in an old house in Paris....

Happy Halloween 2005

from Gracie Madelyn & Katie Brooklyn

"In an old house in Paris that is covered in vines, lives twelve little girls in two straight lines. The smallest one is Madeline."

Katie was the sweetest ladybug!

they didn't think about the walkers

I tried to explain to Gracie why it was so light this morning, as opposed to how dark it was a couple of weeks ago, as we prepared to walk to school.

How sweet that she thinks "they" (whoever "they" may be) just didn't think about the walkers before. They just must have changed the time so we could walk when it was light and not have to use the reflector.

Wow. How nice of "them!" If only the world could be as simple as a 5 year old thinks it is.

Gracie's 1st Jack-O-Lantern

Gracie had a great time designing her very first Jack-O-Lantern! She was so excited when we drove up to the house after being gone for awhile and saw the glow from the front porch! She & her daddy did a good job!











Katie didn't help too much with this task, but I was able to snap a picture of her in her Halloween sweatshirt, so I included it as well. You should have seen the look on her face at Wal-Mart when I put on one of the "Doodlebop's" wigs. She loves the "Doodlebops" and thought Mommy was pretty funny wearing Deedee Doodle's wig!

our life

Just some tidbits about our life:

*We had our parent-teacher conference with Miss S this week. It went really well! She said Gracie is doing great and can read pretty much anything she puts in front of her! I'm telling you, she is reading so well! She will pick up a book and just read away; some of the words are read by sight and some she sounds out. It's wonderful! Of course, some of the words we still have to tell her. Chris asked if there was anything we needed to work on. Miss S kind of laughed and said, "no." Of course, we will continue to work with her, but it's nice to know she's on target for learning the things she needs to be learning this year. We are truly blessed to have a little girl who loves school and learning so much and is so self motivated about it. She loves to make books and Miss S said she has single handedly gotten the whole class to make books! As a former teacher, and as her mommy, that simply warms my heart!

We were given 2 of her journals from this year. These are certainly prized possessions to me! They are so precious. My favorite entry was the one where she drew a picture of "See You at the Pole." The picture & words are kind of hard to see, but it says "church." Also, you can't see where someone (I'm assuming Miss S) wrote church for her down at the bottom. I guess she'd asked how to spell it. Miss S has written a little note on every single entry in the 2 journals we have. With so many students that is a time consuming task, but that's part of what makes her such a good teacher, the fact that she pays attention to such little details.

*Chris now has every Friday off which has been so nice. He just started this new schedule in the past month or so, and I love it! It's really great for him to have 3 day weekends each week. His work days M-Th have been lengthened by about an hour each day, but he still gets home by at least 6:15 and many days earlier than that. He is home with us every weekend. We are very blessed with this work schedule.

Today, I was so proud of him because he went up to Gracie's class to read a story. I had "helped" him volunteer, and he was nervous, but he said it went well. He commented on how well behaved the children were, and Gracie informed us that they got a "compliment treat" because he complimented them while he was there. I didn't go with him because I didn't want Katie to be a distraction and I feel it's important for dads to be involved in things like this on their own rather than it look like they're just tagging along with the mothers. Gracie also told us that Ali's dad (who was also in her preschool class) came today with a firetruck and they all got firemen hats. Such a great day for daddies in her class!

*I had my first professional massage this morning! Chris had gotten me a gift certificate for a local spa for my birthday back in May. I just got around to actually using it today. I was pretty nervous and not sure what to expect. It was nice, but I wasn't completely comfortable I have to admit. I'm pretty modest around people who aren't my immediate family. It did feel good though. Chris asked if I wanted it again. I told him I probably would, but not for awhile. I would like a pedicure, though! Now that I think I could get everyday!

*After I got home, Chris, Katie and I went to Atlanta Bread Company for lunch. We then filled up with gas and Chris vaccumed out the van and we walked around Home Depot for awhile. (such excitement, huh?!?) We also went to a local Christian bookstore before heading over to get Gracie from school. We visited in the parking lot with my new friend, Mary Beth, whose son is in Gracie's class. I'm really happy to be friends with her and to have Gracie be friends with her son! You should have seen Gracie leap into her daddy's arms when she came out! So sweet!

*We went to Blockbuster because we haven't seen Fever Pitch or Bewitched yet. We also ended up getting Batman Returns and Robots. I guess we've got some movies to watch, huh? While we were there, we saw one of Gracie's friends from school. They were excited to see each other away from school as little kids often are. Her daddy was off work today too, so she was there with both her mom and dad picking out a movie for her to watch. It was nice to see her mom be conscious of what kind of movie she was choosing. I've been nervous about Gracie making new friends and me not knowing their families well. This made me that much more comfortable with her being friends with this little girl!

