January Starts with a Splash

We have had a great January so far.  We got some lovely hats from Aunt Bonnie and had fun posing with them.

We went to Castaway Bay water park in Sandusky for Grandpa Butch's birthday.  We weren't able to get a picture with Snoopy with Grandpa, but we did get one with the kids.  They were not too sure about getting close to Snoopy, but they warmed up to him pretty quickly.  This picture is from the second time we saw him and they were much less apprehensive.  

The kids had a great time at the water park.  Mackenzie said it is her favorite hotel that we have ever stayed at.  She was just barely tall enough to go down all the slides including 3 tube slides (one of which was quite fast in Mom's opinion) and a really fun raft ride that proved that the park is owned by Cedar Point.  As Mackenzie said, "It made my tummy go flip-flop."

We left the water park and went directly to Imagination Station for a birthday party for one of Mackenzie's classmates.  Since we are members, Brian, Isaac and I stayed and played and Isaac had fun getting to choose where we went and what we did the whole time.  Right now there is a Sesame Street exhibition at Imagination Station, including Elmo's house:

After the party was over the kids enjoyed some of their favorite parts of Imagination Station before we came home for a well-needed quiet time.

Brian went back to work yesterday and we are getting back into our normal schedule.  So far things are going well, other than the Check Engine light coming on in Brian's car.  It is at the shop now, hopefully it won't be anything too serious.

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Another Tooth Lost

I am due for a full post, but I wanted to get this up now.  Mackenzie lost tooth number 3 today.

I also had to write down this conversation Brian told me he had with Mackenzie.  This child is always thinking:


Mackenzie:  Is there lava under our house?
Dad: Yes, way, way under the house.
Mackenzie: Can it come up through the ground?
Dad: No. They usually don't build houses where lava can come up from the ground.

Time passes.

Mackenzie:  I am still worried about the lava thing.  When we dig in the ground we can't get to the lava, right?
Dad: No.

Merry Christmas

 

We are just about ready for Christmas at our house.  Our tree is up and the house is decorated inside and out.  A lot of the Christmas shopping is done and we are just finishing up the final few purchases.

The kids have been enjoying playing Christmas by packing up empty boxes and pretending to be Santa and putting the presents under the tree.  Then they open their presents and act surprised about what is inside them.  It is very cute.

 

We went to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop this weekend.  Mackenzie sat on his lap and let him know that she wants Octonauts for Christmas.  Isaac got very nervous once we got up to the front of the line and wouldn't go anywhere near Santa, even for a candy cane!  So no shot of Isaac on Santa's lap this year.

The last few nights I baked gingerbread for a gingerbread house and I tried to put it together last night.  It was going well until Hurricane Isaac came along and broke the roof pieces.  I was able to repair the damage but we had to wait to decorate the house until this evening after the repairs had dried.  They had a great time though and the house looks great.  Mackenzie had been eating the left over gingerbread like crazy and even told me that I was "the best gingerbread baker."  Tonight though she decided she doesn't like it any more.  Perhaps she had a little bit of a bellyache yesterday.

 

More Good Times

So we continue to have good times in the Phillips family lately.

We went to the Holiday Spectacular at ONU the weekend before Thanksgiving.  The kids really enjoyed it.  They took some pictures before the show with Grandma and Grandpa by the Christmas tree.  Mackenzie even took a picture of the rest of us.

 

After the show Santa and his entourage were out for pictures and Mackenzie got her picture taken with them.  Isaac was too shy to take a picture with them after the show.  A little while later though, after they had left, he was upset that they were gone and that he couldn't get a picture with them.

Last week was Thanksgiving, of course.  Brian had the week off and on Tuesday he hired a couple of ONU students to head to Perrysburg and move a swingset that our neighbors had offered us.  The kids love their new swingset.  Thank you random neighbors!

We spent Thursday at Linda and Butch's house with Brian's family.  We had a lovely time and even had some adult time to watch the Lions and chat.  It is really great that the kids are old enough to entertain themselves and their younger cousins.

On Friday we headed north to spend time with my family.  We were fortunate to get to hang out with Grandma, Grandpa, Mike, Misty and Lexie as well as my Grandma and Grandpa Conklin.  The kids were so happy to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Sunday morning when they woke up to snow, Mackenzie was truly in heaven.  As soon as the sun was up she was outside making snow angels, brushing off the front porch and anything else she could get her mittens on.  The kids were a bit sad when we came home Sunday afternoon and there was no snow here.  I am sure we will have snow soon though.

