Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Being a mom, I have to show off my kids sometimes.

Here are two new videos of the girls.

The first one is at a local playground. The second is from Memorial Day Weekend at the zoo.

We had a blast at the zoo! The Colombus zoo rocks!! Jack Hanna has made it an awesome place to visit and learn about the animals of our world. We've been twice now and still haven't managed to see the whole zoo.

Kenzie's favorite things were the bears and the carousel. Lyanna liked the penguins and the model of the universe inside the reptile house...we actually lost her in there...scary moment for us...but there she was laying on the floor looking up at the sun and moon. Go figure...








Thursday, May 24, 2007

30 Years and going strong: The Force is Strong With This One

As anyone who has read my blog at all knows, I am a Star Wars fanatic.

That being said you should also know that I couldn't let the 30th anniversary of my favorite movie of ALL TIME go by without having something to say.

Oh my GOD, I can not believe it has been 30 years since I was taken to that galaxy far, far away for the first time.

Do you remember your first Star Wars experience? I most certainly do...

I was six years old. My twin brothers had just recently been born and were very sick. They were in and out of the hospital for all kinds of things. Many times the doctors said one or the other of them weren't going to make it through the night. You can imagine what my parents were going through.

Two babies in the hospital and a six year old who still needed their attention. My dad wanted to do something to spend some quality time with me. He thought I would like the movie Star Wars so he loaded me up in the car and took me to the local theater.

I grew up in a rural Arkansas town. Population when I was about six had to be around 10 thousand. Our theater was a two screen place, red curtains and padded seats. Typical sticky floors. Not that big..probably sat around 100 people or so in each theater. *to this day, I don't feel like I REALLY see a movie unless it's in one of those small little theaters....surround sound, stadium seating be damned*

We got to the theater a little bit late. Bought our popcorn and drinks and then entered the already darkened room. From the moment I stepped around the back wall and saw the movie screen I was hooked. I remember that exact moment. Watching spellbound as I tried to follow my dad to a seat and not look away from the movie screen.

We entered right when Darth Vader walks into Princess Leia's ship. All that white surrounds him. I couldn't take my eyes off of that huge presence in black.....and the sound of his breathing...and then James Earl Jones' voice echoing through that theater.... It gives me goose bumps to this day.

It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen..... remember I was six. It has been a part of my life ever since. I don't know if that's a good thing to admit or not.... I guess in reality it makes me a TOTAL GEEK! But, so be it.

Now, I didn't have a bunch of the toys or anything like that... I was a girl, Barbies were my thing. But, I did have a few of the characters and I would play with my brothers some when they got older and started to get the ships and play sets. When I got older and was in my 1st marriage, my husband and I collected the figures and the ships. See I told you, GEEK.

I even had one of my students buy me Amidala's ship to put in my classroom when I taught 11th grade. Hee hee, I had a poster in my class that was a :Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned From Star Wars. GEEK!

My cousin is pretty bad too....for Christmas one year I bought him an autographed photo of Darth Vader...

We usually play Star Wars Trivial Pursuit at least once at all family gatherings.

I don't remember going to see The Empire Strikes Back, but I do remember going to see Return of the Jedi. By the time Jedi came out I was in the 9th grade. One of my best friends' parents took three of us girls to go and see it. Now I think that says something about my generation: THREE GIRLS and we went to Little Rock to go and see Return of the Jedi in the Big theater. Oh , and they weren't geeky like me..they were both pretty girly girls.

So.. Happy Anniversary to my favorite movie, and THANK YOU George Lucas! What a master story teller you are!





Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Something Else Star Wars....sheesh!




Star Wars Horoscope for Cancer



You may whine at times, but you've developed a thick hard shell (like that of a crab).

You are strong willed and persistent - until you get what you want.

You never shy away from a fight, even when things get dangerous.

Mentally sharp, you are starting to master the elements of mind manipulation.



Star wars character you are most like: Luke Skywalker

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Hooray for the Red, White and Blue!

and the men and women who fight for her!

Some of you may know that my brother is in the Arkansas National Guard. In 2003-04 he was called to active duty and was stationed in Iraq. He was just outside of Bagdad and saw much combat. It was not easy on him, his wife, his children, or his family. By family I mean my parents, my brother, me, my grandparents, his aunts and uncles...etc.

I am lucky (although some would say unlucky) that my extended family is very close. Cousins, aunts, uncles, greats: we all call each other and keep up with each other. As children we grew up having HUGE family get togethers. Think BIG typical southern family gatherings with much food, games, water sports, etc.

So...we all worried about my brother a lot and prayed for him and missed him. I was pregnant with my first daughter during the time he was gone. He missed my whole pregnancy. I had a dog tag with a soldier's prayer on it, I wore it everyday til he came home. I even have it on in the pictures of me in the hospital with my baby. Knowing where he was and what he was going through gave me strength to face the challenges here at home. I knew if he could handle the death and destruction and fear surrounding him every day, that there wasn't anything I couldn't deal with here at home. His bravery gave me bravery.

I am so proud to call him my brother. Sure he will always be "doofus", my younger brother, but he is also one of my biggest heroes.

There is someone else that I am proud to call my friend. He and I were very close in high school and continued our friendship into college. We haven't stayed in touch as much as we should since we have gotten older. But we still occasionally talk on the phone and he has been to visit my parents a few times.

