Names

Naming a child is a very difficult thing. Especially when you've been a teacher. I will never name my child William, Lucas, Novie or Jayme. If you knew these children that I taught, you would know why. My list is much longer than that, but those are just a few that really stick out in my mind.

I know we have 3 months left to come up with a name for this baby, but it will be here so quickly. And we have made it even harder on ourselves. First of all, we aren't finding out the sex. (I know how many of my friends are mad at me for this one, but it's fun. There are so few real surprises in life.) So we have to come up with boy and girl names. Secondly, if it is a boy, Russ wants it to have the same initials as him. So we are stuck with "R" names. The only thing we have agreed on is that his middle name would be Wade, like Russ'. But when it comes to first names, we do not agree at all.

Here is just a short list of names that it can not be. Do to either me having taught a child with that name, or I'm related to someone with that name or a name similar to it, or I just don't like it.
Randall (I have an Uncle Randy), Ryan (my brother's middle name), Remington, anything with Ray at the front (Raye is Becca's middle name), Richard (sorry Dad-too many bad nicknames).
Here are some that Russ likes that I don't: Radley, Regan, Roman, Rogan, Royce
I have a few that I like that Russ doesn't. Here are the ones we kind of agree on, but don't really love any of them: Ridley, Riley, Ryder, Rowan, Ryland

There's a small part of me that just hopes it is a girl, because girl names are so much easier to me. We are not stuck with any letter when it comes to a girls' name. Right now, I really like Megan or Alyssa. I also like Molly, but Russ doesn't. Macy is on my list too, but not on Russ'.

Maddie's name went from Madison Grace to Alyssa Rae to Madalyn Paige. In fact, we had decided when she was born she would be Alyssa. But before we called anyone to tell them, Russ kept telling me she didn't look like an Alyssa. It just bugged him. She looked like a Maddie to him, so we changed her name before we called anyone.

Becca's name never changed. We found out she was a girl, so I made a list of names I liked. I was reading it off to Russ and Maddie one night and when I came to the name Rebecca, Maddie gasped. She said, "Reeeebecca, that will be my baby sister's name". And it kind of stuck. I just didn't want her called Becky, so we agreed on Becca and it fits her.

So if any of you have any suggestions, I am willing to take them at this point. We even watch movie credits trying to find a cool "R" name. There just aren't that many out there. And so many names have become girl names (Riley, Regan). I just do not like this name game.

So don't be shocked when you find out I've had the baby and it has no name for a few days. This one is tough.

Maddie's birthday

Yesterday our Maddie girl turned 6. She was so excited when she got up because she had a busy day. The first thing was...I volunteer for a reading program at her school, so I get to go once a month and read to the kids and do an activity with them. She was excited that I would be at her school on her birthday. I brought her birthday cupcakes and juice boxes for snack. She decorated the top with lots of sprinkles. (Becca helped too) They were VERY multi-colored, and she was proud of them. Then, Russ took a "special" (Sonic) lunch to her. Maddie felt very proud that her Daddy came to school too. And that she didn't have to eat the school lunch.

When she came home from school, she helped me get our picnic dinner ready. Then we left for gymnastics, where they sang Happy Birthday to her. She thought that was pretty neat. Then off to the park to meet Daddy for dinner and present opening. It was just the 4 of us at the park, but it was so nice out and the girls had a lot of fun.Twenty-five Junie B. Jones chapter books from Merma and Papa. She was so excited!! Polly Pocket Pet shop. She couldn't believe it! :)

We've decided not to do big birthdays every year. The thought of it exhausts me and it can get rather expensive! I'd much rather spend that money elsewhere. This is not to say that the girls are never going to get parties, because they will on "special birthdays". 5, 10, 13 and 16 sound good to me. (Maybe one or two in between those.) Last year, Maddie had a big Tea Party. It was cute and she had a blast. So until she turns 10, we'll do family parties, or have a few friends over for a sleep over, or a movie at the dollar theater. I, personally, just don't see the need for these HUGE parties every year. (I hope I'm not offending anyone.) I just think if you have a few parties here and there, then they are more special to the child. Plus, I don't know about you, but we can't squeeze another stinkin' toy into our house! I'm going to have a hard time finding room for the Polly Pockets- and they are TINY!

