LET'S GO TO THE BAHAMA'S

Last week, my daughter brought home an assignment for a project to be due this week. Her class is learning about different countries around the world, and each student was assigned a specific country to gather information about and put together a project on a half sheet of poster board detailing facts and information about that country. On friday, they are having a "tasting party" where each student is to bring in a food that is commonly eaten in the assigned country. When Megan brought the assignment home, we both were excited about it. I have actually looked forward to her first "major" assignment like this. I LOVED doing projects like this when I was a kid. I remember doing one specific project on the Pueblo Indians, and though I don't recall one single fact about them at the ripe old age of 33, I do remember getting an A+ on my 3D project of a Pueblo Indian village! (not to brag, haha). So I promised Megan we'd get started on her project the coming weekend, and I laid the assigment sheet down on the dining room table to read it later......


FAST FORWARD to today. Here is the conversation I had in the car on the way home from school:
MOM: How was your day?
MEGAN: Good...you know what?
MOM: What?
MEGAN: My project is due tomorrow.
MOM: What project?
MEGAN: You know...the "BE-HOH-MAAAAS"
MOM: Oh, I almost forgot, you have to take food for a tasting party. OK.

Then Ryan starts talking to her and we move on to a different conversation. At this point, I am thinking all I have to do is go to the grocery store and buy a few "Carribean" types of food to pass off as a Bahamian delicasse! FAST FORWARD to the conversation I had at 7:00 tonight.

MEGAN: MOM! Are we going to do my project now?
MOM: Yeah, I'm going to the store to get some Bahama food for you in just a few minutes.
MEGAN: OK...but my tasting party isn't until Friday.
MOM: (confused), OH! Well, do you have to take the food to school tomorrow? (which wouldn't make sense if they weren't going to eat it until Friday...so that was a stupid question!)
MEGAN: NO! I have to take my project tomorrow.

Suddenly, there is a slight memory if a project beginng to take form in my mind. I knew about the food....but couldn't remember about the other.

MOM: Megan, where is the assignment paper you brought home about your project and we'll read over it to be sure we know what we're supposed to do.
MEGAN: I don't know...I gave it to you, what did you do with it? (She says, with her hands up in the air...all sassy-like. Normally, that might irritate me, but hey...she's got a point)
MOM: I don't know where it is...lets look.


She tries to help me, but unfortunately, my daughter has inherited "man disease" when it comes to looking for anything! You know...the MAN comes to the WOMAN who did not wear his belt last, and asks "Have you seen my belt?". It's a constant scenario in our home...man loose belt...wife must have done something with it. Man says he looked everywhere...even in the floor. Wife walks to his side of bed and finds belt. (Sorry to any men reading this part of the post...it's just a sore subject in our house).


ANYWAY...BACK TO THE ORIGIONAL TOPIC.


Once I find the sheet, it's nearly 8pm, and I realized Dad has to go out to the store after all, but not for Carribean food....for glue, posterboard and construction paper. Megan and I head to the internet and print off pictures relating to the Bahamas...the contry flag, the scenary, the currency, a map of the islands, etc. Megan had the best time cutting, and gluing and I snapped a few pics. Her project turned out fine for a first timer, and she was very proud of it. She did most of the work...I did have to help her a few times. But here is the Project:























Hopefully, this isn't going to set a bad example for getting future projects done. I really didn't intend for my childhood days of procrastination on school work to spill over into my child.

A chuckle from the good ol' days...

Does anybody remember these commercials before Jim Varney's "Ernest" character became popular enough to make movies? Jonathan and I were talking last night about commercials and TV shows we grew up on....Benson, SOAP, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Aire, etc. We had a blast looking up clips from all of these. In my search on You Tube, I also came across these old commercials from Ernest aka "Know what I mean Vern?". I just wanted to post a few of the ones I remembered most...have a laugh.

The Hands in the window Sprite Commercial....look at the can!


The short in the wire commercial..."My Daddy used to work on 'em!"

The "I like your little DUCK!" commercial...

WAY TO GO BABY GIRL!

