learn something I didn't know before (thnx NatGeo, TLC, Discovery, Food Network, etc) I mean it really is fascinating to me to see how glass bottles are made, and watch as they discover the long lost wreck of famous pirates. This is my geeky side coming out.

Well, that's it. It's all I got. I could keep going and going, but if I don't stop now, I'll miss Thanksgiving altogether. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Just Like My Mom...(Did I just say that?)

Following in his mothers footsteps, Ty went and got glasses today. Sniff, Sniff, my little guy is growing up. It seems like I was about his age when I got my first pair of glasses. Of course my glasses were not as cool. They took up half my face and were pink (think the early 80's here people). I did everything I could to lose, smash, hide, or scratch them, but they endured...and thus I became a...gasp... "GEEK".Tyler looks so good in his glasses. Like he was born to wear them, not unlike Bella being born to become a vampire:). I'm kinda jealous of his ability to still be cool and be a four eyes. Now he will be able to play basketball and football and see the board. So he'll become a double whammy...smart and a jock!

Tyler's New Glasses...What a hottie!

Myself, on the other hand, has never quite "grown into" my glasses. They still sit there on my face as an atrocity. This latest pair I call my "Pam" glasses. I spent as little amount as possible on them and they definitely look like it. I can just imagine Michael saying to me..."Oh Margie, ugh, ew, you look so...ugh...ugly". But oh well...what can you do? Once you turn 30, it's pretty much downhill from there.

Lovin' the "Geek" glasses


On the up side...my daughter, Micky, is also following in my footsteps with becoming a dancer. She can bust a move and strike a pose just as well as I can. She sings and dances all over the house. Sigh, I've taught her so well. Someday she will be able to become as cool of a mom as I am. That is when she decides she loves me again. Right now she currently "Hates" me. Also like me, she yells really loud when she gets mad, stomps around so that the house shakes, and slams a door like she really means it. Unfortunately, this is also how I was as a child. (Of course, I never do those things anymore :) Oh why can't we choose the traits we pass on to our children?
Dancing Queen...She's that girl...


Andy, so far, has inherited two of my very best traits; my cheesy smile and my thoroughly upbeat, totally not sarcastic, very, times infinity, positive attitude:) Actually he is much cuter than I ever hoped to be, but I guess you have to take at least something from your dad,Right?
Cheeser


For those of you out there considering ever being a mom,take this from me: Your kids will drive you crazy. (Mostly because they act exactly like you:) They will "hate" you and ask you for money and complain how you are the "meanest" mom in the world. BUT...For some reason (maybe I'm a masochist) you will love them more than anything else in the whole world. So bring on the following in my footsteps. There are worse things in this world than becoming like your mother. Did I just say that again?

The End is Near!

You gotta love being a teacher during election season. Today was a great day for gossip of the 'National Enquirer'-kind. According to my fifth graders, because Obama won the election, the following things are GOING to happen:
-All illegal aliens are going to be rounded up in a gigantic sting and sent back to their home countries
-World War III is starting tomorrow and it is going to be a nuclear war
-All the troops are coming home from every country they are currently stationed at (this is going to be the cause of the nuclear war)
-No one is going to have any health insurance anymore, except illegal aliens (interesting since all illegal aliens are being sent back to their home countries)
-Obama killed McCain
-Obama is a terrorist and is planning on bombing the White House as soon as he moves in (this seems like a strange move to bomb your place of residence, but he is crazy right :))
-Obama is going to be assassinated in exactly 17 days (don't ask me how this student knows this- Should I be afraid of said student?)
-Obama is changing the name of the United States (they didn't know what he was changing it to though)
-Obama is going to burn all U.S. Flags
-Obama is inviting terrorists to stay at the White House where they will murder the senate and John McCain
and my #1 favorite rumor of the day is... (drum roll please)
-Barack Obama was flying one of the planes that hit into the World Trade Center Towers. (Here is the proof...) :) They were caught a little off guard when I asked how he was still alive today, if he was on one of the planes, but of course that just started more rumors of "magic" and "ghosts".

Now my wonder in all of this is where in the world are they getting this information? At first I just had to laugh as the stories became more and more ridiculous, but after a while, I felt mass hysteria building. I hate these crazy emails that get sent around about the candidates. What was being talked about in elementary school today shows that some people actually believe these crazy things.

So in honor of the crazy political emails, I am starting one of my own. You'll have to let me know if you actually get it. It is going to mention that McCain and Palin are robots which Obama programmed himself just so he would win the election. He got the money for building the robots from the Russians who he is in a secret plot with to destroy the potato crop in Idaho, thus making millions of Americans perish from starvation. I think if I attach a 'God will hate and destroy you' or 'If you love America...' message at the bottom it might actually get sent to every person in America.

