03 Tuesday May 2011
Posted in Fun
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I’m back in the game! These last two weeks have been so frustrating waiting for my computer to get upgraded a bit. Now I have a TON to catch up. Good thing is that I already have a few post topics in mind, so should be easy sailing to get them up and things moving along again!
How do you all like my new site?? Still learning the ins-and-outs of Word Press, but I feel like I will have more creative freedom here.
Chat with you soon!
22 Friday Apr 2011
Posted in Archive It
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RockStar Fam getting ready for ACMAs Women of Country
It was a crazy weekend for us…we were fortunate enough to take our two older kids to see the American Country Music Awards on April 3rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Our daughter is Taylor Swift’s biggest fan (if you haven’t seen her video click here), so we were excited for her to get to witness Taylor singing live in person. We took the kids to the salon at Aria to have their hair done, and my daughter got a little bit of shimmer and lip gloss. All of us were decked out and looking gorgeous. The kids had so much fun watching the celebrities sing and talk to the audience. My son was handed a program when we walked in, so he kept looking up the singers in the book as they were introduced on stage. About half way through, he got bored and pulled out his Nintendo DSi, but my daughter kept trucking along, checking out all the girls in their sparkly outfits. We dressed her in her red glittery Cowgirl Jessie boots, and she felt like she was one of them. They didn’t realize that they were witness to some pretty amazing performances that night: Carrie Underwood and Steven Tyler singing “Walk This Way,” and Taylor Swift debuting her brand new song, “Mean.” OH! Carrie Underwood is SO cool and that performance was SO amazing, it still gives me chills. I kept telling them how lucky they were, but I’m not sure they totally got it. Regardless, they were still talking about the whole experience for a few days afterwards, so it seems like they had a good time. After Taylor performed, we sent them home with the nanny so RSH and I could enjoy the rest of the show, and hit up the after party. There, we got to hear Jason Aldean perform his current single, “My Kind of Party.” And, he totally rocked it. The nice thing about the ACMA’s is that it starts early, so it ends early. Thankfully, we were back home before midnight, in bed, comparing blisters.
The next night, we were invited to attend the tribute show. The last two years in a row, we got to see some pretty amazing tribute shows, like George Strait and Brooks and Dunn. This is where the Academy recognizes top performers who have made country music what it is today. They ask current and upcoming artist to pick their favorite song sung by the honoree, and the performance is usually outstanding. This year, the Academy chose to recognize top women vocalists of Country, and titled it, “Girls Night Out Super Star Women of Country,” where powerhouses Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles, Carrie Underwood, The Judd’s, Miranda Lambert, and who could forget, Reba, were honored for giving the men of country a run for their money when it came to singing and song writing and winning all kinds of awards. This is a recorded show, so you have the opportunity to watch some of your favorite ladies sing, and their songs performed by bands like the JohnDeere girls, The Band Perry, Sara Evans, Rascal Flatts, John Fogerty and Little Big Town, on tonight, April 22nd from 9-11pm on your local CBS channel.
Honestly, I’m not a huge country fan. Whenever RSH has been driving my car, it’s always tuned into a country station, and I immediately switch it. This may be why I just don’t get Miranda Lambert. I see how they are really pushing for her and Blake Shelton to be the next “Tim and Faith,” but seriously, not a huge fan. I have learned to admire and respect Reba, but her act gets a little old for me. And quite frankly, the Academy chose to honor Loretta Lynn in their finale, and I think they could have done a way better job to secure a super grand finale to showcase these women. Like, put that somewhere in the middle or in the beginning, and end with a “bringing down the house” performance. I may not be the biggest fan of these women individually, but I have to say, these ladies really can rock it. They have amazing voices, and could out sing and out perform any Top 20 artist on the charts today (and I’m a huge fan of Usher and Black Eyed Peas, but sorry Ferg, you got nothing on Carrie Underwood). I also wasn’t overly impressed with their choices of tribute singers. The JohnDeere girls are adorable, but the one gal couldn’t wait to get off the stage…were they fighting or something? And who is this The Band Perry? Their look really confused me…are they country or a cover band? Sorry, I’m sure I am offending a ton of country fans right now, but I think the Academy didn’t really do these women justice.
OK, so why watch the show? For several reasons, and I don’t want to be a spoiler alert, so I will try to weave my way through without giving it away.
Reason #1: Jason Aldean. Pretty sure that’s all I have to say. Check out the opening act, and you’ll know what I mean.
Reason #2: John Fogerty. Him and Wynona rocked it.
Reason #3: I really enjoyed watching all the little bio clips about the women. It gave a nice connection to them, and shared some insight on who they were and how they got here. They were very touching, inspirational, and I did get a new found respect, or deeper respect, for all these ladies (even Miranda Lambert).
Reason #4: Blake Shelton. Him and Miranda really do have a great energy, even though he leads the conversation and the laughs, he’s very dynamic, personable, knows how to be funny, and he’s not so tough to look at. They do make a cute couple even if I”m not a huge fan of her music.
