Happy Birthday Michael!

I know 3 posts is too many for one day but I didn't want the day to go by without telling my wonderful hubby


Myspace Graphics at WishAFriend.com

He is 40 today and nowhere near over the hill!!

I am so proud of him for being an awesome husband, wonderful dad and great manager.

WAY TO GO, CUBS!!




I hope this year is your best year ever.

And we will all be here, cheering you on, every step of the way!!

Love and kisses,
Your adoring family....

(pictures to follow soon)

New Additions to Favorite Movies

We have "family night" every Friday night and we usually watch a movie that everyone is interested in seeing. For awhile we were really having trouble finding some good ones, but the last two we watched have been absolutely wonderful!!

I have to preface my reviews with a disclaimer. We occassionally (and very selectively) watch movies with "magic" in them. If you do not watch those kinds of movies, these movies might not be for you...especially the first. Also, neither of these movies is a Christian film, although neither of them is anti-Christian either. One last thing. There is a little bit of bad language in the second movie. (mostly of the very English kind, like bloody this, or bloody that) I don't remember any in the first movie though.

Okay....drumroll please.....the newest additions to our favorite movies are:

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium



This movie was simply magical, if you don't mind my saying so. Michael and I loved this movie as much, if not more than, the kids. The funny thing is, I really don't like Dustin Hoffman very much, but I loved him in this movie. He was great! And the rest of the cast was wonderful as well. I fell in love with all the characters (including the shop, which is quite a character itself) and I was just enchanted with the movie. I have heard people say this movie is sad, and it does deal with death. However, I don't think that death is the main theme by any means. In fact, I think this movie is much more about how you live and believing in yourself (and others). There is one mention of heaven and a response that brings up other religions' ideas about afterlife. My kids were not shocked by it, though, they just said "yeah right, we don't believe in that stuff." The movie was fantastic and I already can't wait to watch it again. It is the kind of movie where I know I will catch more and more every time I watch it.

I will warn you...for some reason this movie seems to bring out a big response in everyone. They either love it or hate it. I have hardly read any reviews that are middle of the road. Try it at your own risk. ;-) And then let me know what you think...


And....for our second addition to our favorite movies.....are you ready???


The Waterhorse



We saw this one last night/this morning and it is fabulous! This one I did find to be a little sad, but not enough to keep me from enjoying the movie completely. (The sadness was actually afterwards) I have always had a wee bit of interest (say that with a Scottish accent for full effect) in the Loch Ness Monster and this movie explains the myth. The story is very imaginative and yet also includes WWII in it enough that I could almost call this a "school movie!" Okay, that might be stretching it a little... Anyway, this movie has mention of magic in the myths, but no actual magic is seen to happen (that is, if you don't count the wonderful special effects). It might be considered slightly scary for the younger crowd, but all of mine watched it without problem. (And Emily doesn't usually like scary stuff) I loved the multiple story lines and even dreamt of the movie last night. I adored the sea creature: Crusoe, and wish I had some animal right now that I could name Crusoe in memory of him/her. He/She was AWESOME! (you will know what I mean by that after you watch)

So...those are the two newest movies to add to our favorites list. We are going to see National Treasure II as soon as it comes out on video, too, and are hoping that will be one to add to our list as well. We are really looking forward to it! Have any of you seen it? What did you think?

This and That

This:


Led to this:


And they thought she wouldn't walk or talk! How about ride a trike and scrape up her face?! Does that count? LOL! And I can't get her to be quiet! REALLY!!! We can't figure out where her "off" switch is. Since THURSDAY!!! Non-stop talking. She sleeps, but wakes up and immediately starts talking again. She even falls asleep mid-sentence!!

Went to the thrift store last week. I love seeing what people get at the thrift store, so here are my finds (in case you are the same):

A hat, a broach and a pterodactyl. (10 points for whoever can tell me what movie that is from....and no googling!) So I really got a hat, a star bracelet and a wire basket.


