6yo Politics

Carie was getting the girls into bed tonight, reading books, etc... Our typical nightly routine. They were reading pages out of this humungous book... The Giant Book of Questions and Answers... or something to that effect.

They were reading about how teddy bears were invented and how they were named after Roosevelt.

Tangent 1... Abby wanted to know if they still killed baby bear cubs to make teddy bears. No honey, they don't kill bear cubs to make teddy bears!

Tangent 2... So there was a conversation that then spawned about Roosevelt. They started talking about him which then turned to talking about elections. Then they talked about how elections happen every 4 years and this year was an election year. They talked about how you have to be 18 to vote, yadda, yadda, yadda. They both then asked if they could come with us. They were both excited about this possibility and Carie says absolutely you can come with us. We can totally make that happen.

Ellie then commented on how she really wanted to come with us because... she's "never seen anyone die before".

Whoa... Who is dying?

Ellie: "George W. Bush"

Why do you think he is going to die?

Ellie: "Because there is an election for a new President!"

Carie explained how he won't die and how presidents are elected for terms and when their turn is over someone else gets a turn. He won't die; it is just someone else's turn to be President.

Ellie: "Oh, okay"

Some Things Grow... Some Things Don't

The kids are growing... a lot... all of them. We have never gone through a growth spurt quite like this one.

So as summer was approaching its end and school was about to begin we knew it was time to get new tennis shoes. They hadn't worn any all summer and it was time to get their feet used to reality. I'll preface this with the fact that I know how to fit shoes. My first "career" out of college was a management training program at a national woman's athletic shoes store. I know it sounds crazy, but the program was actually quite wonderful. I knew (back then) the in's and out's of athletic shoes for women and children. Within about a month of the easiest shoe shopping trip we have ever had, selecting a style that appealed to everyone and finding the perfect size in the perfect colors, Ellie had outgrown them. And Abby wasn't far behind!

Given the recency of the new shoe purchase, I suggested that Carie locate the same shoe in a bigger size. Surely we hadn't grown weary of the style and we knew they had fit really well; they just aren't long enough anymore. All was good. Then recently Abby mentioned that her shoes were feeling a bit snug. I check and sure enough they are. We pull out the new pair and put them on. But wait a minute... those aren't big enough either! I mean, they fit. But there most definitely isn't adequate growth room in them and I'd like to do our part in preventing another shoe purchase in another month. We still need to resolve this.

The boy is totally in need of new tennis shoes. We've been looking for options for his wide feet. One week he measured a 10. We went in with the intent to buy shoes but they didn't have anything we cared for in his size. Then a week (maybe two) later we found ourselves looking for shoes again and he measured an 10 1/2. I think we'll hold out another week or two to see if we can catch the end of this particular growth spurt.

Then there are the jeans. We stumbled upon the mother of all sales at Children's Place. Their online outlet store had jeans on clearance for $4.99 a pair and we could use our 15% off coupon on top of that. You do the math! I should also mention that these are THE pair of jeans that we know we can get to fit Abby & Ellie. So we have the girls try on the jeans we have and determine that the 5's look awesome on them. They fit nicely, everywhere. There's a good amount of length to them without them walking on them. And bonus, the size we want is available! They didn't have the next size up. So we order many pairs of them and we find some for Spencer as well. I'm sure you see where this is heading.

Then we had that cold weather spell and we pull out pants for everyone. Except the 5's that fit so nicely before are now shorter. They still fit, but any growth room that was there is now gone. Thank goodness we hadn't yet opened and washed that whole box of jeans from Children's Place!!! But now what to do? Now we aren't as set as we thought we were. Oh, and the pants didn't fit Spencer either. It seems that he is going to somewhat skip over size 4T and go straight to 5's. The 4's fit but again I wouldn't stock up on them as they won't fit for long. Thankfully we have hand-me-down jeans in size 5... some size 5 slim... and those fit nicely. I can't believe how great the 5 slims fit! We've never been able to skip over a whole size before!