*Since Katie hadn't had a nap yet, we went home for her to sleep and Gracie to rest. Well, all 3 members of my family ended up falling asleep while I talked on the phone with a friend and looked around online. When they finally decided to wake up, we decided to go to Pizza Hut and use the Book It coupon Gracie had received at school for a free personal pan pizza. Of course, the rest of us ate, too!

*We then went to the mall and walked around. We didn't buy alot, but we did get a few things. It was fun to just walk around and look. Gracie saw a friend from last year's preschool, also. I was so impressed because the mom introduced me & Gracie to her husband and she didn't even hesitate in telling him our names. I'm embarrassed because I don't know her name! I completely know who she is and her daughter's name, etc. but I don't know her name! Her little girl should be attending Gracie's school, but her daddy is the asst. principal at another elementary school in the district so she goes to that one. I completely understand that.

*Now we're home and Katie is sound asleep (at least I think so!) I think Gracie is stalling but well on her way. I'm sure Chris & I will start watching one of our movies soon. Hopefully I can talk him into going to get me a Diet Coke. He may need to get some diapers because I think Katie may have on her last one! *oops!* I really need to go grocery shopping. I'm not even sure we have anything for breakfast! Today was payday.....need I say more?!?!

*Tomorrow, I think we're going to tackle the "carve a jack-o-lantern" task. Sunday will be church & Life Group. Monday will be school then eating out with friends & trick-or-treating.

*I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the girls and a quote from Gracie. She said this to me tonight and also this morning.

"I love you much as God does."

Wow. Little does she realize that she doesn't even have an inkling of how much God loves us, but for her to think she can compare the two tells me that she loves me an awful lot! I love her, too!






Oh, my sweet Katie Boo! What an attitude this precious little 19 month baby girl can have!

Britney's blogging!

Britney is blogging! Ever since 8th grade, I have been friends with Tracy. We have spent part of Junior High, High School, & 3 1/2 years of college together. We spent many long hours in the car driving back & forth between Atlanta & ACU. This was before the days of cell phones, so we had to stop & call our parents about every 3 hours! Infuriating to us at the time.....now we can hardly believe our parents even let us go!

Tracy & I still talk often and she is one of my dearest friends in the world. She is the one I go to when I need a "kick in the pants" or a sympathetic ear. Like I told Britney, I quote Tracy often because of all of the wisdom she gives me (some I ask for & some I don't! HA HA!)

Seriously though, Tracy is one of the strongest & most deeply spiritual people I know. She makes me want to be a better person!

Anyway.......Britney (or Brit as Tracy usually calls her) is Tracy's little sister! Britney was one of the "good" little sisters. You know the kind....she didn't bug you too much! I don't know what all Britney will write on her blog, and I don't know if I'll agree 100% of what she does write, but I can pretty much guarantee it will be interesting!

Check it out!

recommended blog

I really like Matt Elliott's blog for today. You might want to read it.
Have a good day!

Family retreat

We had our annual church family retreat this weekend. It was really alot of fun. I'll admit to not being exactly "gung ho" about it before I went. The reason is the whole camping aspect of it. To me, it's roughing it. To others, it's a day at the Ritz! There are cabins with bathrooms and a large bath house. There's also a dining hall. There's a big lake which is usually really pretty and it's fun to go out on paddle boats. However, for some reason they had recently drained it, so the teenage boys had fun playing out in the mud. They were mainly showing off for the girls who were watching!

We roomed with Adam and Alissa and their 3 children. It was just our 2 families in the cabin, so it worked out nicely that we each kind of had our own space. Adam did a great job of doing "bedtime story duty" Friday night!

This retreat serves as a good time to relax and not pay so much attention to our clocks & schedules. We get to spend time playing "Phase 10" and laughing with friends as well as worshiping God! We also eat alot! Chris took off with Gracie and some other men with their sons to hike up to a waterfall. My little Gracie just wasn't up to making it the whole way, so they came back early. She was fine with that because she went straight to the big sandbox (aka the volleyball court) and had a great time there!

Some of the ladies had prepared a carnival of sorts for the children Saturday evening. They had fun getting their faces painted, playing beanbag games, painting pumpkins and knocking down bottles with softballs.


The girls had a good time playing on the huge slide and the swings that are at this camp. It looks like Chris had a good time, too!














