Happy Hawoweeeeeen...

I'm not a big fan of Halloween.  I'm just not.  I detest gore, spooky things are, well, spooky, and I don't like the idea of glorifying death and evil.  

That being said, I love seeing little kids dressed up, full of innocence, going door to door exclaiming, "Trick or treat!"  I love that, for one night, there are no strangers, and entire neighborhoods come together to enjoy the children.  I don't have kids of my own, and before I had nieces and nephews I would tag along with the Williemas kids while they went door to door.  Then Katie started having her own kidos, and she usually has an annual Halloween Party for her kids and all their little friends.  With my BIL (that's short for Brother-In-Law) out of town for extended training with the FL National Guard, Katie decided to forgo the party and take the kids to "GiGi" and "PaPa"'s house instead.  I joined them, and while I knew that I was in for night full of laughs, I had no idea just how much fun I was up against!  

Katie's kids are the perfect age for TOTing (Trick or treating)!  They were soo cute!  I made a digital scrapbook of the night and I've posted it at the end!  I think my favorite part of the night was watching Cora as she went from door to door crying, "Trick-or- treeeeat!" and "Happy Hawoweeeeen!!!!"  At one point she was being prompted to say "Trick-or-treat!", and she was asked, "Cora, what do you say?"  She replied, "I want chocolate!"  Ahhhh, a girl after my own heart!  Katie and the kids had a "Wizard of Oz" theme for their costumes.  Alexis was Dorothy, Cora was "Glenda, the Jood Vitch" (in her words.  It sounded much like a word she should not be using), Deuce was the Tin Man, Katie was the Scarecrow, and they carried a stuffed lion and dog to round out the cast.   They were very cute!  

After we had rounded the block and collected every piece of candy in sight, Dad had the great idea to pile them all up in the car and visit a friend of his that had made a haunted house.  Well, actually it was a haunted yard, but the point was that it was haunted, something we've already established that I don't much care for.  I adamantly refused to go, until my dear 7 year old niece, Alexis turns to me and says, "It's Ok, Aunt Sissy!  It's only Fiction!"  Fine.  I'll go!  But if I have bad dreams, I'm calling you and you'll have to talk me through them.  I went, and it was your usual spooky music, screaming victims, mad scientists, gore, severed heads, and people acting like mannequins only to jump out at you and scare the crap out of you.  The kids were fine. Alexis loved it, and Cora didn't Dad put her down.  When we got back to the house she told my Mom , "GiGi!  I went to a haunted house!  It was scary!  But I liked it!  I want chocolate!"   Oh, and I survived.  Barely.

My mom dressed as a nun to hand out candy, she was "Mother Superior", and looked rather authentic in her habit and whiffle.  She decided to be a nun while making All Saint's Day costumes for the kids.  Alexis was St. Julie of Billiard, and Cora was St. Elizabeth of Hungary, but she kept calling herself St. Elizabeth of Hungry Hippo.  What a cooke!  All in all it was a great time, considering my deep dislike for this pseudo holiday!  I'm just glad that this has passed.  There's just one thing... with the passing of Halloween, that only means that Thanksgiving and then Christmas are around the corner!  Argggggggh!  I'll leave that for another post!

Until then ... Be good and God bless!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Old friends and Split Ends...

We all know of my unhealthy attachment to Face Book.  (I am seeking professional help, by the way.  Too bad he's a quack doctor!  QUACK!!!)  I do spend a ridiculous amount of time on there.  It seems I have quite a few friends who do as well.  In fact some of my buds have switched from only using MySpace to FB.  That's a good thing, because I have abandoned my MySpace page.  It's just not worth it.  Plus all the people I want to keep tabs on are on FB, anyway.I've been contacted by many a voice from the past, as of late.  Some I haven't spoken to since we graduated from high school 15 years ago!  I love that these old chums are reconnecting.  It's so hard to picture some of these people married and with munchkins.  Now my best bud from HS, Christina, I can totally picture her with a bushel of kids, some of those other peeps, I'm not so sure I would want to see some of them as parents.  I guess the point is that we all grow up.  That we aren't the people we were even a few years ago, much less 15 years ago!  I really think that I thought I knew these people 15 years ago, but when I compare those friendships to the ones I am blessed with today, they just seem shallow and one sided, (mostly on MY part, but I think we were all a little self absorbed back then.  It was the adolescence in us all!)   On a funny side note... I made this picture of myself on www.yearbookyourself.com.  I ACTUALLY have a VERY simallar picture to this one of myself from when I was younger.  It's too funny!  

I did one of Celine too!  

Thank goodness we all grew up, though!  And now that I'm renewing old friendships, and strengthening present ones, I can be thankful for the face that we all DO grow up, and become amazing adults!  (Well, in most of our cases that is!) 

Split ends...

This is the word that comes to mind when I look at this picture I took of Brian today...

He's changed his mind about his costume and has decided to go as a "girl".  He's the first of the boys brave enough to don this costume.  It's really a Dolly Parton costume that I made for Monica years ago.  I don't think that he'll be wearing the um, girl parts, though.  I don't need to be having any "conversations" with him about the differences between girls and boys.  I just don't.

Speaking of changes!  Celine is "City Gates"!!  She's lost her two front teeth!  It's a mile stone to be sure! I'm so proud of her! J/k!  But she is pretty darn cute!!!  Here she is in all her toothless glory!...

