Election Day Fun

If you ask any of my children (yes, including Hanna) who is running for President they all 3 can tell you. Alec knows who is running for Vice President and the girls know that Sarah Palin is running for Vice President with John McCain. The political race is something that has been a topic of conversation in our family many, many times; with the children asking lots of questions and getting lots of honest answers. Fox News is on our TV probably more than any other station. So, I decided we needed to have some election day fun. We started off the morning with blue pancakes served on red plates. It took me awhile to convince Hanna that it was okay to eat blue pancakes.

Next, we had a family election. Of course we would all be voting for the same Presidential candidate. But, what about dinner? So, we had a vote on what to have for dinner that night. You have to read to the end of this blog to find out what menu item won.
Next, Alec and Ashley did an election word search
Then we talked about why an elephant represented the Republican party and a donkey the Democratic party. It makes me grin now because the way I introduced this topic is I started out by talking about SEC football mascots. The kids certainly did not disappoint their dad. The knew all the mascots of the schools that I asked them about. Go SEC!!! I actually learned a lot about why these animals were chosen and what they represent to each party. They had a color sheet of each animal and had to write which party the animal represented. The color sheet was so that Hanna Boo would be included. Alec could have really cared less about the coloring portion. Sweet Ash loved it all!
We then talked about the electoral college and learned some fun facts about The White House. I also did this presidential riddle game with Alec, which he did very well on. Does anyone out there remember the show "Family Ties?" Remember Alex P. Keaton and how he was about politics? That is my Alec. In fact, I often tease around with him and call him Alex P. Keaton. Alec has always been fascinated with the political process, candidates, etc. In fact, Tuesday is the day of "homeschool school." Last week Alec begged me not to go and vote without him. It was so sweet. School was canceled though because they needed the homeschool portion of it for voting.

We then made "Future Voter" buttons to wear when I went to go and vote
Here are the kids pointing to their buttons, letting everyone know that they are future voters. The little ladies at the voting place loved these. (Hanna is so funny. She is going through this stage whenever she gets her picture made she puts bunny ears on herself -See? She is so cute!)
I am so honored to live in the great United States of America where I have the freedom to vote, even if the candidate whom I voted for does not win. God has certainly blessed our country, and He has way more blessed me more than I could ever think or imagine. God Bless the USA!!! I am even more thankful I serve a God who is in A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E and COMPLETE control. Man, I love Him so!!!! He is what gives me a feeling of security and freedom. Beth Moore has an excellent post today about the election.
And. . . . the winner for dinner is . . . enchiladas!! No hanging chads here. Enchiladas won by a landslide - it was unanimous.
I had to stick to my red, white, and blue theme that I started at breakfast. So I dyed the cheese dip blue, the tortilla chips did well for my white, and I made salsa (a recipe from my sweet friend, Julie, who makes the BEST salsa I have ever put in my mouth) which represented my blue.
I snapped this picture of Jon as he was digging into the blue cheese dip (maybe he was closing his eyes so he wouldn't be grossed out by blue cheese dip?) He thought it was so funny that I am having this "Election Day Fun" with Mexican food. It makes me giggle!
Well, I'm off to watch Fox News. Jon came home early today from work and took a nap while I went to vote. The last Presidential election he stayed up ALL night. He will be up late tonight, if not all night. I'll be in bed at my usual time. I'll just wait to find out tomorrow, that is if we even know anything by then.

Let the Big Dawgs Eat - Well. . . . They Really Got Eaten

When GA plays FL it should be marked as a holiday on our calender - one of the biggest days of the year for this Bulldog family! This year we decided to celebrate with our friends who love football, maybe not quite as much as us (I don't really love it like Jon does, but since we are one in the eyes of the Lord, I feel the need to say us), so we had a GA/FL football party.

The table. We had some great food, and I should have taken a picture of all the food, but I was too excited about digging into it!!!

A driveway full of cars - Thank you Lord for good friends!!!

Darrell, Candis, Greg - Darrell is a Bulldog. Candis and Greg are GA Tech fans and were pulling for FL because they just COULD NOT pull for GA.

