Zach's first birthday

I'm sure those of you that have checked out Patrick's blog already know about this but we did celebrate my nephew, Zach's, first birthday on Saturday afternoon.  He such a little sweetie and seemed to really enjoy his gifts he received.  I thought Becky did an excellent job on his "block" cake and I was quite impressed.  Personally, I'm a cake "buyer" so I always enjoy seeing and eating homemade cakes.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACH!

Just when I thought it was safe.

Well, my little Alli just continues to amaze me.  On Thursday night she managed to find some scissors (childrens scissors) and take them in her room and cut her fitted sheet along with the mattress pad on her bed.  You know, the thing about it is that she knows full well that she shouldn't do it.  However, she just can't resist the temptation and I feel like she thinks it worth it even if she gets in trouble, no matter how stiff the punishment.  She is definitely a boundaries pusher (not drug) and it drives me batty sometimes.  Then, this evening she goes into the bathroom (which she's allowed to do since she's potty trained) and managed to climb on top of the cabinet and reach up and stick her finger in the empty space in the light fixture where there is no light bulb.  How do you child proof and foresee this stuff happening?  Luckily she was fine and just "shocked" literally.  I remember my little brother doing those types of things so I guess it's not completely abnormal.  So we stuck a light bulb in the empty slot but I think she learned her lesson the hard way.  It's like she doesn't believe us when we warn of such things and she thinks she wants to try it out anyway.  UGH!

Now here's a pretty funny story that happened over the weekend at my folks' house.  My sister-in-law cut the girls hair (out in the backyard, of course, in true Oklahoma fashion) and when she was done with the water bottle my brother grabbed it and started squirting the girls.  So, as I'm sitting in the den with my grandmother Alli comes inside and she is all wet.  She then proceeded to tell me what happened and headed straight for the bathroom.  Well, she then comes out again and asks where the stool is.  I told her that it was outside so she went out and retrieved the stool and brought it back in to the bathroom.  I then go in there and ask her what she was doing and, of course, she replied "nothing."  So I then noticed she was filling up a little Dixie cup full of water so I asked her again what she was doing and she said she was going to get Chris.  Well, me being the good mother I am suggested that I get her a much larger cup and fill it up for her, which I did.  I then coached her to take it outside and act like she was drinking it so he wouldn't be suspicious.  So, needless to say, the duty was done as she flung that cup of water on his legs and everyone broke out laughing.  Hmmm.  I think I'm seeing where she gets her personality from.  However, I did find it quite impressive that a three year old could come up with the scheme in the first place.  Aren't you?

This is a side note, you have to check out my brother-in-law Patrick's blog and look at the pictures of my nephew Zach.  Apparently he's allergic to penicillan (sp?) and boy does he look miserable.  YIKES!

YIPPEE!

I truly am quite surprised.  I really thought that David A. had pulled it off.  Did Ryan say that David won by 12 million votes?? That's incredible.  I must say that I thought David A. did an outstanding job last night and the way the judges carried on I didn't think Cook had a chance.  I think the audience just realized how versatile Cook is and recognized his talent.  No doubt about it, they both will get record deals out of the deal.  Thanks for following my blog regarding AI this season, it was fun.

New Poll

Okay folks, I've gone ahead and added a new AI poll asking who will win.  I know that the two David's haven't performed yet but I figure everyone pretty much knows who they are going to vote for now.

Soccer Game & Air Show

Saturday was a great day for us. It started out with Meredith's last soccer game of the season at 9 a.m. which was the same time the Air Show began here in town. So, as we were watching her game we could also watch the people parachute out of anairplane. Personally, I thought it was great multi-tasking. We then headed home and waited for the Thunderbirds to perform around 3:30 p.m. or so. For their performance we headed down the street and watched them from a parking lot that was close to the airport.(We can see most of the air show from our yard but at least the parking lot didn't have any trees or houses obstructing our view.) Oh yeah, we also were driving by the airport on our way home Friday night from somewhere and we saw the preview show that night. Michael took a picture of a MIG which was amazingly fast. I cannot imagine how much fun that pilot was having.  I've also included some pictures of the girls we took during the airshow.

Meredith's Field Day

As you can tell, Meredith has been a busy girl. On Friday her school had their Field Day which was great fun for the whole school. I helped by passing out cookies, handing out yearbooks, etc. and I was exhausted as well. Alli also had a carnival day at Mother's Day Out on Friday as well so it was no problem getting the girls to go to school that day!

Meredith's Kindergarten Program

Meredith had her kindergarten program on Thursday night at her school and she did great. All of the kids were so cute and were all so proud of their hard work. Meredith's class sang nursery rhyme type songs with a more current beat to them and while they were singing the songs they were also acted out. Meredith's skit occurred during the "Georgie Porgie" song and she was to act shocked when a boy in her class who played Georgie kissed a girl (his sister) and made her cry. It was pretty funny and I'm sure Meredith is on her way to an Academy Award. By the way, they were supposed to wear their pajamas and that's not how the kids normally dress.

