Who Was Right?

Well, Shannon was right. It was a raccoon! I couldn't think of what on earth it was!

Evie continued with her clues and said,"And it has sharp teeth. Remember when this animal got into our trash."

I was feeling a little dense.

"A goat!"

" Mom, those don't climb trees!"

"Alright I give up."

Schooled by a four year old. Face.

Riddle Me This...

So in our car sometimes we play this game called "What animal am I thinking of?". It's a nail biter let me just tell you. Bucky and I try to stump each other sometimes because we get tired of the horse/cow/dog answers, so we do newt/vampire bat/ emu ect. ect. But this morning Evie had me, she asked, "What is black, grey, and white; climbs trees and eats marshmallows."

Uhhhhhh.

Panda?

No.

Koala??

No.

MOUSE????

No.

Evie, is this a real animal?

Yes!

Anyone? I was stumped...Guess away and I'll post later what it is. It's a good one.

A Surprise Visit from Santa

We got a surprise visit from Santa tonight, as you can tell, the kids were just a LITTLE excited.

Did you happen to catch...

Did anyone happen to catch Oprah yesterday? I'm normally not one to watch the TV billionaire, but yesterday's show was life changing. Really. The premise of the show was about how many woman are raped/enslaved into brothels/die from pregnancy related health issues every year. A woman dies from pregnancy and labor every minute—the equivalent of five jumbo jets of women dying every day. It was astounding to me. Not just as a mother, but as a woman!More woman have died from pregnancy/rape complications than men have died in all the wars in our century.

I guess it hit me hard because I was stressing about what I was going to buy for Christmas for everyone and then I see these woman who have NOTHING. And not just nothing, but being raped, stolen from their homes to be used in brothels, and being outcast from their communities because they've been raped. It just doesn't register to me that that mindset is prevalent in other parts of the world.

The thing that gives me comfort is that there is something you can do. Something I can do. I can donate minute amounts of money for education, micro loans, and birthing kits. Things that we in this country take for granted and bitch about on a daily basis ( my kids' school isn't great, Our health care system sucks, I'm broke, etc. etc. etc.). But we do live in such a prosperous country. And it really is a land of opportunity, even if it is a $7 an hour job, it's something. Check out this short video to get the point of the passion.

Thanksgiving in Elko, NV

We spent the holiday in Elko. If you've never been, you have to go. It's pretty and pretty awesome. I guess what adds to the awesome-ness is Bucky's Aunt Shanna. She and her husband John are just cool and laid back. Bucky's parents brought Bucky's grandma "Nani", Bucky's Uncle Kent and his wife and daughter came, as well as Shanna's son Paul.The kids had a blast playing on the golf course that they live on. No one was around because it was closed for the season, which was good because we were not very good at hitting balls. There was a lot of goose poop though. The weather was perfect, I think around 60, and I was able to get some decent shots. Bucky's awesome daughter, Alyssa, came with us and I think she had a good time. ( It's hard to tell with teenagers) We liked having her around anyway... :) Love you Lyss.

Wacky Times at the Cash's

Well, in case you were wondering, I am doing loads better. And to top it off tonight, was not my halibut chowder, BUT Evie and Ethan deciding that they were going to make these strange and slightly scary (but cute because they're my kids) jumpsuits out of plastic bags. Ev started it and when Ethan saw how much attention she was getting then he decided to get in on the action too.
He literally said, "I hate it when Evie gets all the attention, I never get all the attention!" Yikes.

But it doesn't stop there, Bucky decided that the kids were getting more attention than he was, so he couldn't resist. Really, these kids don't stand a chance of being cool or normal. I guess I'm okay with that.

Double Oink Oink

Good morning everyone! As you can tell from the time, it is now roughly 6:35am. Those who know me, might be thinking, "What the heck is SHE doing up?" Well, the answer is simple. The swine flu. I finally gave up on sleep because my Tylenol had worn off and it felt like I had swallowed a thousand teeny tiny shards of glass. I know, it should have given me pleasant dreams, but it didn't. I gave in and just got up; waiting for the next round on Ibuprofen to kick in.

As I lay here on the couch, I wonder how I could be so naive to think that I didn't need the H1N1 vaccine. Hindsight I suppose. This nasty flu has finally passed through Ethan, and is about half way through Ev and is now wreaking havoc on me. If you call me, don't be alarmed, I have not been strangled by a man who is holding me hostage, that's my voice. Really. I asked Bucky if he wanted to make out, but he politely declined. Just sharing the love, right?!

This week we had a swine flu fiesta because my old friend Seth and his girlfriend were in town. Seth is one of my oldest and best friends and I'm glad to see that he has a super cool girlfriend. ANYWHO, they both said they didn't care if we had the swine flu, they weren't scared. At this point I hadn't gotten it yet and thought I was invincible. :) Ha. We found a luau pig decoration and I made Cafe Rio style food. It was really fun, until the end of the night when I realized I hadn't taken pictures of anything. Doh! So I snapped one real quick at the end.

This Thursday was the much anticipated New Moon premiere. Thanks to my good friend Kelly she was able to get us into the show before anyone else! So we sat front and center. It was awesome! Much better than the first. Here's Missy and I in happier days (pre swine flu). I never noticed, but Missy and I have the same eye color. Huh. Cool. If you like your eye color I suppose... Have a good week everyone and get a flu shot!!!