Friday Fav's

Saturday night we went to this movie and it is definitely one of my new fav's:

Soul Surfer

In case you haven't heard, it is about a teenageer who is an awesome surfer.  She was rated one of the top surfers in the nation and then was attacked by a shark while surfing.  She lost almost all of her left arm.  The story tells of her struggle to learn how to function without an arm and how she uses her faith to get her through.  Oh, and did I mention that it is a TRUE STORY?  It definitely is a movie the whole family can see.  It will be on my list to buy when it comes out on DVD.

Digital Copy

Miss Jane received Narnia~Voyage of the Dawn Treader for Easter.  It came in a package with a DVD, a Blu-Ray, and a "digital copy".  Apparently this means that you can load it on to your computer and watch it, or it can be copied onto your iTunes account and you can watch on an Ipod!  How cool is that!  This may be old news to some people, but I was so thrilled to hear it!  Hope all movies start coming out with this feature!  What while they come up with next, a computer that you can take anywhere that is the size of a paperback book?

Water for Elephants...the movie

I am hoping this is going to be a fav...but I haven't seen it yet.  We read the book for book club (and yes, I actually did read it!) and it was really quite interesting.  I am not one who is fond of carnivals or the circus; clowns really scare me.  Even happy clowns.  But this book was really good, perhaps because there were no pictures.  It is more about relationships and choices.  I am hoping that they have limited clowns in the movie, as it is set in the 1930's and I believe that they focus more on things like the Guys with 3 Arms, and the bearded lady.  Politically incorrect things that would never fly these days.  If you have seen it, let me know if it is worth my time and also how many clowns there are throughout the course of the 2 hours.

Have a great weekend y'all!

And the winner is....

Woo-Hoo!!!!

He did it. 

Here he is before he left for school this morning:

He said he was pretty nervous.   I was one of the parents that was chosen to come in and help out with the election so it was great to see it all in person. 

I made sure that I charged the video camera this morning and put a fresh tape in so I could capture his speech live.  Only too bad for me, the teachers had a little change in plan and while I was helping set up the polling place, I looked out and B was already mid way through his speech.  So much for me and my pre-charged video camera.  I was so bummed. 

They had all the kids fill out Voter Reigstration Cards.  They had to turn them in and place their signature on the registration roster before they received a ballot. 

Here is the "President" getting ready to receive his ballot:

It was official!  They went into the teacher's lounge to vote behind little privacy folders, then they received an "I Voted for Third Grade Class President" sticker.  Afterward, the votes were counted:

And my little guy emerged the winner!!!  He was so excited, it was priceless.  And to top it off, no school tomorrow!  What a great day!

Election Day

Well, I know for some of you November of 2012 can't come soon enough.  But that is not what I mean by Election Day.  It is Election Day for the 3rd Grade Class President at B's school.  AND HE IS A CANDIDATE!   Last week they had the "primaries".  In each classroom, all the students selected 2 people that they thought would make a good class president, and yes, they could vote for themselves.  B was one of the top 6 for his class, so he made it through the first round!  These six kids had to answer 5 questions about themselves, what they stood for, what they would change, etc. and had to field questions from the class and the teacher.  The class then voted again....and B emerged the victor!!!

Here he is strking his presidential pose before the big debate last week:

(Notice the big bruise on his forehead?  That is a story for another day)

So today he is facing the winners of the other classroom presidents for President of the whole 3rd Grade.  He has to give a 2-4 minute speech...which needs a little work.  Listening to him is like riding in the car with my friend Kim.  Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down.  I was working with him trying to help him get into a rhythm with his speech to make it appear more natural, and let's face it, tolerable to listen to, but he is not all that great at accepting help.  He likes to do things HIS way.  I am sure it will be great.

Election results and pictures will be posted later. I think that perhaps I may be living in the White House someday. 

Merry Christmas!

This is what it looked like outside today:

Mother Nature apparently can't make up her mind about what season it is.  On Monday after school, we had our annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.  My neighbor stuffed 300 eggs for the kids to find.  It took us over an hour to hide them all!  The kids had a blast. 

So we go from this:

To this:

Only in Minnesota.

Treasures

Apparently there is a well kept secret in Buffalo, MN. There are these cool shops that are only open the first weekend of every month. Technically, the first Thursday thru Saturday of every month. Well, it really isn't a well kept secret, because there are lots of people that know about it and go there every month. Yes, I only live minutes from Buffalo, shop at the Buffalo Target on occasion, drive my son to play hockey in Buffalo twice a week, go to the bank in Buffalo. I really should have been able to make it to these sales sometime in the LAST SEVEN YEARS. I mean, how many times have they been open since I've lived here? Approximately 100 times. Well, I finally made it down there this Friday. And I am afraid to say that I will definitely be going back.


I happen to sell my bands at a store in Buffalo, (Something Savvy), and I needed to restock my inventory there. My friend and I decided that maybe we should sneak over and check out the other shops, since I had to be in Buffalo anyway, I mean what could it hurt? Well not much but the checkbook.

The shops are cute little antique shops (not really my thing), resale shops, shops with tons of refurbished items, cool furniture stores with unique pieces and accents, you name it-you can probably find it in Buffalo.

Since I am currently redecorating Miss Jane's bedroom (hopefully this weekend) and the kid's bathroom upstairs, I was in need of some things to help out my projects. I wasn't counting on finding so many other cool things that I really didn't need. Having my friend who is an interior designer with me made it even more difficult because she would tell me exactly where things would go in my house, how things "look just like your house", how it would "really change the whole look of the room" etc, etc. I said "no" to many things, but here are a few of the purchases I did make:

For Miss Jane's new bedroom. $10. She is going from Ballerina Pink and Purple to teen Blue and Lime Green. I will let you know how it works out.

For the kids' bath. Super heavy duty, only $13. Perfect for holding whatever (or so I am told).

I am not sure where this is going to go. It really could go anywhere. But for $5, I couldn't pass it up.

This is what I did pass up, VERY reluctantly.

I was told it would be perfect for my foyer. It would make a statement. It would be a piece I could have for a very long time. All true. But also, a piece I really didn't need right now. It was only $110, but it really would be quite cool in the foyer. Oh well, maybe I can convince Wade myself to get it and it will still be there next month, when I am going to go on THURSDAY, before all the good stuff is gone.

Martha or Mary?

In my womens' group at church, we are studying women of the bible using this great book:

This week we studied Martha.  I am sure you know who Martha is, the sister of Mary and Lazarus, friend of Jesus, who was too busy working to sit and listen to Jesus.  She wanted to make sure all the work got done, the visitors were fed, etc. as her sister sat at the feet of Jesus and listened.  Martha was so upset that she had to do all the work while her sister did nothing.  Well, it really wasn't nothing...she was taking advantage of the fact that she could be close to, learn, and listen to Jesus.

In studying her story this week, I realized that I am totally Martha.  I want to make sure ALL the work is done before any fun can be had.  (Which, by the way, when is ALL the work EVER done?).  I want to make sure everyone knows how hard I am working.  And perhaps how little they are doing.  I know that I have a tendency to be uptight, so I have these little reminders around my house to help me:

and

I think I need to pay less attention to the laundry, the bills, the dirty dishes and the to-do list and more attention to what is really important.  So who are you---Mary or Martha?