Well, we got report cards again today....Megan got straight A's once again! For a while there, I really was getting concerned because she had begun to slip a little bit in her math grades that were coming home. They have math drills once a week in class, and she was taking too long to answer questions, therefore not making it to the end of the drill in some cases. Then, after talking about it, she started blurting out anything that came to mind...most of the time being off by one.
Here is an example of our practice drills at home:
Mom shows flash card 8-4=
Megan shouts: "........3!"
Mom: "No, try again"
Megan: "....uh....{counts on her fingers}, OH,4!"
With many conversations like this...it gets frustrating to both her, and me. But hey, at least this is the kind of homework I can actually HELP her with! When she gets to prealgebra, it's over...we're calling tutors. I'm helpless...and Dad has NO patience with her when it comes to homework. So here's hoping that she continues to make straight A's, becomes much more "book smart" than her parents, goes on to college, and majors in something that will provide her with a lucrative paycheck so that her parents will be taken well care of in their elderly years. That's what every parent hopes for, right?
By the way...we celebrated like last time by taking her out to eat to the restaurant of her choice, or, by spending $36 on a meal at Red Robin. Not only is it really too expensive, but it's also completely full of fat! Makes it hard to loose weight when you are given virtually no low fat choices. I did my best, but failed yet again. I've really gotta get on the ball, or I'll be the only one on my team to NOT loose the required $10 pounds for the Scale Back Alabama program. If you haven't heard of it...click HERE for more info...
No pictures from tonight...but I'll take some this weekend.

Excuse me, is this the TWILIGHT ZONE???

Sorry. I just had to document this.

I'm sitting at the computer doing my usual daily surfing of the net (and procrastinating with regards to ANY housework that I should be doing), when suddenly...my sweet, and semingly happy little girl bounces in the room and announces that she would like to help me by cleaning something. She then asks me if it's ok that she cleans the bathroom! I honestly didn't know what to say. I stammered around for a moment and probably gave her the biggest shocked look ever.

"Yes Ma'am, you absolutely may clean the bathroom"

I showed her where the clorox wipes were, and away she went. She was very proud of herself when she finished and couldn't wait for me to come view her work. So, I just had to document this remarkable event, because it couldn't possibly ever happen again!~!~!~!~!~!

The Traditional Family Pic

Every year (for the last 4 years) we have taken a big family picture on Christmas day while we are at Mom and Dad's house. This year was no different. To get everyone smiling at the same time, we decided to sing "CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE" really loud until the camera flashed. It got to a point where we were laughing so hard and it was increasingly difficult to keep the pretty smiley face for the photo. And, every year, my dad sets the video camera up in the corner of the room and tapes us doing this! It is hilarious to watch footage from the past years of us doing the same thing. I know in years to come, that photo, as well as the video footage, will become PRICELESS to us! In some ways it already is! But, here is this years photo....

THE HOLIDAY BLAH'S...

I love Christmas.

I LOVE Christmas.

But I hate after Christmas.

I hate taking down the tree,

putting up the lights and decorations.

It's just so depressing.

So, I'm protesting!

I'm keeping the decorations up forever!

Just Kidding! Seriously, I hated taking it all down, but I'm glad to have the house back. With such a small home, and such a large tree...it eats up our space. But this year, we've got more space than ever! We have officially moved the kids into their own bedrooms, and all of the toys have now left the living room (plus or minus a few they keep bringing back), and the toys are all in their own rooms now! I almost feel like I have a new house with all the walking space! It's awesome!

So how was your Christmas? Ours was great. Although, we had a lot of sadness surrounding us this year. On the Friday before, Jonathan lost an Uncle. He was elderly, but it's one of the last Uncle's he has, so it's sad. And on that same day, my cousin, Ricky, was killed in a car accident. He was in Calera, and apparently had a seizure while driving, and the accident killed him instantly. He had just started having seizures, and his neice was just diagnosed with epilepsy the same day, so we're wondering if it's all related in that part of the family now. I had not seen him in at least 15 years, but it was so sad to see him at the funeral. Please pray for that family, as they are having a hard time dealing with the sudden passing of Ricky.

