Halloween, etc.

And a Happy Halloween to you too!

This year we had the Zombie Football Player, the Ran Over Now Dead Crossing Guard and the cutey Tutu Witch.

 

I'm also feeling like a little catch up post is in order.

Who is still blogging these days anyway?  ::ahem::

JBird just finished up his second season of tackle football.  He caught the only completion for BOTH seasons during their fourth game this year.  The kid is money.  I don't get why they don't pass to him every time.  He also had fun taking down kids twice his size (which is almost every kid, btw) on defense.   As one super cheesy/lame football commentator said once.... "They forgot to measure his heart."  

 

He was also elected Student Body Vice President due to his genius campaign posters (such as the one below) and super funny speech.  Oh, and because he is Chrissi, Shelly & Stacey's nephew.

TBone has finally (after 6 years) decided that Pokemon might not be as awesome as he once thought it was.  And this is the outfit he chooses to shovel snow in (snow day TODAY... no school!).  No socks, in case you were wondering.

He has also turned into a reading FOOL this year.  He read the entire Lightening Thief series in about 4 weeks.  He would walk around with his nose in his book like he used to do with his Nintendo DS.  We often go up to bed at 11:30 or midnight and find this going on:

 

But how can you get mad at your kid for READING?  You can't.  So that's annoying.

Beebs started Kindergarten this year and was sad today was a snow day because she "misses school."   She's doing the usual 5 year old girlie stuff like gymnastics, dance and getting her Dad to do anything she wants.

She also has taken to posting signs on her door and laying out her clothes (complete with accessories) the night before.  This only worries her mother a lot.

Feeling all caught up now?

Good.  I feel sad at the cobwebs over here... and they aren't Halloween decor.

School House Rawks

I now interrupt this blogging silence to inform you that I am officially a "mother of school-aged children."  This past week all three kids headed into the public school system as our summer came to an abrupt but not altogether unwelcome end.  

Judging from this picture, this will be one heckuva year.

Tbone: 4th Grade, has same teacher JBird had.  This should be interesting.

JBird: Big 6th Grader, they switch classes throughout the day to "mimic middle school."  I might mimic the fetal position thinking about my little JBird in middle school next year.

Then, on Wednesday, a little sweetykinz became a Kindergartener!  What's funny is she has the same teacher that both TBone and JBird had.  She likes having her two brothers there and asks every adult she comes in contact with "Do you know my brothers? I look just like Tbone."  The librarian told JBird all about it.

She is in the afternoon class and that morning of the first day of school was torture.  She asked me if it was time to go every 5 minutes.  I finally had to threaten that if she asked me again she wasn't going to kindergarten.  Thank goodness she didn't call my bluff.  

There was a mom there who was crying.  She was wiping the tears away under her sunglasses.

This emotion on such a glorious day is foreign to me.

I high-fived Standsmom and got the ayche outta there.

Hooray for school!

AI: Best Night Ever...

...for that fiddler dude.

Did you see him and his highlighted bob haircut??? He was in 5 out of the 6 songs! Earlier this season when I told him this wasn't about him I was wrong.

He made it to the finale

And he played that fiddle like...well, like a fiddle.

So congrats to him.

As for the rest...well, you know my feelings on the matter.

The one bright spot? David Cook and that 4 second shot of David Archuletta in the crowd. Made me long for the days of yore.

AI: Top 3

I'm in a bit of a shame spiral right now.

I actually liked Scotty's first two songs last night.  

I didn't want to.  But his boyish charms won me over.  For two songs.  Then the last song I hated which felt good.   My guess is he will win this thing.  If he can make a curmudgeon like myself smile in spite of myself, what did he do to all of America?  Oh well.  I did love being reminded Baby Lock Them Doors though.  I laughed and laughed.  By myself.  So....anyway.