I was worried that Katie wouldn't sleep well while we were there, but she actually did really well. She had some "moody" times during the day, but at night she conked out! They had some sweet "sissy times!" (A couple of these "sissy pictures" are from when we got home.)

caught being good & cotton candy

Gracie's school is having their Fall Festival this evening. We will miss it because we're going on our church retreat. However, I wanted to help with it if there was anything I could do beforehand. I got drafted to provide a cake for the Cake Walk. I also "volunteered" to help make cotton candy. Apparently, they ran out last year, so this year they wanted to make a bunch to have ready. The PTA president wanted 500 bags of cotton candy. I got to the school around 7:20, but the lady with the machine wasn't there so we didn't end up starting until around 8:45. From 8:45-10:45, we made 300 bags! (There were 3 of us working and 4 of us for a little while.) At that point, I needed to leave to come home and continue packing for our retreat (and wash my hair because of all of the sticky cotton candy in it!) Have you ever made cotton candy? It's a mess!

I had a good time though. We were in the Kindergarten workroom and it began filling up with baked goods for the Cake Walk and drinks, candy and games for the festival. Teachers were coming in & out commenting on how messy we were with cotton candy sticking out of our hair and how "smokey" it looked because of the cotton candy machine. It was really fun. I know I've complained before about the low parent participation at things like PTA meetings & Title I meetings. However, there seem to be alot of parents up at the school during the day working with students, tearing out workbook pages, speaking to classes, and doing things for the festival. I think that's so wonderful!

One of the most precious things was that I got to see Gracie in the hallway with her "Caught Being Good" ribbon! She had told us earlier (maybe last week?) that she had been "caught being good." I wasn't sure, but I thought the principal called out the names of these students on the morning news or something. I kept asking her if her name had been called and she said, "not yet." I didn't really want to keep pushing her about it because I didn't want her to think she should do something good just to get the recognition.

While we were waiting for the lady with the cotton candy machine, I walked out into the hall. One of the teacher aides (who I'd just been talking to) was out there with Gracie and 2 other little girls. She said, "Did you get to hear the announcements?" I said no (which I was disappointed that I hadn't been somewhere to hear them) but Gracie had the proudest look on her face and showed me her ribbon & Chick Fil A coupon. Yea for Gracie! (By the way, she got "caught being good" for picking up trash.)

I'm so happy that I was there to see her with her 2 other little classmates and I'm so thankful that the teacher aide made a point of letting me know about this. I had only just met this lady although I've seen her working with kids alot.

I am a proud mommy!

It's been 10 years!

My 10 year ACU reunion was this past weekend. I'm feeling a little old just thinking about it. In some ways it seems like it's been centuries since I lived on "the Hill," but in other ways it feels like just yesterday.

I dug through my old pictures today to find some from those precious years I spent in Abilene. Sure, Abilene isn't the prettiest of towns and not the most exciting all on its own. However, combine it with 4 years spent with friends & dating, candlelight devos & lunch in the Bean and a little education thrown in for good measure, and those years certainly were precious.



Here are a few highlights from those years I spent attending ACU.

*Welcome Week! This is simply one of the most amazing weeks I have ever spent in my entire life! Every single second was packed full of fun (with no time scheduled for missing Mom & Dad...that came the next week!) From the overwhelming noise in Moody Coliseum as I looked for my Inter-G group to the mud pit to watching the hypnotist, it was truly a fantastic week!

*Freshman Follies! "I like BIG BOWS and I cannot lie........" Truly talented songwriting for Nelson 2nd floor! HA!

*N23BB....Nelson 2nd & 3rd floor Bowhead Bandits...Some may know what I'm talking about.

*Road trips to Kyle Roberts house in Denton, TX for the weekend. These were done as Freshmen....maybe some later; I can't remember. They were tons of fun! I remember one time we went, his parents weren't home. I neglected to tell my parents this important fact. I knew that we were going to be good (& we were!) but my parents found out after the fact and weren't pleased. I don't remember anything too bad happening b/c of this omission but they did give a lecture.

*My first date with Chris. January 13, 1992 I think it was. It was a group date with Valerie (Osburn) Loe, Jim Newhouse, Chris & I, Scott Hinshaw, & Rhonda Boudra. The date consisted of roller skating, a trip to HEB (grocery store) and I guess we ate somewhere.

*Going home for the weekend for the first time with Chris. I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning trying on my friends' clothes and choosing what to take. He wasn't kidding when he said there weren't really many places to go in his hometown. Our big excitement the first night was to go down to the Shell station, with his parents, and get a root beer. We even sat in the booths the station had installed for the comfort of their customers. I was with Chris, though, so it was all good! And yes, in case you're wondering, that picture is cut into the shape of a heart! This was taken right before we left for NM that first time.

