Happy Birthday To My Awesome Husband

Today is my husband's Birthday. He is the big 40. I'm not sure he's all that happy about it, but hey what can you do. Time marches on. I hope he has the best birthday ever. He's the best. It's really hard in life to find the perfect match for yourself, one that complements you. Well I've been lucky enough to have found that someone that I can grow old together with very happily.

Now we don't have anything that exciting planned, but yesterday we went to one of our favorite restaurants Not Your Average Joe's and had a wonderful linner with no children. The girls are cute, but it's always nice to get away by ourselves. We then went and got him some new shoes which he desperately needed. Then came back and got to watch what we wanted to see on the TV. That in itself is a miracle.

Today I think we'll go out to lunch and get him his favorite cake which is a Carvel Ice Cream cake. Those are the best. Yum. Well I hope he has a great birthday and I love him very much.

Crazy Winter Wind Storm

Well I guess you realized I had no post yesterday and I didn't do any drops. I'm sorry about that, but it was totally out of my control. We lost power and Internet on Thursday night around 11:00pm. That's when two very large trees decided to fall onto the power lined on the main street that my street is off of. We heard the crazy wind all night and honestly it was like nothing we had ever heard before. When we woke my husband wondered if the kids had school. Well the only access we had was with our cell phones so I called my mother and she said there is no school any where except the town where my kids go to school. It figured. I should mention that they go to school in a different town then we live in. The city we live in had no school with good reason.

I got the girls up and told them to get ready. We are very lucky to have a generator so some of our items were working. Our mailbox was in the middle of the road so my husband went out to fix it. That's when our neighbor across the street told us there was no way out. Our street was completely blocked in and there were power lines everywhere. It was a mess. One of the trees was a massive pine tree that got totally uprooted. So we were trapped. I called the kids school and told them we couldn't get there. They said no problem we weren't the only ones. My husband was trapped as well and he needs the Internet for his work so it was quite a problem. He needed to get to work. Well about 1:30 in the afternoon he was finally able to get out. There was no point taking the girls to school as the day was over so that was that.

They worked on those trees and power lines until they got them working around 11:30pm which really wasn't bad considering there are so many others who will be out of power for days. We were one of the lucky ones. They really weren't predicting this storm to be so devastating. It's just the winds became hurricane winds. It was scary. I'm glad it's over and we're up and running. I hope that they get others in the area up as quickly as possible. Many of my relatives are still without power and have had to relocate because they have kids. It's such a pain put luckily no one was hurt. That's the most important thing.

10 Things I Hate About You on DVD

My daughter got 10 Things I Hate About You the TV series for her birthday from her best friend. Now my daughter really wanted this. She loves the show and it has been on hiatus for a few months now and she is dying for it to come back on. She has watched it through 3 times since she got it. My youngest likes it as well. It is a very funny and cute series.

It is based on the movie which starred the late Heath Ledger. I am a huge Heath Ledger fan and love that movie. My daughter has seen the movie as well and loves it so when the series was announced she couldn't wait and really neither could I. It is about sisters, Kat and Bianca. They live with their dad who is crazy over protective. He won't let Bianca date unless Kat does and that goes for dances as well. If Kate doesn't go neither does baby sister Bianca. Kat doesn't go for all that popular stuff where Bianca is obsessed with it. Kat fights falling for bad boy Patrick and Bianca has love sick Cameron after her while she is oblivious. There is also super popular Chastity who is just the epitome of the nasty popular girl. It's just so much fun to watch.

The DVD includes the first 10 episodes which leave you wanting more. I hear it will be back on March 29th. It's honestly hard to wait. As a bonus the disks also include the first episode of Make It or Break It. My daughter was excited to see that because she really loves that show as well.

Now she just has to be patient. So many of her favorite shows are on hiatus. It really is hard to tell a 13 year old to be patient about anything. I think they were wise to put out the DVDs because it gives people who haven't seen it a chance to catch up and I tell you if you haven't watch this show give it a try. I think you'll find it very entertaining.