Seriously though, I think everyone who is so worried about Obama being President just needs to calm down. All through history we've had good Presidents and bad Presidents and yet the nation has still managed to survive somehow. We have checks and balances in place so that a dictatorship doesn't happen. Everyone take a deep breath and chill.

As for me, I am going to do what I always do when something stresses me out or makes me depressed. I am going to pop in my old episodes of 'The Office' and just be happy that I don't work for Michael Scott or have a desk next to Dwight. Although I would love to hear what Dwight would have to say about all this Obama stuff...

Halloween 2008

We just got back from our trip to Disneyland on Halloween day, so the whole Trick or Treating thing was not quite as exciting as it usually is. We decided to go and hang out at Teresa's house for the night because I wasn't quite ready to be home from vacation yet. The whole family met up at Teresa's and all the kids went Trick or Treating together. Andy loved it! He wouldn't let go of his treat bucket the second he realized all these people were giving him free candy. He didn't complain once as he ran from house to house. Ty and Micks had just had a lot of walking practice from being at Disneyland, so they were all ready to walk miles to get more candy. There was delicious food, great company, and good conversation. It was a perfect way to end a wonderful vacation. Now to load you down with some cute Halloween pics.
Ty and Andy playing on Teresa's Porch

Andy's Light Fascination

All the Cousins costumes

Grim Reaper/Zombie Tyler

Tinkerbell McKayla

I love Halloween candy and costumes!

Our little 'Squirt'

Disney Recap

My only Disney complaint...My Hair is Hideous!

