I'll be damned

I just got up from a nap. Partially due to only getting about 4 hours of sleep last night and partially needed because of the bottle of champagne that led me to get only 4 hours of sleep last night.

Can you believe it. I swear, it really wasn't until I got home from Liam's swimming lesson last night, when the count was 100 to 34 in electoral votes that I could even begin to see the light. As hard as I have worked, as much money as I have given, as many prayers as I have said, living through the elections of 2000 and 2004 I just wasn't sure it was possible. I kept saying " I don't know what I'll do if he doesn't win," we joked about Darren opening up Azavar Canada, but I knew it was an empty threat. I thought, well I guess I will just live in Illinois forever. At least it is a blue state and I can go to a Halloween party and see 2 Sarah Palins, a Bristol Palin with an Obama button, and a couple of Joe Six-packs, and no one worries they are offending anyone. But now the good news is, if I move back to Ohio I can feel good. I know that Ohio gets it when they see the right candidate. Maybe Gore and Kerry just weren't for them. (not that I understand how Bush could have ever been for them, especially in 2004, but...bygones)

It was so fun to talk to everyone last night, I had both my phone and cell phone ringing all night. First my dad, then my sister, who got to tell me that it was being reported that Ohio went for Obama, that was fun, to my friend Lauri, to Steve in Miami, to my friend Kathryn who was traveling for work and called me from Orlando. The excitement was palpable. And when NBC came back from their 10 pm break with the graphic that Obama was our 44th president I actually couldn't breathe for a moment. I couldn't scream because the kids were asleep, it was unbelievable. We tried to wake up Liam but that kid sleeps like a log. So we opened a bottle of champagne and just sat there with the goofiest smiles on our faces and watched for another 2 hours at the history that was upon us.

Many people said they thought I would be at Grant Park, and pre-kids I would have been. In fact, in true irony, Obama is the first Democratic presidential candidate I haven't seen in person since I could vote...Hell Darren and I even saw Mike Dukakis at Courthouse Square in 88. But oh well, we may go to DC for the inauguration, if Darren can swing it. We have to decide soon, like today b/c those hotels rooms are going fast.

Last quick story, in 2004 I think, I went to a local kids Christmas party at a park district that our alderman put on. My mom was in town and she went too. She had just fallen and broken her wrist. At the party a politician came over and talked to her. There were a lot of people there, he probably thought she was pretty, but he ostensibly came over to ask her about her cast. Anyway, it was Rahm Emmanuel, our next Presidential Chief of Staff. Pretty cool huh?

Obama Biden 08/12

Thank the Lord for Big favors!!!!!!

today is the day

i can't believe it is here. i have waited almost 2 years for this day and there were many times i did not think it would arrive. i voted early, which in some ways did not have the majesty of voting on election day. i held out for a while but then got freaked that i would be standing in a huge line with a squirmy charlotte for hours on end. as it was i stood in line for about an hour and fifteen with a squirmy charlotte. but i was bouyed by her constant "bote, bote, bote" i love taking my kids to the voting booth. even if they are to young to understand i hope that one day it will have made an impression. liam came home yesterday with 2 new campaign slogans "vote for obama you love your mama" and "vote for mccain he will give you pain" LOL i love living in chicago, he came up with those at CATHOLIC school. so i have the wine and the champagne ready and i will have to get a coffee later b/c i plan on staying up. hopefully it won't be a late night but who knows.

man i suck at this

I really thought I would do this at least once a week. I guess I am too verbal, (wow where does Liam get it.) I have never been much of a journaler.

Liam is back at school. I was thrilled, he got the only guy teacher in the whole school and a good portion of his buddies are in his class. He still complains every night that he doesn't want to go to school the next day, but when I pick him up he always seems to have had a good day. What is it? I was not a huge fan of school but I don't think I made a stink ever, let alone in first grade. That kid has a lot coming down the pike as far as school is concerned. Of course Charlotte is now asking when she can go to school. She wants to do whatever Liam is doing. It is so cute, she always looks out for him. If she gets some "beam" (ice cream) she wants to make sure that "Miam" gets some beam too. Then at her first opportunity she will give him a strong right hook. Oh well, siblings.

So 60days until the election. I am worried. On paper Obama should win, I mean who thinks another 4 years with a smug pitbull near the oval office is a good idea? I don't know how I will make it if that woman is the VP. It actually makes me kinda sick to my stomach.