Anne Frank Collage

My daughter as you know had to read The Diary of Anne Frank for school and they were assigned a big project. They had to make a collage the size of a large poster board with images that reminded them of the story. They also had to do a summary and character descriptions.

She has been working on this feverishly. It seems like it should be an easy A, but you know what it was a lot of work. She had to search and search for different pictures. They couldn't be all of the same thing and there couldn't be one speck of white on the poster board. It had to be a huge collage.

There is a lot to work with, but the teacher really wanted some originality. She came up with all these ideas. There were pictures of Anne and her family and the others who stayed in the secret Annex. She got some pictures of the food they ate and there where pictures of the Annex on line. She used a picture of ballet slippers because she talked about dance and a monopoly board because they played that. She also got pictures of movie stars like the ones Anne hung in her own collage. She worked really hard and it looks great. I hope she gets an A. She deserves it. I think she really learned a lot from this project and she told me that she really liked the book. She told me many of the kids in her class hated it, but I really think she got it and she'll keep it with her. I know that it has always stayed with me.

School Book Fair

Once a year my daughter's school has a book fair for a fund raiser. The girls always get so excited. They love to buy books. I myself love to buy them as well. I sent money with my oldest to pick up a book. She wasn't as excited as usual because she has a stack of books in her room. They were putting out the summer reading list so I told her to buy at least one of the books she wanted to read.

Now with the 9 year old she wanted to know how many she could get. She just loves to read. I was allowed to come to the school at her designated time if I wanted so I told her I would buy her one book and if she wanted any others she would have to spend her own money. She was fine with this.

I got to the book fair area a few minutes before her class so I scoped out the books. She came running over to me as soon as she saw me ready to shop. We went to the summer book list first and she picked out Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume. It looked like a fun book and she was happy with her choice. Now she moved onto the books just for fun. She scooped up The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Now we just saw this movie and she loved it so she wants to read what happens next, but before she can do that she needs to read the book because I guess some of the story is different. I always find the books better myself. The final book she picked up was Fairy Godsister by Philippa Fisher. This book has the kind of story she loves. My daughter is a fairy freak. She loves anything to do with fairies. She has fairies all over her room. In the end she ended up with 3 books she could wait to sink her teeth into. I love that she loves books as much as I do.

Now my oldest came home with only one book, but this book holds a very special place in my heart. It's The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I love this book. I remember reading it and falling in love with the characters. Not to mention the The Outsiders. I honestly don't remember how many times I've seen it. My friends and I used to watch it over and over again. Great memories. Now my daughter hasn't seen the movie and I'm not going to let her see it until she reads it. How awesome is it that this is one of the books she has to read over the summer? Of course she picked it because it was the shortest of her choices. As I've said before she isn't big into reading, but I bet she will enjoy this one.

All in all it was fun to see my youngest's excitement with books and many of her friends as well. They had so much fun picking out the books they wanted to buy. This is such a great fundraiser.

My Daughters and the Remote

The one who holds the remote rules the world. That's at least what my girls think. My youngest daughter makes it her mission in life to wake up before her sister no matter what so she has control of the remote. All she wants is to watch at least one episode of Sponge Bob. Now my oldest is convinced that she owns the remote so as soon as her sister moves from the couch she grabs it and doesn't let go of it for the rest of the day. When she goes to eat at the table she takes it with her. If she goes up to her room for a minute she hides it. Of course if the little one is really into the show she hides it too. Now the problem with hiding it is that when they go to school and I want to shut off Nickelodeon I can't find it. So I end up having to listen to Dora sing the Map song. I'm so over Dora.

The hiding of the remote is nothing compared to the all out wrestling matches that occur to regain possession. It's funny for about half a second before one of them gets hurt. Then I have to yell. I hate yelling. One or both end up crying and I send them to their rooms. Then guess who has the remote. Me. I guess I rule the world or at least the TV till my husband gets home.

