Boo at the Zoo

Happy Halloween! This is one of my very favorite holidays...I love the colors, the costumes, the candy and the list goes on. I especially like that it doesn't stress me out like Christmas with the baking, the shopping, the wrapping...okay, you get the idea. So, I will be blogging a lot of Halloween pictures this week. My apologizes now for boring you.

Our zoo has this fundraiser called "Boo at the Zoo", which raises a ton of money to feed those animals over the winter months.

Here is John Chapo, the CEO/President of the Zoo. Every year we get our pictures taken with the wizard. It's so much like photos with Santa...truly part of the holiday custom.

This is also Tyler's first year volunteering at Boo at the Zoo. He worked Tuesday and Friday nights handing out treat bags and pulling the chains, so no one would walk in front of the moving train.

We realized after the first year that if you go at the end of the night you don't have to stand in any lines to get the candy. The event closes at 8pm and we began at 7:45.

We even found our friends off of Sesame Street.

Every booth sets up their station to look unique.

I am going to be sad when my kids are too old for Boo at the Zoo. Luckily, we have a few more years with Grant. This is one of my favorite events to scrapbook!

Friday Night + Bingo = Wild Night

I have now completed finished my Project 40 x 40. I've been to the American Girl Store in KC, drank a martini (which cost me a quarter), got the tattoo and finally played Bingo at a local Bingo Parlor.

Yes, it's true...I've never played Bingo at least for money. Sure, I've played ABC bingo with my students, and played Bingo growing up, but never Bingo where I paid to play. And Wow was it ever exciting boring! My friend Amy and I went at 6:30 and stayed until 10:30. I believe we participated in about twenty-four games of bingo...all for $17.

We did learn about the Bow Tie, Mutt and Jeff and a Snowflake patterns on a Bingo card...

And the nachos were unbelievably awesome!

But we did notice the following...

an elderly couple making out,

a person trimming their finger nails,

several people missing their teeth (I was secretly hoping they'd win to buy some teeth),

a person picking their nose,

and random sounds of belches and burps.

Did you know that it is almost silent at a Bingo Parlor?

It's quieter than the local library.

I almost fell asleep.

Can you tell by this picture?

I even brought my "lucky" banana trophy that I use in my classroom.

It did not bring us any luck, but can you imagine what the bingo regulars thought?

I Got Inked

Yup! I did it. I got my first tattoo at age forty and it wasn't so bad.

Nope, this is not my tattooed rear....thank goodness! Funny, huh?! I did send this photo to my friend Amy and said, "Let's get this done today. I'll be the one on the left." I knew that I could count on Amy coming along and being my photographer for this fabulous event. This is definitely one for the scrapbooks!

So, here I am signing the paperwork for the my "tat". Can you tell that I am extremely nervous? I have heard horror stories about foot tattoos hurting immensely, but I figured I had three c-sections, so can handle anything. Besides, I had three fantastic friends: Lezlee, Amy and Angie to cheer me on.

This is Cody, tattoo artist, at Sacred Heart Tattoos. He's been doing this for over two years and appears to know what he's doing. Heck, what do I know?? Can you tell by my body language that I am very comfortable about this entire process? Cody is looking at one of my scrapbooking magazines because that's where I got my ideas from. Some people look through tattoo catalogs for their perfect tattoo, but I tend to go for what I know best...scrapbooking inspiration.

Here Cody is putting on the inking transfer. At this time, the thought did cross my mind "looks good, that will be all, thank you" and considered heading for the door. However, I did not want to disappoint my "peeps", so I stayed.

Amy is getting a photo of the first line. I was thinking..."Oh, please don't blind the tattoo guy with camera flash this could cause problems and then I thought crud, this hurts!"

This is what I looked like from Amy's side.

This is what I looked like from Angie's side.

Angie was hilarious during this process. She was so nervous for me.

We thought it was clever how Cody covered his tattooing equipment with Halloween decor. Very festive!

Here's the finished product. I wanted color, a flower and swirls and that's what I got!