Haley.  Was.  Awesome.  I LOVED her dad out there.  It made me get a little emotional thinking about how amazing that must have been for them both.  Her songs were cool.  She is cool.  I can't even believe she is the same person who had that red lipstick smudged all over her chin from the microphone.  She was practically a baby then!  Now she's all growed up.  Her fall was nervous-making for me but the judges were so good about it.  Steven Tyler made me cry a little too when he said "It's not how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up."  I know it's cliche but it was a totally cute thing to say right then.  And she did carry on with very little disruption.    I'm always worried about those girls bounding up & down those stairs in those crazy heels though.  FINALLY my worries were for a good reason!  Loved her Stevie Nicks song too.  And I liked the chorus of You Outta Know but the verses seemed a bit low for her.  I have no idea what kind of album she'll put out.  Should be interesting.

Lauren.  First song = two thumbs down.  Second song= I can't even remember what it was cuz she's so forgettable.  Third song= ANYONE can sing I Hope You Dance and sound good.  That's why people like it so much.  Even I can wail that song in my car and sound amazing.  I give her no props for that one.

So, the bottom line is LAUREN better be gonzo tonight.  Because if we have an all country finale I just might shoot myself/not blog about it.

AI: FINAL FOUR

Topic #1:  Randy is mean and stupid.  And a bad dresser.  But mostly mean & stupid.  Proof of stupidness ... if he says "in it to win it" one more time I may throw whatever is near by through my TV.  If he says he feels like he's at one of the contestant's concerts again I may groan myself to death.  Proof of meanness... him saying after round one that it was a tie for first between everyone but Haley.  I don't even think Simon has ever been so mean.  Gty said it reminded him of a time when his friend Matt said to another kid "One of us stinks, and it's not me."   

Topic #2:  Lady Gaga is skuuurrrrry.  I bet Scotty was scared out of his mind to go have to look at her royal creepiness.  Why was I thinking she would show up there looking half way normal?  Yikes.  And gross.

Topic #3: Leiber & Stoller... your songs are lame.

Topic #4: I'm sorry I didn't blog about last week's performances.  Especially since it was the one we have all been waiting for.... buh-bye Jacob!

Now, let's proceed to some random thoughts on each contestant tonight.

James

By far the winner tonight (not even tied with Scotty & Lauren).  He killed Don't Stop Believing.  I was actually glad that Stupid Mean Randy (as he shall henceforth be known) pointed out the difficulty of that song because James makes it seem so easy.  I loved it.   Even his rocked out version of Love Potion #9 had me smiling.  He is Adam Lambert without the.... you know (::whispering::  guyliner).

Haley

She looked like she was so pissed she was going to cry there after her first song.  Stupid Mean Randy totally piled on the criticism unnecessarily BUT she shouldn't have been arguing her case with the judges.  Just smile and say you did your best and you were moved by your song and that's it.  But she has some spunk which I like.  That song was a terrible choice though.  Really... of all the songs you pick that one?  It might show some poor judgement (like her unreleased Gaga song she did...why?).  I did enjoy her dramatic I, Who Have Nothing song though and I've never heard that one before.  I hope America remembers that one the most.

Scotty

I've gone from tolerating the lad to despising him in one show.  That Alan Jackson song is everything that I hate about country music.  Lame, cheesy, unoriginal lyrics combined with an unbelievable amount of twang.  I had to kiss my own cross when he finished because I felt so yucky.  And then his second song??  What in the County Fair was he doing?  Totally lame, cheesy & unoriginal.  Yes, he & country music were made for each other.  I wish them well.  

Lauren

I can actually handle this kind of cross-over country stuff.  I thought Lauren looked great singing Anyway by Martina McBride and she sounded really really good.  I liked it.  The second song?  Notsomuch.  Really bad outfit I couldn't take my eyes off of and really cheesy performance.  Plus, did Leiber & Stoller not write any other songs that didn't have the word "evil" in it?  I mean, if you're that uncomfortable with it, pick another song, right?  That was weird and, once again, reminded me of her subpar personality.  

