Hairspray and Harry Potter

Okay, last night I went to see Hairspray with friends even though I wanted to read my new Harry Potter. It was an excellent decision! Yummy eye candy was provided by James Marsden and Zac Efron while Christopher Walken (sweet, not scary) and John Travolta played the loving, supportive parents of the awesome Nikki Blonsky. She really IS Tracy Turnblad. Sorry Ricki Lake, there's a new Tracy in Baltimore. I also loved Queen Latifah and Michelle Pfeiffer. Watch out Cruella!
So today I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Talented certainly describes J.K. Rowling-she made me read this book instead of doing chores! I felt that Rowling tied up a lot of the loose ends from the other books. She didn't take it easy on the emotions either. Call me crazy, but yes I cried. I don't think anyone who reads it will be disappointed in the ending-surprised maybe, but not disappointed.

Family Fun

Alyson and Rachel came to spend the day with Joey today. Sophie and Jay stopped by to visit and get a little wet. Slip 'n' Slides and water sprinklers are always a good time!
Jay and Sophie missed the coolest part though. Around 4:30 in the afternoon, we had visitors of a different sort. A mama deer brought her two spotted fawns through our yard. The doe jumped our neighbor's fence, but the babies were too small to clear it. After losing their mom and with us (Joey, Alyson, Rachel, and me) scaring them, the fawns raced back to the safety of the tree line behind our house. Several minutes later mama reappeared to search for her young. Apparently they had a safety plan because we soon watched the deer family reunite! I had been wondering about the deer poop I have been cleaning up along with Sammy's. Mystery solved!

Addicted to Blogging

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Mingle² - Online Dating

Obviously I'm still learning about blogging, and it's not something that I do every single day-my life is just not that continuously bloggable-but blogging is something that I enjoy doing, especially learning new tricks to use (like the html code above) and sharing blogs with others. I also like reading other friend's blogs to see what they're up to, and other educator's blogs to see what I can learn.
http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers is a list of educational blogs that I have started to visit. Thanks Dee!

Celebrations!

Today is Grandma Janet's birthday (we won't say which one) and our 11th anniversary-both reasons for celebrating. Greg, Joey, and I have a date tonight-we're going to Brio Tuscan Grill at Newport on the Levy-Yumm-O! Tomorrow, Greg and I are taking Janet out for dinner to The Pine Club while Joey spends time with Grandma Carole. On Sunday, Jay will be baptized at St. Philomena.
Joey finished his week-long sports camp today. Every day this week he came home happy and tired from playing soccer, baseball, and basketball as well as other fun games. We are definitely planning on this camp again next summer!

Papa Pete's House

Visiting Greg's dad is our only annual vacation. Tubing on the lake and sunset cruises are nothing to sneeze at. Joey really enjoys the time spent with Papa Pete and the rest of the family. Joey, I hope, has learned the value of family at a young age.
Joey is a champion tuber! He was nonstop! He and Daddy tubed; he, Aunt Michele and Mommy tubed; he and Mommy tubed. Next day: he and Mommy tubed; he and Papa Pete tubed. The only reason he stopped was because his fingers hurt!
This past weekend was a chance for Joey to spend quality time with the Putnam side of the family. Quentin is surprisingly patient with a cousin half his age. Joey thinks Quentin is the coolest guy ever. We all know that almost teenagers are not always the easiest people to be around, so anyone who has the time and patience to make my son feel special...kudos to Quentin!

Ratatouille Review

While Ratatouille has a nice message "Not everyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere", it is about eighty minutes too long. The funniest bits can be seen in the trailer. Joey started getting antsy during the last half hour, which for me was the best part, but the other kids in the theater didn't make it that long. People magazine gave the movie "Critic's Choice" and a three and one-half star rating. In my system, this movie earns three stars-good, but not great. Maybe it will play better in the living room:)

Ratatouille

We're going to see Ratatouille today! The Today Show said it was good and worth seeing twice. The trailers look funny too. I'll review it later!

Family

June is officially over:( Joey and I begin our summer vacation today with plans to VEG OUT! For Joey, not much changes, although he does have a few chores to do (like picking up his toys!) I hope to get caught up with my chores-the pile of laundry in the laundry room is so big I'm afraid to look-there might be monsters!
T-ball has come to an end too. Joey's last game was canceled due to lack of players on the Elsinore Storm, so Joey's coach decided the River Dogs would play the adults. Dads had to bat with their opposite hand, but moms didn't! (We both used whiffle balls.) It was fun, but it's pretty sad when a bunch of parents won't "let" their five year olds win!
Jay has surpassed his birth weight, but Cindy and Jimmy would really like some sleep. something about feeding Jay every hour at night...Jay can certainly sleep during the daytime!
Rachel is very excited about her new baby _______! Mark and Lorraine are expecting in November!
Okay, I'm off to catch up with the laundry! Send search parties if you don't hear from me!