Not Your Mother

Last night after fun in the mud and clean up, the boys and I watched a little tv. Blaine, as usual, took his spot on my lap. Noticing his runny nose, I instructed him to go get a tissue and wipe it. He did so and then returned the tissue to me, to where I laid it on the floor. Blaine said, "The kweenex goes in the twash, Mom, not the floor." I said, "Yes, and I'll go put it there in a minute. OR even better, YOU can go put it in the trash." Then he said in a sweet, little voice, "No, because I'm not your mother."

Wait, what?

Side Trip

We took the kids over the weekend up to Lubbock for a night. Got a great rate on a nice hotel. It was a little excursion just to get out of town and do something different. Spent some time as a family on the road. I got to eat at one of my favorite spots - Joe's Crab Shack. Love those coconut shrimp... Mmmmmmmmm.... The kids had fun playing at Legacy Play Village (a giant fort-like playground) and then we treated them to an OMNI max movie about dinosaurs. Not a bad time, not at all...

Movie Review

Narnia: Prince Caspian
Rated PG

This story picks up where the first movie left off some hundreds of years later. Narnia has all but been terminated by a group of people in an adjacent land in order to lay claim to their territory. Prince Caspian is the rightful heir to the throne of this kingdom. He soon runs for his life from his evil uncle who wants to steal the throne from him and make him out to look like the bad guy. As Prince Caspian learns of the atrocities Narnians have had to suffer at his kingdom's hand, he suggests an alliance between the two kingdoms if he can restore his lineage to the throne. The four Narnia kings/queens are summoned back to Narnia by Prince Caspian to help defeat his uncle and, thus, restore Narnia to it's glory. Aslan is missing and the young kings/queens wonder why. (Won't ruin the rest for you!!)

Becky's Rating: A+

I left the theatre saying I still like the first Narnia movie better, but the more thought I give to this new storyline, the more it grows on me. The movie was done very well. Slow at times, but still easy to follow. The spiritual undertones are strong and it is easy to pick out shallow and deeper meanings of what C.S. Lewis intended the reader to find in this story. To me, the quickest interpretation speaks of faith and who we look to for guidance - faith in ourselves or faith in our Creator? Also, of doing what's right even when it is not the popular or accepted thing to do. I could go on and on about my interpretations, I'll spare you! I would allow my school aged children to watch both the first and now this second installment. Both are family friendly, although I wouldn't let preschoolers watch it due to some violence and scary looking characters.

Bottom line: EXCELLENT acting, superb special effects, moving storyline, rich interpretations. Go see it!! Take your family. Enjoy!

Meet Eddie Haskel

Last night Brandon had band practice, so the boys and I were left to our own devices at home. The boys were content to play with each other and were running around the house. At one point they were playing in their room and I heard Braylon trying to shut the door. This made my Mommy radar go off, so I went to the room to see what was up. I heard Braylon plotting and scheming with his brother about what they were going to go do, although I couldn't hear exactly what his plans were. I said, "Hey, what are ya'll doing in here with the door shut?"

Braylon, without missing even half a beat said, "Mom, we need the door shut because we're in here praying." Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm........ Interesting. Of course, it didn't work and I made them come out of there along with a quick lecture on not lying.

What's Your Name??

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (Mother and Fathers middle name): Ann Neil
2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mothers dad, fathers dad): Kenneth Royce
3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name): Hambe
4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favourite color, favourite animal): Green Tabby
5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born): Gail Houston
6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav colour, fav drink, add THE to the beginning): The Pink Tea
7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 3 letters of your last name): Beton
8. GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavour, fav cookie) Mint Oreo - Yo, Yo!
9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pets name, current street name) Boss Woodcrest
10. DANCER NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy): Beautiful Snickers

Go Fish!!!

This weekend Brandon and I took the boys to a Go Fish concert. For those of you who don't know who these guys are, they are a Christian group that targets a young audience. However, Brandon and I find that we like their music just as much as our kids do! They are lyrically strong and their tunes are very catchy. The best part - Their music imparts biblical truths that underscore what we teach our kids already.