Lately Spencer is waking early in the morning and immediately going to the kitchen and telling us that he is hungry and he is ready for "dinner". Okay bud, how about we have some breakfast! He actually sits and eats a great breakfast before declaring that he is full. Saturday night in an attempt to tide him over and hopefully get him to sleep longer we had a 2nd snack (after getting home from the park). They had yogurt and scrambled eggs. It got him to sleep a little bit longer but he still woke declaring that he was hungry. He goes straight for the kitchen and straight to the breakfast cupboard.

When we come into contact with people who we haven't seen in a couple months they are astonished at how much he has grown. Sure, we see that he is growing but seeing him day to day we don't really notice just how much. He is now a solid 42" tall. We need to find his 3yr well check papers to see how much he has grown. I know he has grown since our Adventureland trip two months ago. Then he was under 42" and we were hoping with tennis shoes and a complacent park worker they wouldn't notice and he could ride the rides with Abby & Ellie.

But then there is a part of Spencer's body that he thinks will grow and well frankly they likely won't. At least not for a long time and totally not in the way that he is anticipating they'll grow.

This morning as he was getting dressed to go to school we had a fascinating exchange. He was standing there - nekkid - in front of me...

Spencer: Touching his chest. "They aren't growing!"
Me: Well honey, they won't grow.
Spencer: Why? (as he is now touching my chest)
Me: Well honey, they don't grow for boys but they do for girls. (Fully knowing that there are variations of growth/sizes for both genders... but he is THREE)
Spencer: Continues to touch me.
Me: Honey, you need to know that it isn't appropriate to touch other people’s chests. This is a private area and you can touch yourself but when we are around other people we shouldn't touch other people. Basically (In my head I'm thinking)... when you get to school please do not touch Mrs. W.!
Spencer: Why?

Then again tonight! Carie is helping him get his jammies on.

Spencer: Grabbing his chest, pinching his nipples, and yanking on them he says "they haven't grown yet".
Carie: What hasn't grown yet?
Spencer: "My muscles, they haven't grown yet!"

Yeah, this isn't the first conversation we've had about this. Clearly it won't be our last.

Fabulous Family Weekend

Mixing some spontaneity with a partially planned weekend = a crazy busy and fabulously fun family weekend.

Friday night after dinner I was talking with a friend of ours when it hit me... hey, why don't we meet at the park? And so we did. Except, we didn't take into consideration just how early the sun is setting these days. But they did get to play for a bit. The kids were so cute and there were some wonderful photo ops... but not only did we not have our camera but it was way too dark. After the park we decided to continue the play date back at their house where we all had an incredible time but stayed entirely too late.

Saturday morning met us with swimming lessons. I'm so thankful that we selected a mid-morning slot! Abby & Ellie have really enjoyed taking swimming lessons at the High School. Last week they learned the "dolphin dive" and this week they learned how to dive standing up. And... they are in the 11' - 12' area of the pool! It has been so fun to watch their lessons. This week Ellie did fantastic on her diving... shocked the socks off us, her softball coach (whose daughter is in their class), and apparently her swimming teacher. Her teacher asked the other 3 girls if they saw Ellie's dive and then asked Ellie to demonstrate it again to her peers. It was definitely one of those proud mom moments!

Saturday afternoon while the boy napped, the girls had a play date at our house, and we worked on some house projects. Basically, the continuation of previous efforts to get things trimmed up and cleaned up outdoors. It seems like it is taking us weeks to get this stuff done, but a little at a time things are really shaping up. It is nice to be able to visually see the benefits of our efforts. We then ended up having a fantastic... political... conversation with Malien's mom when she came to came to pick her up. That was quite refreshing!

