the last day of october...

Happy Halloween!!! Yes, we made it all the way 'til dusk without exploding with excitement in our house. Oh boy, we love our trick r' treatin' here! And what a beautiful night! After years of ice cold rain, good weather finally followed us down the candy-lined streets!

So, what were my little girls? Well, Lauren put her dad's Michigan football helmet to use and together with Julia represented the best in Michigan Football in 2008. The helmet weighed about as much as she does, so it was dropped before we set out (you gotta be light on your feet out there).
Jules was about as sweet as can be (and yes, we found socks for her)...she refused to keep the bow in her hair, which caused people to assume she, too, was a football player (how dare they!). It took her about two houses to figure out how this gig works and she was game after the first fistful of Skittles.

Because the only thing we have in the house that was green was a fairy costume, that's what Sarah was. She was lightning fast out there and left kids three times her age in the dust. Her legs were a constant blur as she scanned for houses with lights on and took off with Lauren. Awesome.

Of very special mention are my nieces who are incredibly brilliant and clearly saw the sense in dropping their own neighborhood to come trick or treat in a neighborhood where the houses are an arms' length of each other. Kate was a bag of jelly beans and after a few costume malfunctions, found her stride and raked in the loot.
Rachel was the talk of the town in her little ballot box costume. There were holes cut out in the top, where people were to cast their vote for McCain, Joe the Plumber or Obama. We thought this would get a chuckle from the people handing out the candy...and it did. What we did not expect and were taken aback by was little kids stopping her in the street, digging into their bag of candy and asking her if they could vote. Hilarious! Needless to say, this advantage put her over the top in the final candy count.

Oh...here's the final results: Winner: McCain, Runner Up: Joe the Plumber, and 2nd Runner Up: Obama. Now, that's the kind of exit polling I'll pay attention to!

Hope your night was safe, friendly and maybe a little too sweet (I should go brush my teeth now).

the other elephant...

It was Sarah's "Special Day" today in preschool. Which means that for the last two days, we have been caring for the class elephant, Tembo. He's a quiet guy and doesn't eat much...so he's welcome anytime. Sarah did not part with him too much, which made cleaning up Lego's and eating challenging tasks.

So, today he got returned to the classroom...where Sarah was in charge of dressing the weather bear. She chose an open-belly sleeveless sweater, cropped jeans and a watch...it's 32 degrees outside...but we all know bears are fine without any clothes in cold weather. She also got to put the sticker on the calendar and sit on the heart rug. Ah yes...the little things.

Farewell Tembo...sorry you didn't get your bath.

don't just call me republican...

I wasn't going to get all political on this blog. That wasn't the purpose of the "family" blog in the first place. Well, I'm falling back on that and I'm going to get political...only because I feel that the politics that lie ahead will affect my family as it will everyone else's in this fine country of ours.

So...here's why I'm voting for John McCain. It's not because I'm a conservative Republican. It's not because he's my favorite idea of a Republican president. It's not because he found a woman to run along side him. No...that's not why. Here's why: I am a Christian.

It's starting to look like a landslide according to the media. The media, who in my opinion have put Obama in the car and have basically driven him to the front door of the White House. But, I won't get deeply into that. I just did not want the day of the election to come and go and never make an attempt at all to relay my thoughts...to make an effort to avoid a landslide and make it a victory. It just didn't seem right to be silent.

I'm going to quote someone here to express why I'm lining up with the side of McCain. This is from Huntley Brown in a letter he wrote explaining why he will not be voting for Obama: "In an election there are many issues to consider but when a society gets abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning - to name a few, then wrong economic concerns will soon not matter." (For the full letter which details more of Obama's voting record and to prove it's authenticity visit the Snopes website by clicking here.)

Also an important item to read is from James Dobson of Focus on the Family. I heard him deliver this speech on the radio. Please take a look by clicking here.

Another good article, entitled "Obama Redefines Christianity and Socialism As Election Nears" by Bill Wilson can be read by clicking here. In this article he states that Christians are evenly split in the vote...a fact I find rather sad to be honest.

Here's how I see it: If we all think about it and are educated enough on the facts of one candidate versus the other, we know (based on God's Word) who our God would have as President. Don't we? If it is His value system that we would place on this country, who best represents that set of ideals? If we truly put our heart into answering that question...what would we come up with? It's pretty clear, right? Given the answer and Who I ultimately answer to...I am voting for John McCain.

Billy Graham once said, "To get nations back on their feet. We must first get down on our knees." That said, all I ask is that you pray in the days ahead...and then open your eyes before you walk up to the voting booth.

(here's hoping I didn't lose some blog-followers on this one...I promise to return to pictures of the kids)

champions of the west (we hope)...

