Blast From the Past

Funny...a friend of mine sent me this link where you can go and pull the top 100 songs from the year you graduated. I'd forgotten about a lot of them and some I didn't even remember. I wish I had the time to look them up on iTunes but I really don't care that much. The ones that I was quick to remember are listed. As my husband often points out, there aren't really any songs (or artists for that matter) from the 1990's that will ever be revered as timeless classics but as long as they make me smile, I don't care if they're not timeless. Wanna know your top 100?

Top 100 Songs of what year?
The rules:
A.) Go to music outfitters
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year

My favorites from 1994:

2. I Swear, All-4-One
3. I'll Make Love To You, Boyz II Men
8. All For Love, Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting
14. Whatta Man, Salt-N-Pepa
18. Can You Feel The Love Tonight, Elton John
20. Fantastic Voyage, Coolio
21. Baby I Love Your Way, Big Mountain
22. Regulate, Warren G and Nate Dogg
26. When Can I See You, Babyface
34. All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow
35. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm, Crash Test Dummies
38. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That), Meat Loaf
42. Whoomp! (There It Is), Tag Team
43. Come To My Window, Melissa Etheridge
52. Gin And Juice, Snoop Doggy Dogg
54. Streets Of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen
60. Cry For You, Jodeci
65. Tootsee Roll, 69 Boyz
66. I Can See Clearly Now, Jimmy Cliff
74. Groove Thang, Zhane
87. Don't Take The Girl, Tim McGraw
90. Indian Outlaw, Tim McGraw
91. Always, Bon Jovi
92. I'm The Only One, Melissa Etheridge
94. Love Sneakin' Up On You, Bonnie Raitt
95. I'll Take You There, General Public

Proud Parents

I realize that some of you will think that I utilize this space to boast about my children and I promise that I try to include other interesting topics. But in this case, I just can't stand not saying anything.

Last year we would walk the halls of Dakota's school and I'd see kid's names posted to the wall on trophy laminated cut outs. The trophies are awarded year-round once kids read a certain number of books or reach a certain level or score a certain amount of reading points. Last year I scanned the walls for signs of my son's name until finally I inquired about why he wasn't there. Well, it's only for 1st thru 5th grader recognition. I would have been searching for a long time.

Five weeks into first grade and Dakota was posted to the wall! He must been recognized just yesterday because surely I would have noticed it before now (given my tendency to scan the wall on a daily basis). He is one of only three 1st graders with a trophy and I couldn't be happier!

Remember when...?

Do you remember the time when we were trying to teach Dakota how to ride a bike and it was a complete emotional disaster for both he and us? It was almost exactly one year ago today. Well, it's finally turned into success.

Dakota's been doing really well but mostly staying on the sidewalk and eventually began making the turn at the end of the sidewalk. He had been less inclined to venture into the street or make a U turn to get going another direction. Instead, he would bail off, turn the bike around and go again. He also has insisted that his dad or me help him get started. Despite our efforts to teach him how to start with the pedal upright and one foot on the curb, he still preferred a jump start.

Dakota's buddy Garrett came to spend the night and he brought his bike along with him. He said he would "teach" Dakota how to ride. Keep in mind that Garrett is 6 months younger than Dakota so I guess he wasn't too keen on having Garrett show him the ropes. Instead, he was off! He's starting himself and riding all over the place...making U turns and all. He's off the sidewalk and owning the rode. I couldn't be more grateful that the tears are gone and husband isn't having to carry him to the bike while he kicks and screams. Thanks Garrett!

He didn't believe us when we told him it would be fun once he learned how to ride. And now we can say "We told you so!". Now that's what I call success.

BA Downtown Play

Make a Smilebox slideshow

BTW Spirit

We went to the East Central Cardinals vs. BTW game on Friday night. The Hornets spanked them but the best part of it all was seeing my kids experience a little Hornet spirit. Doc's little sis Kara is a freshman at BTW now and we couldn't be happier to see her going to our old school. She's made the varsity cross country team and of course she's playing soccer for the girl's team. Kara is a solid athlete, strong in academics and cute as a button. We're so very proud of her! And she is sweet enough to allow her niece and nephew hang with her and her friends in the student section. What a treat!



Dakota spent a lot of time on the fence line playing with his helicopter and watching the Hornet mascot run along the sidelines. He even got to spend some time on the field with his dad while Dad worked so hard at manning his post (yappin' with his fellow coaches).



The Hornet was in rare form, dancing and giving all of the kiddos high-five. Elle finally mustered the courage to speak to him. It was nice to be amongst the crowd and my only complaint is that the T Connection Band is just not what it used to be. Go Hornets!

Emily's Visit to T-Town

Seeing long time friends who have long since moved away is always a wonderful thing to find time for. I'm always amazed at how busy we all are and how much effort seems to be involved in making a simple phone call, sending an email, god forbid we mail a written letter and never mind that we hardly ever have time for a girls luncheon. But we did it when Emily Alice visited her hometown and we're very glad we did.

As you can tell from the photo, my daughter joined us on our outing. And it was sort of funny to me that my four year old asked to go when I told her that I was leaving to meet some of my girlfriends for lunch. "I'm a girl", was her response. She wanted to go bad and I was grateful that Emily and Tonya didn't mind her accompanying us on our date. We went for sushi which wasn't exactly a four year old choice but she eventually ate some of her chicken and oranges. The tofu in the miso soup and the fancy presentation of the main course was a bit overwhelming to say the least.

She brought her Dora the Explorer toy and Tonya was gracious enough to loan her the Power Ranger figurine from her purse. Elle was a champ and I was grateful to have her there. I look forward to sharing many more girly lunches with her in the years to come.

The Pirates 1st Fall 2008 Game

The Pirates are official! They're wearing real uniforms this year and we even have a real referee. Watching Dakota play soccer is suddenly much more entertaining. His father got to serve as the coach this weekend because the coach was away for a family emergency. I think he did a fine job of filling in and making the kids enjoy their first time on the U7 soccer fields. Gammy Sandy and Auntie Shara even came to watch his Fall 2008 debut. And he scored a goal!

The fields are much larger this year which is great because there are less throw ins as a result of the ball going out of bounds so much. And the size of the field gave the kids more freedom to move around. Dakota took a good tumble on this one but he bounced back up and went after it again.


Coach Doctor doing his thing. The little guy to Dakota's right (left on screen) is one of his friends from school. They're quite good buddies.

One Less Monkey Jumping On the Bed

Exhibit A



Remember that song you used to sing as a kid? And perhaps you sang it while you jumped on the bed. Well my little monkey was jumping OFF of the bed onto a pile of pillows and blankets and had a bit of a rough landing. Her foot was immediately swollen, bruised and she didn't bare weight on it at all. It was so sad to see her crawling towards me.




So after 48 hours and still no walking on the foot, off we went to the emergency room. Please note that the ER is not a fun or expeditious experience on a holiday weekend. 4.5 hours later the doctor saw us.




The good news is that they say it's just a severe strain and that no bones are showing breakage. The bad news is that they also said that little ones have a lot of cartilage that sometimes makes it difficult for hairline fractures to be seen on an x-ray. So if she's not walking by next week, back we go for another foot photo session.



She's obviously very excited that all she got was an ACE bandage. And after listening to the male patient behind curtain #2 moan, yell "Oh my god", and talk about how his gauze was dripping with blood, she was very pleased that no blood was involved.