American Idol Top 9 Again

Oh dear. Adam is the mentor and I'm sure many are appalled by this. I'm sure he'll perform tomorrow night and that promises to be nothing short of scandalous. All in true Adam form.

Can I just say that I'm glad that the save has been used? I've never really been on board with it anyway. It seemed kind of an odd addition so late into the game. And Frankly, it just adds something for Ryan to be excessively dramatic about.

I'm not a big Elvis fan at all, so I'm not anticipating loving tonight, but right out of the gate CRYSTAL does something really unexpected and sings a song that I've never heard before. And the electric guitar? Woot!

And G - did you see Sue right behind the judges? Ha ha!!!

I really like what ANDREW did with his song. Changed it up just enough so it wasn't the same boring song that we've heard 12.5 million times, but didn't change it so much that it was unrecognizable. And Randy - I'm pretty sure karaoke would be trying to copy the version with no changes and doing a poor imitation. Just my opinion. And after hearing what the rest of the judges said, I would NOT want to be Andrew. He can't win no matter what he does. He either changes it too much or not enough - never the amount that would make the judges happy. He is FOREVER being compared to a performance that he obviously can't duplicate, because if he could have - he would have by now. I like him, but I don't think he has a lot of time left.

Turban? Really? Now that's just rude, cracking a (stupid) joke right before TIM sings. Lame, Seacrest. I'm not sure about this performance. I like the idea of it. I don't think he quite pulled it off, and I really wish he'd taken Adam's advice. At least then if he bombed, he could blame in on Adam. But as it stands he just gets to wonder IF it would have been better IF he'd taken the advice of the guy who went to the finals last year.

I think I might be back to undecided where LEE is concerned. He's good but boring. Tonight's performance? Good, but boring. However, 1327 bonus points for not inviting the bagpiper back. Am I right or am I right?

One word, AARON. Awkward. At least the beginning. Killer vocal, though. I must say. I agree with Randy - then end was better than the beginning.

SIOBAHN. I like that her scream wasn't full force. And her hair was very Elvis. Not my favorite performance of hers.

MICHAEL kinda killed it. Boy can sing.

Those shoes would be a guaranteed wipe out for me. Mad props to KATIE for staying vertical. Vocals weren't bad either. Pretty brave to sing 'what do you want from me' to the judges. Nice work.

Bluesy is definitely Casey's hometown. I thought it was good but a little boring. he definitely could have done more.

I have a hard enough time guessing one person that's leaving, no clue who the two will be.

Click on over to Boomama to see what everyone's saying.

Road Trippin' With A 2 Year Old

As mentioned here, my family and I enjoyed a lovely extended vacation in Georgia. Well, my daughter and I hijacked my husbands work trip and called it a vacation. Regardless, it was a very enjoyable trip. My hubby golfed, I shopped and Chloe went to the Monkey Joe's, The Georgia Aquarium and Imagine It! Children's Museum. We also spent some time serving some awesome people as they begin an amazing journey planting a church. We also spent a lot of time with dear family. It was truly a wonderful time.

The downside was the drive. It was a 10 hour trip under normal circumstances. Add one very wiggly 2 year old and it becomes a 14 hour journey.

Here's what kept me from jumping out in Ohio.

1. Low Expectations. We had very low expectations. We allowed enough time to stop and stay over, if necessary. Thankfully we didn't have to, but we were prepared to.

2. Lots of snacks. And a variety of snacks. My daughter will wait (semi) patiently while I peel an orange. I'm a little obsessive about getting all the pith off, so this kills lots of time! I also made some bags of homemade trail mix. On the way there, I thought it was a bad idea, because she only wanted the chocolate chips (Apple doesn't fall far from the tree) and she made a mess. On the way home, I didn't care about a mess - I was more concerned with distracting her... I'm not gonna lie. I had a stash of candy for an emergency back up plan on the way home, and I used it. Twice.

3. Grab bags. I had mini purses, make-up bags and other small bags and I filled them with necklaces, small toys and books, stickers and a note card to stick them on, and anything else I could think of to fit in there. When she would get bored, mad or beg to get down (Me Down!?!? = Heartbreaking) I would break out a grab bag and it would entertain her for a bit.

4. Balloons. I would blow them up, let them squeak, blow the air in her face and let them go and fly all over the truck. This killed A LOT of time. I got sick of it WAY before she did. (I tend to get a little car sick, and the turning around to look at her in the back seat was not helping matters.)

5. A Mirror. A friend recommended this and I'm really glad I took it. Girlfriend LOVES to stare at herself... ;)

6. A portable DVD player. Obviously. What kid doesn't love to watch movies? We used this as an absolute last resort. Mostly because we didn't want to listen to it for 10 hours and we knew that when everything else failed, this would still distract her for at least another hour. We did bust it out both on the way down and the way home, but not until the end of the trip. It totally did the trick.

7. Glow sticks. God Bless whomever invented glowsticks. And God Bless The Dollar Tree, where I bought said glow sticks. Genius. Genius. Make Einstein look STUPID, Genius. If you will be in the car at night, RUN! Do not walk to the nearest dollar store (or Roller Rink) and get ya some glow sticks.

