Just Say No to Nicole (and That Really Cool Guy from Casino Royale)

I felt morally obligated to post this; so instead of cluttering your inboxes, I posted in hopes that your inner activists would take notice...and peacefully protest. Which is usually how I refer to my children in full riot mode, but that's another story... The following is from a dear friend. I checked out the snopes link and hope that you do, too. I think that religious moderates, like myself, get lost in political positioning because we don't support blowing up clinics http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_viol.htm nor do we support violent anti-anything demonstrations . Hopefully, a financial protest from quiet masses will discontinue the making of such movies. I know, it's weird getting so political on my blog, huh. Had I not checkked this out, I probably would've thought it looked interesting.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
There will be a new Children's movie out in December called THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud atheist who belongs to secular humanist societies. He hates C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and has written a trilogy to show the other side. The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope that they will buy his trilogy where in the end, the children kill God and everyone can do as they please.Nicole Kidman stars in the movie so it will probably be advertised a lot.This is just a friendly warning that you probably won't hear on regular tv.

Knife Wielding and Girl Scouts

I promised you a knife-wielding Calvin... My boys and knives seems to be a common theme. Hmmm...I hope that this doesn't become a problem...Future incarceration concerns aside...
So, here's the kids carving pumpkins!
Also, Lucy attended her first Brownie meeting today. Oh, what fun! She had a wonderful time! And, so did I. The other moms are great, Mackey's friend from preschool was there, and it was nice enough for all of them to run around outside. Calvin even had a good time mooching snacks from the girls and scavenging discarded M&Ms off the ground. We all have to be good at something. I was happy to have another mom there who had at least 3 kids and understood that the way the third is raised is quite different from the way the first and even second are raised.

What Makes My Brother (and his family) Cool

This is my brother and his family for Halloween. Every year, they pick a theme and take it to the nines. I love it! I can't manage to wear orange and black on the same day, let alone don a wicked cool costume. For you youngins that read this, they're the Adams Family...

The Kindness of (Relative) Strangers

I've been sitting on this one for a while because I wanted to do it justice...

There is this lovely woman, Lori, that I'd met through Mackey's preschool http://http//fumc-allentx.org/ChildrenEd/Playday.html. Her son and Mackey are in the same class and get along famously. Several weeks ago, I was chatting in the hallway (me, chatting?) with another mom when Lori overheard me talking about my daughter Lucy at Norton Elementary. Yada yada yada, we figured out that it was the same Lucy that her daughter had (pleasantly) told her about from school. Over the next few weeks, we chat from time to time and talk about getting the kids together to play. How nice, right? It gets better. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and recall that aside from all of the good things happening down here in TX, there have also been a few challenges. Without going into the gory details, suffice it to say that Lucy's 2nd grade class is definitely, definitely not a good fit for her. Poor Lori happened to ask me, after a horrible couple of days with Lucy's class, how Lucy was adjusting. She got more than she bargained for (also recall how my shut up button doesn't always work). The long and the short of the sitch is that she gave me some great ideas for working things out at school and TOTALLY hooked Lucy up in her daughter's Girl Scout troop that had been full. All in the most helpful, genuine way.

It has made all the difference in the world. Lucy actually has something to look forward to and the opportunity to meet other good little girls that go to her school. One of the things that makes this particularly interesting is that Lucy was going to join another GS troop where none of the girls went to her school, and I would have felt obligated to be a co-leader. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I just didn't feel right about it. In fact, I was getting ready to call my friend, Kory, to ask her about Achievement Days (church program for 8-11 year old girls) and Girl Scouts when a woman from church called me. We wound up discussing GS, and it really solidified my decision to stay away from the original troop. Truly, where a door shuts, a window opens!