Yearly Mammogram

Yesterday my mom and I went into the Faulkner Hospital in Boston for our yearly mammograms. Now I'm not over 40 yet, but because my father's mother died from breast cancer I've been going for a few years now. I'm not very good at the self breast check because I have very lumpy breasts so it does make me feel better to go for the mammogram.

Of course it always makes me crazy that my mother insists we go into Boston for this. She just keeps telling me that the Faulkner is the best so we go. She drives so I really can't complain. I do feel terrible that she always tells me how painful the test is for her. I don't suffer from the same experience. It is uncomfortable for me, but not painful. I am slightly larger than my mother though I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I just go in the room and they push my breasts between the machine to get the picture and then it's over. No big deal. My poor mom has anxiety all the way there.

Afterward we went out to lunch. The most entertaining part of the trip was when my parents argued over where we were going to eat. We even drove around for awhile. I felt like a little kid in the back seat. Thinking about it all I can do is laugh. We ended up going to LTK (Legal Test Kitchen). It was very yummy.

When I arrived home the my girls were aggravated because I was off having fun with my parents all day. Yeah right. It's so much fun to have a mammogram.

Ice Castles Redone

I was checking my queue at Netflix and they had a few recommendations for me. One of the movies was Ice Castles, but it wasn't the old Ice Castles with Robbie Benson that I know and love from the 70s. It was a remake that just came out. I heard nothing about this so I hit the rent button and was very excited when it arrived in the mail today. I loved the original movie. In fact it holds a very special place in my heart because I did a dance to the theme song "Through the Eyes of Love." I can still remember it. It always brings tears to my eyes and to be honest Ice Castles always made me cry too.

Well tonight after dinner my girls and I set up the movie. My husband quickly evacuated to the computer upstairs. This is definitely a chick flick. Anyway the girls were really into it. They kept asking me questions about what was going to happen. It was very similar to the old movie, but there were some differences. Basically it's about a small town girl who gets swept up in the world of figure skating. On her way to the top she finds herself loosing who she truly is then an accident happens. She goes back to her home and rediscovers herself. Now the still had the theme song that I love. I was really happy about that. Her coach in the new movie is male instead of female and he ends up being a love interest. The recovery for Lexi is much shorter in the newer movie. I really think it was rushed.

Overall it was a good movie and my girls really liked it. I found it entertaining, but to be completely honest I prefer the original. The original seemed to have more heart and really pulled at your heart strings. This movie moved very quickly and I didn't love the characters as much. My daughters did they wanted more. They wanted to know what happened to Lexi after her last skate. I told them it looks like she lived happily ever after. They like those kinds of endings. I think I'm going to rent the original now just to let them see that. This movie is worth watching just not as good as the original. That's my opinion. If you check it out let me know what you think.

Another Birthday Party

My daughter turned 13 a few weeks ago and at the time we took her out for a nice dinner to celebrate. She wanted to have a low key party with her friends during the vacation week. By low key I mean a group of her friends would come over for the afternoon watch a movie and eat a ton of junk food.

She invited 8 girls. They got here around 2. Then they hung out and talked about everything under the sun. I grabbed them some pizza and they put on the movie Whip It. They loved it. I could hear them laughing and having a good time. We did cupcakes and then she opened her presents. The girls were all so cute. They really had a great time. Finally they played some Rock Band. They were all singing at the top of their lungs. I loved it. I wasn't sure how the party would go because I didn't really plan anything, but I have to say it worked out great. It's not like I could break out a pin the tale on the donkey game. My daughter would have been mortified. I kind of just let them do their own thing and they all seemed to have a good time. I even had a few ask if they could stay longer and I was like sure. I was just thrilled they had such a good time.

Basically another birthday party down with a happy child to go along with it. The best part was that it ended up being so reasonable. I only needed to buy some drinks, chips, a couple pizzas and my mom made the cake. For favors I made chocolate truffles. So the kids had a great time and I didn't have to spend a fortune. It's win, win all the way around.

