Only, and I repeat only because Brad asked....

Tell me, who is the better rapper? Leprechaun or K-Fed? I now wash my hands of this post and may God have mercy on your soul.

Halloween in the group home...

Halloween night is always a rough shift to work in placement facilities. Most of the thugs consider Halloween to be their favorite holiday. It was always an excuse for them to run around acting stupid, scaring or intimidating little kids, stealing candy, or just getting wasted at parties. Other holidays such as Christmas or Thanksgiving relied on family members coming through to make it a memorable time...something that always left them disappointed. So if you ask most of my boys what their favorite holiday is, about 90% will always say Halloween. They are usually pretty restless and wild that night thinking about past exploits and what they are missing out on.

Unfortunately for them, because of the reasons listed above, Halloween in the group home means all home passes during the closest weekend are canceled and no one is allowed off grounds except to go to school that whole day. This year, we bought them some Playstation 2 games the day before thinking that would keep their mind on something else.

The plan was actually working quite well. I was watching "The Breakfast Club" on tv, they were playing their new game, and all were happy.

Unfortunately for me, this didn't last long. The rule is that since it is their house, staff only get to choose what's on tv if the boys don't want to. One of the boys got tired of losing quickly on the game and remembered that there was a movie on he was "dying" to see.



Yes, what is sure to become a classic, Leprechaun 6: Back 2 Tha 'Hood! This wasn't even the "good" leprechaun vs the hood movie. That one starred Ice-T and Coolio. This one starred mostly no-name "actors" who are better off staying that way.

We had missed the first 10 minutes, so I think I may have missed some crucial plot points. No, actually there was no plot. A bunch of guys from the 'hood find a chest of gold that keeps refilling itself. They each take a million dollars worth of gold and go live the thug high life. The Leprechaun then comes to kill anyone who has touched his gold.

The friends soon realize that to make the killings stop, all they have to do is give back the gold. They never do of course, believing that even though they shoot, stab, electrocute, and melt the leprechaun in a furnace and he keeps coming back, that somehow they will find a way to beat him and keep the gold. One girl, in true thug fashion, melts down one of the gold coins to have it made into a cap for her front tooth. Classy.

After 2 hours of this, the best was definitely saved for last. I bet you didn't know leprechauns could rap, but they can! I made sure to sit through the credits to hear that one. Well, maybe it was the fact that my brain was so damaged from having to sit through the whole thing that I began to lose control of motor functions.

Second Installment

The Story Of Us

So... for those of you following the story, Paul and I started dating on Oct. 21, 1999. On Halloween night we went to a party at Nick's parents house. Do you like our costumes? Paul is Mr. Bubbles (it says so on his shirt) and I am from Stewert (a dorm at Biola).After the party Paul and I headed back to his apartment for a bit to talk and hang out. We were cuddling and Paul told me that there was something he wanted to say but feared it was too soon. I asked him to tell me, and that is the night we told each other those three HUGE words, "I love you!" For those of you math majors that was a whole 10 days after we started dating. But we meant it, every word of it, and we still do!

Beautiful

Congratulations to Sharon and Justin. On Saturday the 18th of October we were excited to attend the Wedding Reception for Rosie and Justin. It was beautifully done. Sarah and all others who helped to create the event did a wonderful job. At each place setting a ribbon was tied around the napkins and set on top were these georgeous flowers. They are purple, and this photo does not do them justice. Lisa was kind enough to take a photo of Paul and I since someone who will remain nameless would not go back to our apt. to get our camera which I remembered only 5 minutes after we left. So, thank you Lisa. I appreciate it.
The food was delecious, the guestbook was original, the toasts were tear jerking, there was music you could dance to and a great time with family and friends to celebrate this blessed union.

Congratulations once again to the Bride and Groom, and Mother and Father-to-be.

I Hate Goodbyes

On Wednesday, October 25th

7 suitcases, 2 carry-ons, 3 car seats, 1 diaper bag, 1 stroller, 3 children, Moe and Myself boarded a plane to Portland, Oregon. The hardest part was getting everything checked and onto the plane. The kids did great on the plane. They were a bit antsy towards the end.

