Rent review

We saw RENT tonight.

It was good. The music was pretty and the choreography was excellent. Unfortunately, I thought the music was louder than it should have been, I thought it drowned out what the singers were singing. So I had a really hard time following what was going on.

BUT- the disappointing thing about the show is that all the characters have AIDS, either from being gay or being a druggie. That part just left me with such mixed feelings. Should I clap at the beautiful love song that one man sang to another man? Ummm...the song was beautiful, but I really don't want to support being gay.

And the crowd in the theatre tonight...well I haven't been surrounded by so many gays in my life except the time I found myself in the middle of a gay/lesbian parade in Boston, MA.
I'm just saying it was uncomfortable.

I'm really sorry if this offends anyone; I just have a strong religious background that believes the act of homosexuality is wrong.

So that's my review on RENT.

A day at the Zoo

Yesterday was another beautiful day! We met with two other multiple families and went to the Zoo. We had such a nice time. We actually got to see some animals this time. Usually my kids only want to play on the playground and see the new unseen world (fishes, snakes, etc.).

Ahh my camera finally worked when we were in the bird cage this time. This bird is so beautiful!!!

Here is Rayna- Sweet little sister of Jake and Jonah. She even let me hold her. Oh I could just squeeze her, she is so precious.

And here is Rachel- Sweet little sister of David and Drew. Oh she is so cute! She was copying words anyone was saying. I was telling my kids- Don't Do IT! and she repeated, "do it do it!" LOL

And this is Jake. Ummmm...Braxton where are you? Someone else is moving in. Jake was SO sweet to Ashley! They were hugging and holding hands. Ashley must have gotten a little hurt (no blood), but Jake asked his Mom for a band aid and brought it to Ashley and put it on her. Then in the sun he brushed her hair away from her face. And the one that just really got me, was everyone wanted to have a turn cranking a crank. One of the boys was taking an extra long time and Jake got him to get off and made way so Ashley could do it next, "here Ashley- it's your turn."

I tried not to get too many pictures of them together and get the rest of the group. But the fact of the matter, was my kids were MUCH slower than the others. And Jake just hung out with us. So I didn't get many pictures of the other kids. {sigh}

And here is the last picture of the day, coming out of the New Unseen World.

I just love these friends! We really must get together again soon!!!!

Layout

This is a layout that has been on my desk for awhile. I've had such a hard time completing it, because I have been trying a few new techniques.

Actually, there is something I want to write, but don't know how to fit it in. I put it in brackets below. I might just write it on the back.

The journaling says: Ashley picked out the yarn and wanted to make a hat. I taught her how to do it. It took a REALLY long time [for her to make one stitch] so I helped her. [A LOT!]

Anyone want to play...

Anyone want to play hopscotch? LOL! See the little dot of blue and red. That's my daughter at the beginning of the game. Yesterday was a beautiful day!!! We played outside and drew with chalk on the road.

so how would you like to play on a hopscotch that goes to 100?

BTW...Congratulations to Greg and me. Today we celebrate being happily married for 14 years. We were going to wait until next month (a week) to celebrate, but Greg was given 2 free tickets to see RENT this weekend. Wahoooo!

Easter happiness!

Happy Easter! Christ is risen indeed!

We had a wonderful day today!

Here are some pictures we took before church this morning. These outfits are GORGEOUS! Thanks Mom!

I love our church that we go to! The preacher is so good! Today we took a friend and her twins with us. She was afraid she would miss the musical instruments that she was used to in her church. But she leaned over and said I really like this ACapella singing. She also really liked the sermon.

Then we were going to go to our normal Sunday afternoon lunch hangout. I called ahead like I usually do to order the pizza beforehand so when we got there it would be ready. Well I was on hold for 15 minutes and finally hung up. The message said, "All our operators are busy helping other customers, please stay on the line..." Guess what? They were closed! Why not change your message? UGH! Anyway we ended up going to one of the kids favorite restaurants, Evergreen, delicious but more pricey than we intended to spend. Then we went to the park for a very quick Easter egg hunt. I say very quick because it was COLD outside! Brrrrr!!!

This picture is from yesterday. We went to the Easter egg hunt at the YMCA. It was fabulous!!!! We even won a parent's night out for up to 3 kids. whooo hooo!

Kiki's birthday party

Ok how about some good stuff?

We celebrated Kiki's birthday today. We don't know exactly when she was born, but it was around this time.

The kids picked out a birthday cake at Wal Mart and it was FABULOUS!!!

We sang happy birthday then told the cat she wasn't allowed to have any. HA!

Happy Birthday Kiki! Thanks for the excuse to have birthday cake!

I need to cry

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am pretty stressed!

1. I've been on the phone a lot of the day with someone who is so close to being homeless and I have already done everything I can do, short of taking them into my home. And I just can't do that! I feel guilty about it, but it's just not a good situation! I have pointed her in every possible direction for her to get help. I'm even picking her and her children up and taking her to a class on Monday nights to help train her to get back on her feet. Her electricity is going to be turned off on Tuesday. I know in my brain that it is not the right thing for me to take them in, but in my heart I am hurting so badly for her. I am filled with guilt!

2. I missed the first 15 minutes of LOST.

3. I thought I would get a pizza delivered to school tomorrow, since it will be a really busy day for me. I searched online for the church address and couldn't find it. Then I called 2 people to find out, calling the 1st one twice by mistake. I found out that the name of the church has "fellowship" in it instead of "church". I finally find it online and as I am entering the information into the Pizza Hut online website it closes on me. I get it open again type in the address after looking it up again and the website says there is not a Pizza Hut close enough to deliver. URG!

