Thank you very much. Honored guests, fellow citizens, this evening, our home is chaos. Schools have been canceled, winds have been gusting, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet, the state of the Morgan's has never been stronger (Applause). As I blog, children are jumping on beds when they should be brushing their teeth. Other children are pounding on their brothers doors when they are trying to clean their rooms, but our resolve is strong. We will stay the course. The teeth will get brushed and the rooms will be clean, no matter the cost (Applause).
The lure of the Wii is apparent. When the snow flies, and there is no school, there are few interesting options for civilians. However, we will smoke all children out of their video game holes and prevail (Applause). 
Times are bleak. External forces (gusty winds) prevent Pete from going to "project know" tonight. I propose more extensive legislature in the "No fifth grader left behind in sex education" act. No child should go without seeing the boring video showing how puberty affects the adolescent body. That is the right of all (Applause)!
In closing, my two-year-old is completely naked, I think she wants a bath. Bobby is in Florida on a business trip and I don't know what to make for dinner. We might have to add to the deficit, stimulate the economy, and order a pizza. God bless, thank you, and goodnight (Applause).
Bobby's birthday marks the end of the birthday marathon. It makes me feel a little bad because by the time his birthday rolls around, I'm out of inspiration, energy, and money. Bobby is always sweet about the fact that he gets the dud birthdays, but it bothers me a little. This year we got a babysitter the Saturday before his birthday and went to dinner and a movie ("I am Legend"- not bad but a bit of a "jumpy" movie which has never been my favorite). For his birthday I made spaghetti and homemade meatballs and the traditional cake. I know it sounds silly, but it's been a while since I have made meatballs and it takes a while! I've been getting lazy with my dinner meals I guess. The cake is a knock-off from Tommy's only with yellow cake instead of strawberry. Because Tommy used two cans of frosting, we still had half a can of each flavor (well almost half a can, there was more chocolate than vanilla as you can see!) The kids insisted that we put all 35 candles in. I wholeheartedly agreed.
Here's the cake lit. It's not quite an inferno, but it's getting there!
All the kids helped blow out the candles, and Pete and Matt made Bobby some sweet birthday cards.
Bobby's parents came over for dinner and cake and during dinner Grandpa kept making faces at Allie. Here are some faces that she made back to Grandpa.
After dinner Bobby's parents stayed while we went to preview the "project know" presentation that Pete will see next week. Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like animated line drawings of the human reproductive system. I get to watch it with Pete on Wednesday. I can't wait to get his reaction (actually, I can). I'm writing a bit sarcastically, but I have to admit, it will be interesting to see what he thinks about the situation. It should be fun (that was sarcastic).
On a completely unrelated note, the Stanley Cup of poker league's trophy arrived on the scene last week. I know, it's a little ugly, but I get this gem for six months. It's currently sitting on my mantle, but only because I've been too busy to find a less conspicuous spot.
Yup. There’s my name…. forever enshrined in trophy format.
I was going to write Bobby's birthday wrap-up but this news trumps all. Matt and Sam both had loose teeth and were comparing looseness these past few weeks. Yesterday afternoon Matt finally got his tooth out. He went straight to Sam and said "I won!! My tooth came out first!". Not to be outdone, Sammy promptly plucked out his tooth (the tooth did resist a bit)! Matt was so cute, he wrote a thank you note for the tooth fairy complete with picture. The tooth fairy, however, forgot to retrieve the note. I'll have to have a word with him...er... her. 
The teeth created a bit of excitement in the house and everyone (except Pete) wanted to be part of the fun. Here's the peanut gallery....
Well drywall is finally going up and we are starting to think about paint colors. The color variety and hues are staggering and the names are ridiculous. With colors like Hopeful, High Strung, Marooned, Refuge, Frangipane, Lacewing, Impetuous, Synergy, and Indulgent, can one be sure of what the color is? I decided to start my color quest with the first page on the color choice chart.....black. To the normal untrained eye one might think this was a regular black but this happens to be Tricorn Black. If I'm not mistaken that was the style of hat worn during the Revolutionary War, correct?
I'm sure our founding fathers would settle for no other hue on their tricorn hats than the black pictured above. Now this black is Bohemian Black. I'm not quite sure what makes this black bohemian, but if someone knows, could you please tell me?
This one is called Black of Night. I have no witty remark for this. This is one of the few names that makes sense. I accidentally deleted my favorite color sample (and I'm not even going to try to reload it!) and it was called Black Magic. It had Carlos Santana's seal of approval.
Here's Caviar, the champagne of black, really.
What color collection would be complete without Domino? I had a little quip about being disappointed if Sherwin Williams did not have a Domino in their color collection, but it sounded almost racist. Should Sherwin Williams have a Domino in the color collection? It makes for interesting discussion.
Here's another color that I think I can respect. It's called Greenblack and is self-explanatory. You can kind-of, sort-of see the green hue.
This last one is called Inkwell and falls into the same-color-different-name category. What makes me shudder is that black is quite a straightforward color. Heaven help us when we start looking at beiges!
Allie was playing with my headband the other day. She then stated loudly (of course) "MAMA, I'M PRETTY. TAKE MY PICTURE!" Who can say no to that? So for the first time, Allie posed for a picture. Here it is.....
