goosebumps!

i can't wait!!!

popcorn

sooooo apparently my kids are not ready for the responsibility of popcorn ;o)

who me?

my worst nightmare

how great is this?!?!

a few (of many) reasons i'm voting for Obama!

with only one week left until election day i'm not hoping to change anyone's mind... just trying to clear mine. these reasons are simply my opinion. feel free to disagree on your blog...or better yet with your vote.

in random order:

1. the future - i feel like this is a pivotal time for our country in terms of either leading the technological revolution or following in the footsteps of a greater country. i know this is straight up ageism but i have a hard time seeing a senior citizen bringing our country to that positive realization. i don't feel comfortable with someone who will undoubtedly be dead in 20 years (or less) leading our future. on the other hand Obama is young and seems so level headed, thoughtful and intelligent something we've been sorely lacking in the White House over the last 8 years. what a breath of fresh air! i think Obama sees our country as a bounty of hopeful people, willing to make this country great again. he seems to have a distinct plan & all the energy to do it well.


2. pro-life should be more than anti-abortion - yes abortion sucks but i would never presume i knew better than anyone else about their situation. i also think that if you are going to be "pro-life" you should make sure that the people already on this planet are taken care of too. this would include feeding the hungry, visiting the lonely, adopting homeless children etc. and until that is being done i don't think anyone can stand idoly by while proclaiming the pro-life rhetoric. this being said Obama is against the war (which is anti-life), against the death penalty (which is anti-life) i also think that no matter which candidate is elected that abortion will be abolished therefore it is not a credible reason for me to vote Republican.

3. the issues: health care, education, environment, energy, economy etc. - have you looked at Obama's website? it's all very clear, easy to read and all the promises sound so wonderful! i'm not so naive to believe that they'll be able to do it all (especially working w/ this economy) but i'll be happy if they get to do 50% of it. drill baby drill just doesn't cut it for me. oh and we desperately need health care reform in this country and i think Obama has a much better plan... so hopefully that will be one of the things that gets done while he's in office.


4. role model - it's no secret that the African American community is suffering from "missing baby daddy syndrome" and while this isn't a big motivating factor in my Obama vote i do think it would be a great boost to the black community. on the flip side does anyone ever acknowledge that he is only 1/2 black and was raised by his white grandparents??


5. VP choice says alot - now that we know who the perspective VPs are i think the choice says alot about each candidate for president. you have Obama who thought it would be best to choose someone who's strength was his weakness, he has chosen to surround himself with people equally as intelligent as he. plus Biden was actually my first choice for the dem primary so needless so say i'm very happy w/ Obama's pick for VP. while McCain seems to have chosen his VP based on political tactics. the only logical reason i see for picking Palin was to add a dash of super Christian conservativeness to his ticket... perfect for making sure the super Christians were on board. at first i thought this was a brilliant move on McCain's part but now i'm not sure i respect that decision after all. way too risky.


6. nice guys should start finishing FIRST - i know that this isn't a popularity contest and shouldn't be one. however, after years and years of dealing with the negativity that is the Bush administration Obama offers something very different. i refuse to base my decision on fear as i've seen many attempts to scare people into voting for the "safe/familiar" choice. i don't like the personal character attacks (which i've mostly seen come against Obama, after all how can you slam the personal character of an elderly war hero?) i don't like the suggestion of "who is this brown, young, possibly Muslim, Washington unknown??" (side note: he isn't but so what if he was Muslim? isn't this America? freedom of religion? i love what Colon Powell had to say on the subject... around the 9:30 mark)





thanks for reading.

a few after thoughts:

i find it crazy that Obama is being negatively targeted for wanting to talk to our enemies. i mean for crying out loud that seems like the most logical solution to me. when communication is cut off even in a personal relationship things only get worse. i hate that the US has become the big bad bully on the playground.





what is so wrong w/ spreading the wealth around? the comment Obama said (to Joe the plumber) has turned into something it never was... but if you are a person of faith you should remember that Jesus required it of us. maybe i only feel this way because we make less than $250,000 (much less!) but in any case i say spread baby spread!

