Happy Halloween

I just had to tell everyone, Happy Halloween! Hope it's been a good one! Pictures are soon to come! Charity ended up being a flying Unicorn tonight for Halloween and a witch last night for Trunk-or-Treat and Danielle was a ladybug both nights. Such cute girls!

Last night at Trunk-or-Treating, Charity was going from car to car saying, "Trick or Treat, Happy Halloween, Thank You!" LOL, at one point she got her order messed up and started telling everyone, "Happy Halloween, Thank You, Trick or Treat!" But I'm not sure if it was her or Danielle who loved it more. They're so cute!

And they both loved Trick or Treating tonight as well. It was so cute seeing them just lighting up to go to every house. And Charity had so much fun saying Trick-or-Treat, though at the end when she was getting tired, she started asking people if she could stay at their house, lol, how embarrassing! lol.

It really was a lot of fun though!

Droid - Officially Announced

Ok, so I should have put this together yesterday, but I didn't think of that until Dad asked me today about the phone I've been watching. So, Droid by Motorola was officially announced yesterday and will be available for purchase on November 6h. Here are some exciting specs of the phone:

3.7-inch display with a 854-by-480 pixel display (total of XX pixels)

DVD Quality Video

Built in HTML5 support

Google Maps Navigation, a turn by turn directions GPS system (brand new! only on Droid currently!)

Voice Recognition, Voice Search

Search program also searches for information on your own phone!

Multitasking - run multiple programs at once

5MP Camera with a dual LED flash - though people have varying opinions on just how good it is :(

Physical Qwerty Keyboard

Only Android phone currently Running Eclair (Android 2.0)

10,000 + App Market (still unsure of how many will be compatible with 2.0 though)

Multimedia Dock

Car Dock

Flash 10 Support as soon as it becomes available

Sync with Gmail, Facebook, and Exchange

Battery Life: Standby 270 hrs, Continuous Usage 385 mins (almost 6 1/2 hours)

Micro USB

3.5mm Jack

eCompass

Google Talk

Source Information: Motorola Droid Site

Anyway, just thought I'd share. If you wanna know more just google Droid! There's lots of reviews and information out there now!

Google Voice

So, a few weeks ago I decided to investigate to see what this Google Voice was that I was hearing so much about. So, after reading about I decided I wanted it! (Note to those who live nearby, we now have a local number!)

What is google voice you might ask? Well, it's a number assigned to you by Google Voice that when called rings to whichever numbers you have set up under it. Make sense? So, you can call our Google Voice number and it can then ring to both D's and my cell phones. How cool is that? Part of their advertising and explanation of it is saying so that if your work number changes, or your cell phone, or home number you won't have to update people onto the changes. (I know some people I know who would love that!) Well, I like simply because it means we could get a local number without having to change our cell phone numbers! No more will people be telling us they tried calling and our number was disconnected! We live in an area that has the same area code as D's cell phone, but it's not a local number but people don't realize that and try calling it without the area code). So, I'm excited and then in the future if we ever move, we can easily change our google voice number to a local number for where ever that is if we feel like it and we'll never have to change our cell phone numbers. I really like that because I've had my cellphone number for almost 10 years now and D has had his for a little over 7 so we don't want to change them. Anyway, have I gone on long enough now about Google Voice now? Onto some Droid talk...

So, after all the anticipation, excitement, and obsession over the new Android powered phone coming to Verizon Wireless, I don't think I'm going to be getting it :( D may have the opportunity to do a project at work that can be used for his school project and wouldn't need it anymore. It requires an extra data plan each month in order to even have the phone on the account and where it's not something that I NEED we're finding it hard to justify the extra expense, not to mention D thinks I spend too much time online lately as it is! (And he might be right!). So, sorry for putting all of you through my Droid Obsession ;) But hey, maybe sometime in the future, right? In the meantime, I do need a new cellphone soon, so what cellphone do you have and why do you like it? Help me come up with some new options!

Halloween

Now, onto something NOT Droid related. I know, I know. I've been a little obsessed lately. My poor husband :)

So, I figured I'd write about Halloween and the upcoming Holidays! I love this time of year, when all the festivities are beginning to start and there is so much to look forward to during the Holidays! This will be my first Holiday season in a while that hasn't included me being pregnant, or a baby so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out!

