Me - October 31

Here I am - at the party E planned for a group of about 15 high schoolers, and 4 middle schoolers. I was documenting the event, when E took the camera from me, and turned it on me! I said "Yay - I need a picture - it's the last day of the month". However, I see that I never actually curled my hair!! Oh well.

Halloween was a beautiful day! The kids all had a 1/2 day for the end of the card-marking - and E and A and the gang had a great time eating donuts on a string, bobbing for apples, having a balloon battle, having Light Saber Battles (this was just the guys), and winding up the night with a spirited Halloween Trick 0r Treat Photo Scavenger hunt, that the whole neighborhood had fun helping them complete! I'll post some of those photos next!

I am a ROCKIN' Halloween Mom

I'm just sayin'....

I've spent since this past Sunday working on this year's Halloween masterpeice at the request of my youngest daughter - who has been in a Halloween appliance phase since 4th grade...

Here she is as a washing machine in Fourth Grade:
At the end of 4th grade, she was in a production of Pinnochio. She talked us into letting her keep the block costume with "I'll turn it into a halloween costume!" So, for 5th grade, she opted to be a microwave oven:
Sixth grade was rough - it was her older sister's first year of High School and Marching Band, and Halloween got here without much opportunity for us to create a new masterpiece - but that was OK - A just got out the microwave costume again!!


But - 2 years as a microwave was more than enough... Plus - she wanted to attend the Middle School Halloween Dance (Which starts in less than an hour - thus my push to get this finished today!), and she wanted a killer costume for the contest. SO... she commissioned me to create for her a toast in a toaster costume! I think it turned out really really cool!! If you look really closely - you'll see that the toaster is just the microwave, repurposed into a toaster!


Happy Halloween All!!

A Sings "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia

A was asked to sing at the Choir concert last night... technically, she is not in choir, although she would love to be! Because both Band and Choir are full year electives, and the 7th grade schedule only allows 1.5 years of electives - she had to make a difficult choice! We encouraged her to stick with band, as there is nothing outside of school for her to do to keep that up - but we provide her with lots of singing opportunities outside of school!

Making a long story short - A has Drama for her .5 year elective (surprised? LOL) and the Choir teacher and the Drama teacher are one and the same. One day in class, A glanced at the piano and saw this song out, and remarked to the teacher "I worked on that song with my voice teacher last year!" Next thing you know, she's auditioning after school, and being asked to sing at last night's concert! (The theme of the concert was "Journeys")

If you are a grandparent or an aunt or uncle - I advise you to get your tissues ready now!!

Hairspray - Skating - 09 Ice Show Tryout

I'm happy to report that with this tryout, A was awarded her first ever Cold Spot Solo! We are so proud of her!! E was unable to tryout in person, due to a Marching Band competition, so she submitted the video from last year's ice show tryout. She was once again awarded a Cold Spot Solo.

Long Progam - EGL Regionals 2009

E and I have been in Midland this weekend, so she could skate at Regionals today. We were all happy with the performance she put out, but not as happy with the result. We didn't expect her to win - but we did expect to be up a couple of placements from where she finished. Final result - finished 10th - but She got a 2nd and a 7th place ordinal! (She calls the one that gave her 2nd the "crazy judge") - but the one that put her into 7th was more in line with what we observed in watching the flight - but ah well - this is figure skating! Sometimes you place higher than you expect, and sometimes lower! We still had a great time, and had a yummy Frankenmuth Chicken Dinner (Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner) on our way home!!

Meet Rosie...

Affectionately named after the robot maid on the Jetsons, here's the newest member of my cleaning staff (cough, cough)!

Looking through the Costco catalog one night, I offhandedly mentioned to John that I thought that the Roomba was a great concept for cleaning challenged folks like myself that hate pulling out the vacuum.

Little did I know what sort of seed I had planted! I came home late the next evening, and while sitting and visiting with friends that had come back to watch some skating videos with us, I hear a very strange noise in the dining room... sure enough, my crazy husband had gone right out, and for no particular occasion, brought home Rosie!

I have become a HUGE fan of Rosie the Roomba - and my floors have NEVER been this consistently clean. She goes off every day at 11am and does the dining room and the kitchen. About twice a week, I red up the dog's toys and set her to work in the living room, and about once a week, we send her down the hall.

She fits under the couches - so even the dust bunnies have no refuge!! The first few times in the living room, I was astounded at the amount of pet hair, because Mo doesn't really seem to shed a lot (not like other dogs where fur comes off in your hand while you are petting them!). Clearly she was shedding a lot more than I thought!

I haven't been brave enough to let her loose in the girl's bedrooms... and bathrooms have too many nooks and crannys - but still - it's saving me MASSIVE time in vacuuming (oh, who am I kidding - I was TERRIBLE at regular vacuuming) - it's not saving me time - it's gifting me with a pet hair free (almost) environment!

Mo is even getting accustomed to her schedule (not that she'll stay in the same room with it!)

It's amazing how motivated everyone is to keep the rest of the house neat when the floors are clean!

Now... if only I could figure out how to get it to clean my bathrooms!!!