My Daughter Just Loves the Olympics

To be completely honest I'm much more of a summer Olympic fan than winter, but I've found myself completely drawn into it this year. It just seems like they're having so much fun. I know it's a lot of hard work, but after watching Shaun White fly high in the air on his snowboard how could you not have a big smile on your face. All I could think of was he just had a blast doing that. I was blown away. I would be scared out of my mind doing something like that.

My 9 year old is completely in love with watching Apolo Ohno. Whenever the speed skating short track comes on she comes running. She just loves it. She thinks Apolo is awesome. Now she doesn't like ice skating so the whole thing baffles me. Of course she knows that Apolo was on Dancing with the Stars so I think that's the thing that peeked her interest with him. My munchkin loves dancing of any kind. Well whatever it is I think it's adorable and I've been letting her stay up a little later to watch because she's so into it.

The Olympics really are fun and I'm glad we're enjoying watching them as a family.

Harry Potter Exhibit at Museum of Science

We haven't taken the girls to the museum of Science in quite awhile. In fact I don't think we've ever taken the 9 year old. I'm just not really a big fan of going into Boston. I mean I love what Boston has to offer, but the driving is such a drag. My husband took the day off and we purchased in advance tickets to see the special Harry Potter Exhibition that is here till the end of February. Thank goodness we did because the place was packed. There were people everywhere and I heard a woman say it was sold out for the day. Granted it's Massachusetts school vacation week so we expected it to be pretty busy. It was just crazy. There were kids running a muck everywhere.

There is so much to see at the museum as it is. We got there a few hours early and got to check out the rest of the exhibits. We did as much as we could, but as I said there were kids running around everywhere and in many cases there were no parents near them. That drives me crazy. It's a busy place watch your kids. Anyway my 9 year old was into everything, but I taught her to wait patiently for her turn. This caused a problem because other children just jumped in front of her to do things. She was getting frustrated by the end of the day. I don't blame her. It was making me crazy. Teach your children manners please. After a few hours she just wanted to see the Harry Potter stuff and I don't blame her. It was awesome.

If this exhibition comes to a city near you. If you are a fan of Harry Potter go see it. They started us out by having the sorting hat sort a few kids. It was really great then you walk into a room where they showed some images from the movie. Then you hear a train and they open the door to show the Hogwart Express. I was awestruck. The girls were too. Next we were treated to so many things from the movie. I love see this kind of stuff. The costumes are gorgeous. One of my favorites along with the girls was Hermione's dress from the ball. It was so beautiful. They even had Harry and Ron's bed. We also paid a few extra dollars to get the audio tour which gave us more info about the items we were seeing. It was great. The girls loved being able to hear more.

It was a great day and we were totally exhausted when we were done. We headed out to sit in traffic for way too long. By the time we got home I had a splitting head ache and had to lie down. I fell asleep for 2 hours. I feel much better now. It was just a busy day. The girls had a blast and that's really what it was all about. Harry Potter is awesome. Can't wait for the next movie.

Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging

When Angus Thongs & Perfect Snogging first came on TV a couple of weeks ago I really wasn't sure about it. The title really put me off. My daughter kept pestering me though and I figured if I watched it with her it would be okay. Well I found it to be a really adorable movie. It's based on a series of books by Louise Rennison. The first book in the series is Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson .

The movie is a typical coming of age story. I really love these types of movies. There's something about first love that warms my heart. Georgia is a 14 year old girl with a crush on the perfect boy. She goes through the trials of making herself look better and trying to get his attention going to great lengths to do it. She ends up messing everything up, but it turns out the boy likes her just the way she is. There is also some family drama with her being afraid her parents will get a divorce. There are both silly and touching moments in this movie that made me smile. It really hits home that you should always be yourself and I think that is so important for tweens and teens.

Now I don't think this movie is appropriate for the younger tween set. Most of them are just not ready for the amount of kissing that goes on in this movie. Georgia's mom in one scene is even sporting a thong. No one needs to see that. One of the boys is even giving kissing lessons. I felt quite comfortable with my 13 year old watching this, but I really question it for my 9 year old at this time. She's just not ready. I would definitely recommend this movie though and I think you will enjoy it.