Reason #5: Now this is the most important reason. Set your DVR or stay glued to the couch for this one. To this date, I promise you, you have never seen Carrie Underwood give a performance like the one she gave at this event. And, unfortunately, it’s probably why the Loretta Lynn finale was such a dud…it had to go on after Carrie totally and completely stole the show. All I can say is that country is lucky to have this superstar.
For those 5 Reasons alone, if you are a country music fan, you’ve got to watch Girls Night Out Super Star Women of Country, tonight, April 22nd. From their cowboy boots to their down home roots…they are Country!
15 Friday Apr 2011
Posted in Archive It
Wow. For starters, I learned that being a mom of four really is a full time job. Especially when your husband has a demanding career that keeps him on the lamb 24-hours a day. The month of April was particularly challenging for us because my husband was extremely busy with work, and Spring Break came ridiculously late this year. It was the first time I realized there was a chance that I might not be able to do this all on my own. Without strict planning, overly-organizing and thoroughly scrutinizing every detail, we ended up spending money we didn’t need to, packing in every minute of the day, and creating a mini-entourage of nannies. Having a brief moment to take a step back today, and after my second battle with an organized class we paid for and missed out on all month, I realized there was a lot of learning to be done in these past 30-days.
Lesson 1: Don’t pre-pay or commit monetarily to classes in advance without analyzing your calendar first.
I learned this the hard way with swimming and Gymboree. Both classes required month long commitments, and both classes my kids only attended once in 30-days due to my husband’s busy work schedule, no additional help, or Spring Break. Find out what the make-up policy is, and if you can pay per class if you know your month is going to be hectic. Or skip it all together and sign up next month!
Lesson 2: Plan long term, not just day to day. Look ahead, not just to the next day.
Going back to Lesson 1, because I was in frantic, survival mode, I didn’t take the time to look at the month as a whole, and therefore, signed my kids up and paid in advance for a month of classes we all missed out on. All because I wasn’t really looking ahead. I didn’t realize that Spring Break was going to cut into our month of lessons, or that my husband’s busy schedule was going to keep us out of the loop for an entire weekend. It probably didn’t affect my kids as much as it affected my check book, but it was a good lesson learned, and one I will consider more now that I’ve added two more people to my calendar!
Lesson 3: Realize that you can’t do it all by yourself.
This, believe it or not, even with a 7 and 5 year old and 6 month twins, is a hard lesson for me to learn. I really think I can do everything by myself. Then I get there and realize that, hmmm, maybe I can’t. One needs to go to the bathroom, one is hungry, the other is crying, and the other one…oh shit! Where is the other one?!?!? Get my drift?? I considered, during a moment of temporary insanity, that maybe I should sign the twins up for swimming lessons. Then I remembered how we didn’t even make it to one day of Gymboree during the month of April due to lack of an extra adult, and realized that if I did that, I would be absolutely insane.
Lesson 4: Realize that you can’t do it all by yourself.
Yes, I repeated myself here. For good reason. You CAN’T do it all by yourself!! Seriously, this is so hard for me to learn. I was planning an entire three week vacation to the beach, alone, with all four kids, until I started to say it aloud to a friend and realized that there might possibly be something wrong with me. How the hell was I going to take four kids to the beach, again a 7 and 5 year old and a set of soon to be 9 month old twins, by myself. I mean, my older kids are really great kids, I mean really, they are. They are pretty independent and can do a lot on their own, but even so…they aren’t tall enough or strong enough to hold and carry a baby if I needed them to. I can’t keep my son interested long enough to feed one of them. They aren’t old enough to go to a public bathroom alone. Not to mention the towels, blankets, snacks, drinks, sunblock, pack-n-plays, beach toys, diapers, wipes, bottles and formula I would have to pack and take with me…and that’s just to the actual beach. So, I had to cave in and find a local nanny to save my sanity. After all, like my girlfriend said, “It’s a relocation, not a vacation!”
Lesson 5: Hire a nanny
For the last three weeks, I have been using five different girls (yes FIVE) to create one network of nannies. They are like my Nanny Entourage. One can only work at night, the other only during the day, the other just had surgery and can only watch the older kids, one goes to graduate school three times a week so can only help out on certain days…it’s like a mad house around here. Thank God we have known half of them since they were babies, and know where their parents live…my kids have a relationship with them, so I don’t feel AS bad, but still…to have that many people in and out of your kids life on a consistent basis…there has to be somewhere in the “Parent Rulebook” that states that is not OK. But have I told you how hard it is to find a nanny??!?! Especially a good one, who already knows how to do everything. You know why it’s hard? Because another family already found her and she is working for them!!!
We are headed off to the mountains for Spring Break…my next post might be entitled, “Why you never travel with your in-laws without your husband on a 12-hour road trip there and back with 4 kids,” but who knows, I’m hopeful, and damn it, I think I can do it!! (without a nanny!)