Hail to the Cheif

What a big day. Just thinking about it has made me a little teary eyed. I know I didn't vote for Obama but I have enjoyed this monumental day as much as if I had voted for him. I love this day for many reasons...

• Watching my husband get more and more involved in politics, the nation, the state of our entire world. I love hearing his opinions and thoughts. It has made a huge difference now that he can vote because he feels like he is part of the action process and not just being acted upon.
• Teaching my children about our country and how the government works. Helping them understand our beautiful freedoms. Also, learning from them about tolerance and love. I was explaining to them yesterday about Martin Luther King Jr. We looked up some pictures of him on line and I found a picture of a water fountain that said, "White Only." I was talking about how some people judged according to the color of your skin and you could only sit in certain places or eat in certain places depending on the color of your skin. B saw the "White Only" drinking fountain and started giggling. "That's weird," he said, "How could anyone have white skin?" As I looked at our white refrigerator and our white microwave it occurred to me how right he was. "Nobody is going to be able to drink out of that drinking fountain!" He was as unfamiliar with the terms of white and black people as if he were a newborn babe. We all know that people are a subtle variety of colors, not at all white or black.
• The peaceful transition of power. The politics of President Bush and President Obama are so different, yet they both have the same ultimate goal... to heal the United States of America. To make us a strong, safe, stable country, a "good" country. As I have watched with horror the war in Israel/Palestine, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, even the interview on Univision of an ex-president of Mexico that is rumored to have siphoned millions of dollars from the country into his own pockets, I have felt blessed every day to live in a country with such a peaceful transition of power. They had their "social coffee" together this morning, rode over in the same car, smiled and waved. Nice.
• Last but not least this day gives me so much hope that we are moving towards an end of racism. I still hear crazy racist remarks all of the time but we now have proof that a majority of people are not racist at least in one area. It is still always my mission to help spread love and tolerance instead of prejudice. I believe that it starts with knowing people and backgrounds and cultures. I hope as a nation we can continue to fight prejudice and help people get to know each other and understand each other a little better.
  

Yesterday the Treehouse had a ceremony in their Oval Office to unveil the portrait of our new President. We went as a family and had a grand time. They have an exact replica of the President's desk and the rug that is in the real Oval Office. Yeah, Treehouse.

Wow, what a great holiday season we have just had. I love the magic in the eyes of our children when they see Christmas lights, our Christmas Village, Santa... We had so much fun! I bought way too many books, so now we have at least 25 picture books about the birth of the Savior. Apparently I am also collecting Nativity scenes because we now have seven different sets. Only two of them are not touching ones. The kids were constantly playing with and positioning them.

A couple of funny things B said: "Mom, where would you like to go over Christmas break?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Like Hawaii or Disneyland...." I just laughed so B tried again, "How about Roy?" Now Roy is do-able. Regrettably I must inform that we didn't even go to Roy!

B also told me that they read "The Grouch Who Stole Christmas" at school. Was that me?

The girls all got brown boots for Christmas and R calls them her "co-co-lat-tay boots." It is close to how you say chocolate in Spanish. So cute.

How I wish I wrote down everything they said. They make living enjoyable... most of the time.

Now I would like to share things I can never complain about out loud.

• Spaghetti legs while trying to put tights on. I just keep trying to move the tights up their legs and they (you know who "they" are... S, R, L) they have wobbly legs, bendy legs etc. Grrrr....
• Last year I bought E a leather Jeff Gordon jacket... that was too big and he complained for a year. So, this year I bought him a smaller one in twill. I wrapped it up and put it under the tree. Christmas Eve he puts out a twill jacket that he had bought himself! I knew he wanted one....
  
• L never puts her own panties on after she goes potty. She brings them to me, waving in the air, no matter who is here. Yes, yes, I am just grateful she is going potty.
• S pretends like she can't understand Spanish when I ask her to do something she would rather not do.
• Every time I comment on the beauty of the snowy weather my husband takes it as a personal affront, as he has to maintain and fix the cities snowplows. When he is on call, meaning he has to work at all hours if there is a big snow storm, he asks, "Do you want it to snow now? Do you love snow?"
• As I comb and "do"my girls' hair they creep closer and closer to me till their heads are right against my chest. You can't do hair that way.
• We had a Thomas the Tank Engine Train that our neighbor had given us a year ago, minus the Thomas. B got a new Thomas engine for Christmas and my husband kept wanting me to take it back to the store. Then E spent hours helping the kids set up a track, he insisted we leave it up over night and E continued to play with it the next day. Go figure.
• Keeping track of 12 gloves, family hats, boots, putting on socks and shoes on so many feet...
• Children who pretend like they can't dress themselves because they need more mama time.
• Pee, pee, pee...
  
• Cookie monsters, we all know it is my fault the cats all love cookies.
• E eating an oatmeal cookie from a neighbor and saying, "Why can't you make cookies like this? Could you learn how?" I don't make oatmeal cookies because I don't like them, not because I don't have oatmeal cookie skills! Are you kidding me?
• Putting gloves on little hands! It is difficult for me to control those little fingers and get them into the right place, and then do it again, and again, and again, and again....
• Girls having opinions about hair. Tinker Bell hair means a bun pony tail, Mermaid hair is a french braid, Dora Princess is a high pony tail, two braids, two pony tails, clips, bows.... Wow!

Well, I will stop there. The kids are cute and really quite well behaved, I think. We love them and don't want to send any back. Here they are in their new Christmas jammies.