Oh, the things that kids say (and do!)...

So I have to blog about some of the funniest things my kids say, because I am scared that if I don't, I will never remember them in years to come... so here are some of the latest ones.

Sam and Abby were sitting at the breakfast table and were having a heated discussion about something, although I didn't hear what as I have a tendency to drown out any bickering that occurs in our house (one of my many talents), however, fortunately I did hear Abby's last retort to Sam being "hmmm I smell your antipathy". I swear she said it, and when I pressed her as to where she had heard it, she said at school! I didn't even know what it meant and had to look up the meaning in the dictionary!

Anyway, last night, Mimi was here and Abby decided that she couldn't sleep, so came down and planted herself on Mimis lap, which was only supposed to be a 5 minute deal, but we forgot she was there and proceeded to watch the movie that we were heavily into which was called Two Much! Anyhow, half way through the movie Antonio Banderas and his female co-star decide they are going to kiss and it wasn't just a peck let me tell you, so Abby turns around and says "why are they are eating each others faces?". Mimi and I fell about laughing, but it gets worse, I tried to change the channel to another movie and the people in THAT movie were kissing too, so I finally find a respectable channel and send Abby on her way to bed, except the goodnight peck on the cheek that she normally gives me was a full on tongue and mouth kiss!!! yuk... she picks up waaay too much waaay to quickly...

Citizenship Update...Part III

So here I am, an American citizen - yay - November 7th was a surreal bitter sweet sort of day for me starting with a two hour drive down to Roanoke to get sworn in at the District Court. Sweet because of course I was becoming a US citizen, and was about to be awarded the same rights and freedoms as everyone else in this country and bitter because of the realization that I would have to forego all allegiances to my country of origin...my native Great Britain, a country I love and where all my roots are tied to.

"8.30am prompt" was written in bold type on the invitation to attend the ceremony. Unfortunately, prompt to the courts means 'get here on time to wait in a huge long line of people to sign in'. So a few hours of waiting follow, in which time I make friends with a very sweet Vietnamese girl sitting to my right, and hash out the weeks political 'goings on' with anyone who wanted to listen or had an opinion.

The judge decided to make a very formal appearance at 11am and the ceremony began, starting with us all being introduced to the judge individually (and we had to stand up one at a time). Once standing we all gave our commitment oath and our pledge of allegiance (which I knew all the words to as I have said it at the kids' school a thousand times, although I probably shouldn't have as I wasn't a citizen at the time... :-) - oh well)... and then followed a few speeches from the judge and his fellow court people, the INS representatives, the families (some tearjerkers) and even from some of the people becoming citizens that day. There was a real feeling of gratitude amongst the people sitting in the court that day, friends, families, court workers, soon-to-be-citizens, with the humble feeling that we shouldn't take the liberty this country offers us for granted. So many people becoming citizens that day grew up with oppression, communism or simply a poor quality of life in their native born countries and were just so grateful for the chance of freedom, it was overwhelming. It's really hard to visualize someone else's life unless you have walked a mile in their shoes, but that day I felt like we were a "unified people" with only one goal... "Liberty and justice for all..."

Sikora / Lassen Sleepover

Haha, I just realized that from the sound of the title, it sounds like Erika and Matt came to sleepover with Dave and I....hmmmm :-)

Anyway, Sam and Abby had their first sleepover (at our house) the other day with Colby, Dallin and Angela, it was a lot of fun... Here are some pics of the skittles ice cream I made them (by the way, Skittles turn rock hard when you stick them in ice cream - who knew?), and of course they got to watch T.V., so they were all in complete bliss...

Citizenship Update...part two...

So I finally had my interview with the INS on September 19th and all went well. Passed all the little English and civics tests they gave with flying colors. I memorized 100 civics questions in all, only to be asked 6! Oh well, at least I am savvy on some American history - haha...

