You go "Glee"!!!

I admit I love "Glee". I don't know who could not resist watching Jane Lynch being such a witch every week. I do find myself fast forwarding through some of the song/dance numbers, but hey I didn't really get into "Kids Incorporated" either. What I didn't know about "Glee" is that it would be a show that would promote equality for people with disabilities in such a brilliant way. There are actually people on the show that do not fit a lot of different molds. But the one near and dear to my heart is also included, and in awesome ways. The only thing Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) really cares about is her older sister w/ DS, who she terms as "handi-capable". And then last night a character's father had a terrific speech, and I am not ashamed to admit that I got all teary. I like it that a television show, geared toward young adults, is promoting tolerance and acceptance in all areas. I loved the speech so much that I am going to put a link up for all the people that don't watch....

Top 10 Things I Will Miss About "Lost"

I loved "Lost". Through it's ups and downs, it was always entertaining. I am not ashamed to say that I loved the finale, and I will miss the show. It was a show without laugh tracks, without canned scenery, and without a stagnant storyline. There was never a dull moment (well maybe sometimes). So here are the things I will miss most about the show.

1. Jack’s super plans. He had a plan for everything. I love plans.
2. Sawyer’s nicknames for everyone: i.e.: Freckles, Ennis, Stay Puff
3. Trying to figure out who Kate would hook up with next.
4. Anything was possible: kidnapping, polar bears, subs, slave ships, hot air balloons, finding beer. There are no boundaries! (It hurt to type "was" instead of "is")
5. Being able to have a bad episode, and move on. Like all series, there were bad episodes, but these didn’t seem to hurt the overall story line.
6. The scenery. I loved looking at the beautiful nature shots.
7. The intrigue always kept me guessing. There were no easy answers, but sometimes they would throw you a bone.
8. Great characters played by great actors. All the regulars, and those that had gone (namely Eko). The acting on this show was superb. Nod to Terry O’Quinn.
9. Getting to spend 60 minutes with Lisa every week. It made the show that much better because I had someone to say “OMG” to during commercial breaks, and rehash the storyline with after it was done. Best date night EVER!!!
10. My favorite character: Ben.
*He was totally unpredictable!! You never knew if he was going to be bad or good, and when you thought he was going one way he would instantly do a 360.
*His love for the island.
*His moments of tenderness.
*His being able to take a beating, and still come back with a droll comment.
*His total ruthlessness.
*His witty comments. For example:

• Ben to John: "You had critical information that would have died with you, and once I got it I didn't have time to talk you into killing yourself again."
• Ben to John: “No John, unfortunately we don't have a code for 'There's a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head'. Although, we obviously should..."
• Jack: How can you read? Ben: My mother taught me.
• John: Mind if I ask you a question? Ben: I’m a Pisces.
• Alex: You put my boyfriend in a cage, and then you locked him in a room & tried to brainwash him! Ben: I didn’t want him to get you pregnant. I suppose I may have overreacted.

Thank goodness for DVDs! I cannot wait to start the series over again!

Carnival

This year's carnival was a huge undertaking: 24 game booths, backyard battle, petting zoo (w/ a camel), inflatables, a photo booth, kettle korn, tons of food, and an awesome auction. Our PTO actually represents 2 different schools, the primary & elementary, with a population of 1,200 students to entertain and dazzle. The carnival takes months to plan, and the week leading up to it is murder. BUT I love doing carnival because to me the payoff is huge. I love seeing all the families having fun together, the teachers interacting with the students, and getting to work with some wonderful ladies to pull it all off! I also like testing the limits of my abilities, because with each pto event I find myself doing something that I didn't think I could do. So here is to the best carnival yet!!

