For Michael

The following information is about the show Psych, which shows on USA on Friday nights. I find it interesting that this show--which, according to Michael, "stinks like steaming dog turds wrapped in burnt hair" was the #1 show in ALL of cable last year. Wow! I guess A LOT of people like dog turds wrapped in burnt hair, because the number of viewers continues to grow, and the show made USA the #2 network in all of television. I understand Michael that you would never even give the show a chance now that you have been so vocal about how bad it is, but that doesn't mean the show is as bad as you say it is. Tag---you're it!

"We are thrilled to bring PSYCH back for a third season," said Wachtel. "The series has been a critical and ratings sensation since it premiered last summer and continues to gain new viewers and grow its fan-base."

PSYCH has been a ratings success since its debut in the summer of 2006, becoming last year's #1 new show in all of cable. The ratings accomplishments have continued through this summer. Along with its Friday night companion series MONK, PSYCH led USA to win the summer on Friday nights in P25-54 and P18-49. PSYCH is currently averaging 4.6 million total viewers, 2.3 million in P25-54 and 2.1 million in P18-49, with a 3.4 household coverage rating in the first half of the show's second season. PSYCH has been the #1 series on cable in its timeslot for the summer, beating its competition by 126% in P18-49 and 120% in P25-54 as well. PSYCH made USA the #2 network in all of television second only to ABC during its time slot.

Blake's 8th Birthday Party

I have been enjoying using the scrapblog feature, so I decided to use some photos I have had for a while. This scrapblog is from Blake's 8th birthday party....last April! I know, I know....that was a long time ago, but you can still enjoy the photos! We had a lot of fun at Sonic in Tyler and ate some good cake thanks to Windy!

Baseball in the Yard

I created this scrapblog with pictures from the last time my kids played with the Smith kiddos before we moved. The boys always enjoyed playing baseball in the yard together, and Dawson and Annalisa just enjoyed hanging out together!

My Jacob

Jacob is such a fun, sweet boy! I just love watching him think, and I love watching him interact with other people. He is very sociable, and he has been doing so well since we moved here to Colorado. He hasn't gotten in trouble at school at all, and he is having fun playing outside with friends every afternoon until at least 7 pm when I MAKE him come inside! He told me the other day that he likes it here because he didn't have this many friends in Kilgore. It makes me happy to see my kids happy, so I am very glad that Jacob is liking it here. He is also going through a stage of minding really well and saying, "yes ma'am" when I ask him to do something....I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Cole is staying in trouble for his bad attitude, disrespect and bossiness, so Jacob wants to stay out of trouble! He's no idiot!! That is fine with me, though because when he acts nice and minds me it makes my life that much easier! He has been rollerblading, skateboarding, riding his bike and playing football lately. I still can't get him to eat anything green (for the simple fact that "it tastes green"....whatever green tastes like!), but he is telling me a lot more lately "that was a good supper, mama". I like to hear that! Yesterday when he was getting ready for school he decided he wanted to wear his "cowboy" clothes that he got from Nana and Poppa for Christmas. I thought he looked handsome, so I took some pics of him. He does tuck his pants into his boots, though for the simple reason that he thinks the boots look cool and he wants to be sure everyone can see them! This morning he was so proud of himself for getting up and getting dressed without me having to ask him 1,000 times (Jacob is LAZY in the mornings!!!)....he came down with the biggest grin on his face (that means "mom, tell me how proud you are of me") and he was wearing the same exact clothes as yesterday!!! I grinned, told him I was proud of him for already being dressed, but explained that he couldn't wear the same shirt as yesterday. He only pouted for a minute, then let me give him another shirt to wear....and he still looked like my handsome little (no, big! ) 7 year old!

Note to Michael: My boys still button their shirts all the way to the top because that is how they like it! I try to unbutton the top button, but they will not have anything to do with that!

Annalisa's Room

Just a quick post to show you pics of Annalisa's room. We painted it last weekend and now it is two shades of pink with a green chair rail around the middle. She is very excited about it, and so am I. I am glad she finally has a "girlie" room! The next room we will paint will be the boys' room and it will be a pretty shade of blue. Painting is so much more work than you originally think until you get started....then you start asking yourself, "what the heck was I thinking????" Also, her room will look alot better once I get some pictures and things on the walls....for now it is still bare.