Jeff left for the Michigan v. Michigan State game in Ann Arbor this morning. So the rest of us got dressed for the big rivalry game too. We're hoping the losing streak is over by the end of the day today...but there's only so much finger crossing you can do. Go blue!

insert very bad word here...

I am really at a loss for words on this one. The only words that keep coming to mind are not very nice.

So, the only thing I can think to say is: raise your kids right. Because if you don't, they will become ungrateful, inconsiderate little punks who walk up to people's porches when they can't be seen...take a pumpkin that belongs to a small child and smash it in the street.

I understand playing pranks, but there's plenty of toilet paper and cows that can be tipped around here, right?

a bit of art therapy...

Lauren got this pink squishy cuddle pillow from her Aunt Laura about four years ago. To say she loved the pillow would be understating the feeling. She slept with the pillow every night and when we traveled, the pillow came along.

Lately, she hadn't been doing it as much and one day while cleaning her room, I found it under the bed. I started thinking about four years worth of snuggle goop being on it and got the creepy crawlies. So, I thought it needed a bath in the washing machine. Lauren wasn't sure that was a good idea, but I assured her it would be fine.

Well, it wasn't fine. I opened the washing machine to discover tiny little white pellets all over the clothes. I didn't immediately discover the culprit until the very clean pink pillow got pulled out with white droppings still coming out of it. Thinking Lauren would be fine with it (after all, it was under her bed and she obviously didn't need it anymore), I tossed it in the trash next to the washer. This was two weeks ago.

So...today, I was back in her room cleaning and found the two drawings below. I wasn't sure what the first drawing was of and thought it was just a flower or something. Until...I saw the second drawing.


After looking at the picture below...I looked over at Lauren, who knew very well what I was seeing and says, "I saw it in there. I know what happened." I said, "I'm sorry Lauren. I didn't know you saw it. Why didn't you talk to me?" She replied, "I didn't know what to say, so I just came to my room to draw these pictures." [hear the sound of my heart breaking here] I gave her a hug and promised somehow she'd get a new one.

So, Aunt Laura...if you're debating what to shop for this Christmas season...I've got a pretty good idea what's on her list.

no, not 55 and older...

So, I had my first senior portrait session yesterday. It was a lot of fun hanging out with a girl who wanted to be an artist, journalist, broadcast journalist, graphic desiner, and advertising executive all at the same time. Ummm....that train of thought sounds familiar. Who was that again? Yea...it was me. (And in some way, shape, or form...I've actually done all of those things). Anyhoo...click here to see the pics over on the photoblog!

N493 Julia Tango...

No, this post is not about my baby Julia getting her dance on with a tango (although I wouldn't put that past her when the Wiggles are on!).

I went flying with my Dad today (and that's the tail number). I thought it was pretty on the ground with all these fall colors...but it's even nicer at 3,500 feet in the air.

We flew to Mt. Pleasant...purely for a nice destination. But, we did take a shuttle to el casino...where waaaayyy to many people are at 11am on a weekday. What's more sad than the plug me in credit cards and the oxygen (yes, you read that right)...There's a childcare center that apparently is quite full after school lets out (oh man). Fear not, we did not part ways with even a nickel...mostly because...under suspicion of planning a major heist, we were thrown off the floor of the casino (where the machines are) and told not to return. Why? Because apparently when you mosey around with a gigantic camera around your neck in a place like that, they think you're trying to get all Oceans 13 on them. (note to self: bring smaller camera next time and don't get caught)

So we ate carrot cake and had coffee and caught the shuttle back to the airport. On the flight home, we flew low over downtown Grand Rapids, which was a little bumpity, but really cool. It's pretty sweet in the wild blue yonder!

Mr. Thunderbird (aka: Dad)

A corn maze by the airport on takeoff.

en route to Mt. Pleasant

the airport at Mt. Pleasant...

Departing Mt. Pleasant and flying over the casino. I'm suprised they didn't come after me for taking this picture.

Grand Rapids...I was here later in the day for a photo shoot. Right at the blue bridge you see over the river.

Approach at Ottawa Exec...back home.

where animals rule the world...

Webkinz is hard work.

For those of you who don't know what this is, here's a simple explanation: You buy your child a stuffed animal for $12.95 that has a super-secret-special code that allows you to bring your pet to life on the world wide web. They are given an empty room and a welcome gift. From there, they must earn dough (Kinzcash) to be able to afford to feed, clothe, make comfortable and spoil their pet. They play games, take quizzes, win and work to make the money.

"They" is your child...unless "they" are three (almost four) years old and "they" only want to play with their pet, cannot read or play any games...but have the desire to still spoil their little pink dragon rotten. So, much to my amusement, Sarah orders "me" to "Play Cash Cow Mommy!!!" or "We need money...Slider [the pink dragon] needs new yellow shoes at the store!!!" "You must play Goober's Lab now mommy!!!". Now, I have no problem playing video games all day, really...but Goober's not doing the dishes and Zingoz is not chasing Julia upstairs. And that creepy dog running the pawn shop is not making dinner.

