The Writer's strike is over.........

I guess now that all the writer's have gone back to work, I, too, can cease my strike.( not that I had any reason for my being absent) I was just standing in silent support......ha, ha, ha. Now that I have successfully alienated all my readers, ( all 5 of you) or at least have them believing that this blog has been shut down permamently. Well, I am back, for now. Until I decide to have another 3 month hiatus. Not very good blogging etiquette, huh?
On to my new found obsession........ mind you, we are little behind the times on this, a little slow to come on board to this phenomenon sweeping the nation, but we are getting there. First let me say this. The library has become our new favorite place. My kids love it. ( not too sure if librarian Fran loves us.....) It is really hard to keep Jack contained to a stroller in there, and he really thinks it is fun to run around the kids section and pull books of the shelf, while mommy chases him and puts them back. We are going to try a different location tomorrow....... Fran may not be so happy to see our faces so soon, we'll go meet a new librarian! Anyway- the library has movies you can check out for FREE ( I am sure everyone else already knew this beautiful tidbit of information- but maybe decided not to share it- for fear that it would be spread to too many people- after all there is not a huge assortment) So anyway, Rylie and I ( okay mostly me) decided to check out...... wait for it...... that is right...... the best movie of the past 5 years..... High School Musical. I cannot believe that I had not seen this movie before 3 weeks ago. I was a scoffer, I must say, when I heard others singing its praises and giving it such high accolades, but now I must admit, I was so wrong to scoff, it was like a dream come truesday! Rylie liked it too. She watched it 6 times in a week. Then we made my whole family sit down and watch it when we went to Mississippi, and Rylie was singing along with every song. I can't even describe how happy it makes me to know that she is a daughter after my own heart. I love a musical, i wish life were a musical. I would love to break out in choreographed lyrics and dance moves while mopping my kitchen floor or grocery shopping down the aisles of my local walmart. The best thing about HSM is that the music is actually really good- I may need to download the soundtrack to my Ipod, considering I wake up singing the songs every morning! Like I said, I know that we are a little behind the times on finding out about the shear awesomeness of this movie, but we are catching up...... we rented HSM2 and watched it today- I have to say, Luke even made it through like two- thirds of it!

Bluebonnet letdown

One of the signs of spring in Texas is the bluebonnets. You know that the weather is starting to get warmer and that spring is on it's way, once you start to see those signature blue flowers, covering the highways and byways all over Texas. It is also a rite of passage as a parent in Texas to throw your kids into patches of them and take lots of pictures. I mean, when else, would you willingly stop your car on the side of the road, take your kids out, put them in a field five feet away from the passing traffic, whilst vehicles are cruising past you at a mere 90mph? Family members: do not worry yours truly did not do that- no we just went to a fire-ant (another lovely distinctive sign of a Texas spring) infested field in Ennis - during their annual Bluebonnet festival. We drove an hour and a half to get there- to what are supposed to be the best bluebonnets in the state. All to hear the women at the tourist office say " This is the worst year for the bluebonnets. Last year was the best." Great. Well, we did find one semi good patch of them, only problem was, so had everyone else. But it was okay, and I think in the end we got some good pictures. I should hope out of the 200 we took, there were at least some good ones! Oh well, even though the flowers were not as abundant as they had been in previous years, it was still a nice afternoon to be outside and enjoy a beautiful spring day, because I know all too soon, it will be unbearably hot, like, probably next week! After all, that is another sure fire sign of spring in Texas, it only lasts about 2 weeks!

Photo Opps

Here are some recent photos we took of Jack and Rylie last Saturday as we were raking about 5 of the 5 trillion leaves in our front yard. We did not even attempt to work on the backyard again. There have already been several sessions of mowing and mulching leaves, raking and bagging leaves, and there are still leaves all over the back yard. I see now that this is a never ending process. But as you can see from the pictures, Jack and Rylie had a good time!

These next pictures of our little ham. He was posing for the camera wearing Rylie's new chef outfit she got for Christmas. He goes and gets it and puts it on himself- it is so cute!