Today we had gas logs installed in the fireplace in our den and I am now enjoying a romantic night alone in front of the fire with my current favorite wine, flipping between Bones and The Voice.  I would prefer to be doing this with Brian, but I am not going to complain about a bit of quiet time.

 

Oh and by the way, for anyone that doesn't know, Notre Dame has completed an undefeated season and will be playing in the BCS championship is Miami.  Awesome!  Earlier Saturday, we had the Michigan, Ohio State on and someone scored a touchdown.  I was upstairs and I heard Brian yell "Touchdown!" and Isaac finished up with "Go Irish".  Awesome!

Life is good!

It Has Been a Great Week

OK, I have been a total slacker with updating my Halloween pictures of the kids, so here they are.

 

Even though the weather wasn't great, we made it through the neighborhood.  We even scored a swingset out of the trip.  One of our neighbors said she had been waiting for us to come over so she could offer us her swingset, if we would take it out of her yard.  So over Thanksgiving break Brian is going to pay a student to come help him move it to our yard.  Yay!

 

I was also the mom in charge of Mackenzie's fall harvest party at school.  I don't know who they are trying to kid calling it a fall harvest party and having it on Halloween, with costumes and a costume parade.  It was a Halloween party and it was a pretty good party, if I do say so myself.

 

So onto my great week.  I took this Tuesday off to go "get out the vote" for President Obama.  I don't know that I, myself was very effective, but obviously all of the people in Ohio who have been doing this for months were very effective.  

 

On Thursday I get a call from Isaac's teacher that he had been crying and complaining that his ear hurts.  She said they looked at it and it looked swollen.  We do not get a lot of calls from school so I figured it was serious and went to get him and had an appointment for him at the doctor's that afternoon.  By the time I got him home, it was obvious that he felt just fine.  When I started probing further into the ear he told me that he had punched himself in the ear.  I don't know if that is accurate or not, but that was his story and he stuck to it.  I cancelled the doctor's appointment and  I did my normal "Mommy has to work while we are home" routine, hoping to ensure that this not become a habit.  So I got one day off and a day working from home with Isaac this week (which, although I don't want to make it a habit was pretty fun), and the week flew by.

 

We went to a craft fair this morning.  I called it a craft show and Mackenzie corrected me that it is a craft FAIR.  We all picked out homemade soaps by one of Brian's co-workers and the kids each got a book for today and one for a Christmas present.  Then we went to the library and Mackenzie got to pick out her books without any help from Mom and Dad.  She even went over at one point and asked the librarian for help all by herself.  Isaac also picked out his books, but with a little help from Mom and Dad.

 

The kids have already made construction paper turkeys for the fridge and are already commenting about how Thanksgiving is their favorite holiday, which makes me really happy.  We are already talking about Christmas and they are already making Christmas lists, but they say that Thanksgiving is their favorite holiday because they love getting together with everyone.  Again, what a great week.

Caution: Political Views Below

Brian and I had a conversation the other day where I expressed that I have a hard time understanding other people's political views, other than the news commentators that tend to be pretty clear.   Political discussions seem to be taboo, particularly since things seem so divided lately. 

So I decided to publish a letter to the editor of our local paper.  My first version was almost 1200 words long and the local paper requires letters to the editor to be 300 words or less.  So I sent them a very condensed version, but I decided to post the original here.  I doubt that my political views will be a surprise to anyone, but if you want to comment with your own thoughts, I would love to hear them. 

I am a supporter of President Obama and Vice President Biden.  I personally find it hard to understand how people in similar situations to me could support Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.  I feel like it is taboo to talk about politics outside of family and friends and sometimes even with family and friends when there is such discord like there is with the election this year.  I am hoping that expressing my opinion will help others understand why many of us support President Obama and Vice President Biden and that others will write in and express why they support whomever they support and hopefully we will all learn a little something.