I don't have a use in mind yet for the basket, but it was too cute to pass up. Or, maybe I should say I have too many uses in mind for the basket! LOL. I just can't decide.


Here is Britty modelling the hat for us. :-) She loves it too so we are sharing it. It's actually a funny story...I was at Goodwill with my niece and I saw this hat sitting on a display. I was being COMPLETELY sarcastic when I said "this hat is SOOO me!" and popped it on my head. However, after my niece said how cute it was and after I looked in the mirror, I decided I couldn't live without it! It IS ME! :-) I'll see if we can get a picture with me in it soon.

The star bracelet is also exceedingly me! I love stars and moons and suns. (Psalm 148:3) And if you notice my sidebar I always tell people my name is Kahri, it rhymes with starry. There is even a lady in our homeschool group that calls me "Kahri who rhymes with starry." Sooo the star bracelet is really me. I wish I could get a better picture of it, but you will just have to see it on my in person. :-)

Isn't it fun when you go to the thrift store and find things that are just so "you!" I love it!!

I also went to a book sale this week at a private school. My friend's children go to Regent's school and they were having a book sale so she invited me. Hmmmmm, why would she think of me? ROFL!! ANYWAY, I had great fun there too and even found a book that I needed for Emily's curriculum next year! WOOHOO!! There book sale was set up very nice and was very classy. Some of their books were nice and inexpensive but I thought a few were overpriced. Of course, I just didn't get those. :-) It was lots of fun, though, and I feel like I scored some treasures there.

Thinking of the Zandis Today

Found this gem in my morning devotional and just wanted to share...

Just to let thy Father do What He will;
Just to know that He is true, And be still;
Just to trust Him, this is all!
Then the day will surely be Peaceful, whatsoe'er befall,
Bright and blessed, calm and free.
F R HAVERGAL.

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]

Michael's new Truck

My hubby got a truck on Friday. We think it is very pretty. It is hard to describe the color, it is bluish, greenish, purplish, depending on the light. It's a Chevy Avalanche. We are really proud of it! (And hubby did the noble thing and got the one that would sit all 6 of us, instead of getting the upgraded package that would have only fit 5 of us. Thank you honey!)

Wordless Wednesday

And what mother would not be wordless when finding this in a formally pristine-looking room? (Be sure to click on these so you can see the MAGNITUDE of the mess)




But check out these smiles...

Tackle It Tuesday

I actually did a "Tackle It Tuesday" today! Woohoo!!!

I cleaned my garage last year for the Organizational Challenge. It stayed mostly nice but started to get messed up when it started to warm up. We had piles of coats, piles of giveaways and then the kids' toys started to get messed up.
Here are the before pics:






And here are the after pictures:






So excited to get this done! Now I just have to keep it this way!

Check out other Tackle It Tuesdays here.

My Hair (and no, there is no purple)

I promised pics of my new "do"...here they are. And I also promise no more posts for tonight....3 in one day is enough. :-)






Not to be outdone, Kaedra and Emily had to have pics of their hair too...

Menu Plan Monday

I am finally rejoining Menu Plan Monday! I haven't joined in the fun in over a year! WOW! But I definitely need some accountability here, I have great meals in our freezer from a Once-A-Month-Cooking day Michael and I had, but I keep forgetting (or not thinking ahead) to defrost them when needed. This way I can plan it all out today and not think about it again for a week! Thanks Laura, I appreciate you!

Monday: Breakfast for Dinner

Tuesday: Honey Garlic Chicken wings with sauteed green beans (Michael is out of town and these are two things he doesn't like that the girls and I LOVE)

Wednesday: oamc calzones (another thing Michael doesn't like so much), salad

Thursday: 40 Clove Garlic Chicken, Fresh Green Beans, Macaroni Salad

Friday: Grilled Salmon, Grilled Corn on the Cob, Rice
(Take dinner to the Exums)

Saturday: (going to a picnic during the day) whatever-you-want-dinner (or I may double Exums dinner from yesterday)

Sunday: oamc cheesey chicken casserole, broccoli & cauliflower medley

Next week we are going to start Project Ratatouille like the Zandi Zoo!

