{Our Little Meggie Elf!}

Meghann came out all dressed up one night, so I "forced" her to be my photo shoot model! Can you tell that she thinks it's torture? Ha, ha! She LOVES the camera and the camera loves her!

{Another Gray Hair from Mike's Job!}

Oh geez...I'm wondering how many more gray hairs I'll get! Last night Mike was in a televised pursuit. He was in it for 26 miles. I'm glad that he came home safely...and that I didn't know about it 'til it was all over! It's much easier on me that way, and for him too since I'm not freaking out here @ home! Thanks to Mom for all her prayers that help keep our boy safe! And to all our friends that keep him (and Meghann & I) in their prayers all the time. He's had a few close calls...hopefully won't be involved in another "incident" for awhile! Sheesh...gray hair @ 37!

{♫♪ Megs' 1st H.S. Orchestra Concert ♪♫}

Wowzers! Can it be? Now she's a Freshman in High School and Los Alamitos High School just had their first concert of the year! They did a WONDERFUL job and we're so proud of our beautiful girl! She plays the bass so well and we really enjoy watching her progress through the years! This is her 4th year playing and she's GREAT! The last picture is her friend, Jacob, that's been her "string bass buddy" for the past 3 years...the only 2 from middle school that are still playing into High School. We look forward to her next concert in February!

{A Wonderful Holiday Season!}

Well...I ordered our Christmas stamps from USPS.com like I do EVERY year. They STILL have not arrived, and the post office says that I have to wait until 10 business days have passed before they'll do anything about it! So, we've had our photo card since the day after Thanksgiving, and they are all sitting here, addressed and ready to be in your mailbox! So I'm still waiting, 'cause you KNOW as soon as I go out and spend another $44 on stamps...they'll show up in the mail! I don't need THAT many Christmas stamps! I thought I'd post the card here for you all to see, and let you know you'll be getting the real thing in the mail soon!
☺
Of course you're probably wondering why I didn't hand make the cards this year. I've had a pinched nerve in my neck (well, actually 2 pinched nerves!) for about 2 months now. So my right arm has been numb and is really hard to "work" with. Everything is pretty much running on "muscle memory", and it's annoying. I didn't want to commit to hand crafting all my cards when the work might not have been my best, thus frustrating me. So this year, I decided to give myself a break and use the professional pictures our friend Rachael took last year during the Christmas holidays for our photo card instead! Hopefully it'll arrive in your mailboxes soon! We ♥ you all!

{Werewolf ♥!!}

Ahhhh....the long awaited premiere of NEW MOON was today! I went and bought our tickets for the 2:30 showing @ LB Town Center this morning. Took Megs out of 6th period and we went to enjoy a few hours of Taylor Lautner without a shirt on! PURE beauty! A great 2nd installment of the Twilight Saga...but DARN IT! Now we have to wait until 30 June 2010 for Eclipse! Arrrrrggggghhh! Oh well, they'll release New Moon on DVD soon enough and we can watch it over and over and over and....

{My FUNNY, FUNNY Husband!}

Okay...Mike DETESTS "nick-nacks". I mean, it's really a pet peeve of his to have all of my little "decorations" around the house. I think it stems from his childhood growing up in a house that was OVERcrowded with "stuff". So many "collections" of things displayed all over that were visually distracting. So he would love it if every surface in our house would be completely clear of any cute display items, candle holders, etc. However...it ain't happening! So this morning I go to get ready for work and notice that he's placed his OWN "nick-nack" in our bathroom. Do you see it? You might have to click on the picture to make it bigger.
So after I moved it to his nightstand...he found another place for it before he left for work tonight! What a NUT! And that's why I love him so much...he always makes me laugh! You'll probably have to click on this picture as well to find him!

{ ♪♫♥ PARAMORE CONCERT!! ♥♫♪}

Mike and I took Meghann and 4 of her friends to go see the group, Paramore, @ the Hollywood Palladium yesterday. The original concert was scheduled for 1 October, however the lead singer, Hayley, lost her voice on the first stop of their tour. So they had to reschedule. We were originally the 2nd stop of the tour and with the reschedule, we were now the LAST stop on their American Tour! WooHoo! It was a GREAT show...wish I had more pics of Paramore (thankfully Hayley came out and sang with one of the opening bands, The Swellers, so I got a few shots of her!), but since I have a "professional" camera (aka, detachable lens), as soon as they caught me shooting photos, they "perp walked" me to the coat check and I had to check it in. I was one of about 30-40 that had the same issue. So you're not allowed to bring a "good" camera in...but anything else is okay. Weird! So for the next concert, I'll go back to the Canon PowerShot S1IS instead of the Nikon D5000! The Canon has a good zoom and takes video too, so it's really no different, just not as high megapixels and not QUITE the zoom as the Nikon. So now that'll be the "Concert Cam"!

Freedom isn't "Free"
Thank a Veteran!

Happy Veteran's Day to all our military brethren! We are proud to have served with you and proud how others have served for us. It is an amazing thing to CHOOSE to serve others in your country. We are so grateful that we have an ALL VOLUNTEER military! We'll be celebrating Veteran's Day @ the ♪♫ Paramore ♫♪ concert tonight with Meghann and 4 of her friends!

"The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid down so
costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom" -Abraham Lincoln

{Halloween Decoration Pictures!}

{We ended up putting a piece of black fabric over the light on the left of the garage so that there was light but it was darker. We had to have the lights on since all of Mad Mike's electronics were plugged into the one by the front door!}{Mike had all his "potions" and stuff on this shelf with black lights on them so they glowed @ night. I had mad scientist sounds on a loop on the computer plugged into Meghann's speakers right behind the bookcase. So it sounded like the potions were bubbling, etc.}{Mike made this sign to show the kids how he takes Trick-or-Treaters, adds some of his potions, takes out their brains, and they become evil pumpkins for his evil pumpkin patch like in the pictures below!}{Ahhh....Mad Mike! He did a great job! Not too scary, but made it fun! He actually had quite a few kids that "volunteered" to let him turn them into evil pumpkins! I loved the candy cauldron! It made me happy!}

Mike had such a wonderful time decorating the house for Halloween this year! It was a lot of fun to see him so excited about it! He made paper mache evil pumpkins, my cool spider and some skulls. We had a lot of fun this year...can't wait to see next year!

{Old Sci-Fi/Horror Films}

With all the special effects and technology available today, we quickly forget what a "real" sci-fi/horror film is really all about. It should strike fear in your mind! I just watched the 1962 movie, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" today and was reminded that the scariest thing of all is a crazy person left unchecked! YIKES! Bette Davis did a wonderful job in her role as a former child star caring for her more famous sister (Joan Crawford) who is wheelchair bound. Bette Davis scared the CRAP outta me! When you think about someone who seems normal on the outside (or can at least semi-fool people!) that is caring for someone who is dependent on them...it makes you wonder if that person they are caring for is REALLY okay. Blanche (Joan Crawford) was so scared of her, but was kept upstairs (great for someone in a wheelchair!) and had no contact with the outside world without Jane (Bette Davis) knowing about it and controlling it. SCARY. That messed with my mind a bit...super yikes! Happy Day After Halloween...that was a GREAT horror film!