Happy Birthday Amber!

Hope you have an awesome day!

I heart the internet...

Mmm... bootleg Twilight complete with heads passing randomly in front of the screen. What better way to spend the night :)

I survived Black Friday...

and didn't get arrested! More astonishing than that, I didn't even lose my temper (though I'll admit it got close a time or two). Most people by now have heard of my attempt at Black Friday shopping last year (i.e. I drove across town to Best Buy at 4 a.m., pulled into the parking lot, saw the line wrapped around the building then pulled right back out and went home). I am not a fan of crowds and very much live by the "I wish somebody would..." philosophy. As in I've heard the horror stories about Black Friday and can only think to myself, "I wish somebody would try to snatch something out of my hand... I'll bust their head to the white meat".

Anyway, I have been debating on whether or not to gift myself with a point and shoot digital camera for my upcoming trip back east (as there is no way in hell I'm lugging that big ass digital SLR all over the place) for a couple of weeks now and decided as I lay in bed reading at 5 o'clock this morning that I might as well get up and go check out the line. I went to Staples (as it's relatively new and I have NEVER seen more than four cars in the parking lot) hoping the crowd wouldn't be too long. There were about forty people waiting outside half an hour before the doors opened. Smart girl that I am, I drove around in mindless circles until 6:15, enough time to miss the opening frenzy. By the time I got back, the parking lot was only half full and the crowd really wasn't bad. It took me about an hour (45 minutes of that trying to track someone down that actually worked there because the camera I wanted was locked up in the back) to get in, get my camera, and get out. So here it is... isn't she pretty :)

It's super, super tiny (about the size of a deck of cards) and as almost zero shutter lag. Love, Love, Love it!!! Here are the first few pictures I took... sorry they're just out the back door... I didn't have any other subjects available (my lazy dog is still sleeping and it would be cruel just to wake her up and shove her out into the arctic temperatures outside).

I know the mountains look kinda blurry, but it is foggy as hell here today (yes, fog in the desert, don't ask me, it's been hanging around for about 3 days though and I'm soooo freakin' sick of it!!!) The last one I used a cool feature that enhances specific colors... love how it looks on the sky... you can't even tell it's REALLY all grey and dreary here :)

Well, it's 9:30 in the morning... I really ought to try and get some sleep. Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone... I hope you had as much fun as Kesha and I did watching Dad and Jake play Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii *sure the game cheats* (and Kesha thanks for cooking... it was AWESOME as always :D)

Mmm... James

So Kesha and I saw twilight last night. Our movie was supposed to start at 8:40 but we ended up not getting in there until about 9:15. Yeah, we waited outside in the freezing cold for an hour and a half but as soon as the movie started the numb toes and tingling fingers were forgotten. The acting was not stellar to say the least but I'd prepared myself for that and wasn't overly irritated. An all out cheer ripped through the theater when we caught our first glimpse of Edward. And at the first glimpse of James through the silence of the theater all that was heard was me and Kesha's simultaneous "Mmm". We looked at each other and burst out laughing... that's why I love this girl. I don't care that he's a bad vampire... shit, bite me :) I thought the movie was pretty great. Like Annie, I thought most of the characters were perfect and Edward grew on me through the movie. His eyes and mouth were great but he was too hairy (the chest) and not muscular enough and yes the house was all wrong, but still very cool. Bella and Edward's bedrooms were wrong too but I have to say (before kesha pulls that razor out of her cheek) that overall I was very pleased with the movie and can't wait to see it again, and again, and again.... and again :)

Twilight Night!!!

Leaving for Kesha's house in 75 minutes to go see twilight! I'm soooo freaking excited. Then Lori and I are going tomorrow night I think. I started reading the book again last night just for fun. I'll let you know (well everyone but annie ;) know how it was.

So Excited (and a CJ funny)

I'm soooo freaking excited... Twilight comes out tomorrow!!! The more I've watched the trailers the more the cast grows on me. I think it will be okay and I'll manage not to stand up in the theater, jump up and down hysterically and scream 'no, it's all wrong... this is alllll wrong!' but we'll see :) Without my meds I'm not exactly predictable :)

As for the CJ funny, they came over for dessert on Kesha's birthday and CJ tells dad: "Papa you need a Hulk watch (the one in the movie that tells him when he's getting angry) so that you can not be so angry and push people." (in response to a slight altercation dad had in a softball game 2 weeks ago... and no the boys didn't see it, just heard us talking about it). When dad told him that the kid pushed him first CJ says "Well than they really should have thrown that guy out!" Dad responds with a THAT'S WHAT I SAID! Kids are so cute, gotta love 'em.

