Cheer Video!

I finally uploaded a video & it's from my camera, not you tube. I feel like I am moving up in the world. It might be hard to find Schane' but if you look at the main girl in the front & then look directly behind her, that's Schane'. Basically she's off from everybody else. The girls only started the routine on Sat & Sun was the performance. She didn't learn as fast as most of the girls but I am very proud of her for getting up there in front of a ton of people & showing off her stuff.

Monday we slept in, like usual, & hung around the house. She had her regular cheer leading class that night & she was in great spirits, for once. Usually she's tired, grumpy, etc. but last night she was in rare form. The cheer camp helped her get more excited she said, we'll see if the happiness continues on through other Mondays.

Today we went & saw "Journey To The Center Of The Earth", in 3D. The movie reminded me of National Treasure but a lot less action. The kids will enjoy it. I talked to one of my friends & she was disappointed in it but her kids liked it. To each is own. Isn't it that way with most movies anyway?

After that we went & roamed around Cabella's. I have never been there before & Schane' has been dying to show me all the animals inside. Doesnt' it look like the polar bear is taking a chunk out of her head? We got caught up in the aquarium area. I took some pics of the fish but they didn't turn out very well. I'm going to post one just because I couldn't find a posting to go with it so I'm not sur

e what kind it is, except it's some kind of catfish.

Here are a couple more pics from the cheer boot camp on Sun. The boot part means bringing out our talent. The girls really enjoyed the hair & make up part. Abbey loves to play with hair & make up all the time at home. She's constantly giving "makeovers" to any willing individual who sits in front of her. I could really tell you some interesting stories on how Deb & I have looked with our new but not necessarily improved makeovers. Thank goodness I don't have any pictures!

I wasn't going to take a picture of the back of their heads but Schane' wanted this one so I took it. She said she felt really pretty with a little make up on & her hair done when she went on stage. I often will ask her if she wants me to put her hair up or if she wants it in a braid but the answer is always no. It's always when somebody else offers to do her hair that it's ok. But not with Deb, she doesn't like Deb touching her hair. Deb says she used to wear her hear like Schane's, it was exactly how Blair wore it from the tv sitcom _____. I can't remember the name, it's escaping my brain right now.

I need to start blogging earlier, this is getting to be to late for me. Hope you enjoyed the video & could pick out Schane'.

Waiting For The Day....

My phone alarm was set for 7:00 this morning, I woke up at 7:50 & yelled to the girls Holy Crap we need to get up! This is two days in a row my alarm did not go off. Thank goodness though I am pretty organized & had everything ready last night. We just had to grab the water bottles out of the freezer, drinks out of the fridge, & put their lunches in bags. Abbey looked like a zombie & was just standing around. I couldn't give her a list of things to do, I had to tell her after each step what to do next. It was pretty funny & hectic around here.

We get to the school & I tell the girls, see, we're late, the parents are leaving. But some were just arriving too so that made it ok in my book. I go get the girls in the assigned areas, double knot their shoes, give them hugs & kisses & told them that I would be back to watch their performance later. Another round of hugs & kisses & I was off. I'm half way across the gym & I look back to see if Schane' is looking at me, just to see if she was going to blow me kisses. She wasn't so I look at her a second longer & wonder when she's going to think she's to cool to stop blowing me kisses when all of a sudden I hear mom. I look back because I am the only parent left of course & there she is standing up on the bleachers blowing me a kiss & doing our secret sign language goodbye. I blow her a kiss back & do our secret sign language in return to let her know I love her back.

I walk out of the gym wondering again when is she going to stop doing our secret goodbye. She is going into the third grade you know. Pretty soon I'm going to be chopped liver & I'll be teary eyed because it will no longer matter. For right now though I feel proud that she yells my name in the gym, stands up, & blows me kisses. How cool is that?!

Latest pics

This was the girls after I picked them up this afternoon after cheer camp. This weekend was called Operation Boot Camp. I'm surprised they're still smiling or just smiling at all. It's only a two day operation but they fill a lot of stuff in. During orientation this morning the announcer introduced two ladies that were professional cheerleaders. One was with the Phoenix Cardinals (gag). If you don't know who they are then don't worry about it, you're not missing a thing, only the cheerleaders because I suppose they're nice to look at, & the other one was on another sports team but I don't remember which one. You could obviously tell which one was on the P.C. team, she was very polished, had that glued on pretty smile on her face, & just looked real professional. The girls had a great time & can't wait to go next year. Tomorow they go back for more fun & then there will be a performance from each team for the parents. Since Deb can't make it I borrowed her video camera so I could tape it. Maybe I'll even try to post it, or not.

