Daisy Mania

Abby has joined Girl Scouts and I have become her troop leader. One of the other moms from her class has volunteered to help me. It's a lot more time-intensive than I was expecting because there have been about 4 trainings so far this fall, but I'm loving it. Putting in 110% as usual, doing lesson plans, getting all the forms in, and planning which patches to earn when, but I think it's going great. Kindergartners are called Daisies. Aren't they cute?

P.S. Watch out for cookie time--we're going to hit you up in January and February! We're the only Daisy troop in our area actually selling cookies. It's the 110% coming out again.

Will's World

We've hit two like a brick wall. Every little thing sets off temper tantrums. My favorite (she says sarcastically) is when the football gets dirty, wet, or, worst of all, cold. You should hear him scream when the football is cold (defined as anything less than hot). He kicks and yells "blow up, blow up!" That's two year-old speak for "Breathe warm air on it to heat it up." Unfortunately for him (and us), winter is coming.

We've now graduated from Cars to Monsters, Inc., which is a welcome relief for all of us. And he's been fighting off nap time daily. Although it's a constant struggle, he says some pretty funny things when he's trying to keep himself awake:

Emily: It's time for nap time. People are sleeping.

Will: McCain sleeping. PAUSE. Obama sleeping. PAUSE. Matt work.

Matt's our neighbor with the garage. Still no luck on the new scooter. It's in Matt's garage. We now opt for skateboarding.

Tricks and Treats

As always, the kids were adorable in their costumes. Will even learned how to say "Trick or Treat," except he kept getting it confused with "Thank you!" How can you blame him? We'd say "What do you say?" and he had to guess which one to use. He's bound to get it right 50% of the time!

We got him to wear his costume by saying, "Do you want to dress up like a lion so you can get some candy?" It lasted the whole night. Abby, on the other hand, needed no convincing. She was already determined to wear her costume from last year. Made it easy on me!

They both got to ride around in our neighbor's wagon for most of the night, drawing comments from about every other house about their smooth ride. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but I saw one girl in a wagon all by herself with blankets and pillows laid out like a bed. Honestly? Times, they have a-changed.

Let Them Eat Football Cake!

I'm getting into this fun cake thing. Will almost couldn't sit there and snap this shot before he wanted to eat his football! Have I mentioned that he likes balls? For his birthday, he got 2 footballs, a tee-ball set, and a Lightning McQueen scooter. Of course, if you ask him who's on his scooter, he'll still tell you it's Barbie. We've decided we probably need to put his new one in the neighbor's garage for him to ride it.

Kids' Politics

Before the election, Brad's mom and step-dad thought it would be funny to try to get the kids to cheer for McCain. They apparently had Will saying, "McCain!" and they would laugh hysterically so he'd say it again. Luckily, it wore off after about a day. 

Abby, on the other hand, never fell for it. In fact, she outright refused! She had a mock election at her school last week and came home talking about it. The teacher had asked why each child had voted the way he/she did. Abby said, "McCain wants to keep the war going and Obama is going to end it." Sounds simple enough.

The whole family walked her to school this morning (which hasn't happened since about Labor Day!). On the way there, Will pointed to a "Texans for Obama" sign still displayed proudly in a neighbor's yard. He said, "Obama house." 

Our job is done.  :)

Abbyism of the Week:

We were eating a picnic lunch yesterday in our backyard. Abby pointed to the swing set and said, "Wood." And then she pointed to the pole and said "Metal." 

I said "Good, Abby." (I was thinking "who switched my five year-old out for another two year-old into labeling things?")

Then, she turned straight to me, pointed at my face and said, "Meat."

What? All three of us burst out laughing.

Stick This

So one day, Will decided stickers were best used for his face. You know how it goes around here. What gets a laugh, gets repeated by both kids over and over and over. It was pretty hilarious.

YEE HAW!

I hope Obama can bring about so many of the changes that inspire me when he speaks. Be gone with obstructionism. On both sides of the aisle.

The Secret of Life

"Do you know what the secret of life is? One thing. Just one thing." 

Can you name that movie? I've left out the expletive.

I have strong faith that love, hope, and peace are the answers we need. Okay, so that's more than just one thing. I have hope for Tuesday.

Family Fiesta

National Instruments sponsored a family day to Fiesta Texas where they rented out the ENTIRE park for NI employees. I don't know if I'll ever do it another way. The waits were no longer than five minutes! 

When we first arrived, we ran into several Looney Tunes characters -- Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweedy Bird. Abby asked me how I knew all their names. I said I guess I'm just that old! It's so weird that she had never heard of them!

The Family & Porky

It was great. We met up with another family with small kids, so we all took turns staying with them when they couldn't ride. Somehow, Brad convinced Abby to ride Tony Hawk's Wild Ride. We're talking real roller coaster here with all kinds of hills and constant spinning! He lost his hat on the ride and Abby nearly lost her lunch. She said she did NOT want to ride that one again.

Abby & Brad

On the Train

Abby Likes Bumper Cars

CHEEEEEEZ!

And, yes, I got lots of comments on my shirt (O*B*A*M*A)! Not so much on another of Brad's NI t-shirts. This time, though, he had LOTS of company. :)