Then on Saturday, a friend I work with lost her dad to pancreatic cancer. He fought a long hard battle...but the Lord healed him forever with a perfect body on December 22. It's definatly been tough for my friend, and my heart goes out to her. I pray you will lift her up as well.

Between all of that, I had to take my son to the doc on Christmas eve because he got so sick with "the crud" as the doc put it. He was running a low grade fever, and had major congestion. He was plain miserable. But we soldiered on through and he was actually much better on Christmas day....just a little groggy. On the way home from the doc on Christmas eve, I witnessed a massive car wreck unfolding before me, just 3 cars ahead on the Expressway. Cars spinning, flipping, and lots of smoke! I was praying the whole time "God please spare us from this!!!!!" When everything came to a rest, a SUV was lying upside down on the side of the road right next to my car. Miraculously, everyone was ok...thanks to seatbelts. When the car came to a rest, I really thought they were dead because all I saw were arms hanging out the windows. But then they got up and walked away! AMAZING! After witnessing that, and loosing my cousing in a wreck a few days prior, I was so rattled! Needless to say, we drove very cautiously the rest of the day and even now!

But, at least we made it through the holidays. My kids are spoiled beyond measure. They love all of the toys they got, and my hubby even got me a great gift this year! A new camera! YAY! He did good!

Here are a couple of pics from our holiday....

Here's all the Grandkids my parents have...They're all getting so big.

Granny gave Ryan his own bible...and he loves reading-uh-MOMMY reading it to him.

Another of Megan's favorite gifts...a picture frame that says "Brother 4 Sale". She specifically asked for this after seeing it at the Justice For Girls store....I can't convince her that he's not for sale! Go Figure. After opening this, she said "Oh Yeah! I am SO putting Ryan's picture in this!"

Megan leaving the reindeer food out on the lawn. Poor Ry was so sick, and already asleep, so he couldn't do it.

THE BIG ONE! The kids were so surprised to get a trampoline! They never expected it. We've ALL had a lot of fun jumping on it!

So now, to you and yours, I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2008 bring you peace, happiness, love and luck! May you find yourself in the center of God's will, and surrounded by his grace!

Christmas came a little early yesterday...

Well, I gotta say...PAPAW DELIVERED! Megan has been begging for a Loft Bed for at least the last four months. One weekend, about 3 months ago, we spent the entire time looking all over town for the "perfect" loft bed. She wants a white one (as does mom, because it looks more "girly" and will match any decor best). She wants a huge desk that goes all the way across the bottom portion, lengthwise. While looking all over town, we came to one conclusion...We really didn't have $1000 to spend on a bed for her. We don't want to use credit. We didn't really wish to spend that much money on a bed...we haven't spent that much money on ANY piece of furniture in our entire house! Well, we put our desires for this bed on hold, indefinitely. That is, until Jonathan was visiting with his dad about a month ago and happened to learn that his dad was building bunk beds for the colleges around his town.

Jon's response, "OH REALLY!"

Hahaha. Yes, we told him what we needed/wanted out of a Loft bed, and Papaw said "I can have it ready the weekend before Christmas".

WOW! DEAR DAUGHTER'S DREAMS ARE COMING TRUE!

We didn't mention this piece of information to Megan, and yesterday morning, we got the phone call from Papaw that the bed was ready, and packed up in the truck and they were headed to town! Once they got close to our house, Megan and I went out for a bit, and let her daddy and Papaw get it ready (all unbeknown to her, of course). Once they were done, Dad called to tell us to come home, and SURPRISE! Megan walks in to a new LOFT BED in her room! It's so awesome! We still have to paint it, but she LOVES it already.

Here are a few pics for you:

IT'S CHRISTMAS! YAY!

