Mission: Twilight

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to go watch Twilight (again) and figure out where in the heck the soundtrack songs are played so that you can stop obsessing about it everytime you listen to it (way too much) and just enjoy the songs (more than you already do).

Mission: Accepted

Of course, Sydney had to go with me. So, while Bill and the little ones went to see King Tut, we went to Twilight....again! I think I may have missed one or two scenes, but for the most part this is accurate. And the movie was still good. But, I am ready for the DVD, so I can stop shelling out the $$ at the theater!

King Tut

Bill, Hayley and Emyley headed to the Dallas Museum of Art on Sunday to catch the King Tut Exhibit. They really enjoyed the exhibit and had fun trying to figure out what certain egyptian words meant. They finally figured out that Tut-Ankh-Amun = Living image of Amun. They also enjoyed the rest of the museum which is where they took these pictures that I liked.

Thanksgiving 2008

So, you've just started a new job and your kids now have a week off for Thanksgiving. What do you do??? You thank your lucky stars that your parents are retired, and that gas is super cheap again, and beg them to come stay with your children so you don't have to shell out $100s of dollars on daycare! Let me just say....I love my parents! ;o) They came down on Sunday before Thanksgiving to stay with the girls. They had lots of stuff planned and actually hardly spent any time at home. Bill ended up being sick, so he stayed home on Tues and Wed. My dad took on some "honey-do" items for me one of which included installing a new light fixture in our kitchen as the nasty flourescent light died on us.

One of the bribes for getting my parents to come stay with the girls, was the promise that I would provide Thanksgiving Dinner. I had never cooked T-Dinner before, so this was exciting...lol! My mom helped me shop and picked up the tab for some of the items. My MIL came with her hubby and my SIL with her two kids. And, I invited our dear friends the Marchal's over. So, we ended up with 16 people at our house. It actually turned out really well. The kids spent most of their time upstairs in the game room playing Sing Star and HSM Sing It on the PS2. I even got Marchal to do a duet with her oldest daughter. It was fun!

After everyone left, the girls and I settled in for a game of Uno Attack of which Sydney was the queen! Then we headed to bed so that Bill and I could be at Kohl's at 4am the next morning...whew!

Twilight with "the Girls" and then the Fam

After much anticipation and reading all 4 books of the Twilight Saga, the day finally arrived that we had all been waiting for.....Twilight the Movie was released!!! My friend, Kristi, had arranged for about 9 of us to meet and watch the movie together on opening night. A group of them got together and made us all matching shirts (which now makes a great nightgown), and we had a great time!! The movie is not exactly like the book, and being that it was opening night, the audience leaned more towards the teens, so it really made the movie more comical than I am sure it was intended.

So, because Sydney is the reason I started reading the saga, I knew that I needed to take her to the movie. Hayley and Em wanted to come along, and I wanted Bill to see it from a fresh perspective. We headed out to the first showing that Sunday, and it was a totally different experience. I actually enjoyed it more, and it seemed a lot less corny. The girls loved it and want to see it again and again! Bill wasn't too impressed...too much romance for him. LOL!!

Olympic Culture Night

Our elementary school always holds a Culture Night that involves all of the students sharing what they have learned and created about different countries. This year the specials teachers decided to do an olympic themed event. While the kids learned their normal songs and made special artwork, they also learned olympic type games and activies in PE. Now, being that I had just started working, I totally forgot to charge my camera batteries. So, I only got little snippets of video of each girl and a couple of pictures. And, my wonderful friends the Marchal's created the really cool jeep in the video that was used for the Safari Bookfair that was taking place duirng Culture Night and all the next week. It was really cool!!! So, short as it is, enjoy the video!!

It's NOT a Turkey!!

Emyley had to disguise a paper turkey using lots of different fabric...ya know so it wouldn't get eaten on Thanksgiving. After much debate, we decided to make Betsy Ross with her paper Turkey. I think it turned out pretty good....and again, this is another project that I am happy to never have to work on again! ;o)

Hangin' in the Square

Hayley had a birthday party in downtown McKinney, so the other four of us decided to stroll the square. It had been awhile since we really took the time to walk around and see the shops. And it was so pretty since they had finally finished redoing the roads and sidewalks. We discovered some great stores: Reigning Cats and Dogs, The Cook Collection (candle shop going out of business), Mom and Pop Corn Company and a cool toy store (the name has escaped me). Once Hayley got done, I took the family to Spoons Cafe and we had some yummy food. I really love our downtown!!! If only I could have gotten them to browse the antique shops with me, it would have been a perfect day! LOL!! **Bill took these pics with his iPhone. We have no idea why that one picture looks like a slide puzzle! It's pretty cool, though!

Movies with Miss Carter

Hayley won the teacher raffle at the PTA Carnival and got to enjoy a movie with her teacher (whom she loves!!!), Miss Carter! They decided to see High School Musical 3, and since I knew that Syd and Em wanted to see it, too, we all went together. Of course, we did not sit with Hayley and Miss Carter, so she still felt very special. And despite the huge cheese factor of the movie, we had a great time!

Beginning of the End....or End of the Beginning....oh, who knows?!?!

Well, I did it. I talked about doing it. I needed to do it. And now I have. I got a job. A job outside of the home. A job that requires business casual attire not pjs. A job that requires actual shoes not my Keds flip flops. A job that requires me to fix my hair everyday with a straightener not just a ponytail. A job that requires make up! A job that requires interaction with adults not children. And most of all a job that requires me to leave my house.....eeeeekkkkk!!!!!! ;o)

Actually, it isn't so bad. And with the help of our good, dear, totally awesome, completely stupendous, really fabulous friends, the Marchal's, our adjustment hasn't been too hard. Add to the fact that I get off work in time to pick up the little ones from school, I can't complain too much...oh, and I get paid money now. That's good, too!

Now, I am reaping the benefits of not just a paycheck, but cake days, potluck lunches, gift exchanges....you know all the important stuff you forget about. I am also fortunate to work with some nice people. After relying on tv to see how people interact for nearly a decade, I was pretty worried that I'd get voted off or something. Luckily, I have joined up with a strong alliance and have a good relationship with the leader, so I think I am safe for now. ;o)

And as my good friend, Kristi has pointed out on more than one occasion, this work business is getting in the way of many things....hanging out with my girls, reading, walker pickup and blogging. I'll try to do better as we get a good routine down.

Let the Blog Extravaganza Begin....I hope!

So, I have been busy, and we all know why. I am going to try to catch up on the blog today as I patiently do some laundry (you'll find out...).

To start us off, I have some more Halloween pictures to share that my dad took. Enjoy!!!

BACA - Bikers Against Child Abuse

Last school year, my fourteen year old niece Ashley entered a drawing contest held by the Chadler Chapter of BACA. She won first place which meant her design is on the t-shirts that BACA sold this year. She did an amazing job, and we are so proud of her!!! The words say, "You can't just patch it up".

Halloween 2008

We had a pretty calm Halloween this year. My parents were in town to help out with my first day of work, so we all just walked the neighborhood for about an hour or less. No big thing. Emyley was a bat, Hayley a vampire, Sydney some kind of diva dressed in black and I put some silly make-up and false eyelashes on with my witch's hat. We didn't get a ton of candy, thank goodness, but the girls had a good time.