So, below is a photo of how the game works when you've got a couple years of experience....I might add that Lauren is rather thrifty in Webkinz world and turned down my request for her to send Sarah the gift of a TV for her dragon....So mommy wouldn't have to work so hard. It's really tough raising kids in this dog-eat-dog world...I tell ya.

photoshananagins...

It was time to haul out not only the other two kids (Sarah had her turn), but also the entire family for a photo shoot to kick off the weekend. So, Lauren and Julia were first in front of the lens and despite a colony of mosquitos still clinging to life here in a cooler Michigan, they did a great job...and look mighty beautiful!

Then it came time for the family picture. I roped my dad into snapping the shots, but in my effort to get the perfect shot...I got a little snappish myself. No one was interested in smiling, sitting still, and after bribery didn't fly...I stooped to threaten that stuffed animals, who did not belong in family pictures, would swim in the creek (argh..the guilt over that one).

The thing that cracks me up in the end is that after all the "you-know-what", we end up with a picture that make it look like we all had the time of our lives. Well, maybe Sarah doesn't...but I think she knew her stuffed cat couldn't swim...so she was still a little mad at me (I deserved it).

i've been busy...

I am certain the foundation of the house directly beneath the chair in front of the computer is compromised. No, that was not a comment on the amount of apple pie I ate today...it's just to say I've been plugging away at designing this year's holiday photo cards. If you'd like to see them all (a sampling is below), you may click here.

we're going on a pumpkin hunt...

...to Fresh Market! So, the kids were promised a pumpkin patch today, but we chinsied out and drove them to the 3 for $9.99 store (which also carries the best sushi in town and gives free cookies to the kids...can't get much better than that!). I must say, they were not disappointed to be going here instead.

After that, we didn't want to drive far for the warm cinnamon sugar donut, so it was just up the road to the busiest place on earth to quick stand in a long line, grab, eat and go. Needless to say, we're planning a "do-over" pumpkin patch experience...so stay tuned for those photos. But in the meantime...

I'm planning on using the parking lot at the Market for all of my future photoshoots....how cute is my blue eyed bundle o' joy?

blame it on me...

This afternoon, I dragged the whole family downtown for a little location scouting for an upcoming, "urban" senior portrait session. I was feeling mighty guilty eating up a beautiful day looking for dilapidated doors and brick walls. When we got to a spot I just wanted to check out, the whole family piled out for some fresh air.

We ended up having a great time "going for a hike" in the big city. The kids loved the river and watching the fisherman. It was really very pretty down on the water's boardwalk. Jeff and I were actually engaged on the other side of the river from where we were, so it was pretty cool to hang out with the kids there. So, it's all my fault...we had fun.

She's not bored, she's just fishing without a pole. (Salmon were headed upstream)


Julia was a mega-trouper in the car! I pretty sure we could drive a tank through the desert under heavy artillery and she'd still look this laid back. (but that would be awful irresponsible, so I'd never test that theory).

kick through the leaves...

...as you take a walk over to the photoblog to check out my latest shoot. Click here.

an answer for everything...

Sarah is not one who likes to be wrong. She's been known to throw a fit if we don't follow her on a path that we know to be the wrong way. She'll argue over things she most certainly lacks 30 years of experience in understanding. If she says the blue sky is red...it's red...quit telling her otherwise.

Another thing about Sarah is that she enjoys coloring, but has only mastered one thing...the human body. We have a tough time getting her to venture out of her box to color anything else. So...this morning, she came up to me claiming to have drawn a picture of me riding a bike. I was thrilled to take the picture from her to see this new creation! Below is the picture...with no bike in sight. I said, "But Sarah, if I'm riding a bike, where is my bike? I need a bike to ride." She replied, "It's still in the garage...See, it's not here yet." Duh...I guess I was wrong...again.

down on the photoblog...

In addition to reformatting my computer, which was on the verge of dying...I headed out to the farm over the weekend to grab a few shots of a friend's family (far more fun that giving liposuction and CPR to a computer) Check them out. .....click here. The computer is feeling fine now...thanks for asking.

trespassin' with kids...

I've been wanting to take the kids out on their own little photo shoots while scouting different locations. I spotted a barn door the other day and since it was such a pretty morning, I took Sarah out for the price of a roll of Smarties (she's no hard sell).

After the barn, I spotted a corn field with some good light and veered off the road and into the grass. Is this sort of thing legal? I couldn't decide what picture I liked, so I posted a bunch. Enjoy.

I'm posting these over at the photoblog too, so sorry for the double-duty if you're somebody who checks both blogs. Hey...this kind of cuteness cannot be contained to just one blog!