Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! It's nearly here, and I am nearly ready. There are still a few odds and ends I need to get, but the majority of my preparations are complete. This is a photo of some ornaments that I gave to a friend for our Scrapbooks, Etc. gift exchange. They came from my grandmother's home. My friend loved them. You can see her thoughts on them on her blog, listed along the sidebar as "be yourself: live with passion". She is a lovely, artistic lady, and likes all things vintage. I was nervous about the gift exchange but it was so fun. And Heidi, who gave me my gift, chose really well. I got a cute mug with goodies and a Starbucks gift card inside. Does she know me or what?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Loser!!!!!

Sophie is a loser!

Literally. She finally lost her first tooth which held on FOREVER! The other tooth was grown in behind it. It was so loose that it was bothering her, and she was scared to pull it. She said "I am a tough sleeper, maybe daddy can pull it out while I am asleep." Well, it did not come to that, she was able to play with it and pull it out herself later that day.

She looks so cute with the hole in her face, and shows it off to everyone. As for me, with every one of her firsts I am reminded that it is a last-first for me as a mother. So here's to my last- first lost tooth!

Twilight at Midnight

Oh yeah! Alexa and I went to the Twilight premier at midnight last night, and it was pretty awesome! There were thousands of people there (I am not exaggerating!). News crews from 3 local stations were filming all us crazy fans in the line. There were so many team Edward t-shirts, making me feel a little out numbered, seeing as I am team Jacob! Don't know what I am talking about, you must read the Twilight series, it is so good.

As for the movie, as a fan of the book it was pretty good. The fact that the 600 people in the theater were so excited to be there made it pretty fun. However, I am not sure that people who have not read the book would like the movie. I think you had to have read it and know the background and already be in love with the characters, etc., etc. And most of us agreed that Edward was a little miss cast. It was still a really fun experience to share with Alexa, who actually turned me onto this book series!

Look Who's 11

Happy Birthday Celeste!!!

For Celeste's birthday we went to IHOP for brunch, then on to Tempe Marketplace for some fun.

We saw Madagascar 2 in the cine capri, the largest movie screen in AZ. It was really funny, and better than the first.

It was then on to her favorite store, Justice, for a new outfit. If you don't know what Justice is, it is a really cute store for girls. The clothes are usually nice, modest, cute, cotton clothes, however it looks like rainbow sherbet or cotton candy threw up all over the place in there. Not the most fun place for Daddy, but he's patient with us. We strolled the rest of the marketplace and listened to a live band who played covers of John Meyer and Jack Johson, some of our favorites. Lastly, we got Cold Stone as a treat since I did not make a cake.

It was a great day and we were all ejoying the weather, the day, and the time we spent together, celebrating Celeste's 11th birthday!

YES WE CAN!!!!!!!

I know we do not all agree on politics, and in general, this will not be a political blog. However, as with many of you, this election has been a big part of my family's life. So with that in mind......

I am overjoyed that this beautiful family will be moving into the white house in January!

It is such a happy day! I am so proud to be an American. Martin Luther King Jr. would be so happy to see that his dream came true. To see the American people come together and elect this man to our highest office, judging him "not by the color of his skin, but the content of his character". We have come so far from slavery, to 3/5th of a person, to the right to vote. From segregation, to separate-but-equal, to integration, to an African American president. I have tears in my eyes, that for the FIRST TIME EVER, I can honestly look into my bi-racial children's faces and say to them "you CAN be anything you want to be!!" We have taken such a stride forward......

The only hitch in my step, cloud in my sunny sky is the knowledge that CA prop 8 and AZ prop 102 are both passing. We took such a leap forward, and steps back, all in the same night. It hurts my heart for one human being to say to another, you are less than me. To write discrimination into our states' constitutions seems like a huge wall in the face of progress. So I have both tears of joy and sadness on this historic day in America!

But my thoughts are mostly positive, as I remember the eloquent speech given by President Elect Barack Obama, that we are the United Sates of America. That we can overcome these tough times, that America can once again be a powerful force of good in the world. YES WE CAN!

Just For Fun

Sophie decided it would be fun to play with Alexa's cell phone. No big deal, right? Well it happened to die and she happened to forget the last place she had it! We cleaned the whole house, searching everywhere, under couch cushions, under couches and chairs, sweeping and picking up everything. During this process we found all these old, used, no longer active "play" cell phones!!! We found 11 total before finding the real one, in Celeste's top dresser drawer, UNDER piles of clothes, after midnight. Seriously? How do you forget putting a phone under a pile of clothes?

GOTV

Also known as "get out the vote". Alexa and I spent the afternoon making phone calls at the Democratic headquarters in Tempe. We were helping in the efforts by letting people know their polling place and times. As Tony and I have already voted on our early ballots, I want to make sure everyone else goes to vote. This is the most important election of any of our lifetimes so, if you haven't already, don't forget to vote on November 4th!

For those friends and family in AZ and CA, both states have ballot measures to write discrimination into our states' constitutions. I would like to just put it out there that inter-racial marriage used to be illeagal, and I am glad that has changed (obviously), and hate to see discrimination against any group of human beings. Just my two cents on the matter.

Anyway, I know we don't all agree, but I hope we all exersize our right as Americans and Vote!

Crazy Halloween

This is my first official post. So, as is our tradition, we spent our Halloween at the Tempe Halloween carnival, doing a cake walk fundraiser for my La Leche League group. It was our 11th time, the first one being 1998, when Celeste was a baby. That year we had about 15 cakes, this year over 70! It is our best fundraiser and nets us about $500+. And don't you think this avid scrapbooker would have some great pictures to share? Well I forgot to take a single one! Celeste went as a ballroom dancer and Sophie was a cheerleader.



Michael had a football game, which they lost 41-13. Their record is now 5-4 for the season.



Alexa went trick or treating with her friend, for the first time in many, many years!