A Day in the Life...

I'm Back...

2009-03-31T22:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Allison's Blog! I've missed you! Ok--It has been a while. 98 days to be exact. Here you are...short, sweet and super funny!

Brother and sister love--can't beat that! Love you babies...

This blog is dedicated to one very talented and awesome music teacher! Love ya BG!

Our Christmas Card--Better Late Than Never!

2008-12-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Zelem's!

Merry Christmas from the Zelem Elves!

2008-12-23T11:53:00.001-08:00

I couldn't resist! Thanks Amy and Ashley. Analise and I had a good laugh!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Perfect Tree

2008-12-22T21:51:00.001-08:00

It is our new family tradition, the last three years, to cut down our own Christmas tree. We usually make a day of it. Go out to breakfast, make the long drive to Woodland Park and then search high and low for the best looking tree we can find. We work up an appetite trudging through the snowy woods and once we find the tree, we cut it down and head off to grab some lunch. Fun stuff, right? We think so!
Now, finding a tree can be tricky. My husband likes to think I am being difficult, but I can't help it if all the good looking trees grow on 45 degree sloped mountains!

Can you tell how steep it was from the picture...that small looking tree in front of me a ways was really just about as tall as me and the white part beyond the trees was the snow packed road. After about ten minutes of crawling up the hill and then after about 5 more minutes of catching our breath and waiting for our pounding hearts to calm a bit (note to self--time to hit the workout tapes again!), we found just the right tree and ceremoniously captured the "timber" on film.

After we brought it home, it was looking a little Charlie Brown-ish. I think my eyes started to blur after 2 hours of looking at trees. There were a few holes--the kind of holes that won't go away no matter which way you turn the tree. Grrr! But, as my sweet husband reminded me, it is not how the tree looks, but the memories of the day and the experience we had together as a family. Ahhh! (Yea--he really did say that. I know...I'm shocked too!) So, after three strands of lights, a bit of garland, three boxes of candy canes (Analise's idea) and 8 gagillion ornaments later, the holes seemed less gaping and it was, in the memorable words of Adam Sandler, "not too shabby"!

Election Day!

2008-11-03T21:56:00.001-08:00

Would you vote for us?

Sarah Palin and John "Decaying"

Bundled up!

2008-11-03T21:47:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago brought our first (mini) snow storm of the season, so he had to break out the gear...new hats and coats! Here is our winter fashion show. Enjoy!

Free Day at the Zoo! (PG Version)

2008-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

The kids and I went to Free Day at the Denver Zoo. Equipped with the wagon full of goodies and kiddos, we toodled around the zoo and checked out the scenery. Here were some of our favorites:

Some baby snow leopards! So cute...

Baby Arctic Fox...

Baby Bison...

my favorite...

Analise's favorite...

and of course Westy's favorite!
We walked around Lorikeet adventure. We were so close that we almost could touch them. It was very cool! We ate lunch by the sea lions and watched them play with each other. Thanks Denver Zoo!

Free Day at the Zoo! (Adult version)

2008-10-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

With gas prices so high and things costing so much money, a frugal mom has to think of cheap, or even better, free ways to entertain her kids. So when the Denver Zoo has a free day, the Zelem family is first in line or at least we try to be. First, we have to drive 40 miles to get there in heavy traffic. Second, I gotta find a place to park, which mind you, everyone else and their brother, mother, grandma etc are looking for a spot too. Once I park and get out, I got into an argument with my kids about whether to use the wagon (hard for mom to pull) or the stroller (easy for mom to push) and I lost. Next, I gotta make sure pack all the crap that I have to bring along for the kids-food, water, sunscreen, diapers, wipes, jackets, hats, sunglasses, camera. Finally, after walking 2 miles from our parking spot, pulling the wagon full of kids and their crap, roughly weighing around 100 pounds, we get to the zoo. Yeah! No...wait! Now we must wait in line behind everyone else in town who thought "Free day at the zoo. Let's go!" Lots of kids on field trips, old-timers from the nursing homes, every kind of handicap person you could imagine and don't forget all the other frugal moms and their wagons full of kids and their crap! So finally we get in, maneuver the wagon through the crowds, to check out the lions, the first stop for the day!

