Trick or treat with the French and Rivers bunch~!

Ok, so next year we will definately be carving pumpkins prior to Halloween. We tried to get the girls to pick out designs, cut and carve the pumpkins and get ready for Trick-or-Treating all within a 'not enough time' period. The temperature was dropping and time was running out. I couldn't find out what the 'official' time for trick-or-treating was so I was kind of waiting on the first ring of the doorbell.

Lauren's phone kept ringing, (surprising, huh?) and the next thing I know here comes Lauren's friend in the cul-de-sac. What? Did I miss something? So Lauren and Evelyn went to get dressed, Allison was still carving, the door bell was ringing...uugghhh! Trick or treat has officially started! Brianna and Jayden came over and after everyone was dressed they headed out to hit the subdivision. Chris, Brianna and I stayed and handed out candy to all the cute kids. The best ones I remember were Batman, Robin and the Joker. The Joker was the BEST. This kid was probably 5-6 years old, bright purple jacket, white hair. I wished I had taken a picture. He was the BEST. And exactly WHY did I not take a picture? I don't know.

We actually got quite a few trick or treaters. Not as many as in years past. We did get a ton of kids and adults that commented on the house though. That was cool. I told one kid that we make it scary for the big kids.. and he said 'but it scared me', I told him then he must be a big kid then. ha ha. It was cute. I love decorating for all holidays, but Halloween is one of my favorites. Maybe next year we will have the graveyard scene in the yard. Im dying to make some tombstones with funny sayings and some mist or fog going... oohhhh scary!

So my quickly carved NC pumpkin actually turned out ok. We did find come awesome looking stencils for UNC stuff for pumpkins and I told Chris we need to buy some craft pumpkins and carve out a ton and set them all out next year. Also, http://www.extremepumpkins.com/ has awesome designs that gave us a ton of ideas. Not only for carving pumpkins but also placement together to make different things. Pretty cool. Make sure you check out that website.

Lauren went as a Zombie Doctor and Allison went as a cracked open chest with blood flowing through it. I think if my kids ever wanted to be princess' I would fall over. ha ha. Lauren put on her pair of scrubs from her MRI that she had. I had to squirt her with blood, which I actually did pretty good. We didn't realize until hours later that it went through onto her skin. Opps! Then I got lectured by Lauren that the 'blood' wouldn't come out for 3 weeks! Uh-oh! She didn't seem to mind though.

The kids got back with their bags full and dumped everything out onto the floor. Each of them went through their candy and put back into their own back what they were NOT going to barter.. then the trading began. "i"ll trade you two of these for one of those", it was funny to watch. I think this is the best part of the night. Brianna and Jayden left after a while and I had to work the next morning so I made the girls wrap it up. All in all it was a good Halloween. And of course anytime that we are all together makes it that much better.

Get out and VOTE!

"The vote" is a human right. It is seen as an American right. In a democracy there is nothing more fundamental than having the right to vote.

I had planned on voting on Election Day. Why not? It's not really voting unless its Election Day, right? Well...then I realized that I was in charge on Tuesday, the polls don't open until 0630 and close at 1930. That leaves me absolutely NO time to vote. I would have to either be late for work or not get in line early enough for my vote to count. So on Thursday, I started researching hours for early voting and where I could go the next day. Found a location in Garner, so I had planned on getting out at 1500 and picking up Allison and heading straight there. Didn't get out of work until around 1530, so I called Allison and told her to be ready so that we could get there as quickly as possible.

We pulled up to the Pearl Street Center and the line was all the way around the building. Ugghh! What to do? Do I turn around and hope that I can get somewhere on Election Day? Do I stay? Do I pick another location? What do I do? Let's remember, today is Halloween, we have pumpkings to carve, kids to dress, etc? Heck, pull over and park woman, LETS VOTE!

We got in line and actually only waited less than 15 minutes. WOW! Impressive. We got up to the door and were directed to which designated line to go to. I stated my full name and address and had even brought my drivers license just in case. I had to verify the information and then sign in front of the election official. We then proceeded to the next room with the voting booths and approached another election official table in order to pick up our 'correct' ballot.

Then it was up to us to 'pick' a voting booth. We picked one out in the corner, maybe because I wasn't sure about cameras. I had made sure Allison had her phone turned off, but slipped my camera in my pocket. Hello! This is totally a scrapbook moment. A moment that only comes every 4 years. And either way it turns out, will make history! I pointed as Allison filled in the circles. There were several 'write-in' spots and I felt like adding my name several times. ha ha. Now that would make history. We filled out the ballot completely and went to put it through the machine....

