Toy Story double feature

Last night we took Jake to see Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D. Most of you know that Jake is Pixar's biggest fan. When we heard that they were re-releasing the first 2 movies at the theatre, we knew we had to take Jake. Jake of course made sure to bring his "new Woody" doll which of course is over a year old to the movies with us. I was so surprised at how well he did watching not one but two movies in a row. Aside from the initial holding Woody up to the screen and practically yelling "hey...dat is you", and reciting several scenes verbatim, he didn't do too bad. I was surprised that he only wore the glasses about 30% of the time. They didn't fit him, I don't understand why they don't make child 3D glasses for the animated films (of which there appear to be a slew of on the way). Colby even went to check with the staff, they brought us these foam tubes to make the ear pieces fit, but the nose piece covered half of each eye. I don't think he could see much of the 3D effects. This little problem would have ruined the movie for me, but not for Jake. He LOVED it!

He loved it all, the movie, the popcorn, and the fact that we let him have some coke (a huge no-no with him). My sister Cherie and one of her friends went with us, and Jake had a great time with her. Jake loves aunt Cherie, he gets to honk her horn and ride on her back wheels while going for a quick ride.

I loved it too. I got to watch my oldest son watch his favorite movie on the big screen, with him sitting on my lap and his crazy hair in my face. It just doesn't get better than that. I also had a good little cry while I was there. They play the full trailer for Toy Story 3 before the show. In TS3, Andy has graduated High School and is leaving for college and his mom looks at his old toys and asks him what he wants her to do with them. This is where I lost it...I know that the day will come where my Jake is going off to college, and what toys will remind me most of his childhood? Woody and Buzz (and Lightning of course). I just don't want to think about him being all grown up, so I am glad that I get to have several more years to love on him before that day comes. Thanks Jake for being the great little guy that you are! I love you so much.

How to load the dishwasher...with a toddler

Doing the dishes has now reached a challenge...Devon. For some reason, anytime the dishwasher door opens, Devon makes a bee line for it. He likes to take dishes out of the silverware holder and chew them, he likes to lick the water that is sitting on the dishwasher door, and he likes that he can try to climb up on the door. As you can imagine, this tends to slow down the process of loading and unloading. Here is an example of my challenge this morning.

Me: putting the dirty dishes into the dishwasher

Devon: tries to eat a dirty spoon, knife and tongs all with one grab.

Me: pick Devon up and take him to the dining room (where all his toys are of course)

Devon: looks at me like I am crazy and quickly crawls back to kitchen

Me: sees Devon crawling and runs to dishwasher to continue loading dirty dishes.

Devon: arrives quicker than I thought and gets a cup out.

Me: "Crap" picks Devon back up and runs him into the dining room then runs back.

Devon: "screams" drops to his knees and halls tushy into the kitchen, grabs measuring spoons and laughs.

Me: laughing all the way back to dining room, drops Devon at toys and runs back to kitchen...just 2 more things to place !!!!

Devon: deep belly laughs while again lightning pace crawl back to kitchen. He arrives just as I am loading the last dish and about to put the door up.

Me: "Ah ha! I win!"

Devon: drops to the floor and cries like I just took his best friend.

This makes me sad for a second, then I continue to relish my victory...that was kind of fun.

Homecoming 2009

I know that I am a little slow getting this up, but things are crazy these days. Anyway...last Saturday the 26th Victoria went to her first homecoming dance! It was a lot of fun...for me at least. Victoria had a great time too. Two of her friends came to our house to get ready first and their dates met them here.

Victoria and Chase looked great! I am very proud of both of them. Even though they broke up 2 days before the dance, they were back together and going strong, by the big dance.
Morgan M and Morgan C and their moms came over to our house to get ready, which was a lot of fun. I like that our house was the place to be. It makes me feel good, like we are the the High School version of the Kool-aid house. I am so glad that my friend Ashley worked for me that day, it was very much worth it. I did all the girls' hair...even Victoria's (much to my surprise). It appears that my 80's/90's hair do skills were much needed! I even heard a few, "Oh, my God, that's a lot of hair spray"...to which I had to respond..."You can never have enough hairspray, and be glad that we don't use Aquanet anymore".