As soon as Abby & Ellie's friend had left we loaded up in the van and headed out to Mahoney State Park or (Ma)"honey SteaK Park" as Spencer called it... repeatedly. We couldn't hardly correct him he was so dang cute. We met up with some friends (same as Friday night) at the indoor activity center. It had been far too long since we have been there and we need to make sure we make this a frequent stop over this coming winter. The kids had such a blast running and playing with their best buds. We have totally reached a stage where we can say... "Do not go past this area without Mommy or Momma knowing!" And totally trust that they do. They were able to run, climb, slide, and just have fun. We were able to sit back, enjoy watching them be kids, and have a great time talking with our adult friends. We closed the place down before heading home for the ever so needed showers, a good snack, and off to bed.

Sunday morning we had planned on skipping Church in favor of checking out the new Acorn Acres area at Fontennelle Forest. It opened to the public on Sunday and they were having a large celebration with tons of activities and it was all FREE. One of the soccer moms works there and we were lucky enough to find out all about it. So that morning we met up with some other friends (who we convinced to skip Church with us!) to have a great morning of playing in nature. They were only open from 8-5 and we wanted to get there before it got crazy busy. We also had the treat of ridding on Ollie the Trollie from a nearby (overflow) parking area to the entrance. The kids thought that was pretty special!

After about 3 hours of playing, going on trails, making acorn necklaces, painting, tagging butterflies, making rain sticks, leaf prints, petting snakes, turtles and salamanders, it was time to leave and get some lunch. Not knowing really what to expect, we couldn't have planned it any better.

After lunch it was time to head home for the boy to take a nap. The girls' were also ready to veg out a bit. Carie and I would have loved to veg out as well, but we pushed on. We got some power cleaning done in a short amount of time before some visitors stopped over. Come dinner time we decided that ordering out was in our best interest. The rest of the evening was vegging out, chatting with neighbors, and playing outside in the nice cool breeze.

Nothing To Worry About?

I would wholeheartedly disagree.

Anyone a bit worried this week after the market has been dropping left and right? Anyone?

Maybe THIS will help determine your vote in November! Corruption, lobbyists, scandals oh my! Where's the "CHANGE"?

Does it hit home yet?

There are plenty of other reasons I absolutely will not vote for McCain and adding Palin to his ticket made the reasons stack up even higher. Sure, I find her a bit... ummm... sexy (sorry to any family reading this). But I absolutely cannot stand 1) The politics that are being played by McCain selecting her (oh come on, you know this is true) or 2) Any of the political views that she holds.

Methinks that I'm not the only one who doesn't support her policies. Wow, what an excellent article! Doesn't it speak volumes that a large number of her own people don't support her? And keep in mind, the first was a "Welcome Home" rally and the second was an "Alaskan Woman's" rally! I'd take the leap to assume that these Women represent the views of their family. A family that contains multiple voters and definitly multiple members of the overall population, voters or not. A much larger number turned out in opposition than in support. Remember the total population we are talking about!!! Remember the millions of dollars of federal funding she lobbied for to better the lives of those she serves. They sure seem appreciative, now don't they?

Sometimes we get accused of being the "one issue" voter. Well, because that one issue is pretty darn obvious. Kinda hard to hide behind the fact that we are gay and that we have a family!!! I guess if we locked our kids in the closet it would help. But really?

While that one issue is huge for us, there are plenty more reasons why I absolutely could not consider voting for them. It also concerns me that I don't feel that people get just how huge this one issue is for us. It's just one issue, it shouldn't really matter. Right? It isn't as important as say the economy, or the war for instance. Oh yeah, but those also affect us... remember.

It is a scary scary time. I can't believe that they even have a shot at winning this election, but I also cannot believe that "W" won twice. Pinch me now!

And HERE is some of "W's" latest fine work. With the passing of this WE could be refused treatment simply because we are gay. Okay, so I don't even like going to the doctor. But seriously! Yeah, I totally get that the average person won't get that this is what this bill will do. But coming from our perspective, the one's living in this life; this is totally what it will do. I fully believe that the administration knows it, too.

Will it happen at every hospital or in every physician's clinic? No. Will it happen? Absolutley Yes. I ask... why???

Oh, and it is estimated that it will cost us $44.5 million a year to administer.