Well, a true sign that Christmas is near is when our kids get out of school...we are there! Tuesday night was the school Christmas program, and Ryan's first year to participate. He was such a HAM and he didn't even see me in the audience! He looked like he was having the best time up there, and he certainly kept me laughing! Every year, the kids pretty much do the same songs, but this year the teachers threw in a few new ones. One of the best was the first grade class singing the 12 days of Christmas. When it got to the "5 Golden Rings" part, all the girls had on golden rings, and held their arms out front while all the boys turned and "presented" them. It was really cute. They did the standard "Frosty the Snowman" song, but it was cute as always...it must be those cute black top hats they wear. Ryan's K3 class sang "Away in a Manger" and "Jingle Bells" and then the entire school came together for the finale of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". So now...the kids are out of school until the first of the year. It's only been a few days and already we've gotten so much done! I'll blog about all that later, but for now, here are a few pics for you to enjoy....

The Road To Bethlehem...

This past Sunday, my church, CrossPoint, performed a Christmas musical. It was called The Road To Bethlehem, and featured our choir, as well as the newly formed Drama Ministry. I have had more fun in the last few months since joining this ministry, and I had the time of my life this past Sunday! I was only an extra, but those of us who were cast as extras took our roles very seriously. (BWHAHAHAHAH! We really did...but we goofed off a bunch too!) My husband took a few pictures of us during the second showing, and here is a quick slide show. Hope you enjoy!

When Santa's away, the Elves will play

I sent this to some of you in an email, but in case you didn't get it...here it is again. Brought to you by the creative minds at JIB JAB, here is a movie starring THE BARRETT FAMILY. (plus an extra mom. The movie had room for 5 faces, and I didn't like the random face it chose to place in with us...a creepy looking guy was dancing with Megan...so I added myself twice).
Anyway, enjoy...

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

OUR TRIP WAS....

WONDERFUL!

We had a great trip last weekend! I can't wait to go back there again, and especially at Christmas. Everything was tailored towards families, and it was so wonderful! The kids loved the trains, we got to go to an Elf Workshop where they could make ornaments, color pictures, etc. We went to the Tennessee Aquarium, took in a 3D Imax movie, rode on The Polar Express train all the way to the North Pole where we picked up Santa and he visited with us on board. Mrs. Claus was on board with a few of her elves, and we all sang Christmas songs, drank chocolate milk and ate cookies! The Chattanooga Choo Choo brought Santa in (very authentic looking!), and we had virtually NO WAIT TIME to get in Santa's lap and start listing all the things on our wish lists. Our Holiday Package came with a free picture with Santa, and an commemorative holiday ornament, as well as everything listed above. As you can see, WE HAD THE BEST TIME! I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to take a little holiday trip! Go to www.choochoo.com for more information on all of the holiday packages they offer. In the mean time, here is a little slide show to watch of the Barrett Family Trip...

HAPPY 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO US!

WOW! 10 years flew by fast! December 6, 1997 seems like ages ago, yet also like it was only yesterday. Our lives have changed drastically since then. There have been good and bad times, healthy and sick times, and LOTS of poor times...still waiting on the "For Richer" part...haha.

Over all, I am so blessed and happy with my life. I had a wonderful Christmas wedding...I have a WONDERFUL husband and together we've been given 2 WONDERFUL children. It's more than I could have ever dreamed for myself!

HAPPY 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY JONATHAN! I LOVE YOU!

We got JUSTICE'D!

Yesterday, right after school, Megan went to a birthday party at Justice for Girls. Her friend had invited all the girls in her class to join in on a "Glamour Girl" type of party. They got their hair, and makeup done...picked out 6 little goodies to put in their goodie bag, wore feather boa's and had the time of their lives!!!! Megan came away from this party looking FAB-U-LOUS! Of course, she wants to have her birthday party there in February, but we'll just have to wait and see. But here is a slide show of pics from the day!

PS...little brother was bored out of his mind during this party! But he behaved so well, and for the most part, played in the dressing rooms. He's such a trooper!

A little late, but...

Here are just a few pics of Thanksgiving. I know we're over a week past, but I didn't have much time to download pics and post until now...so here goes.