Shannon, Lori, Ainsley - Shannon loves football and is a Bulldog. She, Darell, and Jon were all pretty nervous about the game. Lori is a FL fan and yelled hard for her Gators!

Granddaddy (Jon's Daddy), Tim - both are Bulldogs

The girls in black - Me, Stephanie, Tiffani, Julie and Avery

Justin and Lori are BIG TIME FL fans. I don't know what I am laughing at here, probably hoping FL would lose - wishful thinking for this game!

Stephanie and Barry

Julie and Tim

After the game we all were goofing around. Tiffani and her crew had already gone and so had Candis and Greg. Everyone stayed for a little while after the game. After everyone headed out Justin and Jon headed downstairs to play X-Box. Lori and I stayed upstairs and had some good "girl talk." The whole day was lots of fun other than GA losing! The kids mostly all played outside, so they got to enjoy their friends too.

Jon is a rather quiet person at church or in social settings. However, I knew since we would be at home and it would be GA football, his true self would come out. It really tickled me to think and wonder what our friends were thinking about who they perceive Jon to be and who he really is. He really is the "life of the party" kind-of guy. It just takes him awhile to warm up and he definitely needs to be in his comfort zone. He was hootin' and hollerin' about something during the game and Greg called over to him and said, "Jon, I want to see you doing that at church tomorrow." It was really a fun day even though the dawgs lost!

A Happy Halloween

We could not get our Halloween plans finalized. We were going to go to a shopping center and go trick-or-treating, then we thought we would just go to Jon's parents house and go around their neighborhood. Well, at the last minute we decided to just trick-or-treat around our neighborhood. We live in a great neighborhood, so I don't even know why we felt the need to go somewhere else. Alec dressed up as "Proteus, The Roman Guard" (something he made up). Hanna Boo was Ariel and Ash was Gabriella. Although the weather was so warm here during the day and Jon was wearing shorts, the nighttime was quite cold. By the end of the night our fingertips were numb.

Proteus, Ariel, Gabriella

Jon digging into the candy bowl before we headed out

The loves of my life from behind with "Proteus" leading the pack

Jon is a very funny guy. He grabbed some Pop Rocks before we left the house and kept coming up to me opening his mouth so I could hear them "pop." I got so tickled at him. I told him he was like a big kid. Then he reminded me that he had on a Mickey Mouse shirt. Big kid he definitely is!!!

I went dressed up as a "stay-at-home mom." It was great. No makeup, no uncomfortable clothes or shoes. Just comfy!!!

Tiffani and her crew met up with us and trick or treated. Here are JuJu and Hanna checking out their candy. It reminded me of "It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" when the children would all look and see what candy they got after each house. I am happy to say none of the children got rocks:)

Everyone knows the best part of trick-or-treating is coming home, emptying your bucket, and checking out all your candy. Ash was actually picking out all of the candy she could not eat because of her braces. Alec was so sweet he started giving her his candy that she could eat. Talk about a bloggable moment!!!Here again is everyone going through their yummy candy. Help!!! I have to get this stuff out of my house or the next time I blog I will be 10 pounds heavier.

My Ashley is one of the sweetest people I have ever known in my life. Talk aoubt a giver!!! She teaches me all the time about selfless giving. I always joke around and say Ash is the type of girl who would give you her coat in freezing cold weather. Well the weather was really cold. Ash's costume was sleeveless and she did have her coat on. However, Hanna got very cold and was not feeling well. Ashley told her she could have her coat - Sweet thing!!!

Better Late than Never

I typically wait until the last minute for most things. I try as hard as I can to squeeze as much as I can into one day. I am trying to do better though and relaxing a little more. Well, last week we were supposed to go to a pumpkin patch with our homeschool group. It rained cats and dogs, so it was canceled. My plan was to let the kids pick out a pumpkin there to decorate. Hanna has been sick all week, so other than going to the orthodontist yesterday, we have been pretty house-bound. Today, I loaded the kids up in "Noah's Ark" and told them we could get a big pumpkin to carve together or we could each get a little one to decorate like ourselves. They chose the latter. We each made our own pumpkins, all but Jon. Bless his heart, he has been working in mid-town Atlanta all week (which he HATES) and isn't getting home until 9:00 every night. I took the liberty to decorate his pumpkin for him.