Well, I have to be going!  Off to Adoration with the Youth Group.  If ya wanna hear more about that little escapade then you'll have to check out the other blog.  <------  THAT'S RIGHT! I said other blog!!!  It's a secret project I started.  It's a bit more serious and on the spiritual side of life.  It's called "A Scent of Grace".  Go check it out, (there's a link to it in the sidebar on the left) and leave me some comments.  (Yes, Katie!  ONE MORE thing for you to "follow".  Suck it up, woman!  Your the wifey of an American Soldier!  You can handle this!!!)

Until next blog...

God bless and be good!  

PS . The last two pictures were taken on my iPhone!  ;)  

PSS. I do NOT need a life, Mother!  I already have a very full life!  Thank you VERY much!  (Thanks to FB, Twitter, my TWO blogs, my MAC, and my iPhone!  What more could a girl want?)

Leelou, Skip to my lou...

I'm hard at work, figuring out all the nifty stuff I want on the blog's new look!  I was so excited to hear the the very talented lady who will be designing the blog is giving away free layouts!  So I've posted a button in hopes of winning one!  Regardless of wether I win or not, Leelou WILL be designing the new look!  I can't wait!!

Until next time...

Be good and God bless ya!

As Promised...

So I promised to post again tonight.  Nothing really interesting to mention, except that I spent over an hour and a half on the phone with my sis.  That's only interesting to you because Inever get to talk to her for that long.  And the miracle of miracles was that all her kidos were in bed, so we could actually talk in peace and quiet!  I love talking and spending time with my sister, Katie.  We tolerated each other as kids, but now that were adults, we really enjoy each other.  I now know that I know that it is indeed possible for us to have "grown up time" too bad it's when we should BOTH be sleeping!  LOL!  I need to head off to slumber town!  I'm exhausted!

Good night, be good, and God bless!

P.S. Thanks for our chat tonight, T.  I know how hard it'll be to get up in the morning!  Love ya!

My crazy sister and Me!

Blogger's Block

So I've been experiencing "blogger's block".  You may not have been able to tell, but I hide it well!  ;)  

Here's my "trick".  I'll open a new post, enter a few notes on what I want the post to be about, and then SAVE it rather than POST it.  That way when I finally get around to posting it, the post will be on the right date, and it looks like I've been keeping up with my blog.  LOL!  

So I've been doing this ALL week.  That Birthday blog was soo long and involved, that it ZAPPED my blogging powers!  But I think that I am back on track!  

I may blog again tonight, just to prove my point!

Be good and God bless!

I <3 my iPhone!!

I got my iPhone!  I got my iPhone!  Nana, nana, boo, boo!  Hey, wait.  It's not nice to tease!  I'm sorry.  But I'm just so excited!  I sold my iTouch so I could get this little sucker, and so far I love it!  It does everything except wash the dishes and vacuum the floors.  (But I could go online and hire a maid to do those things for me.  Too bad I spent all my $$ on the phone!!)  

FYI :  the little symbol in  the title is heart.  It's like the smiley face- kinda.  :)

Also, notice the Twitter feed at the left?  I can update that from my phone!  It tells you  what I'm doing at that moment!  Cool!  A new obsession!   Thanks, Mom, for the mild OCD you passed on to me.  Too bad I don't obsess over a clean house or spelling errors instead of FaceBook, huh?  (or for some of us it's counting pelicans! Ha! Ha!)

  Domenic Update!   He's doing much better now that he has his antibiotics and pain killers!  He should be back to his old self in about a week.  Oh, and it ended up costing me a pretty penny, too.  Geesh!  Vet's are more expensive than people doctors!  I'm in the wrong business!  No, I'm NOT.  Really, I'd much rather deal with kids all day over smelly pets.  :P

  

Again, this is a short post.  Trying to catch up, and not overwhelm everyone!  

God bless and be good.  

OCD tip of the day:  Don't count pelicans when you're driving!  C-ya!

My Kitty's SICK!!!

I came home last night to a messy mess in my kitchen.  My Kitty, Domenic, has what seems to me a UTI.  I won't go into the details, it's gross, but he had all the symptoms.  So I took him to the vet this morning, and because they couldn't get a sample to run some tests I had to leave him there!  I was very sad leaving him, but he should come home tonight.  I can only imagine what this is going to cost me!  UGH!!!

This post us SUPER short to make amend for the last mammoth of a post I wrote.  Again, sorry for that, guys.  I'll try really hard to keep them MUCH shorter.  It WAS my birthday post, though! 

Be good and God bless!

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Warning- It's an epic one!

IT's A GIRL!!!

Born: October 18th, 1975

Weight: 5.11 lbs

 18" long

She's as cute as a BUTTON!

On this day, 33 years ago, under the bright light of the full moon, my mother brought a precious baby girl into this world!  A baby girl so precious and lovable that none who have followed could compare!  This tiny bundle of pink perfection of course is me! I had a very busy day planned, but the party started YESTERDAY!  I have a hilarious slideshow prepared for you to watch at the end of the post!

  

Friday I arrived to work to "Surprise!"  and "Happy Birthday!"s all around!  They had hung the birthday banner, and copious amounts of hugs were rained unpon me.  (is there anything better than a good hug?  Not in my book!)  At snack time Donna, Meg, and the kiddies all gathered around to sing "Happy Birthday" and watch poor OLD me blow out the candles on my 2- count 'em- 2 cakes!!!!

