Spencer's first play date

Spencer had a friend from his class over to play yesterday. It was so cute. The little boy lives down the street from us and was so excited to see us at his house and was very excited to come over and play. He was a very polite little boy too, asking Cassidy if he could play with her first before just getting in the sandbox with her. He has a little sister who just turned 3 so maybe Cassidy can play with her sometime too. Spencer couldn't stop talking about his playdate with Zack last night. He had a permanent smile on his face. He's never had a friend over and has seen lots of Brenden's friends here through the years, so he was so happy to finally have his own friend over. He kept saying "me and Zack played on the swings, in the sandbox, jumped on the trampoline, played power rangers, and played video games". It was so cool to see how happy he was. He can't wait til the next time Zack comes over. Spencer seems to be the man at kindergarten too. There is a little girl named Brooke who always smiles and says a real high pitched excited "Spencer" when she sees him. She totally has a crush on him. She gets so smiley and giggly. OMG it is so funny! And there are always little boys saying hi to him so that makes me happy that he has a lot of friends. He's still a momma's boy though. He wants me to walk him up to the playground every morning, so I do. I did that with Brenden his kindergarten year too. It's cute cuz he'd rather walk with me instead of his friends, so his friends just walk beside us. Everyone else is doing fine, not much else to report.

And now a joke for ya'll:

5 NUNS IN A BAR Sisters Mary Catherine, Maria Theresa, Katherine Marie, Rose Frances, & Mary Kathleen left the Convent on a trip to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and were sight-seeing on a Tuesday in July. It was hot and humid in town and their traditional garb was making them so uncomfortable, they decided to stop in at Patty McGuire's Pub for a cold soft drink. Patty had recently added special legs to his barstools, which were the talk of the fashionable eastside neighborhood. All 5 Nuns sat up at the bar and were enjoying their Cokes when Monsignor Riley and Father McGinty entered the bar through the front door They, too, came for a cold drink when they were shocked and almost fainted at what they saw.

GIVE US A SENSE OF HUMOR LORD, GIVE US THE GRACE TO SEE A JOKE, TO GET SOME HUMOR OUT OF LIFE, AND PASS IT ON TO OTHER FOLK

Project Brain Child

Childhood Cancer Awareness

Project Brain Child is an iniative of the Pediatric Low Grade Glioma Association.Members Project is a program sponsored by American Express where cardmembers submit innovative ideas for projects that make a difference. Cardmembers vote on the projects, and the winning 5 projects will receive up to $1.5 million in funding from American Express, awarded as follows:$1,500,000 for the winning project$500,000 for the 2nd place project$300,000 for the 3rd place project$100,000 each for the two remaining finalist projectsThe Pediatric Low Grade Glioma Association (PLGA) submitted their project idea to American Express in August. They will use the funds to conduct a feasibility study to create a National Pediatric Genomic Brain Tumor Registry. The information collected in this registry would allow scientific researchers and medical experts to target specific genetic abnormalities with existing drugs most effectively.The registry will embody all brain tumor types, not just low grade gliomas.Project Brain Child was selected from over 1190 other projects to be in the top 25. As of today, September 17, they are in 9th place.They need to be one in fifth place or better to receive an award. Votes must be cast by September 28.Any American Express cardholder may vote. If you don't have an American Express card, you can still help by spreading the word to your friends.Brain tumors kill more children every year than all other diseases combined. Please help this effort.

just another post

So for my birthday, we went to Olive Garden and then we played putt-putt. That was so much fun! The kids got me the new New Kids On The Block CD that I've been waiting for! It just came out on the 2nd. I got a new camera for my birthday, but I got that in August before the concerts with the kids so I could get great pictures. I love it! It's a sony cybershot. Awesome! I thought my other one was good, but this is a professional one with an awesome zoom lens and I can buy even bigger zoom lenses to attach to it. Mom watched the kids and they played bingo, watched a movie and had popcorn with mamaw. We got home a little after 11 and Brenden was asleep but Spencer and Cassidy wanted to say goodnight to us so they were still wide awake and running around. Other than that not much else going on except for school. Brenden is finding that it gets harder the older you get. I'm finding that I need to brush up on my math! Spencer is loving school and Cassidy and I are enjoying time together. Now, I'm off to the grocery store.

