School Project (aka Arts & Crafts for Mom)

Hayden has been learning about Penguins at school. I must say penguins are one of my favorites...they are just so adorable...I mean the cutest little things.

Well we got to make a penguin out of a 2 Liter pop bottle. Our penguin was a Nashville Predator Fan (that's why he's holding the Pred flag)

Of course, since Hayden was doing something Abby had to as well...so after we were done with H's project we used left overs to make Ab a penguin too. She calls hers Chick. Very practical kid. :) Hayden named his Crazy...because he put crazy hair on his head and Pred fans can be a little crazy! These kids crack me up.

Here are some pics:

**Please keep praying for our friends (see post below)...don't have any updates**

And for Melanie, your welcome...you finally have an update on your niece and nephew--quit bugging me!!! :)

Prayer Request ASAP!

We have some really good friends that have been trying to sell their house and everyone knows what the housing market is like...but we believe God is bigger than the economy...bigger than the housing market...bigger than the odds...

Well our friends just got a call from their realtor for a second showing of their house tonight (6:30 Tennessee Time aka Central Time)....please pray for these potential buyers that they will see what a GREAT house it is...pray that they will be receptive and also pray for our friends that are acting on faith and following God's lead for their life....the unknown can be such a scary thing at times, but it's also very exciting to see how His plan falls into place.

We're so proud of them and will fill you in with more info as it comes available. Thanks ya'll for walking alongside this family that we love so much.

Respect for the former Mr. President

I think it's appalling how many Americans are so disrespectful of George Bush. I may not agree with everything he did as president, but I do believe he deserves our respect and gratitude for the time he served in office. One of my friends had posted this on facebook and I really liked it, so I'm posting the link here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8I06nAN12g

Random Post...

So...here's the deal...my husband and I have "agreed to disagree" for quite a while now...I just knew I was right and there was no other possible scenario. Turns out...I might not have been as right as I thought (or KNEW) I was...

See...I've been dieting for oh...my whole life...okay not really...but for awhile and haven't seen the results I want to. Now...in light of complete honesty here...there are other areas that I need to work on, not just eating better...like you know the E word...yeah, that one...excercise. But our disagreement involved diet pop--which I happen to be addicted to. I drink soda (and it's diet) all the time...like a 6 pack a day...and he's been saying that's probably hindering me from reaching my goal. I thought he was off his rocker...turns out...not so much. Did anyone else know that caffeine can actually hinder weight loss?! OHMYGOSH are you KIDDING me??? I mean, it's bad enough...no bread, no sugar...only low carb but now NO CAFFEINE. Say it ain't so...

Well, today is a new day....I have just finished my 4th 20 oz bottle of WATER--maybe I forgot to mention how much I DESPISE WATER...hate the stuff makes me gag drinking it...do not like water not one aioda. But you heard me right--I've drank 80 oz today. Now...I will say I can't cut caffeine out cold turkey...my behavior without having caffeine could lead me to lose my job, my kids would really dislike me, and my husband...well lets just say it wouldn't be pretty...but I've only had ONE diet mt. dew today.

(Oh, and guess what...going to the Y tonight for some eleptical time) and starting Zumba on Friday. And for the record, yes I"m well aware that I have NO GROOVE, NO COORDINATION and will look like a complete idiot...I'm okay with it.)

So that's it for my random post...I'll try to come up with something more exciting in the next few days. Maybe I'll get working on another video of those silly kids. :) Have a great day ya'll!

The Karate Kid

This morning The Karate Kid came on tv...the kids have never seen it...and they actually liked it. We had forgotten how awful the acting was back in the day...but we had a good time hanging out with our kids. After the movie...they came up with their own version of The Karate Kid.

I'll let the "movie" speak for itself...

Police Academy...Here I Come!

I've decided to quit my job at the Credit Union...I'm pursuing a new line of work...police work. Okay, not really...I'm keeping my day job but I had so much fun this week doing a little 'bit of detective work.