So, for Halloween, we are all set to go! The girls have their costumes, D and I each have ours and Halloween is only a little over a week away!!! There's going to be a ward trunk-or-treat next Friday and then trick-or-treating on Saturday!!! YAY!!! I'm so excited for Charity, last year she was starting to get it, but this year, she's got it down. And since she understands, she is SO excited for Halloween. Everyday she asks me if it's time for trick-or-treating! lol, we all know she just wants the candy!

Then next month is Thanksgiving and who doesn't enjoy eating all of that food? :) Not only that, but getting ready for the Christmas season to start! I love the anticipation at the beginning of the holidays!

And then, (you know where this is going, right?) Christmas!!! I think Christmas is my absolutely FAVORITE holiday. And I'm really looking forward to it this year. I used to really like Christmas, but it just changes things when you've got kids to anticipate it with and to buy presents for and that's really what makes it so much better.

Oh yeah, and did I mention we made scarecrows this year? Their sitting on our front porch. :) We used the zebra grass we have and they turned out great! I'll try to get some pics to post! I told Charity they were a Mommy and Daddy scarecrows (since they're wearing our clothes) so she wanted to make a Charity scarecrow, I didn't want to go to that much work and told her we were only going to make the 2. So, she named them Charity and Alex. That works! lol.

My Droid and Verizon Predictions

Ok, so I've been watching all the rumor mills (pretty much any I can find) for new information, reading long threads on forums about what people know (and don't know!). Well, I have a few thoughts that I don't feel like adding anywhere else, but still want to have them written down. So, here are my suspicions for what Verizon MIGHT be up to in the next week and half or so.

#1, in the code for the droiddoes.com website, it shows the flash file as being phase1. I think this upcoming weekend will start phase2 and we'll see a new commercial come out, or else phase 2 is

#2 there is going to be a press conference next Wednesday (been confirmed from mulitple sources). So, this might be phase 2, introducing people to the phone. People are hoping it's going to go on sale and while I've read that Verizon has a habit of announcing a new phone at the same time it becomes available, I don't think it's going to be available this date. But then again, maybe the R2D2s sent out was phase two and the conference will be phase 3. Me, I'm still hoping for a new commercial :) But probably not.

#3 I'm really not sure if the phone will be available for telesales on the 30th like everyone is speculating, but I want to try the phone out in person before I buy it anyway, so that point is mute. I'm going to have to wait until November to get a new phone, possibly until Christmas as well, depending on what we decide to do.

#4 I think it's possible Verizon will be pulling out a new pricing scheme. Why do you ask? And why has no one else heard or said anything about it? Maybe verizon has been really good at not leaking anything. But everyone's #1 complaint about verizon it seems is their prices, and t-mobile as well as sprint have both recently done new pricing plans. So, it's possible verizon will follow suit.

#5 I'm hoping they will introduce a data family plan that has the plan for the smartphones included in it because if we really like this phone, then D may want one too, but an extra $60 a month to have 2 smartphones on the account? We're having hard time right now deciding if an extra $30 is worth it!

#6 Which adds to my next worry, what if all they do is change their pricing plan so that an android smart phone requires an add-on data plan that is more than the $30 smartphone add-on they have right now? I hope not, it would be a deal breaker for me. But I don't think this is as big a worry to me simply because I think they might be trying to draw more of a crowd to smartphones and upping the price will turn people off instead of drawing them in.

More Android Info

Dennis says I've been obsessed with android phones coming to verizon for months now. And, he's probably right :) But here is some more information on the Motorola Droid, just for my mom. Since this morning, she asked me if I got the phone already since I've been posting so much android stuff lately. lol. Nope, not yet, rumored to either be officially announced and/or telesales to begin Oct. 30. But here is some more information and links for everyone!

Now, here is some of the good stuff! Droiddoes.com. It redirects you to a site on verizon.com! On here, you can sign up with your e-mail address to receive updates and more information, so far all I've gotten is the confirmation e-mail from the sign-up! I can't wait for more info though! There is also a countdown timer that is suppose to end at Midnight on Oct. 29 (so the beginning of Oct. 30). It's still speculated as to whether that's the release of the phone or if it's the official announcement of the phone.

