"...we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

There is so much to say about today, so much I'm feeling right now, so much I weeped about today that I am practically speechless. Which, if you know me well, is making your jaw drop about now. But, no worried my friends, I will brave past this feeling and write something.

First, yesterday was a wonderful day. I was so excited to sit my girls on my lap in front of the computer and listen as a family to Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" Speech. It literally brought tears to my eyes as I watched Cailin soaking in every word of that speech. As I helped her memorize my favorite line "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." As we talked about the significance of that speech, of that gathering. The significance of those masses standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial. That this historic day would not be happening if that historic day had never occurred. The impact of that thought is so incredibly grand.

On to today's events. I was so tempted to keep Cailin home from school. I didn't because I was convinced by friends that they would be watching the inauguration in their classrooms. Why oh why do I fool myself into putting more faith than deserved into the public school system. Cailin's class watched 10 minutes. Blah, unacceptable. I should have kept her home. Anyways, we will Youtube it later this week.

Huge moments for me:

His denouncement of

"petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and
worn out dogmas"

What? What? How will government even be able to function without those, aren't those the backbone that hold our political system together? Basically a polite big fat raspberry to the Bush administration.

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a
weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and
non-believers."

I looked and looked and I couldn't find any speech given by a president that was inclusive to Atheists. What a big step. Its about time we actually have a President that acknowledges the fact our Nation is made up of more than wealthy white God fearing gun toting men. Hallelujah! These differences do have the potential to make us a stronger nation. If everyone just stopped trying to look through the same toilet paper tube, this nations eyes would be open to more that we thought we were capable of. The spirit is behind us, now lets all just take a step.

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has
shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have
consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not
whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it
works..."

Ever since Reagan there has been rhetoric after rhetoric about government involvement. Is the government part of the problem or part of the solution? Guess what the government is here to stay, they have to be part of the solution, because they exist to govern. That is its job. That is our job. T o work together, unite. We are reminded... "This is the price and promise of citizenship" The government just needs a little reshaping to better serve the people.

President Obama (doesn't that just sound so wonderful) was able to, in about 15 minutes, completely wipe out all of Bush's failures and falsehoods, bad policies and indecisions.

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear,
unity of purpose over conflict and discord....the time has come to set aside
childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring
spirit..."

I don't want today to end. But at the same time I'm excited for tomorrow to begin. This is truly an historic moment. To all of you out there just waiting for him to fall on his ass. Unclench your fists, turn your frowns upside down. When pleasant surprise begins to creep into your character, let it in. Let him succeed, accept him, support him, be proud of him. We would have done the same for your guy.

DONT FORGET TO FEED THE CHILDREN!

If I come home from running at 7:15 in the morning (after waking up at 5:45 by the way) to these words from my children's mouths ...

"We're hungry, We asked daddy to get us some food but he wouldn't!"

If I come home to those words and the sight of my husband lounging no more than 2 feet from them I think I'm going to completely FREAK out on my family (aka Steve).

Quote of the day

Avrie came in to my room and woke me up Saturday morning. She layed on top of me, gave me a huge hug then whispered in my ear..."You know you're in love with me."

She melts my heart every day.

Welcome President Obama

God Bless America

We have the Presidency, the House and the Senate!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you watch his first address to America as President elect? Amazing!

My girls were awake because unfortunately I was at a PTA meeting. Being updated every 10 minutes by Steve on my Blackberry. But how wonderful that they were able to witness this day. To watch their innocent minds soak up the entire experience of this historic moment was so fantastic to watch. Steve told me that Avrie was having a conversation with Cailin and informed her that she went and voted for Obama today (with me)

"But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It
belongs to you. It belongs to you."

Doesn't it feel like that? I was elated that Clinton won both his terms but never did I feel this sense of ownership. Never did I feel like this was my victory. I am just so happy!

But even with all of this celebration and excitement. There were some losses, some backward steps our country took tonight.

Arizona I am disappointed. Voters in AZ approved a measure to amend the state constitution so that marriage between a man and a woman is the only recognized union of marriage. It was a reversal from 2006. Cailin overheard me talking about this amendment to someone. You should have seen her saddened disappointed and confused face when I was trying to explain to her what the people in Arizona were trying to do. I'm curious to see what she says when I tell her that Arizona just chose to take away the rights of thousands of people. That the United States of America, the land of freedom, just took away the rights of thousands of people. Try to explain that loss of hope to my 6 year old.

But enough of that. With time that again will become a reality. Some day we will look back and shake our heads and wonder, what were the people of America thinking. Just as we look back in awe and amazement that women and blacks had to fight so hard and for so long for the rights that they hold onto so tightly today. One day we will look back at the ignorance of America, and think, why did it take so long?

