Civics 101

Tonight we joined in on a war protest! This is a first for us. I had gotten an email about it from moveon.org yesterday and thought about going. Naomi showed interest, Bobby was back and forth about the philosophy behind protesting, etc., but we went and ended up having a good time and meeting some nice people. It was good to be around like-minded people and there were a lot of honks and waves in support and only a few jeers, so that was cool. We found out about a few churches in the area that are involved in the peace movement that have meetings every week, so we will probably try going. One has a weekly meeting for peace initiatives (I think), the other one is showing videos about the environment, wal-mart, etc. Now I am not a church person due to previous bad experiences and self-righteousness [edited to say, other's self-righteousness, hopefully not mine!], but maybe there are a few Christian churches that have it right. . . that would be a relief! Anyway, we had some great family discussions on politics, the war, liberal vs. conservative this afternoon. Political science in action! You gotta love it!







Great turnout for a little town in the Bible Belt!


Naomi made her own sign, "War leaves every child behind." Jayda didn't decide to go until last-minute so she didn't make her own. Next time we'll be much more prepared!


Last but not least, when we got home, we had a very hungry dog to contend with!

Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca Cola

This past weekend we went to Atlanta to meet up with our SIL, Rhena. Rhena lives in Arizona and has never seen our girls. She was in Georgia helping a friend of hers that just had a baby, so we took the chance to meet up with her. We went to the World of Coca-Cola, which is a giant tribute to Coca-Cola (I guess it started in Atlanta), there were tons of memorabilia, a really cool 4-D movie, and samples of sodas from all over the world.


Sampling the sodas and with the Coca-Cola bear.





The girls at the old-fashioned soda fountain. Don't ask me why I'm underlining, I wish it would stop!






The girls with Aunt Rhena


We also ended up going next door to the Georgia Aquarium. It was nice, but not really much nicer than the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, which is much closer and cheaper. They do have Beluga whales and whale sharks, which were cool. It was crowded and I don't really have any good pictures, I guess I had gotten tired and didn't try too hard to take any. I think the girls liked it and it was a fun experience for them. Naomi's favorite were the African Penguins and Jayda's were the Beluga whales.

Mom is going back to school to get her masters degree!

Yes! This week has been my orientation week for the masters program I will be attending for the next three years. I am going part time to get my family nurse practitioner degree! Anyway, today was my first day at home after being gone for five days, three twelve hour shifts at work then two days of orientation, whew! I am so happy to have the next three days off, and I'm sure Bobby will be glad to get caught up on his work! Today we have totally taken it easy, we (mostly I) finished a 1000 piece puzzle we have been working on. We stayed in our pajamas all day. Our neighbor (4th grader, public schooled), came over this afternoon at 3:30, and the girls had to run and put clothes on because they had been running around all day in just their underwear! With the temperature for the past month or so being in the 100's, we have mostly chosen to be inside, it is just too miserable to go outside, even later in the evening. Global warming not a reality??? I don't think so! Our maple trees are dying, I told Bobby that we need to think about planting some cacti, it has been a desert here lately, no rain in forever, and if this weather keeps up, I think they would thrive! Anyway, about the puzzle. . . it was fun, but I got a little too obsessive about it. So, glad it is done! Here are some pics!


The girls pointing at the parts they helped with.


The whole puzzle, supposedly there are 10 objects for each letter of the alphabet. The girls pointed out that there are 13 birds, so 13 B words! Somehow I don't think that the same object counts more than once! Oh well!


Here are some birdhouses the girls have painted. Aren't they cute (the birdhouses and the girls)?




Finally, this seems to be the theme for the day:



Video game playing, Barbie Horse Adventures, highly educational!!!!

Welcome to our life

Hi! Welcome to our new blog! I have been wanting to do this for a while, but never know quite what to say. Now that we have a new(er) computer and the capability of downloading pictures from our camera, a whole new world opens to us. Now I don't have to worry about what to say and whether it sounds insightful enough, instead I can show pictures! So to start with, I'll show you the girls making mud pies, which promises to be the messiest activity of the day!