*Pledging! What a time it was to attend all the social functions & teas with your friends hoping that you would get a bid AND that all of your friends would get one to the same club as well. My friends & I spent many an hour in Nelson Dorm practicing the Siggies song. Go EOX! "It's the yellow & white of Siggies that we are proud to wear......."

*Pledging as an upperclassman! Once we had pledging over with our sophomore year, we could really enjoy it while being the ones "in charge" while others pledged.

*Sing Song! What wonderful memories! I was an usher my freshman year which was a blast. Sophomore year, I was a STAR for Siggies (see below), Junior year, I was a GIRL SCOUT for Siggies, (see below) and Senior year, I was TINKERBELL for Siggies I think. I think I was only in my class act one year. That's horrible that I can't really remember. We NEVER won for Siggies when I was there. We were cute but we couldn't sing! HA!!!!!!!!!

*Dorm life! Nelson 2nd floor my freshman year. Sikes 3rd floor my sophomore year. Living in the dorm was great! I loved it! I didn't love every aspect of it, but I did like it. I didn't like when I got my checkbook stolen my sophomore year by a girl down the hall. (That still makes me mad!)

*Spring Break Campaigns! My freshman year, I went to Tijuana, Mexico. (What were my parents thinking?!?!?) Really, though, it was a good trip. We slept in a tent and pottied in a hole or something similar anyway. We did have good chaperones that year (Wayne & Mimi Barnard). My sophomore year, I went to New York City, NY. (What were my parents thinking again?!?!) I do feel like we could have been more productive that year with our ministry and I'm thankful that we made it back in one piece (Corey, if you're reading, you do remember who my chaperone was, right??? DAVE HANCOCK!) Seriously, I am very thankful to my parents for allowing me & supporting me to go on these trips. It's not like we did anything bad. I just realize that a little more organization would have preferable (on the NY trip anyway.) God was surely with all of us who went on these various campaigns.

*Living off campus with 4 other girls! My junior year, I lived in a house one block off campus with Susan (Wilburn) Newhouse, Jennifer (Reynolds) Robbins, Nicole (Deveny) Dickey, & Shannon (Cox) Terry. That was fun!

*Dating Chris! We started dating 2nd semester of my freshman year. During Christmas break, I had told my mom I didn't want to go back to ACU. I was so homesick! She told me to finish the year and then I could transfer if I still wanted to. Guess what?!?! I never did transfer!



























*Getting engaged! Chris & I got engaged Sing Song weekend of 1994. I had my "Pass the Key" after the Saturday afternoon show. This is one of the highlights of a girl's life at ACU. Well, maybe not for every girl, but it was for me! My club sisters gathered in a circle. The "Keeper of the Key" reads a special letter that the fiance has written for his love. People are looking around wondering who it is. The ring is tied onto a wooden key. It begins to be passed around while we sing one of our club songs. It makes its way around once and everyone "oohs" & "aahs" over the ring. It begins its second go round and the girl will keep it and say, "It's me!" Then of course, everyone claps & tears flow, etc. You know.....all that sappy stuff! See the girl scout picture of my friend, Renee (Bradford) Preston's reaction to hearing the news. She & I were friends in high school and she pretty much introduced Chris & I, so she was excited to say the least!

*Getting married!!!!!! August 13, 1994, the summer before my Senior year, Chris & I got married! It was fun having a little house & being married while still in school.

*Singing "The Lord Bless You & Keep You" in chapel. Looking back, I know I didn't fully realize how special chapel was. Tuesday night devos and Wednesday night Bible studies were also special.

*Of course, I did attend classes while at ACU. I even received my degree and taught elementary school for 4 years after graduating. I had a great Student Teaching experience which helped prepare me although I certainly learned more & more each day! Having teachers who invited us over for dinner and prayed often during class was very important!

*Dr. Perry Reeves! He was absolutely my favorite teacher at ACU. He believed in me and my abilities to be a good teacher and made that clear. He is an amazing teacher!

*other favorite teachers: Dr. Dan White, Dr. Finis Cavender, Lucy Hatch, Jim Mankin & Dr. Kelly Hamby.

There are so many things I could write, but I'm not as young as I used to be 10 years ago, so it's waaaaay past time to be asleep.

































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books of the Bible

I found a neat little quiz I enjoyed taking. I don't know if everyone would agree with what it says about me. There were only about 4 questions and some of them really had more than one answer, so it was difficult to choose just one.

Let me know what it says about you!


You are Proverbs.

Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by

nostalgia

Being the nostalgic person that I am, I have compiled all of our pumpkin pictures since Gracie was born. I can't quite figure out how to post pictures within text the way I want it to, so I've just put them all together. The first one is from 2000 in Uvalde, Tx. She was about 3 months old! The second one is in South Carolina, 2001, where she was 1. The third one is from 2002 also in SC. She was 2. She was 3 in the next one, 2003, still in SC. In 2004, we were blessed to have "Katie Boo" join our family, so she joined the pumpkin pictures as well, still in SC. Today, 2005, we have our 2 lil' pun'kins at age 5 & 19 months, still in SC.

They have both changed so much and we love them immensely!

Thank you Lord, for our precious girls!

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall!

I love Fall! I also love taking pictures with our digital camera. I think Chris & I have owned at least 3 digital cameras that we have either lost or broken (sometimes our own fault; sometimes not.)

We decided to go ahead and buy a new digital camera today. We save up all year for Christmas, so this is part of our Christmas gift to each other. It's not the "best of the best" but it takes decent pictures and I can send them out to friends & family immediately. I am happy!

This afternoon we took the girls out to a local pumpkin patch to take some pictures & buy a couple of pumpkins. Katie, being the 19 month old that she is, had no interest in posing for pictures, but we still got some cute ones.

Enjoy my lil' pumpkins!

Are you worried?

Since I've found the Site Meter site, I've been a little freaked out. I've been looking at the reports of who reads my blog and where they're from, etc. I think some of the more random ones may be people who are trying to spam me. Since I have the word verification turned on, they can't. Some of the people I recognize, like Elizabeth & Kristin. Obviously, I'm okay with them and welcome them to read & comment often!

I think the thing that freaks me out is that when I "surf" through a bunch of blogs, those people have my blog address and city & state location logged into their account (if they use such a thing as site meter.) Sometimes I link from blog to blog to blog (as I know lots of people do) and have found some strange people out there. The thought of some of them linking back to my blog and reading about my children, etc. is frightening.

The thing is, I guess I've always known that the Internet isn't really that secure, but this brings it home. I was looking at some of the reports and some of them have addresses like "bellsouth.net" or "verizon.com" and then some simply have IP addresses. I can click on these to get the exact city & state and then click on the latitude/longitude to see where they are on a world map!

For example, one of the reports just had an IP address. I clicked on it and it told me the name of a small computer store in a town near here. Because of this, I know that my friend's husband (who works there) "A" was reading my blog. Either that or my friend "A" was visiting him and read my blog while there. The point is, he probably didn't think much of checking it to see if I'd written anything new, and of course I don't mind if he reads it. It's just that I know he did it even though he didn't tell me or leave a comment. Of course, he's a computer guy, so he probably already knows about this kind of thing.

Anyway, I guess in a way this is good because I don't see how many c-h-i-l-d m-o-l-e-s-t-e-r-s can get away with things because of this technology. I know many do get away with it, but I know this type of thing can greatly decrease their chances of anonymity! Thank goodness for that!

Am I being too paranoid? I'd really like feedback on this if you don't mind. Have any of the rest of you worried about surfing the Internet and people coming to find you?

I love blogging and value the relationships I've formed because of blogging. I love getting comments and leaving comments. I love recording the stories of our family's lives. Can you help me feel better about my worries?

Site Meter & how did you get here?

Site Meter is something I've just signed up for. It can tell me how many people are reading my blog, how long they're staying on my blog, and where they are. I think it may even tell me what color shirt they're wearing! Just kidding, but seriously, this is a little weird! I signed up and then I checked it out. Sure enough, it showed my blog address and my city & state (even had a little red dot on the world map showing approximately where I live) as a visitor to my site. SG mentioned this on her blog which is how I found this service. She said her own visits don't count on her counter, but my own visit counted on my blog. I'm not sure why.

Anyway. It's kind of scary & a little embarrassing that people may see that I check their blog so often. I promise I'm not a stalker; I just like to read other blogs and see what people are saying.

If you look down at the waaaay bottom of the page, it shows my visitors.

I've seen a couple of people asking how in the world you came to their blog. So I'm asking it too. How did you come to my blog and what keeps you coming back? I'd love to know and I like having you here! (as long as you're not stalking me!) :-)

measuring success as a man

I wanted to post this quote from Dr. Phil's show today. It was a show entitled "Wifestyles." This one man was being very critical of his wife. Yes, there were areas where she could improve, but her husband was being extrememly disrespectful in the way he was trying to bring about those changes. She seemed to be a loving, attentive mother to their 3 small children and a wife who was trying to keep the house clean and cook, etc. but he basically wanted a "Stepford Wife."