I just took a quiz that compares your personal stances with the candidates and I was surprised to find, by a large margin, that I align most closely with Dennis Kucinich! Who knew? I guess I can't make fun of him anymore. Kucinich had a compatibility score of 36, followed by Dodd (I didn't know he was still running!) with a score of 31, and then a 4-way tie for third with Clinton, Biden, Richardson, and Obama with a score of 29. I guess my mom's liberal roots are showing. =) Bottom three?.... John McCain with a score of 13, Ron Paul with 10, and Fred Thompson bottoms the list with 9. That's OK, I never liked Law and Order anyway. Interesting quiz .... here's the link if anyone wants to try it out... http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460
Three weeks and counting down. That's how much time I have before Petey goes to his first official sex education class at school. In our school district, the fifth grade classes have a program called "project know", which (I have been told) is a national program where they bring in experts and tell the kids all they need to know to reproduce. Really, I've heard it's a good program, but with Pete being our first, this is new territory. The parents get to go see "the movie" a week or so before they present it to the kids. "The movie" happens to fall on Bobby's birthday (happy birthday Bobby), so that is how Bobby is celebrating the big 3-5. We then get to view the movie with Pete the evening before he watches it with the boys in his class. The only hitch is that Bob will be out of town so it will just be Pete and me. I'm ok with that, I hope Pete is. I think it's nice I have the opportunity to see it with Pete so we can talk before he has to sit through it in school.
I was talking with Pete a couple weeks ago (thanks to the Jamie Lynn Spears pregnancy announcement) to see what the kids were talking about and what he knew already. He stated he knew everything already (which surprised me) so I asked him what everything entailed. He told me he knew how babies came out. When I asked if he knew how they got in, he asked "Is it gross?", I answered "Yes.". He just shook his head and said "I don't want to know.".
Recently, Pete received the parental permission slip to see "the movie". He told me I should mark the box that said he couldn't see the movie. He would get to go to the library instead. I think if it were up to him, he'd just like to perpetuate the story of the stork. Well, he's going. A little piece of me is mourning his loss of innocence, and at the same time, I'm so proud of the young man he is becoming.
On a related note, I went to the "building house" yesterday and made sure the contractors were putting up extra insulation in the master bedroom walls. =)
We've had record breaking weather here and the respite has been nice. To be able to run out the door without jackets or boots for these past two days has been marvelous. Below is a picture of Tommy I took yesterday. We played on the playground, played in the backyard, and Bobby and I went on a date last night and walked to the restaurant (thanks mom and dad for the gift certificate!). The weather has been crazy these past few days. Last night was so windy that they canceled school today (yea!). It is cooler today (high of 45) but bright. It's going to be a shock to the system when the weather returns to normal on Saturday (high of 27!). That's the weather report, here's what's happening in your neck of the woods......
Sammy's birthday was yesterday. It was a lot of fun, but I'm trying hard to keep up the pace. I still have one more birthday party for Tommy this week. I think there were gaps (many, many gaps) in the family planning as we have too many birthdays close together. We went to bounce magic as a family, ate pizza and then went to Lola and Grandpas and ate ice cream cake. Of course I forgot my camera (again!) but took this photo with his crown he got to wear in school. Yesterday was funny because Allie was convinced that it was not Sammy's birthday but rather her birthday. For the whole morning if anyone tried to wish Sam a happy birthday she would say "No! Not Sammy's birthday, Allie's Birthday!" and then she would proceed to sing happy birthday to herself! Sammy also decided at the last minute that he wanted a friend to come and invited him as he was getting out of school. I had to track the mom down to give her more information. He didn't wind up making it but it was funny to have Sam hop in the car and say "Lucas is coming to my party! I invited him!". Happy Birthday Sammy!
Ok... I just had to throw this picture in. Allie wanted me to take her picture after I had snapped Sammy's photo. She is covered in cornflakes and her expression is so funny... so I added it.
The house building is on hold, there are dishes in the sink, I have four home showings today, need a shower, and I think I have carpal tunnel syndrome. Guitar Hero 3 came on the scene yesterday and life has halted. That game makes the non-musician feel like a rock star. Who doesn't like that for a day (or five)? I'm sure a purist guitarist would feel this game is not true to the art, but for all us imbeciles who don't have the time or patience to learn an art, this is sufficient. Last night Bobby and I sent the kids to bed and rocked out, what a sight that must have been! My shoulder is so sore this morning. You know you are old when a video game tires you out. I have to go now though, my turn is next!
Thank you very much. Honored guests, fellow citizens, this evening, our home is chaos. Schools have been canceled, winds have been gusting, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet, the state of the Morgan's has never been stronger (Applause). 
The lure of the Wii is apparent. When the snow flies, and there is no school, there are few interesting options for civilians. However, we will smoke all children out of their video game holes and prevail (Applause). 
Times are bleak. External forces (gusty winds) prevent Pete from going to "project know" tonight. I propose more extensive legislature in the "No fifth grader left behind in sex education" act. No child should go without seeing the boring video showing how puberty affects the adolescent body. That is the right of all (Applause)!
In closing, my two-year-old is completely naked, I think she wants a bath. Bobby is in Florida on a business trip and I don't know what to make for dinner. We might have to add to the deficit, stimulate the economy, and order a pizza. God bless, thank you, and goodnight (Applause).