But for now, let's celebrate the huge leap in the right direction. Let's celebrate!

HALLOWEEN

First we went to the Pumpkin patch in the morning...rain, mud, muck, cold and all!

Then we went trick-or -treating, the kids got a ton of candy!

Next we went to a Halloween party at the church, which was a perfect place for Steve to win the "Most Original Costume" contest.

Steve was the hit of the party. Look! Helmet, backpack and everything.

Even the name tag...here is a closeup.

It was so funny, I've never seen Steve in a white shirt before. While we were trick-or-treating I would bust a gut everytime I looked over at him. He looked exactly like a Mormon missionary. He even had someone at the church party fooled.

Then it was home from the party, with TONS of candy...

Then Avrie passed out from complete exhaustion...

Yeah right!

I'm back!!!

I know its been 2 whole months since you were all able to listen to my rants and ramblings. But, I am back.
- Avrie lost her precious Elmo the other day, if he happens to have lost his way home and wandered into an unsuspecting house could someone please return him home. But alas, Aunt LeAnn came to the rescue, found an unappreciated Elmo wandering sadly through her home, so she decided to mail it our way. Avrie was concerned yesterday..."Mama, do you think Elmo is scared all by himself in the mail?" I assured her that lots of stuffed animals were probably being mailed at the exact same time and he probably has made a plethora of friends. She was quite relieved. Well, he arrived yesterday afternoon, and she slept like she hasn't slept all week. THANK YOU Aunt LeAnn!

-Cailin left the house for school this morning wearing...a teal t-shirt, jean shorts, tennis shoes and neon green socks! Lovely!

-Okay, now for my rant...
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?
This is what we are electing our Senators to do? Article in the Seattle Times says "Senators want more NFL games on TV" Are you freakin' kidding me? This is what is did not say...
Not, 'Senators band together to improve math curriculum in public schools'
Not "Senators want Doctors to stop prescribing medications just because they are on that particular pharmaceutical companies payroll'
Not 'Senators move to adopt World Health Organization standards in U.S. hospitals'
Not 'Senators look into the safety of the effects of the 33 immunizations pumped into our children's bodies before they are 15 months old, up from the 10 immunizations before their 5th birthday in 1983'
Not 'Senators look into corruption and lies within Child Protective Services'
Not 'Senators lobby to provide more funding for lower income public schools'
Not 'Senators adopt a program to provide parenting classes and services to low income families'

Oh no!!! "Senators want more NFL games on TV"
Are you serious? The sad thing, okay one of the more pathetic parts of this story is that this is not the first time Congress has been involved in this. Last year a group of Senators "sent a letter to the NFL, threatening to reconsider the league's antitrust exemption if it didn't make games on the NFL Network available to more viewers."
Again...are you kidding me????
More TV! basically these elected officials. Senators elected to improve the lives of their constituents are planning to do that by offering more...T.V!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, boneheads, that makes sense. That's a great way to improve the average American home life, get dead-beat dads more involved in their children's lives. Perfect, what a great idea you f!*#ing morons!!!!!!!!!!
I wont name each of the Senators involved but I will say you don't have any names like Sally, Anne, Sarah or Julie. More like Jack, Pete, Sheldon, Mike and John. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!
IDIOTS!!!

Facebook

The last couple of days I have found myself tripping, then stumbling and now SMACK, I just face planted myself right into Facebook.
I have no idea what Facebook is, what is does, what it means, what its for. I just have no idea. My friends have all explained it to me, I still don't get it. Now everyone is going to try to re-explain it to me. Ill listen, Ill try to understand, but know, upfront...I am Facebook retarded.
I now have 10 friends, but to be completely honest...they were my friends before Facebook, I suppose now they are my cyberfriends. That sounds like a PBS Saturday morning cartoon.
I will tell you one thing you can't do on Facebook, you can't stalk. That's right, its an all up in your face kind of bizarre cult. I can see little thumbprint pictures of my balding ex boyfriend, and my other ex boyfriend (who, BTW is using a totally old picture! He is not that thin anymore) and the guy I had a crush on, nope can't stalk him either. I have to actually admit to my creepy ways, fess up, and virtually come crawling back..."will you be my Facebook friend?".
It has a whole weird its not you its me but I want to still be friends vibe written all over it. I'm probably going to break down and shoot them an email at some point...pure curiosity. I have no bad feelings towards them, I don't even remember why I broke up with the one guy. Anyways, I digress.
So, all you Facebook cult members, tell me why you love Facebook so much. Because the whole no stalking thing threw me for a little loop, it lost a little bit of my excitement'.
Give me back that lovin' feeling!