I guess he doesn't have an economy to worry about, now does he? Or maybe this is his solution for creating jobs?

But yeah... I can't believe people use the excuse... "We've come a long way" now haven't we? and "We should be grateful for what we have", by darn!

Why shouldn't we want better? Why shouldn't I want to protect MY children? Why shouldn't I want to provide health insurance to my whole family? Why shouldn't I want to provide benefits to my whole family?

Why should I settle for less?

Would you?

A Visual

We are still working on the crapping in the toilet phase with The Boy. He can do it. He has done it. He does not care! He knows that when he does it "a lotta lotta times" (something that resonates with him) he gets to go to the Pizza Bachine.

I think we may have turned a corner yesterday.

I come upstairs to get dinner started and I catch a whiff. I stop to do something and then investigate where that awful smell is coming from. First stop, the main bathroom. Bingo!

There stood Spencer clearly so proud of himself. He had his poop filled underpants down around his knees and streams of toilet paper hanging over the toilet... half in and half all over the floor. It was a TP job gone bad.

He says "I'm wiping!"

There was a high potential that the toilet was going to be clogged. There was poop everywhere... and of course we had just cleaned the bathroom a few hours prior. But he was so proud of his efforts! It was so horribly cute that I had to call for Carie to come check it out. As a bonus... she cleaned him up. Somehow I scored on that one! I didn't just watch, I returned to dinner prep!

So yeah, he still crapped in his pants... big time. But he noticed it! He didn't just sit in it for someone else to notice that he stunk.

I call this progress.

Another Big Step In Growing Up

And this one... this one was seemingly harder on Carie than going off to Kindergarten was. Maybe this is where I mention that Carie didn't shed a tear with the Kindergarten or 1st grade transition. That seemed to be my job.

Both Abby & Ellie were invited to a birthday party. Not just any birthday party, a birthday party and a sleepover. In addition to the fact that they were able to fully read the invitation, it was just going to be absolutely impossible to keep this bit of info from them. They were going to find out and it was best that it came from us.

See... our reactions upon reading the invitation were very much different.

I open the mail, read the invitation, and think "oh shit". I share news with Carie who wanted to cover her ears and ignore what I was telling her. I guess we just weren't ready for this!

A bit later we happily present the invitations to Abby & Ellie. They look them over and begin to read them. They are first way excited that they are invited to Jensyn's birthday party. Then, THEN they get to the part about the sleep over and their faces couldn't have been brighter. They've "always wanted to go to a sleepover". Yeah, just like everything happened when they were 3! They didn't care about the next part that read "Parents - If the child does not want to spend the night, please pick up by 9:30". That part didn't exist to them!

They have never been away from home AND away from us overnight. They've been away from home with us. They've been home overnight without us. But never both at the same time. Never. We've just never had a need to.

We called to RSVP them for the birthday party portion and opted to think about the sleepover portion. We successfully ignored the elephant in the room for about 2 weeks. But we couldn't ignore it forever.

There were some good reasons for concern. Reasons I won’t go into. Then there was the emotional and irrational part (mostly self diagnosed ;) ). All combined with Abby & Ellie's 6yo views and desire to stay for the sleepover portion. I was stuck in the middle. I could really see both sides.

After Carie's really great conversation with Jensyn's mom, we decided to give it a try. Or at least, let Abby & Ellie decide what they want to do. They, of course, decided to give it a try. We knew that was coming.

Sure, I had worries. Sure I really wish this wouldn't have come up yet! But it did and I really feel that this particular scenario was a good one. If we were to hand pick a family to experience our first sleepover with, this family would be one. We aren't "friends" with the family, but we know them. We know them and like them. They have been to Jensyn's house for play dates. Jensyn has been to our house for play dates and a birthday party. The mom seems incredibly nice, really down to earth, really kind and caring, and a great mom. The dad and brother also seem quite nice, but I hear they are going to skedaddle because there will be too many girls in the house. Thirteen girls to be exact. LOL

So I decided that we needed to make their first sleepover very special. We got them their very own sleeping bags. Carie ran all over town yesterday morning looking for just the perfect bags for them. She found a couple of options and not knowing which one they would choose, she picked up two from one store and knew that another store had another option. I would later get that other option if that was of interest to either of them. I actually had envisioned this being a great Christmas item for them but the perfect time seemed to be now.