Preparing for a Snowstorm on Vacation Week

Here we go again. A snow storm is going to hit Massachusetts tonight and into tomorrow. That means a day trapped in the house with the girls. It's their vacation week. Granted it's not going to be a blizzard, but we don't need to go anywhere so we might as well stay home. Even though I've lived in New England all my life I don't like snow. I only like the first snow fall. I really have no interest in outside winter activities. Why you may ask? Simple it's cold. I would much rather be wrapped in a blanket on my couch reading a good book than on a ski slope freezing my nose off. Sorry just don't see the appeal.

Now my daughters best friend is supposed to come over tomorrow and hopefully she'll be able to come. Now today I braved the grocery store. Now if you've never had to deal with a grocery store right before a storm let me tell you it's ugly. It's like the day before Christmas. Everyone seems to remember the blizzard of 1978 that kept people trapped in their homes for a week. So basically if they are calling for snow everyone heads to the store. I was able to survive and got all kinds of goodies for a snowy day tomorrow.

My plan is to have some type of movie marathon. Maybe Harry Potter since we are going to see the special exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston on Wednesday. We're really looking forward to that and it might be a good idea to refresh our memories with watching the movies. There also could be some we games going on. Maybe some Lego Rock Band and .Mario Kart . These are multi player games and are always a hit. We may also make some snicker doodles and make some homemade popcorn. I'm also thinking it may be fun to make our own snowflakes with some scissors and some white pieces of paper. That's always fun.

Well plans are great. We'll see how things go tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing hearts and chocolates to all. I hope everyone enjoys a nice meal with someone who means something to them. I'll be spending the day at home with my husband and kids and that's special to me. We'll have a nice dinner with some wine. No wine for the kids though they get pink lemonade. Followed by a delicious chocolate truffles which I've made over the last few days. Even if you don't have a special someone in your life you can still enjoy valentine's day. Just get yourself something sweet I recommend chocolate and hang with some friends. Watch some movies. Just enjoy life.

Percy Jackson is Great Fun

Just got back from seeing Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It was really great fun for everyone. Both the girls loved it and so did my husband not to mention myself. I've always had a soft spot for anything having to do with Greek mythology. I love the stuff. Can't get enough. This movie was loaded with it.

This movie is very fast paced and exciting. Percy learns he is the son of Poseidon and is accused of stealing Zeus's Lightning Bolt. Unless he can return it by a certain time the gods are going to war. He ends up at a camp for demigods. There he meets the daughter of Athena. He goes on a journey to find the lightning bolt with her and his friend who is a satyr (half boy, half goat). On their journey they run into all kinds of mythological creatures such as Medusa and a hydra. During their adventure Percy learns to accept who he is and really becomes a hero to the gods. The only down side of the movie was that I wanted more. Thank goodness there is a whole series of books.

I would really recommend this movie. My girls are 9 and 13 and they loved it. Some of the creatures were a little scary, but they were not bothered by them. I would think some small children would be a little afraid. I mean Medusa has snakes for hair. It's creepy. I thought my 9 year old would be a little frightened, but she thought the whole thing was cool. She couldn't stop talking about it in the car and that's always a good sign. I'm going to get her The Lightning Thief book. I think she'll like it and then we'll head on to the rest. I hope the movie does well so they'll make more. This is a fun movie for all.

It's Truck Day!

I know you're thinking what is Truck Day? Well if you are a Boston Red Sox fan it's the day that the trucks leave for Florida with all the spring training equipment. It's the day that reminds me that it's almost baseball season. And if it's almost baseball season that means it's another step closer to spring. Soon all the snow will be gone and I won't need to be wrapped in layers to go outside. Not to mention soon I'll be able to watch baseball all the time. I really do love the Boston Red Sox.

