Happy Turkey Day!

Wishing you all a great holiday this week. May we all remember what we have to be grateful for.

Shameless Plug

OK all, here he is again, my younger brother Jared (notice I didn't say "little" this time?). He made it into the "Top 10" on famecast.com with his song "Time". He had just one week to put up a new video and song. Here he is with "Dream", a song he had previously recorded and now got in his studio to create a new rendition.



Click on my title to go directly to his video where you can vote every day from now until November 27th to get him in to the "Top 5" where he will then compete live in Houston, Texas for a chance to win $10,000. Please tell everyone you know! Thanks for all your continued support!

One Of Those Days...

With family coming next week for Thanksgiving, I have a list a mile long of things to do around the house. Of course, I've been putting most of it off until now, crunch time. Today was one of those days that I feel like I (and when I say "I", I mean "we" because Matt came home early and after his round of Tiger Woods on the PS2, he was very motivated) got so much accomplished. And, yes, I am one of those people that adds things to my list that I have already done just so I can cross them off, thus, making me feel more accomplished for the day. However, I did not do that with any of the following:

~Organized and labeled my Primary binder (as of Sunday I was released from the Nursery and made Primary Secretary)
~Bought and installed a new doorbell (I don't know why I put that one off, it took all of two minutes)
~Polished 20 year old silver dish (the chafing dish you gave me, mom). OK, that one did take longer than I anticipated, but it looks beautiful.
~Replaced toilet parts in basement bathroom (I have my hubby to thank for that)
~Fixed heater and fan in master bathroom (again, hubby. And who knew there was a light bulb in the fan in the ceiling?)
~Put down carpet remnant under washer and dryer (another hubby involvement)
~Finished one Christmas present (like anyone in my family will be surprised that I am making some gifts this year)

And this was all in addition to laundry (of which I only re-washed one load having just taken it out of the dryer) and dishes and basic household chores.

Only 13 more things on my list. Woo Hoo!

Frankenstein Knocked Me Up

(I hope that doesn't reflect too negatively on my character.)

Along with two of my cousin's wives (two different cousins not one cousin's two wives), we have been reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in time for Halloween. In the spirit of all things tradition, we decided to dress the parts this year. No one recognized us at our ward Trunk-or-Treat until our kids came running up to us.

That's the sign of a good costume.

The Year of the Pokemon

Because of my disappointing afternoon (see previous post), I was really not looking forward to taking the kids Trick-or-Treating. But I ended up having a good time. It brought back some of the tradition that I knew should be there. The kids were excited about their costumes. I make their costumes every year that I can. Something about tradition for me. The pictures are from our Trunk-or-Treat the previous Friday night (which was everything a Halloween party should be and then some).

For those not yet introduced to the way of the Pokemon, I've included pics of the original characters so you can see who they are supposed to be.

a. is a Pokemon named Butterfree. I know it's not the most authentic, but she had her wings and that was all that mattered to her. Oh and she got to wear her purple snow boots.

M. was Ash, a Pokemon Trainer and owner of the Pokemon Pikachu who you can see in the green backpack. I was honestly surprised at how many kids actually recognized the character he was portraying. (I hope that says something for my costume making abilities.)

A. is an Pokemon named Riolu. He actually evolves into Lucario who is his favorite. But he says he chose this one because he's not as scary. (Lucario reminds me of a mean wolf, so I can see where he is coming from.) Because not every parent gets the opportunity to learn as much about Pokemon as I have, no one really knew who A. was supposed to be. One of my friends asked him if he was a bat-dog. Sure, whatever. It beats trying to explain it. He knew who he was and that's what mattered.

Not Lamb, I Said Lame!

OK, so I just need to vent for a minute.

On the first day of school, M's 2nd grade class picked out of a hat to see which kid's parents were assigned to which class party during the year. (In my opinion I think this is a lame way to get "volunteers".) So, we were assigned to help with the Halloween party. The room mother leaves my a message a week and a half ago and "tells" me that she needs me to bring a few things and wants to know if I will be there to help with the games. Of course! I love class parties! I love seeing the excitement on the kid's faces and I am always willing to do whatever I can to help. So when I call her back, she asks if I can bring a bag of chips. That's it. Oh and can I be there to help? So I show up with my bag of chips and she doesn't assign me to help with anything. So I get to watch the kids go to each of the four stations.

Station #1 - Mummy Wrap and Race Game Two teams of two kids each wrap each other up in a roll of toilet paper and try to run about 10 feet and back. OK, at least this was Halloween themed.

Station #2 - Bouncy Ball Game Each kid has to see how many times they can catch a bouncy ball after the first bounce. Does the Halloween party really have to be the time to work on hand/eye coordination?

Station #3 - Draw Pictures With Shaving Cream As much as the kids enjoyed this, (because who doesn't like to get a little messy now and again?) it wasn't something the kids got to make and keep. Just make a mess, then wash up. What happened to a cute little Halloween crafts?

Station #4 - Apple Game You know the one, where you hold the apple with your chin and try to pass it to the next person. After they failed at that, they could get a plate of snacks. Which was apples (probably the same ones that they held in their sweaty kid necks) with caramel dip, my bag of chips (it's a good thing I grabbed a second variety) and fruit punch. No Halloween cupcakes or cookies or anything fun like that. The mom in charge of this table did think to bring a Halloween table cloth, plates and napkins (but there were no other decorations), and the room mom commented "I'm so glad you brought this." (Shouldn't she be in charge of remembering stuff like that?)

I took a walk half way through the party to distract A. and a. who was bored. We walked around and peeked in the other classrooms. All of whom were having a great time. It was noisy and chaotic as they were decorating cookies, frosting cupcakes, making fun things and eating their Halloween treats amid the extra decorations that the moms put up.

I don't know why I felt so bitter yesterday. Maybe it was the lack of tradition I felt that afternoon. However, I guess I have to give the room mom some props, our classroom was the quietest and we had the least amount of clean up.

I am sad that I won't get asked to volunteer for the Christmas and/or Valentine party. It could be so much more fun for the kids.