8. Bead threading kit. Another dollar store find. I'd been looking for something like this for a while and hadn't found anything age appropriate. Apparently Jesus is the buyer at the Newnan Dollar Tree because He saved me once again. Wooden blocks with holes in them and a large shoe lace = awesome way to kill about an hour. She couldn't thread them, but she sure gave it the ol' college try. For an HOUR. God BLESS the Dollar Tree.

9. Allow time for stopping. All day in the car is just too stinkin' long. On the way down we stopped twice. Once at a McD's playland, which was totally not age appropriate... I wouldn't know because I'm a huge germophob and have never let her in one. Gasp! Unless there are different ones, we haven't been missing anything. Later that day for our dinner stop, we went to a mall play area. (Another first experience, I know - we didn't have to drive all the way to Knoxville to go to a Mall Play Area for the first time.) Way more age appropriate. She was able to run off tons of energy. This was a great decision. On the way home it was GORGEOUS, so we went to a park, played on the equipment, kicked a ball around, blew bubbles and ran ran ran. I think this made all the difference in the world. She didn't have nearly as much energy to say - Me Down!??!? Praise God.

10. Children's Music. It makes me a little crazy, but not nearly as crazy as a screaming child. It was either walk home from Kentucky or listen to Elmo. I don't exercise, so the choice was an easy one.

So. Those are my secrets for surviving a road trip with a 2 year old. Happy Trails!

For more great tips visit We Are That Family.

American Idol Top 9

I'm baaaaack!

Please excuse Rachel @ Must Share... She was on VACATION and could not be in attendance to the American Idol blog carnival for the past two weeks. Thank you for understanding.

I did watch the majority of both shows, and was very excited to see Paige go and very sad to see Didi go... But I won't miss the judges destroying her self-esteem bit by bit.

Aaron

He is strong enough vocally, that I think he could sing the song from the Meow Mix commercial and be fine. I agree with the judges, though. Pretty old and boring.

Katie

She is another super strong vocal performance, but it wasn't more interesting than my computer. I wasn't as wowed as the judges.

Andrew

I think he changed it up just enough. I like what he did with it, but I'd have to agree with Randy. Slightly corny. But I'll tell you what. I want to know what product is in his hair. I want to go to there.

Michael

I'm surprisingly blown away by this. I still wish Michael would drink Humble Potion #9, but brotha can sing, for sure. This is the first performance that has drawn me in. Props, Michael.

Side Note: I hate hate HATE when the singer tries to punch the air, or jump or swing their arms in time with the last drumbeat, or guitar I don't know... whatever. Okay, I don't even know how to put words to this, but I know that I know that you know. A. They nearly always fail. B. Even when they don't, it's still stupid. C. A.N.N.O.Y.I.N.G.

Crystal

Love that they call her Momma Sox. Too cute. Is it me or this not her strongest vocal? I love what she's done with the song and in spite of it not being her absolute best, it's refreshing to see her growing and improving through out this competition. I definitely see her getting better and better as time goes by. Honestly, I didn't think that was even possible!

Tim

I'm kind of impressed tonight. So far, I think he's sounding great. Again, I'm no pitch master, but sounds good to me! I like the straight hair, too. Kind of a sudden and undramatic ending. I feel like he could have made more of a statement.

Oh Simon, God Bless you for that nice speech. Tim will be floating home tonight smilin' wide!

Casey

Um, wow. That was captivating. I'm pretty sure I've never heard that song before, but I want to hear it again. That was totally brill, yo. And I have to agree with the angelic comment someone made.

Siobhan

I'm having the strangest visual... That skirt reminds me of a peacocks tail, and I'm just waiting for the song to pick up in tempo, her to stand up and the skirt to turn into a true peacocks tail. And there you have it. I'm either really tired or that was very boring. I think it's the boring one. Yes, Randy. Super sleepy.

Lee

YES!! I was totally going to type that I think he would ROCK Hey Jude. Homeboy read my mind!!!! Hmm... Except for the part about rockin' it. Ohmyword at the bag pipes! This is so strange. Oh, Lee. This was not what I had in mind. In my opinion, he should have broke into the more rockin' style way earlier. The slow parts were rough, and while his gravelly tone is growing on me, it's still just a little too much. The beginning was just... Ah! I'm trying to like him, but this was a big disappointment for me. SOOOOO interested to hear what the judges say. Oh Ellen, you are hilarious! The parade comment. Yes, totally. Thank you, Simon, for saying what everyone in the room (and in rooms all around the country) were thinking. When they panned to the audience when the bagpiper who got separated from his parade came out, no one looked impressed... Weird.

Bottom 3... Katie, Tim and Andrew? No idea, really. Maybe they'll vote the bagpiper off.

And oh sweet mercy did you see Lee and the bagpiper both do the last note thing?!?! Unbelievable. And I hope that this is the last time I ever have to use the word bagpiper in an American Idol post. Seriously.

See what everyone else is saying at Boomama.