American Idol

If you don't like or watch American Idol then you can quit reading this right now. I have to say I am really enjoying American Idol this season. They have so many different types of performers. I loved most of tonight's performances. There was some awesome music - Creedence Clearwater, Elvis, The Beatles and of course my favorite Johnny Cash. I need to dig up my Walk the Line soundtrack. I love Johnny so was it any surprise that Paul McDonald (who sang Johnny) was my favorite of the night? I have felt like Paul hasn't lived up to his Vegas performance of Blackbird. I love how different and interesting his voice is, but I've felt like he hadn't found his niche. I loved him singing Johnny, but I still think The Beatles Blackbird was my favorite. Does anyone remember when I went through my Johnny Cash phase? I even read his biography (I tend to become obsessed sometimes). Max was in nursery at the time and his teachers commented that during singing time sometimes Max would start singing "Ring of Fire". Awesome.

My next favorite of the night was Casey Abrams. Casey has been my favorite since he beginning. I love that he is an awesome musician and an interesting singer. Casey sang Creedence. It reminded me of my sister Kim - she loves Creedence. I loved him on that song. And playing the stand up bass added even more to it. He is so talented that I can get over some of the crazy faces he makes sometimes. I'm not going to lie - when he did Smells Like Teen Spirit I had nightmares.

I also liked James. He wasn't screaming - yeah! It might have something to do with me loving the Beatles, but I thought he did a good job on My Guitar Gently Weeps. I was surprised that I liked Jacob tonight. He is usually wayyyy too much for me. But tonight his performance of Man in the Mirror was really good. Scotty surprised me too. I am not a fan of country music but loved Scotty singing Elvis. He didn't sound too Elvisy - he made it his own.

Wow! This is a long post. I like watching Idol, but let's be real. The show I'm super excited for is So You Think You Can Dance. I can't wait!

Love, love, love

I love American Idol. Mostly because it gives me the excuse to sing loudly (and badly). When they did Beatles songs I was in heaven - I sang along loud and proud. When my super talented, awesome sister in law Tricia took our pictures I couldn't help but break out into song a few times. Ian's poor ears (and Tricia's too).

I love this picture. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it reminds me how much fun Ian and I have together. How he can always make me laugh. How he takes care of me. Yesterday he came home on one of his breaks and "encouraged" the boys to clean up the house. I was not having a good day yesterday, but when I walked into a clean house I instantly felt better.

I love my boys. I went into their school this morning. Ben's teacher bragged about how awesome he's doing in math. Max's teacher shared a cute story with me. I love those things. I love that Max waited for me to walk him to the playground. And that he said, "Mom, my favorite days are the days you take me to school." I love that Xander has an awesome friend who loves to fish as much as he does. I love that Michael and I love the same Format songs (wait...Michael isn't one of my kids...). I love when Evan squishes my cheeks and tells me how much he loves me.

I love LOST. I look forward to it every week. It's fun to discuss theories with Ian. To evolve with the characters. I actually liked the way Sayiid died last night - he redeemed himself (somewhat). I like hearing what other people think is going on.

I love my family. For the help they give me with my kids every week. And they never make me feel guilty. It means so much to know that I have people watching Evan who love him.

That's all.

OCD and American Idol

My name is Sheri and I have selective OCD. For instance I am not obsessive about the cleanliness of my house but am obsessive about celebrities. Britney better not get back with K-Fed! It's about time Beyonce & Jay-Z got hitched - 6 years - c'mon. I don't think Heath really had a love child. I'm sure Nicole Ritchie has an eating disorder - ditto with Kate Bosworth. I hope Reese & Jake last - she deserves some happiness. After I had Evan the part of my brain that remembered school lunches, fieldtrip forms and other important things went haywire. But I still can remember the names of Gwenyth's, Madonna's and Bruce & Demi's kids. Sick, I know. I am not OCD when it comes to my children getting filthy playing outside in our dirt yard, yet am OCD about whatever I am currently reading or watching. I have mentioned that I read The Other Boyelyn Girl. This has led to an obsession with English History. The other night the movie Elizabeth was on and I was hooked! During commercials I googled different English monarch names. I'm a nerd, I know...but now I am dying to read something else about that period in history.

I am also a little obsessed with American Idol but am relieved that Ian and my mom share this obsession. We spent Sunday night at my parent's house watching past performances (I am liking David Cook more and more) until Ben begged us to go home so he could go to sleep. AIMS testing. Shoot! If I really dig a performance I will get up and clap and scream. Pathetic I know, but we really don't go to many concerts anymore...atleast I don't. So let's discuss last night's performances:

My pick for the final two

1. David Cook was disappointing tonight. I love Our Lady Peace -but that song wasn't doing him any favors - the first part was just plain awkward.

2. David Archaletta - chills again. He needs to come over and sing me to sleep every night...then maybe I could get rid of this blasted insomnia.

3. Carly - wrong song and just plain blah. Though it does take alot of guts to sing Queen.

4. Brooke - I love that song - especially the Housemartins version but only thought she was o.k. Ian keeps telling me that she just doesn't have the range to compete with the other performers but for me, that's part of her appeal. I like the tone and sound of her voice -kinda bluesy.

5. Michael Johns - I didn't like it. I know Ian will disagree with me - part of it could be that I don't like Aerosmith and I agreed with Simon - he needs to pick bluesier songs.

I don't really have much to say about the other 3. It was the only night I've ever liked Kristy, but I still don't think she'll make it to the final 5.

