Happy Birthday Brendan (aka Daddy)!

Brendan turned 31 yesterday! Yikes!  That does sound oddly old.  I'm sure we'll look back in 5 years and say, "I wish I was 31 again!" Ha-ha!  Heck, I'll probably say that next year! Yesterday we all stayed home together and enjoyed wonderful family time.  Granted we also ran errands and Brendan cut the grass but we both agreed that it was a great day and certainly the kiddos enjoyed staying home and having time with Mummy and Daddy!  After dinner the Rogers came over for some play time and dessert to celebrate Brendan.  Lisa and I commented how great it is that Caden and Cole play together so well- they are great buddies now.  I also think it is hilarious how Cole (R.) tries to be one of the big kids and join in the craziness.  He isn't fazed at all when the big boys get a bit crazy with their imaginations and play.  I wish I had a photo of it but Cole (again, R. not my Cole!) when he got tired decided to try to nuzzle up to Charlotte as if she was a cat and would lay his head on her lap or just to try to get good and comfortable against her. It was hilarious!  I didn't get any pictures of last night but got some good ones of when we celebrated over at the Brendan's parents on Sunday.  The Mardi Gras beads were a hit once again with all kids.  It was nuts with 4 kids running around and 1 sitting there observing it all.  Nuts, but fun!

Brendan decided on Grand Theft Auto video game for his birthday gift. I make fun of him that he still plays video games but I suspect he just loves to zone out after a day of work, taking care of the kids, and me yapping in his ear.  Whatever makes him happy, I say! : )  

What I stand for

It is no secret in this country that being a Christian and being a political conservative is not popular.   Now, I have to admit there have been times in my life where I have made poor decisions or acted poorly towards others and have not displayed the best behavior or modeled the values that I hold.  Thank God for forgiveness.  That being said, I hold certain values very dear to my heart and I hope that I pass on these values to my children. I was raised with a faith in God and a belief that Jesus died for my sins.  I questioned this faith as a I grew older and I searched for my own answers and I still believe this to be true.  I am my own person and I rely on my reading,  my research, my faith to sustain me.  I also know that this election is a defining moment in our nation's history and depending on who is elected it will change my children's futures.  So that is why I post these on our family website.  I am passionate about politics; I know what I stand for and why I stand for it; and I think that I am well schooled on the issues.  So if someone wants to debate or ask me why I believe the way I do, feel free. I want to talk about it....I encourage healthy debate. What I do not agree with is focusing on ridiculous political topics....how Sarah Palin does her hair...the way Obama speaks.  These have no merit in true political discourse.  I also will not be rude or arrogant in debating issues. I encourage everyone to do the same. I also encourage everyone to do your own research and no matter what side you come out on at least you will be grounded in what you believe.

Obviously, the Republican and Democratic party both have histories of voting certain ways. I agree with many if not all of the Republican ideologies so I am more likely to vote the Republican ticket.  For me to support McCain has not necessarily been an easy choice. I did not support him in the primaries as I feel he is too middle of the road on some of the issues.  For me NOT to support Obama was a very easy choice.  He is far too left for me to support.

So here it is, these are the reasons why I vote Republican.  If you do not agree, that is fine. I am not here to convince you to "move" to my viewpoint.  It is interesting to me that so many people in this world preach tolerance yet if there is someone who goes against mainstream, they are marked as an immediate outsider, someone to ridicule and hate.  

1.  I am a citizen of America, not a citizen of the world. I believe America is the greatest country in the world and we should protect our interests when needed.....whether by diplomacy or by force.  We protect our allies and we go after those that wish our country harm.  We should not have every decision go through the United Nations who is just currently made up of countries who only want to see the U.S. fall and crumble.  Our president, our Congress make the decisions that are best for America.   In the current climate we must act in our own self-interest to prevent those that would destroy us from doing so.

2. I believe everyone should have access to great health care but I don't believe this should be funded by the taxpayers.  If this happens, the level of care we receive in this country is doomed to diminish. As with any large government program, this has a significant opportunity to be racked with inefficiencies, continued increases on taxes, as well as wastefulness on the part of the government. Let's face it, the government is not known to run the best programs. This is one example (a major focus of the election) of where I do not think my hard earned tax dollars should go to.

3. With that in mind, I do not believe the "upper" class should be taxed for the sole reason they have more money then everyone else. Obama is proposing that those making over $250K should be taxed more heavily. While I make no way near that much and so this does not directly affect me, I do not agree with this socialist ideology.  I am actually a proponent of the flat tax, which is not a common Republican way of thinking.

4.  I strongly agree with the party on social issues....pro-life, stem cell research, rulings on such pieces like the right to the Pledge of the Alligence.  I do not agree with amnesty for illegal immigrants (key word: illegal).  I do not agree with the party on Capital Punishment (meaning, I do not agree with it, fundamentally). These are all incredibly important issues but in the interest of time, I will not go into each one in detail.

