Elect-ile Dysfunction

There were many predictions that were made about yesterday’s national elections. One that came true was Beni’s foretelling that our last name would be butchered and commented on by the polling volunteers at our voting site. (Note to these people: our disclosure of our “ethnic” last name should not be accompanied by sighs, eye rolls, and nervous laughter. Your attempts at humor are not funny. Go back and read your training manual about decorum. And immediately remove your head from your insensitive ass.)

We, as voters, faced the choice of the same versus the same of not long ago. If only we had a more compelling option, such as the one we faced as we walked in our polling place:

And young people of legal voting age of Democratic persuasion, a message for you.

Please don’t shoot – I’m just a messenger. But consider this: if the six-year-old below was excited about the prospect of one day casting a ballot, then you shouldn’t waste the opportunity to point the country, state, city, township, or municipality in the direction you see fit.

Teach a New Dog Old Tricks (and Treats)

After a year off, we joined with Aiden and Alayna once again in the quest for candy, this time with a puppy in tow. Reed, who at age six months last Halloween was too young to trick-or-treat, got a taste of this sweet tradition this time around. His sister, who for days was waffling between her new favorite of rock star and her old of Abraham Lincoln, finally realized that a house divided against itself cannot stand, and went with the presidential look.

In the First(-Grade) Place

(Photos courtesy of Laura, the party's host)

It’s time to play the Pyramid!

Get your heads together, folks. Let’s do it!

Hayrack rides, bonfire, wiener roast, glow sticks, candy bags, games of tag, lemonade, hot chocolate, friends from the two classes…

Basket Case

There’s nothing quite like grabbing a good book, settling into a comfortable couch – or a plastic clothes basket – and reading the morning away.

Witching Hour

Christine O’Donnell, U.S. Senate candidate and Tea Party darling from Delaware, famously declared that she is not a witch (as did SNL’s brilliant Kristen Wiig, in satire), but there were plenty of witches – and goblins, superheroes, doggies, and rock stars – at the Halloween party at the UU this evening.

It's the Great Pumpkin Patch Jumping Pillow, Charlie Brown

The local pumpkin patch just added this giant bouncy thing to their list of to-do activities. The sign said that it was for kids of all ages, which we took to mean that it was okay for those of us who are kids at heart.

On Leave(s)

Yard work is hard work, and so it’s best that I rest.

You Know Where I’m Homecoming from

The nearby public university goes all out for their homecoming, especially when it comes to the parade, which snakes through the downtown area and campus, and always attracts a sizable crowd. The kids like seeing the floats, but they’re most excited about the amount of candy that’s thrown in their direction by the parade participants. The parade serves as a pre-Halloween Halloween, and although their teeth and bodies will face a barrage of sugar at the end of the month, it’s mighty tough to tell your children, even the 18-month-old, to hold off until then.

A Star Is Born

Stellar means outstanding or immense, of course, but in its literal sense it means of, relating to, involving, or resembling a star. It is born of the Latin word stella, meaning star.

I introduce to you Stella Rose, the stellar names of the first child of my dear friends Gaston and Kathleen, for she is both bright and beautiful.

Auntie Dote

Aunt Liz showed her niece and nephew some love when hanging out by the lions at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Come By It Honestly

The momentum is building: we’ve got the presidential speech, a trip to the memorial, a stop by the theatre, a home visit, and the paying of respect. Now the latest: an honest impersonation at our children’s museum. Might this all lead up to a stately costume come Halloween?

Food for Thought

According to the World Food Programme, 925 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat. In the U.S. alone, it was also recently reported that more than a million children regularly go to bed hungry. Community-wide events such as CROP Hunger Walk take place to raise both awareness and funds to end hunger at home and around the world. For years now, my mother has been deeply committed to CROP through her church, and although she missed participating in her community’s walk because she was visiting us, she was able to walk in our local one.

It seemed fitting that Reed found a caterpillar, perhaps a very hungry caterpillar, not ten steps away from the windmill that marked the starting point of the benefit walk in which Grandma Randi was taking part.