Hey - did everyone see Lacey from So You Think You Can Dance sitting in the audience behind Simon? Now that's a show I can really obsess about.

Good Feelings

After Ben's game the other night he got in the car and said,"Why do I feel so good?" I smiled and replied, "Hmmm...do you think it's because you hit the ball every time at bat and you made an awesome catch at first?" It is so gratifying for me to see my son's self esteem boosted.

I finally got a new camera today. Yay! No more having to wait to borrow my dad's. Now I can take pictures of the haircut Max gave himself. He finally broke down and admitted the truth only to deny it a few minutes later to my mom. Sheez, what am I going to do with that kid?

I went on a fieldtrip with Alexander's class yesterday. It was lots of fun except for that fact that my son is a maniac. We were in groups and each group had a worksheet to fill out. Alexander views any activity like this as a race and he was determined to come in "first". He would rush ahead of us, accuse other teams of following us to get answers and try to look at the answer key that I had. Not proud moments for me as a mother. We had a long talk yesterday but he was still acting snotty after that. Finally I hugged him and asked, "What's it going to take to get you to change your attitude?" The hug changed everything. After that he was helpful and obedient the rest of the day. Sometimes I get so caught up in everything, that I forget to show my kids how much I love them. Hugs almost always work with Max too. He loves to be squeezed tight - alot of the time I will tell him that I'm squeezing the oneriness right out (he then will pretend to cough it up :) ).

Yesterday my mom had the younger boys while I was on the fieldtrip and Darrel happened to be at my mom's with his kids too. It was hilarious to watch Rowan and Evan interact. They are only 3 months apart and are going to be great friends, I'm sure. They have a bit of a rivalry going on. Each boy wanted what the other boy had. Typical toddler behavior but fun to watch, nonetheless.

As I have mentioned before we are big time American Idol fans here. These are my favorites after last nights performance:

1. Michael Johns (although he needs to stop frowning when he sings)

2. David Archaletta (got chills)

3. David Cook (I'm a BIG fan of the new haircut - he looks much better)

4. Carly (I'm even thinking about buying the song she sang last night)

5. Brooke

I liked Jason Castro o.k. too, but those are my top 5. A.I. is keeping me sane while Lost is off the air.

P.S. For Tricia & Brian:

Brian's Team (a 2 for one!)

My team
Brian's Team

My Team!

What's Your Emergency?

Evan just did the cutest thing...he brought me two mismatched socks and said "ow-died" (outside). He knows he has to put his shoes and socks on to go out. Yup, he's a genius.

In other news...Ben called 911 today. Alexander had made himself hot chocolate this morning and all of you who know Xander know that he likes to rub things in. So he's sitting drinking his hot chocolate saying, "Ohhh...this is so good...this is the best." Naturally the other kids wanted some after hearing Xan go on and on. Ben asked for some but I didn't have time - I was scrabbling to get ready to go to Ben's baseball practice. I told him, "Make it yourself or I'll make you some later." Not good enough. I started to change the baby's diaper and the phone rings. Alexander said, "It's City of Chandler." "Don't get it! I don't have the time!" I replied. I thought it was probably someone from the sales tax division and that maybe I made a mistake on my dad's return. It didn't occur to me that it would be the police. I piled everyone in the car and we're off! I made a quick stop at my dad's and noticed a police car drove by. Alexander yells, "Ben called the police!" For some reason I'm really dense and don't really think much of it. I asked my dad to take care of it (please...). On the way I got the full story...apparently Ben didn't like my reply about the hot chocolate and decided to call the police. I didn't understand his thought process here, but then again, I rarely do. He dialed 911 and Alexander told him, "If you call 911 mom and dad will ground you for a year!" so he quickly hung up. I was upset and Ben knew it because it occurred to me that if my dad didn't talk to the police they will break down my door. I called my dad - luckily he took care of it. He's been doing that for me a lot lately. Love you Dad!

In other Ben news...he was assigned a report (or maybe I should say I was assigned a report) for school. He is supposed to take notes, make a rough draft, a bibliography and final copy. Mind you, he's in 2nd grade! If this was Alexander I wouldn't sweat it...that kid is always on top of things and always gives himself enough time to do things (I have NO idea where he gets that from). But it's Ben. We just finished the notecards and it was beyond painful. I can't wait for the rough draft!

Max is sick = Max is SUPER ornery. This involves lots saying the word "idiot!" and lots of violent threats, you know..."I'm going to kick you in the head" those kind of charming things. He is trying my patience to the nth degree. And he's been doing this thing where he likes to kiss the older boys because he knows it annoys them. You see, he can't get in trouble for kissing. I am in awe of the things he comes up with. I keep telling him, "Use your powers for good, not evil!"

Alexander has been pretty good because he knows he can get his way as long as he obeys me. His whole world revolves around "Super Smash Bros. Brawl". He has a friend coming over tomorrow to play it and can hardly wait. I've never seen him excited about video games before...it's a little weird and I hope it wears off soon.

We are all loving American Idol. How great is David Archaletta (I probably butchered that but I'm too lazy to google)? He is our favorite, along with Brooke, Carly and Michael. I loved Beatles night(s) although Tiffany, Ian and I were all miffed about how Kristy butchered "Hide Your Love Away". Kick her off already!

You all will notice that Ian gave my blog a little bit of a new look. He even added a slide show of Jim at the bottom. Love you Ian!