Alec and his "Alec pumpkin"

Ash and her "Ash pumpkin" (bless her heart, she is still trying to get use to the braces. She is slurping like crazy around here and can hardly eat a thing)

Hanna and her "Hanna pumpkin" She told me it says I love Mom.

Me and my "Jon and Michele pumpkins" - Jon's is on the left. See the G for GA Bulldogs on his cheek and his tongue sticking out 'cause he is really silly. I am on the right. See my long eyelashes, lips, long hair, and funky earrings?

One of My Favorite Things All Year

It is Fall Festival time all around, and our church's Fall Festival happens to have my very favorite. It is truly one of my very favorite things we do all year. The kids get dressed up in their costumes. We have games, bouncy things, food, and, most important, our church family. You see, last year at this time the crowd was prrrreeeettttyyy slim. Our church was on the verge of a split with the pastor leaving and about half the church. Things were tense in the air, and those of us who had no clue what was going on (my family) didn't know what was going on. Needless to say weeks later, the pastor gave his resignation, along with many, many church members from positions they held, and they left. Our church family was heartbroken and some of us were shocked!!!! Well a year later we have a wonderful new pastors, many of the members who left have returned, and we have new people who are now part of our family, plus new faces every Sunday. God is so good, and I am so glad we stayed when the "going got tough."

Hanna went as Ariel and Ash went as Gabriella from High School Musical. Alec went as himself. The girls both got their faces painted.

Hanna Boo looking very "Under the Sea."

Ash with HSM and a music note

The funnest event for this mama in high heels was something called the Bungee Run. You and a partner put on a vest which has a bungee cord attached to the back. You start at the same time and run as far as you can. You place your marker on the farthest spot you can. You determine a winner by whoever gets the highest number. The best part though is when you have gone as far as you can, the bungee cords pulls you back and you fall ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!!

I raced Ash, Alec and Connor (Tiffani's son). I taught a pre-teen boy's Sunday School class last year. Several of them wanted to race me. I sure was talking smack to them. However, it was towards the end and the people the church rented the equipment from came to take it down - Awww man! Next year though I am going to take them all on!!!

Me and Ash. I love the look on her face looking over at me

Here I am talking smack while Alec is getting into his vest.

Mother versus Son - don't think for a minute I let ANYONE win!!! It is every man for himself.

Alec is doing his best to beat me

This is when I was racing Connor. I love how the bungee cord is pulling him back in this picture.

I am no cook and I certainly do not enjoy it. However, I am competitive and L-O-V-E a good competition. I have entered the Chili Cookoff we have for the last 7 years. Trying a new recipe my hubby found on-line, I placed 2nd last year. Boy was I excited!!!! This year I was somewhat nervous, as there were lots more people to compete with. Guess what? Second place 2 years in a row!!! The best part is that I beat the 2-time winner. He placed 3rd last year and this year. You guessed it - I rubbed it in yesterday and today. I even had Ash give him a hard time! I got this cute basket filled with this stuff- FUN!!!
Here I am with the 1st place winner. She was shocked she won. She just brought extra chili in case they ran out. She even had on her chili - not to be judged. I told her, "Yeah, Yeah, you are just trying to play the humble card." She is a sweet lady and I love messin' around with her.

Here is Ash, her best friend, and Hanna Boo. This was while we were on the hay ride.