Here's the story in a nutshell...one of our member's checkbooks had gotten stolen. She was not aware of it until someone tried to come in and cash a check. When the signature on the check didn't match the signature on the card, we contacted our member to verify that this was a legitimate check...it was not. Our member at that time realized her wallet (with checkbook and credit cards, etc) was missing from her purse. At this point, our teller handed the matter over to me...
Some of you may recall we had an incident happen like this a few months. That situation scared the you know what out of me...but this was a 19-20 year old kid trying to pass this check...he didn't scare me. If anything I was more like, "Make my day, punk"...well, I asked the kid where he'd gotten the check...he said he was cashing it for a friend of his because she'd lost her ID. He handed me his cell phone and told me I could talk to her. I did...for two seconds, when I told her who I was she hung up. I told the kid I needed to write down the phone number...it was amazing how cooperative he was when he found out it was a stolen check. So, I wrote down the number and name for the girl and escorted the kid out of the building...

After kid left, I started thinking I could probably pressure him to get the wallet back for our member.
#1 I hate thieves...that's just stupid and such a selfish act to steal things...it's Kindergarten 101 of right and wrong but
#2 I really wanted our member to be able and say, "Not only did OUR Credit Union stop fraud on our account....but they also recovered the stolen wallet"...(I'm over the top on Customer Service and I am very proud of what we do at the Credit Union)
#3 Identity theft...that just makes me mad. Criminals that do this think that it doesn't really hurt anyone atleast in the realm of finances because they know funds are protected...but it does. It affects all of us...if rates go up on our fraud insurance premiums...guess what? Members and customers of financial institutions pay the price...as well as employees because at times layoffs are required especially in the economy we are in right now.
Okay, I'll step down from my soap box but just for the record I think punishment for bank fraud and identity theft needs to be much stiffer to send a message that we will not tolerate it. Back to the story...

To make a long story short, kid was scared spitless (YES I SAID SPITLESS) and he worked with me to get any and all info I needed regarding friend. I won't bore you with all of the details of the girl, but after some good cop/bad cop techniques learned from the many hours I've invested in watching cop shows...I'm happy to report the wallet was recovered. I WAS ECSTATIC. It actually was a lot of fun--and a rush like no other to have the wallet in my hands giving it to our member, but I think I'd rather stick to helping our members with ordinary things like cash withdrawals and deposits, statement copies, credit card disputes...versus the more intense things like criminal investigations. We've turned the case over to the authorities now...I'll let them proceed from here.

What a great way to end the week!

LOVE PICASA!!!

See what I learned you can do on picasa?? Photo collages (in case you missed it--the collage is above where the title used to be)...how cool is that?! This may be old news to ya'll but I'm pretty impressed.

What A Vacation...

We loved West Virginia...we were out in the sticks (literally) and there were no big towns nearby.

But it was one of the most relaxing trips I think we've ever taken. It was so nice to sit around the cabin...sleep in...play games...Santa came again--we all got spoiled (I got a flip video recorder--highly recommend all parents having one of these soooo cool)..had a campfire...eat...and eat...and eat some more. Play dominoes...a lot. Watch Nana make some pretty comical moves playing dominoes...laugh alot...and laugh some more. Read a book...cry reading the book...play more dominoes...watch the kids break the ice on the pond to "FREE THE FISH"...(I never knew our kids were so fish friendly)

What a vacation...here are some pics of our trip to West Virginia.

Marley & Me

We went to see this movie today that the kids had been so excited about seeing...and it was a good movie...it was hilarious at times, but...let me forwarn you...I cried like a baby...and so did my son. For those of you that haven't seen it you may want to stop reading this...otherwise, I hold no responsibility for ruining the outcome of the show.

Marley dies...and I don't really consider myself an animal person...but I cried the ugly kind of cry...uncontrollable sobbing. Red Eyes, mascara running (Kristin, I need to purchase the waterproof Arbonne mascara)...not pretty at all. But what really broke my heart....Hayden didn't realize what had happened when he died...not until they were burying Marley did he turn to me in the theater go, "Mom...WHAT happened?" I said, "Honey, Marley died"...tears welled up in his eyes but then the movie ended and he stood there crying in Nana's arms. It made me cry all over again watching him (okay, I laughed just a little too...I know I know...that's not nice...but it was a little comical too)

Tonight we were talking about the movie at dinner (yes, I know not the smartest when your child has been traumatized over a movie like this)...but his eyes welled up again just talking about it.

So, my verdict of the movie...it really was a great movie...but maybe not particularly the best for a sensitive 7 year old kid. (Abby had no problem with the movie just FYI) Oh, and we did have to cover their eyes a couple of times just because I'm not ready to have THAT talk of where babies come from. :) There you go...