New Moon!

The night it came out, I went to the midnight showing of New Moon! I went with my friend (who happens to be Wes's preschool teacher) who happens to have a 17 year old daughter who is WAY into The Twilight Saga. This certain daughter brought 2 other friend who are 17 also. Let me tell you, I came away from that night feeling 11 years younger than I am! WHAT FUN!!! We went out to eat (Spaghetti Factory) before hand. Then we headed to Seattle for a 9:00 showing of Twilight. It was fun to see that first. Then we had an hour break in-between shows. It was nice because we got to stay in the same theatre, same seats, no waiting in line...etc. AWESOME!

The teens I was with, were fully equipped with their T-shirts (which read Tyler's Van Team, if you don't get it I will tell you, I didn't get it either) and a WEATLH of knowledge about Twilight, New Moon and all the characters names and bios. This might have been the best part for me. I learned so much about the movie and remembered so much I had forgotten about the books, thanks to these girls. The movie was better than I was hoping (much better than the 1st) and Jacob looked WHOLE lot better that I ever imagined (every time I see him, I still think Shark-Boy and Lava-Girl, but I think this movie got me passed that) and Edward is still a bad actor, although very enduring.

Needless to say, I had a blast acting like a 17 year old girl again, screaming, laughing, and talking about the on-screen boys, not to mention getting to bed at 3:30 am. What a night to remember, if only I could recover from lack of sleep now...

Hug a Kid

Today my friend and I made a trip to the mall with 6 kids to play at the squishy (and germ infected) play place. It was overflowing with people and kids of all ages, since there was no school: Veterans Day. Thirty minutes after arriving, a lady stands up and starts searching for her child. She was just ignored for a bit but then, she started getting frantic. She couldn't find her daughter. She started screaming her name and running up and down the mall. When she came back around to the play area, with no luck, EVERYONE at the play place bolted into action. We were all quizzing her name, age, what she was wearing etc. We found out she 22 months old! SO YOUNG! There was a major search party heading around the mall, people running in and out of stores and asking EVERY passer-by if they had seen a lost little girl. By this time the mother is HYSTERICAL, and rightfully so! (it had been about 15-20 min)

As I watched this young mother so frantic and scared, my heart ached for her. I could not fathom the idea of losing one of my babies. Not knowing who they might be with, if they were scared, if they were kidnapped...you know, those kind of thoughts. The bad ones. The worse case senrio ones. I have been a bit on the negative side lately, in dealing with my children. I have felt, overwhelmed, under appreciated, burned out, ungrateful, not to mention very selfish, this past week. Today those negatives were wiped clean as I watched this mom deal with such panic and pain.

Back to the story...30 minutes, start to finish, the little girl was found, happy as a clam, in The Disney Store. The reunion between mother and daughter was BEAUTIFUL. The mother bawled and bawled (I could hear her halfway down the mall.) The little girl just held still in her arms, and hugged her mother tight. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and then hugged their own children.

As I have thought about this incident the remainder of the day, I have thought about all of the joy my children bring me. They are amazing spirits, who are smart, witty, fun, innocent, positive, HILARIOUS etc. I need to take some lessons from them in the positive category. I have got my little family and that matters MOST in the whole world. Literally.

I also have to say, on another note, I was very impressed by the other parents in the mall. Every single person was ready to help and jump right into action. They were genuinely concerned for this mother and daughter and helped until the end! Impressive Lynnwood, impressive!

Love these people!

Halloween Visitors

For Halloween this year, my sister flew in from Phoenix. It was sooo much fun with her and her little girl here. She got here the day before Halloween and left this morning... (sniff). WE of course did tons of talking and catching up, did Halloween school parties, trunk-treating at the church, and regular trick-or-treating. We also went to Seattle, did lots of shopping, the beach, Pacific Science Center, etc. Why does the fun always have to come to an end? Now I am just sitting here in a big empty house wearing rice on my tux, wondering what happened to my life (what movie is that from??????)

I feel like the worst mom because I didn't get a picture of all my 3 kids together on Halloween, but I did manage to get a shot of them separately... Landon the Elephant and Miranda his cousin (in which they have a love hate relationship) the bee.
The baby elephant drinking a bottle (I know he is too old to drink a bottle, we are working on that one :)) Wesley the Ninja...
Sydnie, the ghost (in which she changed to a baby the next day for her school carnival and then the next day for trick-or-treat she was a ballerina) A pretty day in Seattle!!Nice view from the Space Needle, my first time going up!! It costs a mere $16.00 to go to the top! YIKES! At least I can say I have been to the top now!
Since we went to Seattle on Halloween day, we saw some interesting people/costumes. This guys was working at Pikes Place and offering apples to kids. Kinda scary, but Wes wasn't scared, probably because there was food involved.
We ate at a seafood place near Pikes Place. Here is Aaron "downing" an oyster for the first time. We weren't quite sure he would like them...all raw and slimy...The Verdict???? Thumbs UP! Now I need to work enough nerve up to try them!