At this moment, we had officially voted in a historic election. Im so glad that the girls are so involved in listening, asking questions and really trying to understand politics, government and being a part of history in the making. Whether Barack Obama is the first African-American President or Sarah Palin is the first woman Vice-President, I think the girls will remember this. I told them we are having an Election Night party...break out the cheese dip.

The girls voted in school and were ecstatic that they got their 'I voted" stickers. I think thats more impressive to them than anything. I like to think its because of how much I try to educate them on real-life things and how important some things are.

Halloween at REX ER!

Every year, we try to get people to 'dress up' for Halloween. We had planned a pot-luck and as it turned out, was actually pretty good. As I walked in and passed Dr. Weiss, he muttered... 'every freakin year with you French'. Let's see, last year I was a witch (kind of fitting, isn't it) big green nose with a wart, big black hat and a broom, of course). So this year wasn't any different. Pirate hat, hair, black nail polish, my skull rings, black lipstick and dirt all over my face. I had brought my treasure chest, with my heart of course, filled with candy for everyone. David Strong walked through and, of course, I had to get a picture...arrrggghhhhh!

I do try to have fun at work and entertain my fellow co-workers. Trey came up with a new title for me....'cruise director'. That sounds PERFECT! So when Emilee or I win the powerball, aside from buying our island in the South Pacific, we are definately getting new jobs aboard a cruise ship.

Linda is my team leader, I think she realizes there is no hope for me! But she didn't enjoy her candy filled witch. Linda coordinated funding from all the individuals that did NOT bring food and sent Renee out to get tons of it at Harris Teeter. We ended up with a ton and I think everyone that was here enjoyed it.

Some pics from work. Isn't is such a lovely face? Actually, I got several comments. Ashley is a new RN that I am orienting to the ER. I think she will do fine and is amazed at how life in the ER really is. Wonder why.

And then there's Beth....well, Ill just leave it at that for the moment. Beth and I are always up to no good. And if any prank ever gets played on you, well, it just may be us. But can't really elaborate too much... but Im sure there's more to come. But don't we look so innocent?

Here are my FAVORITE peeps! Misery actually got his gift for his new baby. I got to see his pics that were taken of the family and they are GORGEOUS. They dress up every day, so no need today.. ha ha!

Off to the North Carolina Zoo...with a bunch of 7th graders!

North Garner Middle School 7th grade Track 1 class had a field trip to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. It was originally scheduled for October 17th and I had volunteered to chaparone. What was I thinking? Well, the date got changed, never got informed until last minute. I had to scramble around in order to find someone to cover me so that I could go on the 28th. We also never got confirmation that the parents were or were not riding the bus or driving ourselves. It was the MOST unorganized field trip I have EVER been on. We had to have the kids at school by 0700 to leave by 0730. We didn't even leave the classroom until 0730 and didn't pull out of the school parking lot until after 0800. Boy was this going to be an exciting day!

It was about a 90 minute ride, then we found out that they had to drop us off at North America and we were going to have to walk 2.5 miles to Africa. Ok stop for a second...Africa? Its in the 40's outside and you can't drop us off at Africa, your going to make us walk 2.5 miles in order to get there???? Is anyone feeling my pain here? Later we found out that the Africa parking lot was closed because 2 coach buses caught fire...ok so that IS a good enough excuse, I guess. So after we got off the buses, stood in line for them to 'ok' our group to go, we headed to Africa... it was already after 1000 and we had to have the kids to Junction City by 1130 in order to eat lunch before boarding buses back to Raleigh. As we were walking, we passed a Tram station.. HEY! No one said we couldn't ride the tram...hummm???? So off 3 of our groups went. It took us a couple of minutes to get there and they dropped us off at the other end of the zoo which was on the far side of Africa. Now, because of time, we had to decide which side of Africa to see because we weren't going to see both. We headed out and saw numerous animals. Each group had their own pocket camera to take for a project they would be completing in school.

The only problem was, we really couldn't spend more than 30 seconds at each stop b/c of time. Again....UNORGANIZED! How much education are we getting out of this trip? Surprisingly, alot of the animals were up close and the kids got good, up close, pictures.

This was mine and Carlas group. How lively huh? Overall, they were a good group of kids. We headed back to Junction City and sent the kids that were eating on the bus back and stayed to eat. Then, another obstacle. No one called to tell them that most of us would be eating there. No food was ready. They had just opened at 1130, prices were confusing. Teachers were under the assumption that they had a 'meal deal' but nothing was posted. Now the teachers were wondering if the kids that were going to eat had enough $$. Wow... if this was any more organized Im not sure what I would do. Luckily, we were at the front of the line and got our chicken tenders baskets quite quickly. But then we only had 10 minutes to shovel food down. There wasn't enough space in the not-roped-off area so Carla had asked if we could open another seating area, the cashier stated 'sure, sit where you want'. So as we are into our 10 minute lunch, a kitchen person somes over and says, 'this table is reserved' for which Carla responded that she had asked the cashier and then Lisa (Lauren's mom) said (we are getting ready to leave) then the lunch lady says 'oh no..take your time'. EXCUSE ME...did you not just tell us that the table was reserved..mind you.. nothing on the table reflected that the table was reserved. Oh well, another lovely bump to add to our road today....