here is a little video that says -what i was talking about in #6- well

pumpkins

today was pumpkin carving day for us. last year we started doing boys vs. girls and continued it this year. the boys did a giant eye (which was actually a messed up Chicago Bears "C"... turned eye) and the girls made a surprised face.













yesterday Mayden and I made some really yummy pumpkin cookies. the recipe can be found here and i encourage you to give them a try. we'll be adding these cookies to our fall baking traditions for sure.

look at this face!

do you see what i am dealing with over here?!?!

green smoothie

so over the past few years our family has been slowly (better slow then never, right?) becoming more health conscious. i dropped 25lbs over the last 6 months and am trying to maintain thru the holiday season then i will work on dropping another 10lbs starting in February. i've simply been cutting calories but that does not necessarily make me any healthier then i was 25lbs ago. sure weight loss is positive in many ways but i still have a very unhealthy diet. SO in order to fix that i've been thinking about nutritional supplements which are not as good as getting the nutrients thru raw food but it's definitely better than nothing. however, now i'm on a smoothie kick as it provides you with raw food in a very enjoyable form. my hope is that even the kids will be tempted to partake. the kids (especially May-May) have also been suffering from a poor diet and lately it's really caught my attention. i am not doing them any favors by letting them eat a junky & mostly nutrition-less dinner just because it's fast and i know they will eat it. however if i was able to get a green (or purple) smoothie into them daily i would feel much better!

there are so many green smoothie recipes out there but this (see below) is the best one i've found so far. i haven't tried it but i'm dieing to but we really need a blender first... maybe after the next paycheck. i love that Kale & blueberries are in it but i would love to find a recipe that also adds flax seed or oil & fish oil. anyone have a winning green smoothie recipe to share?

biking

we got this bike cart thingy for the kids to ride in from my parents for Christmas last year. i tried it this spring but with both of the kids in the back it was so stinkin' hard to peddle! last week my mother, being the genius that she is, pumped up the tires and now it's much easier. so almost every evening after work this week the kids and i have been riding down the lane and back. the lane is 1/2 mile total so there and back gives us a nice mile long ride.

i may have overdone the bundeling up for our ride today (it was in the 60's... dispite the look of 50's) but i think they we're really cozy back there.

King Cameron?

he thinks he is the king of the hill... he isn't, but it's funny to watch him try.


look at his teeth in the last picture. he has all of his front teeth (two on bottom & four on top) and then a MOLAR!??! he hasn't had any new teeth in months and then last week i see something in his mouth when he was laughing. i thought he had a toy or something in there but it was a tooth all the way in the back. so random! what about the other teeth?? aren't they suppose to come first? weirdo kid.

credit where credit is due

seems like John McCain is taking a different plan of action these days. here he is correcting a woman who says she is afraid of Obama because he is an Arab (Arab???) i give him credit for this one.



and here is Obama doing exactly what i would have liked to have seen McCain do to the "kill him" people last week.

goodbye corn

our friend the corn will most likely be leaving us tomorrow. they started plowing the other end of the field today and i assume our end will come next....

notice anything different from the other corn pictures? he's standing!!! oh and the corn is dead.

deep thought or pooping? you decide.

she's got a little crazy inside her.

politics as usual

did you see Michelle Obama's interview on Larry King the other night? i love this lady, she is seriously wonderful! if you missed it i'll post the youtube video below... there are 4 sections so make sure and watch them all, she has really good things to say. so classy!





i find it really baffling that Mrs. McCain recently said that the Obama campaign is running "one of the dirtiest campaigns ever." is she serious?? Obama has been nothing but 80% positive... McCain on the other hand is really getting sleazy. just look at this video where someone at a McCain rally yells out "kill him" in reference to Obama... McCain clearly hears him (see 14 seconds into video) yet continues on like nothing major just happened. dude, you have an obligation to call out that person and denounce any violence. if there was an ounce of me thinking of voting for McCain, as of this week it is GONE.

thank goodness they are Christians.

helpful $ saving tips

seems money is tight for everyone these days so i wanted to share a few links i found today that give some good ideas on how to live cheaper. this is from the website http://www.zenhabits.net/ which is my husband's all-time favorite blog to read.