Of course the girls ran late (the boys sat and watched football with Colby they were all bored...Colby too)
I can't wait to do it again! I loved getting to spend that time with you Victoria! Thanks for letting me be a cool mom...you know I am, your friends all say so : )

He'll eat anything

We drove into the garage after picking Jake up from preschool. As I was getting out, I heard Jake say "don't drink your socks silly..."

When I opened up the van door, sure enough Devon was sucking on his sock...sucking his own spit. Yuck!

Carrie Bradshaw channeled

Last night Victoria and I went and picked up her homecoming dress. I love that she has such unique taste. She will admit that her friends would never wear this. I love that. Here is her dress, already on the dress form in her room. What? You don't have a dress form in your room? Well that is probably because you don't aspire to be a chic fashion designer. Victoria has set her sights on going to a fashion school (after college of course). She is taking a lot of art classes, and is already being encouraged by her teachers to start a portfolio. I am learning to realize that she and I have different talents. I may be more inclined to value the traditional school education, she is more interested in the art/creative aspect of education. Anyway, I know that she has picked a very appropriate goal, and I am going to encourage her to go after it.

Oh, in case you were wondering. She will be wearing a shiny pair of Oxford Booties to go with this outfit. Sex in the City look out, here comes Victoria Starks!

Prereq: B.O.B

Have you ever thought about how someone else would describe you in few words?

Let me explain....Back in high school, I was part of a special gang of girls (yes, gang) called the B.O.B.s. This, OF COURSE, stands for Sassy White Girls (if your a true B.O.B at heart you get it). We B.O.Bs prided ourselves our how sassy and individual we were. We didn't take any crap, you asked for our opinion, you got it (sometimes you didn't even have to ask), we weren't going to let our lives be defined by someone else...girl power to the max. I had rarely thought about that until recently. The last several years, I have been in a place that I felt guilty for my personality, I felt like I needed to be different to be used in any way by God. I felt judged by others, because I don't fit the "Christian Woman" title. (A lot of this, by the way, was fueled by the fact that I work every weekend, and do not go to church because of it.) None the less, I was asked to be a Discussion Group Leader at our MOPS group this year. Of course I said yes, discussion is a form of talking and that is a strength of mine. It wasn't until a couple of weeks after committing to this that I started wondering what I would have to offer. Then, I did a bible study this summer "Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible.", and in this study I came to understand that God uses us to help fulfill his will BECAUSE of the person we are, not in spite of the person we are. Now, back to my question, what do I think others describe me as? Well, if I had to step outside of myself and answer this question, I would say.... "Oh, she is kinda bitchy, but a lot of fun" Now, this is what I would have been mortified to admit just a few months ago. Today, I realize that I filled an open position.... Wanted: "kinda bitchy, but a lot of fun" to help fulfill my will signed: God.

We finally did it!

We took the plunge, and bought a Dyson. OH, yes it rocks. When we first moved into our house up north, we were suckered into buying a Kirby. That over priced piece of crap lost it's luster a month or so in. It had a lot of different accessories, but didn't clean like it should. Fast forward to our current house here in Gardner. We decided that we didn't want to spend $6,000. to upgrade our carpet so we already have the crappy builders grade carpet. The last 4 years with the combo crappy carpet and stupid vacuum pushed us into a corner. Now that Devon insists on eating/choking on anything he can find to put into his mouth we had to make our move. I had heard nothing but great things about the Dyson, my good friend Ashley swears by hers. I did a little research, and found out that Dyson does NOT go on sale, so we used a coupon. Bed, Bath, and Beyond 20% coupon saved us $100 on this little beauty. (Seriously, did you think this cheap girl would pay full price?). Anyway, I LOVE it! One pass across our living room floor and the thing was full. It was evident that the Kirby wasn't pulling it's own weight. Our carpet actually looked good. I am going to have it cleaned next week, so that I can feel proud of our carpet again. I realize that I am getting excited about a vacuum, but sadly it is what happens when you become a wife/mom. I highly recommend the Dyson...do yourself a favor and get one.