We arrived in Portland and Nick greeted everyone as soon as we got through the security checkpoint. From the airport we headed over the the house that the Askew's will hopefully be moving into this December. Here they are in the front yard. Oregon has some beautiful views and scenery.
Just down the road from the house the Askew's are staying at we found this Mommy and Baby horse. It was a really cool looking scene with the fog and all. I stayed till Friday when Moe and the kids drove me back to the airport. We stopped about half way for some lunch and to stretch our legs. The kids had fun coloring with Moe
James enjoyed the 'pasgeti emenslyHere we are as I had to kiss the kiddos and hug Moe goodbye Then I had to dash inside so I could catch my plane. I had a 3 hour layover in Salt Lake. I passed the time by eating some dinner, talking to my mom, walking around all the shops and listening to iPod. The plane ride from Salt Lake to Orange County was fantastic I had the entire row to myself and it was the big comfy seats.

For Halloween....the best of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman

I can't believe my last Boingo Halloween show was 11 years ago!

Poll- Updated

Here are some additional photos of the little one.

I have a list of names for those of you who didn't want the pressure of thinking one up. Whether or not you have ever commented on here before please vote for your favorite name.

In no particular order:
Zorro - 1
Pixie - 0
Cagan (Cat Ain't Got A Name) - 2
Pumpkin - 1
Cessna(purrs REAL loud) - 2
Salem - 1
Meeko(Raccoon from Pocahontas) - 8
Cali - 0
Flip - 1
Kuuipo(Hawaiian for strong) - 2

Blog-a-thon

November is National Writing Month and for those of us who don't want to attempt to write a novel in the next 30 days here is your alternative. Blog every day for the entire month of November. If you want to join up click here, it should take you to the site where you can sign up. Let me know if you have any problems.

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What's stuck in Paul's head #1

This may replace "songs you need to know". Part of my problem is that I can't find videos for many of the songs I want to post and as of right now I don't have a way to really make them myself. This will also allow me to post a lot of songs, comedy bits, or whatever else I'm obsessed with at the moment even if I don't think it's so great that everyone needs to listen to it. We'll see. Maybe I'll just do both.

Help!

Please help us name our new friend. She is adorable. She is sweet and very curious but also has a fiesty side. Here are a few photos to show you what she looks like and how playful she is. Give us some suggestions. Don't be shy.

I like U2. I even saw them 3 times last year. But is this really a good idea?

Churches launch service based on U2's music

10/26/2006 1:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dotmusic

A communion service based on the music of U2 has become the latest trend for a number of Episcopal churches across the U.S.

The U2Charist--named after the band and the Eucharist communion--weaves songs by the Irish rockers into a church service along with corresponding slides.

Reported by USA Today, the special service was the idea of the Reverend Paige Blair, an Episcopal priest in York Harbor, Maine, who held the first U2Charist at her church on July 31, 2005.

Kicking off with "Pride (In the Name Of Love)," the service also incorporates images from historical civil rights campaigners such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks.

The service has now been held in 150 churches across 15 U.S. states.

Speaking to the newspaper, Rev Blair said that the inherent Christian message in much of U2's material made them perfect for use in church.

She explained: "Bach and Handel were the popular music of their day, and they had trouble getting played in church. The Methodist hymn writers once wrote contemporary music. Are we worshiping Bono? Absolutely not. No more so than we worship Martin Luther when we sing 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.'"

The content of the U2Charist apparently varies from church to church, but a key part is an offering for Bono's campaign to eradicate extreme poverty and global AIDS.

On this, Blair added: "It's a big reason that this has taken off as a movement. It's what Bono and the band are passionate about."

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Oh, yeah, it was like lightning, everybody was frightening
And the music was soothing, and they all started grooving

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Our Trip

When we arrived in Idyllwild we were pleasently suprised to see Sarah coming out of her house. She originally was not supposed to be there as she is putting together a wedding reception for her sister. Sarah, the kids and Paul&I headed down to the dinning hall for lunch. Lisa was working the lunch shift and was suprised to see us as well. We haven't seen her we believe since our wedding! After lunch we went back to the house to hang out and talk. The kiddos were so cute. Bowden is a busy, busy boy. First we played an arousing game of you cant see me, then Paul did "magic" with a bracelet and Bowden had to try and figure out where it was. Then there was the hold the little ones upside down and finally it was story time. There was also lots of cuddle time. Cyndi enjoyed giving Lucy zerberts and hearing her giggle. Time flew by and before we knew it dinner time came. We headed back to the dinning hall for some good eats. Josh has a pen that has a button which shines his teams logo (Redskins). Paul who is not a Redskins fan didn't enjoy this. Paul and I tried to convince Bowden to say that he liked the 49ers and not the Redskins. Good times!

