Better out than in

Bald faced that is. After many years of sporting a mustache, last night my hubby got a wild hair and shaved it off. It certainly makes him look younger, (which in turn makes me look OLDER, but I digress) the comparisons between he and Connor have been flying all day.. so with the help of photo shop, I decided to see just how close they really are.. Here are some delightful pictures of the "transformation" Before After Connor If Daniel had big puffy hair

I have lots of fabulous things to say, so this may be a multi- blog day! (gasp gasp, I know I know) I will start with a brief summation of the amazing "EAGLE'S CHRISTMAS VACATION!" (or something like that) We had our "Christmas morning" here on the night of the 19th. We were off the next morning at the crack of nine to head to Flagstaff, Az to see my brother and his awesome family. My parents also came in that night. It was so much fun to see everyone. Although no trivia type games were played, (I'm still recovering from the sad sad absence of this). Sunday evening mass at my brother's church stirred lots of questions from my kids. They have never sat through a catholic mass before (not since they can remember at least) It was a really nice service and this made for some great conversation. I am more and more convinced every day that Connor will be a Baptist Pastor some day. That boy has some serious fire and conviction. It snowed a bit while we wer...

Let me get up on my soap box for a moment and ask you a few questions... What does Christmas mean to you now? What DID Christmas mean to you as a child? Has that definition changed? I will not be all inclusive in this, but I feel as a society MANY people have fallen into the very commercial aspect of Christmas. The season has been lost to Elmo, and the Wii et al. I have spoken to so many people who are so consumed with WHAT DO WE GET THE KIDS?! A Wii, a XBox, video games, DVDs an iPod, bigger is better. I too have fallen into this mind set in the past. I became so consumed with not letting my kids down that I realized that, THAT is EXACTLY what I was doing. They don't NEED Santa, or a Christmas tree or 8 million dollars worth of toy box fotter that is going to break and be discarded, or forgotten by the 26th. I was letting them down, in the sense that the example I was setting for them was one of material things, not the focus of WHY we celebrate Christmas. A few years ago...

Over the past few weeks we have had several holiday parties, and Christmas productions for the kids. When my kids are involved, it's always entertaining to say the least. :) Here are some of the highlights... We got to see Santa at Daniel's work Christmas party; Santa - What do you want for Christmas? Tanner - "NACHOS" at which point he hopped off Santa's lap and left Then, when asked the same question by Santa, Garrett - "Two dollars, my mom said she'd give me two dollars if I sat on your lap" Connor winning a "Cars" night light playing "put the nose on Rudolph", at a command party CLEARLY geared towards tiny kids. (yes he is on his knees) Paige and her sweet friend giggling their way through the Children's choir Christmas program. Tanner nearly falling off the risers during the Church program. Daniel taking THIS sideways video of Tanner at the school Holiday sing... my husband.. computer genius, NOT a photographer. and fin...

Dwight D Eisenhower our 34th president St. Louis rams the 34th Superbowl champions Kansas, the 34th state in the union Cornflower, when listed alphabetically it is the 34th Crayola Crayon color Decode by Paramore, currently Bilboards # 34 song this week Max Payne starring Mark Wahlberg , currently #34 at the box office Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire, the 34th top grossing film of all time Other fabulous things that are 34

After much anticipation, Paige and Connor got to see TWILIGHT (insert angels singing here) Connor is on book two, and Paige has decided she wants to read the first book which I am going to let her... at least the first one. Not sure about the rest yet. I read the books a month or two ago, and my friend and I talk about them alot, so they pretty much know the gist of the stories... or so I thought. They are watching it and about 3/4 the way through the movie. (they were at the ballet studio part) when Paige suddenly gasps.. JAMES IS A VAMPIRE?!!?!!??? uhh Paige, they are ALL vampires. It must be fun to live in her world. :)

My name is Amy... and I'm a math failure. This isn't a new shocking development. I have NEVER been a math whiz. I know this. However now it's hitting home just a little bit harder. My 12 year old son is now taking Algebra in school. I remember taking pre-algebra is 8th grade, re-taking it in 9th grade, re- re taking it in tenth grade, before I was eventually vanquished to Mr.Taft's math class (aka Math for dorks). Now my son is looking for me to help him when he is stuck. (huge thanks to all of you who have received frantic 10 P.m. math help phone calls from me) However, I realize now that I will NEVER know what x=. NEVER EVER and I DON'T CARE! I don't want to know. I don't care what happens if two trains leave Duluth at 3:30 p.m going 55 mph. I JUST DON'T. Fractions suck! 4 out of 3 people are bad at fractions! I'm one of them. Anyone know a cheap Algebra tutor??

