Oh, don’t tell me carma doesn’t come around and wishing out to the Universe doesn’t pay off. First, this week had been a very bad week. The school called earlier this week asking if my oldest daughter, age 9, was doing okay. Confused since I’d put her on the bus that very morning I asked if she threw up and if I needed to pick her up. Instead I got more confusion as they claimed she’d never been at school. I won’t lie, panic filled my whole inside, in the end she had been there it took a few minutes for them to go back to class to discover this. Apparently the girl that sits in front of her is much taller so the teacher missed her.

That was the first BAD thing, the next was the hubby calling to tell me our van (only vehicle) had broke down on the highway. Knowing we don’t have money to get it towed and not knowing anyone we were out of luck. He did find a friend to give him a ride but we had no clue what to do after that.

I went to yahoogroups and vented my frustration, I mean I swear I could write a comedy on the things that can happen in less than two years. No one would believe it though, but it has all happened to me. I got several emails from the group expressing the need to help, one actually wanted to drive over 4 hours to help me out. Talk about feeling loved, my luck was starting to look up. I just kept telling myself, something has to come out of this. We have to be able to get the van home. By the next morning I had four offers to help, when he went to work the next day he found a last minute ride (thank goodness) and called from work to tell me he found a way to get the van home.

Woo hoo! Well the van is now home, it doesn’t run but it is home which means not having to pay a tow truck or getting it out of an impound yard. Next up is looking for a used car that we can afford at least until the van runs again. In the meantime we get to walk to the grocery store…too bad we didn’t have one closer. Thank you Universe, we definitely needed a bit of good luck this week.

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How many of you love Wendy’s? I know I just love those frosties they make and of course the mushroom hamburgers, the kids love the chicken sandwiches. Well Wendy’s wants to help the kids out once again and this time they are giving them a reward. Check out the following information:

With college admissions growing more and more selective, the Wendy’s High School
Heisman program presents a great opportunity to help those students who have
managed to balance so much, stand out. This award celebrates high school seniors
who excel in academics, athletics, and community involvement; in essence,
recognizing them for all of the things they already do. Colleges want to see
well-rounded students who demonstrate dedication and commitment, making this
program especially relevant and accessible.

High school seniors who have
a 3.0 average or higher, participate in a school-sponsored sport and contribute
to their community can apply at http://www.wendysheisman.com/, or a
high school educator, guidance counselor, or coach can nominate them. As a
little reward, the first 41,100 applicants will receive a free Wendy’s gift card
in amounts ranging from $5 to $50. One male and one female from each high school
will win the award and continue on in competition for state and national awards.
Twelve national finalists will participate in Heisman Weekend festivities during
an all-expenses-paid trip Dec. 11-13 to New York City. ESPN2 will feature all 12
national finalists during the Wendy’s High School Heisman Awards Ceremony, which
airs Dec. 13. The Wendy’s High School Heisman website will display the names of
all applicants and individual school winners on October 22, 2009.

I think what they are doing is great and hopefully a big motivator. They are showing parents that they want to help in convincing our children to do good and showing teens that if they do good with their grades and sports they will be rewarded. The site also notices that not all teens will do sports but other school events such as committees, school paper, etc. If you have a child in high school that has a 3.0 average and is in some type of school sport/activity sign them up today. There will be one male & female winner per school, the teen will get a $10 GC, a letter from Wendy’s and a patch sent to the school to be awarded to them. Check out the awards given out from the Wendy’s Heisman site. There is a list of FAQ you may be interested in reading as well.

Now just because Wendy’s and Momcentral (who shared this news with me) are so nice they are giving one lucky “The Life of a Home Mom” reader a chance to win a $20 Gift card as well.

GIVEAWAY:
PRIZE: 1 $20 Gift Card to Wendy’s
RULES: Answer the question: What sport or activity did you play at school? (I said activity for those that did not do sports but instead did the paper, organizing dances, etc)

Make sure to leave a working email address.

Extra entries: subscribing to the site, tweeting this contest, posting on your blog about this contest, etc.

Winner will be announced Oct 4, 2009. You will have 24 hours to contact me once I have listed the winner, if I am not contacted I will draw a new winner. Have fun!!!!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Wendy’s and received a gift certificate to giveaway and to thank me for taking the time to participate.

