Baby Shower, Prison Break

Sunday, we went to a Baby Shower for Ashley and Scott. The Grandmother-to-be is seen in the picture below in the purple shirt and blue jeans. That's Conrad's sister, Dana. I love her! She's always so intuitive and dead on with advice and such a gracious hostess. And, her husband, Sam, makes a great margarita and even better salsa.
The Wanglers always play charades at family get-togethers. This is Madeline trying her hand.
This is the newest Wangler out and about, Eva Brooke. Proud Momma, Esther, doesn't even look like she had a baby six weeks ago. What a beauty (both Esther and Eva)!

Then we move on to today. Last week, they told us that today the dance studio where Madeline takes dance would look a little different. They would be filming "Prison Break" there today. Well, Anna and I "just happened" to get there a little early and "just happened" to get close enough to take some pictures.
This is the mural that was on the side of the dance studio.
This is a picture of them shooting the show. We heard them yell "QUIET!" and "ROLLING!" and then "CUT!". I asked if we could get closer and this guy told me as long as I didn't take any pictures. Well, why don't you just cut off my arms? Anyway, I got closer and saw Dominic Purcell, the star of the show and let me just tell you, he is CUTE! But, oddly, there was a guy who was part of the show but not on it that was just as cute. Sorry, Dominic.
When I was walking back to get Madeline from dance, I saw these people, associated with the show and asked if I could take their picture for my blog. They were very kind and obliging. I wish I had had one of my cards to give them so they could see themselves. Oh well, opportunity missed.

This is while they were filming (while I was still far enough back that I guess it didn't matter if I was taking pictures or not because the guy who told me not to take pictures didn't say anything about me filming). Anyway, you can hear what they say when they finish a scene. The filming is above the vans, if you can see that, then I pan around so you can see what goes on during filming.

This was pretty exciting stuff for "downtown" Arlington. I enjoyed seeing T.V. being made right in front of my eyes.

Thanksgiving, the conclusion

Remember last Thanksgiving? We went over to Paul and Anita's and Paul fried a Turkey and madness and mayhem ensued? I just went to my posts to put a link to last year's mayhem and of all things...it never made it to the blog! I had forgotten the camera and I was relying on others to send me pictures and I guess they never did. Well, suffice it to say, Paul fried a turkey and upon taking it out of the fryer, you guessed it, spilled the whole VAT of grease all over the patio. The only other person out there was Anita and, yes, her foot got burned badly. She had to go to the ER and well, that's the story in a nutshell.



Well, this year, we went over to Paul and Anita's and Paul fried TWO turkeys and you know what ensued? How 'bout some overstuffing of tummies! Yummmmmmm! No spilled boiling hot grease, no skimping on turkey so there would be some left for Paul and Anita when they got home from the emergency room, just slap-happy eating and giving thanks and watching the cowboys tromp the NY Jets, oh yeah, can it get better than that? Here's a picture of the conquering heroes.

Just look at that delicious turkey!
Here's (from l. to r.) Richard, Conrad, Margaret, Peggy, Paul and Eden.
What a happy group! Anna riding Eden's rocking horse.
Uncle Paul holding Maddie Rose (he's the only one allowed to call her that).
And, since there's never any pictures of me on here, I decided to include this one of me and my sweet hubby.

During the Cowboy's half-time show, Anna got jiggy with it.

Again, I wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving.

And, now, let the Christmas holidays officially begin.

Thanksgiving part one

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

The girls had their "Thanksgiving Feasts" at school on Tuesday. These are the things Madeline is thankful for; my pet rocks, noodle (Isabella, her friend), Sadie, Anna, Dad and Mom, oh, and of course, let's don't forget Hannah Montana!

Blue jello, the staples of pilgrims everywhere.

The turkey at the top of the page was created by Becky Hale, Room Mom extroidinaire. Her cookies are as good as they look. Thank you, Becky, for your generosity of time and talent.

Since this is Thanksgiving and all, I would like to let you know what I am thankful for.

My family, Mom, Aunt Brownie, Uncle Howard, Pamela, Wendy, Greggy, James, Austin, Alysse, Ashlea, Aunt Janis, Taylor and his family.

And, the family that Conrad and I have created, Conrad, Sadie, Madeline and Anna. I am thankful for my sons, Jon Michel and Aaron whom I love dearly.

I am also grateful for a house to keep us warm (when we pay the bills and am grateful that all of them are paid right now), food to put on the table, and health with which to enjoy all that.

I am grateful for Conrad's family, who will surround me today, for accepting me as one of their own and loving me as much as I love them.

I am also grateful for friends, too numerous to name, thank you all for bringing joy to my life in various ways.

And, most of all, grateful for a gracious God who sees fit to give us life, in abundance, with joy, sorrow and all that inbetween stuff that we call day-to-day mundane. Thank you, God, for all my blessings, too many to count.

May you all have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving, full of love, yummy food, family and friends.

Moments missed

Two doors down from us live a family who have 6 kids. We call them "the kids". When neighbors hear me say "the girls are down playing with 'the kids' they all know who I'm talking about.

Well, today, I was across the street at my neighbor Lisa's house, in the garage, and one of "the kids" comes running over and proceeds to tell us excitedly that the cats (in my house) had a mouse and Sadie got them away from it and was trying to catch it.

Now, I remember once, a mouse in the house and Conrad tried to get it - and when I say "get it", I mean kill it or stop it from being in the house in some manner and ended up chasing it, armed with a broom, into Anna's room, while she was sleeping, and turned on the light, shut the door, flipped over blankets and the mattress and everything else in the room and we never did find that mouse (nor did he wake up Anna).

