Our Crazy Obsession

I remember watching the cartoon at home in the early 80's. I was completely frightened. I hated the scene where they cut Aslan's hair and killed him in the ceremony on the table. Infact, when the movie came out, I was not a fan until after I saw it again.

Jump twenty-five years.... Abby has opened the wardrobe, and loves it. I think it WAS on constant rotation at our house until yesterday, after five days. The first day, she watched it 3 times in a row. That Friday night, with a long power nap to sustain her, we stayed up until 2:00am only with her fighting me when I turned it off. Now the movie is on, she gets upset when it's off, but she will bring her activities to the movie and play while it is going on.

Can you guess which scene she stops to watch, no matter what we are doing? Yep, the scene where they cut Aslan's hair, he dies, and resurrects. I not only do we watch, but she claps, whistles, and cheers when he appears!

She loves it so much, that when our deaf mentor came to our house, she told him about the movie... IN CONSTANT ROTATION.

I do love this version of the movie. I love the religious undertones. I love that Abby understands, but right now I need a break!

Perfect, Perfect, Perfect

Today Abby had an audiology appointment in Sandy, Mike wanted to come, so he took the day off. After the audiology appointment, we went to the Olive Garden for lunch (thank you Kathy and Hilary!) As we pulled into the parking lot, we could see across the street to Sugar House park. During our meal, we talked about how fun it would be to feed the "ducks".

When our meal was finished we decided to follow it up. We had breadsticks leftover, usually we take them home, this time we decided to give them to the ducks. Abby had a blast! The weather was perfect, lunch was perfect, spending quality time with my family... was perfect; best of all, Abby loved it!

As it turned out, the "ducks" we could see from Olive Garden parking lot were seagulls posing as ducks. They have a pretty good "racket" posing as ducks, there were five other families feeding them while we were there.

Schools Out for Summer!

I didn't realize when school got out, teachers and staff were just as anxious for the last day as the kids. I have been looking forward to this day since Christmas! Well Friday was our last day. The teacher I work with bought me a yearbook, so I was in the cafeteria with the other teachers and students saying, "Wanna sign my yearbook?" It made me laugh at the irony!

I worked in the Special Ed department and was relieved when another teacher explained when students wrote H.A.G.S. it meant "Have a great summer." I thought students were writing "HUGS" just mispelled, such a relief!

Saturday, we went with some friends to see the movie "Up". For those of you not wanting to see it, I LOVED IT. The jokes were smart, Pixar paid attention to detail, and it kept my 3 year old's attention... can't beat that! Afterwhich we went to a park to have the kids picnic and play. As the "grown-ups" were sitting on the blankets to visit. One of my kids from school with two others from the junior high passed. I recognized them but didn't say anything to them because they were not looking at me. About an hour later, they passed again... this time, they ALL looked. My first reaction was to say, "Hey guys, howya doing?" They all said, "Hi" back... but then one of them (not my student) said, "See I told you it was the 'lady' from the school!" I have been laughing about that ever since! I have a feeling that won't be the last time I hear that comment before school starts again!

My "Holly" Dilemma

Before Abby was born, Holly was our baby. She was very spoiled. She went EVERYWHERE with us. When she was 7 years old, Abby was born. Our arrival home from the hospital we had family and friends visiting... it was getting late, they started thinning out. I remember studing Holly. The look on her face as everyone left leaving was, "Well, when's that 'thing' gonna leave?" referring to Abby.
Well, a year went by, we had infrequent, but frequent enough "mistakes/on purposes" that I couldn't take the stress. We couldn't afford new carpet but we didn't want to make a perminent decision about Holly, either.
So for about two years Holly has been living in the confines of the kitchen, linoleum, most importantly. I knew she was unhappy, but I couldn't handle one more "on purpose".
Well about two weeks ago, we were in Petsmart and noticed doggie diapers called "Wee Wee Diapers". I had heard about them, but didn't know if they would work for Holly. We decided if they didn't work, we were only down $20 (their expensive for 17). Well I can honestly say, "they work!" As infrequent as her "on purposes" are, we can use the same diaper multiple days, yeah!
In our house everyone seems to be happier. Here are our pictures...

Memorial Day 2009

Today we went to visit Mike's parents. Abby had never been to their plots and we thought it was time to check in on them. The last time we visited was before Abby was born. Their headstones were very overgrown with grass. This time we brought several tools to "edge" and clean them up, but when we got there we were pleasantly surprised that they looked quite nice. Here are pictures of our afternoon.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

I didn't realize how easy these cookies were:

3 beaten eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar
4 squares (4 ounces) unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 cup cooking oil

2 tea baking powder

2 tea vanilla

2 cups flour

sifted powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl combine beaten eggs, sugar, melted chocolate, cooking oil, baking powder, and vanilla. Gradually add flour to chocolate mixture, stirring till thoroughly combined. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours till easy to handle.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar and coat generously. Place in ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day

I know this post is suppost to be about Mother's Day, but I took these pictures before church. She looked so darn cute that I couldn't resist. She didn't like this dress (I LOVE it), but I bribed her with chocolate chips, notice her purse... there is a sandwich bag with chocolate in it! Today was a good day; Mike and Abby went to church, we had pizza, I had a nap, we called Monnie and my mom, and wished my sister a happy birthday.

Now I'm ready for Monday!