Carie showed them their new sleeping bags after getting off the bus. To say that they were excited is a huge understatement. Carie showed them their options and just as I had anticipated, Abby showed interest in the other option still at the other store. So I left work early on a mission to pick that up. I arrived home to find them literally bouncing off the walls. They were just so silly, so happy, and so excited.

Carie had their bags all packed and organized. She walked through their bags with each of them. Given that there were going to be 13 girls at this party, we totally limited what we were sending. Still, our arms were overflowing with stuff! I envisioned stuff pulled out of all the bags and strewn everywhere. We walked through various scenarios on what to do when. On the way we quizzed them about all the things we talked about. They did good! At least it made us feel better!

We dropped them off, gave the Mom all of our contact info, and chatted. Spencer was adamant that he was going to the party too. He didn't care that there were so many girls. So Carie & Spencer stayed in the van while I ran them up... in the rain. Jensyn's mom was so caring and understanding! She could totally tell (from the phone conversation) that Carie was having a hard time with this. She asked how Carie was doing! She totally understood and said she had a hard time when her older son (now a 4th grader) went on his first sleepover. She ensured us that she would call... at any time! Perfect.

In all the excitement, trepidation, and chaos getting everything and everyone where they needed to go I didn't get a single picture. I'm bummed.

Then Carie, Spencer and I went out for an evening of fun. It was different being just the three of us. But we had a great evening. Spencer was ready to get Abby & Ellie at the end of the night. Then this morning he wanted to get cereal for them. We reminded him that they were at Jensyn's house and he and I would go get them soon. We then had fun building towers.

I didn't really know what to expect, but I wouldn't have at all been surprised if we got a call at some point. We had our home phone and both of our cell phones on our nightstand just in case. Nothing, nadda, no call. Wow!

Spencer and I went to get them this morning so they could go to their swimming lessons. All the kids were supposed to be picked up by 11. We picked them up at about 9:30 and most of the kids were still there. We went to swimming lessons that started at 10 and then stopped back over to Jensyn's house to get the pillows that we had forgotten. Oops! I almost suggested skipping swimming lessons figuring that they would be exhausted. Nope! They were ready to go and did great. They have to crash at some point, right?

They both had a great time and they both are up for doing it again. Jensyn's mom was very happy to have them and very complementary. She said they could come over any time. I love that they are so easy to be around, so kind and polite. We knew about 8-9 of the other girls that were there and I'd totally not say that about a couple of them! I appreciate all her comments, but in reality we only have a part to play in who they are. Both Abby & Ellie's personalities are just wired in a way that makes it easier for us as parents.

Bottom line, sleepover was a success.

Hilarious

It is Day 4 of preschool and Spencer's teacher has already figured out just how important candy is to him.

No, I'm not excited about using candy as a reward. But it is such a small amount and it had such a large impact. And let’s face it; he has been bribed with treats before. Unfortunately. Unfortunately this is the single largest motivator for him. Thank goodness he also loves his fruits and veggies!

It was kinda crazy at our house this morning and Carie ended up driving the bigger kids to school. Everyone was moving a little slow, Abby ate enough breakfast for the week (yay!), it was pouring buckets of rain, and oh - yesterday there was a little bus incident between Ben and the boy he sits next to on the bus. So, Carie opted to drop them off this morning.

But in all the craziness of getting everyone where they needed to be when they needed to be, Carie didn't manage to remind Spencer about cleaning up and listening to his teacher. So upon her return to pick him up she asked how it went.

Let's just say he was a little eager to be a good helper today.

We hit the jackpot with teachers this year. His preschool teacher rocks!