We then headed, rather jogged, back 2.5 miles to get to North America. That was not fun. I felt like I was in Boston (have to tell you that story later). We made it back, even though 1 kid was missing. It wasn't anyone in my group...oh relief! Then after getting back on the road, Ms Cross tells the kids that ride the bus that we aren't going to make it back to the school in time and to use cell phones to call someone to pick them up at school. Hello.....can we get any more unorganized? Someone run me over...please!

As you can see, Lauren and Allison had a blast! Actually, aside from literally, running, everywhere, it was a great trip. We ended up getting back to the school, just in time for the kids to be pushed off our bus in order to get on the right bus to go home. Again, what about the kids that had already called someone to pick them up? Can I please organize the next field trip? Maybe thats my new calling.... group planner?

Arrrrggghhhhh!

Let the party begin....Karen's Halloween party.. oh what fun! And little did I know Karen lived only 10 miles from me~! Hello????? 10 miles? WOW~! Im so excited. Over the hill and through the woods to Karen's house we go! Ok, back to the party...as Chris and I were getting out of the car a family was out 'walking' and I heard the mom say "look, there's pirates", so of course it gave me the first opportunity to let out an 'arrgghhh'. Which made them all laugh! As I entered Karen's house, Azrak was the 1st patron that I saw...maybe because his costume glowed! He and Stacey were so cute as Reno 911 cops! Hilarious... and rounding the corner the laughter continued. Karen and her 'pigs in a blanket' costume was funny. It was great to see Lizard and Brian. Dallas and Anna were there as a cop and inmate. How fitting!

There was a ton of food, I brought my own blender filled to the top. Yum Yum~! And of course I had the Captain Morgan bottle, what else does a pirate drink? Everyone had a blast and it was great to get together outside of the work environment.

I think every time I turned around Dallas had a different drink, note the pictures. And listening to Dallas tell stories of Anna's dad was funny. It may have been the Mr. Leggette Roast! All in good fun though. Anna's dad would be proud!

So we got into some pictures with Karen's camera WITHOUT her knowing it. While she was on the phone, we took turns taking not so 'show um to your kids' pictures. Hoping that when she actually did upload or print them out she would be like 'what in the world?'. We were laughing so hard, my face hurt! It was all in fun though and no one definately got hurt. I already warned everyone that we were NOT going to the hospital and if we had to we would all be showing up at work.. wouldn't THAT be lovely?

Hope everyone likes the pictures. I told Karen we really need to make this a yearly event. Everyone had a blast!

When we figured out that we were going to be pirates, I wanted a real 'beating' heart. I searched online and found one and of course ordered it immediately. When it came it was really cool. It didn't 'pump' like a real heart but the ventricles did pump and I was having a little dissection going on with the top half of the heart. But it all worked well and my heart stayed together.. but it looks COOL.

So on to the candy corn story....we were outside on the deck and Brianna had picked up the vase with the candle and candy corn. The whole thing stayed together, which was kind of impressive. When she went to pick it up again, the candle came out but the vase with the candy corn dropped. It was hilarious. We were trying to figure out a way to get it put back together BEFORE Karen came back outside. Brianna first tried to twist the candle down in the candy corn, which I yelled 'STOP' who wants to eat wax coated candy corn? So then I suggested to pour the candy corn into another vase, put the candle back in the vase and then pour the candy corn back around the candle. That seemed so simple......so Brianna poured the candy corn into another vase that was sitting on the table, Brianna put the candle back into the vase and then Brianna picked up the vase with the candy corn.................

little did we know the vase wasn't a vase but a candle holder without the candle insert in the bottom, so when they picked up the vase, candy corn went all over the table.. so now everyone was laughing and again, we are trying to finish this BEFORE Karen knows what we are destroying. I still don't think she knows about it!

And yes, another set of pictures with Vicki and a beer bottle in her hand. She does us so proud. So glad she does MY payroll. ha ha. And the 'dirt' on my face that Lauren did actually looks great. She is such the make up queen!

I love this picture of Chris and I. Multiple people suggested we use this as our Christmas card. I think I just might!

Added some pictures from Karen's camera. For those of you that were there, well, no need for explanation..... needless to say we ALL had a blast and have already come up with next years theme....LAS VEGAS!