I think my husband is amazing. He is committed to being a family man who puts God & his family first before lots of other things he enjoys doing. He'll barely complain after teaching an adult class on Sunday morning, leading singing, then leading Life Group that night. He doesn't do all of that each Sunday, but many. I'm proud of him for that. He won't say that he's proud of himself for that....and he shouldn't. I will say it though! He works hard to provide for us and never complains about helping with baths for the girls or cleaning up dishes. He makes me feel special on a very regular basis. He tells me I'm beautiful despite the 50+ lbs. I could stand to lose. He doesn't nag when he can't find clean underwear, he just simply starts a load of whites. He compliments the house when I've spent time cleaning and he'll say, "good dinner" even if it's just soft tacos or spaghetti. He truly felt bad when my friends planned a spa weekend and I didn't go mainly for financial reasons. He encouraged me to go and would have supported it. I chose not to because I knew we truly didn't have the money to spend. I could have found it somewhere, but it wouldn't have been the best decision right now. The important thing is that he supported me in whatever decision I made. Point is, when Dr. Phil made this statement, my eyes filled up with tears and I started clapping before the studio audience did because this is a true statement. I know without a doubt that I am blessed to have Chris as my husband.

Dr. Phil explains how he measures success as a man. “If I know that [Robin] can stand in a room full of 10,000 women, and know in her heart that there isn’t a woman in that room who gets treated better than her behind closed doors, then I have done my job,” says Dr. Phil

busy Monday

Life is busy and getting busier!

We had alot going on today:
*Left the house around 7 to walk Gracie to school.
*Came home & did a few things.
*Left the house again around 10:20 to go up to the school. It's "School Lunch Week," so all the K parents were invited to come eat lunch with their child. Chris met us up there. School lunch...yum! hamburger, carrot sticks, applesauce (really tasted like apple pie filling) & a moon pie. (The adults did get to drink tea rather than having to drink milk.) Katie enjoyed dipping the carrot sticks in the applesauce. She actually ate them and didn't choke on the raw carrot like she sometimes does, so all was well!
*Came home & put Katie down for a nap.
*Chris had come home to get a couple of things before heading back to work and we got a strange phone call that I won't go into completely. Suffice it to say that we got conned into doing something I guess we shouldn't have done, but our hearts were in the right place and God knows that. Like my mom said, "It's better to help someone and then find out they didn't really need it than to not help someone and then find out they did really need it." Because of this phone call, I woke Katie up and drove for about 20 minutes then came home and put her back to bed. Thankfully, she did fall asleep again.
*Did a few more things then had to basically wake Katie up again to go get "Sissy" from school.
*Went to get our hair cut. (& eyebrows done. ouch!)
*Came home and did some homework with Gracie and a few more things around the house.
*Fixed dinner.
*Chris came home a little before six. The girls and I had already started eating because I had to be somewhere at 6:30.
*Talked to Chris for about 15 minutes while we ate .
*Went to an almost 2 hour PTA meeting.
*Got a "job" while there that I need to get done tomorrow. It's easy and won't take too much time or energy.
*Agreed to head up the "Winter Parent Enrichment Program" or whatever we decide to call it. In the past, it's been called the "Spring Parent Enchrichment Program" but it was held in March. They want to do in January this time, so I guess we'll change it from Spring to Winter. There is a bunch of stuff I need to get done for that, but I have awhile. I may need prayers for getting this organized!
*Came home and talked to Chris some more. Debated over whether we're going to our church retreat. I may need to post about that in particular and get some opinions on our "pros" & "cons."
*Plunked myself down in front of the t.v. and watched 3 episodes of Laguna Beach. Are these people for real? Is Kristin really the way she is portrayed? With friends like her, who needs enemies? I like what Taylor said, "I've never seen anyone love hating people so much." (something to that effect.) She needs to really grow up.

I need to iron Gracie's clothes for tomorrow and make her lunch. It may get done in the morning. I'm ready for bed.

1990 top songs

Malia was amused that I, a professed lover of all things Tony Bennett, had chosen so many hard rock songs as my favorites. Let me clarify that this list is my husband's list, not mine! I knew I wouldn't remember enough about the songs from '91, and Chris loves music, so I got him to do it. I always tease him about all of the tapes he made back in high school...his "80's tapes." I guess it was indicative of later in life because now he's all about iTunes and his iPod !


I got Chris to do this for the year he graduated. Here are the directions if any of you are interested in doing it. I copied this from Mandy & Corey.

1. Go to musicoutfitters.com and, in the search box provided, enter the year you graduated high school.
2. From the search results, click the link for the top 100 songs of that year.
3. With the resulting list:
a.). Bold the songs you like
b.) Italicize the ones you hate
c.) Underline your favorite.
d.) Ignore the ones you don't remember/don't care about.

