Peas in A Pod

My sister, Mallory, and I are like two peas in a pod!

Well, except for the conservative/liberal thing. (Read about it here and here)

Umm... and the atheist/ Christian thing.

And the 13 years between our ages.

Oh! And the single/ married thing.

Hm. Okay, well, we're not so similar, I guess. But on one issue, we are the same: getting stuff done!

She's trying to write her senior thesis so she can graduate from college in a couple of weeks. On her website, she's posted the following video which details beautifully an area of our lives that Mallory and I share.



Hurry and watch this so you can go get your stuff done.

This week we are participating in the homeschool association's standardized testing. Braden and Brogan are taking the tests for their grade (Brogan is testing just for the fun of it), and Colson hangs out in the nursery.

Braden's a pro at this testing thing, and he was calm and cool while we packed our lunches and backpacks. Colson and Brogan, however, were like two hyperactive puppies, tumbling over each other while racing back and forth with items to bring. Both were proud to wear their backpacks to the car like "real schoolkids" do.

While the boys were taking their tests, I was administering one. I am in charge of the 3rd graders and their tests this week. We had a long day, and the children were real troopers. I told them up front that we were the last class to eat lunch and had the most tests to complete on Monday. (Third grade tests are brutal.) We had to contend with broken air conditioning, police sirens and helicopters roaring nearby (I posted about our fair city earlier), a garbage truck that unloaded the dumpsters directly underneath our window, and tornado sirens being tested. They hung in there, though, and didn't complain.

When it was time to go home, one of the little girls gave me a drawing she had done of me.

Look at me! Aren't I lovely? Look how thin I am!!!

And ...um.... jaundiced and oblong as well! (Ahhh... the price I must pay to be so thin!)

My favorite part is the shadowing she'd done on my neck. I half-expected her go all slack-jawed and squinty-eyed, and tell me in a deep, sleepy voice, "I spent like three hours doing the shading on your neck. It's probably the best drawing I've ever done."

It is a good drawing, though. Much better than I could ever do. And not a liger or a delicious bass in sight!

Okay, this has a little bit of language, but not too much. Watch and enjoy!

And then go back and check your homemade baby videos....

"Don' Bother...They're Here"

2 pats on the back to anyone who can tell me from what song's lyrics I took this post's title.

Last year I posted briefly about what happens when a boy finds a marker.

This weekend, Colson surrendered to the siren song of markers.


"But Moooom! I was just drawing a clown face. Actually, I just wanted a clown smile."

Thankfully, the clown's smile wore off after only 2 days. Whew!

Belated Easter Post

Grandma had an Easter Egg Hunt for the grandkids. The boys collected eggs filled with chocolate eggs, M and Ms, jelly beans, and peeps.

Colson loved the chocolate eggs.



He also loved the chocolate milk that flows freely at Grandma's house.



It's a good thing that all that chocolate doesn't seem to affect him.

My, How He's Grown

I can't believe that he's old enough to be doing this.



He's well on his way to mowing the lawn himself, but - I don't know - there's just something about the weedwhacker that screams "adult responsibility!!!!!" to me.

He Is Risen Indeed!

Who makes these videos? Surely they could have found a more creative director. Anyway, just close your eyes and listen.

Chills, chills, chills!

Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

He Is Risen!

This is one of my favorite songs by this group, and even though it's not an Easter song, I always put the CD on this time of year. They could have made a better video, I suppose, but I still get chills when I hear the ending. (After 16 years!)

Did I Fool You?

Sunday's blog was posted, of course, on April Fool's Day. In case you hadn't guessed by now, I am not - nor do I ever plan to be - a Hillary Clinton supporter.

Several people caught on right away. Others took a little longer.

From Dy:

" OMGosh, and I KNEW better. I. Knew. Better. I even blogged just this morning about your April 1st post from LAST year. Darn you!

"So imagine the gut-wrenching horror as I read your post this morning, my eyes getting bigger, my eyebrows actually meeting (MEETING) in the middle. (Not that it's a stretch, I know, but they worked hard to get there and stay there.) I actually had my hand up to my mouth, Hillary, my mind racing, "No, no, how... how does... no..."

