Ashlyn's Got Talent

On Friday, Ashlyn performed in her school's talent show with two of her friends. They sang Taylor Swift's "You Belong to Me". They did so good and were so cute! I am so proud of her! No way you would find me singing in front of an audience nor would you want me to! :) American Idol her we come!

Here We Snow Again!

Today, we are enjoying a Winter Wonderland here in Georgia! We got 5 inches of snow yesterday! We got a little snow back in January, but this is the real deal. Enough snow for snowmen, snowball fights and sledding with whatever you got. This southern girl loves it! Its enough to play in and enjoy, but thanks to the sun and above freezing temperatures, it will be gone soon and we don't get trapped in our house for days on end. Perfect!

Here's what our yard looked like as the snow began around 1:30 yesterday afternoon:


Here's what it looks like this morning with 5 inches on the ground:


The girls have had a great time playing in it. We don't have sleds at our house, but we do have a boogie board and they put it to good use:



Our dog, Jenna, is a Siberian Husky, so snow is right up her alley. She is loving it!


And, of course we built a snowman. Right in the middle of our street!


I have some very happy children who are going to be very tired tonight! (I hope!)



What a great day!

When I Grow Up I Want to Be Betty White

I love Betty White. She is 88 years old and has still got it. She makes growing old look fun! She was hilarious this summer in "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock. She had the best lines!

This year she received the Lifetime Acheivement Award from the Screen Actors Guild. Her speech was both funny and touching:




Then, last night during the Super Bowl, she was in this awesome commercial:



Betty White you rock!

My Church, God and Money

My church is really great! This past month we have been doing a series on God and money called "Economic Atheists". Did you know money is one of God's favorite topics in the Bible? Anyway, our Visual Arts team did a really funny video about what the Bible has to say about money and tithing.



Last year they did an awesome one about tithing:



Our pastor always says, "We take God seriously we just don't take ourselves seriously."

Tonight's the Night!

Enough said!

American Idol Judge Not Lest You Be Judged

I had planned on writing each week about what happened on American Idol, but there hasn't been much to say. Yes, the "Pants on the Ground" guy was funny, but we have seen his type before. We have had the usual sob stories about sickness, dead parents, foster care, etc., but no one has stood out to me yet as great. The guest judges have been nothing to talk about really. (Yes, Posh Spice needs to calm down on the makeup. High definition TV is not kind!)

That all changed last night. There still weren't any stand out singers, but I won't forget the guest judges for a long time!


First, we had Avril Lavigne. Why the heck was she wearing a hoodie with devil horns on it? We get it Avril you're a tough riot grrrl, but this just looked silly. I noticed it was from her clothing line at Kohls so I guess she was trying to promote it? Then, she told a pastor with young children how hard it was to be on the road and away from family. They also talked about how he would have to away from his job. Um, what?!? Single parents and people with full time jobs get put through to Hollywood all the time with nary a word. Avril never said a word about how he sounded! I guess it doesn't matter since he went through with 4 yeses anyway.


Then, there was Katy Perry. What was up with her? She was just plain rude and not just to the contestants. I thought that Kara was going to punch her at one point. It was obvious she was just there to promote herself. She had nothing constructive to say to anyone. I wasn't a big fan of hers to begin with and this appearance didn't help. I guess she has been taking lessons on how to be obnoxious from her fiance Russell Brand. He's a piece of work!

My feeling is both Avril and Katy were still too young to be good judges. They were both too concerned with promoting themselves to worry about other people's feelings. Maybe Katy's worried about being a one hit wonder and so she sees every singer as possible competition. Maybe Avril is worried that she is becoming irrelevant. I don't know. All I know is both girls have a young fan base and we know how fickle the young can be. They both need to remember that same fan base watches American Idol and was watching them last night.

Hopefully, as the auditions come to an end and Hollywood week starts I will find some standouts and have something to write about. So far this season has been boring. In the words of Simon, "This has all been rubbish!"

Football, eh.

OK, I am aware that the football games to decide who goes to the Super Bowl were played this weekend and yes, I even know who won. (By the way, Geaux Saints!) But, in my world an even more seismic event occurred. . .

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are reported to be breaking up!!!!

Am I surprised? No, not really. These two had three biological children together and Brad adopted her 3 other children and they still couldn't or wouldn't get married. Can you say commitment issues? The relationship started by breaking up Brad's marriage to Jennifer Aniston, so I guess that set the tone. That's Hollywood for you. Commitment requires you to love someone else more than yourself and that's pretty hard in the narcissistic world Brad and Angelina live in.