christmas....crafts....stuff (a pictorial)

the kids made ornaments this year....they each made 4

mia's

noah's

aidan's

mia hanging her's
our tree

a patient's family that i have grown close to, made these cute turkeys for my kids for thanksgiving....and they were delicious!

nkotb forever!

my friend janet and i recently caught the new kids on the block concert in st louis. it was by far one of the top 5, yes i said 5, concerts i have ever seen in my whole life! absolutely amazing! the concert was opended by lady diva? i really don't know, i had never heard of her and was not that impressed by her. i think solely because i am not a huge fan of club music, but it was okay. next up was natasha bedingfield. prior to seeing her in concert, i was a fan, after seeing her in concert, HUGE fan!

i was happily snapping pictures and taking video, wondering what the red flashing light on my camera meant.....well, i quickly discovered, that meant near to no battery power remaining. natasha bedingfield did a meet and greet after her performance, before the new kids. as i was trying to snap pictures then, my camera DIED! luckily my friend janet stepped in in a pinch and continued documenting our night. phew!

so i will have to post the majority of the pictures later as she has not shared them with me yet.....it takes her awhile. but enjoy the bit of video i have and the pics. if you can, definitely go see them....so worth you time and money.......HANGIN' TOUGH FOREVER!

more things political

as i am organizing my stuff, i am trying to catch up on stuff i wanted to post. first i have a clip from the obama rally.....you must turn your head sideways to see it.....and the sound quality is not the best.....but hey, enjoy anyway, it's the thought that counts. next up, a few palin rally pics. i was not nearly as close as with obama and i did not attempt to record any of the speech. basically, if you heard any late stump speechs, then you heard this one. i was even reciting parts at the end.

if you look REALLY close under the vote sign, you can see gov. palin in red......i know!
anyway, she visited jc the day before election day, to get all those undecided joe plumbers to vote for john mccain. i'm not sure if that's what did it, but missouri ended up becoming a "major" state in the election....and by major, i mean we took the longest determining our winner and we were super close. but if you look at my ballot, there is no doubt who i voted for.


i took noah with me to vote that day and he went into the booth with me. afterwards, i let him cast my ballot. it was very exciting for both of us! we both left there with our "i voted" stickers on, and each with a different thought about that. later that night while we watched history being made i became very emotional...........i am proud to be an american is one of noah's favorite songs and mine as well. there are many times in my life when i have truly felt proud and that night was one of them. until next time......

family pictures

it is that time of year again......family pictures. i would love for one year to take the "perfect picture." not necessarily perfect but somewhat. we did a family portrait for mother's day and it was okay, except aidan slept the whole time.....but he was 1 month old so i don't know why i expected anything else. we just took our latest photos and amelia grace was in the mood of all moods. every picture she took with us, she looked just like that. so we have lovely pictures of the TOP OF HER HEAD!
the boys on the other hand, took the cutest pictures......

but everyone we encountered that day thought we had beautiful girls! no matter how many times we corrected people and told them aidan was a boy.....he quickly turned back into a girl. well i guess he is adorable.

by the last picture, mia was better. i think it was because it was her by herself, which is what she really wanted all along. she took the last picture just fine and made me wish we had done it first. but i knew all along what a diva she can be...........she better be famous or this will all so not be worth it later.....lol until next time.

barack obama rally

okay.....i haven't blogged in quite some time, but i am back in the mood to talk about what is going on in my life and the world and share my thoughts, so here goes.......
before president-elect obama was president-elect, i attended his rally in columbia, mo (como to those hippsters). election time always seems to inspire and motivate me. as i was preparing to head to the rally, i thought a lot about previous elections and rallys that i have attended.
the first presidential election i was eligible to vote in was 2000 election of george bush vs al gore. i will not lie, i was a gore supporter all the way. this was simply because life in the clinton administration had been good to me and i anticipated more of the same. i had been married for one year during this election and was carefree and wanted to continue in that vain. but, alas, florida and the hanging chad will always be something i remember from that time.
the next election was 2004, george bush vs john kerry. things had changed for me significantly in those four years. september 11th occurred when i was 8 months pregnant with my first child. the WORLD was forever changed at that point. by 2004, i was pregnant with my second child, the economy, for me, was at the beginning of its decline. i attended the kerry/edwards rally and came away inspired and hopeful for a brighter future for myself and my family. but again, we were foiled by the politics of the times.
now 2008........i began this election as a supporter of hilary clinton. i am still to this day a hilary clinton supporter! but she was not our candidate and after reviewing the choices i had remaining in this race, i went with who i thought would be the best choice for this country: barack obama. i, of course, felt what a lot of others did......that america would never elect a black man as president of the united states. i began to prepare myself for 4 more years of hardship under a republican administration. but president-elect obama made a pitstop to columbia, mo (30 miles up the road from my home) and i felt drawn to see him as i was drawn to see kerry/edwards 4 years prior. from the moment i stepped in line to await entrance through the gate, i felt "something." as my father and i stood in line, i made "friends" with those around me. people from small surrounding towns, college professors at mu, college students with $2 in their pockets........this was america.....this was me.......i knew these people.
we walked through the gates and were greated by the sights......