Happy Birthday Kesha!!!

Guess who's turning the big 3-0 (daaaammmnnn)! That's right it's the one and only Princess KeeKee! Bringing sexy back to the over 29 crowd! Hope you have a great day and Jake buys you something awesome!

Wow!

Nothing like having a kid scream bloody murder in your face for an hour straight. You would have thought I was ripping his tiny little fingernails out one at a time and shoving razor blades in the nail beds. Jesus Christ kid, I think my head will be ringing for the next 3 weeks!

Is it just me?

Okay so tonight at Jumpin' Jacks we had the weirdest thing happen. Some lady that none of us knew AT ALL comes up to Amber and Mom while they're sitting at a table resting and says 'Hey, do you want to babysit' and plops a baby carrier with about a 5 month old baby girl in it down next to the table and walks away. Doesn't wait for an answer, just walks away. TAKES HER PURSE AND LEAVES THE BABY! WTF??? Now when I stopped by to rest (a.k.a. sit down and slow my pounding heart before it burst out of my chest) I thought that maybe she had just run to the restroom or something. 5 minutes pass... then 10... then 20... I seriously started thinking this lady had just found a friendly looking family to abandon her baby to. Luckily she was a good baby and just smiled and cooed the whole time. I sat and talked to her for a few minutes and a lady at a table a few feet away from me was like 'oh she's talking, cute!' Well about five minutes later the lady gets up and walks away and Mom just cracks up. THE LADY WAS HER MOM! She left this baby plopped at our table while she sat at a table five feet away with her back to her. Again... WTF??? I get up to go play with the kids a little more... come back half an hour later AND THE BABY IS STILL THERE. She left her at our table ALL night while she wandered around following after a little boy around 3 years old or sat at a table several feet away ignoring her completely. Am I the only one who thinks this is fucking weird? I mean it's not like we had been camped at that table all night or that someone offered to sit there with her so the mom wouldn't have to worry about hauling her around we'd been up and down all night, wandering back and forth, chasing after our OWN kids... she just decided that we could deal with her and dropped her off and left her! And she was a beautiful baby, we could have just walked away with her and no one would have noticed. Seriously, does anyone else think this is strange? Would you leave your baby with random strangers ALL NIGHT LONG? Let me know, seriously... am I over reacting because I would NEVER do this... with my kid or anyone else's.

Happy Birthday Bubby!

Yes, Aiden turned 5 today! I still remember that day perfectly... where I was, what I was doing, what I was wearing... and seeing his tiny little face for the first time and hearing his first cry. His was the first birth I'd ever witnessed... and wasn't nearly as gross as I'd expected :) So here we are 5 years later to the day and he is a highly active, highly talkative, highly intelligent 5 year old. We kicked his birthday party off at his house with pizza and cupcakes. After opening presents we FINALLY made it to Jumpin' Jacks which is a warehouse full of big inflatable toys... slides, bounce houses, obstacle course... you name it they got it! The best part about jumpin' jacks is the adults can play too! We had a great time and it's an awesome way to wear out 5 kids ages 7 and under... as well as 4 adults aged 23 to 47! But beware because the burns those slides can inflict hurt like a BITCH! Oh my god... 3 hours later it still burns like crazy. But we had a great time with only a few minor injuries (Damien got kicked in the nose... twice, and CJ got a fat lip... he and Dami bumped heads and his new sharp little big boy teeth bit into his lip. He look it like a trooper though with just a few tears even though it bled quite a bit.) Anyway, we shut the place down, staying until closing time. I hope you had a GREAT birthday Aiden!

Kidlets

Just some newer scrapbook pages. I don't really have much to say, just sooooo tired! So enjoy the cute kidlets :)

What are you teachin' that kid?

