Happy 40th Sesame Street!

This week, Sesame Street turned 40! I found this link online that shows 101 characters, which is pretty cool.

My favorite character: Super Grover. I loved watching his segment during the show.

McNuggets Rap

I was looking through old videos and found this. Enjoy!

This is America and we are Americans

This is America and we are Americans.
We are young, we are old. We are wealthy, we are not.
We live in cities, we live in towns. We were born here, we came here.
We have dark skin, we have light skin.
We are teachers and students, soldiers and citizens, friends, neighbors, and family.
The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and The Constitution of the United States say that we are all equal and we are all free.
They say that we may have our own opinions and speak them freely.
They say that we may worship as we wish.
They say we may protect and defend ourselves.
They say no matter what our ethnic origins, we are all equal and we are all free.
This is America, and we are Americans.

Jake and Lauren are participating in a Veterans' Day assembly tomorrow and they have some lines to recite for the show. I was practicing the lines with Lauren, and asked her if she understood what she was saying. She's 7. No, she didn't get it, but man, she sure had them memorized! We spent time talking about the poem above and what it means to be an American.

It's a hard concept to get if you've always lived here and always had the benefit of being an American. We may not always talk about it, but when given the opportunity, we want our children to understand just how lucky they are to be Americans. We want them to understand that many people sacrificed their lives for us to have these freedoms. We want them to understand that we should be thankful and not take these freedoms for granted.

Happy Veterans' Day to those of you who have served. Thank you for your service!

Statue of Liberty

Below is a slide show of our trip to see the Statue. She truly is beautiful and breathtaking. We had tickets to climb to the crown. If you want to slow down the show, hover over the picture. Enjoy!

www.toastedglitter.com

I just put up a new sample of a pocket invitation on my other site, www.toastedglitter.com. Go check it out...let me know what you think. What can I make for your event?

Last Halloween

Last Halloween was spent at the World Championship Parade for the Phillies! This year we're watching them in the World Series and hoping for another parade.

We went to Jeff's office, Spencer Gifts, and went trick or treating in the different departments. They really go all out, with some departments transforming their offices with spooky stuff, black lights, and bubbling cauldrons. It was great! We'll do the town ToT tomorrow night.

We want another parade

The Reunion

Somehow it's been 20 years since we graduated from highschool. I know, amazingly we look the same ;)

Here I am with three of my closest friends. From the left, Linda, Mary, Christine, and me. We've been together since middle school, and have been through many ups and downs together. Although we don't see each other often, when we do, we seem to pick up right where we left off. I love having friends that I can be myself with, friends that I can go to without worrying about being judged, real true friends.

We've all ended up in the same field, teaching. Linda was a primary school teacher, and now homeschools her two children. Mary's teaching 6th grade math, Christine is a college professor, and I taught 4th grade in my pre-mom life but keep my hand in education through my current job at Sylvan. We have so much in common, yet lead different lives. I think growing up together through those teen years helped us all greatly. (Well, I know having them helped me!)

I love you, ladies--I really do.

T5

Thanks, Kimmber, for the reminder to be thankful each day!

1. kids to school on time
2. easy morning with Jenna
3. awesome cinnamon-sugar toast! (it's the little things, right?)
4. laundry done.
5. sweet time at the mall with Jenna. Soaking this stage right up.
   

Sock Drawer #3

This is where I sort out all of my mismatched thoughts...kinda like socks in the drawer.

• I was clipping coupons and began to wonder, do people really order those nifty clothes that come in the coupon circular? Sweaters, shoes, necklaces...who orders this stuff? Will I be calling Nicole when we're in our 80s asking if she wants to split the shipping on the lavender polyester perma-creased pants? Better yet...the zip-front velour house coat.

• Growth-spurts. Holy crap I didn't budget for all three kids to be spurting at the same time. Jenna usually survives on air and apple juice with some cereal thrown in there for good measure. Not today. Jake can eat non-stop. Three slices of pizza, an egg, cereal bar, cupcake, anything that isn't nailed down, and still ask for more. Lauren had two grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and an egg, and cereal. God forbid they eat a vegetable, though.

• Preschool. It's going so well. She loves going, and is starting to talk about her buddies. She breaks out in random songs, often merging two together. My favorite is the "Baa Baa Black Sheep" which runs into the song they sing before snack. She's singing it now. "Baa baa black sheep, thank you for food. Yes sir, yes sir, yes siree. No no no no Baa baa black sheep thank you for the food. Yes sir, yes sir, no no no." It's fricken cute. However, it's not so cute when she sings it at the top of her lungs.
  

• Finally finishing a baby quilt for my friend to give to her nephew. See, he was born in July. Yep, I'm gonna finish it before the kid turns one.

• Harry Potter. Jake and I are reading the 4th book and will soon get to watch the movie. I was a bit concerned about him reading this one. The content in the third challenge, more specifically. It's getting darker, and I hope he can handle it ok.
  

• My 20th reunion is Saturday. I know, how can I possibly be of an age that this is happening? Thanks ;)
  

Ahhh thank you...thank you very much!

Did I tell you about the time my lovely adorable three year old daughter placed her princess necklace on the keyboard of my laptop and then slammed the lid shut? Yep, and in turn, broke the screen on the laptop. And afterwards, she said, "I sorry Mommy. Now you can buy a pink or purple 'puter."

So now we have a beautiful (not pink or purple) MacBook Pro. I am loving this laptop. And, loving iPhoto 9. More specifically, the image tagging set up. I've been browsing through old pictures, tagging all the sweet faces. I found this one from earlier this year of Lauren. We were in Ohio for Rachel's Bat Mitzvah, shopping for special sunglasses for the DJ to give out during certain songs. La picked out this sweet pair of Elvis glasses. Complete with sideburns, naturally!

You. Are. A. Toy!

Wow! We just returned from seeing Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and it was great! Yes, I know the movies have been out forever, but we've never seen them on the big screen. Definitely worth the time and $. The Jessie/Emily part of TS2 still made me tear up.

Have you gone to see it? Will you?