The Cheapskate Guide: 50 Tips for Frugal Living

50 Tips for Grocery Shopping

websites i wish existed

maybe i should invent them. by the time i'd have enough time/energy/money to do that i wouldn't need these sites anymore!

playgroundsearch.com - a website that contained a database of ALL public playgrounds (indoors and out) in America. whether you're looking for a playground in your neighborhood or a playground where you are vacationing you'd always know where the closest playground is. this would also be very useful on long road trips when it's essential to have play breaks periodically.

whatcanicookwiththis.com - a website that gives you recipes only for the food you already have in your house. Chris did manage to find me a website called www.recipematcher.com that comes close but unfortunately falls short. maybe i just don't know how to use it yet. anyway, a lot of nights i want/need to cook and don't know what i can make without running out to the store.

a winner

my favorite part of our "catch all" dinner tonight was finding this little gem in my pantry as i was quickly trying to russel up some grub for my hungry little hippos. i forgot i bought it a few weeks ago and thank goodness i did because while Mayden wouldn't go near it (surprise surprise), Cameron inhaled it! he was like a little bird begging for more every 3 seconds until two bowl fulls were gone.

this was the Butternut Squash variety and i can't wait to get my hands on the others. the packaging was not my favorite... i felt like a lot got left in there but next time i think i'll just cut the whole thing open to scrape everything out. last winter i was horrified to find that the tomato soup we use has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it!?! i guess that's why it tastes so damn good! so i am on the look out for better soups and seems to me i have found a winner in V8.

one thing i LOVE about fall & winter is all the soups, chowders & chilli consumed. idealy i'd like to make our own soups etc. this winter and i do plan on making that happen however there are the days (like today) when i can't pull it together fast enough and these will be perfect to have on hand. the only minor down side to this dinner was that i had to use a bowl w/ a pig on the bottom (i shared w/ Camo) because we have absolutely no clean adult bowls.

to be continued...

September was the month we would have needed to get pregnant in order to have 3 kids born in June, each 2 years apart... it didn't happen and for good reason, we didn't try (TMI?). i don't know if i'm sad about that fact or not. while it definitely would have been cool to have our family so structured and i do love structure, truth be told we just can't afford a 3rd child right now. it really would be irresponsible to add to our family at this time. however it was definitely tempting to be wreckless and live life permanently poor but rich in children.

another issue for us and further reproduction is my health. while not pregnant i'm very healthy, pregnancy does do some damage to my body. actually the pregnancy isn't so bad, minus the normal pregnancy wooes, it's the birth (which would be an elective Cesarean this time around because i can't take another try with natural childbirth only to fail) that is no fun... except meeting the baby who minutes later gives you a super dose of reality when it wants to eat, sleep & poop all at the same time! also after Cameron i had a blood clot in my leg which is a big medical deal and warrants giving myself blood thinner shots daily with any future pregnancy and who wants to do that?! and don't even get me started on breastfeeding & pumping... the single hardest (both physically & emotionally) thing i've ever tried to do!! i think adoption, which has been on my heart since i can remember, will be our method of family building in the future.

i still can't help but feel utterly sad at the thought of not having anymore babies. i love watching the kids grow & discover the world around them. i could have never predicted the love i feel for these kids and i can't help but want more of that. who knows, we're still young right? my hope is that we get ourselves "together" and then be able to add to our family thru foster adoption... maybe a sibling group! i've always wanted a large family... although that was before i knew how stinkin' hard it is to raise children!! i get comfort in thinking about families that have both an 18 year old and a 3 year old. i constantly have to tell myself that this isn't the end it's just the beginning!