My Vote COUNTS!

I am so frustrated.
We sent in an application to Colorado weeks ago to have our address changed to CT. We still hadn't received our ballots last week so we called the El Paso county voting office. After being on hold for 15 minutes we got someone to figure out where our ballots were. They hadn't even been mailed.
Now here we are, planning on leaving tomorrow morning at 8 for Baltimore, and we have no ballots. I want to vote! What can I do? Not much. I was almost in tears with the voting person today complaining about the situation. She didn't really care.
Tomorrow morning we're going to the post office at 9 am to see if they have our ballots. At least the guy I talked to here was nice. He said he'd keep an eye out for it. But we are delaying our "vacation" to Baltimore just to fill out our ballots.
That's how important this election is to me. You should have seen me in a huff about it when I got home this morning! It made me realize that I can't take my right for granted. I want my vote to count, if only to illustrate to my kids in 15 years that it's important for them to vote, too.

My Last Two Weeks, Part 2 (The Teeth)

Here's the pictures of Toby's tooth emergency. (When we called it that he started worrying that an ambulance and fire truck were going to come to our house, which is what happens in an emergency.) On the left is the "before" and on the right is the "after."
I told a friend here what happened on Monday and she said "Thank God you're from dentists!" or something like that. We are so thankful! Our aunt Judy took x-rays of the tooth and found two vertical fractures in it. No chance of saving the tooth. So she referred us to a great pediatric dentist who took the tooth out on Thursday. Toby did a great job!
Ironically, this is the same day that Norah's first tooth emerged. She's now getting her second bottom tooth. Thursday was also the day she started crawling, thanks to Lincoln's example in Florida.
It's taken us a while to get used to the idea of Toby without a front tooth for the next few years. He likes showing it off, which is good. I think he should be a hockey player for Halloween. Alas, no luck finding a jersey. We had very poor luck finding any ghost costume for Toby. Who knew? So he's going trick-or-treating as Thomas the Train. Toot toot!

On a random note....
I've had a lot of fun reading a few historical fiction novels about Queen Elizabeth I. I just spent the last two nights (after the kids were in bed) watching PBS's Masterpiece Theater version on The Virgin Queen. It was really good. Now I want to see the movie The Queen, about England's current queen. So fascinating!

My Last Two Weeks, Part 1

A lot has happened in the last two weeks. Too much to put into one posting. So here's a little highlight reel from Florida. I didn't get any pictures of myself with both kids. Probably because we spent most of the week in swim suits by the pool or at the beach. The weather was awesome! It was so relaxing to be in Florida with my family. Of course, my ideal relaxing vacation doesn't include three kids under 3 and four adults crammed into a two bedroom condo (in an over-55 community to boot), but I came home refreshed none the less.

• Day one at the beach--Norah tastes sand for the first time.

• Day two at the pool--Toby has to wear ear plugs while swimming. They worked (when he wasn't pulling them out to illustrate that they sink); no ear infections upon our return home.
• Day three and four--more time at the pool (Lincoln's three months older than Norah) and more time for Norah to observe Lincoln crawling. Her face said it all: "Mom! You never told me I could move around like that!!!"
• Day five--rainy day (sad face) and then a walk on the windy beach. An evening trip to the pool turns scarry: Toby trips on his towel on the way home and smashes his face into the sidewalk. Ends up with a broken front tooth. He's okay because he gets to watch Thomas videos and eat ice cream for dinner.
• Day six--breakfast at the beach, lay out at the pool for 20 minutes, and then pack up and fly home. It's worth noting that Toby and Norah both slept for two hours of a three hour non-stop flight. Record breaking, I think.

My Pumpkin Pouting

What do you think she's thinking here?

My Cooking Ability

I burned water yesterday. No, I'm not kidding.
I was steaming carrots for Norah and I let them go too long. The carrots had a nice, burnt aroma to them and the water in the pot beneath the steamer basket completely steamed away, leaving nothing but charred black remains of carrot water. Yuck. We left and played at the park for an hour just to let the stench leave the house. I'm awful.

My Super Power

If I had a super power it would be entirely contained in my little finger. I want to be able to wave my pinky finger and have any toy, piece of clothing, pillow, or other debris in my house propel itself into its proper place.

My Love Bug

We found Norah's Halloween outfit today. I couldn't resist. She's a little love bug. This is a terrible picture, but this is the only one I got where she's not crying. We'll see how she does on Halloween!