Analise: "Look mommy--lions! Can we go see them?"

Me: "OK! Sure let's go."
Meanwhile at Lion Land...
Analise: "Oh how cute! There are playing horsie back rides. Look at 'em mom!"
Me: "Oh....yeah...isn't that...cute?!"

A 1/3 tank of gas roundtrip to the zoo....$25
Snacks and water...$7
Admission to the zoo...FREE!
A lesson in sex ed...unexpected and priceless!

Move over Slowsky's...Meet Tide to Go!

2008-10-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you know that I love TV! If you know me really well, you'd know that I love commercials even more. My dear friend Amy and I have shared our love for Bill and Karolyn Slowsky. Here is my personal favorite... (scroll down and pause my playlist at the bottom for the full effect)

But, I have to say, there is a new commercial that trumps the Slowsky's. Here you go---enjoy!

I love the "NOOOOO!" part. Who thinks of this stuff? I want to be that funny!
Don't hate Slowsky's. I still have love for ya! Maybe you just need a new commercial...

Bye, Bye Baby....Hello Toddler!

2008-09-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Mr. Baby is one!

We had a huge birthday BBQ. It was crazy! There were about 30 adults...
and 20 kids!

Here is Wes' super delicious, super awesome, super creative and don't forget cheap birthday cake!

Made by his mama with love!

Thanks to everyone that came and helped us celebrate Wes' big day! It was a blast!

It's Official!

2008-09-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

Mr. Baby has started walking!! Falling down like a drunk every other step, but walking none the less! Here is in action:

Watch out Oscar and Bella! You can run, but you can't hide...

I promise I don't beat my child...

2008-08-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

I promise that I don't beat my child even though it may look like it today! Wes is starting to walk more and more everyday. His head and face areas seem to be taking the greatest beatings on his journey into toddler world. If you haven't noticed his head is quite large--the doctor had to measure it TWO times last visit to make sure that the measurement was correct! Yes, that head passed through my, well, you know... Anyway, his huge melon makes him a little top heavy at times. Good things kids heal quickly and have lots of baby fat for padding!
Here his latest injury...

Dad was babysitting...enough said.

Little man!

2008-08-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

Westy got his first haircut on Saturday. Here is his before...

Love that picture! I think I am going to miss the old man scraggly 'do!
Here is the after...

Notice the tear...that was one of many shed that day. Mr. Baby didn't like the buzzer or the scissors! Bless that poor lady's heart that cut his hair. It is a miracle that no ears or noses were injured in the process. He was mad for a few hours, but cheered up after a nap and a bike ride.

You learn something new everyday...

2008-08-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

I have often wondered why people put the toilet paper roll on backwards...you know where the TP comes out from the bottom of the roll rather than the top. When I use the restroom at other people's houses or other places out in the world, I have had to physically restrain myself from fixing the roll to the right way. You know...when you are doing your thing in the bathroom, it is just so nice and easy to run your hand across the top of the roll and the TP flows right off the roll! Ahh! But when the roll is on the wrong way, you have to pull on the TP to get the flow going and when you are poor and can't afford to buy the thick ply stuff, the TP breaks very easily. It is just way harder to unroll, basically it is a pain the bootie! But today, I finally learned the reason why people put the roll on backwards...

THIS GUY!!!!!

Like I said before, the "right" way makes the TP flow easier and the "wrong" way makes it harder to unroll! So I guess the "wrong" way might just be the new "right" way in the Zelem house.

Oh yeah, one more lesson learned...shut the lid!
Babies...you gotta love 'em!

Back from Cali!