"You, my friend, are evil. "

After my entry from April Fool's Day 2006 caught many of you unaware, I thought for sure that everyone would remember and realize the joke right away this year.

Interestingly enough, Mallory (my adorable sister) read about my joining the Clinton bandwagon and thought I was completely serious. She was elated!

After reading it, she bounded down the stairs to tell my mom and sister-in-law. "Mom! You have to read what Hillary just posted! You won't believe this!" She went on to describe the post and noticed that Mom and G. were strangely silent. Finally one of them reminded her, "Mal, today is April Fool's Day."

The shrieking phone call I received from Mallory at 11:30 pm that night is not one that my eardrums will soon forget. (But I must say, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!)

So Happy April 1st everyone! (Even though it's now the 4th, Mallory.)

And just in case there is any doubt or confusion.....

Darn You, Mallory!

I was perfectly content with my political views until I spoke with you a couple of weeks ago.

For those of you unfamiliar with my family, my sister Mallory is a brilliant, adorable, articulate political science major. She got all the good genes in our family pool. See? Isn’t she cute?

Mallory graduates from college in May (providing she gets her senior thesis done) and will move on to grad school in the fall. While she has been in college, I can’t recall discussing politics with her. Ever. This is not unusual, as I cannot recall discussing politics with anyone in my family. Slinging jabs and barbs at each other – sure. Discussing political things – nope.

So when she brought up the topic of the 2008 presidential election, I was surprised. Not just because she brought the topic up in conversation, but also because it was March of 2007. The elections were 21 months away at that point! Who in real life is talking about this? Sure, the media is speculating, but they began speculating the week after the 2004 election. With several news channels broadcasting 24 hours a day, they have to fill that time with something, so they speculate about '08.

Anyway, Mallory and I began talking about the field of candidates for the 2008 election. No one on the Republican side really thrills me. They didn’t thrill Mallory either. Though, with Mallory being a liberal, it was no surprise.

After dissing several people on the Democrat side of the aisle, we ultimately began discussing the Hillary/ Obama campaigns. At the time, Mallory was fairly solidly in Obama’s camp. As we talked, I shared how I did not know much about Obama, but I very much disliked Hillary Clinton. As our conversation ended, I decided I’d look into the campaigns a bit more.

After researching both camps, I have come to the conclusion that Obama is not for me. He’s never really done anything; never managed or run anything. He’s only been a senator for a few years, and he’s spent most of that time running or considering running for President. He speaks in sound bytes and catchphrases, not really saying anything but still giving the impression that he’s said something profound. And for all his talk about uniting people and working together, he hasn’t actually done it.

But as I researched both campaigns, I was surprised how often I found myself agreeing with Hillary Clinton. My opinion of her has changed dramatically. For example, I have always thought she had a grating, plastic way of reading aloud. In any speech I’ve heard her give, she’s spoken in a shrill voice, sounding very forced and unnatural. I could not imagine having to listen to her speak for 4 years, were she to be elected. Listen to her at an event in Alabama:

But now I think that may have been an aberration. Listen to her chatting for a bit in this next clip. She sounds so natural now. Maybe I just needed to get used to hearing her voice more often, but she sounds so warm and comforting, like she cares about me. She sounds like a friend!

I think we need a friend in the White House nowadays.

The more I read, the more I found myself agreeing with her stances on the war. She’s also promised to make state-run health care a priority, and I’ve always been a big supporter of state-run programs. The state does a much better job of running things than giant money-sucking corporations, and pretty much anything Hillary proposes will be better than the status quo. When I was in Costa Rica I had several experiences with the government-run health care system there, and such a system would be fantastic here!

So today, I am placing myself firmly in Hillary’s camp.

Mallory, I know you wanted me to go Obama’s way, but I just can’t. But thank you for initiating the conversation last month. If you hadn’t brought up this topic, I never would have taken the time to look – really look- at Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

And Hillary would have one less vote come November.

Not this November. The November 21 months from now.

November 2008

Go Hillary!