So, here comes Sadie with ziploc bags on her hands with the mouse. Lisa semi-freaks out and I am dumbfounded that 1) my child was brave enough to pick up a live mouse, 2) the mouse was pick-up-able, 3) I wasn't freaking out in anyway, except that I just didn't want the mouse back in the house and 4) I didn't have my camera to take a picture. I am sure that this is not the mouse that Conrad tried to capture, as it has been a year or so since that episode and that the cats had to have drug? dragged? that mouse in.

Eventually, Madeline ends up with the mouse, freaks a little, drops it and it semi-scurries under Lisa's car. Lisa wants NO part of this mouse, doesn't want it near her house, in her car, nothing. Phillip (Lisa's husband) eventually grabs the mouse and goes and puts it down the new sewer drains. We always knew they'd come in handy for something.

So, Madeline "has to tell Daddy" about this escapade. I had no idea the girls are now worried about the cats having rabies "because mice carry diseases" - they tell me with "duh" slobbering all over their words, until I come in and Sadie tells me that Puss and Rosie won't have to worry about rabies now because she has brushed their teeth.

I ask her what she brushed their teeth with and she says (as if I've only just now come to planet earth) "toothpaste". And before I can even get the next question out of my mouth she says "I used a toothbrush we don't use anymore". These are the children who, when I say "go brush your teeth" say to me, "I can't find my toothbrush". But, they can sure find one to brush a cat's teeth with.

Next time you visit my house, remember to bring your own toothbrush, and keep it well hidden.

The leaves are falling!

Today we got a little respite from the warm weather. With that came lots of wind, which made the leaves all start falling. This brought out the "leaf jumper" in all the kids.

This is Sadie showing her joy of life, leaves and the pursuit of large mounds of jumpable leaves.
My girls.





In other cool news...James and Rica asked us to be godparents to the twins (remember when they were born? Click here if you don't). We were honored and excited to say "yes"!



Also, I've turned in my last mid-term test, just 7 more chapters to go in my school work. Will it ever end?

And, last but certainly not least, Happy Birthday to my sister, Pamela. I love you!

Awards and such

Sadie's team "The Cornhuskers" had their end of season party today. Here Sadie is receiving her trophy. I tried to get the coach in the picture but Sadie wouldn't cooperate. That's his arm handing it to her.

This is Madeline on the field before her soccer game, preparing herself (or her hair) for battle.
"Hmmm, this chair is lumpy".
Apparently, after playing baseball, soccer is B-O-R-I-N-G!
And, how could I not end with this?

Picture day

Ok, it will be an "anna-centric" blog today. She had her first "school pictures" taken today. She was still dressed in her "finery" when I picked her up so I took advantage and took some pictures. She had her binkie in her mouth but obliged when I asked her to take it out.

Notice her new "dress" shoes.

Oh, my, how cute is she? How many times have I asked that on this blog. Sorry, I just think she is. Good thing, she's enough to drive me crazy, 'til I look at her and she gives me a cute little smile, or a kiss, or hugs my neck.

A very cool thing that happened today is...AARON WILL FOR SURE BE HERE FOR CHRISTMAS (thanks, Mom)! We got his flight today and he'll be here for almost 2 weeks. I'm very much looking forward to his visit. The one in the summer was too short and filled with - oh, I don't know - broken legs and all. Sorry, Mom, I couldn't resist!

And another thing, my Mumsey is finally released from Drs. and therapy. She's healed!

Go Mumsey!!!!!

I will have pictures of our Prinicpal with the "color of the year" for his hair. We had the carnival this past weekend - that accounts for the lack of blogging - I'm just now recovering. But I have to hook the other camera up to the computer and it requires a little more stamina than I have at this moment. It will be coming soon.

Halloween!

Anna was a ladybug for Halloween, enjoy these pictures. There were so many cute ones I just decided to put them all on here.

All the girls, dressed and ready to go trick-or-treating. Madeline opted for no make-up this time.
Madeline almost didn't get to go trick-or-treating tonight. For the last day or two she has been looking for two books, one was a library book, the other on loan from a teacher, that she had in her hand the night before she was looking for them. In other words, she had the books, she went to bed, the next day she couldn't find them. So for days we've been searching for these books. Today, she had a paper due (one page copied paper that had questions she had to answer from a whole other book) and couldn't find that. I was FED UP! So this morning when we got in the van, I told her that when we got home she would look for those books until she found them or she would not be able to go trick-or-treating tonight. As soon as it was out of my mouth I was sorry I said it. What pressure - for both of us!

We got home a little before 4pm and she found them at 6:15 - with her Daddy's help. Whew! I didn't want her missing the biggest night for kids but I had to stick to my guns or neither girl would ever take a threat seriously again. Thank goodness she found those books.

We had some friends come over to trick-or-treat with us. Cassie and Tori with their kids, Caitlin and Decklan (hope I spelled that name right!). Very cute costumes on all. Decklan was a mummy and Caitlin was a flower pot. Cassie made the costumes, how creative!

This is the whole gang that went.

Cassie and Tori were costumed as well as "Ghostbusters"!

Their packs even lit up! Man, they are really good!
Anna checking out her loot.

This is Anna trying yet another tasty morsel. She would unwrap something lick it or stick it in her mouth for a second then "feed it to the birds", which is what we do when we drop food on the ground or I find food on the floor of the van. Birds love us. She went through alot of candy but I bet she didn't have but about 20 calories from it, all told.

All in all, it was a lovely halloween. Chiminea out front, friends over, candy...hmmm, how could you beat that?