Defending my vote!

For some reason I am feeling compelled to "defend my vote" or really just tell everyone who will be getting my vote for President. I am voting for Senator Obama, and I am clearly in the minority of my circle of friends, co-workers, and just in general in the state of Tennesee. I just want to say that I entered the early season most definitely undecided, having never been much of a political person! I have prayed earnestly, watched and read earnestly, and as this same process has lead many to their vote for McCain, it has lead me in the opposite direction. I feel certain we all reach our decision in the same way; it is based on values, beliefs, and sometimes just a gut feeling. I think it is good to as our minister, Mat, puts it, "wrestle with the issues." I consider myself to be very open minded and can see both sides of most issues. I AM pro-life, and disagree with my candidate on this issue and even some others. Simply stated, I have a big heart for the poor, abused, and underpriveledged children and families. I want to see this country get to a point where there is less poverty, less racism (both ways), more equality, and a bigger spirit of love, unity, and giving. I am not sure this is possible, but I have hope that maybe in my children or grandchildren's lifetime, it can happen. There are many things that I like about him, but in a nutshell, I have hope that he can reform some things that are dear to my heart. I have heard lots of people say that there is "something I just don't like about him", well, "there is just something I like about him". I simply want to let it be know that I have put much prayer, thought, and Christian values into my decision as I am sure most people have......and also let it be known that I love my McCain supporting friends dearly! There, done, I have let it be known who I am voting for!

Atoka Elementary Fall Carnival

We spent Saturday at Rob's school carnival, and it was so much fun! There were more bouncies than spacewalk owns!, tons of carnival games, entertainment with lots of different musicians, a big silent auction, food, and most importantly cotton candy! The kids mostly went from bouncy house to bouncy house, so that is most of our pictures. I don't know many folks down there yet, but we did run into a few we knew- the Zurhellen's, Gigi and Memaw, and most importantly, "Ms. Shawn", Lane's teacher:)

Pumpkin Carving

The kids went on a school field trip to the pumpkin patch the other day and we had a night of pumpkin art! Well, most of the pumpkin pictures are of Lane, because Bo did not want to have much to do with his hands in that "messy stuff"! Rob (and Bo's) is "Leonardo" the ninja turtle and the girls is "just a pumpkin" with lipstick!

Memphis Madness 2008

Signing Autographs.....some of the freshman...Garcia!!

Whitten!

Penny, Billy Smith, ane somebody I can't remember judging the dunk contest!

Okay, so Rob is not quite as into the blog thing as I am, so I thought I might spark his interst with this post. We had lots of fun at our annual kick off to Tiger basketball at Memphis Madness; we went with Kirk and Emily and met bro-in-law David at South Philly for dinner. We also got to see the newest "little Tiger", Whitten Claire, out for her first game!

Take the good with the bad!

Just had to "write it down". Yesterday while getting ready for school, Bo sneezed a couple of times, and (since he has had a cold lately but is better), he said "momma, I think I have lost my cough, but I still got my scat!" Now, today, he wasn't so cute, he got a spankin' for throwing a fit over not wanting to put on the clothes I had laid out for him!

A Weekend Away at the Four Seasons

Rob and I spent the first weekend of this year's fall break in St. Louis. The weekend before was NaCoMe, so we needed an adult weekend! Most of these picture are of our room, because we may never stay anywhere like this again! The hotel was the highlight of the trip.... because that is all we did! I had done some research on the food network and Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a day and we found all of the well kept secret restaurants! We slept a lot, Rob watched football while I laid out at the pool and enjoyed the spa, and we went to dinner everynight. I now have a new concept of vacation! (by the way, the chocolates and sparkling water were what they sent up to our room, because I had mentioned that we were celebrating an early anniversary!)

High School Musical

We had a mother and daughter girls night at High School Musical on Ice in September. Here are a few pictures.




All of the mom's were complaining about how much the "souveniers" cost....$12 for cotton candy (but hey you got a hat), $10 for a snow cone (with a cup!), HOEWEVER, my Lane got her full $10 out of her snow cone...she ate on it from the time the show started till that last act 90 minutes later!) Notice the pink hair..I am proud of you Georgia and Amy for letting your girls go wild on a school night!

NaCoMe 2008

This was our first year to go to church camp in 5 years (since we had kids). We had a blast at NaCoMe this year (everyone was right, it is so much more awesome with kids)! We stayed in a cabin with the Russ Jones's family, Steve and Jon Harris, and Lane Howards family. Some of the highlights were the bonfire and hayride, the adult/youth volleyball game (which Russ's team lost!!), the playground for the kids, walking up to the "watertower", running with my fellow church runners (Holly, Kim, Steve Z, Russ, JayDee), and I especially loved laying on the rocks in the creek and listening to my I-Pod! The food was awesome too! The picture of Bo was his first NaCoMe water/mud mishap (he and Cade had changed clothes 2 times within the first hour we were there). I only wished we could have stayed one more day!

Water Days!

We made several trips this summer to the Ripley Waterpark, and I will have to say it was probably some of our best summer days! We took a sack lunch and ate in the grass, and we always went with friends, so Lane and Bo had entertainment. They would absolutely wear themselves out and they couldn't stay awake to even get out of the parking lot! We did have a mishap the last day we went, and a really big man came down the waterslide after Lane and ran over her! She was so tough! Also, the lifeguard jumped in to save her one day, because her swimming skills look a little like she is drowning at times (no, I wasn't laying out in a chair somewhere, I was right there watching the girl jump in)!

Blue Eggs and Jello...

Most of you know that I probably won't be winning any "Creative Mom of the Year Awards", but I made a good attempt a few weeks ago. I made blue eggs for breakfast during blue week (and Bo wore his blue Tiger jersey to school) and we made Red rectangle jello jigglers during rectangle and red week! Lane literally ate the scraps like that for 10 mintues! This week I am just sending in square pretzels for square day ...enough creativity!

Zoo and a Tiger Game!

A few weeks ago, we took Lane and Bo's friend Cade (well, if we get specific Lane talks about kissing him all the time and Bo thinks he is Bo's idol because he is all boy, too!) to Memphis with us. In case you don't know, kids are often more entertained with a friend...so, anyway, they had a great time and I think the tigers even won their game. It was really neat that they had the white tiger out and they were doing a special "TIGER" exhibit at the zoo that day.

New at this....

So, I, who thought I'd never do this...am doing it. I was motivated by friend's cute blogs, but then propelled from motivated to determined when I realized it could be published. That's me looking for an easy way out. Now, I can just print this thing once a year and I can quite developing pictures and trying to keep up with children's memory books! So, here goes a try (for someone who can't even e-mail a picture!)