Better Late than Never, Mother's Day

I had an fantastic Mother's Day weekend! On Saturday, I was able to attend the International Down Syndrome Education conference. It was such a cool experience. This group does nothing but help advance the education of people with DS. And they have lots of helpful suggestions, and tips. It was great to see so many people working for one cause: to give our kids as many choices in life as possible. It was also very beneficial to speak with representatives from other school districts, and see how their systems work. Sadly I think our days in P-Ville may be numbered, other districts are much more open to inclusion. But fiddle-dee-de, that is a post for another day. When I came home from the conference my men had cleaned my house from top to bottom, and did the laundry to boot!!! It was such a great surprise!!
On Mother's Day we drove out to Round Top to meet up with the family. We ate at an awesome cafe that is renowned for its pies! And it definitely lived up to the hype! It was a beautiful day, and I could not have asked for a better Mother's Day!

Oma's New Car

Lucy meeting another Lucy.

Met this guy on the way home!

We've Come A Long Way Baby

It is Lucy's Heart Day Today!!!

Field Day!!!

Here are those tye-dyes in action!!

Crazy Time

May is the last month of school, and it is jam packed full of stuff. Can't believe there is only 18 days of school left!!! Carnival is dominating my being right now, and I will be so relieved when it is over. So it was nice to take a break, and dye the t-shirts for Ms. Schuh's class. They did tye-dye , and the kids put the bands on themselves. I begged Ms. Schuh to let me dye them because, I don't know about you but I love seeing the finished product. Breaking the bands, and opening the shirt to see the pattern is like magic. It was a nice spot in an otherwise busy & thankless week.

Port A ~ Weekend Get Away

The birthday girl.

For Lisa's 30th, we left the kids & headed to Port Aransas. We stayed in an awesome hotel that was right on the beach, and it had a really cool 4 tiered pool! It was AWESOME!!

Here is my 10 favorite things about our jaunt to Port A:

1. Melanie on Dramamine. Mel does not drink & she definitely does not partake of illicit drugs; however, dramamine gets her HIGH: red eyes, the giggles, incoherent statements, drowsiness. Drug addicts are funny.

2. Chicken Fighting. What can I say? It was Lisa's weekend & she wanted to chicken fight. I was pretty embarrassed at first, but then I realized we were invisible to the teenagers! It was fun acting like a kid. You know who won.

3. $8 shots!! This was not so funny. Seriously. The pool had a swim up bar, and we thought we would be fancy and get some shots. The lady working the bar had obviously never had a drink in her life, because she did not know how to make anything. Finally we asked if she could make a buttery nipple, and, after consulting her book, she assured us she could. So when she set the 5 plastic cups with varying levels of chunky liquid on the bar and proceeded to say "$40", I almost had a heart attack! Needless to say, Jake & John ended up drinking (chewing) all of the shots. I wish I had taken a picture of those shots, because no one is ever going to believe how nasty they were. Chunky...not like the soup, more like throw up.

4. Being able to enjoy the car ride. Texas is really green right now, and it was great to be able to look out the window and participate in adult conversation.

5. Helping Lisa enjoy her birthday. Getting old sucks. Period. So our gift to Lisa was helping her ease into her 30's. It is always nice to celebrate those milestones by having a really great time!!

6. The guy who ate his steering wheel cover. We were stopped at a light, and a guy in a jeep pulled up next to us. He was jittery, and acting all sorts of weird. But when he pulled a piece of his steering wheel cover off, and ate it that is when we lost it. It was hilarious. I'll say it again: drug addicts are funny.

7. Best Burger EVER. I am not exaggerating, Port A Brewing Co. has the best burgers on the planet. Texas Monthly does not lie. This place rocked. No burger will live up to it's standards. If you go to Port Aransas, do not miss eating at this place.

8. The Dolphins. Thank you John for waiting in that long line for the ferry!! Seeing the dolphins swimming out there reaffirmed that we humans have not destroyed everything cool (yet).

9. Hanging with my family. I love my family. We are a close knit group, and it was so awesome to spend time together without all the daily distractions. We love our kids, but sometimes their needs inhibit us from really interacting with other people. It was really nice to talk to each other, and be able to listen.

10. The fact that we made it back, and we still like each other. Hey I know I said we are close knit, but even we can fight. So it was great that we didn't!!