Dancing Junkie

Boy, have I been a couch potato the last three days. I really have only been one at night after the kids have gone to bed. And in case you didn't know, this is National Stay-At-Home week on ABC! Anyway, here's my reason for being such a bum......"Dancing with the Stars" and "The Office". Their new shows are premiering this week, and DWTS has had 3 episodes! They had me hooked on Monday night. If you are not watching DWTS, you need to for one reason......Cloris Leachman. She is the oldest star ever to perform on DWTS, and she is an absolute riot!!! There is no other way to describe her!!! I hope she stays on for a long time just so I can get a good laugh :)

In all seriousness, every star on the show this season is so good. I really have enjoyed all of them. I can't really say which is my favorite yet. I do like Brooke and Derek because she is just really good, but I like all of them so far. I felt so sorry for Ted McGinley tonight because he got voted off, and he was really disappointed. He wanted to stay so bad! I am also really rootin' for Misty May-Treanor. We watched Kerri Walsh and her blast their way to the gold medal stand in the Olympics, and I really like them. Toni Braxton is great too. And she is so beautiful. Also, Susan Lucci and Toni. Who wouldn't vote for Susan? She is so cute, and in my opinion she has the best partner. He is a gentleman. He treats all of his partners really well, and he has always gone a long way in the competition. He was Stacy Kiebler's partner several seasons ago, and I thought for sure she would win. OK, I will stop rambling! Hats off to all of the stars!!!!

As for "The Office", I absolutely CANNOT wait. It comes on tomorrow night. Chris gave me permission to watch this first one without him. I will let you know what happens..............

So I have decided, after this week, no more couch potato.

Halloween Preview

So, some of you may be wondering what Jaron is up to since Jordan is gone to school all day now. For starters, our apartment is MUCH quieter! But he is doing all of the things pre-schoolers do...he goes to his Mom's Day Out class, which he calls his "church school" (it's at a church nearby). We take his friend Emily to the library on Thursdays for pre-school storytime and craft. Those two are quite a pair!!!! Emily is not at all a girly-girl. She loves the Power Rangers and any other action figure. She does not like to wear pink, and she is just plain funny!!! Jaron says she is his best friend. The other day I asked him why she is his best friend. He said, "Because she is a girl, but she likes boy toys." OMG, they are sooooooo cute! Anyway, the other thing our little pre-schooler is doing is writing his name on everything. He writes on his dry erase board, on the sidewalk, on paper...anything he can get his hands on. This is one of his pictures he did at church last week. Isn't he doing great!? He has also learned all of his letters with the exception of "E, F and U". I made him some flashcards with pictures. Most of them have some sort of superhero, some have "G" for Granny, "N" for Nana, "P" for Papa, and so on. He is doing just great!!!! I am so thankful I have one more year with him. I have really enjoyed it so far!!!
OK, so on to Halloween. We have gone Halloween crazy around here. I think we have been to Michael's three times this week to get cheap Halloween crafts :) Here is our ceramic jack-o-lantern centerpiece. We all love to look at him.
These crafts are the cutest and funnest things to make. They are a dollar at Michael's, so we go every few days to get a new one! Jaron made all of these. You have to arrange beads on a pegboard and then iron them to get them to stick together. All it has is a little diagram to follow, and Jaron is really good at making them on his own. He made all of these himself. I had to help just a little.
Here's Jordan's bat. The kids think he looks dumb like Patrick on "Spongebob"!!

Jaron picked out this craft on Monday and once we got it home I thought it was going to get the best of me. This thing had a thousand really, really small pieces. There was no way that Jaron could have done it...of course I did neglect to read the package where it said "ages 8 and up".
These are Jordy's bead crafts. She thinks she can't do them by herself, but she can. I helped her with the witch, but then she did the pumpkin completely on her own.
And Jaron's life cannot be complete without some sort of spider!! This guy was much easier than that silly pirate :)



The other day we began a craft that required black paint. (You will see the finished product at the end). Jaron decided he wanted to paint every Halloween creature he could think of, so we put them all in a book.