 Donna graciously spared me by not putting the full 33 candles on them!  Then I opened more lovely gifts than a person should get!  Each of them as thoughtful as the previous.  I am now the proud owner of a personalized travel coffee mug, adorable stationary, hand soap and lotion that smells yummy enough to EAT, and some snazzy makeup from Sephora!  And that's just the start!  Donna took Meg and I out to lunch at the swanky and newly remodeled One Ocean Hotel down at the beach.  Lunch was amazing and exciting!  We sat out on the patio next to the beach because we live in Florida, and the weather is stunning in Florida in autumn.  Anyway... we were relaxing under this beautiful aqua blue umbrella the size of Buick.  We were sipping our glasses of wine; OH!  did I mention the best part?!   We were child-less!  Chris had taken the kids; leaving us to a quiet luncheon.  As I was saying, we were sipping our glasses of  wine, when a mighty wing came roaring upon us and lifted this ginormous umbrella out of a 200+ pound slab of granite! It was tossed across the patio, narrowly missing Donna's head by just inches!!  It took two grown men to lift it back into place.  Once all was righted, we settled back into our conversation, but we weren't about to trust that umbrella stand again!  Each time the wind would blow we'd flinch in anticipation of the umbrella attacking again.   Thankfully, it stayed put, and we finished our amazing lunch.  The only thing more amazing than the food was the stunning surroundings and fantastic company!  Thank you, Donna and Meg for a Lovely Lady Luncheon!

And the fun didn't stop there!  That night I met my closest girlfriends for a yummylicous dinner at P.F. Chang's.  Erin and her adorable kids met Meghan, Yvette and myself, and we had a blast!  Her kids are too cute, and it always amazes me that they eat WHATEVER she puts in front of them!  No picky eaters in that family.  Meg bestowed me with a beautiful apron, the most lovable Salt and Pepper shakers, and a journal for me to jot my thoughts down in.  Hmmm, I wonder where she got the idea that I liked to write?  Ha. Ha.  Afterwards, in leu of cake, we all trekked  about a mile to Yoga-Berry, and I was in heals!  Walking was my bright idea, next time we take the car!  I have some serious blisters as souvenirs.  OUCH!  Yoga-Berry was delicious, always is!  If you've never heard of them, they're an organic 21st Century version of TCBY.  It's actually yogurt, though!  I'm not a fan of the original flavor- it just tastes like frozen plain yogurt.  The berry flavors are really good.  I haven't yet tried a berry based flavor I didn't like...yummmmm.  I could so go for a Yoga-Berry with granola on top!  Focus, Shannon!  Focus!   Needless to say that all present had a great time!  Thanks, you guys!  You helped to make my birthday extra special!!!  I love you gals!!!!

Today was pretty crazy!  I used to think that the world stopped on my birthday.  I blame my mother for this type of thinking.  She made each and every birthday an extra special, over the top, sensory overload!  My mom was the type that made other mothers cringe when planning their kid's parties.  How could they compare to the blowout galas that mom put on?  Each event had a theme, and each  and every detail contributed to that theme!  And we never had birthdays, we had birthweeks!  There was too much celebrating to be done to fit into just one day.  Now that I'm an adult, though, I have learned the hard truth that the world does, indeed, continue to spin on its axis.  Just as Youth Group continues to meet, other people have important things to do, and Walmart (my nemesis) is beckoning me to drag my unwilling self across its threshold and spend what little moolah I have on the mountains of junk they have stocked on their shelves.  SO, I had planned a BLOWOUT Costume Party for Youth Group on my birthday.  It was very much along the lines with Mom's past "work".  Complete with fog machine, gross out boxes, and decorations galore! 

 I made the requisite trip to Walmart to gather last minute supplies for the party.  Then it was off to Mom and Dad's for a family "Linner"- That's an late lunch/early dinner.  Katie and the kids were there and Yvette joined these festivities, as well.  By the way, Mom had 2 cakes for me, too!  Whew, I did NOT partake in both of them!  I promise!  Cora sang "Happy Birthday" like a pro, along with her big sis, Alexis.  Mom and Dad presented me with a cute beach-y accessory for the condo and they contributed to the "Get Shannon an external hard drive" Fund.  I felt very loved, and we had a great time.  Then it was off in a flash to church to set up for 2 hours for the YG party.  Mom, Katie, and the kids came down with cupcakes and took a look around a out hard work.  Before I knew it YG was underway, and before long that, too was over.  My roomie and I headed home pretty late, and in blink of an eye, my 33rd B-Day was over!  :(  

Yvette surprised me with my very own pig puppet!!  It's name is Pip Squeak!  If you're asking why would I want a pig puppet then  you need to read this past post.  I love him!!  Thanks, roomie!!

It was a wonderful day filled with family, friends, and fun.  I cannot complain.  I loved every moment of it!  Thank you to everyone for all that they did to make this 3rd anniversary of my 29th b-day so special!  But most especially, thank you for loving me!  

A special thanks to the woman who loved me first: Mom... thank you for making me the woman I am today.  Thank you for giving me LIFE, your kind heart, your love of life, your strong will, your party planning prowess, your eye for beauty, and above all thank you for the greatest gift a mother can give their child, Faith.  You have shaped every other aspect of my life by teaching me about Christ and His Church.  Your example of Faith has made an indelible impression on my life.  I pray that some day, in God's time, I have the awesome responsibility of exemplifying the same Faith for my own children.  SO, Mom, from the one who loved you first:  Thank you, and may God reward you handsomely for all of the unselfish love you have shown me throughout my life.  I love you forever, for always!

