Online Shopping

How many of you do the majority of your gift shopping online? Raise you hands HIGH!! (Man, a Bon Jovi song just popped into my head! Yikes!)

Anyway, I just have to give a plug for the eScrip Online Mall program. Of course it has to do with the Lynden Music Boosters :D If you shop online, please consider shopping through the Online Mall. This is a way for our organization to earn money from your everyday or holiday purchases without costing you an extra cent. And no weight gain either from those tubs of cookie dough.These merchants donate a percentage on your purchases to our organization or any organization that you choose. Hopefully you will choose the Lynden Music Boosters. Just click on this icon below to view the MANY merchants available. And there are over 1,000!



I downloaded the "AutoEarn" link. This way if you forget to log on through this previous link you will still know when you are on a website that contributes to eScrip. It works! I tested it just today when I went to QVC for a planned purchase. Now 3% of my purchase will go to the Lynden Music Boosters.

FAQ
Q. Is this a special merchant website?
A. No! Shop from the same websites you know and trust

Q. Am I paying higher prices because this is a fundraiser?
A. No! Pay exactly the same price as you normally would

Q. So do you know what I'm buying?
A. Nope! All we know is where you shopped, the total amount and the eScrip donation

Q. Do I have to sign up for any other eScrip program?
A. Nope! Anyone can earn for our group – even if you are not enrolled with eScrip you can click on the link, shop or download AutoEARN, and earn anonymously!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me in the comment section. I hope that if you plan to shop online this year, you will strongly consider going through the eScrip program.

Thanks my friends!!

Today's the day!!!

Have you cast your vote?

I was raised in a home where voting is a privledge and a right that has been fought for over the years so you best get off your hiney and vote. I always remember my mom working at the polls. She started early, early at 6:00 am and didn't come home until after 9:00 pm except for food and bathroom breaks. The polls were next door in Mrs. Fern's garage. Tradition!

So voting has been engrained in me since I was young. And I tried, by example to pass that along to my kids. Back in the day when the polls looked like this:

My kids were with me and I taught them (hopefully) to be respectful and quiet as I and others voted. Really, all they wanted was the "I Voted" sticker! :D See some things never change.

That's Tabitha's first time she got to vote in 2006.

Now living in Whatcom County, we are a mail-in ballot voting system. Here's what voting looks like now.

Kind of anti-clamatic isn't it? To me, growing up, these were the absentee ballots. I have a hard time putting these in the mail box or this:

I've seen in the news too many Post Offices placing these boxes on the outside, customer side of the lobby. Um, no thank you. I prefer to take my ballot and drop it off at the polling drop-off at the Lynden Library into one of these

and it is watched over by 2 retired ladies. Plus I get MY sticker!

Do you remember this guy?

A few of us gals were talking at Church yesterday with our song leader, Courtney and the "Mr. Yuk" picture (he was really cute!) she used to help the young kids remember the words to a song about when ugly words or thoughts come into your mind, how to get rid of them. Well, get this ~ there were a lot of the kids (ages 5 -11) that didn't know who Mr. Yuk even was!! So what happened to this sticker? I remember it was ALWAYS handed out at school for the parents to place on all your poison and household products.

It got me to thinking. I wonder if the kids even know what these two logo's represent?

Halloween

In addition to costumes, we LOVE to have fun foods for Halloween. Here's what we had:

Nothing like a good glass full of Worm Juice

Mummy Dogs

Bugs in a Blanket

And for dessert ~ Ghosts in the Graveyard

For a costume this year David was a Bottle of Ketchup. Now this is really funny for David because if you've ever been around him when he eats Dino Nuggets, french fries, or anything else that "requires" ketchup you KNOW why he picked this costume. He LOVES ketchup!

And I love Fall decorations that can stay up until Thanksgiving. More of my favorites:

Doesn't it Figure!

My allergy meds were running out and I needed to get them renewed. But my Dr. wanted to see me in his office since I hadn't been there in over a year. So I make my no rush appointment for 2 weeks. But low and behold, some sort of bump appears on my foot out of the middle of nowhere. I called back to see if we could up the appointment but no luck since they wanted to give me a certain amount of time with the doctor.

So this is what's I got me! An ganglion cyst! Sounds gruesome doesn't it?! Funny this picture is on the exact same foot as mine. But mine isn't nearly as big. Mine is just the size of a pea and a bit lower toward the side.
I hope mine never gets this big! I've always liked having pretty feet, except for my pinkie toe. Does it hurt? Not really, it just aches when I'm on my feet all day, after aerobics, or it gets pushed around like the doctor did to it today.