4. During this time I get a frantic instant message from a friend's babysitter in Indiana telling me she can not get ahold of my friend and one of her children is really sick and she has no other contact numbers and wonders what she should do.

5. Greg is out tonight.

6. OH CRAP! It's 9:30 and I just realized the only sheets I have for the kids' beds are in the WASHER!
------------------
update: Called Greg told him I had enough and needed him to come home, he suggests I put kids in our bed and he will carry them to bed. That offers some relief. I tell the kids to go to my bedroom only to find I still had folded clothes on my bed that I had to put away before they could lay down. I put the clothes away and I go downstairs to put sheets in dryer. Since the light just burned out in the school room the kids migrated not only into the Family room but into the Living room as well (which WAS the only room in our house that was clean). So I yell to them to get downstairs and clean up the Living room. I finally get to the dryer look in the bathroom and see that the cat has unrolled the toilet paper. At this point I SCREAM! I yell to them 2 more times to get back to cleaning up the room. Ahhhh! Greg comes home! It's 10:15PM, kids are still up, they all want to sleep in our bed, but everyone is 'touching' each other keeping each other awake.

10:40 kids still awake- and I realize that we have to be at co-op early tomorrow morning for a school group picture.

We are out of toilet paper (1 roll left), Dishwasher detergent, Dixie cups and almost Laundry detergent and I JUST went to Walmart today with the kids, where I probably bought 15 things that I didn't intend to buy because they were with me.

My phones at home need to be replaced. My phone cut out and disconnected 6 times today while I was on the phone.

I just took Advil to get rid of this blasted headache that is probably from only having cake for dinner.

Then last but maybe the least: We celebrated Kiki's birthday today (our cat) and she does not like the Special Kitty Salmon flavored freakin' birthday treat we got her.

There!

I'm done! Thanks for hangin' on with me!

Adventure Science Center

So LAST Thursday we got to go to the Science Museum. The kids had a blast! First we went to a presentation on the Solar System. Austin leaned forward and listened intently, while the other two were all over their chairs and on top of me. It did go on too long for their attention span, but I found it quite interesting. The kids LOVE to play in the "playground" area.

Ashley rides this bike to get the elevator to go up and down (don't worry no one can ride in the elevator).

Mason plays the floor piano- I just love this thing!

Aussie giggles as he goes down the slide (the intestines) and land on a big whoopee cusion.

Mason and Ashley together put all their weight into lifting this car.

Aussie plays with this body. All the insides come out and your fit it back together like a puzzle. It's pretty cool!

Mason had a blast with the beach ball and the blowing machine.

The kids played a shooting game where they shot germs and here is Mason and Aussie by some germs.

I enjoyed throwing food into the big mouth.

And I did something I didn't think I would do. I climbed all the way up to the top of the playground area and I even went down the LONG long slide. EEEEK! But at the top of the playground is a beautiful look out point where you can see downtown Nashville.

And somehow this picture got on here... so this is my cute daughter in a dress that I got for super cheap. I think it is so cute!

when will I update?

Oh When will I get around to updating this blog? Honestly I just don't know.

I'm so behind in reading emails and blogs.

With Greg working at home a couple days a week, it makes me even further behind. That's because he works in the office where my computer is.

I don't mind so much him being here though!

OK I better go to bed I can hardly keep my eyes open.

marry me?

This time change is STILL messing us up! My kids were up until 10:30 tonight. What's up with that?

Anyway here is another layout I did. I recorded Aussie talking. If you press the button it says,

"This ring is very special to me. I want to go back to Chuck E. Cheese and get another one for the person I'm going to marry."

We have a fun day planned for tomorrow, I'll be sure to take pictures!

Hello out there!

Hey out there- I really need to feel the love. Does anyone read my blog anymore?

Bowling

Oh my goodness! Today after church, I took our kids bowling. It WAS crazy!!!! We met several others from church and it was packed and NOISY! Ashley says she wants to go back with it only being us, so that I can hear her when she talks.

Greg is sick today and so I had the kids by myself. This would have been a good day to have his help! I depend on Greg so much on the weekends. But I did it! I took the kids to church and then Greg felt well enough to meet us as Pizza Hutt. Then I realized it was time to go bowling so I borrowed the socks Greg had on his feet and went bowling in a dress. But even with him being sick, he couldn't lie down and rest. So while we were at church he cleaned. He's such a good man!

Here's a little fun fact about me...When I was young (12ish) I broke my finger bowling. On top of that I was bowling my best game ever! I broke it in the 8th frame and I finished bowling but knew it was broken! I made 198. 2 stinkin' pins from a 200. So you wonder HOW can anyone break their finger bowling? Well...the inside of the ball was jagged. When I threw it in the 8th frame, my finger got stuck in the ball and I heard it pop. Anyway, it has never been the same since. That was my highest score and will probably always be my highest score. I can no longer bowl without it hurting. Since then I broke the same finger again at the tip of my finger. That probably hurt worse than any other break or sprain I have had! It still feels week. So there that's my excuse for the pitiful score I got. Yes Austin and Ashley beat me!

The kids were fun to watch. They had the bumpers up so that the ball couldn't go into the gutters. And boy did they use that to their advantage! Ashley especially would twirl that ball right into the gutter and you would painfully watch the ball go from side to side hoping that it would make its way down to the pins.

They would sit on the step waiting their turn. And Ashley and Mason had to have a chance taking pictures. And I love this last little picture of Ashley when she missed picking up anymore pins.

Well Greg just came in and said I really needed to go to bed since it's 2AM. I think he is right. So Goodnight and have a great day!