To everyone else:

Be good, and God bless!!!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Getting on God's Good side...

According to the Bible, (which is fact the Written Word of God), "God's good side" we've come to learn, is His Right Side. This is what we are all learning in Religion this week. Of course they're each learning age appropriate material. JP's book goes into greater detail than say, Brian's and Celine's is much simpler than Grant's, but they are all learning about The Final Judgment and the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Wow! Pretty deep, I know- but there's a funny story in here, I promise! So each day I spend ample time teaching them the day's lesson. I love this time- usually. Teaching them about what we believe as members of the Church is the most important thing I can teach them. Not to mention that, for some reason, it's during this subject that the silliest things are said. You'll recall Grant's insistence that God had a head. His reasoning was that He need a place to keep His hair. (If you didn't read that post read "TOO FUNNY" HERE. It was too funny!)

Well, Funny Guy, Grant has struck again! We've been reading the passage in Matthew where Christ talks about separating the sheep from the goats, and how He will put the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left. Grant, being of a literal mind, says, "There's sheep in Heaven? I didn't think that there were any animals in Heaven." OK, so he totally missed the point, this means that I have to explain the "Word of God" using my own words. A pretty daunting and nerve racking thing to have to do, I might add. I start explaining to him that the sheep are the souls of those who have lived good lives and followed Christ while on earth, and the goats are those souls who chose their own will over God's. Then I told him that the sheep will be on God's right hand, while the goats will be on His left. Grant chimes in, "YEAH! I'm a righty!" I just shook my head. This could be interpreted in two ways:

-One: Literally. That he's a righty. And that passage, in his mind, according to his interpretation, means that only "righties" are going to Heaven. I have no clue where he gets this stuff, honestly I don't.

-Two: He's pretty darn assured of his salvation, and is on his way to Heaven, thus being a "righty" in the sense that he'll be considered a "sheep".

He really meant that he writes with his right hand, making him a righty.  He just heard the "right side"and thought "righty".

I hear so many "blog worthy" things from these kids, that I have a stack of Sticky Notes on my desk mainly for writing down notes to myself, and they know when they're going to end up in the blog that day or the next.  When Grant saw me pull out a Sticky note he exclaimed: "OH, yeah!  I'm going on the blog!!!"   I'm looking at the sticky as I type this entry, so he was right.  

This is why I started this blog.  I would meet friends for dinner and they would ask me to tell them the "cute" things the kids had said or done.  Well, cute for them because they don't deal with this stuff day in and day out.  I admit that it is usually pretty funny, but I can't laugh at them.  It just fuels the fire, and it's just that much harder the next time to  NOT laugh at them.  My cousin, Nicole, still calls me "Channon", because Grant used to call me that before he learned how to pronounce the "SH" sound.  It doesn't bother me that she calls me that, it just reminds me of the days when he was a little man who loved to be cuddled.  AW!  I miss that guy!  Now i'm going all sappy!  That's enough.  This is the time to stop writing, or I'm gonna end up a blubbering mess, and you're gonna stop reading!

Be good and God bless!

Kmart Kraziness

My least favorite time of the year is quickly approaching.  (No, KATIE, it's not my birthday, but it is coming sooner than I would like, too.)  It's Halloween.  I am so not a fan of Halloween.  I'm not big on glorifying gore and evil.  Not to mention that this is the WORST time for those of us who are trying to eat in a healthy manner.  I am a chocolate addict.  Just add that to the FaceBook addiction.  If there were a way to combine the two I would be a HAPPY woman.  Anyway... so there is a LOT of chocolate to be found out there right now, and a lot of icky gore, but the kids love it.  We actually forbid any mention of Halloween until a maximum of 2 weeks before the date.  We started 2 days early this year, and I took them all to Target and Kmart to look for costumes.  Grant said before we even left that he was going to be McCain for Halloween, Celine wanted to be an angel, JP has either a super hero or a villain in mind, and Brian just wants to dress up.  He eats this stuff up with a spoon!   They had a blast playing dress up in the aisles.  And I had a blast watching them!  The rules were as follows:

• No gross or demonic costumes!  Not even to try on. ( I easily have bad dreams.  I know, I'm a wimp!) 
• Be gentle with the costumes!  You break it, you buy it!
• Put everything back where you got it.  Don't just throw it on the floor when you're done with it!
• And last, but most importantly:  ABSOLUTELY no scaring Shannon!  They just love jumping out at me from unanticipated places.  They like it when I "scream like a little girl"!

The last rule didn't apply to scaring each other, though.  So JP hid behind a bunch of costumes and had me call Brian over to see a werewolf costume.  Of course the others followed, and when JP leapt out form the costumes; growling, "ROAWR"!, all three munchkins squealed!  It was pretty funny!  They all had their fun with the costumes.  In the end, Grant got the mask (his mom says that he probably won't get any candy!), Celine got her angel costume, JP was totally uninspired,  and Brian came home and started digging through the old costumes trying to come up with something unique.  (He just modeled his creation for me.  It a black spiderman mask with black shoes, pants, and long sleeved shirt.  Oh, and a sawed off rifle.  He calls it the "Assassinator".  Do you think I should start worrying about this one!)

 

Here's the picts of the krazyiness!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Be good and God bless!

Guana go to the Park?