Now you might be wondering if I want another one? Um, probably not. They are kind of permanent. But, if you want to know if I want to tag along for yours? You betcha!

40 by 40 is Finally Finished...well, almost!

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be turning the big 4-0! Ugh! I can hardly believe that I am that old. Turning thirty wasn't anything much, but forty seems so middle aged. I am not sure that I like the sounds of it, but what can I really do about it? I will just think of it as a number and one is only as old as one feels...and I feel twenty-two!

So, two birthdays ago I decided to try to get forty new adventures into my life that I hadn't tried before. There are some that I wanted to try, but with time and money I still haven't done them, so there's now hope for a 50 by 50 project that needs to start now. Here are a few things I hope to accomplish by then....parasailing, hike up a mountain side, attend a non-Christian service (maybe Jewish), visit Europe, white water river rafting, see the Statue of Liberty and maybe even eat Sushi, which I thought I'd get done this time around, but obviously didn't.

Here is what I did get done though. Please note that some are a little weak in nature, but I only had twenty-four months to get it all accomplished.

1. Started a Blog (11/08)

2. Went to a Movie in a Theatre by Myself (11/08)

3. Attended a Southern Baptist Church (12/08)

4. Sent my 1st Text Message (12/08)

5. Joined a Gym (12/08)

6. Signed up for Facebook (1/09)

7. Attended an actual Tea Party (not the political kind, 2/09)

8. 1st Ash Wednesday Service (2/09)

9. Donated Blood for the 1st time (3/09)

10. Shopped in Anthropologie (3/09) -- I am reaching on this one!

11. 1st Weekend long @ a Baseball Tournament (4/09) Too much of a good thing!

12. Touched Kasey Kahne's race car (5/09)

13. Went and saw "Wicked" (5/09)

14. Visited Carhenge in Alliance, NE (6/09)

15. 1st Trip into a Cave (4th largest in the world - 180 ft. down (6/09)

16. 1st Family Vacation with Five (6/09)

17. Survived a Colonoscopy (7/09)

18. Met Thomas the Train in person (7/09)

19. Attended my 1st Christian "Rock" Concert (8/09)

20. Went to my 20th Year High School Class Reunion (9/09)

21. Celebrated the Ethiopian New Year (9/09)

22. Visited Disney World (10/09)

23. Met Dr. Jean and attended her workshop (11/09)

24. Became a Mother of a Teenager (11/09)

25. Shopped for the 1st time on Black Friday (11/09)

26. Scrapbooked for an Entire Weekend long (2/10)

27. Rode in a Corvette for the 1st time (4/10)

28. Witnessed the Bodies Exhibit in Omaha (5/10)

29. Read all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books (6/10) Another stretch!

30. Became Two Drips in a Drop for World Blood Day (6/10)

31. Won a Blog Giveaway for the 1st time (7/09)

32. Went to a U.S. Women's Soccer Team game against Sweden (7/10)

33. Visited the Iowa State Fair (8/10)

34. Made a Trifle for the 1st Time (9/10)

35. Survived a Slumber Party of 8 Tweeners (9/10)

36. Owner of a Smart Phone (9/10)

Note: Last four adventures aren't done quite yet, but will be done this week!!!

37. Drank a Martini (10/10)

38. Visited the American Girl Store in Kansas City (10/10)

39. Played Bingo at a Bingo Center for $ (10/10)

40. Surprise! Okay, not really, you've heard me talking about it....pictures to follow on Tuesday!

That's all...mission accomplished! ;)

Ferb is Four!

Phineas and Ferb's number one fan turned four last week! So, we decided the cake this year will say "Happy Birthday Ferb!" on it to keep with tradition. Last year, it was Devin, the year prior was Christopher and the first year was Bryan. As you may recall, it all started as an accident with the first cake so we thought that we'd do this "name game" until Grant is 21. We will skip the vowels and continue with our yearly joke until we end with the letter "Z". Right now, Grant still doesn't know the difference. Next year, he better notice or I will be concerned. It will be a "G" year, but not for "Grant".