The phone also got it's first commercial Saturday night during a football game. Luckily, lots of people caught video of it and posted it to youtube. It's still being debated who paid for the commercial since there is no Verizon logo, motorola logo, google logo or anything else in it. But it does have the link to the Verizon Droid page. The commercial is very similar to what's shown on the droiddoes.com as well.

Over at Phandroid.com they just renamed their rumored phone overview of the Sholes to the Motorola Droid.

Boy Genius Report has a copy of the phone and just posted a whole gallery full of pictures.

Here's the most recent thread I've been watching at Howard Forums:Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource. This is just a bunch of people speculating on the phone specs, release date, how they think it looks, stuff like that.

Now here is some information rumored for this phone that I'm excited about:

*comes with a 8gb sd card

*comes with a docking charger that turns it into a cool multimedia display

*slide-out keyboard, as well as a soft-keyboard (software, touch screen)

*Google Experience

*Android 2.0,

*5mpg camera, plus flash, face recognition, and a rumored night mode

*facebook app

*so many other apps available (the star constellation one! and so many others)

*Much better contacts list then I'm use to!

*Google Voice

*Only 1/2 an inch thick

*3.5mm headset jack

*wifi, bluetooth, usb2.0

Here's what I'm hoping it has that hasn't been leaked:

*fingerprint analysis in the middle of the D-pad

*fm tuner

*MUCH larger SD card available in future

Downsides:

*smartphone so requires the $30 smartphone plan :(

*marketed as an iphone killer. Really? Who cares, though I do like the commercial.

*not shown to have a dedicated number row on the keyboard

*the lock phone option seems a bit tedious

*Motorola, I'm really hoping since it's a google device it's not the same as their others that I've hated, I just really haven't cared for any motorola handset in the past (though they are my dad's favorite)

Well, there is much more info out there but I'm out of time so here you go! I'm sure there will be more to come in the weeks ahead!

All photos are from http://www.boygeniusreport.com

More Detailed Explanation of Android

Ok, so it's really easy for me to go all technical and then have no one know what I'm talking about, so for those of you out there who want to know what on earth android is. Here's a better explanation (I'm sure you know what Java is since it's practically a neccessity online nowadays).

Android is an open source operating system for cellphones. Though there is one coming out for laptops or netbooks as well. Open source means they provide the code and anyone is allowed to program for it. When I was looking at downloading the utilities provided by android for programming an android app, I found out that their apps are written in java, so that's how they tie in together.

It terms of the android devices (the Mytouch phone is one example) it's similar to the iphone in that it will have a large marketplace for apps and anyone can write an app and submit it for other people to be able to use. You can find more specific info on the android website. So, anyway, the phone is practically suppose to be a handhelp computer. I like the upcoming Motorola Droid because of it's hard slide-out keyboard (won't just have a soft-one on the touch screen). As well, the specs for it look great! My only problem with it really is that it's a Motorola, but I'm really hoping they've made a good one this time! So, as soon as it comes out I'm going to be checking it out and if I really don't care for it, I can wait and see about the HTC Desire (I think that's what's rumored as to what they're naming it anyway. It only has a soft keyboard though, which isn't as appealing to me.

For more information on these and other android phones (out, announced, and rumored!) you can check out my favorite websites to check out :)

Phandroid.com
Boy Genius Report

If you've got any other questions, let me know!

Android and Java

So, for Dennis' senior project he's planning on writing an application for the android devices and I've been looking up stuff and trying to help him come up with a project idea. Well, I've decided I want to try my hand at programming and I'm going to try to write a program too :) The android apps are written in Java so I have started learning Java. I've actually wanted to learn it for quite a few years since it's so widely used but I've never taken the time to. So, this should be a fun learning experience!

In the meantime. Anyone have any ideas of some good apps to write for an android device? Neither of us have hit on a really good one, yet.

When I Feel Like I Haven't Done Enough

So, yesterday I felt like I just didn't do anything around the house, and was well, for the most part just too lazy yesterday. Then when Dennis got home he started commenting on how he could tell I did a lot around the house. It bugs me when he does that because then I feel even worse about how little I've been doing!