2008-07-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh...my trip was awesome! I went to visit my very "bestest" friend Christine in California. She was needing some comforts from home and I was needing to get away from home! We really didn't do a whole lot. Saw the ocean--AWESOME! I was just the right temperature, lots of beautiful crashing waves and a couple of sea lions looking for a bite to eat. It was very cool to see them not at the zoo, but in the wild! My friend only lives like 5 blocks or something from Holly wood Blvd so we also walked down there and saw the stars on the sidewalk. Here is my favorite!

Pee-Wee's playhouse was my sister and I's favorite Sat. morning show back in the day. So I was very excited when we came upon this star. We also bought a star map for $10. It actually had the stars addresses and everything in it. We drove around the Hollywood Hills and looked for famous people's houses. We saw Ozzy Osbourne's house from when they were on MTV. Here are a few more that we stalkarazzi-ed: Drew Barrymore, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, George Michael and Madonna'a former homes, Lindsay Lohan, Cher, Elton John, Gwen Stefani. I was hoping that maybe as we drove by we would see Tom and Katie playing with Suri in their front yard or that Madonna might be out washing her car, but no luck! Even if they were we wouldn't of been able to see then through their driveway gates and 10 foot tall shrub fences! It was still fun! The only famous person I saw and recognized was this guy:

He is Stellan Skarsgard aka Bootstrap Bill Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean. He was also the mean teacher guy in "Good Will Hunting". We saw him at Target just buying some stuff for his house probably. It was pretty cool!
We also spent one entire afternoon and night having cocktails, playing Monopoly (I was the victor!) and watching some cult classics: Tommy Boy, Revenge of the Nerds, Weird Science and Sixteen Candles to name a few! We had tons of fun, reminisced about the past before jobs, college, boyfriends, husband and kids! I guess we did do a lot of stuff now that I look back. I can't wait to go back!

Loose Tooth--Chapter Two!

2008-07-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah! It finally happened. We were wondering if it ever would. That was the most stubborn tooth that ever lived. Five months, five months--but it finally came out! Here it is in all of its shining glory!

Analise was very excited! Dad told her that he would take her to Dairy Queen if she let him pull it out. She reluctantly agreed. He said that he would count one, two, three and pull it on three. She agreed again. So one, two--YANK! Dad pulled a fast one on her and gave a yank before she had a chance to pull away on three, which she had been doing every other time either of us tried to pull it. Leave it to dad to outsmart her! Check out the gaping hole that it left behind.

She was so anxious to go to bed so the tooth fairy would come! She put the tooth in her tooth catcher thingee and begged us to put her to bed.

The tooth fairy came really early in the morning! She almost forgot to wake up early--I mean fly to our house and reward Analise for her 1st tooth she got and and her first tooth that fell out! Here is what the going rate is for a tooth these days...

Wow! I need to loose some teeth! The loose tooth chronicles continue. Loose tooth #2 has been identified! Stay tuned to see if tooth #2 comes out before Thanksgiving! Let's hope...

Oh yeah, by the way, Analise is not a gangsta. "I am a COWGIRL!"--she wanted me to say! She didn't like it when I asked her to throw some gang signs in the picture! LOL! Peace out homies! West side till we die!

Happy Fourth!

2008-07-06T06:56:00.001-07:00

July 4th is one of our family's favorite holidays--second to Halloween of course! It was also Wes' first fourth. At first, I didn't want to drag him out past dark and past bedtime to see fireworks, but what the heck huh? I am so glad that I did! He loved the fireworks! Here was his face every time a new one went off!

Ha! He is hilarious! Only one complaint--of all of the 31 firework displays I have seen in my lifetime, there is always a finale, right? Ya know where they blow-up like 500 fireworks at once and set the sky ablaze with a rainbow of colors and the smell of sulfur fills the air? Ya--nothing--no finale, just firework, firework, firework and then..................nothing! I was waiting....waiting....still waiting, but nothing came. I know, I know---fire danger is high, but I was there I saw the 50 firetrucks driving around! Come on it's fourth of July, light it up--put those 50 fire trucks to use! I was a little disappointed Castle Rock!
Sister was also having a good time. She got to have a little blow-up slide action.

