Fish Fry

Saturday night, we braved the snow and headed over to Jeff and Kathryn's for a fish fry.

The fish were caught on the guys' fishing trip to Oklahoma last fall.

Terry frying up the striper

The evening turned out to be a blast, once Jeff busted out "Rock Star," a karaoke-like video game where in addition to singing, you have to play the drums and guitar along with the music.

Set number one: Lauryn on guitar, Dan on drums

and Jeff singing


Dan took over the mike
with Kathryn on guitar


Casey gave the drums a try
and accompanied Melissa on
"Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi

Here's some video I took of the gang playing "Dead or Alive."

Enjoy!

"Lost" recap

WTF?

I was wondering how it was that Kate would get off the island and be able to go back to the U.S. and not go to jail for her previous crimes. That was answered in tonight's episode.

But now they show us that Kate not only has a baby, but that it's Aaron. You know, Claire's son.

What?!

If Kate and the other members of the Oceanic Six get off the island relatively soon, how is it that Aaron is now two years old? In the early part of tonight's episode, he's clearly still an infant. I can't imagine that Kate can come back to the U.S. and live secretly for almost a year and a half before being discovered by the authorities.

This show loves to play tricks with time--you never know whether something is taking place in real time or island time or in the past or the future.

The more answers this show gives us, the more questions it raises.

Aaagh!

Do you want fries with that?

We've been on a healthy eating kick around here as Dan has started a new diet and exercise program. He's doing great so we're supporting him by eating healthier as a family.

My friend Melissa told me about an article in Men's Health magazine that lists the 20 worst foods you can eat at restaurants.

The worst dish you can eat was the Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing. They have 2,900 calories and 182 grams of fat.

I have to admit, they do look good, but 2,900 calories in one dish, let alone an appetizer, is mind-boggling.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/20worst.html

Aagh! It finally got us!

We've been really lucky in dodging all the flu and upper respiratory crap that's been going around.

Until this morning.

Now Casey's got a fever and a cough. I'm taking him right to the doctor so it doesn't get any worse.

Wish us luck!

Disney Dazzle

Tonight was Brett's second grade program, Disney Dazzle. His class joined five others on the stage.

As you can guess from the title, it was an evening of Disney's greatest hits, 15 of them in all. At times, the kids really seemed to tire of singing, but all in all, they really did a great job remembering the words and hand movements for all the songs.

All this after a full day of school!

Brett waving to us during the concert
(He's near the bottom of the photo in the middle)



Brett's class did a special dance with a parachute
to "Circle of Life" from the Lion King

Here is some video from "Circle of Life."

Paper dolls

There's a cute Web site I found out about tonight. It's called "Star Doll," and you can dress almost any celebrity using a closet of clothes the site provides.

I dressed Simon Cowell. :)

You can find it at www.stardoll.com

Birthday party

On Saturday afternoon, the boys were invited to celebrate Logan and Caleb's birthdays at All-Star Sports.

They had a great time. They especially loved playing laser tag--something they had never done before.

Suzanne, Josh and Casey


Brett and Carson

Caleb and Logan opening their presents


Casey and Josh suit up for laser tag


Brett playing laser tag

Basketball

Valentine's Day

It was a big day around here.

This morning I gave the boys their Valentine's presents--a nice big sack full of candy.



Later in the morning, Casey had his party at school. The kids made candy bracelets for their craft. Since the schools are trying to have healthier snacks at the parties, the room moms provided cupcakes, cheese slices and pineapple.

Casey making his bracelet



Casey and his valentine, Molly



Casey and his teacher, Mrs. Daray
with the flower he gave her

Brett's second grade class also had their party today. Among the highlights was making a picture frame and having a relay race.

Brett making his picture frame

Brett and his teacher, Mrs. Clynch,
with the flower he gave her

As for my Valentine's gift, our digital camera died a few weeks ago, so Dan went out and bought a Canon PowerShot SD 750, which came highly recommended by a photographer at the Eagle.

It takes great photos and even better, video. Now I'll be able to post videos on my blog. Yay!

Another lost tooth

Brett lost his fifth tooth today. As you can see, it's on the bottom, on the left.

He put the tooth under his pillow and is eagerly awaiting the Tooth Fairy.

For those of you who are wondering, the going rate for a tooth in our house is $1.

Very expensive chocolate

Today my friend Melissa paid a visit to Cocoa Dulce during her lunch hour, the epitome of high-end chocolate in Wichita.

I gave her some money and asked her to bring me a sample of their caramel chocolates, since those are the ones I typically like.

As they cost $54 a pound (yes, you read that right), needless to say, she only brought back a few.

Clockwise from top right: burnt caramel,
gray salt caramel, hazelnut and Tahitian vanilla.

They're good, but I'm not sure if I'd say they were $54 per pound good!

Hannah Montana in 3-D

I took the boys to see the Hannah Montana concert 3-D movie this afternoon at the Warren East.

It was their first time in a 3-D movie and they loved it.

For those of you who don't know, Hannah Montana is the star of a Disney Channel show for tween girls. In real life, the "actress" who plays Hannah is Miley Cyrus, daughter of one-hit-wonder Billy Ray Cyrus. Remember him and his "Achy Breaky Heart?"