Well, recently, I started creating a "To do" list for every day of the week. Included on it are things like 20mins cleaning the kitchen, 20 mins cleaning the living room, vacuum, dishes, laundry. Those types of things and others like make sure the girls brush their teeth or get a bath. I had made a goal to try to accomplish atleast 10 things on the list every day! Now, I'll admit it, I'm not very good at ending up getting 10 things every day, but I knew it was a high goal when I set it, and the longer I seem to pay attention to it, the better I'm getting.

Well, I was looking at my list this morning and I realized, that yesterday, I not only met my goal of 10, I surpassed it. Now, the interesting thing is that that is only the 3rd or 4th time this month that I've accomplished it. So, why did I feel so lazy and bad about how little I had done?

I'll also admit that I struggle with feeling adaquate enough; and that I don't accomplish the things around the house, and with the girls that I should be doing. (who doesn't?) But to actually see that feeling correlate to a day when I obviously was doing the things that I needed to. What does that mean? Obviously, the numbers don't lie so I must have had a fulfilling day yesterday.

Since making my list, most days, it really helps me to feel that, even though the house isn't spotless, and the girls sometimes run wild (think of the sharpies!) that it's not because I'm not doing enough, it's just the way life is around here with two small children. And I can see the accomplishments that I've made that day. Yes, the house might be a disaster, but I really did clean it! Just because two little girls have a habit of getting out all the toys once they're put away, trying to unfold all the laundry (really, they think they're helping!), and all the fun things that little kids do.

When I was going to school or working there were set things in place like grades and performance reviews to gauge how well you were doing and I always did well and I always knew I was doing well. I never worried about things like that until after I started staying at home. Yes, Dennis would tell me he could tell I'd done a lot, or thank me for doing this or for doing that, but it just wasn't the same for me (Though, who does it matter most to if not him?).

This morning, I began to wonder, is it Satan working on me to try to destroy my self confindence in my abilites to get things done? And I've decided it must be, because looking back, I know a lot of times when I've felt like I just haven't done enough are the days that Dennis has commented on just how much I have done! So, perhaps, those days were similar, I had done the things I needed to do. But that those days when I'm feeling the lowest, maybe I should take a step back and listen to my husband when he tells me he can tell I've done a lot that day. And maybe, just maybe, I have :)

Little Girl Clothes!

So, it's great, the girls were both born in May. Same season and everything. So, we should be able to use all the same clothes, right? Wrong!

Charity was so tall that she was in 18 month size clothes by now and even though they were too big around the middle, we made them work. Well, Danielle isn't quite tall enough for 18month size clothes yet and they are all way too big around the middle. Which means, that all of our 12-month stuff is more summery and now that's it cold I have 2 choices, have Danielle run around in clothes that are a bit too big for her or go pay a whole bunch of money to buy warmer 12-month size clothes (Seriously, we have like 3 pairs of pants for size 12-months!). What to do? What to do? Well, we all know the answer to that, she is just about tall enough for the 18 month stuff, I'm just not ready for that! lol. She's at that awkward in between stage between 12-18 months where 12 months is starting to look too small but 18 months is starting to look too big, and to add to her skininess the 18month is just too big around the waist. Really, we had the same problem with Charity, just a bit earlier so the transition was easier!

OK, I'm done complaining now, lol. Going to go finish putting up most of the 12 month stuff now...

Been a While

Written Oct 4.:

It's been a few weeks since my last update. I really need to get better!


So, I figured I would update and let everyone know that we had a good weekend overall. My parents came down to visit and watched Conference with us. Between Sessions on Saturday we went to the DI. Charity kept trying to run around. Well, at one point, a lady came up to me and told me that Charity had run into her (Uh oh, I'm thinking) but that she looked up at her and said excuse me and she was just so happy to see a girl with such good manners. lol.

Written Oct 7:

Well, we found out yesterday afternoon that when my nephew started feeling sick near the end of the weekend, it was the swine flu. So, he's out of school this week and feeling terrible and we all might have been exposed to it! Great. So, now we're just keeping an eye out for any sickness symptoms :( Dennis has to go to work but I'm keeping the kids and I at home, just in case, this week because I don't want us spreading it if we did catch it. The worst part, though, is that my friend had her baby this weekend and the baby's lung weren't developed so she had to be taken to Primary Children's and we watched her 2-year old little boy this weekend, so he may have been exposed to it as well! :( Great timing! or NOT! Well, here's hoping none of us get sick around here!!!