Although it seemed as if I had disappeared off the face of the earth,(truthfully it did seem weird to look at my blog and see that it was so long since my last post)I was not kidnapped by aliens! (Weird coincidence that my last post was about aliens and then I disappeared :)) I have instead been on a family vacation.
Jerry and I have had this Disneyland trip planned since summer, which seems kind of pathetic when other people seem to just have a whim and go. We left Andy with my mom and dad and just took Ty and Micky. It was kind of nice to not have to worry about a stroller or diapers for a few days, even though every little kid I saw that was Andy's age made me miss him. This is all you need to know if you don't want to be bored stiff. Fair warning, I am going to go into a lot of detail because I am using this kind of like my journal, so just know that it is going to be long and boring! If you want, skip ahead, to my slide show with some of our fun Disney Pics.
We left on Saturday, Oct. 25th, not early in the morning, because that is just not our style. We borrowed Jerrys dad's car, so we had to stop and pick it up in Monroe. It added about an hour to our drive, but was worth it when we figured out that we traveled the entire trip on what would have be one tank fill up in our car. The first day we just went as far as Buffalo Bills Casino, which is on the Nevada/California border. Needless to say, we couldn't gamble with the kids, so we ended up renting, 'Get Smart' and watching it that night in our hotel room.
The next day, Sunday, we traveled the rest of the way. We had decided to splurge this trip and stayed at the Disneyland Hotel (no regrets, the service was awesome, the room was clean, and the park convenience was amazing. Kayla fell down and skinned her knees and I went to the front desk to get her a bandaid. Not only did they fix her up, but they gave her balloons too, which I didn't even have to pay for. Now that's service!- I seriously think Disney owes me some money for this free advertising on my completely popular blog :0)) We went into the parks that day. It was busy, but not crazy, and we watched the Fireworks show. I have to say at this point that I love Disneyland at night. It does seem kind of magical with all the twinkling lights and yummy smells and music playing. We were also able to walk on to a few of the Disney must-rides (Dumbo, Tea Cups, etc.) that night.
On Monday, we woke up a little late, so we decided to go into the California Adventure park first since it was just opening. We made two mistakes this day. Mistake #1- Ate 2 doughnuts for breakfast. Mistake #2- Rode California Screaming two times in a row. Enough said, except that Jerry got sick enough that he had to spend a few hour in our hotel room. The kids and I were gung ho (I don't even know how to spell that) and decided to stay and ride what we could. We went on the new Toy Story Mania ride and then explored places that are kind of hidden in Disneyland. We had a blast going to Turtle Talk with Crush. Crush actually picked Tyler out of the audience to talk to (I knew that red hair would help him in some way in his lifetime) which meant he also had to talk to me. Embarassing! I always sound like such a dork on a microphone. Afterwards we found the 'Beasts Library' and took a quiz to see which Disney character we were most like. Kayla was being grouchy, so the quiz told her she was most like Malificent, the evil queen on Sleeping Beauty. We laughed about that one, because she really is evil when she gets hungry. Not so funny though when the character I was most like was 'Lady' from 'Lady and the Tramp'. Yes, I am most like a dog. Then we went to Ursula's lair, where she steals your voice and puts it into a cartoon. We played on that for a while and had some good laughs when we figured out you could say whatever you wanted and it would dub it in. Jerry was better by then and met up with us for lunch. At this point, I must give a shout out to Disneyland food. It is expensive, but so worth it. I didn't eat a yucky meal the whole time I was there. This was something else we decided to splurge on also. I didn't want to have to sit eating a peanut butter sandwich again while other people walked around with churros. We ate pretty much every meal in the park, and it was so worth the 5 pounds I gained. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent in Disneyland park. It looked busy, but we ended up walking on to every ride. Our longest wait was like a half hour, so not bad at all. That night we watched the 'Parade of Dreams' and the kids loved it. Ty, Kayla, and I had spent the entire day in the park from opening to closing, so we were exhausted, but happy.
Tuesday morning, when I woke up, I felt like I had run a marathon. Every muscle in my body hurt. It was a major wake up call that I am no longer young. I felt a little better when Ty and Micks also said their legs hurt from the day before. (Aren't I a mean mom?) We spent that day riding rides (walking on again). I saw so many kids freaking out or having to be forced on to rides, and I felt so grateful for my little daredevils. Micks and Ty rode every ride. They loved the scary rides the most (California Screamin' was their favorite ride). It was also a highlight to meet Jack Skellington and Sally from 'Nightmare before Christmas'. The actors sounded just like the characters and spent about 5 minutes talking to the kids, which is a lot when there is a huge line of people waiting behind you. Jack was horrified (a thing he loves) when he found out humans eat something called 'scrambled eggs' for breakfast, and Sally was fascinated by the swinging jewel on Micks pen.
That night we met Jerry's sister, Joelle, and her family for dinner. We were going to meet somewhere else, but ended up running into them in Downtown Disney. We ate at the Rain Forest Cafe and then played in the Lego Store. It was nice meeting up with them. Their twin girls are darling. Every time a "thunderstorm" hit it the restaurant and then ended they would say, "Whew, I made it". Afterwards, we decided to take the kids to see High School Musical 3. It was ten o'clock at night, so Kayla fell asleep during the opening credits, but Ty loved it. (And okay, I've already admitted to being a geek, so I guess it won't hurt, I kind of enjoyed the dancing and singing too). We had to pack Kayla back to the hotel afterward, so it was a good thing our hotel was right next door to the movie theater.
By Wednesday we had rode everything, so we just recapped our favorite rides. That morning we decided to do a Character Breakfast. It was also a major highlight of the trip. The kids thought eating with the characters roaming around and teasing them was great. Ty got this vendetta going with Captain Hook. Hook took Ty's hat and threw it across the restaurant and made him go get it. One of the workers told Ty that you only had to say 'Tick Tock' and Hook would run away. Ty decided to try it, and it worked. The second he said 'tick tock' Hook took off running and hid behind a counter. Every time he would peek over Ty would say 'tick tock' and he would hide again. I have to give a shout out to whoever was in that costume because it made Ty's day. Plus, it was really entertaining for us. We met up with one of my old friends that I used to work with that day. She taught with me last year, but quit at the end of the year to work at Disneyland. I wish I had those kind of guts. Her and her husband went around the park with us, and gave us the inside scoop on things. It was really great to see her again. We watched the Pixar Play parade that day and got wet. The kids went swimming in the NeverLand pool that night. (which Kayla claims was the best part of the entire trip). They had tried to go swimming the day before, but one of the other guests at the hotel had left a little present in the pool and it had to be evacuated (all I can say is EWWWW).
I have to say that I was really sad to walk out of the park on our last night and leave the twinkling lights, the yummy churros, and the Jiminy Cricket music behind. My friend told me that she smiles every day as she walks into work in the park, and I have to say that I would too. I love Disneyland. It is seriously the happiest place on earth for me. I can't wait to take Andy back when he is big enough to ride everything. Our kids were the perfect age. They could ride everything, but they were still mesmerized by the characters and the magic.
Anyway, sorry for the novel, but you didn't have to read the whole thing :) Maybe I wouldn't be all that sad to have been abducted by aliens, if their home planet was a gigantic Disneyland. I would go back tomorrow if I could.

Disneyland Pics