just seeing "missouri for change" in lights, gave me goosebumps and that little rumble in my stomach. i knew this would be great. we waited inside the gate for over an hour. i was excited.....

finally, time to begin......the royalty of the missouri democratic party were all present and accounted for.....judy baker, robin carnahan, and the next govenor of this great state of missouri, jay nixon

then it was finally time for barack obama to come on stage. just seeing him in person brought this sense of euphoria to the crowd. it was as if everyone present knew this man was destined to be something wonderful to us all. he only spoke for about 25 minutes, but in that 25 minutes, i felt as if i had been touched......as if i could face tomorrow because we were going to be okay. my family has struggled in the last 4 years. we have worked and worked hard, but it never seems to be enough. with the election of barack

obama, i feel as if my silver lining has come. i can see it now. this is my dream come true.

there is the further signifcance that his election holds for me and my family. i wish that my grandparents could be alive to see where we are today. my mother's parents (my grandmother and grandfather) and her cousin were big in the civil rights movement. her cousin, charles billups, was one of the organizers of bloody sunday (or so the family i have been told). i wonder, what would they say? do they know?

i wish my father's father was still alive for this moment. i can see the tears in his eyes because i know he never thought his grandchildren would see this day.

at the moment of his speech, i was proud to be standing next to my father. a man born in 1939 to a school teacher and a pullman porter......a man who reminds me of barack obama. i was thankful that he not only got to witness this presidential candidate but later be at grant park for the day this man would be named our next president. god is good!

i think about and thought about that day....my sons......they can dream big! they must dream big!

well, as i feel that i am rambling at this point, i am not making any point whatsoever, and i am about to fall asleep, i will wrap this up for the night. i will continue sometime in the future with my sarah palin rally experience (i attended that the day before the election) and the whatever else has occurred since i last blogged. until next time.

DNC in Denver, CO

okay, i've been trying to keep up the dnc this week, and i have been both surprised and disappointed. there have been some truly dull moments with some really inspiring moments sprinkled throughout.
monday night's tribute to ted kennedy and his speech did bring tears to my eyes. i did come away from that with hope in my heart! now michelle obama.....while i think it was a good speech and she did a great job, i still am not sure if i "like" her. but i do feel like i know her and barack a little bit more now and i feel comfortable with that.
that being said.......moving on to last night and hillary rodham clinton! loved it!!!! i came away from her speech wondering why she wasn't our nominee?! she should have been giving that same speech all along and she would have been. the video tribute was wonderful and to have her daughter introduce her was lovely as well. watching at home last night, there were many times i wanted to jump up from my seat and yell and applaud, but then i felt silly because i was the only in front of my tv.........
i now have my favorite slogans from the night:

• four more months!
• keep going!

well those our my basic thoughts for now. until next time........

cardinals game

went to the cardinals game over the weekend.....father's day present for "all the father's in my life." the game was supposed to be at 1:15 pm but was delayed due to the heat. so glad that it was because it has been over 100 degrees lately with the heat index. game was a lot of fun for all involved. (except the cardinals, as they lost 4-5)
we rode the metro to the game so as to avoid the parking issues....but apparently every other game-goer had that same idea. but the kids loved riding the metro. [it will prepare them for our upcoming trips to nyc and dc (hopefully!)]
all noah wanted was a foam finger once we got to the game. but once he was bored with it, then he told me he really got it for me. needless to say though, the foam finger did not make it home in one piece! :-( travis does seem to think we can superglue it back together?!? (he's a man, that's all i can say.) mia ended up with a baseball purse because (let's face it) she is super girly about some things and really loves her purses.
the game did really make me want to partake in an "adult-only" game outing.....we'll see in sept. if i can get that together.
will post more pics later. back to work i go......