It's that time of year again.........

.....where you find all of America glued to their tv sets watching another exciting, plot twisting, edge of your seats, suspense filled season of American Idol! Okay, so none of the above adjectives actually correctly describe this show, since this is now season 7 and it pretty much will play out exactly the same way seasons 1- 6 have so far, but we still love every "reality" drenched second of it. Personally, I love the tryout shows, because you just have to sit and question if those people A) really think they have talent and B) do they have any friends and if they do, why oh why, have they not stopped them from this journey into humiliation? Which brings me to my next question- how many of them are just doing it for a chance to get on tv? My guess would be the majority, and since the producers all know this and they know America's insatiable need to be entertained by the most bizarre, it seems like every season tries to "one-up" the season before it, by bringing in the most ridiculous of people. Case in point- the man in the Princess Leah costume last night, who left and had his chest waxed for Paula. EEEEW! It was so disgusting. There are the ones you do feel sorry for though, the ones that really seriously think they can sing, and then it is sooooooo bad....... that is when I wonder where their true friends are. Everyone needs someone in your life who will be honest with you and tell you, " There is lipstick on your teeth" " Your dress is tucked into your hose, darling..." " You have toilet paper stuck to your shoe", " You have food in between your teeth" " You don't have a good singing voice" or as my loving husband tells me " You're tone deaf honey." ( Dashes away all my hopes of being the next Celine Dion- but he can't stop me when I am in my car!!!!!) Come to think of it, I guess it just shows how hard it is for people to be honest with eachother. I think that may be the problem with the majority of people, we just don't have enough people willing to be honest with us or that we are willing to be honest with , and I am not talking about hurting people's feelings, I am just saying, genuine honesty can be done gently. Thankfully, before I trekked it down to Texas Stadium, Luke was able to be that honest ( maybe not so gentle) force to keep me from making a fool of myself! Plus, I think I am past the age limit, being 30. I so should have gone last year! Then people would have been thinking all of those things about me...... thankfully I have enough friends and family who would not let me do that to myself..... although they might have, since much of those said family members and friends failed to keep me from drastically cutting my hair on my wedding day..........(which is almost the same as letting a tone deaf person audition for American Idol)It's time to get honest people! Good thing I've got Luke around to speak his mind- now just don't get any ideas in your head honey.... at no time, under any circumstances will it ever be a good idea, honest or not, to say......." About those jeans, they really make your butt look huge."

U2 movie

U2 movie

I love U2! They are so awesome. Anyone that knows me understands that I am kind of a freak about them, so this news of a U2 movie, makes my year. During those in-between years when we are awaiting a new cd and concert tour, things like this make the wait bearable. I just hope that they show it at the IMAX in Dallas, because I will be there, and yes, Luke, I will be dragging you with me. I wonder if the 3D glasses will look like The Fly glasses Bono wears? We can only dream it will be so......

Blogger Detention

Okay, so it turns out, I really stink at this blogging thing. I was informed today that it has been 13 days since my last post. I think I may lose my blogger license or be put on probation or something of that sort. I have no good excuses other than it only happens to be the busiest time of the year. However, just as I am thinking " surely no one else has updated their blogs during this insane month" - sure enough as I was looking at all my favorite blogs tonight, all had new messages, some had like 10 to my none! Maybe this should be my New Years resolution- be better about updating my blog. Seems like a easy enough task, but I am sure, that in the coming year of 2008, I will have yet again another lengthy no-posting streak.

I decided to post a slide show of all the pictures we had to take in order to finally get a decent one for our Christmas card. It is so nice to send out a cute picture of your kids, sending the message of peaceful, harmonic, angelic, happiness ( albeit contrived). When in fact the said photo is actually the result of over a week's worth of effort, numerous different photos sessions, the magic of photo shop, and plenty of bribing, begging, weaping, tearing of clothes, and gnashing of teeth ( and that was done by the parents). And it is all so we can attain that one perfect picture to represent " Team Benton" well for the year. Maybe next year we will give up this farce and just send out one that shows their true colors. Merry Christmas!