Last week I was having trouble downloading pics off my camera. I finally figured out why. I had video taped the fireworks we were at & when trying to save my photos it wouldn't go past the video tape part. I finally just deleted the video so now I have some new pics to show you.

I realized I didn't tell you the story of our eating out adventure last week. Tim & decided to go to Johnny Rockets for a late lunch before taking Nae' to the movies. We walked around this plaza that has really developed this last year because Tim didn't know any of it was there. We finally walk into J.R. & get seated when we realize it's a little warm in the restaurant. We ask the waiter about it & he said that the air was broken. What??? In Arizona you don't have air in a restaurant & you're open?! What's even crazier is that we stayed. Yes, that's right, we stayed. You know it's bad when you even see the waiter sweating. After a few minutes we ordered & got our drinks, guzzled our drinks down & ordered another round, when Nae' goes & dumps her water all over the place. What else is new, except who in their right mind gives an eight yr old an adult size "glass" of water. After that episode we had to switch tables & then ask for a child size water with a lid, should have done that in the first place.

This was all of us at Chili's Monday night. I know I already talked about it but I didn't have the pic. Did I mention how crazy our kids were? I don't know how we do it sometimes when they're all together. Maybe we should start calling them "Charlie's Little Devils" except they wouldn't get it.

On Wednesday I took Nae' to the bowling alley so she could meet up with one of her friends from school. Nae' won the first round & her friend, Gianna, won the second round. The parents didn't play of course, we wanted the kids to shine by themselves.

Once again it's 10:30 & Schane' won't go to sleep. Abbey is already asleep, hopefully she'll stay asleep tonight, that's another story though. The girls have to be at the high school by 8:30 so she desperately needs to go nighty night.

Rainy Night

Oh ya, it was just mildly raining tonight. Deb & I walked out of Michael's, put our cake stuff in her van, & then I asked if we should walk over to the Dress Barn. She said no, I feel lazy, let's drive. After going into the Dress Barn she said let's go into whatever shoe store was close by, so we did. Approx 15 mins went by & Deb said is it raining outside? We look outside & it wasn't just raining but pouring. We walked about 10ft to the van & we were drenched. We were all laughing in the van when all of a sudden Abbey says I can't dry off my glasses because I'm all wet. I'm laughing right now just thinking about it.





So, our cake class really felt like a waist of time. Like I said before it was going to be a review but I thought at least I would learn something new, that's what I get for thinking. The one thing that we did get to experiment with is a new mat to roll out the fondant on. There are two kinds but our instructor, Tricia, only had the flower mat with her. Deb & I noticed these the other day at Michael's & thought that they were cool so when she had one we were all giddy. Then we experimented with shimmer dust. It makes the cakes all sparkly. At one point one of the other ladies said to Deb, wow you really rolled the fondant out fast. Even with my two bad hands & one in a brace, I still beat the other ladies in rolling out the fondant. We don't mess around ladies!



Abbey is spending the night tonight & tomorrow night & the next night & on & on & on. Just kidding. She'll be picked up Monday morning. Schane' & Abbey have cheer camp Sat & Sun & tomorrow Deb leaves for Texas for a seminar so I was the chosen one to watch her daughter. Deb had bought Schane' & Abbey new pajamas for them to wear while they were together & when we were at Claire's last night she bought them matching sleep eye patches to go with their pajamas. It really was funny because the one's they had on at the store matched their pajamas. AREN'T THEY ADORABLE?!!!!!

Blackmail Photos

Ok, so now I lied to Schane'. I told her that I was getting on the computer "real quick" & that I wasn't going to blog. But then Deb went ahead & sent me these photos of Matt that she took tonight while we were shopping. I of course left my camera in my car which was at her house. I just thought that everybody would get a kick out of her son playing dress up in PayLess & Claire's, I know we did.

I Made It Through...

Yeah, I finally made it. Yesterday I went & got my stitiches out. A much bigger incision than my first. Today I went & got my hand brace. The doctor who did my surgery reminded me to wear it all the time at least for awhile, maybe that's why I'm having more problems with my right, I didn't follow the doctor's orders. I've had it on all day today & man do I want to take it off. I'll sleep with it tonight & then give it some air tomorrow.