Brett said he reached out to touch Hannah's hand several times, since he thought it looked like she was reaching out just to him. There were a couple cute 3-D tricks, but mostly it was a movie of the concert that 90% of the kids that wanted to go couldn't get tickets to thanks to the scalpers.

The boys are really getting into music now, and I think seeing Hannah and the Jonas Brothers Band kept their interest in performing alive and well.

"Lost" recap

So now we have another group to get to know. First the castaways, then the Others, now the "rescuers."

A few thoughts:

• It was funny how Locke said he survived Ben shooting him because he didn't have a kidney. Remember how mad he was that his father stole it from him? Bet he's glad that happened now.
• When they showed the map of where the plane was found in the ocean, are we really to believe that the island is near Indonesia?
  
• Is Miles is a "ghost whisperer?"
  
• Why was a polar bear with a Dharma coller in the desert in Tunisia?
• The pilot that was supposed to fly the plane is now one of the team that has come to rescue the survivors?
• What do the "rescuers" want with Ben?

Is it me, or does it seem to be taking forever for the castaways to be taken off the island by their "rescuers?" Get on the chopper already!


By the way, if you're like me and you love Sawyer's nicknames for people, ABC.com has created a fun spot where you can get Sawyer to create a nickname for you.

Go to http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=nickname

Conferences

Last night, we had Brett's parent-teacher conference.

This one was a little unusual, in that instead of talking with his teacher the whole time, we travelled between seven different "centers" or stations.

Among the highlights were watching Brett reading a book and then taking a Reading Counts quiz on it, watching Brett take a pratice typing test, playing a board game and Brett and Dan having a race using Speed Stackers.

Brett reading a book to Dan

Typing test

The neatest part of the conference was the PowerPoint Brett created. It was basically a mini biography of Brett, his favorite foods, books, etc. I think it's great that in second grade they are learning to type and use computer programs. I didn't start using computers until I was a junior in high school!

Brett's PowerPoint

Caucusing

My friend Janis and I braved the blizzard and went to caucus for Hillary Clinton tonight.

We headed to Newman University, where we were met with a large line and confusing instructions.

We were basically asked to choose our candidate (Hillary or Barack), then we were separated into two rooms.

There were two people who were supporters of John Edwards and nine undecided voters. The crowd in Hillary's room tried to rally them to their side, but they ultimately ended up going with Barack.

Here are the undecideds on their way to Barack's room

There were apparently 309 people caucusing for Hillary and 500 for Barack.

I was undecided when I got to the caucus and chose to vote for Hillary, although I was secretly hoping Barack would win.

I must say, although I'm glad I went, it was rather unexciting.

100 days of kindergarten

Today Casey's class celebrated their 100th day in kindergarten.

Man, the year is really flying by!

Casey and his cool glasses

Lost recap

Now for my opinions on the season premiere of "Lost."

Things got off to a shaky start because my TiVo recorded the recap show at 7 p.m., then the premiere at 8 p.m. as two separate shows. I guess the recap show ran short because when I watched the premiere, it began on the scene with Hurley in the interrogation room at the police station. The first few minutes were apparently chopped off.

For those of you who don't already know, after I watch the show, I check the watercooler assessments of it on Entertainment Weekly's and TV Guide's Web sites. More often than not, they provide lots of tidbits that I miss watching the show.

Today, Entertainment Weekly talks about how last night's show seemed fixated with fish.

Here is what they saw:
The chalkboard in background of that Hurley-Abbaddon scene. Sketched on it was a picture of a desert island and a big, toothy fish. There were also fish in Hurley's watercolor painting of an Eskimo. And there was another finny creature (partially obscured) printed on Charlie's T-shirt when he dropped in on Hurley for a visit. The self-sacrificing castaway had come to egg his old friend out of his hideaway hole and to cajole him to do the right thing, which was to...what? Go back to the Island and save those left behind? It was unclear. ''They need you, Hugo,'' Charlie said. Of course, this is also the story of Jonah and the whale, which is never actually referred to as a whale but as a fish. Some scholars even suggest it was actually a shark. Jonah was given a calling to save damned souls from God's divine wrath. But instead of heeding the call, Jonah ran away. He got swallowed up by a fish, repented, and then, after being spit up (''hurled'' in some translations), finally fulfilled God's request.

If any of you even caught on of those...kudos. I didn't notice any of them.

Another interesting tidbit: When Hurley came upon Jacob's cabin in the jungle, apparently Jack's dad, Christian, was sitting in the rocking chair. Is he Jacob? What is Jacob?

Myself, I was left with a few unanswered questions:
1. If Jack, Kate and Hurley were three of the "Oceanic Six," who were the other three?
2. How did Hurley get off the island when he didn't choose to go with Jack?
3. How does Kate get to remain out of jail when she returns to the US?

Train wreck

Now comes word that Britney's parents have gone to court and have been awarded a conservatorship over her affairs because she's unable to manage her own money or, really, her life.

I give this train wreck three months.

Go Red For Women Day

Jenny Noone, me and Melissa wearing red

Today the women in our office got to wear blue jeans to work (yeah!) by wearing red and making a donation to the "Go Red For Women" heart disease campaign.

I love jeans days!