I have been walking around with a silly grin on my face all day just because of this. I know it's crazy, but I just can't help myself. Play ball!

The above picture was taken by David L. Ryan of the Boston Globe. Check out their site www.boston.com for more great images of Truck Day.

Valentine's for School

Okay it's the day before my girls have their Valentine's Day party at school. I have actually been pretty organized this year with regards to getting the valentines. My youngest wanted Phineas and Ferb valentines. I was able to get these at Target. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Target. Anyway, She just loves that show and she wanted to get valentines that the girls and boys would like so iCarly was out. I also picked up some pencils that had hearts on them and some that had baseballs. She wrote them up a few days ago and attached the pencils yesterday. She did a great job and she can't wait to give them to her friends tomorrow. She also gets to bring in a special snack so I just finished making her some brownies. I'm sure she'll have fun at her party.

Now my 13 year old thinks the whole thing is hysterical. She's at the age we're they're really too old for those boxed valentines, but I picked her up a box with kittens and puppies anyway. She wrote them all out and put a lollipop on each one. Her friends are all getting silly valentines and are just going to have a good time with it. They're still kids and I'm glad they're having fun with it. I mean why not. I'm glad she's not too cool to hand them out. She doesn't have a boyfriend yet (thank God), so there's no stress about that. Really at this age it should still be innocent.

Snow Dud Afternoon

Snow storms in New England are no biggie. I mean we have a few every year. The kids usually have a few snow days, but this year they haven't had one which is really odd. All the storms have occurred on the weekend. Well today they were predicting a really big one to hit starting a little before noon. My kids were so excited. They were watching TV and many of the schools in Mass were canceling or closing early. Then it happened the school called the house. My daughter got so excited. I answered and it was a recorded message telling us they would be closing at noon. She was thrilled a half day would mean an easy day in school and the afternoon to chill.

I picked my girls up and my daughters friend and her sister. Their mom had to work so they came to hang out for the afternoon. The storm wasn't really doing anything, but they were expecting it to hit. I made the girls lunch and they settled in for a snowy afternoon. Well the storm never really hit. We got less than an inch. That's kind of pathetic. I checked the news and they had downgraded us. Oh well you never know. I would much rather have my girls home safe then stuck at school in a snow storm. They ended up having a great afternoon with their friends and we stayed all safe and warm inside. Maybe we'll have a real snow day before the winter is over.

The Morganville Vampire Series is Addictive.

I love to read and honestly I am really loving all the young adult fiction they have now. They never had so many great books when I was a teen, but really I find many of them can be enjoyed by anyone particularly the scifi and fantasy books. I never really looked much into the young adult section until I stumbled upon the Twilight books. I like to read books that will entertain me and take me someplace else. Books should be fun and entertaining. I never like it in school when they took the books that we read and had to look for the deeper meaning. Maybe there really wasn't one.

Oh sorry rambling. Anyway I picked up the first book in The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine and I have to say I had no idea that it would suck me in. I can't seem to put it down and there are 6 more for me to read with two more expected to come out.

The story is about a girl named Claire who goes off to college early. She's only 16. Anyway she gets on the bad side of a girl in her dorm and goes to look for a place to live off campus. She ends up finding an old house with 3 other roommates, two good looking guys and a goth girl. She soon discovers the town is run by vampires. You either play by their rules or things will get ugly.

I am so into this story right now. I would totally recommend it. It really is a page turner and the characters are interesting. I find Claire to be a great little heroine and it is also a book that I would have no problem with my 13 year old daughter reading. I think she would like it.

Meatball Movie

My daughter had a friend over the other day and she was talking about being a CIT at a camp this summer. She has been going to the camp for many years and she is finally old enough to be a CIT. She's excited about it. My daughter just wants to hang at the beach. Anyway I couldn't help, but break into the CIT song from Meatballs . I know it's an old movie, but I still love it. It is just so funny. Both girls looked at me like I was crazy. I took no offense and kept singing. When I completed the song I told them it was in this very funny movie about CITs.