A witch holding a pumpkin.
An owl.
A spider...again :)
A bat.
A bat sleeping upside down during the day.
Frankenstein.
And a skeleton.

Jordan added a head-less monster on the back when she got home.
Halloween festivities wouldn't be complete without a bowl of goodies!!
And here's the completed craft that required the black paint...it's our bat tree!!

We all painted the egg carton things, then I attached the wings, Jordan glued on the eyes, and Jaron did the ears. Aren't they cute???

Whew!!!

The First Day of First Grade :)


Well, we made it through the first week of school!!! This getting up early is for the birds! Fortunately, Jordan doesn't have to catch the bus until 8:30, so we don't have to get too terribly early. We were sleeping until 9:00 during the summer, though!! So here's some first day/week pictures for you to enjoy.



Jordan and her friend Ananya are waiting for the bus...they have their bus passes in hand, ready to go. I know it looks like Jordan is a giant compared to Ananya, but she is actually standing on an incline :)
And here's the first ever homework assignment. Jordan's teacher, Miss Estremera, has a class mascot. It's a cute little brown bear. The class named him Buttercup. Everyone gets a turn taking Buttercup home overnight and they have to write about what they did in Buttercup's journal. Jordan was very adamant about doing her homework by herself. She did really well!! She has to write "Jordan B." on all her papers because there is also a "Jordan L." in her class.

"Buttercup wacht me ride my bike and she wacht me play oetside (outside)."


Jordy had a good first week of school, so Jaron and I had a little surprise for her on Friday when she came home. We made her some delicious Ghirardelli chocolate brownies. Man, those things are good. They are sinful. They are decadent. They are AWESOME!!!!!!!

We are so proud of our baby girl!! But boy, do we miss her during the day. Granted, there is alot less fussing and fighting to mediate, but we don't care...we love our princess, grumpiness and all!

Tagged...

I have been tagged by Jennifer.

The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag six bloggers by linking.
5. Leave a comment for each blogger.


1. The other day I was making a list, and I thought of something that needed to be on the list, but wasn't. So after I completed that particular task, I wrote it down on the list just to immediately mark it off! I know I am not the only one who does this, though. My friend Peggy Brown is worse than I am!!!

2. I hate crumbs on the floor. It doesn't matter if it is the hard kitchen floor or the carpet. I can feel even the tiniest of crumbs if I am walking barefoot. It grosses me out...it makes me think our apartment is filthy!

3. I can walk on my feet with my toes curled under :)

4. I love wearing pajamas. If I am at home, it is very rare that I am in real clothes. Just as soon as I get home, I change into my jammies. And you know what, the kids are that way too!!

5. I get sensory over-load. It is really hard for me to talk to Chris, or anyone else, if the TV or radio is too loud. I just can't take it!! It has too be turned off or way down for me to be able to concentrate on what I am saying.

6. I can't put my hair in a pony tail without it having weird bumps everywhere. It seriously takes me FOREVER to get it smooth. And most of the time I just give up and do something else.


Now, I am going to tag Ashely, Kellie, Alissa, Traci, Amanda, and Beth!!! Have fun :)

Nana and Papa's Visit

Getting ready for Nana and Papa to come visit...Harry needed a bath!!!
So did Ron!
We went to the mall to see "Wall-E" with Nana and Papa. Papa luckily won this stuffed toy out of one of those machines with the claw.
He was fortunate enough to get two for Jaron!!! Hulk and Shrek...it made Jaron and Jordan's day :)
Nana and Papa took Jaron to another mall so he could pick out his birthday present. Surprise, surprise...he picked out a bunch of Hulk stuff!! Jordy also got to pick out a toy, she wanted the "Furr Real" sheep. Then they got to get some new school shoes from the Stride Rite store. Jordan also got two new outfits for school from "The Children's Place".

