My Latest Addiction

In one word: Facebook. In three words: I love Facebook. Love it! I never got into the whole My Space thing, but I am LOVING Facebook. I love finding people that I haven't seen in years. People from high school, the Coast Guard, college, cheerleading, grad school, various jobs, church, junior league and even PTA. Best of all? It is free! Free, free, FREE! I love free! The classmates.com and reunion.com, where you have to pay and become a member just to send an e-mail? No thanks! I'll take Facebook any day. Thanks Mary for suggesting I join, who would have thought it could be so much FUN?!?!?!

(Random picture that I wanted to post.)

Us on a mountain of snow in Steamboat Springs!

Hats Off to the Community

This is the theme of our Junior League this year. Guess what we all were instructed, I mean, encouraged to wear to the kickoff meeting tonight? Yes, a hat. (No ball caps, please requested the president.) Problem #1: I did not have a hat. Problem #2: I did not want to buy a hat. I also didn't want to wait until the last minute, so I e-mailed Mary at 10pm last night soliciting a hat. She said that she had a cowboy one. Well, I didn't want to have to 'dress' like a cowboy. After soliciting a few more friends, it became apparent that I would go hatless or wear a cowboy hat. I ended up getting Laura's cowboy hat from Mexico (that we spent hours and hours trying to find the perfect one). I did wear some cowgirl boots with a brown skirt. Yee-HAW! I didn't win the prize for the cutest hat, but I can show you who did...

Bedtime Routine(s)

I would love to say that we have a definite bedtime routine. If we did, this is what it would look like:

• 7:00 Children bathe quietly and quickly
• 7:12 Children don sleeping gear
• 7:15 Children brush their teeth and floss
• 7:20 All children go potty
• 7:25 Read 3-5 books, sing a song and say prayers
• 7:40 All children hop into their respective beds
• 7:42 All children sleeping soundly
• 7:45 The house is full of peace and stunned silence

Yeah, and then we'll see pigs flying past the window by 8pm. Ha, ha, ha! I can only dream that night-night time could go so peacefully. In all actuality it does proceed like the aforementioned, but not a efficiently as I would like it to. Some evenings are easier than others, but some nights are a bit rough on all of us. Sometimes they are still chattering away at 10pm!! It's hard to keep your cool for an hour and half after saying "Be QUIET!" ~38 times and threatening timeout for every one of their stuffed animals. (You'd be surprised how often that one works!) However, once they are all asleep, it is all worth it!

Opening Night at M Theatre

We joined a cast of friends for some 'REEL' fun on location at the ultra-exclusive "M Theatre". We got to mingle with such characters as Clark Kent, Juno, Forest Gump and Jenny, some basketball player, Mary (from Something about Mary), Olivia Newton-John, a baseball head, Norman and the shower lady getting stabbed, a nurse with an M & M guy, the Joker, Jimmy Buffet and a few 'extras'. It was produced and directed by Mary with the Lighting and Set Design was by Sean and Craig.

What a great production!

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Mulch Messes

We played at a pretty neat park with a HUGE slide and a really cool rock to climb up (and take pictures on). The kids love to come here (since it is near Gram's house), but we haven't been in a while, for no apparent reason. We met my friend Jamie and her kiddos to let them all play together. It is so interesting to see the relationship dynamics and how they change based on who happens to be there. Cooper was in school so that left Natalie and Luke to play with Brooke and Preston. Usually Natalie and Brooke are buddy-buddy, but today Luke decided to be enthralled with Brooke. Everything was, 'Brooke come here!', 'Brooke, I need you!', 'Where Brooke at?' Natalie and Preston are a good team. Preston is so gentle and kind to Natalie, I think she really appreciates him. The Natalie-Preston team had a lot of fun creating mulch messes on the slide. Why is the mulch such a draw? Natalie (and Luke for that matter) cannot help but pick up the mulch, make mulch rain, throw it on their heads and ultimately throw it at someone else, which ends all the fun. After telling Natalie for the 5th time (I know I should have done the time out thing after the 2nd time, but I was enjoying my conversation with Jamie), I concluded that it was time to leave the play area completely to remove her from mulch temptation. She did not go easily. She unleashed one of her famous "Natalie Meltdowns" for the whole park to see and hear. All I could hear was a subliminal, 'I need a nap, I need a nap, I need a nap!!!'.