Soon the time came that Sarah, the kids and Lisa needed to head down the mountain as had other obligations for the remainder of the weekend. Paul and I set out to Idyllwild Pizza Company to watch the end of game 1 in the World Series. Then we headed out to walk around town. We went back to where OUR bench was and saw a sad sight. The bench was gone. The stand was still there but the swing is no more. I was very saddened by this. Paul asked if I thought it was going to be there forever and I answered honestly yes I did. He confessed that he was going to buy it for us someday when we had a place to put it. We don't know whose it is but it means so much to us. We did take a few slivers of wood off of it and a nail. Maybe we can build a new bench and incorporate the scraps we were able to take into the design some how. I am still sad to think we cannot go back and sit on our bench. It is where we started dating, where we got engaged and have spent time every year since then. It was where I hoped to tell Paul someday that I was pregnant. I am sad because I don't think anyone else out there has these emotional ties to this bench. Goodbye to OUR bench.

7th Anniversary

The third week in October means Idyllwild time. We have been going to up Idyllwild to camp, stay with friends or even just drive up for the day to celebrate the beginning of US since 1999.

Here is the revised version:

The Story of US

For those of you who don't know let me start at the beginning... Paul and I were introduced originally through Moe. Moe and I had gone to Disneyland and Paul happened to be working. So we rode around on the back of the tram a few times while they talked. I said some sarcastic comment about sitting well back into your seat and he shot one back at me. (ahh love)

Well we started hanging out about two months after that. It was early October and the show Roswell was on for the first time, Morgan and I were hanging out. I was on bubbs and bored and I noticed that Paul was online and mentioned this to Morgan. She said invite him to chat and I was like I don't even know him why would I do that. I did finally started a chat with him. I told Angela I felt like playing basketball and for anyone who knows Morgan knows she couldn't play a sport to save her life so she suggested I ask Paul if he wanted to come down and play. He for some unknown reason said yes. So I got my basketball and Angela and I headed over to the court, Paul met us there. About 5 minutes after Paul got there Morgan got a call from an ex-boyfriend and decided to talk to him so we were left alone, we shot hoops for a couple hours. Paul then drove Curly and I over to Denny's where we met up with a group from Biola and Moe tried to introduce me to Paul again I mentioned that he was the one that dropped Morgan and I off. Paul had to leave after a few min. because he had Spanish early the next morning (like he ever went to Spanish class).

Well that was Oct. 7th. The next Monday Paul and I decided to go to a church service where we were packed in like sardines and after about 15min. Paul fell asleep. I kept nudging him the whole time. I found out afterwards that if he was in an uncomfortable position or it was to hot that he falls asleep. That night we talked about going to see a movie.

For some reason we both wanted to see The Story of Us so on the next Friday Paul picked me up from work (Chuck E. Cheese) and we went to AMC in Fullerton. Paul's roommate Daryl and some of their other friends met us there. By the end of the movie we were holding hands. We will forever "discuss" who held whose hand. All I know is that some how when the couple on screen was reconciling our hands found each other. When we stood up we stopped holding hands, Daryl looked at us funny like Paul had forgot to tell him we were dating or something but we didn't even know what was going on at that time. We didn't talk about holding hands the whole way back to Biola.

The next week was supposed to be Torrey which means about half of Biola uses the time off from regular classes to take a mini vacation. Moe, Nick, Paul and I decided to go camping next door to the camp where Paul worked at for a couple summers. Paul and I decided to take a walk, he wanted to show me Camp Maranatha and walk around town. We went back into some small shops where there was a wooden porch swing and sat down. Paul tried his best to ask me out, but it came out something like this... we should stop doing what we are doing (holding hands) if we aren't gunna be together... you know. I agreed with what he said and so we officially started dating October 21, 1999.