Her favorite! She was a trooper--waiting in line for a good 15 minutes to ride the slide--TWICE!! No whining or complaining from Miss Diva. We had fun, waited in a lot of lines, had some good food and celebrated our freedom! All in all it was a good night!

Happy Birthday America!

Insomnia!

2008-06-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever innocently checked your e-mails, myspace or your facebook at 11 at night and ended up still messing with it 3 hours later? Dang it--I did tonight! I am tired, but there is something about the computer that can just keep you hypnotized for much longer that you would like. Tonight on myspace and facebook, I checked every single friend's page out--just to see what was new. Then that led me to look up some people from high school AND THEN that led to me look up some people from college AND THEN that led me to look up old friends from previous jobs AND THEN that led me to look up all the John Zelem's, Analise Zelem's and Weston Zelem's, which ultimately led to me looking up all the Allison Bingham's and all the Allison Zelem's. There were a lot of Allison Bingham's! Who new? I asked all of them to be my friends just because they had the same name as me. Here is the message I sent to all of them:

I know that you do not know me! I'm not a weirdo I promise! I was just looking through myspace/facebook for Allison Bingham's and your name came up. My name is Allison Zelem, but I used to be an Allison Bingham before I was married. I live in Colorado and grew up here. I have two kids and have been married for 8 years. Maybe we are related!? Just thought it would be cool to know another Allison Bingham.

I just kept copying and pasting the message until I e-mailed about 10 Allison's. Hopefully, they won't sic the myspace and facebook police on me or think that I am too much of a stalker freak. It would be cool to start a new cyber friendship with a total stranger named Allison Bingham. At least I think so...

The house is very noisy at night! You'd think it was quiet, but lots of small noises add up! There is the fridge, the clock ticking above my sink, the CD spinning in the player (I better turn that off!), the creaks and cracks of the floor as Bella, the scaredy cat, darts across. There is also lots of snoring going on--John of course, but Oscar, the fat cat, is louder than John! That's it that chub is going on a diet! His 18 pounds of flab is pushing too hard on his lungs, I think. My kids are also loud sleepers! Weston keeps bonking his head on the side of his crib and crying out in pain. Poor baby! And Analise is talking to someone in her room. I went up there once already and she was sitting up in her bed just chatting away to someone-I don't know who. I couldn't make out what she was saying! Oh wait...she is talking again. Something about a horse...
She is a really bad sleep talker and walker. A few days ago she was sleep-walking and fell down the last three stairs, laid there for a few moments and then got up looked me straight in the face, smiled and headed back to bed without saying a word. And this morning, she yelled out "Mommy help me!" It woke me up immediately and I yelled back (our house is really small) "With what?" and she responded "Never mind..."-I think she woke up and realized that she was dreaming and sleep talking. She said the dream was really scary and the mean principal from the Mathilda movie was trying to throw her in the pool. We had been watching Mathilda earlier that day and I thought to myself "A kid's movie scared you?" But check this out:

Ahhhhh!! That's the Agatha Truchbull, the principal. She is pretty hideous and, I guess looking back at the movie, she was really mean and abusive to the kids. So, next time Analise is getting out of hand, I am going to have to put on my Agatha Trunchbull outfit, put few fake moles on my face, add a uni-brow and then throw her out of a window! Ha...just kidding!

I am going to try to go to sleep now. I will probably end up just watching infomercials all night. Oh wait...I just remembered I have some Tylenol PM! Nighty night for me!