We took a field trip today!  Donna and I took the kids and my niece Alexis to Guana Park in Ponte Vedra Beach.  They have a beautiful educational center there, and lots of hiking trails.  We had a wonderful day!  The kids loved it! 

We started out in the Educational Center where they did a scavenger hunt and saw a bald eagle and its nest.   There was so much for us to see!  The ceiling was covered with life sized models of sea life that is found off our coasts; manta rays, Right Whales, dolphins, sharks, fish, sea turtles, the list just keeps going!  In the middle of the room was a GIANT life sized diorama of a Florida Estuary.  It was neat to see all the animals in their natural habitat.

Afterwards we had a picnic lunch and then  headed off to the nature trails.  We didn't have a lot of time, but we managed to squeeze in a mile and a half hike!  The kids took special delight in pointing out the ginormous spiders, and when we stumbled upon a rather large black snake they seemed intent on ticking it off by chucking sticks and other rubble at it.  After a stern reprimand, we headed back to the car and civilization.   I am a BIG fan of AC and pest control, so while I throughly enjoyed our little field trip to the wilds of Florida, I was more than content to return home!

Here's a slideshow of the trip! (I've become addicted to this "Smile Box" application!  Do you like the sideshows better than the parade of pictures I used to do?)
 

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Be good and God bless!

On the Run...

Literally!  So I've been quietly training for my first 5K.  Thanks to the encouragement of my good friend, Erin.  She mentioned a few months ago that she was seriously considering running/walking in the RITA 5K in October.  At first I told her that I would not and could not run a race.  I would not, could not keep the pace.  I would not, could not even try, I would not, could not want to die!  But after thinking about it a little more I thought that it might be a good motivator for me.  I kept it quiet because I wasn't really sure that I'd follow through with it.  Then I decided that this was something that I needed to do, and to hold myself accountable I went ahead and told a few family members and close friends what I was planning to do.  Each of them had VERY different reactions. Here are a few of them:

My Mom:  Is that really a good idea?  Should I have fire/rescue on speed dial, or would it be better if they were on site?  Well, if you think you'll be OK, then it'll be fine, I guess, but make sure you have your inhaler and don't push yourself too hard! ( Um... isn't that the point?)

Stacie (my trainer): Really?  That's great!  You can do it!  I think I'll join you!  (And she did!)

Yvette (roomie):  Have fun.

Donna (my boss):  If Stacie says you can do it, then you'll be fine.  It'll be fun.

One day, a few weeks ago, while we were training to run/walk the race, Stacie brings these walking poles with her.   She says she wants me to try them out, to see how I do with them.   I really liked them, so we decided to use those for the first 5K.  They look a little like ski poles, but they have rubber "feet".  They are very comfortable to use and help keep you at a steady brisk pace.   I'm hoping to be able to go without them the next run.  Well, see.

So the run was Saturday the 11th, and it was FUN!  Stacie and I got there pretty early to register and get ready for the run.   There were a TON of people there!  Registration was pretty painless, and before we knew it we were waiting at the starting line.  I was pleased with my results, my main goal was to FINISH, meaning that I didn't fall dead on the road.  My secondary goal was to finish in  any place but LAST.  I kept looking back behind us:

 "Um, Stacie... it doesn't look like there are very many people behind us."  

"Shannon, there all back around that last corner still."  

"Are you sure?"

"Yes.  I'm sure.  Stop worrying and keep walking! "

"If you say so!"  

Apart from asking Stacie if we were last every half a mile, I felt really good.  We were NOT the last ones to finish, in fact we were far from being last.  So it looks like I met my two goals of not dying and not finishing dead last!  Yeah me!  *claps*  There's a slide show at the end of this post of the race.  The three pictures at the end are of the FINISH line and Stacie and I walking.  Sorry but they are fuzzy and we're kinda in the background of the pictures.  I am wearing a PINK shirt and sunglasses, and you can see Stacie with her walking poles in the other one...

We are now working 5K number 2.  I'd like to do more running than walking for this next one.  It'll be in November, and we plan on participating in the "Jingle Run" in December.  That one's fun!  Everyone wears jingle bells on their shoes.

Now, I can say with all confidence, that I will never be a "runner".  Stacie and I would laugh and joke about how we could tell the "Runners"- with a capital "r", from the "runners".  They were the ones who actually enjoyed the whole running thing.  They were also the ones who finished the whole 5K in 20 minutes.  (FYI- That's much shorter than my time!)  The only way I will ever enjoy running if if I am being chased by a ravenous man-eating animal or by someone intent on doing me bodily harm.  (Stacie also ads the Po-Po in there.  I've never been chased by the police, and I'm pretty sure that Stacie hasn't either, but I thought that was pretty funny!)  

My cousin, Brandi who has run a half marathon, or two; left the funniest comment on my FB page!  She was congratulating me on the 5K and she says, "Are you up for a triathlon?"  She must have heard my cackle all the way in Pooler, GA, because her next sentence was, "No, seriously!   We could do the relay!"  She suggested that I could do the running leg of the race, that our other cousin, Nicole could swim (she's been a competitive swimmer since middle school) and she could do the biking leg of the race.   HA!  Me run?  In a triathlon?  I don't know that I can see myself doing that.  While my interest is peaked, it's more because I'd love to do something like that with my 2 cousins, and it would probably be in DISNEY WORLD!  It's not until May, but I don't know that I have enough confidence in my athletic abilities, to sign up for something THAT intense.     

