My little ones

My little girls are getting so big for those of you who don't see us very often. I will have to include the pictures next post because right now it is not quite 6am and I don't want to wake the house. My kids are grumpy if they don't get enough sleep!

Hannah-- She is going to be 7 two weeks from today! Does anyone else have trouble believing that I am the mother of a 7 year old child? She seems to enjoy school most of the time, but at home she reads, draws and writes stories and makes up pieces on the piano. She must have Ashley's touch with music-- definitely didn't get it from me. We went to Target on Saturday to look at toys (for her birthday) and the Halloween decor. Ashley found some political masks and was showing them to me. Hannah picked up one of Hilliary Clinton and asked, "Who's this?" I told her and she replied, "it kinda looks like a woman!" The lady on the aisle with us laughed heartily and said, "out of the mouth of babes." Too funny. She is quite interested in the election (imagine that!), but Ashley and I have tried to tone down the rhetoric with her around. Politics can be a little harsh at times and it is hard for her to distinguish the issue from the person. If they are wrong on an issue or tell one "white" lie(which they all do) then she thinks they are bad. It is hard to explain the complexities of the political world to a 1st grader, but overall she navigates things pretty well.

Ellie--Ellie is our little pixie-- she is petite as ever and the lady at all times. I spy her with her friends dressed in her princess best, legs crossed, sucking her fingers and holding her blanket. It is all about "pretty" with Ellie-- if the characters in a movie or in a book are "beautiful" then Ellie likes them and if not she will have nothing to do with them. She dresses herself, sometimes quite outlandishly, and has to have ALL her hair up in a ponytail. She and Riley have begun to play now and usually they play very well-- sometimes Riley will get fed up, but overall they do well. She LOVES preschool and being with her friends and if we don't have someone over on a daily basis she pleads for me to play cards (she is always beating me at Miss Spider's Uno) and princesses with her all day. I love her sweetness, loyalty and honesty-- Ellie will tell you where you sit in her book...

Riley-- Riley is getting so big! At 18 months she is talking up a storm and letting everyone know what she wants. She has always been my angel child-- just going with the flow. WELL, NOT ANYMORE!!! She has asserted herself recently and will throw a massive fit if she does not get her way. Yesterday dressing her for church she kicked and screamed, "NO!" the entire time. She is also a daddy's girl. If he leaves without her she will lay in front of the door crying and screaming, "Daddy," for quite a while and have nothing to do with me. I think it is sweet and I am glad that she has such a strong bond with him. She is still a cuddler and will sit an cuddle almost anytime. I love the age she is at-- it is so much fun and she does such cute and funny things and I especially LOVE to hear her talk and use her words! Yesterday at church I was showing her some pictures of Christ and I asked her, "who's this?" Her reply came, "Dedus." (Jesus in case you don't understand 18 month old talk! :) How sweet! It is so wonderful to be a mom!

Did I ever tell you?

Did any of you ever know how much I am fascinated by hurricanes? I am sad that they do so much destruction and at times cause so much death (espeically right now with all that is going on in Haiti-- I just want to cry for those poor people), but at the same time the force and power behind a hurricane are amazing. I recently read a book called The Great Hurricane-1938. It was a about a hurricane that hit the coast of New York (Long Island to be specific) and Rhode Island and shot straight up causing havoc and mayhem across all of New England. It was a Catagory 4 storm (which is rare in New England) and it hit in mid September. It was recorded as having waves as high as 30 feet and at least an 18 foot storm surge. What amazed me were the stories of survival told in this book. One family was composed of a mom, dad, oldest son (he was about 13), 3 younger daughters and a neice (all 10 years old and younger) and 4 other adults. They lived in a 4 story house by the shore(basement, 2 living floors and the attic) that was in the path of hurricane. They ran to the attic during the hurricane and watched in horror as the storm surge engulfed the entire house. Finally the house collapsed and they managed to escape on a piece of the roof-- dad holding two girls and mom holding 2 girls and everyone else fending for themselves. They rode out the rest of the hurricane on the roof and spent the night in some wet hay when they finally found land. As I read this tale I thought, "what in the world would I have done with my children?" Maybe that is the appeal of reading stories like that-- you ask yourself what would I do given that situation. I would hope that I wouldn't panic and be able to figure out what to do with my family, but I can't fathom the terror if I was faced with something like that... So, that is why we don't live on the coast. As fascinating as a hurricane is, I prefer it from a distance-- let the reporters see their lives pass before their eyes. I can watch and be amazed from home!

Just a bunch of dirty politicin'

Well, campaigning has gotten even uglier. I know that politics is a dirty sport and no place for the faint of heart, but shouldn't something be done about the obvious law breaking and unscrupulous acts going on? So, someone mysteriously hacks into Sarah Palin's PRIVATE email and leaks it to the Obama campaign and ABC news and soon every news station in the country is talking about all the awful things she has done as a governor! Hold on a minute here-- if someone broke into my private email account it would be like breaking into my home and reading my journal, looking through my photo albums and stealing my bank account numbers because all those things are in my PRIVATE email account. Why are we not following the trail of the real crime committed here and find out who was hacking and prosecute them? Not that McCain is innocent in playing some dirty political tricks. When my husband was in Florida campaigning for Mitt Romney he saw some dishonest dealings firsthand from both the Huckabee and McCain camps. I read in the paper everyday people lamenting what the world has become. I think that we only need look at our leaders to see how we got here and where we are going. It is one thing to attack a candidate on the issues, but it is another to break into someone's private email. Is this the best that America can offer?

Sarah Palin continued

From a comment that was posted in response to my remarks on Sarah Palin it seems that I did not clarify some of my thoughts on Sarah Palin. (In my defense it is hard to think clearly while my children are screaming my name and coming over to punch keys every couple of minutes :) But, I like Sarah Palin because she is a conservative politician that I can relate to and frankly there are not too many conservative female politicians that I feel like I can relate to. I still don't like McCain. I think he is a pompous, government knows best, RINO, but I like Sarah Palin and that makes McCain a little easier for me to swallow. I was not comparing her to Margaret Thatcher-- that is a HUGE reach. I was using her as an example of what a great female leader can be-- that is all. I am hoping that Sarah Palin can continue to be a good leader and hopefully become a great leader.

Why I like Sarah Palin

I have been excited about the Sarah Palin pick almost from the first moment McCain picked her. I am not a big John McCain fan, so when I saw him pick a conservative, fun, mother of 5 I finally felt connected to someone in this race. Sarah Palin is someone that I can relate to and isn't that a lot of what we look for in a candidate. I agree with her on most issues and I find her refreshing and down to earth. Is she the perfect candidate? Nope, but who is-- we look for the best that we can and hope that they do a great job. But, here is one of my biggest reasons for being excited about Sarah Palin. My daughter, Hannah, is already very interested in the presidential race (I don't know where she gets that?! :) and this morning when she was watching Charlie Gibson with Sarah Palin she asked, "Who is that, Mommy?" I answered that it was Sarah Palin and that she is running for vice-president. Then with a light in her eyes she exclaimed, "See Mommy girls can be president too!" What a great example for Hannah of what women can aspire to do. I can think of many women who would make great presidents and world leaders. Who can forget Margaret Thatcher, one of the greatest leaders our world has known. So, I give Sarah Palin my full support. She represents women like me-- moms who love their families, America, God and are trying to make the world a better place.