Now the funny thing was when my daughter was looking for something to watch yesterday Meatballs was on TV. I got so excited and found it just as funny as always. Bill Murray is hysterical in this movie. This movie is just a great summer time film even though it's freezing here it reminds me that eventually it will be here. The opening song is so great. Are you ready for the summer? I say yeah bring it on.

My daughter thought it was funny and enjoyed it. Some movies will just always be a good time and this one is one of those movies.

New Bed for My Tween

I have never been a big fan of the bunk bed, but when my mother offered me my brothers old bunk bed I couldn't pass it up. My 9 year old has been needing a new bed for awhile now. She has been using the same bed since she was 3 and it was a great bed, but it's low to the ground with no storage under it and her room is small. She has way too much stuff in her room. Way too much stuff. The child is a pack rat. I swear every time she cleans her room she comes out with a bag full of trash. I'm not even sure where she's getting it.

Today my mom brought the bed over and we set it up. My parents rock. Anyway my daughter is so excited and a little nervous. It's new so it will take some getting used to. Her room has totally been changed around. It's higher than her other bed so she's afraid she'll fall out the poor thing. I told her that any bed she would get would be that high off the ground. We're going to buffer her with stuffed animals. She won't be able to move in that bed when I'm done with her.

All her stuffed animals have a new home on the top bunk. I am very happy about that. My daughters room usually looks like a stuffed animal heaven. She likes it too because she got to go up on the top bunk to set them all up. She's not allowed to sleep up there. My mother made me promise. Bunk beds make her nervous. My brothers had bunk beds for like 2 weeks before she separated them.

I hope she has a goodnight sleep and loves her new bed. It looks great in her room.

Happy Birthday to My Oldest!

My oldest is now officially a teenager. She turned 13 today. I can't believe it. I feel so old. I need to stop time now. I really don't want to get into the teen drama. We already have too much tween drama. She was so excited this morning she actually got up before me. Of course I tend to sleep in a little on Saturdays, but still she usually doesn't emerge from her cave till 11.

She has her day completely planned. She wanted eggs benedict. She got it. She opened her presents from us. Which consisted of a pair of earrings, a charm in the shape of a cell phone for her charm bracelet and a t-shirt with Damon and Stefan from Vampire Diaries. They were all a big hit. I loved seeing the smile on her face.

Her cell phone has been going crazy with texts from her friends wishing her a Happy Birthday. They're so cute. She's just happy that she has officially hit her teen years.

She has claimed the TV for the rest of the day. Lucky us. Now tonight we are taking her to PF Changs. It's a Chinese restaurant about a half hour away. I've never actually eaten there, but she went with a friend once and loved it. My youngest isn't going to eat anything. She hates Chinese food, but it's not her birthday.

I hope she has a great rest of her birthday and many more. Though every time she has a birthday I get a year older too. That may not be a good thing. I really do wish we could turn back time.

Vampire Diaries Meets Gone With the Wind

Last nights episode of Vampire Diaries, Children of the Damed, was fabulous. First off I'm a sucker for period pieces and this episode kept flashing back to Civil War times. One of my favorite movies is Gone With the Wind The costumes are just gorgeous. I loved the dresses that Katherine wore. She had a total Scarlett O'Hara feel to her. She was a spoiled brat too. Oh and she totally takes advantage of the men in her life. I honestly hope they do more flashback episodes. I'd like to learn more about the founders of Mystic Falls.

This episode also delivered some answers. That's one thing I just love about this show. It doesn't leave you hanging for long. It answers some questions yet it leaves you with a few more. I appreciate not having to wait long to figure out who someone is or why something is happening.

We learned why Damon is angry with Stefan. You see that both brothers loved Katherine. You also learn who Anna is and why she's in town. That was driving me crazy. The episode also leaves you with with a cliffhanger. Gotta love that as long as I only have to wait a week.

I tell you I really love this show. I'm so addicted. I can't wait to see what happens next week.

