Baby quilt... some progress

On Wednesday I stayed home with Kaiden because he was sick. He was pretty low key all day but later in the afternoon I decided to cut up my material and start on my quilt project (ya know, the one I blogged about many many weeks ago) and Kaiden showed some interest in joining me, so it was nice to see him feeling better.

Before I could work on my project though, Kaiden wanted me to make him a blanket for his resting buddies. He and his grammie made a resting buddy blanket last time we were in Maine but he has two nest of resting buddies. The cats sleep in one nest with the duck and the dogs sleep in another nest.

So he picked out the material from my large stash and his only stipulation was that it had to be exactly the same size as the one grammie and he made. He was very adamant about that which I find funny because I think he was worrying about being fair to his resting buddies. Very cute.

So here he is sewing his blanket:


Phew… it is the exactly the same size of the other one:


And here is my material cut up, ready to be sewn together.

…. wonder how long it will be before I blog about its completion!

oh... and thanks mom, I love my hand me down machine!!!!

Obama!

On Friday, September 12, I attend another Obama rally and it was so much fun. Earlier this summer I went to the Unity rally to see Obama and Hillary. That was a blast. It was especially exciting because some coworkers and I got selected to be seated behind Obama! Not only did we get to see both Obama and Hillary up close but we also got to skip the what seemed like an endless line at the check in and I got to shake Obama’s hand… twice!!! You could even see me on CNN, among the hundreds of people around me. Such a great time.

So Friday's rally was awesome too. It started with an email Wednesday night announcing that Obama would be in town and that tickets would be available the next day at the Obama office downtown. So Thursday I went down to the Obama office and picked up tickets. It is always so cool to see lines and lines of people excited about getting tickets for Obama.

What made this trip special is I asked Kaiden if he wanted to attend and he said yes. So in order to make sure Kaiden could see, we needed to get good seats so we didnt' end up on the floor. Doors opened at 4:30pm, so Kaiden and I got there at 3:45pm. We found our way in to the lobby and waited. It was great because we were among the first 30 people to arrive, everyone had Obama stickers, hats, and shirts on and we just sat and waited. At around 4:15pm I was a bit puzzled as to why more people weren’t arriving. Then shortly thereafter, someone announced for all the volunteers to meet in the adjacent room. A few seconds later we were the only ones left in the lobby! We were hanging out with the volunteers and not in line!!! So we walked, in the rain, around the building to where the public entrance was and there we were greeted by hundreds of people in line. Crap.

It worked out just fine though. Many people wanted the floor spots to be up closer to Obama and I wanted the back bleacher spot so Kaiden could spread out and we could stand on our seats without blocking someone’s view. This way Kaiden could actually see Obama speak.

Obama was 1.5 hours late which I look back on and am amazed at how wonderful Kaiden behaved. Of course I had a coworker, her daughter, a friend, and two young girls to entertain him. I also brought lots of snacks and water. By 8pm Obama showed up and gave a fantastic speech. And by 9 pm we were out of there.



Kaiden picked out an Obama button on our way out. I must note that he asked for a pin and I simply agreed to buy it for him, because I am not a big fan of putting paraphernalia on kids as they are too young to make their own decisions. As I type, I can spy Kael's Patriots shirts on the couch. :-) Speaking of Kael, my wonderful friend Celeste watched Kael for me and I am so glad that I decided not to bring him with me. That would have been too long for him.

So Kaiden and I also made it on the radio. Listen.

Kaiden was definitely the most articulate of the three of us!


I also must say that my blog started out ranting about McCain and Palin, expecially Palin, but I deleted it all and decided to just post the top 10 reasons I like Obama:

1. His willingness to end this war
2. His ability to motivate young people to serve their country, military and non-military service
3. He’s pro-choice, something that women fought to have that be their decision, not the governments. Also knowing that Palin, who could be one heart beat from the presidency, doesn’t even support abortions if a girl was raped by her father… yikes! And doesn’t think birth control should be taught to teens… her conservative Christian values terrify me as a Christian! Ok… I’m ranting….
4. He supports the reform of immigration while realizing people are people… i.e., he would not tear apart breastfeeding mothers from their American children unlike the recent raids in Massachusetts and elsewhere that were then praised by the republicans
5. He is for universal health care .
6. He wants to STOP the tax breaks Bush gives to the wealthy (income from 250k and up) and will CUT taxes for working families a $1000 per family ($500 per working person) and ELIMINATE income tax for seniors making less than $50,000.
7. His ability to deal with economic issues and his focus on not outsourcing America jobs… that’s where the tax cuts need to be
8. He is focused on HAVING an energy plan! Wow what a concept!
9. His grass roots campaigning, which means he doesn’t owe anybody anything once in office! Small donations from just average people. Amazing what he has done.
10. This administration had 8 years and totally messed us up, it is time for CHANGE!

Someone put it this way… even if you don’t like Obama, if you were trying to fix something with a wrench and that wrench just wasn’t working, wouldn’t you reach into your tool box and grab something else, or would you still keep using that wrench?


And if you missed it, here is the Saturday Night Live skit with Palin and Hillary. People are still talking about how funny this is!!! Watch.


AND most importantly... don't forget to VOTE on November 4th!!!

If you haven't registered get info on your state's registration process here: click.

Maine & New Hampshire: You can register on election day at the polling place!

It is soooooooooooooo important this year to vote and know the issues. A lot is a stake.

Ice Cream Social at Mem's

Oh, there seems so much to blog about lately but I have been way too busy

Where to start!....