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Thursday and Friday it was time to go out and have some fun with the family. So what did we do? Well the town has a carnival in town for “Oktoberfest” and we hit it up. Thursday was just a night for the rides before the GRAND OPENING on Friday, we figured this would be the best time to hit it up with very few people.

As you can see we decided to walk up there for two reasons. 1. to get the kids really tired out before bed. (hahaha) 2. just in case there was no parking. (why fight it?) The walk was nice and the kids had a ton of fun making fun of mom as we walked through tall weeds and knew mom was scared of snakes. Once we were up there you could see where the ferris wheel was and other colorful rides that lit up the town. As we approached we decided to stop off at DQ (Diary Queen) first. Any time Little A spots this place he starts screaming, “Cream, cream.” So he was a bit disappointed that they got burger and fries and not the “cream.” But he soon cheered up.

We only went on a few rides before the sprinkles started coming from above and the rides started to slow down and stop. But BabyGirl, BalletGirl and Little A all rode on the jeeps and motorcycles, then I took them on the merry-go-round. Merry-go-Rounds no longer agree with me, when I got off I felt like I was going to spin and fall. Woooh, is that what age does? haha.

SoccerBoy and dad went over to Zero Gravity and spun and spun. You could hear the excitement as this was SoccerBoy’s first time. Once they were done though it was time to turn around and go home. By the time we came home we were all a little bit damp, but everyone dried off shortly and on Friday we went right back up there.

The kids did a few games and then we went to eat at this little place called, “The Filling Station” which looks like a tiny (old fashioned) gas station but instead of gas they serve food. It is really cute and they have two pumps outside that the girls took pictures by. Doesn’t it look cute? One bad thing though, I ordered a sausage sandwich and the hubby didn’t tell me the small bowl was hot sauce….I thought it was pork and beans and took a big bite. OUCH! But it was good….not the hot sauce. We have been wanting to visit this little place for some time but it has always been packed.

Today will be just a day to sit back and relax. The kids have already been watching movies: The Plumm Summer, Barney, Girls just Want to have Fun and of course my movie, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” which I highly recommend.

Get ready to sign up to win a Wendy’s Gift card, I’ll announce it in my next post. Hope ya’ll have a great weekend!

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Okay, here are the results of the Ringling Bros Circus. First, when we got there it almost looked as if we were at the wrong place because we got there early. They had the elephants outside eating hay and playing with a tire. We watched for a bit as the two youngest screamed with laughter (Little A) and talk about how they are her favorite animal and she would love to bring it home with us (BabyGirl). Once inside we could see it was going to be a while so the children sat, and sat, and sat, but finally we were allowed in.
Once inside we went the wrong way and walked clear to the wrong side and was told we’d have to go back around. Oops. Once we had our seats, which were pretty good, I took the girls and Little A down to the stage area to meet the performers. SoccerBoy soon followed. The girls tried on a few outfits the performers wear and got pics taken of them. The performers even signed the books they got in the mail.

SoccerBoy couldn’t wait to watch the motorcycles in a ball, they actually fit 7 in that tiny thing. I think he will want to try this out one day. Oh that and the high wire motorcycle act. Yeah they actually had one ride on the high wire and then had a girl on a bar below it. YIKES!

I loved watching Pepe and Royo the clowns as well as the horseback performers. I even got to tell the girls that momma once did that at a camp. (Camp showed us teens how to do stunts on horses) The hubby seemed impressed with that twirlers and the girls loved watching the high flyers. The bouncers looked like they were having a ton of fun too.

During the break you could see children walking around licking their sticky fingers. Sticky probably from the cotton candy and they were wearing the oversized hats that came with them. Probably getting ready to beg mom and dad for one more. (these cost $10 per bag) They also sold character (circus animals) cups with shaved ice, lemonade, had fun wants for kids, swords and even corwns for your little princess to wear. It was a very good night, full of laughter and lots of wow. Hope you had fun looking at the pics.

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Okay this shot was taken by SoccerBoy. Here is me (mom), the girls and Little A standing with one of the Ringling Bros Circus performers. You can see the excitement in their faces, of course the elephant on stage caught Little A’s attention.

Happy WW!

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