Twilight - I can hang out with the cool kids now.

Okay Staci, Jenni, Emily, Leigh Ann, ShaRhonda etc. I can now say that I have succumbed to the pressure and have started reading the Twilight series and I'm completely addicted. I must admit that up until about halfway through the first book I would think occasionally that it was truly ridiculous but by the last quarter of the book I was completely enthralled and forgot about it. I'm now on the third book which I broke down and bought at Books a Million today. No, I have not seen the movie but it comes out on DVD this weekend so I'll try and rent it in the near future. I know these books are popular among the "tween" age group but I don't know if I'd want my preteen to read them or not. It's not that the language is bad, it's not at all (there's a couple of words towards the end but that's it) but the electricity between the two main characters is quite powerful. Ugh. I dread it when my daughters are interested in these types of reads and movies but I know those days are coming. I guess it's best to be informed though about what the kids are up to these days, as much as possible, and that's what I'm trying to do. 

I also want to wish my sweet niece, Cydnee, a very happy third birthday. We all headed to Broken Arrow yesterday to go to her party and we were about half a mile away from the place and Meredith threw up in the car. So, apparently, she caught the awful bug I had earlier in the week. We then had to skip the party and head home as she threw up in a bowl all the way home. Lovely. Michael is now nauseous and not feeling well but hopefully his sickness will stop at that. Alli is our lone holdout and hopefully it will stay that way.

Tattoo Barbie

I thought this little news story was pretty interesting because Meredith received a Tattoo Barbie for her birthday and I'm the one that suggested to her Grammy that she by it!  Anyway, I believe those that are commenting during this news story clearly hadn't seen the doll.  All I know is that it was pretty much the hit of the party and my little niece Cydnee really liked it!  Pretty much it's just a regular Barbie doll that has a little tattoo  machine thing that puts temporary tattoos on you or the doll or wherever.  I'm sure a lot of people are against temporary tattoos but I think my girls recognize or will recognize the difference between a temporary tattoo and a real tattoo by the time they are teenagers or old enough to get one.  It's not like there were skulls on these tattoos.  Really, what's the difference between these little stickers/temporary tattoos and face painting or make-up for that matter?  They all wash off.  Let me know your thoughts.

Michael's brush with fame

A few weeks ago Michael made the journey to Nashville for a conference for work. (I'm sure my loyal followers remember my bitterness in him being able to visit our good friends that live there.) Well, it was funny because before he left to go to Nashville he was teasing our music minister at our church telling him that he was going to try out for Steve Green, a very successful Christian music artist. Now I'm sure you know what's coming next but lo and behold on the plane on the way home from Nashville to Dallas was STEVE GREEN. Those of you that are not familiar with him, Steve has been nominated for 4 Grammys, won 7 Dove Awards, and has had 13 number one Christian songs with the most famous being "People need the Lord."  Steve Green has also performed for our church with the choir backing him up.  (Of course, either one of the girls or I was sick during that performance so I missed it - just my luck.) So, back to the story, Michael, being the shy person he is, happened to pass by Steve and his wife's seats on the plane and struck up a little conversation.  Michael's version of the story he told to our choir went like this, "Hi, aren't you Steve Green?  Steve replies that yes, he is and Michael tells him where he's from and our church and asks him if he knows our music minister, Keith and Steve replies, Keith who?"  Of course, the choir loved this version but the true version is that when Michael struck up a conversation with Mr. Green and his wife that when Michael told him the church he went to Steve immediately asked how Keith was doing and clearly remembered him.  So, below are Michael's pictures of Steve Green so I guess it's up to you all to determine whether we should believe him or not.  

Birthday Party Slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Meredith & Michael!

Well, today is my sweet husband and daughter's birthday.  Meredith turned 7 and Michael turned 33.  It's so hard for me to believe that my first born is now 7 years old.  That just sounds so much older to me then 6.  YIKES!  She's growing up.  We did Meredith's big birthday celebration on Saturday at a pizza restaurant in Lavaca called "Steffey's" and we had a great time.  (Michael's got a bad cold so I'm not sure about his great time but the rest of us enjoyed it.)  The kids got to make their own individual pizzas which was a fun experience for them all.  They even had a "pizza" cake for her.  I'm just glad it wasn't at my house because the kids really liked flouring the pizza dough, a lot.  We then celebrated Michael's birthday at his parents house later that evening.  A day full of partying for us!  We're so wild and crazy.

Last night after church Michael and I then took the Meredith and Alli to WalMart to get new bikes.  Alli didn't get a big gift from us for her birthday so this was her birthday gift as well.  She wasn't too interested in getting a new bike in October but now she's all about it.  Meredith picked out a cute pink bike (with no training wheels) with streamers and a little ladybug on the seat.  Alli picked out a purple Disney Princess bike which she is quite proud of.  However, Alli kept insisting to me today that since both of her training wheels didn't touch the ground at the exact same time that it was broken.  I kept assuring her that as she got older and bigger bikes that's they way they are made in order to get her used to riding without training wheels but she simply told me that I was wrong.

Also, please keep my mom in your prayers.  She had some pretty extensive foot surgery today to hopefully make it easier for her to get around.  My sweet college roomie and high school pal, Christy's husband Brad did the surgery so I know she was in good hands.  As far as I know, besides being sick to her stomach from the anesthesia she is home in bed and all went well. 

Blog Award

My friend, ShaRhonda, of the 4 Crow's Blog gave me a blog award!  Since I no longer work outside the home, I'll take all of the awards I can get.  

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shos in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literacy and personal values every day.  The rules to follow are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.  Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I now pass it on to the following:

Jennifer @ Day to Day with Jenn

Jenni @ Where is that Cookie

Kristen @ Life with the Rodgers

Patrick @ Pabawiza % a dog Blog

Rachel @ Drew-be-Doo blog

Sandra @ Sandra's Blog

Emily @ Time to Make the Donuts

Trish @ No Rest Resort

Roger @ Roger's Blog

Gary @ Papa Gary's Blog

I would have given this award to all of my blogger friends, however, I know the ones I've left off have already received several blogger awards so I'm spreading the love on to others.

Eagle

I meant to put this in my last post but I forgot.  Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers for my grandmother.  She is doing much better now and is back living at her retirement home with her husband.  

Well, as many of you Facebookers already know, Meredith came down with the stomach virus yesterday.  It started out as just a fever with stomach pain but then by yesterday evening the vomiting started and continued off and on through the night.  She stayed in bed and on the couch all day but then this evening she started perking up so hopefully tomorrow she'll be good to go.  The good news is that Alli seemed fine today.  I am so ready for them both to be well and happy.  I think I need time away from house as much as they do.  Today the big excitement on our Presidents Day was the cable guy coming to switch our telephone over to Cox.  He told us our modem was way out of date and once we get that fixed the Internet will be even faster.  I was quite pleased with this since I didn't even realize our internet was slow in the first place.  I'll definitely be able to surf much more efficiently now.  

Oh yeah, I wanted to share this awesome picture with you all.  I think I mentioned in an earlier post that my mother-in-law, Patty, had spotted an eagle out at their place getting a fish out of their pond.  Well, she saw 3 more the other day and was able to get a picture of one!  So, when we were over at their house on Saturday evening for Patrick's birthday (happy 39th Patrick!) I swiped her camera and e-mailed the picture to myself.  Somehow I didn't get the picture I intended to  but this one is great as well. Enjoy!