I added a picture from our MoveOn party we had last week during Obama's speech. Enjoy. I'll be back later.

ok that was fast

so i got those pics downloaded faster than i thought. keep scrolling after you read this post because there are a lot of new pics on the side.

nyc was great. it was one of those perfect trips where nothing went wrong. i was so worried with the all the news about the airlines (imagine that, the news putting the fear of god into us) but we had bought our tickets before the pay for your luggage thing went into effect so we could bring on TWO bags at no charge. then both our flights coming and going took off on time. we got to do everything we wanted. saw some old friends and new babies, saw a david mamet play, that was unfortunately underwhelming, and best of all had dinners and conversations that were not ruined by "liam stop that", "charlotte sit down." it was amazing. darren came within spitting distance of the next president of the united states and then i had to hear about it over and over all week. he got good feedback from all the agents he met. it was just a good time all the way around. and in the end i remembered why i live in chicago. i can do everything here i can do there and we have alley's to put our trash in so the city seems cleaner.

the rest of the summer has been all pool all the time. i think the kids are getting sick of it but they'll miss it once labor day comes so we go almost every day. this weekend we are going to the renaissance festival in WI. i have heard good things about it and liam will love it. it is supposed to be about 95 degrees so i hope we don't see anyone pass out in those crazy medevil costumes.
i am sure there will be pictures for that so stay tuned.

summer

Wow we are coming to the last month of summer. It has been busy and thus no posts since the begining. We made 2 trips home, Darren and I went to NYC by ourselves, the kids and I have lived at the pool and Liam has become quite a good swimmer. I have pictures of all of this but I haven't downloaded a single one. Which is unusal. I need to get on it because the more pics that build up the less I want to take the time to do it. So I am going to do that now and I will post again shortly

new post

ok, it has been almost a month since my last post. i am not as good at this as i thought i would be.

charlotte turned 2 this month. it was a rough begining to the terrible 2's. she was sick and getting teeth so it seemed liked she cried for an entire week straight. things have calmed down now and she is back to herself. thank god because i thought this might be the longest year of my life.

liam is going to be 6 in just over a week. he has his last full day of school tomorrow. i always get nervous right before an extended break and wonder if i am up for it. but ultimately it is way better when he doesn't have school. things are more relaxed, he is not such a spaz. i hope that this will be a great summer. we joined a pool in a neighboring suburb, which is only about 15 minutes away. it has 3 pools, a wading pool for kids 7 and under, then an activity pool with slides and then a regular pool. i am determined to make this a fun summer for darren too. we have a big trip back to dayton in about 3 weeks and then he and i are going to nyc in july, but beyond that i want us all to just relax and enjoy the nice weather, for the short amount of time that we have it.

steve wants my blog to be edgy and political, so i will throw out there that i also hope to go to a lot of obama campaign rallies this summer.

i can't do this latest entry without mentioning my stepdad, lowell, who died last week of lung cancer. he and i didn't always see eye to eye. he was a republican, nuff said. but he was a nice guy and made my mom happy so that is all that really matters. it has been a long time since someone i was close to died. it is weird to think you are never going to see that person again. i like to think he is having a drink and a laugh with sydney pollack right now. maybe playing a game of liar's poker.

wow...

Now I have people anxiously awaiting my next post. I feel like Rosie O'Donnell, LOL. I guess I set up the expectations because I said I would have a good blog after my parents stayed with us this past weekend. Unfortunately there isn't too much to report, or maybe that is fortunate. My dad set off our ADT alarm at 4 a.m. the first night. He was warm so he opened our patio door. He would have liked to blame it on my mom, but I caught him like a deer in headlights, standing by the door. It was no big deal, but when I asked him if he wanted it opened now that I had disarmed the place he said "no I will just take off my sweatshirt" That might have been helpful to do in the first place. And then mom did something on the last night but she bribed me not to tell in the blog so I won't :)



Ah, everybody who reads this blog knows my parents are great. Amy and I are very lucky that we have parents who get along even though they are divorced. They jump in to help each other out when possible, they are great to their kids and grandkids. They just can't live together. My mom's eyes would roll out of her head if she had to live with my dad. It is actually quite funny.



So that was last weekend.