Sunny Day Activities

2008-06-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

You ever heard of rainy day activities? You know, things you can do inside that are fun because it is rainy outside. Well, in our house we have "sunny day" activities. These are things that we do inside when it is just too dang hot! And there have been a lot of those lately. Anyway, here was our latest "sunny day" day. We watched "Underdog" about three times (pretty funny), did some reading for our summer reading goal, and made some crafts. One of the crafts was so cool that I just had to share it! Analise got a CD-rom game thing from Chick-fil-a like a year ago or something. She has been begging me to play it and I have been putting her off. So, I finally popped it in to check it out and IT IS AWESOME!!! It's called Kid Concoctions and it has songs, games, crafts and coloring pages. It kept her entertained for at least an hour! But the coolest thing on there was something called "Paper Towel Tattoos".

All you need washable markers and paper towels. You cut the paper towels into little squares and then draw pictures on them with the markers. Once your picture is finished, figure out where you want the tattoo to go and you wet your hand, arm, leg, cheek--whatever! and slap the paper towel picture right on, hold it there for a few seconds and whalla--a cool tattoo! Check it out!

Analise, Wes and I had tons of fun with it! There are a few downsides though. One--the are not very bright. So use a dark color for it to show up well. Second--is that you cannot draw really intricate pictures on the paper towels. Analise tried to draw a playground with a slide and swing and monkey bars, but once she put it on her arm is just flowed into one big blob of color on her arm. So stick with simple drawings--hearts, smiley faces, names, stars-- things like that. Lastly, they wear off once you wash your hands a time or two. But it is also the upside as well! Analise always wants to put a tattoo on her face and I'm not good at thinking of good reasons why she can't! And as you may know, those other kind of fake tattoos can last forever and you can't go to school with a tattoo of a cat on your face--at least that is what we tell Analise. You could I guess, but that would just be weird! Anyway, I can let her put one on her face and then it will wash off in the bath later that night! Woo-hoo! You go Chick-Fil-A!--keeping the kids healthy with your yummy nutritious food and keeping their minds creative and imaginative with your amazing toys and books!

I will leave you with one more activity from our "sunny day" day...a little dance party brought to you by THE world famous dancer, Analise Morgan Zelem, and her best buddy, Gwen! Happy Sunny Day!

Loose Tooth--Chapter One

2008-06-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Alright...now Analise being 6 and a half you'd think that she would have lost some teeth by now right? But the crazy kid hasn't lost anything yet! All her friends and cousins are losing teeth left and right all around her, but she is keeping hers very closely guarded. She has had a stubborn loose tooth since Valentines's Day--yeah Valentine's day! I can't believe it! I don't remember teeth ever hanging around that long when I was losing teeth. Look at it just hanging there.

Well, I have been trying to get her to pull, twist and yank on it a little bit everyday, but she is too afraid of it hurting. Everyone around me is telling me pull on it and help her out, but if any of you know me at all, I'm not too fond of putting my hand into someone else's mouth, even my kid's, and I cannot stand the sound or feeling of a tooth coming out! Ahhhh...the sound of my own teeth slowly detaching and ripping away from the safety of my gums still haunts me to this day. The sound is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. I know I'm a weirdo! Anyway...I have been getting impatient with this tooth and I have found myself reaching in and tugging on it several times a day. It's the mom in me I guess. She lets me do it and I will continue to until the darn thing comes out! You'd think that she would be more excited to get a visit and special prize from the tooth fairy, but I think that I am more excited to do my "tooth fairy" duties! The tooth saga continues--stay tuned for the next installment, Mommy Gets the Pliers: Chapter Two!

War Wounds!