Result Show 5-14-08

Well there was no big surprise on Idol tonight. I didn't have much to write about last night's show because to be quite honest I wasn't overly impressed by any of the contestants. However, I thought Syesha didn't do as poorly as the judges let on and I was even impressed. For sure she was the only one that can dance worth anything. I guess it doesn't matter because she hit the road tonight anyway. As everyone predicted it's going to be a David vs. David Idol showdown next week. As most of you know, I'm going for David Cook because I believe that not only can he sing but he also has other musical ability as well, especially in arranging music. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if he was a good songwriter too. David A. is certainly talented and does have a beautiful voice but I just don't know what kind of music he would record. It was pretty funny when Randy mentioned that David A. singing the word "boo" (as in a significant other not in a Casper the ghost scary way) in his more contemporary song on Tuesday night just didn't fit him. David A. agreed. I'm also sure most of you read in the news that his Dad was told not to participated in the rehearsals any more due to his meddling with son's songs and lyrics. However, it didn't seem to bother David A. in his performance which is commendable. Okay enough of my rambling. It looks like my highly scientific poll was correct! Now next week I expect a huge voter turnout when we all vote for the winner.

California Baptist University Choir

On Saturday evening our church had the opportunity to host the California Baptist Choir and they were excellent.  If you happened to be there, I'm sure you would agree.  Anyway, I ran across this video on you tube and thought I would post it so enjoy!  (Meredith and Alli love the "Hallelujah chorus" so it's perfect.

New Poll

Okay guys and gals I've got a new poll going on the top right of the screen.  I'm hoping for more than 9 people to vote this week..... Okay polls over for this week, please vote next week when I have a vote for the winner.

Awana Awards Night

This year was the first full year that Meredith participated in the Awana program at our church and she had a great time.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with Awana it is a program for elementary school ages that meet once a week and they work their way through a book which includes memorizing scripture, behaving at home, etc.  It's really great.  So, last night we went to the end of the year awards assembly and were surprised to see Meredith win the Merit award for her little kindergarten class.  She received a medal and got to go up on stage so she was thrilled.  I also added a cute pic I took of my friend Melissa's son Drew who is in the "Cubby" program.

I have another good story for you as well about Alli (imagine that).  My friend Trish and I went on a little shopping getaway trip over the past weekend so Michael had control of the girls for Saturday and Sunday.  He told me that on the way home from church on Sunday morning he asked the girls what they wanted on their biscuit lunch (nutritious I know).  Meredith wanted peanut butter and syrup (Michael's specialty) and Alli said she would show him when she got home.  Well, after they got home Alli went to the refrigerator and pointed out the mayonnaise and said that's what she wanted on her biscuit.  He said "are you sure" and he made sure she didn't think it was icing.  So, needless to say, Alli had biscuits and mayo for lunch and even asked for more mayo on it before she was finished (YUCK!).

The Right Guy Left

Hey poll participants, you were right!  Jason Castro went home last night.  I know my statistics pool was small but boy are we accurate!  The Syesha voter was close and was daring to be different so kudos to them!  I've read that next week the contestants will be singing 3 songs, can you imagine?  I can barely remember the words to our choir songs much less 3 new songs on tv in front of millions of people.  I'd have to write the words all over my hands and arms. 

Performances on Idol

Golly gee Wally, I thought David A. did a fine job.  I enjoyed his "Love Me Tender" song better then the "Stand By Me."  I just couldn't take the cheesiness of the Stand by Me Beautiful Girls or whatever he said.  Yuck.  

Of course, I enjoyed David Cook's performances, big surprise.  I even enjoyed the Duran Duran song.

Syesha did a fine job as well tonight and she better not get voted off before Castro, but you never know about the teeny bopper fans.

Eeeh gads, what happened to Jason Castro?  I have to admit that I fast forwarded through most of the first song.  I'm not a reggae fan so it was a little too much for me.  I think he puffed up his dreadlocks some too.  Does anyone know how to make those?  I'm just curious.  I thought the second song was better but he forgot the words.  Who wouldn't though when you've just been criticized on national tv for your first performance.  If he doesn't get voted off tomorrow night then his teenage fans must be on drugs or something.

VOTE ON MY POLL!

Okay, I've got the poll up early tonight so you better vote!!  The poll is on the top right hand side of the screen.  Thank you!

Brooke's Departure & Pictures

Hello All-

Well, I'm going to have to try the survey again next week and get it up on the blog as soon as the contestants sing and I hope everyone votes.  I must admit that it was sad that Brooke left us but I'm sure she will have great things in her future.  According to the way the votes seem to be going, I suspect Syesha will be voted off next week since Jason Castro seems to have quite a large following.  

I believe a lot of you already check out my friend Leigh Ann's blog and saw that we had the girls and my nephews pictures taken on Saturday.  It's quite a chore getting 4 children from age 10 months to 6 years to cooperate but I thought Leigh Ann did an outstanding job.  If you would like to take a look at them, just go to her website which is www.stillmomentsbyleighann.com.  The pictures are under "Gallery" and then "Spring Atchleys".  

I also want to say "Happy Birthday" to my sister-in-law Carrie.  I don't get to spend as much time with her as I would like to since they live a couple of hours away but I couldn't ask for a better sister-in-law even if I wanted to.  She's awesome!  Here's a cool picture she had taken with Garth.  She did hair and make up at an event that he participated in.  Personally, I think she looks like the star.