1990
1. Hold On, Wilson Phillips
2. It Must Have Been Love, Roxette
3. Nothing Compares 2 U, Sinead O'Connor
4. Poison, Bell Biv Devoe
5. Vogue, Madonna
6. Vision Of Love, Mariah Carey
7. Another Day In Paradise, Phil Collins
8. Hold On, En Vogue
9. Cradle Of Love, Billy Idol
10. Blaze Of Glory, Jon Bon Jovi
11. Do Me!, Bell Biv Devoe
12. How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, Michael Bolton
13. Pump Up The Jam, Technotronic
14. Opposites Attract, Paula Abdul
15. Escapade, Janet Jackson
16. All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You, Heart
17. Close To You, Maxi Priest
18. Black Velvet, Alannah Myles
19. Release Me, Wilson Phillips
20. Don't Know Much, Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville
21. All Around The World, Lisa Stansfield
22. l Wanna Be Rich, Calloway
23. I Remember You, Skid Row
24. Rub You The Right Way, Johnny Gill
25. She Ain't Worth It, Glenn Medeiros Featuring Bobby Brown
26. If Wishes Came True, Sweet Sensation
27. The Power, Snap
28. (Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection, Nelson
29. Love Will Lead You Back, Taylor Dayne
30. Don't Wanna Fall In Love, Jane Child
31. Two To Make It Right, Seduction
32. Sending All My Love, Linear
33. Unskinny Bop, Poison
34. Step By Step, New Kids On The Block
35. Dangerous, Roxette
36. We Didn't Start The Fire, Billy Joel
37. I Don't Have The Heart, James Ingram
38. Downtown Train, Rod Stewart
39. Rhythm Nation, Janet Jackson
40. I'll Be Your Everything, Tommy Page
41. Roam, B-52's
42. Everything, Jody Watley
43. Back To Life, Soul II Soul
44. Here and Now, Luther Vandross
45. Alright, Janet Jackson
46. Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice
47. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
48. Have You Seen Her, M.C. Hammer
49. With Every Beat Of My Heart, Taylor Dayne
50. Come Back To Me, Janet Jackson
51. No More Lies, Michel'le
52. Praying For Time, George Michael
53. How Can We Be Lovers, Michael Bolton
54. Do You Remember, Phil Collins
55. Ready Or Not, After 7
56. U Can't Touch This, M.C. Hammer
57. I Wish It Would Rain Down, Phil Collins
58. Just Between You and Me, Lou Gramm
59. Something Happened On The Way To Heaven, Phil Collins
60. Black Cat, Janet Jackson
61. Can't Stop, After 7
62. Janie's Got A Gun, Aerosmith
63. The Humpty Dance, Digital Underground
64. I'll Be Your Shelter, Taylor Dayne
65. Free Fallin', Tom Petty
66. Giving You The Benefit, Pebbles
67. Enjoy The Silence, Depeche Mode
68. Love Song, Tesla
69. Price Of Love, Bad English
70. Girls Nite Out, Tyler Collins
71. King Of Wishful Thinking, Go West
72. What Kind Of Man Would I Be?, Chicago
73. Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over), Technotroic
74. Here We Are, Gloria Estefan
75. Epic, Faith No More
76. Love Takes Time, Mariah Carey
77. Just Like Jesse James, Cher
78. Love Shack, B-52's
79. All Or Nothing, Milli Vanilli
80. Romeo, Dino
81. Everybody Everybody, Black Box
82. I Go To Extremes, Billy Joel
83. Whip Appeal, Babyface
84. Oh Girl, Paul Young
85. C'mon and Get My Love, D-Mob With Cathy Dennis
86. (It's Just) The Way That You Love Me, Paula Abdul
87. We Can't Go Wrong, Cover Girls
88. When I'm Back On My Feet Again, Michael Bolton
89. Make You Sweat, Keith Sweat
90. This One's For The Children, New Kids On The Block
91. What It Takes, Aerosmith
92. Forever, Kiss
93. Jerk Out, Time
94. Just A Friend, Biz Markie
95. Whole Wide World, A'me Lorain
96. Without You, Motley Crue
97. Swing The Mood, Jive Bunny and The Mastermixers
98. Thieves In The Temple, Prince
99. Mentirosa, Mellow Man Ace
100. Tic-Tac-Toe, Kyper

this is for you, Mandy!

Since Mandy pleaded for us to do this, I am participating in her tag. Plus, I really kind of like these things!

First Memory: This was hard! I remember living in Kentucky....getting doughnuts after church on Sunday nights, seeing a snake outside, & picking up a dead mouse while cleaning my closet! *eww* Considering that we moved away from Kentucky when I was 4 or 5, those are pretty early memories.