On a different note:  My Mom joined Facebook!  LOL!  She did have this scary picture of my sister and myself up for her profile picture, but I hacked into her account and changed it!  In the old one Katie was 8 months preggers and I was 86 lbs heavier!  ICK!  Now it's a much more flattering picture of us recently taken.  ( I did threaten to use one of her from the Flamingo Races, though!)    Here's the slide show from the 5K that I promised earlier.  Before you play it remember to pause the music player to the right! :

  

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

God bless and Be good!

Facebook Fanatic!

Hi. My name is SuperNanney, and I'm a Facebook addict.   

Or as my beloved cousin, Brandi says, I've become a slave to Facebook.  What started out as a way to stay in touch with the teens from the youth group has mushroomed into a full blown addiction.  Wait.  I assume you know what Facebook is.  You do know what it is, right?  Hm,  well just incase you don't know what I'm talking about I'll give you the 411 on Facebook.  It's a social network, much like MySpace is, but without all the hype.  Facebook is a lot more careful about what types of images they allow to be added to profiles, so you don't have as big an issue of questionable photos.  It was started to help college students stay in touch, but now just about anyone and everyone has a Facebook page.  Except my mother.  (Hey Mom, I'll make you one if you want me to!)             

Facebook in and of itself is great, it's actually fantabulous!  That's the problem, though.  It's too fantabulous!  I am most certainly addicted to Facebook's fantabulousness, and I'm not ashamed to admit it!  How does one know one's addicted to a social network?  Here a few tell tale signs:

• The addict stays up way past their bedtime just so he/she can be the last one online so he/she won't miss anyone's up to date status reports on Facebook.
• The addict will forgo snack time just to be able to check his/her Facebook page for any new  emails or friend requests.
• The addict compares  the number of Facebook "friends" he/she has compared to his/her "friends", and will "poach" friends from other friends. (Confused? Me, too.)
• He/she has a second tab opened in his/her browser at this very moment, and is logged on to Facebook at the same time as composing this post.
• The addict clicks back and forth between his/her present window and the facebook tab and gets disappointed when none of his/her friends have updated their status. 
• He/she uses the word "Facebook" more frequently than necessary.
  

Sadly I can say that I have been guilty of all of the above at one time or another.  Actually, to be honest, I've been guilty of all the above in the past 24 hours. (And I'll probably stay up WAY too late tonight, too.  Please don't judge me.  :( )

But you should know that there is hope for Facebook addicts like myself.  There is a new experimental treatment for this affliction.  The bad news is that it costs 7.1 Billion dollars, and this study was a government sponsored program, soooo.  Due to the recent "bailout", the program has been canceled.  Therefor, until this treatment becomes available again, or until I come into a ginormous fortune upwards of 7+ billion dollars, then I'm afraid I am, and will remain, a Facebook addict.  (There are some studies being done utilizing electric shock therapy, but I'll pass on those.)

I have to go check my Facebook page now.  It's been about 10 minutes since the last time I checked it.

Be good and God bless!

My apologies...

I guess I need to apologize to everyone for my last post.  It seems that it rubbed some people the wrong way.  I am sorry if it was misinterpreted, I never meant any of it to be unkind or demeaning.  

I'd like to make a few points for the well meaning readers who didn't enjoy my post as much as I did:

It's all in fun!  This blog is simply a dictation of my life, and since my life consists of my spending 10 of my 16 waking hours with the kids I nanny for, then the majority of the blog would obviously center around them.  And while I love the kids I have many other wonderful areas in my life that bring me joy.  I have an amazing family, who I love dearly, and who provide me with an abundance of funny things to share here.  I have fantabulous friends who make me laugh so hard that I burn more calories with them than I do walking 30 minutes on the treadmill!  I won't mention the fact that I have two adorable kitties that I have purposely spared you all the pains of having to listen to the multitude of cute little kitty things they do!  (BTW- you can thank me for that the next you see me!)  

I agree that I would rather read about the hilarious things my kids do, they are pretty darn funny.  I just thought that in my previous post I would share with you something that I personally found very funny.  It just happpened to be apart from the kids.   As much fun as they are, I sometimes find I need a blog break from the munchkins, and be able to write about other topics.  

  

Ok, enough with the mea coulpas.  :)  I will say that I really liked my last post, and it really was all a joke.  That video was a Christian Music video before there even were music videos; Christian or otherwise.  I can't imagine that my little post was painful or damaging to any of those lovely people. 

I promise you all that there will be many more funny Nanny Blog stories, and plenty more stories about all of Shannon's shenanigans as well.  Please keep leaving me comments, and most importantly, please keep reading.  Otherwise, these would be just the senseless ramblings of a professional nanny with no one to read those ramblings.  In short I'd be writing to myself.  And I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that is worse than talking to yourself!

God bless and be good!

 

Jesus Is A Friend of Mine

Please watch the below video, then read the post that follows.  First you'll need to mute the music to the right of this post. That way you can hear the amazing lyrics!  Thanks in advance, to Meghan and Sarah for the laughs and the subject for this post!

WARNING!:  The following music video has not been approved for viewing by the MAAM (Mother's Against Annoying Music) and is likely to burrow its way into your brain and remain there forever and always!  The author of this blog cannot be held responsible for what you are about to experience.  View at your own risk.  

Brought to you by the corny group "Sonseed".

