Happy Birthday Uncle Jim!!
We hope that you’re having a great time sailing this week and that you win your race!
We love you!
The Zoo
Filed under: fam | Tagged: birthday brother, happy birthday | Leave a comment »
Disney On Ice
Posted on February 17, 2009 by Nancy
We took Burke and Maggie to see Disney on Ice yesterday. (Logan got to stay with Aunt Cathy – Thanks Cathy!!)
We didn’t even tell them about it until the night before. (I’m already hearing “Are we going to the baseball game today?” Because they heard me talking about the Spinners game we’ll be heading to in the Spring.)
Since we knew they would have no idea how excited they should be about this, we got them all fired up about going on the train to get there. And they kind of got that they’d be seeing the Cars characters and Tinkerbell and others, but I think they equated it to seeing them on TV – not live and in person.
So off to the train we went.
Daddy and Burke on the Train
Maggie and Mommy on the Train
When we got there, we got in line to see the princess dresses on display. Maggie *loves* Cinderella, so we took her picture in front of the most coveted dress.
Maggie and Cinderella's Dress
And then, much to our pleasure, the real Cinderella showed up!
Cinderella - Way up Ahead
Unfortunately, by the time we got up there, Cinderella had to go. But Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) took over in her place.
The Zoo with Belle
(Maggie was playing shy girl because someone else took our picture.)
We stopped to get some snacks (and a beer for Mike) and headed off to look for our seats. You should have seen the “Oh thank God there’s beer here” looks Mike got from the other dads we passed. LOL
We found our seats and I hear “Is that Maggie?” from the row behind us. Turns out that one of their class mates was there too! I hadn’t met the mom, but I recognized the little girl. Her mom said that she recognized Maggie’s yellow bow. LOL I suppose it is hard to miss. And we did get quite a few compliments on it throughout the day.
Waiting for the show to start (I kind of had my camera at a strange angle on some of these…)
The show started!
Minnie and Mickey
Transfixed
Also Transfixed
Pretzel? What Pretzel?
And then the Cars came out! Oh man – Burke’s favorite part.
Especially when Lightnin’ McQueen came out.
McQueen!
It switched to The Little Mermaid, so Maggie got excited.
The Little Mermaid!
ut oh Ursula!
The Lion King was up next.
And Mike was tickled to see that Rafiki even had the monkey butt going on.
The kids were still transfixed.
I loved how they did the wildebeests. The skaters had one on each arm and one on their head to make it look like there was a pack of them. Pretty cool
Intermission brought playing with their new light-up toys and the Zamboni! As soon as the lights came up, Burke declared that he wanted to see it again. (Like I could rewind and push play LOL) Luckily, there was more coming.
Act 2 brought Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy back as the hosts.
And Burke sitting on Daddy’s lap.
Maggie was happy that it started again.
Tinkerbell was the final act. Burke got a little restless and had to go out and run around for a little bit. But it wasn’t long before they came back.
Burke liked the flying queen.
The grand finale had Tinkerbell flying and Mickey and his gang back out in formal attire.
It was a great show! And the kids loved it. My favorite part? Watching the kids’ faces. (I’m such a mom!)
Filed under: me, Mike, pictures, twins | Tagged: Cars, Disney on Ice, kiddo outing, Lion King, Little Mermaid, Mickey Mouse, Tinkerbell | 11 Comments »
Crazy
Posted on February 16, 2009 by Nancy
Another post taken directly from Facebook notes going around…
(Sorry FB buddies!)
What Does Your Music Library Say About You??