Bottom Two:  Lauren & Haley

Going home: Lauren (hoping she & Scotty split the country votes)

A Mother's Day Questionnaire

{photo taken today after church}

Happy Mother's Day!  This has been "one for the books" as they say.

This morning started out fairly awful as I had a "run in" with TBone.  What it was about is unimportant but, needless to say it ended with me freaking out and taking away everything that is near and dear to him... namely his DSi.  He was screaming "I hate my family!" and the like for a good 20 minutes afterward.  I know these things happen but when it happens on Mother's Day it is an immediate and sharp reminder that I suck as a Mom.  I had no business reacting the way I did and I felt awful.  But I was still mad.  Things were not looking good for Mother's Day 2011.

We then go to church & TBone glared at me from the stand as the Primary sang their Mother's Day songs.  Awesome.  (Luckily JBird and Beebs were smiling and pointing at me as the words said "all flowers remind me of you.")

But then, during the last hour of church, someone tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a Mother's Day Questionnaire TBone had filled out during his Sunday School class.  Due to our current standing with each other I was very nervous to read it...not to mention my guilt over that morning was at an all time high at that moment.... and here is what I read (I left the spelling as is):

Why did God make mothers?  To be helpfull
How did God make mothers?  He mixed awsomeness with hair
What ingredients are mothers made of?  sugar and spice and everything nice
Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?  we're both crazy
What kind of little girl was your mom?  I have no idea
What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?  How he would raise the kids
Why did your mom marry your dad? she was crazy
Who's the boss at your house?  Mom
What's the difference between moms and dads?  ones a girl ones a boy
What does your mom do in her spare time?  blog
What would it take to make your mom perfect?  zero
If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?  zero


Zero.... I started crying and didn't stop.   He then came in to find me after church and handed me a card he had colored in class.  All it said on the inside was "Sorry Mom."  I hugged him, said I was sorry too & we've been best friends ever since.

Ah, motherhood.


So,  how has your day been?

AI: Carole King Week

Carole King and Babyface.  Of course.  That makes total sense.

This will be my abbreviated thoughts on the subject at hand tonight.  And I won't be putting on their pictures.  If you don't know these people by name now then I don't know what to tell you.

JACOB

"Oh No, Not My Baby"

• No amount of decent, in tune singing and distracting plaid sport coat will get rid of that personality.  

LAUREN

"Where You Lead"

• Who told her to pull some random guy out of the audience?  I hate that.  It's distracting.  The whole time I'm wondering "What is he going to do now?  Sit there?"  and "How long will he be there...is she going to go back to him at some point?"  "Is that her brother or something?"  "Will she tell him when to leave or what?"   
• I was so distracted by the dude I don't even know how she sang the song but the judges loved her voice cracking. Wha?

CASEY & HALEY

"I Feel the Earth Move"

• Um yeah.... they're doin' it.

SCOTTY

"You Got A Friend"

• This was actually quite refreshing.  I was sooooo sick & tired of the same ole, same ole from him.  Babyface worked a miracle here.

JAMES

"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"

• Jimmy has a man crush on James.
• I'm developing a bit of a regular crush on him myself.  He was so nice about Scotty and then gushed about his wife afterward... plus the singing & guitar playing.
• This is where he differs from Adam Lambert.  AL could never have pulled something like this off.  
• I loved this performance.  He might be my favorite at this moment.

LAUREN & SCOTTY

"Up On the Roof"

• Um yeah.... nothing is going on between these two adorable virgins.

CASEY

"Hi-De-Ho"

• Entertaining & edgy but so not my thing.  I would never turn this on in the car.  Never.  
• I still like him but..... eh.

HALEY

"Beautiful"

• She is blossoming right before our very eyes!!  I think Casey is probably the cause.
• I really liked this performance, minus the intense arm waving she had going on.

JAMES & JACOB

"I'm In For Something Good"

• Two dudes should NEVER sing a duet together.  Especially if one of the dudes is Jacob.

BOTTOM THREE:

Haley

Lauren

Jacob

GONZO:  JACOB