So if you are invited to Maddie or Becca's birthday parties in the future, feel free to contribute to their college fund. :)

I love this weather

Spring and Fall are definitely my two favorite seasons. Spring because everything feels so new. It is a time I want to completely clean out my house and get rid of just about everything. (Russ is not so happy with this since a lot of the stuff I want to throw out is his! ) The city is having large trash pick up day on Saturday and I can't wait to throw some stuff outside! And our neighborhood is having a garage sale in May. I'm debating on doing it. Is it really worth all of the work? We'll see.

I just wanted to share some pictures of our zoo trip last Saturday. Russ got free tickets for all of us. He had coordinated a blood drive at his work in Melinda's honor last fall. So the Blood institute gave out free tickets to all coordinators and their families. Plus, they gave us a free lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs. The whole day cost us $6 and that was because we "needed" cotton candy. It was about 65 degrees and sunny. A perfect day at the zoo. The girls had a blast. Russ hadn't been to the zoo in years, so he had a lot of fun showing the girls all of the different animals. Looking at these pictures, I think they were just as excited about the "fake" animals as the real ones.

Reality shows

I am a reality tv addict. And it has been a great week.

#1 confession- we watched Rock of Love II with Bret Michaels. I loved Ambre from the beginning and was so glad he chose her. Can't wait to see the reunion show Sunday night.

#2 show- The Bachelor. This is the smartest (and cutest) bachelor ever. He has gotten rid of all of the psycho girls and is down to 4 normal, sweet girls. I am rooting for Amanda.




#3 show- Dancing with the Stars. My girls love watching this show with me. I am hoping Shannon and Derek win or Kristi and Mark. Priscilla got kicked off this week. She was good for 62 years old, but not my favorite.

#4 show- American Idol- It was Kristy Lee's time. I love Brooke, so I was scared she was going home. I was really sad last week when Michael Johns got kicked off. He was in my top 3. David Cook is my favorite.

But my favorite reality show of the season- The Biggest Loser. Ali won! Way to go girl! She went from 234 pounds to 122. She totally rocks! And I was glad Bernie got the 2nd prize. He was so funny. I just hope they all keep it up. For those of you that watch the show- Paul didn't come. I think it's because he either 1. didn't lose any more weight or 2. actually gained weight. I never liked him anyway. Glad Kelly moved on to someone else.

I can't wait for Survivor tonight to see who goes home. I love Ozzy and Amanda. I hope they stick around to the end!

I'm going to be bored when summer gets here. Anyone have any good suggestions for summertime tv? Not Big Brother. That is one reality tv show I can't stand.

Updates

I'm combining 3 short posts in to one, so here we go:

I had posted over a month ago that I wanted to start taking a friend out for lunch. I finally did. Chasity and Adrianne got to be my Guinea pigs. It was a great feeling. We had fun and great conversation. Adrianne didn't know I had planned on paying, so she kept thanking me. It was the best feeling I had had in a long time. I can't wait to invite my next friend out to eat.



Maddie won the citizenship award at school for the 3rd quarter. She was so proud. She got this award for doing her work, having good grades and a good attitude at school. We are so proud of her.

I love our Life Group. Last month, we did two mini service projects. Two of our members- Ricky and Julie go to Bolivia every year on a parasite campaign. They take a pill out to children in rural areas who can't afford to take this one pill that will help them to not get sick. Their water is very dirty and has many parasites in it. But if they can just take 1 or even 2 pills a year, they will be fine. But most people can't even afford the one pill. They also can't afford toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap. Things we all use many times a day. We just take them for granted.

Ricky is originally from Bolivia. So when they go to visit his family, they take these huge crates of supplies and deliver them to the rural children. I think this is such an amazing act. So one night at life group, we helped them pack up supplies for their trip. We had done a lesson for the kids on helping others. Ricky and Julie brought a video they had put together a few years ago. It shows the extremely poor conditions of these kids. Their schools look like what we had in America in the 1800's. We wanted to show our kids just how blessed they are. They were all excited to help pack these crates with toothbrushes to give to kids who can't afford to buy them.

Ricky just got back, so we got to hear a little of his trip. Julie will be back on Thursday. I'm anxious to hear more and see pictures.