2008-06-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

My sister summed it up pretty well the other day when I talked with her..."Your family has issues!" That was her comment after I de-briefed her on our two emergency room visits in two days. Analise was the first victim. A nice relaxing day at the pool quickly turned into blood, tears and six stitches. I was so looking forward to a nice relaxing day by the pool catching some rays and trying to tan this white skin. But soon after our arrival, I knew it would be anything relaxing. All the other kids who Analise was going to play with were pro swimmers. Stress and worry immediately set in. Analise, who thinks she is an olympic swimmer, is only a sea turtle in the eyes of Castle Rock Rec Center. Yeah--sea TURTLE! Bless her heart, she has the drive to become a good swimmer, but is still far from it! Anyway, I knew that she might take it to far and go off the deep end--literally! So I knew that I was going to have to watch her like a hawk and keep reminding her about the pool depths. She swam in the indoor pool for about 10 minutes, while the outdoor pool was having adult swim. She looked like she was having fun, but there were a few moments of panic when she was trying to get to the edge of the pool to catch a breath of air. The lifeguards blew the whistle to get back in the outdoor pool, so we made a quick bathroom break accompanied by a quick to-the-point lecture from mom about drowning, breaking her neck and being paralyzed for the rest of her life. Sorry--I'm a freak and I like to just give her the facts bluntly. It works for her. Anyway, she jumped in the pool with her friends, but she missed. For anyone who is wondering...if you want to jump in the pool, two things 1) always jump in with your body facing toward the water and 2) JUMP! don't just take a step into the water. That backwards step in the pool landed her in the emergency room with six gnarly stitches under her chin! I do have something bad to admit though. I feel really guilty, but I need to just get it off my chest. When I lifted her up and saw her chin split open and the blood and all the fat hanging out (sorry, I want you to have the full effect of her gash), my first thought was not "oh my gosh, let's get to an emergency room fast". Sadly, it was " Da**it (excuse my language), I just wanted to lay by the pool today!" I know it is terrible, but the "Oh my gosh..." one was my immediate second thought. I promise! I sat by her beside in the emergency room and held her hand and told her all the people I knew who had stitches and how they were still alive. I tried to make her laugh and think about other things while the numbing medicine took effect. Although she freaked (more than once) when the word "stitches" was used, she did pretty well through the process. Her crowning moment was when she got a gigantic squirt gun (AKA a really big syringe they used to clean out her cut) and two toys from the treasure box. One hour later, she was laughing and splashing around in the bathroom sink with her squirt gun. What a trooper! Mama is proud! Here she one week later--stitches freshly pulled and healing nicely.

I tried to take a picture with my camera phone of her open, gushing cut at the emergency room, ya know to remember it, but she wouldn't allow it. And with everything else that's been going on this week in the Zelem house--a wedding, another emergency room visit, a bachelorette party and babysitting another 6 year old for 3 days--I didn't take any pics of the actual stitches. So that is all I got! We always have our memories, right?

No, that guy is not flipping you off. That is victim #2 showing off his battle scars--on his birdie finger. John, with his infinite wisdom, stuck his hand in a running lawnmower at 11 o'clock at night. Genius! Now you may be thinking that alcohol was part of the equation...well you are right! What else would lead you to your hand being in a lawnmower in the middle of the night! OK--just kidding--it was not that bad. He was drinking a little bit, but he was also tired from a 14 hour day at work and he had been working on our neighbor's mower for the previous 4 hours. He said he just had a "duh" moment and forgot that the safety switch was off or something. So...off we went to another emergency room visit. I swear they have a room waiting for us there in the new wing they built with all the money we've handed over to them in the last year! The nurses and doctors kept asking "Why were you mowing your lawn at 11 o'clock at night?" Ha! It was hilarious! Each new nurse or doctor who came in to do their part to fix up his hand kept asking that question and John kept having to tell the whole story again. He was getting irritated and I kept on laughing. Hey, I care! I do..it was just 2AM and I think I was a little slap-happy. He ended up breaking the bone on the tip of his middle finger, getting three stitches, a tetanus shot and an IV dose of antibiotics. Here is his wound healing nicely as well.