Say no to Tink

(I hesitate to post this so soon after my last post. It seems like if I post twice in a day that people sometimes don't scroll down to see the other post. And HEAVEN FORBID anyone miss ANY of my posts!!! :-P But I will write it anyway since I am sitting up at 12:30am with Ethan and nothing else to do (please don't mention the loads of laundry and ironing and cleaning and dusting, it's 12:30AM for goodness sake!!)Sooo, since there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that needs done, I will continue to blog. )

I have an odd pet peeve. (Well probably a few of them, but I'll just mention one tonight this morning.)(Okay, I guess that means I can't talk about how much I hate ants and especially ants on the computer desk going over my hands while I am trying to type in the dark)

I don't understand everyone's fascination with Tinkerbell. I mean, think about it, Tinkerbell is an homicidal maniac! She tries to KILL Wendy!!! Wendy, who is all that is sweet, kind and lovely!! Tinkerbell tries to KILL HER! And then people go and get their darling daughters Tinkerbell purses, Tinkerbell watches, Tinkerbell jammies.



What is up with that? Why is there not a big advertising campaign for Wendy-gear? I would buy that! And it is not like Tink ever straightens up! She is unhappy 'til the end. The pictures they have of Tinkerbell look sweet and innocent but if you watch the original movie (or read the original book) you will realize that she is eaten up with jealousy and will do anything to keep Wendy away from Peter Pan! She is not, in my opinion, hero material. And I could somewhat understand if they marketed her as the "bad girl." But no, people buy her stuff because she is a "cute little fairy." HUMPH. They say cute, I say homicidal maniac. It is hard to find one redeeming quality in Tinkerbell that makes me want to say to my girls, "Here is someone to look up to..someone we like enough to buy all these products with and someone we should become obsessed with."

So around here, we just say no to Tink....


(apparently I was so tired last night, I accidentally saved this but didn't publish it....publishing it now, on Monday evening.)

Severe Measures

Severe Times call for Severe Measures.

I admit it, I am resorting to bribery.

We are REALLY out of sync on our chores around here. I thought of a new system but then realized...hey, our system works! We don't need a new system, we need to stick with it! So I am paying the kids. I am giving them a dollar for each day they do all their chores and 3 dollars for a bonus if they get the whole week done.



To be honest, my kids aren't really good with bribery. That doesn't motivate them. But I haven't found anything that DOES motivate them, so I'll try this again. I even promised a trip to the store of their choice next week.

Let's see how this goes.

(This post should be after the post I never wrote yesterday called: "I QUIT" where I called my husband at work and tendered my resignation. For some reason he didn't accept it and I am still here. So, I decided to keep me from feeling the need to quit, I had better hire more help. ;-) Hence, the bribery.)

Aquarium Visit

We got to go to the Aquarium this week with some great friends. We had a wonderful time and got to see several cool things. I think my favorite animal this time was the Beaver, but we didn't get a picture of it. We had never seen the Beaver exhibit before (I think it is new) and it is very cool! They have a few dams that the Beavers can swim in and out of. The Beaver was REALLY cool looking and almost looked unreal, he was so perfect.

Here is Kaedra holding up a Shark Egg....
(this is incredible because about 1 1/2 years ago, I couldn't even get her to get her hands WET, much less put her hand in water and pick up something slimy!! Thanks so much to Amanda...our speech therapist!)



Here we are at the Manta Ray pool...my favorite exhibit. I love how the Mantas come up and seem to wave at you. We are never there at the right time for us to "pet" them, but I can't wait until I can!


Here Kaedra is feeding the Manta Rays


And here is a pic right after one of the Manta Rays surfaced