First Kiss: To be perfectly honest, my first real kiss was Chris. Real being defined as both people responding and it meaning anything.

First Concert: I remember seeing The Oakridge Boys when I was in elementary school.

First Love: Chris

First thing you think in the morning: already?!?!?

First book you remember loving: I remember loving Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola.

First pet: We were not a pet family. I remember having a few fish...who died quickly.

First question you'll ask in Heaven: I like Tracy's answer of telling God, "Thank You!" I will probably want to ask where my family is.

First thing you think of when you hear the word vacation: I really want to go to Disney World. Never been! :-(

First best friend:probably Shannon Rogers from elementary school

Last time you dressed up: I wore a skirt last Tuesday when I went to volunteer at Gracie's school

Last thing you ate: ham & pineapple pan pizza from Pizza Hut

Last CD you bought: Disney classic cd that came with the Cinderella dvd

Last time you cried: really cried......I can't remember. I do tear up often while watching 7th Heaven. I know that's totally sappy, but it gets to me every time!

Last time you told someone you loved them: about 1/2 an hour ago. Katie Boo was going to bed! (thankfully! I love that little girl more than words can express, and I love her spirit of energy, but she was driving us BANANAS tonight!)

Last really fun thing you did: spent a weekend in Atlanta visiting my parents. We took our friends and their 3 children with us. Chris & I also went to a romantic restaurant & spent a long time in Barnes & Noble for our anniversary in August.

Last thing you watched on TV: 7th Heaven! (big surprise, huh?!?)

Last Halloween costume: tacky tourist

Last Concert attended: live taping of Nashville Star (does that count?)

Now for the fun part...I tag the following: I don't always have the best luck with people doing the things I tag them to do, so I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want to participate! :-)

Russell the Sheep

Chris was off today so we all went to pick up Gracie from school. Even though I typically don't use carline in the afternoon, I felt Chris needed to experience it at least once, so we did it today. It has been raining off & on the past 2 days, so it also made us get wet fewer number of times this way since we didn't park and walk up to the sidewalk to get her.

After we picked her up, we ran an errand and then went to the library. Gracie loves going to the library and Katie has certainly started to recognize it as well. She gets very excited when we drive up to it. Granted, Gracie enjoys playing the computer games and playing with the puzzles more than looking at the books, but she reads so much at home that it doesn't bother me too much. The girl certainly doesn't lack for a love of reading!

We also have gotten into the habit of checking out movies each Friday. They have a decent selection and we've been getting some of the older ones for her to watch...."The Shaggy Dog," "The Absent-Minded Professor," and "The Love Bug." This week we got "Black Beauty."

We're supposed to read at least 15 minutes a day at least 5 days a week as part of her homework. We decided we'd just do it there, so she & I both picked out some books. There was one called Russell the Sheep that Chris & I both thought looked cute, so he brought that one to me to read to her.

Chris was holding Katie (which was no small feat as she would have rather been running around the library being loud!) & pulled up a stool next to us while I had Gracie on my lap. I read the title, "Russell the Sheep." Gracie, in all seriousness, asked,

"Why would they want to wrestle the sheep?"

Chris & I both about lost it! I guess I needed to pronounce the title more clearly! Gracie, on the other hand, was not amused by our reaction. She gets very upset if she thinks we're laughing at her. Once I composed myself, I was able to finish it. It was a very cute story, by the way!

Remember Madame Blueberry

The Cinderella dvd came out today. Chris & I have bought many of the Disney VHS over the years and decided that we would start buying the dvd's when they came out to replace the VHS. We'll probably donate the VHS to the library or something.

So today when I was at Wal-Mart, I bought the Cinderella dvd. I even spent a couple of extra dollars to get the one that comes with a cd. When I picked Gracie up from school, I excitedly told her,

"Guess what I got today? I got the Cinderella dvd. Remember we're going to try to get the dvd's to replace the regular movies?"

She says, "Well, we just don't need any more movies. We already have enough. Remember Madame Blueberry?"

For those of you who don't know, Madame Blueberry is a character from Veggie Tales. She was greedy and filled her tree house so full of stuff from "Stuff Mart" that her house came crashing to the ground. The sweet family who lived on the ground and didn't have many possessions asked her to live with them and shared their 1 piece of pie with her. She learned that "being greedy makes you grumpy -- but a thankful heart is a happy heart!"

If I hadn't already opened the package to take out the cd, I think I might take it back. I really do feel a little bad because she's right. We do already have enough movies. Do we really need the newer & better version?

*sigh* From the mouths of babes!