So, there it is, a summary and a brief explanation of why I vote the way I do.  If you disagree, that is ok.  That is what is so great about our country....we can agree to disagree. The point is we can!  And I cannot silenced just because I believe these things! Not everyone in this world is afforded this luxury. 

And now, an early Christmas carol sung by Cole Sevin

 Cole loves the singing Frosty the Snowman and also loves pretending he is on stage. (BTW, this is in our messy finished basement so excuse the clutter.)

Cole is thankful for....

During prayers last night here is what Cole was thankful for...

"Building my family, building my house, for cheese, and for building my family (again)"

Gotta love the mind of a preschooler.

Pull!

Charlotte is learning how to pull herself up on her knees! She wants to crawl so bad I can tell but hasn't gotten there yet.  She's pretty proud of herself though when she can pull herself up!

Crane's Beach

Hummm, well, apparently Blogger doesn't let me edit days of my posts anymore. Ok, bear with me.... Before going apple picking on Sunday we decided to head down to Ipswich early and go to Crane's Beach.  It was about 80 degrees and I felt a little out of place in jeans and sneakers when most everyone else was in a bathing suit. Who knew? It was 2 days away from the official turn of Fall, for goodness sake!  Oh well.  We had a nice relaxing time there. Cole loves the ocean and we enjoyed our time  taking pictures and walking around.

Brendan's shining moment

As most of you know, Brendan is a high school football official. He loves it and was very proud to read this recent note in the Eagle Tribune section of high school football happenings.

"You know I went to the CC-Lawrence city war Friday night.By Sunday, I heard a comment, directly from someone with CC connections, to the team, that Lawrence was chippy, cheap, showing poor sportsmanship.Shame on the perpetrators of this comment. The lawrence-Central game was a good, clean, high-spirited contest. Yes, lawrence lost a player for throwing a punch.It was a scrum, and the athlete in question got heated, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before in any other high school game.Now, I respect the official’s call. The crew was in complete control, leading to a clean game. The stripes did a good job. As we see in the NFL, everyone misses one sometimes, and in a rivalry like this, it’s best to err on the side of control.That said, the game was a quality high school event.There’s no need to throw out insults blindly. it takes two to tango, and both teams saw their share of flags."


Side note: I'll be posting pics of our apple picking/beach adventures soon....I was up to midnight last night trying to get the layout just right. Wasn't working the way I wanted it to.... Look for the posts tonight!

Annual Trip to Russell Farm

 

               

  

We returned to Russell Farm in Ipswich, MA for our annual apple picking trip with the Schwinns. It was a lot of fun...but crazy hot!  When we all got there, we had a little laugh because both Brendan and I and also Robyn and Erich were bickering about something trivial. In typical Erich fashion, he laughs and says, "You know those  NH women, if they are not nagging someone....They die!" (quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, except they said Greek women, of course!)  Ah, I always laugh so much when we get together with them; it's great. 

The next thing we did was buy fresh apple cider donuts; they were so delicious!  The apple trees were bursting with apples and  Gavin and Cole filled the apple bags very quickly.  They were equally as happy to just munch on apples...Cole had 2 1/2 apples!   I took so many pictures...I think over 200 but had to narrow it down to just these for the blog entry. It was hard to do!  I like the picture of Cole and Charlotte next to the pumpkins. Charlotte either wanted to bite the pumpkin or eat the hay and Cole being the great big brother that he is kept taking it out of her hands. 

Bail out is not really an option

Let's review this financial crisis in a nutshell, shall we?

In the 1990's banks we were told by the government to allow otherwise unqualified people to purchase mortgages. Knowing that it could pose an enourmous risk, the banks balked at the idea. The government said, "oh don't worry, we'll just buy those loans from you". So they created Freddie Mac and Freddie Mae....full of bad loans....is it really a surprise that these companies fell and that we are in the crisis we are in today? Money (greed) is the root of all evil, folks. Just remember that.

In the '80's you couldn't purchase a house without putting at least 20% down and with a 13% interest rate. Now, not so much.

This is not necessarily the best article, but it gives good information on the crisis.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/105825/Experts-See-a-Need-for-Punitive-Action-in-Bailout

Pigtails!

Oh my gosh- Yes! I can put pigtails in Charlotte's hair now! I love it! They are thin but, oh, so adorable!

Are you serious?

Who the heck cares if you would rather watch football with Obama or McCain? This election is not whether you like a candidate or not-- it is what they stand for!! This is exactly where America is getting it wrong, folks, but it what the candidates (both sides) play to-- who is more likeable, who is more popular? Come on, America!! Start using your noggins and quit making this election equivalent to a high school student council race.

This is from Yahoo! News today.