Megan's class made their Indian (i.e. "Native American" to be politically correct) T-Shirts at school. She named hers "Pocahontas"...probably because that is the only Native American (or Indian...) name she knows. Whatever the case, my little Indian princess was cute in her shirt.

Ryan's class didn't do T-shirts, but fortunately he was still able to fit into the T-shirt his class made last year, and therefore got to be like big sis! His shirt didn't have a name, but we just called him CHIEF RYAN. He didn't mind...he thought it was cool.

Ah, yes. My little Native children gathering the corn to prepare for our meal! Haha! Megan loves to eat corn, Ryan...not so much. But he didn't mind holding it for a picture!

And, after those few moments, our day got CRAZY! With so much family to see on the Holiday, we were cooking, eating, driving, eating, visiting, eating, sleeping and eating ALL DAY LONG. Thankfully, we were able to fit everything into the day...we just didn't take any more pictures.

Jonathan bought a new camera this weekend....so I am pretty sure that we'll be posting LOTS of pics here soon! It's the camera he wanted, which means he'll actually TAKE the pictures and I can be in them....since he wouldn't really touch the old one, I was the one that took all the pics and then our family snapshots made my children look motherless!

Anyway...there they are, hope you enjoyed.

A RARE look at a Political Debate...

I rarely blog about anything political. OK, I've actually NEVER blogged about anything political. But the clip below was sent to me in an email by a friend, and I thought it was cool. I am sure the moderator didn't intend an answer such as this...but it also begs the question "WHY?" I don't think they are honestly interested in this man's personal belief system. I really only think they are trying to break down the "religious quacks" from the worlds "normal" standard.
Watch the clip, and let me know what you think about it....


Let me state, I am in no way pushing my opinion of this man as a good choice for president. I actually have never heard of him! It's just an interesting video clip...

FROM THE MOUTHS OF....BABES? Or really blunt 3 year olds!

At work, most of my day is spent sharing a bite of plastic fruit lovingly prepared for me by my students in the plastic kitchen playset of our classroom. I play along, because I know how hard they've slaved over this meal, and it will put a HUGE smile of pride on their sweet little faces. Well, imagine the smile on MY face after I had the following conversation with one of my students...we'll call her "Jane".

Jane: "Ms. Bawwett, herew you some food. Eat it!"

Me: "Oh, Thanks so much! How did you know I was so hungry?"

Jane: "EAT IT!"

Me: "OK...YUM!, Pizza is my favorite, and it goes so well with a piece of lettuce and....what is that? a cookie, or a doughnut?"

Jane looks carefully at the plate of scrumptious food she's brought to me.

Jane: "You bettur not eat that...YOU BE FAT!"

(INSERT BELLY LAUGHTER HERE...MINE NOT HERS!)

DIET ON!

Christmas time is OFFICIALLY here!

HO! HO! HO!

Even though the retailers, and radio stations have been pushing Christmas for quite sometime now, there is only one thing that officially rings in the Christmas holiday season for us....When Mom goes shopping on BLACK FRIDAY and Dad and the kids stay home and put up the tree. It's tradition going 6 years strong now that Jonathan stays home and keeps kids, while I go out early in the morning and try to get as much Christmas shopping done as possible. What makes this year even more enjoyable is that I have a job, I get a paycheck, and I HAD CASH MONEY TO SPEND THIS YEAR! WOOOOO HOOOOOO! Hahaha!

After an exhausting, but wonderful day of time with all our family on Thanksgiving, it was out to weave in and out of the crowds of wacko's in Target, WalMart, and all the other stores. The bad news...I didn't arrive at Target in time to swipe one of the main gifts I was hunting for-The Hannah Montana Doll and her friends, Lilly and Oliver. It was a limited supply (what the crap!) at Target, and I've seen them on Ebay...but I'm not sure I can spend that much for the doll when it was only $30 to begin with. My Mom asked a salesman if they'd be getting in any more, and He said probably not since it was a limited edition doll set they did exclusively for Target.... BOOOOOO HOOOOOO! Oh well, maybe I'll one later in the year of 2008! But the good news is, I'm nearly done with my Christmas shopping! A few things here and there, and I will be ready to wrap it all up! The kids are sooooooo excited! I'm sooooo excited! Even Dad is in the Christmas spirit now-he refused to listen to any holiday songs, etc until AFTER Thanksgiving.