————————–
1. Put Your iPod (or other MP3 player/music library) on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.
5. Tag as desired.
————————–
1. What do your friends think of you?
“God Says Nothing Back” The Wallflowers
2. If someone says, “Is this okay?” You say?
“And it Stoned Me” Van Morrison
3. How would you describe yourself?
“Fond Farewell” Elliott Smith
4. What do you like in a guy/girl?
“Making Love Out of Nothing at All” Air Supply
5. How do you feel today?
“Fast Car” Tracy Chapman
6. What is your life’s purpose?
“Someday You Will Be Loved” Death Cab for Cutie
7. What is your motto?
“Numb” U2
8. What do you think about very often?
“Billy Peddle” Great Big Sea
9. What is 2 + 2?
“Brian Wilson” Barenaked Ladies
10. What do you think of your best friend?
“Sometimes When We Touch” Dan Hill (hmmmm)
11. What do you think of the person you like?
“Life’s Been Good” Joe Walsh (Perfect 🙂 )
12. What is your life story?
“The Rapper” The Jaggerz
13. What do you want to be when you grow up?
“Keep Your Hands to Yourself” Georgia Satellites
14. What do you think of when you see the person you like?
“I Like to Move It” Reel 2 Reel (hmmm)
15. What will (did) you dance to at your wedding?
“Baby I can’t Please You” Sam Phillips
16. What will they play at your funeral?
“Starry Eyed Surprise” Paul Oakenfold
17. What is your hobby/interest?
“Dirty Little Girl” Elton John (HAHAHAHA)
18. What is your biggest fear?
“Jealous Guy” John Lennon
19. What is your biggest secret?
“Cup of Life” Ricky Martin
20. What do you think of your friends?
“Starlight Express” Andrew Lloyd Webber
21. What will you post this as?
“Crazy” KC & Jojo
Filed under: me | Tagged: facebook notes, iPod, musical taste | 4 Comments »
Spiritual Struggle
Posted on February 15, 2009 by Nancy
I hesitate to write about this because I have no idea if anyone from my church has found my blog. I doubt it, but you never know…I decided to go ahead anyway, because I’m really struggling and I seem to do better if I write things out.
Mike and I started attending church a little over a year ago. The congregation accepted us with open arms and everyone has been incredibly nice. The kids love going and Maggie has loved playing in the nursery room since day one. Burke has just started to let us leave him down there, but he’s loving it now as well. Logan hates it when we rush out, but he enjoys playing as well. And all of the ‘Tweens who help out down there seem to really get a kick out of all 3 kids. (They even give me hugs – which is cool.)
Many of the adults in the church are much older than we are, but like I said – they welcome us with open arms. There are others there our age, with kids about the same age as our kids (mostly a little older though). Not a LOT of kids in the church, but I’m fairly certain that that’s actually the norm in our area.
So what’s the struggle? I don’t love the minister. Talking with him one-on-one is okay – he’s grown on me over the past year. But listening to him preach takes a lot out of me. His messages are…well, preachy. (For example, the message I took away last week was “The World is Wrong.” Not really the best message – in my opinion.) And the entire service is so … down. I mean, I swear this guy finds the darkest passages and the darkest hymns and builds his sermons around them. I can understand “dark” every once in a while…but you really don’t have to look that hard to find uplifting passages and hymns. To top it off, most of the messages are pretty accusatory. (“If you have money in your pocket, you’re not doing the word of God.” And lots of “You must”s and “Never do”s … I guess I’m just not an absolutest.)
To be fair, I had two amazing ministers while growing up and it’s hard to not compare things to them. Both have incredible senses of humor – a must in my book. And their messages were almost always (if not entirely) uplifting. They never made me feel like I was being accused of doing – or not doing – something, but I “got” the messages they were sending. I suppose it helped that they were both close family friends as well…
I guess my point is, if you can get your messages across without all the doom and gloom, why do people still use it?
Filed under: deep thoughts | Tagged: church, doom and gloom | 8 Comments »
A Valentine’s Day Poem
Posted on February 14, 2009 by Nancy
Roses are red
Violets are blue
If you’re enjoying this rhyme
I now know that you’re cheesy too
Filed under: holiday | Tagged: poem, valentines day | 3 Comments »
Friday’s Foto Finish Fiesta
Posted on February 13, 2009 by Nancy
Candid Carrie sponsors this one – head over to her blog and find LOTS of links for bloggers who’ve joined in! (You can join in too!)
This was taken on Thanksgiving of 2003 – and just happens to show my love of potatoes.
Holy Huge Potato!