Thursday I start my new cake class. I talked to the instructor tonight & basically it's just going to be a review of our final third cake class. Next week we'll start something new. She said don't worry about bringing a cake in this week, I can just work with Deb. Most of the stuff she said that we'd be doing we've been doing already, mainly because we didn't stop after the cake classes, that helped a lot. Kelly had told me that this class is pretty easy but what she probably didn't know is that my carpal was so bad that I couldn't even work the fondant out to spread it out. My instructor helped a lot, Deb helped, Joan helped, & Nicol, my neighbor helped out. Fondant is fun to work with but it comes in a big package that looks like clay & probably feels as hard as clay. It takes quite a bit of time to work it through where you can roll it out.

Tonight I made dinner for Tim, Deb & the kids, & us. We were all getting together to watch the final of Hell's Kitchen. But first we had to watch Wipeout. Have any of you seen that show? If you want something stupid but funny to watch try it out. We all get a kick out of it. It only started 3wks ago & every week the obstacles are a little bit different. The announcers are pretty funny too. They give each of the contestants a nickname & say some pretty funny stuff as they are all wiping out.

Hell's Kitchen is another story. Schane' keeps asking why it's called Hell's Kitchen. I keep telling her would you like to cook under somebody who yells in your face all the time? She keeps saying no but every week she keeps asking the same story. Deb never watched it until she came over to my house one night for dinner & I got her hooked on it. Tim got me hooked on it so it was my turn to get somebody else hooked. We all figured the 42 yr old male would take it because he had more experience but Chef Ramsey chose the 24 yr old female, a culinary student. The show is really kind of funny to watch. There are a lot of bleeps but there are some funny moments too. You also question the producers on where they find some of these cooks. There were two on this season that nobody could stand & they just proved it tonight that they don't belong anywhere near a kitchen.

It's 10:30 & Schane' has been in the computer room at least 4 times wanting me to come watch the final part of a movie she's watching before going to bed. So I will leave it at that. Good night!

Past couple a days...

Since I've had my surgery done I really haven't felt like blogging. This last time really took a toll on both hands & it really has affected me emotionally. Deb told me at one point that I was slacking on my blogging because she was having withdrawls on commenting. Maybe that's why I've slowed down.

Anyway, we haven't done much for awhile. One day we came home & I told Schane' to go get her kite to see if we could get it up in the air. Zach came over & helped for a little bit & then he left so I told Nae' to try it herself. Finally after quite a few try's she got the kite in the air. It wasn't the windiest day but what does that matter unless you're having fun.

We also had another Jr. High swim night. Schane' was caught up in this game that they were playing, she tried her best but they all could outswim her. Give her a few yrs & she'll be passing them all up. The house we were at also had a trampoline. Here April is having fun holding onto Schane' while jumping. Most of the Jr. High are really great with her. Some ignore hr completely while others include her in their games. Schane' is such a softy that I think it's great if they're rough with her a little & vice versa.

I know you can't tell what Schane' is holding but she said it was the best part of the night. That black thing in her lap is a bunny. For quite awhile now she has been begging her dad & I to get a bunny & the answer is always NO. Thank goodness our roommate doesn't want pets because that backs up our plan. Then she goes on & on saying that it can stay at dad's house, who will take care of it, we ask. Dad of course. Wrong! So when we came to this house for the swim party she was just a tad exstatic that there was a bunny in the house. When it came time for her to hold it she was forwarned that it could pee on her, quite a bit I might add. She didn't care, she wanted to hold it no matter what. You'd think she'd have a bigger smile on her face!

July 4th came & with it Joan came home. Scared the crap out of Schane' & I. We didn't expect her til next week & all of a sudden the door opens & I fly off the couch. Schane' thought a burglar was coming in. It took awhile for my heartbeat to go down.

We went to the Peoria stadium where the Mariner's have their Spring Training to see the fireworks. We got there about 5:30 & about 7:30 everything got shut down due to wind & lightening. I wore my sunglasses all eve so I wouldn't get dust in my eyes. We thought for sure they were going to cancel the program but about 9:00 an announcer came on saying they were waiting to get the ok from the fire dept. Approx. 10 mins later the show came on. After the show the kids kept asking us if we could go to one of our houses to play, we looked at the time & it was 10:00. No I don't think so, it's too late. But we're not tired. Ya, ok, wait til your head hits the pillow & then we'll talk. The funny thing about that is that Schane' & I couldn't sleep, we were to wound up.