And that is exactly what happened 20 minutes later.

Natalie's Soccer Practice

Natalie had her first soccer practice of the season tonight. She is playing with the same team that she played with in the spring. She is a completely different player now than she was last season. She has more confidence and spunk to her! She did not act shy when we got there, she just jumped right in with the group. (Attagirl!)

The first part of the practice they sat in a circle and learned every one's name. It should have been a review, because everyone was on the team last season. It was just so cute how Coach Tony was encouraging each girl to say the name of every player. I think they all can successfully yell each other's name during practice now!

Once they all were reacquainted, they got into the heart of the practice. Dribbling the ball while playing red light/green light, the wolf game and other random games that you almost wish you could join in and play for a little bit. They always have so much fun playing and practicing!

Here are some cute pics of Natalie, the soccer athlete:

Sneak Preview at M Theatre

Mary had a sneak preview for a few of us to come over to get the first glimpse of the extremely awesome media room that Sean, Craig and Mary have been working on all summer. It was worth the wait! WOW! The stadium seating, the plush carpet, the slip covers, the floor pillows, the wall hangings, the leather sport recliners, the curtains and the most extensive electronic equipment you could imagine! There were woofers all over the place (did I really just write that?) and you could feel the movie sound effects. The picture on the screen was so clear, who would have thought a picture that spanned a whole wall could be so precise? The icing on the cake for the theatre? The old-fashioned movie theatre popcorn popper in the back that Craig was doing his best to get fired up and popping.

This is the most impressive media room I have ever had the pleasure of sitting in...way to go Sean and Craig!!

Mother's Day Out

Natalie and Luke started Mother's Day Out today. Wow! I love the place where they go to pre-k. We have been going here since Fall 2003. The teachers are so awesome and I adore the director, Ms. Kathy. The kids will be going 3 days a week this year vs. the 2 day/week program that it has traditionally been. This is great for me, that way I can get most of my work done leaving Monday and Friday to take the little ones to do fun things.

Natalie has Ms. Darcy this year. Yes, I stood in line ridiculously early one Thursday last spring to secure Natalie a spot in Ms. Darcy's class. In fact there were 9 parents in line an hour before pre-k registration started to get their child in Ms. Darcy's class. (no one camped out, thank goodness!) She is one popular teacher! Cooper simply adored her last year and I am thrilled that Natalie gets a year with her.

Luke has Ms. Brenda and he seems pretty excited about that. He is not as verbal as Natalie so it's not like he is going to give me a soliloquy about how much he likes Ms. Brenda. However, he remembered where to sit and she said he did really good today. I'm just happy that he took a nap for her. Not bad for the first day!!!

A Monday Night Dinner

I just have to brag about my husband. He is the best cook! I could not have married any better than him... I love him and all of his culinary skills! John got a Weber grill last week. The first time he used it, I came home from a girlfriend's house and when I walked through the garage I wondered, why does the garage smell so good? Then, when I came in the house, I seriously walked around the whole house trying to figure out what smelt so good. There happened to be a chicken breast waiting for me, so I thought that this was the best smelling chicken breast EVER. No, it was really the 3 racks of ribs he had cooked before my chicken breast. It smelt so good that the neighbor across the street called to see what John was cooking. Of course, he had to take them a sample (in which they loved it).

Tonight, he invited Mother, Calvin and Autumn over tonight for some of his now-famous BBQ ribs. Mother brought this wonderful corn casserole and with John's baked beans we were set to have an awesome meal. Great food, great family and sweet little prayer from Luke made it just perfect.

PUMP*IT*UP

This jumping place had open jump today (not a regular occurrence, you usually have to have a party here or be invited to one). Luke LOVES this place! We came here for a birthday party in June and he has NOT stopped talking about "Pup-it-uppp!" After deliberating over where to have his party (and the fact that Chicken Red's has closed down) we decided that we should have it at Pump It Up. We thought going today would get Luke all fired up about his birthday and having his party here. Guess what? We were RIGHT! For once, as parents, we actually got something right. We guess at a lot of the actions that we take, so it feels good to feel like you get it right. Even if it is just making the 2 year old extremely happy (and excited). I have a feeling that Luke will be asking everyday if today is his birthday at Pup-it-uppp!!! (And I will not mind a bit!)