I have the best husband in the world.

Seriously, I do. Not only is he up with me right now (at a startling 4:25 am) but we're splitting up and he's and braving WalMart alone on Black Friday. He's on a mission for a gift for his daughter from the big guy. I don't think he's ever done this before in our 14 years of marriage and I am just so thankful for him and the sacrifice he's making. He is NOT a morning person but is bravely traversing WalMart with throngs of people at 5am because he's just so wonderful. Gotta love it.

I am headed to Fred Meyer now (the only other store in our area! LOL) for the half-price socks, robes, slippers, sheets, Christmas lights and whatever else I happen upon.

Wish us luck finiding what we want this very early morning.

Twilight ...

So the premier was great. Jenn and I went out for an appetizer and to sit and chat then wandered over to the theater about 11pm. We got in line with my friend and co-worker, Melinda, and her group. They saved us from being WAYYYYY in the back of that huge line. The newsstations were all there with their satellite trucks and cameras just taking pictures and talking to fans. Since it was filmed locally a few of the stars were there - two guys who played Quilete Indians (including the person who plans Sam Uley) and the woman who plays the waitress at the diner. I didn't care overmuch about that but it made it a little more fun.

We got hustled into the theater about 11:20 and got settled into some great seats. The theater filled pretty quickly, despite the fact that it was HUGE. They opened a second theater to accomodate all the fans. As soon as the movie started everybody started screaming and clapping. Some of that continued throughout the show. There was quite a bit of ooohing and aaaahing and laughing going on. Any time one of the local stars came on screen (they were watching in our theater) people would yell. Whenever Edward came on with one of his looks people would start screaming. It was quite an experience.

I loved being there with all the fans but will definitely be seeing this again when the furvor dies down a little bit. Sometimes I didn't want the screams and the laughs, sometimes I just wanted to enjoy the movie in peace and get into the story. So I'll be seeing it again.

Now, as for my review ...
The movie is nowhere near as good as the book, but then again they never area. I'm wondering how much someone would be able to follow the movie if they had not read the book.
I thought overall the actors were well chosen. Jacob, who I thought I wouldn't like based on pics I'd seen, was absolutely wonderful. I'm really curious as to how they're going to make him into the big burly Jacob that he becomes. Hmmmm.
What's up with the funny looking Cullens? I know that they have to make them super-white and all but their hair was horribly fake looking. Jasper was absolutely freaky looking. Ugh. Carlisle wasn't good either. Esme and Alice were brilliant and I liked Emmett and Rosalie well enough.

Overall I think the movie was good but could be WAYYYY better if they had a bigger budget.

Another tidbit to add - the entire Port Angeles scene was filmed in the town next to ours. Part of the movie shows the Columbia Theater in the background, our little tiny and old theater that we love to go to. So that was neat.

And good news to end this all off - Summit has announced that they are moving forward on filming New Moon. Hopefully we'll see that one in theaters in the next year or two. WAHOO!!!

Tonights the Night!!!

We've had tickets for weeks and weeks and tonight is FINALLY the night! TWILIGHT!!! Jenn and I are going to Portland for a midnight showing tonight. I'm so excited! Of course, that means staying out until 3am and then getting up at 7am for work, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Hopefully it's as wonderful as the books!

A little late ...

... since Halloween has long since come and gone, but the kids were all decked out and had a wonderful Halloween night. It was beautiful weather, dry and not too cold, so we spent time trick-or-treating our neighborhood and then stayed home to hand out candy. We had a budget-costume year and I spent under $10 all together.

Carissa was a monarch butterfly so I purchased her wings and she wore black leggings, long-sleeve shirt and black w/white dot dress on top. A headband with pipe cleaners and pom-poms formed her antennae.

Tristan was a ninja and wore an outfit that Uncle Jimmy brought back for him from a trip several years ago. I bought him a mask and a $1 glow stick sword.

Chase wore his pig costume from 2 years ago, when he played Wilbur in Charlotte's Web. Easy and unique.

Here they are all dressed up for the big night. :)

Of course, Halloween isn't complete without some pumpkins. Here are their handmade creations this year. Chase made this nice face:

Tristan, being told he couldn't make it into a dragon, opted for a bat pumpkin instead:

Carissa went all girly with hearts galore:

They looked so nice glowing on Halloween night.

Top 5 for Today

Something that I saw on the Playground of Memories message board and thought I'd post here too. Here's my top 5 good and bad things for today.

The Bad
1. DH broke his hand doing Taekwondo last week. He's grumpy and whiny and off work for 4-6 weeks. He's going to have to use all his stored time to get through the time off.
2. I have SO MUCH work at the preschool to do. Evals for conferences are top on my list along with curriculum for the coming weeks. SO MUCH WORK.
3. I have no time to scrapbook. I'm trying, really I am, but when I've got so much other work to do it's hard to concentrate on that. And I so want to scrapbook.
4. Tonight is the benefit for Tristan's best friend who is very sick (but doing better) and we really have no money to give to them.
5. Chase's teacher is seriously annoying me. At conferences I told her that he wasn't getting challenged and that I didn't want him to come home with A's on every assignment without even trying. She looked at me like I had 2 heads and hasn't done a single thing to challenge him. GRRRRR.

The Good
1. At least DH has sick leave, vacation and comp time enough for his weeks off. We won't have to live without $$ at least
2. My best friend Bek is visiting from Arizona. I hadn't seen her in almost 2 years and I truly, truly missed her!
3. My little brother and his family have returned from their stint in Italy. They've been gone several years and I've seen them only once in that time. Now he's stationed in Washington and it's only 3 1/2 hours to go see him. And now I can get to know my nephew too.
4. I'm counting down the days until the Twilight movie. I can't wait!!!
5. My house is clean. We cleaned it fully twice, once for Bek coming over and the other for when I hosted book club. That really clean thing sticks around for a while and I love that.

I feel like this today ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W4EBoQmWPs

I am having a happy-happy, joy-joy moment because Bek is coming to visit! I haven't seen her in a year and a half, since she moved to Arizona, and she's coming back to the NW for a funeral. And while I'm sad that someone died, I am SOOOOO excited to see her. YIPPEE!!!

For love of a rat

For love of a rat we stop everything when we realize the rat is sick.

For love of a rat we spend $50 on vet bills to diagnose it's pneumonia.

For love of a rat we give it shots in it's little tiny leg muscles twice a day.

For love of a rat we do everything we can to make sure Tristan's best friend survives.

All for love of a rat.

The friend update...

More good news from the friend front. Tristan's friend flew to San Diego to have surgery and that seemed to go well. He's on the mend. Not that he'll ever be quite the same but he is on his way up. We're so glad that he's doing better.