Our Life Group also hosted Parents' Night out at church last month. From 6-10pm you could drop off your child and go out to eat or go to a movie, or do whatever you wanted. We have used this a few times at church and love it. Recently, the life groups have taken over doing it, which is great. We used to only have it a few times a year, but now, it will be much more. For Russ and I, who have no family here to watch our kids, it is an awesome service. So Mel and I got together and figured out how to have rotations and how to divide up adults and kids so they could have fun and we wouldn't have huge headaches by the end. We ended up having 45 kids there between 10 adults and 6 stations (rooms). It was a lot of work, but I think everyone had a good time. I'm glad it's over and we don't have to do it again for a long time! ;)

Becca the photographer

For as long as I can remember, Becca has been fascinated by cameras. She loves not only to have her picture taken, but she loves to take pictures. She used to take toys and pretend they were a camera and take pictures of all of us. After each "picture" she took, she would say, "That was a good one!" It cracked us up. So for her birthday last year, we bought her a kids digital camera. She was so excited. But here we are not even 4 months later and it is broken. I think I just bought too cheap of one.

So Becca still has this need to take pictures, so whenever she has the opportunity, she will grab my camera and take pictures. Yes, she knows how to turn it on and how to take the picture. Focusing and aiming are not talents of hers quite yet though.

I just had to share the most recent pictures she took. I was looking through the camera to download a certain picture and came across these. I didn't even know she had gotten a hold of the camera, so I laughed out loud when I saw them.

These pictures combine her love of taking pictures and having her picture taken. Too funny.

The church of Oprah

Millions of people watch Oprah every day. I watch her quite often and have enjoyed many of her shows. I've always known she has a spirituality about her, but wasn't quite sure of her religious beliefs. She lives with her boyfriend and doesn't want to get married to him, so I have felt she's not a believing Christian. But I got an email today that had a video of Oprah talking about how Jesus isn't the only way to heaven. That disturbed me a little. The video goes on and talks about her book club. Right now she is reading "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. I have watched the ads about it and I have even thought about checking it out at the library. But I hadn't really looked in to what the book was about until now. It's a little disturbing. Check out this utube video to see some of the things Oprah has said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA&feature=email

There is a book out to counteract Oprah and "A New Earth". The author, Carrington Steele says, "So, this is just a normal, everyday suggestion for Oprah's book club, huh? Somewhere along the way, we went from an endorsement of cashmere sweaters and fuzzy pajamas to Oprah instructing us on our very purpose in life, based on the teachings of one, Eckhart Tolle. Who is this enlightened being, that was actually given the answers to the world's every need and problem, and has passed it on to us to absorb in 309 pages? He tells us that at 29, at the point of suicide, he had a profound transformation and through the years, became a spiritual teacher. Now, according to Oprah, this gives him the credentials to tell us to suspend thought processes and to acknowledge our painbody." In A New Earth, Tolle explains the necessity to transform, "A significant portion of the earth's population will soon recognize, if they haven't already done so, that humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die." Ms. Steele says, "How's that for a harmless book club study?"

The book "Don't Drink The Kool-Aid", just released in March 2008 studies the "Oprah Movement" in-depth. A compilation and critique of numerous quotes from newspapers, magazines, TV and internet, illustrate a web of powerful people and a powerful argument that what we see goes much deeper than the surface. This book is a thorough investigation to enlighten and disseminate the information that when pieced together form a clear pattern of influence. For detailed information, video clips, to view the author's open letter to Oprah Winfrey and to purchase Don't Drink The Kool-Aid, visit http://www.csteeleonline.com/.

I'm sorry if you are a huge Oprah fan. I was disappointed in a lot of this myself. But people don't look into things as much as they should these days. We hear Oprah talk and take her word as gospel. I have been guilty myself of saying to Russ, "Well, on Oprah today...." He has gotten really tired of that. And he would remind me, "just because it was on Oprah does not make it true."

Since this turned out so long I'll save my rant on Oprah and Obama for another post. People are taking her word as gospel on him too! Please do your research before you believe in something so deeply that you try to convince others of your beliefs. Don't take someone else's word for it.

But please let me know how you feel about this. Am I reading too much into it?