So let me set the scene for you. I'm at work with one kid working in his cubby. In the cubby next to ours, the kid is throwing a little fit because he's getting frustrated. Finally he gives up the power struggle and screeches the answer at the lady he's working with. The answer was supposed to be 'They're both shapes"... but with his indignant screech, what it sounded like was "THIS IS BULLSHIT!" HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I seriously almost wet my pants. I laughed so hard I had tears pouring down my face because I know in my heart that if he was able to express himself in such a way, that would have been exactly what he wanted to say. God, I love my job!

Are You Married? Don't You Want Babies?

Can I just go on record and say how freaking tired I am of hearing these two questions? Yes, I know I live in young marriage/baby capital of the U.S.A. but holy freaking shit, I am only 23! Forgive me for not wanting to rush into marriage with someone I barely know, only to have to deal with divorce a few months down the road when they realize what a freaking bitch I can be! It is common for people out here to get married after knowing each other all of five months. I'm sorry, but I think that is crazy! I won't say that I'm against people getting married young, hey, it works out for a lot of people, but Jesus, take some time to get to know each other first. I'm not saying that I'll NEVER get married (though right now that doesn't seem to be such a bad idea... with the exception of a select few all I ever hear is people bitching about their husbands/ wives). Do I want babies? Maybe someday. Right now? No way! Sure I get that itch every time I see/hold a new baby, but as soon as I hear them let out that first wail the feeling is squelched in a heart beat. I have a whole host of nieces and nephews that my brother and sisters are kind enough to let me borrow whenever I want and as cute as they are and as much as I love them, it's nice to be able to give them back and say 'here you go, see ya next week!' Sorry that my biological clock is not jumping up and down in a hissy-fit and I feel no need to drag the nearest unsuspecting sucker to the alter. I'm perfectly happy biding my time for the present. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't and REALLY, I'm okay with that. So please, enough with the questions.

Was this so long ago?

It simultaneously feels like just yesterday and ages ago that CJ and Damien were so little.

My Car Hates Me...

!@#* tire! So yesterday I noticed that there's a split in my front tire which means that I'll have to spend my Saturday (and $$$ I would much rather do something else with) getting a new tire put on it! I swear my car hates me. It's always something. Never anything big, just little small things to let me know that she hates my frickin' guts! Wait, what was that? Uh huh, that biotch is out there snickering at my outrage from the driveway. UGH!

Happy Birthday Smitt-Dawg!

Waiting for Spring...

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball.
I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." ~Rogers
Hornsby

I found this today while I was browsing for quotes for a scrapbook page and it reminded me of myself. I'm always waiting for spring. Anyone can tell you that I LIVE at the ballpark all spring/summer watching my Roadrunners play and love every
freaking minute of it. In the past two years combined I think I've missed maybe 7 or 8 games. That's out of about 80-something games (Not counting the horrendous amount of away games I've taken in over the radio). This year is no exception. Baseball season ended in August and I started having immediate withdrawals. Of course there is one thing I DON'T miss... Jesus I hate that damn bird. I found this on the Roadrunners website last night and cracked up. Notice the metal pencil clenched like a boot knife, trying my best to keep from jabbing it into his freaky plastic eye or from springing over the back of my seat and grabbing that obnoxious S.O.B. by his itty bitty birdie parts and flinging his ass over the rail :) For some reason he picked this exact location to "dance" (a.k.a. make a fool of his tall, gangly, white-boy self) every single freaking night. Now I know that my seat is right in the middle of the complex, but by all that's holy, get the fuck away from me. I don't like birds and I hate people in costume, so the combination just gives me the creeps. But I'd deal with him for a year solid if that meant I didn't have to go six months without my baseball team :(

One of those 'Ah ha' days...

