"come on ride the train!'

The trio on the train
RKZ was the hand-holder because the boys like to race down the street (in downtown, not a good idea)
Our little statues
Buck and Jack are now best friends. They "miss" each other when they haven't seen each other and they "cheers" their sippy cups in when they are drinking at the same time. We're already nervous about them!

We went to see the "Live Stage Show of Thomas" the Tank engine. It was really bad - really loud and pretty cheesy. We took Buck's friends Clemmie and Jackson with us (Clemmie's mom came also). Three three year olds standing in the aisle dancing to songs that were just a little fuzzy.

We took the commuter (C) train to the theatre and this was the best part for the kids. It is a simple matter of parking on the end of the line and riding the C-train to the middle of town. We've started using this a lot as an afternoon out.

A Pittance of Time

Today is Remembrance Day here in Canada and Veterans Day in the US. Please take a few minutes and check out this video. It's nice, I think.

Thanks, everyone who served and serves. We have such a nice life because of you.

click here for the video:

Remembrance Video http://www.terry-kelly.com/pittance/pittance_en_video.htm

"Lovers - in a dangerous time"

The following pictures are of Buck's teacher, Miss Haugan, dressed as Mother Teresa, Buck showing off his sword, how much he LOVES wearing headgear and looking at himself in the mirror. Good times



So, at Buck's school, they had a "Saint and Angel" dress-up day instead of the traditional Halloween parade. The Pre-K 3, Buck's class, had to dress up the day before (he only goes Tues and Thursday) and then they walked from classroom to classroom showing off their costumes.

He has (around) 13 kids in his class - 10 boys and 3 girls - all 10 boys were soldier/saints of some kind and all of three girls were angels. Well, one boy was St. Michael the Archangel, who has the privilage of both holding a sword and being an angel. I laughed out loud when we walked in the class room.

Buck had a difficult time deciding which Saint to be. He knew he wanted a sword, but he also liked the idea of me attaching stuffed animals to his robe so that he could be St. Francis. Buck called St. F the "puppy Saint." At first, Buck liked the picture of St. Joan of Arc (because she carried a sword in the pictures), but I didn't think I could get away with a cross-dressing Saint. When I told Buck he couldn't be a "girl Saint," he looked at the picture and said, 'That's not a girl.' So much for equal opportunity in 3 year olds.

Eventually, economy solved the issue as the soldier costume was on sale at Winners (a Target-like store) for 50% off (about $7.00) AND by the fact that Buck refuses to wear anything that looks like a dress - robes included - puppy attached or not. Buck was St. George, the patron Saint of England who is always pictured killing a dragon (symbol of the Devil according to the the web). When a friend in class hit Buck with a sword he commented, "No, you don't kill friends with the sword - you are only allowed to kill debils." Ahh - those pesky debils.

"Don't stop, believin' !"

"Up in the air, Junior Birdman" Charlie as zebra at the party (the British pronounce it "zey-bra" as opposed to "zee-bra", so all of the kids were confused about what Charlie was)
Pirate Clementine
kids doing crafts at the party.
Lucy outside at the sandbox. It was in the 60's on Halloween!

So much has happened today (and yesterday) that I haven't had anytime to blog! Still on Halloween pictures. So, I'm about 6 days behind - but I'll still comment :)

1. It snowed last night.

Of course, the big news is President-elect Obama. As RKZ and I watched his acceptance speech, we were again struck by his authenticity. I love that he seems to love his wife and family so much and I honestly believe that he wants the best for our country. I am happy that the racial barrier has been broken. Most of you won't be shocked to know that I didn't vote for him - but I don't feel bitterly toward Mr. Obama and I think it would be letting God down to slander our new leader in any way. I am wary of his promise to pass a bill rejecting any state limits on abortion (he promised to pass this - FOCA - it is well documented and easy to find), I am not sure that socializing the medical system even more is the answer to all of its woes (I live in Canada and we have plenty of problems) and I do not know that setting the new President up as the savior of the world will do him any favors. These are meant as concerns I have regarding policy and my fellow citizens - not slams against Mr. Obama as a person. I will support the leader of our country. I will teach my children to respect him and I am still so proud to be a US citizen. And I think authentic Christianity is about loving even (and especially) the people who do not agree with me or see the world my way. God loves Mr. Obama as much as He loves me - and I will pray, always, for our new President to do well and to be the best leader possible.

This vote also motivates me to be more authentic & active regarding what I think is important - I will never stop fighting for immigrants or the unborn - the two groups of people who I believe simply are never given a voice.

Also today, Buck had an EEG test. But after that rant, it probably needs its own post :) More tomorrow on that.

"Vroom Vroom, cruising the dunes"

RKZ and I FAXED in our ballots today. We had to sign a waiver to release our right to a secret ballot. I am afraid someone will throw away our ballots. We were excited to be able to vote in the local Huntington Beach election measures. Our favorite - by far- was the measure which mandates that farm animals will be able to "stretch their legs for the majority of the day" (I'm not kidding). I'm sure it's some type of "free range" thing, but I can't believe how much money must have been spent on that measure being added to the ballot. Animal lovers that we are, we both voted "no." I am not anti animals stretching their legs, but who is going to police that? Let's spend some money making sure all kids have health care, shall we? IMHO (in my humble opinion), animals need to take a backseat to people. There, I said it.
RKZ built this plane for Buck. Buck loved/loves it.
Here is our trick-or-treating guy. My favorite part was Buck standing at every door and having a little chat with each person. He seriously would not stop talking to people.
Eventually, the airplane was too heavy for Buck and so RKZ took a turn. It was very funny.
My boys out trick-or-treating. It was nice that Buck eventually liked the "Police costume" I made him wear just in case.
One of our favorite neighbors didn't forget the Mommies and Daddies and she was handing out little plastic cups of red wine. It was awesome!

Finally getting the Halloween party pictures up. A lot is obviously going on today. I will post more of Halloween tomorrow. Unless we're already scared enough :)

"It's 5 o'clock somewhere"

RKC took Buck swimming. I'm making popcorn and getting ready to have Diet Coke and butter overload. It's good to have a Saturday.

Halloween pictures soon!