So all in all for anyone reading this that is just trying to find out when they might get their interview date for citizenship, it took 10 months as I applied in November 2007, thinking that would give me plenty of time before the 2008 election to become and citizen and vote - not to be.... now I am waiting to get sworn in by the Harrisonburg Courts, so I am waiting for yet another letter in the mail. The final registration date for voting has been...and gone... so I guess I won't be voting this year...oh and just because you have passed all the interview and tests, it doesn't mean you are a citizen yet... not until you get sworn in.... so this has been a very frustrating process to say the least...oh well, I guess I can always vote in 2012!!! and of course, once I get sworn in, I can apply to be on The Amazing Race...watch this space for all of you who think I am joking...

Martins

So I am a little 'blog happy' tonight after making my $58 at the yardsale... but I do want to pass on a little bit of friendly advice...

I went to Martins to get some groceries this afternoon and of course I had my kids with me as Dave was working... why does it always happen like that anyhow, the day you run out of everything is never on a day when the kids are at school, when I could do a quiet grocery shop??? OH NO... anyhow, I thought "If I go to Martins, at least I can put the kids in the treehouse and have a quiet shop, even if I have to pay a little more than Walmart prices, its worth it for the sanity as a week ago I did a Martins shop and the treehouse was closed, so I had to drag my kids around for an hour and a half (because I don't know where everything is in Martins still), which was a nightmare...theres only so much "go and find some go-gurts kids" you can do before they get bored of "helping" and start to play tag around the store, much to every shoppers annoyance... so anyhow, when I went to Martins today, lo and behold the "closed" sign on the treehouse was up again.... I nearly lost it and was about to walk away and just "deal with it" when a little fuse inside me went off and I decided the best course of action was to 'complain'... so after waiting 5 minutes for a manager to finally appear, I told him what a friggin nightmare it was to shop with 2 kids and the ONLY reason I come to Martins is for the treehouse sanity or I might as well go to Walmart and drag my kids around, at least it is cheaper... I couldn't believe I was quite that blunt, but it worked... he was very sorry and immediately pulled the "treehouse girl" from one of the registers to look after my kids (I guess they make her work the registers if they are really busy and seeing as its Saturday...well you know) In fact she was relieved too because she said she needed to keep her hours up in the treehouse and hates being on the register...

So about an hour later, after trying 5 different tasters throughout the deli and carefully selecting which Brie I wanted to get, I still had only got about 3/4 of the way through my grocery shop and I pass the register area at the front... there are HUUUUGE long lines at the registers because they are obviously short staffed and they pulled 'treehouse girl', so I felt a twinge of guilt, but then I caught a glimpse of Sam and Abby playing in the treehouse and realized that they were having way more fun than if they were shopping with me, and I was having fun too... hey, its not my job to manage the place, I am only a consumer after all... tee hee... so my advice to anyone who sees the closed sign on the treehouse - complain, and they will open it up just for you (and your sanity)!

Yard Sale Madness

So Erika, Mildred and I had a yard sale today, which was full of laughs...of course... how else do you get through a yard sale where people are trying to bargain the absolute bottom dollar from you for all your nice junk? So after getting up at 6am, I finally swan over to Erikas with the kids for 7am, of course all the early birds are out poking through everything, even though it wasn't supposed to start until 8am... anyhow, Erika and Mildred were practically giving their stuff away.... I had to vocalize a price of one of Erikas toys when someone asked as I could see her just about to say "10 cents" and we didn't have change for anything less than a quarter, so I shouted "thats a quarter" to the lady who still went ahead and bought it... I love making my friends money ;-), what are friends for?

When I think of the hundreds of dollars we all must have spent to buy all this stuff new (and Mildred had some really nice name brand clothes), it is kind of horrifying, but hey that's the wonderful world of yardsales... one mans junk is another mans treasure.... I took my $58 that I made, went to Martins and bought Brie cheese and all the food 'treasures' that I don't normally get in a regular shop.... so while I am pigging out, I would like to thank all our yardsale customers for making it possible!

Citizenship Update...

So I finally had a letter through from the INS saying that my interview date is on the 19th Sept. I am thrilled because it actually means that if I pass the civics test and seem like I can somewhat comprehend the English language, I can get sworn in that day, renounce my green card, become a citizen of the United States and actually be able to vote in November for one of the muppets running for election this year... I need to get studying...