I just had to snap this picture. Unfortunately I got it a little too late. This sweet, sweet lady was a dear blessing to me when Hanna was about a month old. First of all I had postpartum like crazy!! But, I really didn't know what it was because with my first 2 children I was great after pregnancy. I just knew I had tons of anxiety and was very, very overwhelmed and I cried ALOT, I mean ALOT!!! Jon really does not attend the fall festival because it always falls on GA-FL football weekend. So, here I am with a 6-year-old, 3-year-old, and 1-month-old. I couldn't let them walk around by themselves because they were too small. They wanted to be in 2 different places at once. I was nursing every hour, so I had to bring Hanna with me. This was also back in the day before I went down the "Humbling Hanna Highway." The days when it was very important for me to appear that I always had everything under control, was the perfect, most positive, most upbeat mom there was. You know, that type. No worries. I am to the opposite end of that spectrum now especially after having Hanna. I often tell people when I had just Alec I thought I knew EVERYTHING there was about being a parent. Then I had Ash and realized I didn't know as much as I thought I knew, but I was still PRETTY GOOD in the knowledge about parenting department. Since having Hanna I admit I know A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y nothing about parenting. That is what the "Humbling Hanna Highway" taught me - a long road, but so worth the trip. Back to my story. . . . it was probably pretty obvious how overwhelmed I was even though I was trying really, really hard not to show it. This sweet lady told me she would hold Hanna for me. She sat down at a table and held Hanna the WHOLE time!!! I would only get her to nurse her, then this lady would take back over. That is a memory I will carry with me to my grave. She does not know how much she helped me!!! I think I remind her of that time every year during the fall festival. On a much funnier note, that same night, when I got into my car, got all of the kids strapped into their car seats, I busted into tears - hard, hard tears. I looked over at the passenger's side and sitting there was a lemon cake Ash won in the cake walk. I tore the saran wrap off the cake, grabbed it by the handful, and started stuffing it in my mouth, all the while tears poured down my face. Sad and pitiful then - very funny now!!

Jon did make it this year to the Fall Festival - for a short while anyway. He did show up to help set it up and then he pried himself away from the GA vs LSU game to work at the "Noah's Ark Toss" booth with me - only for a 30-minute time slot though. The man loves his football. My friend, Candis, and I declare ourselves "football widows" during this time of year.

Jon and Hanna doing "Noah's Ark Toss"

Ash and Jon doing "Noah's Ark Toss"

Jon and Alec doing "Noah's Ark Toss"

Alec working "Jacobs Ladder" booth

Ariel and Gabriella

Ash transforming into Gabriella. Anyone who knows my Ash knows she is a tomboy to the core. I actually talked her into rolling her hair. I had to snap this picture because I don't know if there will ever be another one - Man I love that girl!!!

Letting Go

Tonight, my little man is attending his first "group sleepover." He has spent the night off before with 2 other families that we are close with. However, we are pretty protective parents and we only let our kids spend the night with those we are completely comfortable with. Call it possessive. Call it protective. Whatever, it is what we are. However, Alec has been going through a lot lately. Last night my hubby came back home from being out of town for a few days. What a better way to celebrate than to go to our favorite pizza hangout!!! After swim practice Alec and I met Jon and the girls at our very favorite pizza spot here in town. Alec decided to ride home with me. He and I were listening to this radio program and it was talking about parents putting stress on their kids. The radio host then went into post traumatic stress, etc. At that point I turned the radio down, and half jokingly asked Alec if he felt that we put stress on him. He busted into tears!!! He started talking and really spewing forth like a fountain about to burst. I listened and prayed God would give me the words he needed to hear. We had a long heart-to-heart talk about different issues he is going through. I'm telling you, if I had a wish list, at the top of it would be a 1-hour consultation with Dr. James Dobson. This whole prepuberty thing is throwing me for a loop, especially with a boy. You see I come from a family of girls and the only boy I was ever really around growing up was my cousin, whom I only saw on holidays.

We got home and he went upstairs and I went downstairs to put some laundry in the washing machine. He came down and gave me this big hug. I know I held him for at least 15 minutes. This really meant so much to me because he is just not an affectionate person. His demeanor and his attitude were so pleasant the rest of the night. It was almost like him saying what he needed to say and getting some issues off his chest in an environment where there was no one to condemn him (i.e., sisters) freed him. We all sat down to watch television and he cuddled up next to me. We had a wonderful night!