Ewww...it is still kind of gross, but he is finally feeling better and is off the "feel good" meds! There is an upside to our late night emergency room visit, though--we got pulled over by a cop on the way to hospital. Speeding down Wilcox in Castle Rock in the middle of the night always ends up in a siren and a blur of red and blue lights behind you! Anyway, I got out all of my paperwork and hoped that he would be a nice and understanding guy. He asked for my license and such and I quickly handed it over. As I did that, John shot up out of his seat with his blood stained gauze wrapped around his finger and asked "Can we do this at the hospital?" The police officer nearly threw my license back at me and told us to drive safely! OMG--I couldn't believe it! We laughed all the way to the hospital and decided that we are going to leave a bloody piece of gauze in the glove box of all f our vehicles --just in case! Ha!
Whew! I'm tired and I didn't even get hurt. (Knock, knock, knock--that is me knocking on wood.) Hopefully, we are done with hospitals for a while. But it is good to know we have a loving nursing staff and a cozy dimly-lit room waiting for us whenever we need it! Love ya, Skyridge!

Move over Chuckie Cheese, the Library is where it's at!

2008-06-12T10:46:00.001-07:00

I just want to say that I love the library! I didn't used to like it, actually I LOATHED it with every breath of my being! My mom never really took us there very often, that I remember. So I don't have those cute childhood story-time memories that others may have. My memories of the library are more from my school-age days. Picture this-- a procrastinating high schooler hunched over a classic novel rereading the same page over and over again because you just can't focus anymore or a tired, overworked college student in a solitary cubicle amongst the towering stacks of journals furiously trying to memorize some note cards written to help study for a biology test. Can you see it? Oooooh...(shivering) my stomach is turning just thinking about it. So, for those of you who can visualize or who have "been there done that", you can understand my feelings toward the library or may even feel the same way! But wait--there is library-loathing therapy! First thing you have to do is become a elementary school teacher. This one kind of forces you to deal with your fears. You HAVE to take your students to the library, you HAVE to help them find books and you HAVE to show the kids how much YOU like the library! Yea! Acting skills come in handy here--library-love can be a hard thing to fake. Anyway, the next step is to have a kid. All kids love the library and want to go there all the time and I guess it is the "good parent" thing to do, right? So for the last 6 years, through two kids and five years of teaching, I can honestly say that I have cured my library-phobia. For those of you who still have a bad library vibe and didn't choose teaching as a profession and don't have kids, ummmm...sorry...your out of luck!
In times where money is tight and things cost so much, I had to find some cost-saving alternatives to Blockbuster, Chuckie Cheese and Build-a Bear--Analise's favorite places to go. So I had to be really enthusiastic about the library to divert her attention from the previously mentioned places. "Yea! Let's go the library, Analise! It will be so much fun there! Trust me..." Here again, is where my acting skills came in handy. She was skeptical (so was I), but she went along anyway. Until I started going there, I didn't realize what it has to offer. You can check out movies, CD's, computer games, books on tape and Leapfrog games. There are cozy places to read and computers to use. There are reading programs and story times, even pajama story time! YES! There are even classes that you can take to learn just about anything that you want. There are so many fun things to do there that it didn't take much convincing. Now, Analise loves to go library. We go at least once a week and the best part about it, Analise gets just as excited about going to the library as she does about going to Chuckie Cheese. Score one for mom!
Here are our library adventures for this week! Analise always wants to rent a movie, so here is the one she picked out this week!

Yes, everyone that is a Denise Austin work-out video for kids. Awesome! Here she is in action:

That is her friend Allikaye getting in on the action. I guess her watching me work-out to all of my Denise Austin videos rubbed off a little. I'm so proud! She is also enrolled in summer reading program. Once she reads 720 minutes or 60 hours, she will get a ticket to Elitches. Woo-hoo! That is some motivation right there! She better get busy, that's a lot of reading...
Weston is also loving the library! I got him a baby signing video and he absolutely LOVES it. Here is what he does when Rachael, the signing lady, comes on:

He can't get enough of her eye-popping orange sweater or her crazy taped up fingers. Dang it--he's cute! We signed up for the "TOP HOGS" at the library, too. There are some genius pigs that can ride skateboards, play musical instruments and do all sorts of tricks and they'll be at the library on the 26th and so will we! I am so excited about it! Oh yeah, Analise is, too.
I am also cashing in on the treasures of the library. I just finished reading "One More Day" by Mitch Albom. It was a good one. Here is my next read that I am excited about...