So I made it a whole month of blogging. I am sort impressed. Not that I had the most exciting things to say most days, but none the less, I found something to say. Blogging will continue, but certainly not daily. Kids are back to school tomorrow. I am so sad :( I hate school, it takes my kids. Only two weeks though, then they are off for two weeks, so that's cool. Then before you know it, it will be summer time again. Today we went to see BOLT, it was cute. Well I should say The little boys and Daniel and I went to see BOLT with my dear friend Angie, and her little boys. The older kids went to see TWILIGHT. Connor even liked it. Well his choices were BOLT and TWILIGHT, so it's not like he really had a lot of 7th grade boy friendly choices. He said it was a good movie though. Not good enough to actually READ the book, but good none the less. So adieu November. December is already winding up to be horrendously busy, but HERE WE GO!! :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... (Except for the weather, but ya know) I note this due to the frantic holiday shoppers, the blaring Christmas music wafting through stores, Santa, ho ho hoing, from his mall igloo, the salvation army bell ringers. Yes yes, signs of Christmas are everywhere. Even though we will not be home on Christmas day this year, my kids REALLY REALLY wanted to decorate for Christmas. So I decide we would decorate a little bit anyway. I am not quite there yet, but we did get "ye ol' Christmas tree" up. :) We will put some decorations on it tomorrow.. ok VERY few decorations on it tomorrow.. but hey even "Charlie Brown" Christmas trees need some lovin. :)

Time to get up at 4:00 a.m. Wait in line for an hour fight the crowds the wait in line two hours to check out all in the name of deals... NAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW So I got up bright and early this morning at the crack of 8:00, laid in bed for about 30 minutes, then threw myself together, went and got Angie. Then we were off to.. JoAnns We got some AWESOME flannel for 1.49$ a yard. Then it was off to the movies, we saw Twilight for the second time with the lovely Emmy. Somewhere along the way I picked up a screw in my tire so we went to get it fixed and Angie and I wandered around Target while my tire was repaired. It was amazingly not at all crowded. On the way home we picked up some worms for Archie and then came home. I made lasagna, took one over to Emmy's family, and got to get all glassy eyed at the most amazing lovely sweetest baby in the world. Now we are chilling, kids watching a movie. All in all a very low key, non crowded, lackadaisical "Black Friday".

Hope this turkey day found you all fat and happy.. well at least happy. :) Our day was nice. We stayed at home this year, so even though I was away from my family, we still got to spend time with our friends who are close as family. (Closer depending on the family member) :) The kids played, we cooked, and then ate until I was about to pop. I am taking a moment to count my blessings and look at all I have to be thankful for. A loving God Friends Family Life I HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT DAY ok nap time :)

It's official... deep in my heart of hearts, I'm 13. I doubt I will ever get past my love for NKOTB, which was just reignited so much last night. I am not sure I can adequately put into words, how AMAZING this concert was. I went with my friend and fellow NKOTB groupie Cindy. We decided to set out early, not knowing how much time we would need. Turns out we had TONS, so we swung by Pick-Up Stix for dinner. It was nice, my fortune said "You will be content by the end of Summertime". I told Cindy they must mean NEXT summer :) We hit target to kill a little more time and then headed over to the concert. We got parked and headed in. For the most part it was a WHOLE LOT of women in their mid to late 30's, a few families, and a couple of clearly "excited" husbands, who were earning some MAJOR brownie points that night. We found our seats and they were pretty good actually. We were on the floor level, probably about 25 rows back from the stage. I got som...

ARE YOU TOUGH ENOUGH??? I am off to see "The New Kids on The Block" and channel my inner 13 year old!! I will hopefully return with great stories, and pictures, and will hopefully replace this blog when I get home.

So I was going about my day as usual. I was upstairs packing Paige a bag because she was staying the night at her besties house, chatting with my brother on the phone, all was well. Then my other phone rings. I look at the caller ID hmmmm Alvarado hospital, so I get off the phone with Jake and answer. Me - "Hello?" Receptionist Lady - " Yes can I speak to Amy Eagle" Me - "this is she" RL - " Hi this is (can't remember) at Dr. Purcell's office, and I wanted to make a follow up appointment to go over your MRI" Me - "I thought I had an appointment on the 4th" RL - " Oh let me look, yep you sure do, sorry about that, that's fine. There were some IRREGULARITIES on your MRI and we need to go over them." Me - *cricket cricket* RL - " Oh nothing to worry about, we just need to go over the MRI with you and Dr.Purcell will it explain it to you. See you on the 4th!" Me - * cricket cricket* *sigh* No worries.....

but it's not the same on this side of the line. However I was very excited that I got to see all my walker buddies! Those I know, and those I got to meet today. ALL OF YOU ARE AWESOME!! I will be walking next year! I can't see myself missing another year. Time to start ye' old fund raising!! GO THREE DAY WALKERS!! I AM SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU!!! YOU ALL ARE AMAZING!!

of full time glasses... *sigh* Verdict = undecided

Every year, the kid's school has the annual "turkey trot". The winners from each grade level receive turkeys. My turkey's trotted their little hearts out, no winning turkey, but I did promise to bake them pies. :) despite the look on her face, no Paige's were harmed in the trotting of the turkeys. :)

We love you Grandpa Willie, you will be missed.