Everything Skit

Melissa sent me the link for this video, and I thought it was so good I wanted to share it with you. Please watch it until the end...it is very powerful.

Fatburger

Some of you may remember a post I wrote a while back about mine and Windy's visit to a local Dairy Queen. Our order wasn't correct when we got home, and more than that the guy behind the counter offered Windy some Nacho Cheese to go with her steak fingers. That was a pretty hilarious time for us, and as I went to dinner tonight with my kids I was reminded of that day. I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner, and they unanimously said, "Fatburger". I had a few extra dollars, and Ben is out of town, so I thought I would take them out for dinner. When I got there I began to order. First I ordered a Baby Fatburger deal. I said, "....and on that burger I want mayonnaise and ketchup only." (The sign says ALL burgers come with lettuce, pickles, relish, mayonnaise, mustard and tomatoes). So the guy looks at me and seriously says, "so you don't want the bun?" as if the bun were an add-on. I said, "yes, I want the bun, AND the meat and mayonnaise and ketchup...but NO vegetables." Ok....so I guess we got that straight. Then I say, "I also want JUST a Baby Fatburger.....mustard, lettuce and tomatoes." By "Just a Baby Fatburger" I meant I only wanted the burger and NOT the meal. Then I said I wanted a Fatburger meal "with mustard all the way." Then I realized they put relish on their burgers, so I said, "no, I don't want the relish." Well, that totally threw the guy off and he couldn't figure out how to make the order be "no relish" now that he had already run it through. So, he called over another employee, who then says "well, you ordered a Fatburger with mustard only." I said, "No, I said mustard all the way." They looked at me like "well? mustard all the way means mustard all over the burger right?" I said, "Look, I'm not from here, but in Texas mustard all the way means mustard with everything that comes on the burger." Oh, well that was new to them. So, the guy rings up my order and I pay....I was thinking it was awfully expensive for what I ordered so I looked at the ticket. He charged me for 2 Baby Fatburger meals and 1 Fatburger meal, even though I only ordered 1 Baby Fatburger meal. Oh well, I had already paid and I knew the kids would eat the fries and drink the drink, so I figured what the heck? Then I got to my table and started reading the ticket again. Under the 2nd Baby Fatburger meal it said "No Bun". What? So, apparently when I said "Just a Baby Fatburger" that meant just the meat. Who are these people and did they graduate from high school? I walked up to the counter and asked the guy who took my order if I could talk to him about my ticket. I told him how it said "No Bun" at which point the other guy came up and cut me off saying "you want the bun, right?" I said "yes I do." He pointed to the other guy and said, "He is from around here but he is sort of slow." He said it right in front of him! And seriously it was the truth! So, they brought all of the burgers on buns, but when I got mine it was mustard no vegetables. So, I had to send it back to get my lettuce, tomatoes onions and pickles. At that point I was a little nervous to eat my food, thinking that maybe they had spit on it or something!

Annalisa

I haven't written for a while because we have been so busy getting our house like we like it and getting the kids settled in school. Last week, though, Annalisa celebrated a milestone in her life....she turned 5 and she is already counting the days to when she will be 10! To celebrate her birthday, Ben took her to a place called Amazing Jakes on a day that she wasn't in school. He really enjoys spending time with her....just dad and daughter....and they get along really well! She definitely felt special because her boys have been wanting to go to Amazing Jakes also. It is way bigger than Chuck E. Cheese....and way more expensive! Apparently there is an indoor miniature golf course, a train, go-carts, bumper cars, and a roller coaster....not to mention all of the video games and the climbing wall. WOW! After they went there, they spent some time at the library--one of my kids FAVORITE places to go, and then they had a photo shoot at the house for her 5 year portrait. You can definitely tell that she has been around a camera her whole life, and she loves to pose! On her actual birthday we all celebrated by eating at a place called Fatburger which has to take the place of What-A-Burger because they don't have those here, then we got scoops of ice cream at Maggie Moo's. All in all it was a great day and Annalisa enjoyed all of the phone calls she received from family and friends....although at one point she wanted to play with her toys and asked me if they could all stop calling her on the same day and "call tomorrow!" I have added some of the photos from her photo shoot for you to enjoy!