Pajama Day at School

This week is Catholic Schools Week so every Catholic school in the US is celebrating in their own way. They have something special planned for the kids everyday. The kids love it because it's almost like being on vacation. My 12 year old hasn't had homework all week. She needed the break, but what am I paying for.

Today was student appreciation day. They got to wear pajamas and basically play games all day. They had classes, but the teachers made it all fun and no homework was assigned. The teachers and staff also wear pajamas to get in the spirit of things. The kids love doing this because they stay in comfy clothes all day. I personally don't care much for pajama day. I think it's silly and of course if you have to go somewhere right after school everyone is staring at you and your kids. They're all thinking terrible thoughts about your parenting skills. Oh well not much I can do. I just look back thinking yeah my kid's wearing hot pink pajamas with dogs on them. It's a school thing get over it. It's just embarrassing. I also don't like pajamas being worn all over the dirty school. I consider pajamas a really clean article of clothing. You put them on after your bath and get in your clean bed. Oh well I guess I'm a grump. I must be getting old.

Diary of Anne Frank Still a Wonderful Book

I remember reading The Diary of Anne Frank when I was in school and it still holds a special place in my heart. Now my 12 year old is reading it for her Literature class. She has been enthralled. When ever my daughter is interested in something she talks and talks about it. Well Anne Frank is a perfect example of this. She read it with no argument. When she was finished she looked up online to find out what happened. She was so angry that someone turned them in and even more angry that nobody knew who it was. There were tears in her eyes when she was expressing to me how upset she was that Anne was so close to being free and safe. When I saw that kind of emotion I knew that she got it. I myself had tears from remembering how sad it was. I wanted Anne to live and do all the things she dreamed of doing.

The Diary of Anne Frank is a moving story of a girl trying to grow up in hiding for her life. A girl close to her age. She really felt for Anne. Her friends were in the car with me the other day and they were expressing how they felt about Anne almost making it and the people who turned her in. They wanted to know how someone could do it. I just told them that people were really afraid during World War II. It's reality. I was moved that they cared so much.

I'm glad they still read this book and I'm sure they will continue too. Now she has to make a collage about anything to do with Anne. She's actually pretty excited about. Thank goodness because I hate fighting with her to get her work done. I bet she'll do a great job. I can't wait to see the finished product.

New App for my Titanic Loving Tween

As I've stated numerous times before my 12 year old is obsessed with Titanic. She loves the movie. She watched all the extra stuff on the DVDs. She just had a big project in her grammar class in which she could choose any topic. She picked the Titanic. She did all this research on it and couldn't stop telling me all these facts about it. She got an A+ on her report. I think she did so well because she loves the topic so much.

She was looking for a new app to play the other day and she came across Titanic Rescue. In this game the Titanic is sinking and it's your job to save as many passengers as you can. She's been having a blast trying to round up as many as possible. It's tricky stuff they don't want to get in the life boats. It's a good way for her to relieve her stress. She gets so much homework that when she gets some free time it's nice for her to play a game and unwind.

Silly Bandz New Tween Fad

It seems like every few months there's a new fad that tweens just have to have. Even as far back as the 70's we had pet rocks. I know I'm dating myself, but hey whatever.

Right now my girls and from what I've been hearing everyone in their school is intoSilly Bandz . Now Silly Bandz are elastic bracelets that you wear on your wrist. They come in all different shapes. When you take them off your wrist they go back to their regular shape.

They come in Zoo Animals, pet animals, sea creatures, dinosaurs, princesses, the alphabet, cars, and fun shapes There could be a few more, but those are the ones I found.

My girls bought themselves the pets, sea creatures and fun shapes. They were a huge hit at school for them today. They even gave a few away to friends. I guess the thing to do is get a whole bunch and wear them up your arm.

I have no idea how long this fad will last, but at the moment it's huge. All I could say when I saw them was those are the silliest things and they told me that was the point. That's why they're called Silly Bandz.

If you haven't heard of them yet believe me you will. After all my girls say it's the new thing.