Yes, Jesus IS my friend, and I hope that He's your friend, too.  If not, then we need to talk.  :)  I am sorry to everyone that has just watch this video, but you have to admit that it was amusing.  I got the idea to post this video from another very funny blog that I was encouraged to read today.  Sarah, who wrote the blog,  had lots of funny observations on this video, and reading her comments made me think of some of my own...

First of all, WHO put this rag tag group of misfits for Jesus together?  I mean, come on!  Is the lead singer for real?  The answer is... YES!  He is!  This is in no way a spoof, it's the real thing, baby.  That lead singer, (we'll call him Julio) really IS all that into his little ditty, and I do believe that Julio thinks that he's lookin' sharp!  In fact, he's rockin' out so hard that it seems that he can't even hold his head up straight, it kept leaning to the side.  Or was that for emphasis?  Also can anyone shed light on why Julio knits his brows so often?  After a while that gets a little distracting.  Also, was that a guitar or a toaster with strings he was playing?  OK, enough about Julio, I could go on forever, but there's plenty of great material in these 3 little minutes!

Second- How about that other guitarist?  I think that he thinks that he's in some 70's Rock band.  Maybe Petra?  (It's an OLD 70's Christian Rock group.)  All I can say is that the dude can rock!  Oh, and Sarah and I want to know where this guy got those blue shoes.  Maybe Elvis' garage sale?  I still want a pair!

Third- The lovely lady on the Cassio Key board. There is a beautiful piano right behind her, does she not know how to play it?  Also that keyboard of hers is sitting on what looks to be a side table.  Like one you would place next to a couch.  I guess they used up all the budget on those fabulous spectacles her and that other lady behind her have on.  I think those are what Sarah Palin should be wearing!  You know, I have a fold out TV table she could use if she's still rockin' this song and still a little low on funds.  

Fourth- It had a cool Polka beat and with what sounded like Rap lyrics.  I know it's... it's... it's- POLKRAP!  HA!  J/K  Sorry, I couldn't resist.  I know, bad nanny, bad!  ( I actually meant it as Polk-rap, but polkrap is how it came out.  Still funny, just a little edgier.)  Honestly, at one point in the song, Julio calls this "rock n' roll!"  Is the poor guy deaf?   Oh, and in all my years of upbringing in the Church I was always taught that Jesus was in the business of saving souls, not zapping them.  ZAP!  I've heard him called The Good Shepherd, but never a Canadian Mounty.  Am I the only one who gets the feeling that these lovely people might be from Canada? (it was the Mounty reference that clued me in!)

Fifth- Hmmm.  Oh, and the back up singers have some crazy complicated choreography going on in the background.  NOT!  Sarah said they looked like they'd taken one too many muscle relaxers.  I say, " Just one?"  

Sixth- Guy at the end of the video.  I call him Earl.  (Doesn't he look like an Earl?)  Earl may be saying, "Thank you, thank you!  That was beautiful, beautiful!"  But you know that he's thinking: "Please, just get off my stage.  I am not scarred for life, that song is forever ingrained in my heard, and, whoever booked you guys on this show will be standing in line at the unemployment counter tomorrow morning!"

Seventh- There were lots of thought provoking lines in this little song.  For instance; at the beginning, when he sings, "He taught me how to turn my cheek when people laugh at me."  Well, thanks to YouTube, people will be laughing for generations to come.  Bazaar, yet annoyingly catchy lyrics.   I'm beginning to get a little creeped out.  Just a little, though.  

I think my favorite line of the whole song was this:

"He loves me when I right, He loves me when I'm wrong,

He loves me when I waist my time by writing silly songs"

OK, but what about the rest of us poor schmucks who just watched the ridiculous video a dozen times?  Does He still love us?  OF COURSE HE DOES!  He's Jesus!  That's the point of this whole sad excuse for a music video, and this poor excuse for a blog post!  Jesus loves us even when we're stupid, corny, annoying, badly dressed, and playing a toaster with strings!  He loves us no matter what. (Even if we take advantage and poke merciless fun of the poor fashion sense and terrible music of the 70's!)

I want everyone to know that all of these comments were made in a spirit of love and laughter.  I am in no way judging these lovely people or their relationship with Christ.  We just talked about being "Fools for Jesus" in youth group, so I really do admire these crazy "kids" for coming out in a time when Christian music consisted of :Kumbuyah, My Lord", "Jesus Loves Me", "Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man", and more of the same.  So, I hope you had fun.  I did.  Now, let's all break into rounds of "Jesus Loves Me".  No?  OK.   I understand.  It's more "corn" than you can handle in one night.  Really.  It's OK.  But don't look at me funny if I sit here, alone, and sing it all by my lonesome.

Be good and God bless!

Fun at Dad's Office

Today was teeth cleaning day!  Woo-hoo!  I can honestly say that I have never met a group of kids so excited to go to the dentist!!  I guess it helps that their dad is their dentist. Well, that, and they get a short school day.  So when we all piled in the car to head to the office the kids were wound up!  That's a trip on the crazy train in and of itself, but to have them cooped up in the office with numerous pairs of ogling eyes just waiting for me to BLOW MY TOP, compounds the situation.  Any of you reading this who have children know what I'm talking about.   