A year later at the very spot where we started our relationship Paul asked me to marry him. (he must have practiced because that speech was well planned.) We go back and visit "OUR" bench every year.

A Stolen Feature: Conversations with Bowden!

Josh: So Bowden, who do you believe should be the next President?
Bowden: Redskins!
Josh: Do you think the Redskins would be a good President?
Bowden: Yes.
Josh: What is the first law you think the Redskins should make when they are President?
Bowden: No tackling people!

Don't worry Bowden...they're taking care of that even without being elected.

3-D

On Thursday, Oct. 20th we drove up to Hollywood and Highland to the So that we could seeThere was a panel before the viewing which was cool.

The man who did Oggie Boogie's voice sang one of the songs.

Here Paul and Cyndi are after the show sporting their 3-D glasses.Downstairs they have a room set up with many of the original puppets the lighting is dimmed in order to preserve them for as long as possible. We enjoyed seeing the movie in 3-D but did hear mixed review from other people after the show. Some were disapointed that the movie had more depth to it and didn't jump out at you. Cyndi thought it was very tastefully done, they didn't try to over do the 3-D annimation.

It was a fun time and we had a very nice date night.

Flashback

Oct. 11th to Oct. 15th

Morgan and I were in Del Mar working for SNP which is a company that puts together events. This week we created a party for the employees of Qualcomm. It was an incredible experience. I had a great time. We were put up in the Marriott just a couple miles from the fair grounds.
All of our meals were taken care of at the site. We worked long hours but it was fun. I met a lot of cool new people. A good deal of them were from Biola, but there were others who are contracted by SNP. It was amazing to see how you can go from a gross cement building to a fantastic looking party.

There were 4 different main areas:

The Peacock Room

Black and White

O'Brian

Tent City It was a gypsy themed party. There were stilt walkers, tarot card readers, fortune tellers, fire breathers, sword fights, magicians were out in Tent City. In side the halls there were bands and lounge singers. In the black and white area there was a magic show that included a cheetah. I loved being able to see it all come together. I look forward to being apart of more events hopefully in the near future.

All week long Morgan and I wore all black, so we of course had to get a photo of ourselves. We took this as soon as we got to my moms after our last day of work was done.
This week was not without its owees I recieved two blisters on my right hand from pulling staple gun staples out of a bar front. I also managed to get half a dozen blister on my left foot. I so need to look into better footwear!
We went out for steaks with my mom after our last day on the job. Here is Morgan who swears she doesn't eat meat with a nice juicy steak in front of her. I now have proof that she is a carnivore!

MIA

I leave tomorrow morning for sunny San Diego with my pal Curly. We will be in T-town for two days and then we will be kicking it in Del Mar for a week. We are working with a company to set up and event at the Fair Grounds. It sounds like it should be a lot of fun. I am not sure what the hours will be yet or if I will have access to the internet. So I may be MIA until the 13th. Have a great week and I will see you on the other side.

For Jeri:

You are my hero! My phone has not said "Verizon Wireless" to me since Friday night! You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank You!

One more while I've got it....

It's a GIRL!

On Tuesday, October 3rd at 6:06am Hope Kaileia Henning was welcomed into the world. She weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz. Congratulations Marc and Tiffany.

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Jack Nicholson isn't the only big-name, highly-compensated star appearing in "The Departed" this weekend.

Great Way to Start the Day

Those of you that know me should be aware of my love for Jamba Juice. Even back in H.S. If I could have one and call it lunch every day of the year I would have. Well on my way to work on Thursday morning I traveled by a Jamba Juice on my way down Imperial Hwy to the 57. I had a few extra minutes so I stopped to get one. I ordered and handed the lady my card.

Jamba Lady "Our machines are down do you have any cash?"

Me "I only have like 2 bucks on me."

Jamba Lady puts in her employee discount,
"How close to $2.32 can you get?"

Me "Let me see"

I had exactly $2.32!
So I got my Jamba fix and I paid a discounted price.

Thank you Jamba Lady!

Math Lesson

Word problem of the day

If you have eleven kids in a class and three of them throw-up during the school day and two more are coughing and sneezing then what are the chances you won't get sick?