It's on hold, so hopefully I won't have to wait to long for it. I want Wes to to be a signing genius, so I need to brush up on my "skills", as Napoleon Dynamite would say. The library, in all honestly, is really a hidden treasure. I can now say that...yes...wait for it...I love the library! All hail to your local library. Go check it out!

8 Years!!

2008-06-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

Wow! John and I have been together for ten years this year with eight years of wedded bliss! Here we are on our wedding day June 10, 2000. Aren't we cute?
How have 8 years of marriage been on us? Well, here we are 8 years later. What do you think?

Still cute, I think—just a bit tired and wrinkly maybe. Aged like fine wine, I would like to think. Who knew that it would ever last this long?! I know that we said "till death do us part", but there were a few times along the way that I thought that death WOULD do us part! Kidding, only kidding here! Sure, we've seen the rough times (many, many a rough time), but we have had our share of good and happy times, too! We've seen many places in our travels, shared lots of laughs with good friends, bought and sold a house or two, shared many "firsts" together and seen a miracle or two along the way! All in all, we are very blessed to have all that we have and we thank the Lord above for that! Amen Sister!

According to a good friend, the traditional gift for an 8th wedding anniversary is pottery and/or lace.

Well, OK, if you say so. I made sure that I told John right away so he would have plenty of time to think about this one. Honestly, I had no ideas on a good gift for him, so I just gave up and decided to see what he would come up with. But my dear sweet hubby shocked and amazed me with his well-thought out gift.
A chimenea! We had one once and I loved it, but it broke during our last move! I was so happy and, I'll say it, impressed! We haven't used it yet, but I predict that in the near future our little family will be roasting some marshmallows and warming our tootsies by the glow of our new friend! I love him for thinking of me and remembering something that I told him. (Way to go John--he is getting better with this after 8 years!) I love him even more not to tell him that, upon investigating, pottery is actually a 9 year wedding gift-doh!. Shhhhh...

Well, I guess the lace part was up to me. Hmmm...what could I get that was lace, something that would be appropriate for a wedding anniversary gift and, more importantly, something John would like? Well, I won't tell you, but I will give you a hint. It was a gift that I got for my wedding shower that was for my wedding night. I'll leave the rest up to you! We had a fabulous anniversary day and night! ;)

My first time!

2008-06-10T10:48:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone...

MySpace, Facebook, online banking, school e-mail, home e-mail, real estate e-mail...now blog spot! I think I officially have become technologized! (If that is a word...) I enjoy reading all of my friend's blogs, so I was feeling left out or maybe inspired, so here you go--my blog. I know what a blog is, just recently mind you, but let me just say, who thought of the word "blog"? Did it exist before the world of computers? Or did somebody just think one day--"What are we going to call these online diary-type entries...oh I got it, we'll call it a blog". You know a mullet is really a type of fish, but someone decided that they would name the "short on top long on bottom hairdo" a mullet, which is much easier to say than the "short on top and long on bottom hairdo". Is this how they came up with "blog"? Is a blog really a certain kind of rock you can only find in the Amazon, but they needed to find a easier way to say "online diary-type entries" and just came up with "blog". Who knows? Anyway, it is a cool sounding word and a fun word to say over and over again. Blog, blog, blog, blog--ooh try it! I kind of sound like a frog or something. Anyway, back to the word. Couldn't they think of anything different or maybe a little bit cooler? Maybe "mufti" or "snollygoster" (my favorite) or "grok" or "smarmy" --all cool words and fun to say, but just like "blog," they're weird and no one really knows what it means. Well, that is my first "online diary-type entry", I hope that you enjoyed it. I will "snollygoster" again soon! Love ya...