The concert this weekend especially was entertaining and the kids had a blast! I plan to post a picture soon. Until then, please check out their website and take advantage of their no shipping charges on their merchandise! You will not regret your purchase, Moms and Dads (and those without children, too!). It will be a sigh of relief to pop this in the car radio rather than a typical kid's cd.

http://www.gofishguys.com/

Toothless in Texas

Not as cool sounding as 'Sleepless in Seattle' but oh well.

Back on Easter of this year Blaine tripped over his shoes and fell into a rocking chair. (See blog dated 3/23/08) We have watched the progression of one of his front teeth turning from white, to purple, to grey to now nearly black. I could stand it no longer and took him to his new pediatric dentist. (An office staff from his old dentist claimed this was no big deal, just to 'watch it.' Still don't know what that means.)

Sure enough, next Monday he will have to have both front teeth removed due to a serious infection that has developed in the gum line. If we don't take the teeth out, it will surely cause more health problems and damage to his permanent teeth.

My only concern now is jealousy from older brother who has yet to give any offerings to the Tooth Fairy. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

One More Down

Oh yeah, for those of you who aren't local and haven't heard me say already, Brandon did very well this semester. His final semester grades have pulled his GPA into a safe zone. He is feeling foxy and fancy free!

One more semester down, um, like way too many to optimisically say how many left - 7? I think... (counting summers and clinicals...)

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's birthday season at our house. My turn. I celebrated by working my tail off at work, having a sack lunch with a district judge and then topping it off with a committee meeting I have scheduled at church tonight. I know what you're thinking - Oh the glamour! Just another day in the life only now I can say I'm 25.

(Ok, don't ruin it for those who know my real age!)

Wild, Wild Week

Ok, I fell off the side of the earth with blogging last week - So sorry! As I wrote before, last week was Brandon's final exam week. Boy were we busy, busy! We topped it with a activity-heavy weekend, but a fun weekend at that. Brandon still does not have his semester grades yet, but he feels relieved to be done for now.

I had a good Mother's Day. We celebrated by staying busy at church with commitments there yesterday and then eating at a nice restaurant for lunch. Despite the boys being really tired from a long morning, they were well behaved. They gave me a gift certificate for my ebay goodies, which I am excited about. But the REAL gift came yesterday afternoon in the form a 2.5 hour nap!! Ahhhhh.... A great day!

Little Debbie

When I was pregnant with Blaine, my favorite treat was oatmeal cream pies made by Little Debbie. I would get the extra big pies that are hard to find and have at least one a day, most of the time more. (With Braylon I craved Mexican food, which I previously hated to eat...) Anyway, I had so many oatmeal cream pies while pregnant, that I haven't gotten any at the store probably since that time until this last week. So funny to me how now that's Blaine favorite snack - It must remind him of the womb!!

Crunch Time

This time of year is busy for everyone. We are not excluded in that! This week is final exam week for Brandon. He's been a busy man studying, studying, studying every waking moment (and getting up EARLY during non-waking moments to study some more!). Braylon's end of the school year program is set for this Friday. I'm leading a 4/5 year old choir at church that will perform for the first time this weekend. To top it, Blaine was ill last week and Braylon ill today. I'll tell you what, when this week is over, don't be alarmed when you hear a sonic boom blasting in your ears - It's just Brandon issuing a gigantic sigh of relief that he survived another semester.

A Healthy Lifestyle

I got this as an email and thought it was too cute not to post. Try some of these tips to relieve stress:
1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom.
Don't Disguise Your Voice !
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their
Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
5. Finish All Your sentences with 'In Accordance With The Prophecy.'
6. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk
and see how many looks you get.
7. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat,
with a serious face.
8 . Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go.'
9. Sing Along At The Opera.
10. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area and Play tropical Sounds All Day.
11. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.
12. When The Money Comes Out The ATM,
Scream 'I Won! I Won!'
13 . When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'
14. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Current Cost of Gas, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'