Anyway, they can only take two kids back at a time.  That leaves me in the waiting room with the other two, sounds like a breeze, huh?  WRONG!  So wrong!  Two kids are not a problem, heck watching 2 kids is like a vacation for me!  But we WERE in a public place, their dad's office, none the less.  There is a LOT of presure here!  For some unknown reason, the lovely women in Chris' office think that I am the pied piper, or something akin to the Super Nanny.  OK, I KNOW that is the name of the blog address, but it's a joke, a pun, if you will.  I'm poking fun at the fact that my profession is that of a NANNY and my last name is NANNEY, but I am in no way on equal footing with Super Joe, (FYI- That's Super Nanny's REAL name.)  So I have the watchful eyes of the office staff, Chris is wandering about the office from time to time, and the office has the usual flow of patients in and out the door.  Oh, and did I mention that Donna was there too?  Well, she was mostly "in the chair", that's shop talk for "she was having her teeth cleaned", for you non-dental people.  :p  

For the most part the kids were fine.  Aside from the pent up energy, that is.  This means that their sharp little wits and even sharper tongues were flying a mile a minute!   Then for some strange reason the all wanted to be on the floor.  I have no idea why, but I had to order each of them at some point to get up off the floor!  I think 

the thing that gets my biscuits a burnin' is when I have to repeat myself, repeatedly!  After numerous request to remove their bodies from the floor, and multiple threats and bribes I was pretty miffed.  Grant says, "Hey Shannon, I think I can see steam coming from your ears!"   Well, Smarty Pants, maybe that's because my BLOOD is BOILING!  J/K  But I WAS really miffed.  After a painful hour and a half, Donna had to leave to pick up one of the other kids from school.  Two of the kids were still "in the chair", so she left us, stranded, until they were done.  Well, we weren't really stranded, but we were stuck there until Chris was ready to head home.

There were some pretty entertaining moments.  There are ALWAYS entertaining moments, though!   John Paul provided us with one of the first.  He was reading through a Sports Illustrated Magazine and says , "Hey, Shannon? Wanna see what I'll look like in the future?"  I answered him, "Sure. Why not.  This should be good."  He turns the magazine around, this is what he showed me...

    

I have no idea where they get this stuff.  Who says that?  The only response I had was to tell him that he must have run into a barrel of radioactive goo because his arm is all blue, and that he had pretty high hopes for the future and that it was good to shoot for the stars.  Ha Ha!

I then looked over to Celine who was eerily quiet.  This is what I found:

      

The girls in the office started calling her St. Celine.  Please.  I hope and pray that some day she is in fact a saint, but this is not that day.  Especially since not two seconds ago I was growling at her to sit her boo-ta-tay in her seat!  I told her to look up the 10 Commandments and read #4: Honor your father and mother and nanny. (That last part is implied, we've talked about this in Religion LOL!)

Here's a wide shot of the "before the Bible" picture.  Yes, Celine is in the background pretending to die of some sort of poisoning.   Don't ask why.  I haven't an answer for you.  Don't let JP fool you- he contributed to my frustration as much as the rest of them.  

        

Once they were all finished and we were waiting for Chris to haul us all home, the waiting room became Crazyville!  I had two options.  One: go bizerk, and strangle them all in a flash of insanity, thereby permanently quieting their incessant chatter and assuring my peace and quiet, (albeit in the Big House, but hey, quiet is quiet.  You take it wherever you can get it!) Or, Two: take them all outside in the parking lot and keep them occupied with games and activity.  LOTS of physical activity.  I chose the latter.  I know, not as interesting as the first, but the one downside to my first option was that I would have eradicated my position as nanny and teacher, seeing as the kids I nanny and teach would no longer need a nanny and teacher.  See my point?  So I went with the second choice.  We played in the parking lot and in the ditch next to Chris' office.  Yep, that's right I made my kids play in a DITCH!  LOL!  Desperate times call for desperate measures!  At least it was a grassy ditch and not a muddy one!

So we played Stars, and Simon Says, Freeze Dance, and a rousing game of Middle Deck.  That really tires them out!  Here's some pictures of the monkeys playing in the ditch:

 

Brian was "it" first for Stars.

  

Waiting for Brian to give enough hints to be able to guess the movie he has in mind.

Celine, thinking REALLY hard!

Chris came out after a while, and took us all home.  Then, thankfully he took all the boys out for a while, leaving me to a quiet house with only Celine.  That, my friends, was all the reward this girl needed!

Until next time, peeps!

Be good and God bless!

My Mac was Hijacked!

I think that we have all established that I LOVE MY MAC!  I just wish it could find me a man!  LOL!  J/K, really, I am!   Anyway.  We just got back upstairs from our morning snack time and I find that my precious MAC was open, when I KNOW I had left is shut.  Brian says very innocently, "Shannon, check out 'Photo Booth'."  So I open the program and this is what I find.  I'm warning you, what you are about to witness is NOT worthy of an Emmy nomination, but again, this IS my life...

These kids hijacked my MAC!  It's not like they don't have one of their own to make silly movies on.  They have a HUGE one!  They could be on the big screen, but they choose mine.  Heck, Meghan has a MAC, but do they goof on hers?  NO they don't!  Might I add that this is a normal occurrence.  These little monkeys do this often, this next little gem was just last week.  They DELIGHT in leaving me little video hugs.  (I've taken to calling them this, it's my way of making them sweet and adorable, rather than obnoxious!)

See what I mean- definitely not Emmy worthy!  But still funny!  If anyone has any tips for keeping little monkey paws off my MAC, I'd appreciate them!  Hope you've enjoyed my video hugs!

God bless and be Good!