Well, that night after everyone was in bed, I told Jon the details of mine and Alec's conversation. He mainly just took in what I said. One thing about my wonderful husband is he is way wise beyond his years. Sometimes he takes things in that I say and doesn't say anything, but I know he prays about them, and then later will come to me and we will talk more in-depthly about things. You learn these things after 12 years of marriage. So I knew to just be patient and wait.

Today, after Alec finished school , Jon told him to get dressed that they were going to work. Alec resisted and did not want to go. Jon said that was that and he was going - all in a fun-loving, friendly manner. Alec accepted and off they went. Later in the day Jon gave me a call and we talked about a sleepover birthday party Alec had been invited to. Jon really thought we should let him go. He told me to pray about it, and he would call me back in 1/2 hour. I really had a peace about him going. Jon talked with Alec about peer pressure and even shared with Alec about times when he was in school that all of his friends did drugs and they were all determined to get Jon to do them. However, he always resisted and never gave into that pressure. But, he did let Alec know there were times when he did give into peer pressure concerning other issues (I believe he was pretty vague on these) and that it was hard. He assured Alec that if he ever does give into peer pressure that he is always safe to come to us, and we will not get angry with him. Precious moments between a father and a son. It truly makes my heart flutter and skip an extra beat.

Okay, about this sleepover. There are at least 10-15 boys. They are sleeping in a barn. Not a barn for animals, but a barn this family uses for entertaining. It has concrete floors, 4 walls, a roof, a wood-burning stove, etc. I have to admit I am nervous about the wood-burning stove in the barn especially after everyone falls asleep. I even encouraged Alec to stay up all night!! We have known this wonderful, Godly family for about 5 years now. We know several of the boys that were going to be there. In fact, most of the boys go Alec's "homeschool school", some are homeschooled and some go there full time. The mother did tell me some of the video games and movies they were going to watch. Okay now, anyone who knows me, knows I am pretty picky about what I let my children see. They really watch very little TV, and pretty much the only TV they are allowed to watch is PBS (that is probably why they watch so little). I am also pretty strict about video games. I felt kind-of bad that every movie or video game the mother said I was like, "ewww." But, Alec is a good kid. We told him that he knew what we approved of and what we didn't, and we trusted he would make the right decision - Letting go -YEP- a little bit at a time. The LORD brought to my memory something James Dobson says in "Bringing up Boys." He said to help curb rebellion there is a fine line. You can't let them have too much freedom too soon or it can be disastrous. But, you also can not let them have too little freedom or it can be disastrous. So, here is this clingy, controlling, mama in high heels, trusting God and letting go of her little man one string at a time. Now, certainly not my heart strings, but my controlling strings.

He was so excited and it delighted me so! Bless his heart. He had a Winnie-the-Pooh sleeping bag that he got for Christmas I think when he was 3. He was totally fine with taking it. My sister, Melissa, has always said that one of the things she loves most about him is he is comfortable with who he is. He didn't care if he was taking a Winnie-the-Pooh sleeping bag. But, Jon did take him to buy him a real sleeping bag before he took him to the party.

I called my mom and said, "Guess what? I am turning into you!!" I made him take my cell phone with him. That is so my mama!!! Just like my mama, I really want to call him about 10 times to check on him. Jon told Alec in front of me that I would not be calling him; that he is to use the phone if he wants to come home or if he needs us. Darn!!! I guess I am going to have to practice some submission - hard as it is!!!! Maybe I can give mom a call and get her to call and check on him? Just kidding!!!

Conversation on the way to "Homeschool School"

We were all talking about getting braces and wearing glasses.

Ash: I have got the best eyesight in our family.

Me: Yeah, girl, I think you have taken over mom's eagle eyes.

Ash: Yeah, mom, that is because you're old. You're older than Mr. Kelvin (her 51-year-old Sunday School teacher).

Me: W-H-A-T?!?!?!?!

Car erupts with laughter!!!!