The Bounce House

Well with Thanksgiving on Thursday the most important question coming from the kids is will the bounce house be there? My parents and aunt/uncle purchased this house two years ago for all the grandkids/nieces. It was the one giant Christmas gift for everyone to be excited about. The kids (and adults) just love it as we pull it out for every holiday, and have it for birthdays if needed. So far the girls have not even asked about food, but they sure have asked for this.

Headed to the House of Mouse

2bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar
All for the Flyers
Stand up and holler!
(can you tell I was a cheerleader of the 80's)

I mean who doesn't want to spend their Sunday with hundreds of screaming girls in hoochie mama uniforms, and stage makeup that just makes me cringe. Despite all of that I have a ten year old who just absolutely loves cheerleading. From the tiny little outfits, to those outrageous facials, and even down to the tips of her spirit fingers (whoops my 80's is showing again). So today we headed to San Marcos, Texas to scream our little lungs out and to perform all kinds of tumbling and stunts that defy the laws of physics.

Out of the eight squads in their category of competition, theirs placed 1st! So we had to pose for tons of pictures. Oooh and Aaaah over the trophy, and best of all contemplate whether we want to take 18 girls to Disney World for the Final Competition.....because that is what 1st place landed them....an invitation into the national event.

So I have a blissfully happy 10 yr old, and I am surrounded by moms who are wondering which bank we should rob on the way home to fund this kind of trip in this kind of economy. Now that would be a great national news headline "Crazy Texas Cheer Moms Rob Bank to Pay for Disney Trip". If you have a better headline....I want to hear it.

Aren't I Special?

Hey Look everyone. I have a pretty Portuguese award to add to my awesome trophy list. I love blog awards because first of all that means people actually read me (I can't quite wrap my head around that). Secondly that people like me enough that they want to acknowledge me. Now if I could just make people subscribe to me too I would not be going through my paranoid delusions. Well that's another post for another time. In the meantime here is what that awesome award means in English.

“This blog invests and believes, in ‘proximity’ [meaning, that blogging makes us ‘close’ - being close through proxy]. These blogs are all charming and they aim to show the marvels of friendship. Let’s give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to eight bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.”

I will be adding the blogs I want to pass this award to sometime tomorrow evening, because in the meantime I have to get a good night sleep because tomorrow I am officially a Texas Cheer mom....with Rebecca's first competition of the competitive cheer season.

*edited to add*
Okay home now, and will post about the competition a little later.
Blogs I want to celebrate today:

The Princess & the Monkey
Here on Columbia Ave.
It's five-o-clock somewhere
Back Where I Come From
Misadventures in Baby Raising
Saving with Style
Bloggin' Mama
Great Mom's Think Alike

The Countdown Begins...

Yes I know I should probably focus just a bit on the crowd of people coming to my house for Thanksgiving.....but honestly I am just to excited for Black Friday. I am online checking daily at bfads.net. It already has all the ad screenshots for my favorite stores, so that I con cross reference that with my spreadsheet Christmas Lists. I am also shopping for several people who do not want to brave the crowds, and being paid to do that for them. It makes it completely worthwhile to be paid to do one of my favorite things in the world, shop. But probably the very best thing about this day is that I get to spend it with good friends and no kids. It is almost my dream girls day out (I say almost because there are no spas or cabana boys on Black Friday......yet). So yes, I have to finish getting my house ready for the 30 people descending on Thursday. I need to finalize the menu, iron the linens, set up the china, make placecards, divine alcoholic concoctions, and plenty of kid friendly activities.....but when the crowds disperse....it is my time, Yeah Me!

I don't Understand the Appeal of Uncrustables

I have been a BzzAgent for many years, and have gotten some really great campaigns, but honestly I just don't get the appeal of the latest campaign I signed up for. I agreed to Bzz about Smuckers Uncrustables, but let's be honest here, I was thinking easy free lunch for the girls. In reality, it is not that difficult to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and my kids don't mind the crusts. We got our coupon for a free box and headed to the store. I was amazed to see that a box of frozen PB&J sandwiches was definitely not cheaper because I could easily buy a loaf of bread and get said jars of toppings, and come out way ahead. Well the girls liked them and they thought they were okay. Not great, they were not begging me to go to the grocery store to get more of them. I mentioned them to some of my friends who are BzzAgents because are always willing to be each others reports for different campaigns, especially duds like this one. Overall, I was really disappointed, and will not purchase them on my own or recommend them.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Well with Regan's birthday being tomorrow I thought I would tell you about some of the things she has asked for on her list. Now I should preface this by explaining that she has no concept of money (it really is the math part of her brain that doesn't function well due to her cerebral palsy). She is also my obsessed child, and when she gets ideas in her head....it can take years to find their way out of her daily conversations (exhausting). Her obsession at the moment is technology beyond our family budget. I am seriously not kidding when I tell you these are things she has asked us to get her.
 the ceiling above her bed. Then she could lay there and watch TV to her hearts content.

2. She would like a mini fridge filled with little debbies, root beer, and steak so she can snack on when she feels like. What a diet, that just sounds disgusting to me.

3. She would like a laptop in her room that has internet on it so she doesn't have to ask for permission to use my computer in the family room. Ummmmm not going to happen because safety mom is on the watch.

4. She would like her own Iphone, because I will not download games on mine for her to play with at the gym in the evenings. She then could call my sister and grandmother daily much to their joy and amusement.

5. She would like a Wii because the Playstation 2 a friend gave us for free is boring and doesn't have bowling on it like her cousins Wii does.

Have you noticed a trend here.....Regan is going out of her way to make sure we spend the most money possible to keep her inactive, and I guess eventually the size of Rhode Island on the little debbie and rootbeer diet.

I love being active and so does the rest of my family. We make Regan work a lot in her walker coming and going all the time and since she has been wheelchair bound for the last two weeks due to her foot fracture...she has been loving life. I am ready for this child to walk again, and not be motivated to be the eternal couch potato. The answer to whether or not we will be getting her anything on her birthday list is a resounding NO!

A GT Thanksgiving and Bonus Riddle

Today in honor of Thanksgiving we took the Gifted and Talented Class to the back pasture (yes our school has a pasture, doesn't everyone's) to find items in nature and offer their own 3-D rendition of a turkey out of them. The kids found all kinds of great bark, berries, fungi, leaves, and pebbles to build their Turkeys out of. Some kids are making it an image on Construction paper, and some are trying more of the free-form sculpture. Either way it is a fun activity for any kid to do, and there is no wrong answer. If you are looking for a great project (or just want to get the rugrats out of the house for a bit) this is perfect. Hopefully next week I can post some turkey sculpture pics for all to try and identify and enjoy.

Riddle for the day:A man is trapped in a room. The room has only two possible exits: two doors. Through the first door there is a room constructed from magnifying glass. The blazing hot sun instantly fries anything or anyone that enters. Through the second door there is a fire-breathing dragon. How does the man escape?