Something's Up

I don't know what it is. I don't know when we'll figure it out. But something is definitely up!

It seems like it isn't just our kids that are out of whack. Is it the weather changes? Is it the upcoming full moon? Is there something exciting coming up that I don't know about? Are we worried about something?

All 3 of our kids aren't themselves. I swear something is up!

Tuesday afternoon we got an e-mail from Ellie's teacher... it was such a nice note and so sweet of her to reach out to us to give us a heads up.

"I just wanted to write you a quick note to let you know about Eliana today. This afternoon (around 3 - just before we get ready to go home) she started crying. I asked her if she was okay, and she said "no", so Iasked her if she wanted to talk about it. She said "no" again. I told her to go walk and take a drink from the fountain and take some deep breaths and she did that and seemed okay when she got back into the classroom. She didn't want to talk about it before the end of the day either, but I was just giving you both the heads up in case she talks about anything at home with you. I want to make sure she is safe and happy here, so if she mentions anything to you please let me know!"

We had a great talk right before bed and still there was nothing really to talk about. We did somehow get in a natural conversation about being safe, who to go to if you need to talk, privacy and safe touching. She is a natural worrier so we were trying to figure out if she was worried/nervous/concerned about something. She just doesn't seem to be herself right now and ultimately I think a large part of it is because she is tired. She is tired because she isn't sleeping well. She isn't sleeping well... because... something is up! Vicious circle!

Tuesday night it was Spencer's turn. Something woke him and he had a complete meltdown of a tantrum in his bed. Poor guy! Finally we got him settled down enough to agree to lie in our bed to watch a show. That really settled him down. But, he demanded that Mommy had to sleep in his bed. Finally after the show everyone got re-situated and we could resume sleep.

Then last night we were woken to Ellie screaming. She was out of bed and coming towards us screaming Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. The rest was incomprehensible. She was so out of it! Once she settled down she climbed right back into bed and acted like nothing happened.

This morning everyone was okay... just moving slow. Thank goodness the weekend is almost here!

I swear... Something is up!

Apple Picking

We managed to get a trip in to the apple orchard before the rain cut loose... again.

Carie and I knocked out a fair amount of yard work while Spencer was napping. He laid down for a nap a little on the early side hoping that if the weather would hold out we'd go to the apple orchard after his nap. The weather was quite questionable! We started wrapping up our yard work when we felt drops coming from the sky. But then suddenly it cleared off and we saw some sun. We thought we'd go for it and see what happened. I'm glad we did!

We've been working on our transition routines and it showed. We managed to relatively spontaneously decide to make the trip to the orchard and within 20 minutes we were all ready to go and on the road. That included getting Abby & Ellie home from a neighbor's house!

As we were buckling up Spencer was curious as to where we were going.

Carie: We are going somewhere exciting!
Spencer: Are we going to Bounce U?
Carie: Nope, it is more exciting than Bounce U.
Spencer: Are we going to the Pizza Bachine?
Carie: Nope, it is more exciting than the Pizza Machine.
Spencer: The Geotrax Pizza Bachine?

We didn't know there was such a thing!

We arrived, they were open, and the weather was perfect. It didn't take long to pick 40lbs of apples! The kids also had a great time in the butterfly garden and corn maze.

We then went into Lincoln to get some dinner. That turned out to be a really good experience for everyone. Then we headed home and promptly got the kids to bed.

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Finally... here is a look at last weekend!

It was awesome! Kicking it off with a hooky day on Friday sure didn't hurt!

Saturday afternoon we went to see our first production of the season (The Little Engine That Could) at The Rose. We have season tickets with some friends and after the show we went to their house for a bbq. It was heaven! They live on an acreage in such a perfect area. The weather was perfect. The company couldn't have been better. The kids absolutely love hanging out together. What a great day!

Sunday I went up to Church to fulfill our commitment to teach Sunday school. The kids had a nice slow start to the morning and they finished packing us up to head out to the lake. We arrived around noon-ish and were there for the duration of the day. The kids had tons of fun swimming, boat riding, jet skiing, tubing, water skiing, and just being kids.



























