Getting ready for a Bratz Party!

Grandma Leslie got the balloons for the party. There was one metallic Bratz balloon, a few balloons with the number five on them, and then some plain balloons mixed in.

Jaden made the goody bags. She colored Bratz girls and then glued the picture to a brown paper bag. She really enjoyed making and filling the bags for her friends.

Grandma Leslie provided the food: brisket, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, a vegetable plate, and a fruit bowl.

Since no Bratz cake could be found, Grandma Leslie picked a plain cake with purple and pink balloons. I found a Bratz candle to add a little Bratz flair.

These are the pics I took before the party got underway. More pictures to come!

A day of errands

Friday was a big day of running errands. We had to buy a few more things for the party and catch up on some of the things that I haven't had time to do in the last few weeks. After 3 hours of errands, and with another 2 hours of errands looming ahead of us, I let the girls sit down to eat a hotdog at Target. I don't usually give in to stopping somewhere to get something, BUT we still had more errands to run. The hot dogs were only $1!!! Not bad for eating out!

Downtown

Have you ever noticed how down town looks the same in almost every town? I don't spend any amount of time in any cities down town, but I decided to give the girls a look at what one looks like. We parked the car, and we went inside some of the stores. It was actually pretty cool, even though we didn't buy anything :0)

It's official!

POP- the product that was shipped to my home to be put up on Tuesday when Race to Witch Mountain is released in stores.

This is an electronic devise called the "symbol". It is similar to a PDA or handheld computer. It has the capability to take pictures, scan bar codes, check e-mail, and enter reports.

This is my Walt Disney bag to carry around from store to store. The contents are not as exciting as the bag looks:

spray cleaner

wash cloths

duster

screw driver

screws

box cutter

mounting tape

packing tape

measuring tape

squeegee

I went to orientation earlier in the week. Then, today, I was in the stores training. I have officially started my new job! Monday I will go to more training at the home office, and then, Tuesday through Thursday will be on the job training again.

Exciting perks of the job are that sometimes we will get DVDs of the movies and based on our KPI's (Key Performance Indicators), we can earn other rewards. I am mostly excited that I will have a job that I will actually get paid for!!! Since the photography job has messed up my check for the 3rd time in a row, and the still owe me over $400, I have lost faith in getting a reliable check from them.

Though this new job is only part-time, I am excited to get the check for it.

Making a birthday present for a relative

I love it when I have time to spend with my girls!!! Today we went to a ceramic store. Jaden and Morgan painted cupcake containers for Grandma Frances... Sssssshhhhhhhhh!!! Don't tell! It will take 2 weeks before they are ready. Then, we will bring them to her for her birthday.

Field Trip to a Milking Farm

Jaden is taking a break from all of the excitement

See the dog houses? Those are the calves. They are tied up on a short leash to keep them away from their mothers (otherwise, they would take the milk that belong to the humans, of course)!!!

The inside part where they milk the cows looks more like a sauna to me! I have never seen that much sweat on my girls' faces!

Can someone bring her a cool washcloth or fan?!?!?!

Grandma Leslie decided to take Jaden and Morgan with her to a milking farm. It was already scheduled as a boy scout field trip, so they let the girls tag along. It was supposed to be exciting and informational. Based on Grandma and the girls recollections of the trip, this is what they learned:

1. The baby calves stay tied up next to a dog house, equally spaced so that they can not come into contact with each other.

2. The baby calves must stay chained up, or they will find their mothers! That would be bad because then the humans wouldn't be able to get the milk from the baby calf's mother... Since the baby calf would drink it all!

3. To milk a cow you just hook metal things up to the cow's utters and the milk flows out (as opposed to pulling on the utters like old-school farmers).

4. It is very hot in the cow milking building- I guess cows don't need air conditioning, and the milkers are only in there long enough to hook up and un-hook the milking machine.

The girls were just happy to be with grandma, regardless of where they go or what they do.

Books and Trains! What more do you need?

My traveling workspace

For those of you who have never seen my job at the hospital, here it is! This cart has a computer, 2 cameras, catalogs, samples, and a printer. I take this cart from room to room to take the pictures. I use a Nikon D-60 for the photos. After I takes the photos of the baby/baby & siblings/baby & parents, I hook up the camera to the computer and can show the parents the pictures instantly. The parents choose from 8 poses what they want to order, and I place their order using the computer on the cart. Pretty exciting, huh?

Playing with Grandpa Lyale

Whenever we catch a glimpse of Grandpa Lyale (either coming home from work or before he leaves for work), the girls go crazy! The love playing with him. This day, he had just come home, and we were already outside the house. He put down his breifcase, and all 3 of them started playing tag/chase.

Picasso

My little picasso Jaden told me that she needed some tape. She had a picture that she wanted to put on the wall. I gave her the tape, and the next thing I knew, the art gallery had grown to 9 pieces!!! You may notice that all 3 of the large pictures are of our family. There are 3 people who are one color and one person who is a different color in EVERY picture. I asked Jaden who the person was who wasn't the same color. She said, "That's Daddy!" She said it like I should know that he is the one that needs to be a different color. So... I thought to myself, "Does she think that Daddy is one color and the rest of us are a different color?" So, I asked, "Why did you make Daddy a different color?" And she said... "Because HE'S A BOY!! And we are girls, Mommy!!" Duh!

Mini Uno

I showed Jaden how to play Uno. We had fun playing (as long as I was the loser). We had to play with our cards showing so that I could help her pick the right card. At one point she thought she didn't have anything to match the card, so I told her to look at her hand again to make sure... I guess I didn't think about what I was saying when I asked her to look at her hand. She looked down at her empty palm!!! I said, "Oh, when I say 'your hand', I mean your cards"!

Invention suggestion

One day, someone will invent a bed for wild sleepers!! The bed will be a square, and the covers can follow the sleeper as they flip from one end of the bed to the other... horizontal to vertical to hortizontal again... and then vertical. It's like one of those spinners in a board game... you never know where or when the spinner will stop :0)

Delicious Suckers

It's great when people post their good ideas and post other people's good ideas on their blogs!!! It brings so many good ideas to more people that would have never known about them otherwise. Somehow I got a free 30 minutes last week, and I caught up on some blogs. I came across this great idea on my sister-in-law Amy's blog (and she got it from someone else's blog). Here is where I got the idea: http://amyandbryan.blogspot.com/2009/07/catching-up.html

In the meantime, check out the pictures of the suckers that Jaden & Morgan made with Jolly Ranchers!! What a great idea!!! We will be doing these are Jaden's birthday party next Saturday, too. These are VERY delicious!!! Thanks for the idea, Amy!!