Uh, I Think I Know What I Believe, Thank You

Poor you guys, my 6 readers. You will get the brunt of rant and rave about a dicey article I heard about tonight. It was about a prominent minister in the Dallas area calling Mormons out as not being Christian in general and presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, specifically. I know. I was warned that some people, surely not many though!, haven't quite embraced the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) as Christian down here in the Bible belt. It still baffles me though. Baffles me. LOOK AT THE NAME OF THE CHURCH. Anyway, enjoy this link (and yes, I'm using the word enjoy quite sarcastically - think Dr. Cox on Scrubs): http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/101807dnnatromney.340675e.html. Now, let's say after reading that article, you might wonder what on earth I do believe that would cause such a stir? Here's a link that I sincerely hope you enjoy (and I'm being sincere - think Snow White or Cinderella): http://mormon.org.
Ok, back to our regular programming...which will include uploads of Calvin wielding a knife.

Soundtrack of our Lives or Torture Device

This past Saturday saw our little Fisher clan at the not-so-local library. It was pleasant enough until Calvin had to be carried off the library lawn like a not-so-peaceful protestor. Like when you see pictures of rallies during the mid '60s when the police have to carry a protestor out with an officer on each side - each carrying an arm and a leg? Just close your eyes a moment and imagine my 7 year old and I with Calvin between us.
As you can imagine, it takes some effort to get the crew in the car. And that is when the soundtrack of our lives pushed PLAY...
Lucy: "Does anyone want to hear the story I made up? We can pretend that I'm like the book on CD that mom isn't letting us listen to right now because she thinks it making me sassy. Anyone want to hear me? Huh? Huh? I can read the whole way home?" (for a really long time)
AND...
Calvin (still a little bitter about his carseat confinement after the protest): "WAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" (for a really long time)
AND...
Mackey: "My SHOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS aren't TIIIIIIGHTTTT enough! MooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooommmmmm-uh!" (for a really long time)
Jon just looks at me - shock, horror, and dismay evident on his handsome features - and says: "What is this? If they had this noise in Guantanamo, those terrorists would crack in a minute! I would! I'd tell them whatever they wanted to know!"
Rachael - barely registering the noise he is talking about: "Honey, honey...this is just the soundtrack to our lives..."

The Virginians are Coming! The Virginians are Coming!

Two of my most wonderful friends are coming to visit me in Texas!!! Here's the funny thing: they made their plans independently, and they planned their trips so that one leaves the same day the other arrives! Isn't that funny? I couldn't be more thrilled!

Um, No Child Left Behind?

Irony always pleases me. I don't know why, but I love finding it in various situations...except this one. Here is a link to an article about the school Lucy is attending from which I am considering her withdrawl for homeschool. http://www.allenisd.org/aisdweb.nsf/Content/NR100307?OpenDocument

Suburban Refugees 2

This is how we've been living...on the outside, it looks like we're livin' large...on the inside, refugees in suburbia.

A cardboard box served for a kitchen table for 2 weeks...and it served us well. For instance: I can't even tell you how many times I sang the song of (enter violins): "I have three little, little kids and we haven't had (FILL IN THE BLANK) for a couple of weeks now. I'm sure I don't need to tell YOU how crazy this all is...We're using a moving box as a kitchen table! Is there anything you can do to help us out?" I got my fridge installed for free; my washer and dryer installed for free; free shipping from several of my favorite online retailers; my phone, tv, and internet rushed. People would see that cardboard box (or I would tell them about it) and just have PITY on us. There's the closet...anyone who knows me knows that I'm a girl that likes to arrange her closet by color and sleeve length with matching hangers...thank you very much. This was...ugh! Messin' with my mojo!

Oh...that picture of Calvin's naked booty? Who doesn't enjoy seeing dimples on someone else's behiney??? Did I mention that he's walking...scratch that...running (like a drunken sailor)?

If I can figure out how they do the virtual tours for real estate, I'll try that for the new house. Just keep in mind the beige warning!

Suburban Refugees

Clearly that last post was not my best work...measely 2 comments. Although, in follow up... I just talked to Mackey's primary teacher, and she said that Mackey wasn't weilding the aforementioned knife or anything. He was totally on the down low.
We are beginning to resemble what looks like 'moved in'. Some rooms are done; some are more 'minimalist'; while others are definitely on the shabbier side of chic. Pictures to follow. Just be forewarned: We're definitely beiged out. I think I'll add a punch of color in the powder room or...somewhere?