VA Republican Convention

Sunrise on the way - imagine it 5 minutes sooner :)

The VA Republican ticket for November 2009

My parents raised me to vote and to vote my values - not by party. Our country's government functions mainly as a two party system and more often than not you need to be attached to one of the two major parties in order to get your issue recognized. Or to get others on board. The republican party matches up best with my values when compared with the democratic party.

My main issues are the sanctity of human life (unborn and end of life) and the value of traditional marriage. There are other issues that are important, but those are of utmost importance to me. I went as a delegate to my first convention. I was going mainly to try and get a certain attorney on the ticket for Attorney General of VA for the fall election. We succeeded. Check out KC here.

I don't get into the hype of who a person is or how ga-ga others get over someone. I heard many speeches. Some good, some not-no-much! Sean Hannity and a cadet from VA Tech were probably the two that I enjoyed the most.

Cutting Circles

We worked on cutting yesterday morning while I was home from school with Lily. She did okay cutting out the circles. She found her hearts and put one on each circle and started singing Happy Birthday to me!

A Sick Little Girl

Lily and her friend Logan

Tuesday, I got my first "come and get your child" phone call while we were finishing up our last station at field day. "We have one sick little girl." She told me in the morning that she didn't feel good, but she didn't have a temperature at the time. I gave her some Motrin and dropped her at school. Fortunately, there was a sub there for someone for the a.m.. He was willing to stay for the afternoon. My three full days and 2 half days for this week turned into 1 full day and 4 half days.

She went back today, but is still not herself completely. She gets tired pretty quickly and isn't playing as hard yet. Tonight was her pre-school's end-of-year program. Lily's class were the flag bearers. I was a little unsure of how it would go as it was her first time "performing." I was afraid that she would see me and come running, but she was awesome.

Our visitor

We had visitor yesterday while I was home with Lily. Initially, I saw Cassie digging at the ground behind the garden. I saw her flip something up and went to chase her away. I found a turtle. He was completely holed up in himself. I told Lily if we left him alone for awhile, he might come out. I put Cassie inside. His head peaked out, but we never saw his legs up close.

Wonderful!

I missed my count down post yesterday, because I was called to come get Lily from school yesterday. More on that later.

A neighbor is going to watch Lily this afternoon, so I can go to school for the afternoon. I would've just taken a full day, but today is Kindergarten graduation. So . . . . I am home this morning. The house needed a bit of sweeping, so I was doing that about 30 minutes ago. I asked Lily to help pick up her toys which she did.

She came back from her room and this is what she announced, "Good job, Mommy. You're doing such a good job. Yeah! Wonderful!" She took more stuff to her room and came back with a very similar reply!

If we all could get those kinds of accolades =)

Long Weekends

Looking down the street at the 1st ice cream truck of the season


Note the flip flops - She's obsessed (she has bloomers on)


Kid's Cove with best bud Micah

Are great for rest and spending time as a family, but they do get Lily out of her routine. Tuesday was a pretty difficult day for Lily. She was missing me a lot and took out her frustration on her teacher and her classmates. When we arrived home, I was unbuckling her from her car seat.

Lily: "I LOVE YOU, MOMMY!"
Me: "I love you too, Lily."
Lily: "I miss you today. You come back."
Me: "Yes, mommy's always come back for their babies."
Lily: "I'm not a baby. I'm a big girl."
Me: "Mommies always come back for their big girls!"

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Yesterday, she was playing with her cash register. It has a microphone like you see at Wendy's. Please tell me this is not a sign of a future for her in the fast food business. Lily grabbed the microphone and said this:

"I have a question. I need a hamburger for my mommy. (pause) With Cheese (pause) please"

The weekend!

I must say that this weekend has been one of the best weekends I have had in awhile. I had two different occasions where I was able to do a little necessary shopping without my beautiful three year old. She is a joy, but some things are just easier without her! I was able to find her a couple pairs of summer pjs. My struggle is that her bum is the size of a 12-18 mth old, but her head is the size of a 2-3 year old. If it comes as a set, either the top will be too small or the bottom will be two big.

Old Navy had their kids pajama "sets" on sale, 2 for $20 ($14.50 each). At that point I already had a couple pjs, so I really only wanted to buy one. They had their "beach wear" separates for $4 each. I bought her a 2T top and a 12-18mth skort! I got my last and final set for $8 and they FIT! I should take a poll: What size do you think she will be wearing when she graduates from high school? If she continues to follow the curve of the chart (she has to this point), she may not even hit 80 lbs by then. Do you think she will appreciate being able to drive, but still "needing" by weight to be in a booster seat?

I went out to my mom's Saturday morning so Steve could get a little studying done. Mom, Lily, and I got all of the donated art supplies ready to ship to China. I am so glad that we did it as it was yet another opportunity to teach Lily that it isn't all about her. All that is left is to print some updated pictures of Lily and get a not ready to send with the package. Fortunately, there is a couple in our church that both speak Mandarin and write Chinese (China has two spoken languages, but only one written language!). I will sit down and type the note in English tonight and e-mail it to Andrew. He will be able to type the message and send it back to me via e-mail.

We went to a local strawberry festival after the packing was done. Can you say hick, chick fry? That is an inside joke, but Lily did have a great time. Several carnival type rides. I took several pics, but they are on my mom's camera. Our camera has a few as well, but Lily is napping and the camera is sitting on her nightstand. Check back later for pics. I am starting to have camera envy. A DSLR isn't in our budget, but I think it might be one of my first things I save for once Steve is out of school. That is after we pay down his school debt, buy a bigger house (we don't have enough bedrooms to adopt again - state law), save for an adoption. Do you think it will ever happen?

One last random story for your enjoyment! On one of my outings this weekend, I was able to talk to my brother and nephew for a few minutes. Now talking to my brother is enjoyable, but Luke was very entertaining. Luke insisted that he was coming to my house tomorrow. I asked him how he was going to get here. "Walk!" Now you must understand that Mapquest says it would take 18 hrs 43 min in a CAR!