WOW! What a historic night and day!

Yesterday started out somewhat normal: get up, feed the kids, shower, get everyone dressed and go on with whatever is on our agenda for the day, which is on most days, nothing! Today, we had to be at the hospital by 9:30 this morning for Bray's 2 yr. checkup, so its always a challenge to have everything done and be somewhere when you are not use to doing that! Luckily, Chad was able to take a few hours off to help me out. The appointment went really well, he just had 1 shot and is a healthy 31 pounds and 37 inches tall, he's been holding steady at 95th percentile for his height and is 80th in weight, so our peditrician expects he will be a tall kid, let's hope, he definetly has the tall genes on both sides of our families! He always gets mistakened for a 3 yr old as he is practically taller than every 3 year old we meet! After his appointment, I had Chad drop off our mail in ballots because its a lot easier for me if I don't have to drag the kids in and out of the car all the time, if only every place had a drive-thru, life would be good! I never understood why so many people and mom's did drive thru and now I totally see why and wouldn't know what to do without them! Anyways, the kids and I went to my old Starbucks I use to work at, since I hadn't been there for months and was hoping to see some old coworkers and grab a free cup of coffee (as they were doing that for anyone who voted!) I got lucky and got to see one of my dearest coworkers, Alice and my most favorite manager ever, Greg!! It was so awesome to catch up with them, the kids enjoyed hanging out and I really enjoyed my cup of coffee, there just isn't anything like Starbucks!! :)
The afternoon was typical, feed the kids lunch, put them down for naps and enjoy a little time to myself hopefully! I was anxiously waiting for Chad to get home and see what the election results were going to be! I made my yummy manicotti and caesar salad for dinner and we enjoyed pumpkin pie for the first time this season, yummo, my favorite! We watched the Election stuff most of the night on and off as we did our usual evening routine of dinner, baths, books and cleaning up. I just had this gut feeling Obama was going to win it fairly easily and as the night rolled on, it was looking pretty promising. I will never forget the defining moment right at 9pm when they announced he had one! It was very emotional and gave me the goose bumps, we were witnessing history being made, AMAZING!! I really don't care to get deeply involved in politics and like to keep my opinions to myself and don't believe everything people say about him, but what a unforgettable moment that will forever be etched in my memory for years and years to come! I know many people don't think he's the right choice, but I trully feel good about this win and I really think this is what America needs in a time of economic crisis and America is going to change for the better, eventually. Its not going to happen overnight and as fast as we hope it will, we all will have to be patient and know in the years to come we will see a more upbeat and stable America! Obama has a lot on his plate with this economy and everything else and I think we should all be supportive and respectful towards him no matter what we think of him! On the flip side, I was very disappointed on some of our states amendments and our county's issues that did not pass, it only tells you how bad this economy sucks and how much we need change in this country. Amendment 48 (personhood), is one that I firmly believe in: that a person is a person from the moment of conception. This one failed, and I'm just so frustrated what people are thinking?!?! Even before I had kids, I have always been pro-life and it makes my stance on it even stronger when I had kids. Gosh, an unborn baby's heart beating soon after conception isn't enough to convince people its not a person, what is wrong with this world?!? ughhh...I could go on and on...and to see it fail in South Dakota, my 'other' home, is hard too. Many other amendments failed too that I voted for lay heavy on my heart, but I guess we can only blame the economy right now and hope that maybe those will someday change for the better. In our county (Douglas), we saw very disappointing issues that failed as well. 3A and 3B for our schools didn't pass. That is so sad as Douglas county has such an excellent school system and now to be faced with budget cuts and losing precious resources is so sad as a mom who will have kids in school soon enough. We also have some good friends and neighbors who are teachers in this county and hope and pray they aren't affected. Issue 5A was to build and expand our libraries in this county. If any of you live in Parker, you know how badly we need a library in this town, and to see it defeated twice now is heartbreaking. The kids and I are at the library at least 3 times a week and have been blessed with the free resources we can use and the many kids programs they put on is one of a kind. To sum it up, it was a rollercoaster of a day and we were faced with so many emotions. I am trully confident though, that change is coming soon enough!