So what's the treatment you ask? Well, for me right now we will just be monitoring the growth. It's too small to be drained and surgery is the LAST option. The doctor told me what Grandma did in the "olden days". It was called "Bible Therapy". Grammy would take the heaviest book in the house, usually the family bible and whack it good, smashing the cyst. OUCH!!! No thank you! He wasn't recommending that I do that either. But for now, let's hope it will go away on it's own ~ which some do.

It's official!!!!

Woohoo!!! The kids and I FINALLY have our passports!! (Rob's had his for years because of business). Now the "finally" isn't because the government had problems with us or took forever to get them here. They were the quick ones. It only took them less than 2 weeks until we had these hot little things in our hands.
It was always me. I'd say "oh, I'll do it next week" or "when Rob gets his bonus". Believe it or not, that was 3 years ago. Talk about procrastination! Now we need to go to Canada to see how much easier it is to get across the border. Not that it was a problem before, but we had to always take our birth certificates with us. Now we're all squared away for the 2010 Olympics!

Be Our Guest...

... is something we'll be hearing a lot of around this house. Miss Amber has been cast for the part of Mrs. Potts in the High School musical this year of Beauty and the Beast.

Woohoo Amber!!! Busy times ahead. With a few meltdowns included, I'm sure. I ran across this picture of Amber from 2004 in her Halloween costume she bought with her own money. Who knows if they will want to use it.

A GREAT way to wake up!!!

I woke up to discover that I had two pix text messages! Take a look at this!!! (Yes, it made his Mom cry this morning). Graduation was this morning!Private 1st Class Robert AndersonWE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU ROBERT!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE YOU LOTS!!!!

I'm Happy and Spoiled

Who can't be spoiled by getting 2, yes 2 phone calls (and 2 text messages) in 2 days from my oldest boy?

I love this photo of Jessica & Robert. This was B.E. (before Elizabeth). And this one just made me laugh.

Yes, we are keeping him away from trees :D


We are SO, SO proud of him. He is graduating from Basic Training tomorrow. And it hasn't been a piece of cake for him either. Not too long into Basic he broke his finger. But then he couldn't do the push-up part of his PT, which is needed to pass to graduate. He's been working tremendously hard to pass and HE DID!!!! Woohoo!!! With lots of prayers, we KNEW he would. But then last week, coming back to base from a 7-day "campout" he was bit by a brown recklous spider. YIKES!!! Talk about freaking out a Mom! It was treated in a timely manner and he's on anti-biotics and healing really well. It was just nice to talk with him yesterday without much of a time restriction. I'm sure Jessica is getting in LOTS of talk time too. He heads out first thing Saturday morning to Georgia for further training.


Here are a few other things that just made me happy yesterday!


The clouds at sunset last night


Warm, fresh homemade biscuits


Halloween decorations on my fireplace mantle


Plus Rob is coming home this afternoon from his trip to Calgary. It's another happy day :D

Time to catch up!

So I'm feeling pretty organized this morning! Pot roast is cookin' away in the crock pot (note to self: go to the store to get potatoes and carrots), laundry goin' in the washer and dryer, kids off to school, hubby off to work, sat through an eScrip teleconference meeting, and the blinds in the house are pulled up to get every ounce of sunshine streaming inside.

Before I update you with the goings on of our lives, I have to take some bragging time right now. Any of you who have a current 6th grader, had a 6th grader or remember waaaay back when you were in 6th grade, remember the transition was difficult at best. Here in Lynden our 6th graders are at the Middle School. They are in their own little section away from the 7th & 8th graders but moving over to a "new school" makes 6th grade even more stressful for an 11/12 year old. It's been a trying time around here with our Mr. 6th grader adjusting. And it was showing up in his grades (not the best he could do). But I have to say this little guy has been working SO hard and he is now finally seeing the improvement and benefits. His weekly test packet came home yesterday with the following:

Science - A
Reading - B
Grammar - A
DOL (where you correct sentence structure & punctuation) -A
Spelling - A
Woohoo!!!! We're SO proud of you buddy!! And I'm sure the incentive of getting a Wii at the end of the school year (based on your grades) doesn't hurt either :D

So in pictures, here's what we've been doing.

CINNAMON ROLLS!!!

This is only 13 dozen!! Amber sold a record breaking 24 dozen!! Thank you friends!!! She is half-way there.

I spent all of last Saturday here with my friends

Here's what we did!

Sunday night we gave ourselves a good old NW Washington treat ~ an Apple Blossom.

Of course, these are apples from Bellewood Acres! And their incredible caramel they get in from Minnesota.


Yumminess!


MAD DOG!!!!

It's been busy and fun around here!