In my line of work those 'ah ha' days are what keep us going. Those days when something happens to remind you of why you drag your ass out of bed everyday to come to work, when you could easily be somewhere else making 3X the money for half as much effort. We had one of those days today. And to anyone else, these 4 little moments we had today would mean very little, but to me and the ladies I work with, it is these little moments that make it all worth while. What happened? 1st, we had one little boy ride a tricycle halfway across our little play area COMPLETELY BY HIMSELF. Doesn't sound like much? Well I have personally been working on this goal with him for almost 2 years! So hell yes, it is a big frickin' deal! 2nd... the same kid was playing with a toy and dropped the car that goes with it. It rolled under his chair, partially out of sight. He couldn't find it so I said *insert name here* LOOK and pointed to the car. (Normally this very normal exchange would result in absolutely nothing) but today he actually followed my finger to see where I was pointing and went to pick the car up! I was stoked! 3rd... at lunch a coworker and I were discussing something that had happened with another kid while we fed them and when we stopped talking he looked up and looked around with a very normal and sheepish 'whaaat?' I cracked up. It was so unexpected and so blatantly normal that it made my heart skip a beat. 4th... two days in a row now I've had one kid look at me and make direct eye contact and babble something. His little brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to make me understand. Really TRYING to talk to me. It simultaneously made my heart hurt that I couldn't understand what he wanted to to tell me and made me want to shout with joy that he was actually trying to communicate. So yes, today was chock full of Ah-ha moments.

To those of you who made it all the way through thanks for reading. I know it doesn't mean much to anyone else, but for everyone who asks how I can do what I do... it's these little moments, the proof that they are learning and growing, that keep me going.

I Voted

Did You?

Disappointed...

So everyone knows that I'm a complete Twilight freak. I love these books! But yesterday as I was surfing around on the web I found the trailer for the new movie coming out this month. I have to admit that I'm already a little disappointed. I'm disappointed in the choice for Edward #1. He is so not what I envisioned Edward to look like. Of course the only thing that comes close to what I envisioned as Edwards perfection was Brad Pitt circa Legends of the Fall, minus the long flowing locks of deliciousness. But the guy they chose just doesn't do it for me. I have no idea who I would have chosen myself, but it definitely would not have been him. #2 though it was just a few brief clips I was disappointed with the caliber of the acting. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that in all the hype of FINALLY seeing this book come to life before my eyes that I will be able to overlook that flaw. The acting that I saw was a bit reminiscent of the earlier Keanu Reeves roles and we all know how great that was (I can't believe I managed to type that without gagging). But anyway, movies based on my favorite books have always fallen well below my expectations. So maybe with this one, with my expectations already so low, I will be pleasantly surprised. Here's to hoping anyway.

Pushin' Da Buttons...

I swear I can still hear Avery screaming this downstairs. "Koley's pushin' da buttons! No Koley, No... No push da buttons!!!!"

The Beast...

Sadie dressed up as a Good Dog on Halloween :) Hey, she may be a spastic pain in the ass, but at least she's cute :)

Halloween Recap...

We had a great Halloween... well most of us. Kesha and Lori's brother-in-law Sean had a small misunderstanding with a group of angry Klansmen brandishing chains and torches. (We suspect they were sent to vanquish the largest gathering of black people within our 50 mile radius.) Luckily for them, Kesha was able to rid herself of that constipated 'oh shit they're going to string us up expression' and broke out the pointing finger and neck roll she usually reserves for unsuspecting tech guys that overstep their bounds. Those pansy klansmen scattered like cockroaches when the light comes on.


Gone are the days of cutesy little Halloween costumes. No more lions, monkeys and donkeys for us. This year we had 1 very convincing Dracula, 1 extremely scary skeleton, 1 emo ninja, 1 drunk extremely talkative skeleton, and 3 blue Cinderellas (yes Liana, Kaylee and Kaiah were ALL Cinderella). Damien was particularly proud of his scary skeleton and the fact that he made two kids cry at the store :) About a block into our trick-or-treating we had to have him lift up his mask and show Kaylee who was in there because she was TERRIFIED of him. She was better after that, but continued to keep a wary eye on him. Aiden, of course, was the drunk talkative skeleton and had to stop and give his whole life story to everyone who opened the door. It always started the same way.... "Rooooaaaaarrrr..... It's okay, its just me Aiden. I'm a scary skeleton. And this is my cousin CJ. He's Dracula... and this is my cousin Dami...." Seriously, we had to call him away from every house. At least this year he didn't try to walk into every house we went up to. We took our normal short little trick-or-treat route (one day the kids are going to figure out that more people are giving out candy than the little circle in grandma's neighborhood and will drag us all over.) A shout out out to the Singlers... We MISSED you guys this year, it wasn't the same without you! Here are some pictures of our night.