With two young children I have to think about their future and the generations after them.  Romney has proposed stripping the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gasses and the Department of Interior's ability to lease and issue permits for drilling on federal lands and waters.  Romney's energy plan very clearly states that he would continue to supplement oil by giving them large tax breaks and incentives and that he would give no help to alternative energy, but expect them to compete on their own against supplemented fossil fuels. Obama has advocated raising the federal standards for fuel efficiency of cars and light trucks and maintaining incentives for renewable energy including wind and solar-powered generation.  Additionally, I am one person that obtained a green energy job during President Obama's administration.  I don't know that my job was a direct result of any of the administration's policies, but I do know that the company I work for is successful, employs American workers and supports many more, reduces pollution, enhances U.S. energy security, and is exporting its products to many countries.  Because I am concerned about the environment, I support President Obama. 

As I moved to my current position, my husband also changed jobs.  He works in the arts.  I believe that most everyone knows where Romney stands on this one due to his remark about Big Bird in the debate.  Because I support the arts, I support President Obama. 

I consider myself fortunate because I have never had an unexpected pregnancy. Although I believe that I would never have made the decision to have an abortion I do not think that I, or anyone else, has the right to legislate this decision for other women.  Also, I and the women I know generally make health care decisions for our families.  I have worried about the lifetime cap that my father hadson his insurance plan as he fights cancer.  I heard about a close friend's father's fight to get insurance privately due to a preexisting condition.  Thanks to Obamacare I need only worry about my father's fight against cancer now and not about a lifetime cap and soon others will no longer need to worry about being denied coverage because of a preexisting condition (immediately for children).  Finally Obamacare is also providing eight preventive health care services at no cost to millions of women enrolled in insurance plans. Because I think the healthcare legislation that took generations to be enacted should stay in place and because I think women should be allowed to make their own choices, I support President Obama.

My husband and I both have university degrees and we both paid back our student loans.  As a mother who is aware of the cost of a college education as well as the benefits, I hope that my children will be able to receive student loans so that we can afford to send them to college and so that, as a colleague of mine says, "They have some skin in the game." I attended public schools and a private university.  I know that I benefited from smaller classrooms and dedicated teachers in both environments. Because I believe that our students deserve our support, I support President Obama.

I think that when choosing a president,the choice for vice president should be given considerable thought.  Joe Biden has a lot of experience in the government.  I believe that he showed this during his debate with Paul Ryan.  I also believe that he respects hard-working Americans, women, and the men and women that serve or have served our country.  I believe that during his time in politics he has worked to make this country better for everyone, not just himself.  I believe him to be honest, to have integrity and to have empathy.  I believe that if we needed a Vice President to step up and lead the country he would do a better job than Paul Ryan who supported ending Medicare as we know it, cutting food stamps, and voted for a bill that would have allowed anyone involved to refuse to perform an abortion for any reason, even if the life of the woman needing the abortion was in danger.  Because I think we need to plan for disasters, I support Vice President Joe Biden.

Finally, I am a nerd.  I have always been a nerd. I love numbers and facts and I make most of my decisions based on facts.  This election, like most elections I have witnessed, has been full of negative campaigning.  I strive to find out the facts behind the sound bites and the facts that I have been able to find point to both candidates quoting the facts in ways that make them look better or their oppenent look worse.  However, Romney seems to do this to an extreme and seems to feel no need to even stick to the facts at times.  Although some misrepresentation of facts is going to happen, particularly in debates where a candidate could simply misspeak, Romney's mistakes just seem too extreme to not be considered misleading or untruthful.  One example was when Romney tried to depict himself as wanting to produce jobs for women.  First of all, he did not lead a search for qualified women for his cabinet; a nonpartisan coalition of women's groups did because in 2002 women held only 30 percent of the top appointed positions in Massachusetts.  Also, while Romney was governor the number of high-level appointed positions held by women fell 27.6 percent.  Secondly Romney has opposed numerous policies striving for pay equity, such as the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act.  Finally, when he ran for governor in 2002, Romney told voters, “I will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose.”  Now he says, “I’m a pro-life candidate and I’ll be a pro-life president.” Romney does not mention that his stance has changed or why.  Because I believe honesty is the best policy, I cannot in good faith support Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

Thanks,
Denise

By the way, I purposely left the whole job argument out because to me it truly is not important.  Economists say that no matter who is elected 12 million jobs will be created in the next four years. I am sure in four years someone will be trying to take credit for them though.  I saw this chart and thought it was a good look at what has actually happened with jobs since Obama took office.