On grandparent's day, September 7th, I took the kids up to Maine to visit my grandmother (mem). She lives in an assisted living place and they had an ice cream social to celebrate. I actually didn’t want to go but my mem doesn’t ask for much and at my cousins wedding the week before she said to me, “oh, I would love it for you to come”. I didn’t go out of guilt and I didn’t hunt for excuses. My grandmother never puts guilt on me; she’s not that kind of grandmother. I did it because I knew she would love it but I think mostly I did it because it felt like one of those moments that I thought I should seize, more so than usual. I wonder if it was the time and place that she asked me. It is always good to remind ourselves that not one of us will be here forever. She is a very special person to me and I treasure seeing her with my kids. I want them to know her and remember her. I remember my mem’s mom. Not much but I do remember her. It really gets back to how I feel about my Aunt Sarah; I want them to know her. They didn’t have that opportunity to have their own memories but they do with my grandmother. So we made another memory and it was a really nice time. The kids loved the ice cream, mem loved seeing them, and I must say my mem just looked so pretty that day. All smiles too.

She also called Kaiden today because he sent her a picture of a butterfly. The other day we were painting and he was making was about to make her a picture and he chirped up., “can I call mem-mem to see what she wants in her picture?” “Sure” I said. So he gets on the phone with her and says, “mem-mem, I am making you a thank you picture for sending me presents on my birthday, what would you like… a volcano, a tornado, a fire…… oh, a rainbow…. (he thinks a little)… yeah, I can make a rainbow for you mem-mem… oh, a butterfly too….. well, do you want a monarch butterfly or a blue one?.... ok, I can do that. Love you mem-mem, bye.”

It was a very cute conversation. So he went to work making a beautiful blue butterfly with a purple and blue rainbow in the background, one that I wish I took a picture of. Well, she got it today and wanted to call to say thanks. I think he said you’re welcome.

We got some great grandparents photos. Here is me with my grandmother, mem and my Walter.

And here are the boys with their grandparents, grampie and grammie.

Also, we came across these pirates eating ice cream too. Scarry place!

Finally Project 1 COMPLETE!

Ok, so it only took me a month, almost to the day but Kaiden's room has officially been transformed.

BEFORE
AFTER:
And it seems to be working....

Liz's Wedding

Ahh… my wonderful beautiful cousin Elizabeth got married on Saturday. She was absolutely beautiful, to no surprise. She has a great smile and it fits her very friendly personality. Adam was handsome, as usual. I think that was his quote, but I do agree. He wore a gray suit that looked great. He was a little nervous like Liz but you wouldn't have known it during their ceremony. From what little I know of Adam, he likes to joke around and he is crazy about Liz, so he will be a good fit into our family. We joke lots but mostly, we are crazy about Liz too.

The wedding was at Old Orchard Beach at Joseph's By the Sea. It was outside and you could see the ocean and sail boats in the background but not the beach goers. A perfect backdrop. And the weather was predicted to be rain, but it was dry and couldn't have been better. A perfect day for Liz and Adam.

They met online (MySpace), so they had these cute little computers on the table as dinner mint dispensers. They were about the size of a baseball. Not the mints, the dispensers. :-)

They each had 2 bridesmaids/groomsmen by their sides that also looked beautiful and handsome. And as a perfect entrance to the ceremony, Liz's dad (Uncle Brent to me) and her brother Dan led her down the aisle. Dan and Uncle Brent looks handsome too! Must be in the genes.




The newest member of the Sites: Adam.

I wish my brother Andy and his family could have been here but they are in Tennessee and it was just too hard to get the time off for the travel. He is missing from the below photo of my grandmother and all her grandchildren. Tanya (who looked great in her sexy brown dress); Liz and Dan; and me all behind our mem. The great grand kids (Lucas, Elise, Kayla, Orion, Kaiden, and Kael) all call her mem-mem.

What a wonderful wedding.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I didn’t get through it without crying though. It was definitely a wonderful day and I am so happy for Liz but any big event without my Aunt Sarah is just tough. It is hard not to crave to have her there to hold, to have her to laugh with, to just see her beaming with delight for Liz, to just share this wonderful day with her.

Life on earth moves along without her. I miss her so badly, as so many others do too. Adam never met her, their children will never meet her, my children never met her, any friends that come into our family lives since she left in 2001 will never meet her. I get this lump in my throat because I want my loved ones to know her like I knew her. That won’t happen but to some level I need to make sure they understand this piece of my life. She is so hard to explain to others because her character was so unique…. so fun, so special, so honest, so caring, so loving, and so strong.

My uncle said to me at the wedding, it’s ok to cry, just never forget her. That is impossible. I do feel her around and I am not fully sure about the form of God and heaven but I fully believe in a higher power and spirits and angels and life beyond here. So I know I will see her again one day and I don’t just say that but I honestly know that. But that doesn’t settle my cravings now.

An empty seat remained beside Liz's dad at the ceremony. A precious little calla lily rested there with a note that said "In Memory. Mother of the Bride"

Lots of love and happiness to Liz and Adam and I look forward to all the new memories they will bring to the family and they will share with us.

Thank Yous

Here is a glimpse of Kaiden’s thank you paintings. For thank you notes for his birthday he wanted to make each person a thank you painting. I usually just have him make a couple of paintings and I cut them up into little notes. But he was determined to paint everyone a personal painting with a story or title attached to each. I would tell him the name of the person and he would paint them a painting using a feather as a paint brush. They came out very nice. They were mostly of fire, tornados, and volcanoes. Hummm.... I wonder if he has been watching too much National Geographic: Earth Biography!