The year after our sophmore year of college he and I both sat out a semester. He decided to join the Air Force. I had gone to the recruiter with him, had taken my entrance test and was getting ready to take the physical when I found out I had been accepted into nursing school. I opted out of joining up with him, but he went ahead and joined.

Just recently he won the Military's Visual Information Award for his creative work in the field. He won Videographer of the Year. It is a huge honor and I believe it is important to make known the work that he does.

So...here is my shout out to my friend Technical Sergeant Gary Burdett. Please take some time to go and read the article and watch the video. These men are amazing and their work is so important. They show us a side of the military that most people don't get to see.

"I'm Proud to be a Jamerican"

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Things to See in Ohio on Your Way to Scrapbook Camp




I know I put a lot of photos
on this blog, but I like photos. I like to have illustrations for what I'm talking about. And...sometimes, like this time, I like to talk about the photo's themselves.

These are the things I saw on my way to scrapbook camp a few weekends ago. I'm just now getting to
share them with you.

Yes, this is a dinosaur. A scary looking T-
rex type dinosaur. The ferocious looking bear is in the same yard. The teeth on both are HUGE and the expressions on their faces are meant to instill fear and terror into the hearts of any who gaze upon them. At least that's what I think.

There was also a tiger, but I couldn't get close enough to take a good picture of it. I don't know why these people have these creatures in their FRONT yard, perhaps they get a thrill out of scaring old people and children, but since I didn't know their motives, no tiger photo.



This is a very cool old flour mill that was in one of the little towns we drove through. There was also a cute bed n breakfast that I would love to go stay in someday. The whole town was set up for people to stroll around and check out the historical old type stuff. It looked interesting.















This was the restaraunt just outside the cute little old town. We didn't eat there.





These last two photos are of a dam. I don't know when it was built, but it was a beautiful work of engineering skill. It reminded me of some kind of gothic castle. I liked it, so I took a picture.

It also reminded me of how when I was a kid it was always cool to find some excuse to say a "curse" word without getting in trouble. As in: "Hey Mom, Look at that.......*pause for effect*.....DAM! *much giggling*" or how about this one: "Hey Mom, do you believe that if you are bad you will go to HELL?"
Those are my photos for today....I hope you enjoy them and my comments on them.




Thursday, May 10, 2007

Star Wars Stuff My Husband Found

Darth Vader Takes a Bath












What Really Happened After the Death Star was Blown



Saturday, May 05, 2007

Veggies!

We planted our garden today. We both feel we did a much better job of it this year. This year farmer Smith and I are growing *maybe I should say "attempting" to grow*:

1 Cherry Tomato Plant
1 Better Bush (red tomato) Plant
4 Yellow Tomato Plants
2 Yellow Squash Plants
1 Cucumber Plant
1 Watermelon Plant
4 Green Pepper Plants
6 Jalapeno Pepper Plants

We also planted marigolds and impatients all around the borders. I think we did much better on the spacing this year. I just love getting outside and digging around in the dirt.

Our strawberries are doing really well too. I think we are going to have a good crop of berries. They are blooming like crazy. Mmmmm mmmm strawberries.
I can't wait to eat all the good stuff we are growing!

Friday, May 04, 2007

Flashback Friday: 1989

What to talk about today? It is Friday, so I should be doing something Flashbacky for ya'll. I've had some ideas but haven't knuckled down and decided on any one thing. Ohhhh, hey I have an idea... one of my friends from college posted a pic of us from those days. Hee hee...


This is me and my friend Tracy circa 1989. I'm on the right in the vest. This was taken in front of my door in my dorm room. Tracy is a vera cool person and extremely fun to hang out with.

One of our other friends just wanted to take some black and white photos of all of us. There are about 4 more of these type of pics of several of my friends and I.


I believe my hair was dyed black and this cute looking bob got shorter in the back and my head was actually sorta shaved in the back....


You gotta love our 80's look. We were so stylin', I wish I had the rest of the pics that go with this one to show you.



Whew, I wish I was still that skinny....

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

When Allergies Attack! : Child 2

I am a week behind in my posts and craziness is going on around here! I still have so many topics to discuss I can't keep up with everything...it's not that I don't want to post, it's that with all the crazies going on, I don't have time to get on the computer!!!

Kenzie is having a hard time. We went to the doc yesterday because she had a boo boo that wasn't getting any better....well typical of little kids it had gotten infected. So....doc gave us an antibiotic and an antibiotic cream.

It was the first time KC had taken a sulfa drug...guess what? She's allergic to sulfa. Yes, after one dose she woke up this morning with GINORMOUS welts across her legs and arms. She was so itchy she scratched herself til she bled. *nice, I know you are loving my total sharing that with you*

So...after a call to the pharmacist and the doc, we went back to the doctor's office and got two new prescriptions. Some kind of hardcore histamine, sort of like Bendadryl Plus, and another antibiotic. Yay! I knew it was just a matter of time before KC was allergic to something.

That has been our excitement today.

Also, I am co-director of BibleSchool this year. I have been so worried about getting everything done that I had nightmares about it last night. Lovely...nightmares about Bible School. I'm such a doofus. Worked on that when I got back from the doctor's office. Have dates and meeting scheduled so feel MUCH better!

Girls are eating their lunch and will be down for a nap shortly and I'll have my quiet time. I can hardly wait! I'm going to sit down and read. YAY!!!!!