All of our kids went on the Jet Ski a few times. The girls were really excited about it and outright asked if they could go. Spencer needed a little bit of encouragement to ride but once we got going he couldn't get enough. Even near the end of our ride when I crashed a couple of wakes and sent water flying at us. We both just laughed and he told me not to do that again.













The girls had ridden on the tube earlier in the day and then Abby decided she wanted to try to water ski. Wow! Way to go Abby! She gave it a solid effort. She got up several times and went for a short distance. Unfortunately the "key" is to make it all around the island. She is convinced she can... next time. I know she can. We were so proud of her.

























Unfortunately several family members then thought they should pressure Ellie into giving it a try. Thankfully I got in a nice little chat with Ellie to let her know that it was totally her decision and it whatever she wanted to do was perfect. She could give it a try if she wanted to. We'd be there to help her. But if she didn't want to, that was totally okay with us. Thankfully I got her to focus in on me and my message instead of everyone else. She just didn't seem that interested in it and it didn't seem necessary to push her. She opted to give it a try another time. No big deal. All this pressure irritates me. This stuff doesn't or shouldn't define who they are.

But then I hear my (6yo) cousin say... "I thought Abby was the chicken, not Ellie." My other (6yo) cousin was standing right next to her and kind of thought she was cute. Thankfully neither of our girls was there. I told her that no one is a "chicken" and that is inappropriate! These two aren't particularly nice and it really irritates us. I don't much care to have my kids around them all that often. But they are the same age (6 girls born within 6 months of each other) and our kids really think the one that is local is cool. It just kills me that they think so highly of them! I just wish the feelings appeared to be mutual. I just can't take that snootiness coming from these young kids... and we have seen this go on for a few years now.

So after a long and fun day at the lake we stop at Zestos on the way out of town. We finally pull out at 10:00 and after a potty stop, a blankie stop, and some other forgotten stop we pull into the garage with all 3 sleeping children (unheard of!) at 10:55.

Monday Abby was begging to go back to the lake. Great Grandma was so kind to plant that as an option before we left Sunday night. Ugh! Abby was all convinced that if we'd go back up on Monday that she would most certainly be able to water ski all the way around the island. Ya know what, I'm sure she could have. But we couldn't spend another full day at the lake and going for a few hours just isn't a realistic option. So we ended up going down to the big slides and fed the swans and ducks more bread than they could eat. Our friends met us downtown and the kids were thrilled to see each other again. Then we treated ourselves to Ted & Wally's before heading home for a very late and much needed nap for Spencer.























After everyone was settled Carie and I kicked it into high gear and recovered the house. We had come and gone all weekend and it truly looked like it!

Later that night Carie's sister & BIL stopped by for a bit to kill some time before they had to pick someone up at the airport. After the kids were settled into bed we all sat back and vegged out.

The First And The Last

This is a first for me... talking about Republicans on my blog. I'm hoping it will be my last!

I had to check it out. I had to watch the Republican National Convention last night to see who this Palin was. I have absolutely no intention of voting for her, but I still had to see what all the buzz was about.

I actually didn’t know anything about Palin or the fact that McCain had picked his VP running mate until this past Saturday night. I’m assuming this was old news by this point. It came up in discussion when we were hanging out with our friends. It was a great conversation! When we got home I couldn’t help but look into it a bit more. I think all I could say was… wow!

This topic was again brought up at the lake Sunday afternoon. Being in different company and different views, it wasn’t as lengthy or nearly as nice as the conversation was the previous night. Of course one of the main contributors was a man who I wouldn’t ever expect to see the plausibility that McCain settled on a woman as a running mate to collect some of the Hillary voters, along with a long list of many other concerns.

