Purple Belt and Cross Picture and Election

This is the boys and I the night before the election, getting everything ready! I already knew who I was voting for... and had already gone through most of the measures... but still had to go through the rest of the candidates, and the rest of the measures.... Todd and I had a late night! James and Glenn kept me company for a while with Glenn coloring a picture of a flower, and James helping me with voting! I loved discussing things with him. He loves to know what we're reading/doing, and I figured, I'd go ahead and talk with him about the issues on the ballot. It was fantastic, and I hope a good learning experience for him. My mom sent this "Mini Page" from her newspaper that had election activities for kids.... FANTASTIC!!!! It explained the Electoral Voting process simply, and James spent the evening filling in the number of electoral votes for each State. Then Election night, he was quite diligent, and colored in each state as it came in on who was winning... blue or red. He loved it! And he can't wait till he can vote himself! And Glenn came down the following morning, saying that "tonight's the night we find out who wins... I sure wish I could vote." Your time will come Glenn, don't rush it! "Can you vote, Mama?" "Yep, my ballots all ready." "Wow, Mama, I can't believe you're old enough to vote!" So, I either look really young.... OR he thinks the voting age is really old :-)

Although we have not been able to find the "Dedication" picture taken by someone before, someone did pass this shot they took of us finishing up a cross race. It was completely unstaged... this is exactly how we look every race! We try to keep Ellie in her car seat or the backpack, because we're usually caked in mud after the races! The boys are such big helps, though, and James loves to ride the kiddy races, and loves to ride the course with Papa when the races are all done! We did not let him ride the race where there was a foot deep puddle that I went head first into! That was crazy! Yet insanely fun! A friend forwarded this YouTube video that I'll see if I can add for any interested people... to see what our crazy family participates in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUfcrjUZD0c

James earned his Purple belt last week... and did a beautiful job! He was the only orange belt testing, and the teachers gave him wholehearted praise that he had enough energy in his Kee-eyes (sp?) for the whole crew of belt testers combined. Glenn watched excitedly, knowing that someday he'd be performing for his yellow belt! I love the fact that these boys enjoy cheering each other on. There is no competition... yet :-)... Glenn was so proud of James getting his purple belt, and loved watching the whole thing. It was nice to see.

Anyway, back to life! Enjoy!