Nana, Jordan and Jaron spent one afternoon playing Candy Land. Jaron is shirtless because, guess what...he was being the Hulk :)
On Saturday afternoon we went into the city to see Chris perform in "Phantom". Here we are waiting on the train platform in Princeton Junction. This was my 6th time to see the show, Jordan and Jaron's third time, and Nana and Papa's 2nd time to see Chris. I am so glad we went. It is expensive to go see a Broadyway show, but when your husband is performing, it is totally worth it. I will see it again and again and again. For a while I thought I would start taking the kids to see other Broadyway shows, but then I changed my way of thinking and decided that any chance we get to see Daddy is worth it!!
On Sunday after church we went up to Harlem to a famous home-cookin' restaurant, Sylvia's. It was very good. The blackeyed peas and mac and cheese were great. It made me miss that kind of cooking, even though it's not all that healthy!! Here Jordan and Jaron are riding in a REAL taxi back to where our car was parked. They thought it was the coolest thing ever!!






Nana and Papa's last full day to be with us was a little exciting, to say the least! Chris didn't have to go into work, so we spent the day just "hacking around". We went to lunch, then antique shopping and lastly miniature golfing. While we were golfing, Chris got a call from our apartment office that our building did not have any water and that we needed to go stay in a hotel. What a pain!!!


For those of you who know Jaron even a little bit, know that he definitely marches to the beat of his OWN drum. This is his idea of golfing. This is why we are so crazy about Jaron!!!!!!!

We really had a good time, Nana and Papa!!! We can't wait to see you again...we love you!!!!!!

Jaron's Birthday

Jaron is picking out the heart for his monkey at Build-a-Bear.

Now he's making a wish and kissing the heart :)
In it goes...
Fluffing it up...
Bath time!!! (Notice the toy in his other hand)
Still bathing...
Almost done...
Now the clothes!! Jaron is "beary" predictable!
Let's dress this monkey...
A little help from mommy...
"I can do it!"

Is he proud or what?!
Spiderman to the rescue!



On to the party..................
Jaron wanted to draw the Hulk with the icing. He is the face in the right hand corner. The other one is the Abomination, the Hulk's enemy. Jaron would tell you that the difference is the Abomination doesn't have hair.
The first thing Jaron did was peek at his presents!!!!!!
Still peeking...
He just couldn't get enough...
Emily is thinking about helping :)
Emily is the little girl with the backpack. Jaron calls her Emiwee!! She is his best friend. Emma and her mom Robbie are in the background. We have spent the summer swimming with them.
There's Emma again. She and Jaron are just a few days apart in age. Her birthday is September 13, just like Aunt Candace ;)
"Happy birthday to you..."

Time to blow out the candles...
A job well done!
Emma, Jordan, Emiwee, Sughosha and Monish looking on.
The birthday boy, Kriti, Anchala and Papa (in the background). Where's Nana? Oh yeah, taking pictures, too!!


Our baby boy is five. Five. F-I-V-E. I can't believe it. He is such a big boy, too. He has grown so much and accomplished so many things this year. Some of them are as follows:

1~learning to ride his bike
2~learning to play games on the computer completely on his own
3~swimming like a fish!
4~learning to play board games like Candy Land, Hi Ho Cheerio, Chinese checkers, and his new favorite--Operation Hulk!
5~going to a huge church in NYC, enjoying his class, and singing some of the cutest church songs I have ever heard! (according to him there are only yellow, black and white in "Jesus Loves the Little Children")
6~riding the NYC subway, and only holding onto the pole
7~sitting through "Phantom of the Opera" 3 times and not calling out Daddy's name :)
8~learning to write his name
9~moving from Lubbock, Teskiz to Princeton Junciton, New Jersey...and making the transition beautifully
10~making us laugh each and every day!!!

He is precious and we are so proud of our little angel.