This same man had the audacity to tell me that “our issues” don’t really matter because “look how far we have come”. Never mind how far we have yet to go. I happen to live in a state that hasn’t made progress, so don’t assume that all the coverage of same sex marriage in California has any current direct benefit to my family. Sure, there is benefit. We are making progress and because of that we benefit. I get that. But I still have no legal rights to marry my partner and I have no legal parental rights for 2 of my 3 children. If I would die today our government and legal system would not view my girls as my children and my son’s future would be in jeopardy. Why should I be happy with where our government is at on this issue?

I have to admit, if I were a swing voter and were waiting for that speech to cinch the deal for me, it would have. How one can be a swing voter when the candidates’ views are so widely different is beyond me, but if I were they would have definitely picked up some ground.

While I fast forwarded through the speech prior to her taking stage (I just couldn’t listen to Rudy any longer), I couldn't not watch all that she had to say. I thought she was good, really really good! She was convincing. She was eloquent. As far as the Republicans are concerned, I'd imagine they think that she fully delivered.

Oh, and kudos to the camera person who caught the youngest daughter licking the entire palm of her hand (ewww) to smooth out her baby brother's hair (awww).

But... After all the dust has settled a bit, I'm left thinking that she didn't really talk about HER. She defended herself against some of the recent attacks, but I didn't really feel that she played offense. It was just a really well written speech that was delivered exceptionally well.

Her record and her beliefs downright scare me. I'm afraid that people will get caught up in all the eloquence and charm and forget to ask the questions and look at the facts.

Another Soccer Game

It rained for a good part of the day (yay!) and we thought the game would get rescheduled, but they played on. Yesterday it was 90. Today it was 60. Suddenly it is cold. It might feel really nice if we made a slow decent into 60, but the 30 degree shift was a bit dramatic. Carie was thinking smart and put the girls in layers for the game. I'm really going to love the weather this week once the initial shock is over.

For a girl who said she didn't want to play this season, Abby sure has had a couple of great games! I’m thrilled that we challenged her nervousness and encouraged her. Tonight she started out as our goalie and she did fantastic. She was a riot! She had us laughing and cheering through a good part of the game. I was surprised she stayed in as goalie for as long as she did. She stopped many goal attempts and didn't hesitate to throw her body on the ball when it came into (or even near - LOL) her territory. Yeah, then we prayed that the other kids would stop trying to kick the ball! But there was Abby all after that ball and throwing herself at it.

Ellie also had another great game. She is a crazy player and always near the action and so fun to watch. Her personality really shines when she is playing. We can tell that she is really thinking about playing in her zone and trying to figure out this passing thing. It was so much easier when the big huddle of kids just followed the ball all over the short field!

The trio of soccer siblings having fun...

I love watching them have so much fun. But for us, the best part about tonight’s game was the sportsmanship and the kindness. Several times I saw Abby & Ellie congratulating each other as well as some of their teammates. One time I saw Ellie run up to Abby in the goalie box to give her a high five, a hug, and then a kiss on the cheek. Later in the game I saw Abby, without skipping a beat, give the new goalie a high five after stopping the ball. Our other parent friends thought that was way cool and so did we. We are quite proud of them! We sure feel lucky to have been graced with such awesome kids.

Spencer's First Day Of Preschool

There's so much to share from our holiday weekend, but first I'll post about more current news.

Today is the first day of preschool for our youngest.

All the kids were sleeping so soundly this morning that they all had to be woken up to get ready for school. As Carie took the big kids out to front for the bus I went to get him and at 8:15 he was still dead to the world. We had a busy weekend and it surely showed this morning!

But once he was up he was ready to go. Carie dropped him off and he did great. Before he left home he asked me to play with him. Then at drop off he asked Carie to play with him. He does this when he goes to the nursery at Church too. He just wants us to come in, hang out, and play with him. Carie handed him off to the teacher and off he went. I'll go meet them at pickup soon!

Ready to head off to preschool! What a ham!

It seems like it was just yesterday that we were sending Abby & Ellie off to preschool for the first time!





















Notice how much taller Spencer is on the first day of preschool.