WASHINGTON - People would rather watch a football game with Barack Obama than with John McCain — but by barely the length of a football.
Obama was the pick over McCain by a narrow 50 percent to 47 percent, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Friday that generally mirrored each presidential candidate's strengths and weaknesses with voters. Women, minorities, younger and unmarried people were likelier to prefer catching a game with Obama while men, whites, older and married people would rather watch with McCain.
"I think he'd be fun to sit back with and hear his experiences, all his stories," said Kyle Ferguson, 28, a Republican from Santa Rosa, Calif., who picked McCain. But reflecting a sense some voters have of McCain based on the complaints of a few Senate colleagues, he added warily, "I bet he'd probably get pretty angry and lit up if his team was losing."
Democrat James Smith, 29, of Asheville, N.C., picked Obama because he believes he and the Democratic senator from Illinois have more in common.
"With McCain, I have such an age difference," said Smith of the Arizona senator, who is 72. But with Obama, 47, he said, "If things went well with the conversation, the football game would be forgotten. There'd be a lot of back and forth."
Such views are significant because in many elections, candidates considered more likable have an advantage.
McCain backers were a bit more intrigued by watching with Obama than the Democrat's supporters were with making McCain their football buddy. While fewer than one in 10 Obama backers wanted to watch with McCain, nearly one in five McCain supporters wanted to kick back with Obama.
"He seems intensely focused in a way I'm not sure he does sit down and relax," McCain supporter Lanita Linch, 41, of Harrison, Ark., said of the Republican. She said she'd rather watch with Obama because he seemed like "someone you could be comfortable and at ease with," but cautioned, "If he's not a Cowboys fan, we'd have a problem."
Obama roots for the NFL's Chicago Bears, McCain for the Arizona Cardinals.
With Obama struggling to win over former supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the poll had worrisome news: 35 percent of them would rather watch with McCain, well above the 23 percent figure for all Democrats.
There was also a danger sign for McCain: About three in 10 voters are still undecided or say they may switch candidates. That group leans narrowly toward Obama as their football companion.
The poll of 1,740 adults was conducted Sept. 5-15 and has an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. It was conducted over the Internet by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods and followed with online interviews.
___
AP Director of Surveys Trevor Tompson and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

How are you feeling today, Cole?

Cole's Preschool is discussing "feelings" this week and have a chart as we walk in so each child marks how they are feeling each day.  They are also doing other activities to capture this topic too.   This is Cole's silly face.

This is Cole's "surprised" face!

This is Cole's "happy" face!  We tried to take a "mad" face too but he was smiling too much! 

I guess that is a good thing!

 We just had to take this photo because Cole is now taller than his building blocks!

8-month old Charlotte

I remember with Cole that 8-months to about 11 months was definitely my favorite age of the first year.  Charlotte is just so much fun now! She is starting to clap (one fist open, the other closed) and wave "bye" and "hi".  She loves to laugh, especially at Cole. Charlotte has also begun to exhibit stranger anxiety....let me rephrase that...."anyone-other-than-Mommy anxiety." As soon as I walk out of a room, she gets upset. She also gets upset if I put her down or hand her to Brendan! She is a super eater which is a relief compared to what I have to deal with Cole!  We've started her with puffs to learn how to grasp food and eat it, but she hasn't really got the hang of that yet!  She's still nursing which is great. I definitely have a better handle on BFing better than when I was doing so with Cole.   So, yea, everything is going really well with Miss Charlotte and we just love her to bits!

Wonder Time

Charlotte follows in her brother's footsteps with loving music.  Her caregivers at Applewood LC are always telling me how she loves to "sing". I like to think it is because I sing to her often. First thing in the morning as I am getting her dressed I sing, "Oh what a beautiful morning" and she always lights up as I start the first note.
Charlotte was intrigued with the blades of grass for quite awhile. She would have eaten a bunch if I hadn't been quick and taken it out of her mouth!

Soccer

Cole and Caden have started Saturday morning soccer classes together. We had our first class 2 weeks ago but missed last week. We are looking forward to this Saturday!  The coaches are great. They work really well with the children and have a great deal of patience.  The initial class was just to get the children used to taking direction and used to controlling the ball without using their hands.  They played red light, green light (and purple light!), did stretches, practiced dribbling, and played some other fun activities. The hour went by really quickly! Brendan was in charge of taking pictures and also watching Charlotte. It was tough to do both, but he got some good photos. 

Why so super, you say?

It may seem like a hokey name for a blog, but it’s better than ourplaceinthisworld.blogspot which is what I started the website with one day when I was seriously lacking in imagination. Brendan was my trial subject and he poo-pooed it, saying it was too cheesy. After telling Brendan “you stink” for knocking my choice, I grudgingly agreed.

I chose Super Sevins because Cole has a Junkfood Superman tshirt that he has loved to wear all summer. The first time he put it on, I told him it stood for Super Sevin and it just took off.

So, here we are…our little family of four. …..both Brendan and I agree that our family is complete now………enjoy our pictures and our stories. We love who we are and hope you do too…..even if you may not agree with us, at least you can read along and learn why we think the way we do! (Warning, I’m a big political junkie and since I agree with many of the Republican/conservative ideas, you’ll see lots of posts over the next several weeks. Brendan is involved as well, but is more so an Independent.)
Our old website will still be active for another 3 months so feel free to paruse if you wish. Also, if you are just so interested in seeing pictures of Cole when he was a baby then check out our old blogger site linked by my profile (Yes, we’ve been transient bloggers.)