When you wake up 20 minutes late and still have the same respiratory cold that has been bugging you for two weeks. When every child in your house wakes up with a sore throat. When you get a call with bad news moments after you open your eyes. When the dog upended the trash while you were sleeping. When your sick boy spews all over the floor. When you go to clean up said spew and in your sleep induced stupor, you grab the wrong bottle. (side note: I want to know WHO put the craft bond under the sink, and 2 the lids really should be different colors. Also I sat in utter shock that I glued puke to my floor, but I digress) When ALL of the above happen in the first 20 minutes of your day.. YOU REALLY SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BED!

SO I know that some of you sickos out there are already done with your Christmas shopping. (insert gagging sound here) What are you getting your kids this year? As a lot of folks are, we find our selves on an even tighter budget than usual this Christmas season. So I am trying to find some fabulous, yet inexpensive things that I can make, get, do for the fab four for Christmas, any suggestions?? I will say that I already have the fabric for the yearly "Christmas jammies". I may make Paige a coat, and there are a few things in Ottobre that she has eyed that I can make for her, the boys I am at a little more of a loss for. Especially that big one that looks more and more like a grown up human every day. Ideas ladies?? I know you are all so smart! Also we will be seeing a lot more extended family this year, so tiny cheap gift ideas for that as well would be AWESOME!

Reading hour... ahhhhhhhhhhhh bask in the silence of it all!

Dear my body, I need to have a serious word with you.. ESPECIALLY my throat, head, chest, and vocal chords. You have had nearly a full week off (especially you voice) and I do believe it's about damn time you came back to work. Of all the body parts, the four of you seem to be the biggest slackers as of late. First off Brain, really needs to get in gear, making me stranded in the mall parking lot for 45 minutes while I searched for my car.. NOT FUNNY! The constant headaches, I could also do without. Chest, I really miss breathing normally. Laying down only to wake up coughing and hacking is not very conducive to a good nights sleep. I'm just saying that if you could all pitch in a little more and be team players I would really appreciate it. Having to run to the bathroom to blow my nose every six seconds is NOT fun, and I haven't been able to speak normally in almost a week. Throat if you could be a little less sore and swollen, I think that would go a long way to get...

I have true grown to love soccer. I love to coach, I love to watch my kids play it is so much fun. However now that the boys are done, and Paige is almost done, I am not too horrible sad to see this season close, plus the thought of SLEEPING in on a Saturday kinda excites me. So I say adieu to soccer, and look forward to some down time... oh wait basketball sign ups ar in a few weeks, which rolls in to baseball... *sigh* well NEXT Saturday, I am totally sleeping in!! That is until I have to get up for Paige's game :)

I have so much TO say, but nothing I CAN say. However I don't want to not say anything, and miss out on all the fabulous NaBloPoMo possible prizes, by missing a blog day. So today is space filler. Sorry

Due to a several series of emails I have been looped into in the past weeks, it has come to my attention, that PERHAPS I am the only one on the planet that knows that there are other ways to answer an email BESIDES hitting "reply all". So here as a service to you, is a simple FAQ about "reply all" Q - Seriously there are other options? A - YES Q - Is it ever ok to use reply all? A - Rarely, but yes in certain scenarios. Q - When IS it acceptable? A - If I for instance email my mom and brother and say "what are our plans for Christmas", it would be acceptable for them to use reply all, as the information pertains to ALL parties involved. Q - When is it NOT ok to use reply all? A - MOST OF THE TIME. If you are sent a mass email (hypothetically speaking from sporting leagues or school groups etc) and you do NOT personally know all those who receive the email, reply all should NEVER be an option. If the email (hypothetically of course) was asking for volun...

Even though I have had many names/titles in my life; "Amy" "Dennis and Lynne's daughter" "Eagle's wife" "______'s mom" "teacher" "coach" "hey you" "$^&^#*^" Deep in my heart of heart's I will ALWAYS be "Jacob's little sister" , and as such will do things like this for the rest of my life.

I don't remember Veterans day being on a Tuesday. I thought it was always on a Monday. It has COMPLETELY thrown me off!! I have been flung into "weekend" mode and it's only Tuesday!! Soooooo unfair. Now I have to get up and jump back into the swing of things tomorrow morning, when all I really really want to do is stay in bed. CAN IT BE THANKSGIVING WEEK YET?? I can't wait for the week off. I wish I was smarter so I could homeschool..

When I want to pull my hair out, Want to scream, Give up, Throw myself on the floor and have a tantrum like a two year old.. I just have to stop take a breath and think "dang, they are cute when they are sleeping"