We let Grant pick out his gift at Toys R Us and he chose a Buzz Lightyear, just like the same size as the one Andy has in the movie. It has all the lights and noises too. Very cute! Also, if you tell the clerk that it's your birthday, you get a free balloon and crown.

Grant also got a weekend play date with an old friend in celebration of turning

four. Grant and Cameron became buddies during the summertime at their older brothers' baseball games. Many a days and nights spent at the good ole' ballfield playing cars and eating snacks!

Grant chose to eat at Burger King and to play in the ball pit, which is usually off-limits when we dine there. I think it's gross, but it's Grant's day, so why not...

Cameron even gave Grant a sack of goodies for his birthday. Notice the look on Grant's face when he sees he got a bag of cotton candy! Sugar + Grant = Trouble

Then we visited the Lincoln Zoo to see the new penguin exhibit that just opened the week prior. Very cool!

Two cute baseball buddies!

Kindergarten Lesson #624

Today's lesson is #624...

Why?

I guess it's a good place to start since I've already learned so much in my four years teaching kindergarten. It's also my room number at school, so it totally makes sense to me.

Today's kindergarten lesson is much like many other ones. It's humorous, cute and one that I can share, maybe unlike other ones. Besides, if I didn't have darling lessons like this one at work, I'd end up looking like this....

And who really wants to put up with that kind of person?

I even thought I could probably write a book about my experiences as a kindergarten teacher. Oh, the stories I could tell. I've even created a title for the book "Pretty Please with Sprinkles on Top". So, if you see this title sitting on the shelves at Barnes and Noble be sure to snag a copy fast.

Okay...on to my cute kindergarten story.

Today I have a practicum student in my classroom. We'll call her Ms. Blurr (this rhymes with her real name). She's quite fabulous and I have no idea what I could possibly teacher her. Although she claims to be learning a lot so far in my room.

This morning Ms. Blurr did the student greetings and lunch orders for the day, while I got the students on task with their seat work for the morning.

Ms. Blurr says, "Jane, would you like a hot ham & cheese sandwich or cheesy breadsticks?"

Ms. Blurr knows that this child orders hot lunch everyday, so asking about cold lunch really wasn't an option until today.

Jane quickly responds, "I have cold lunch today. It's in my backpack."

Two hours pass....

I see that Jane has a hot lunch card in her hand and I quickly remind her that she ordered cold lunch today. Jane gives me that "I forgot" look and pulls out her lunch.

It looks like this....

Well...No, not actually.

It was two melted popsicles (thankfully in their plastic wrappers), one Yoplait yogurt and one very ooey, gooey chocolatey ice cream sandwich.

Where was my camera when I needed it? Too funny. I love kindergarten!

Lesson #624 - Ice cream and popsicles do not work well as options for cold lunch.

In case you are wondering, Jane's mom had no idea that Jane packed her very own lunch today!

A Quieter Weekend

We are having a much quieter weekend after last week's eight girl slumber party. That one was excitingly fun, but it about did me in. I need my sleep on the weekends. I'm so glad it's over.

This weekend we got some new furniture for upstairs. The fifteen year old blue couch went to Goodwill and the recliner with the broken spring is hanging out in the basement awaiting it's fate. Andy loves it, but it's looking rather worn and may need to be put down. Really...when you sit in it one cheek sits higher than the other. That drives me crazy!

I love the look of the furniture...soft brown and hopefully doesn't show stains easily.

I'm not so sure of the accent pillows, but they are nice and big and fluffy. These can easily be replaced by some super cute ones from Pier 1 down the road.
Tyler is trying out the oversized chair with matching ottoman. Okay, there isn't an ottoman yet, but it will be coming. It's on backorder.
As you can see, Tyler is all about those Colts and I hear that it's an exciting game since the Manning brothers are playing each other tonight. Go Indianapolis! Oh, heck, I really don't care...Go Giants!