Filed under: FFFF | Tagged: big potatoes | 6 Comments »
Long Day
Posted on February 12, 2009 by Nancy
It’s just after noon, and it’s already been a long day. Mostly because it was a long, long night. We actually got to bed early for a change (11:00…I know, what the heck?! We need to start going to bed earlier). But Logan woke up somewhere between 11:30 and 11:45 for at least 15 minutes of solid crying until the Gas-B-Gone kicked in. (That’s two nights in a row…gotta monitor his intake over the next few days to see why he’s been so gassy.)
Then around 1AM, Maggie woke up crying. She was complaining – at first – that her legs were hurting. And then that she’d had a bad dream. And then back to her legs hurting. And then that she was going to throw up. *sigh* Have I mentioned that she’s somewhat of a drama queen? I have to imagine that the nights she sleeps on her stomach, her legs fall to sleep…it freaks her out, so perhaps THAT is the bad dream? And she got a lot of attention the week she was throwing up, so I imagine that she’s using that as a last-ditch effort to gain the attention she thinks she should be getting at such an hour.
She woke up again at 2AM and 3:30. The 3:30 episode woke Burke up … who didn’t want to go back to sleep without Daddy staying for a while (like he does when they’re first falling to sleep.)
Burke also woke up at 6AM requesting his “4.” (He’s been playing with the candle shaped into the number 4 from their birthday cake.) I groaned and told him it was too early – he could have it when we woke up for the day. (Mike had already re-set the alarm around 2:30 or so.)
I really, really hope they all sleep through the night tonight!!
Filed under: kids | Tagged: bad dreams, drama queen, night wakings, sleeping through the night | 6 Comments »
Way Back When-esday
Posted on February 11, 2009 by Nancy
Cheryl over at Twinfatuation hosts this one. Go on over to see who else is playing – and join in too!
In honor of what would have been my step-father’s 81st birthday tomorrow (right, 81?), I’m posting a way back from Christmas of 2004. This picture makes me happy AND sad as 3 out of 4 of the people in it are no longer with us.
Mom, Joe, Grandma Marge, Grandpa Jim
Filed under: WBW | Tagged: grandparents, Mom, step-dad | 8 Comments »
Personal Security
Posted on February 10, 2009 by Nancy
In an effort to save a little money, we’re in the process of changing internet/cable/phone bundle providers. (Sorry Jon!) While talking with Mike last night, he mentioned our new phone number. So I asked if he had remembered to request that it be unlisted. Oops…
Part of the reason for unlisting it is that we never use the thing. It’s hooked up to our FAX machine, so we never answer it. What’s the point of listing it if it will just frustrate people because we never answer it? However, the biggest reason I’d like for it to be unlisted is this blog. I use our real names, so if we have a listed phone number it would be super easy to “come get us” – a little scary if you ask me…
So Mike called them back this morning to make the request. Their reply? “Sure! $4.99 a month and we’d be happy to do that for you.” What??? I’ve never had to pay to keep my phone unlisted! Mike looks at me with those “ahhh…what do I do??” eyes (the good man knows when his wife is upset 😉 ).
So I took the phone and had the following conversation:
Me: (Obviously pissed upset) I’ve never had to pay for this before.
Customer Service: There’s always been a fee – even I pay it.
Me: Maybe through YOU guys, but no one else has ever charged me. It’s ridiculous that I have to pay for my own personal safety!
CS: Well…we can remove your address.
Me: Do I have to pay for that?
CS: No, that’s free.
Me: (thinking, “And you didn’t mention this before because…?”) Yes, that’s what we’d like.
CS: Do you want your town removed as well?
Me: (thinking, “Seriously, you really have to ask me that?”) Yes.
CS: Let me put you on hold.
So…our phone number is listed, but apparently our address will be left off. Geeez.
Filed under: venting | Tagged: customer service, unlisted number | 9 Comments »
HAPPY
Posted on February 10, 2009 by Nancy
Happy Birthday Aunt Sharon!!
We hope you have a great day and you don’t have to work too hard. We also hope to see you soon because we really like giggling with you and Grey.
We love you!
–The Zoo
Filed under: fam | Tagged: birthday sisters | Leave a comment »
The Zimmer Zoo 