September 5, 1976

Today is my 32nd birthday. Happy birthday to me! I thought I'd share some things I'm proud to have accomplished in my 32 years. My proudest achievement is my marriage and children. I have been proudly married for 11 years and we have had 3 children. They are truly my world. Being a stay at home mom has been more rewarding than any other job I could have done outside of the home. My boys have been well prepared for school from what I taught them while they were home with me for their first 5 years. Cassidy will be as well. We have sacrifcied a lot of material things in sacrificing an income all for the kids and me....I always wanted to stay home with them and wouldn't have missed it for the world. I'm grateful to Richard for seeing how important that was to me and agreeing with the decision for me to stay home. I'm also happy that I did at least start college, I may not have finished, but at least I had the experience. I wanted to be an attorney but that changed when I became a mom. My life isn't what I thought it would be when I was planning my life out in high school. I'd have graduated law school at 24 and wanted to get married after a few years of being a lawyer and have my first kid by 30. My life isn't what I planned, IT IS BETTER. I couldn't be more blessed. I met and married my first love, the love of my life. I've had a good 32 years, no major illnesses to speak of but I am clumsy. I've broken my foot twice and if I can manage to hit my head on something or hurt myself in the process of my day, I usually will! I have a great extended family too. Lots of cousins and aunts and uncles that I'm proud to have as family. My brother is the greatest. We have always been close and I'm so happy about that. I'm also extremely proud of the relationship I have with my parents. I'm close to both of them and cherish that relationship with them both very much. So thanks Mom and Dad for bringing me into this world 32 years ago at precisely 5:52pm!

My thoughts on Sarah Palin

I'm a supporter of Palin for VP. I've sat back and read for several days the bashing and critisizing of Sarah Palin's family values. Yes, her daughter ended up pregnant. That was Bristol's decision, not Mrs. Palin's. Sarah did her job by teaching her daughter right from wrong and how the church feels and how the Palin's personally feel. That's all a parent can do. Let's look at the fact that Bristol is actually showing the family values she was taught by making the adult decision to marry her boyfriend, father of the child. And Bristol knew that she'd be scrutinized and still supported her mother to run for VP, a once in a lifetime choice that she couldn't let her mother pass up. How's that for family values. Standing behind her mom 100% and not letting her decision ruin her mom's chances. That's a stand up girl right there. And she's having the child. Again, showing her family values by realizing that a baby is a gift and not going to ruin her life by having the baby rather than deciding to have an abortion. Something her parents taught her as well. As parents we all teach our children right from wrong and do our best to rear them up well. There is no blame to be placed here on Sarah. Another thing I'm tired of hearing about is that Sarah is forcing her daughter to marry the boyfriend. While some teen moms may not be mature enough or ready to handle marriage and a child at 17, maybe she really is. No one knows the relationship between Bristol and her boyfriend besides the two of them. The fact of her growing up in church leads me to believe that Bristol is ready for marriage and is mature enough to handle all it will entail to be a wife and mother. I support Sarah and Bristol and the family values they've both shown. Bristol is taking a lot of crap and look at how she stood up on that stage with her boyfriend and family last night at the RNC supporting her mom. That's a great family. While Sarah may believe in abstinence and may be disappointed in Bristol's decision to have pre-marital sex, she sure is showing her beliefs in family values by supporting her daughter through this rather than shunning her and being ashamed of her. They are a true American family with the same struggles any other family goes through.

misadventures of Labor Day

So yesterday was different. First we woke up and Brenden turned on the tv....or at least tried to. It wouldn't turn on. It's stinkin brand new. We got it in the end of May! It's a 50" Plasma, Richard's dream tv! So he tried to call the # for customer service and of course they weren't open due to labor day. So then I start looking for the warranty and receipt. I have a box in the basement with all household warranties. I go to it first...it's not there. Where could it be? The 3 hour search began. I looked everywhere I thought I could have put it twice! Never found it. So I go to put the address/phone book away and see papers sticking out of it and there it was in the back! Why you ask, I'm not sure. I have no idea why I would have put it there except for maybe wanting it close by in case we needed it and I wouldn't have to dig it out of the box in the basement. Genius idea Julie. I searched for ever and it's always in the place you least expect it and of course the last place you look! While I was looking we rather enjoyed the quietness without the TV on. The boys have tv's in their rooms so they played some video games but also played outside a lot too. We brought the old tv up from the basement and put it in the living room around 7pm so I could watch my One Tree Hill premiere last night without having to watch it upstairs in our bedroom. Life was nice without the TV for a while, we'll have to do that again sometime! But it won't be anytime during the weekdays because I'm a soap opera aholic. And one more thing, we stapled the receipt and warranty to the cover of the manual and put it in the box with all the others so I won't have to do an all day search again. Until of course I put something else in a stupid location that I think I'll remember but clearly won't!