So we have the tree up, and decorated. Dad is putting the lights on the house today....and we are ready to start celebrating this wonderful time of year!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

USELESS...BUT INTERESTING...

I found a web site today that gives random "facts" about an array of topics. You can visit the site by clicking HERE if you wish...but here a few facts I found today...

1. The first toilet being flushed in a motion picture was in the movie Psycho. (HEY! At least HE flushed!!!)

2.Most liquid laundry detergents are alive with living organisms that help to break down stains! (EWWW! KINDA SCARY!!!)

3.TIME Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1938 was Adolf Hitler. (WHAT?????)

4. In Tibet it is considered good manners to stick out your tongue at someone. (Great, that's all I need...an excuse from my kids as to "why" they stick out their tongue. Let's keep this on the DOWN LOW!)

5. In many countries, urine was used as a detergent for washing. (OK...I'll stick with the living organisms in my detergent!)

6.Americans did not commonly use forks until after the Civil War. (OMG! How do you eat primarily with a spoon???)

7. Americans will spend more on cat food this year than baby food. (For some reason, this is not so surprising to me)

8. Up to the age of six or seven months a child can breathe and swallow at the same time. An adult cannot do this. (Hmmm, I never paid attention to this when my babies were that age, but I guess that makes sense. Ryan could always sug his bottles down so fast, and I always wondered if he was breathing!!!!!)

9.Snails breathe through their feet. (huh? I've never seen a snail with FEET)

10.40% of women have hurled footwear at a man. (OH, that's a shocker! I mean, we women LOVE SHOES, so they are plentiful!)

Let me know of your useless facts! My husband is full of them and I call him "Cliff Claven"...you know the mailman from the TV sitcom "Cheers" who knew little tidbits of EVERYTHING! Yep...I married him. But tonight..at dinner...I can appear to KNOW IT ALL! LOL

FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS...

To GirlScout, Or Not To GirlScout...

Ok, growing up, I never did a whole lot of "extra curricular" type of activities. The most "extra" I got was being a cheerleader for 2 years for South Roebuck Football. I loved being a cheerleader, but my mom says she got tired of seeing my frowning face and didn't sign me up after that. As I remember it, I was told I couldn't do it anymore because I was too old...funny how the truth comes out as we get older...haha. And to clear up that misconception of my "frowning" face...I specifically remember that it was always a Saturday Morning that we were cheering for a football game, and we had to stand with our back to the field, faces to the sun shining in our eyes and I was only "Frowning" to be able to see!!!!!!!!!!

Nuff Said 'bout that...

Anyhoo...Megan has been invited to join a Brownie Scout group. I'm thinking this may be a good thing for her. Most kids her age have long been involved in SOMETHING...dance, gymnastics, cheernastics, softball, soccer, etc. I have never signed her up for anything because of one reason....MONEY$$$$$! There is a troop that meets at her school, which is really convienent since 1. I work there, 2. She goes to school there, and 3. I know the leader because she also teaches at the school. So we're thinking about it. There is not much to cost...as a matter of fact, the most expensive part will be to get her vest/patch starter at a $45 cost. I pay $10 a year in fees, $5 a month to the troop for "extras" (or something like that), and the best part is...GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!!!!!!

THAT'S IT! I'M SOLD! HAND OVER THE THIN MINTS!

Megan's gonna be a Girl Scout!

Seriously...we're talking to her about it. We've been having "sassy attitude" problems lately, and we've told her that this is something that she can EARN as a privelege if she get's her attitude in check and stops talking back, and start being a little more respectful. She's been working on it since Tuesday....yesterday was a good day (the other's not so much). We'll see how it goes. I really want her to do this, but I feel she needs to earn it, so hopefully this will be a little incentive.

I'M ROUTING FOR YA MEGAN!

(Mama really want's those Thin Mints!)