Sleep Laugher

So, we've all heard of sleep walkers and sleep talkers. Tonight I witnessed something that I've never even heard of before...sleep laughing! Here's what happened...
Owen had been asleep for about 45 minutes when I took Quincy up to the boys' bedroom to put him to bed. He had finished nursing, and I was just leaning over to put his groggy little self in bed when suddenly all of the smoke alarms in our house started going off.
Noni Jo was downstairs preparing Milanese for tomorrow's feast, and the smoke alarms started going off. All of them. Seriously. Every single one...including all three upstairs, which are located in the boys' room, in the bonus room, and in the guest room. All three of the upstairs smoke alarms are located within 20 feet of Owen's bed. Why am I telling you this? Because throughout the cacophony that was ensuing in Owen's bedroom, he did not budge. Not an inch. My point? Only that he was deeply sound asleep.
About 15 minutes later, things were all calm again, and I was again in the boys' room attempting, for the second time now, to put Quincy to bed. I was swaying with Quincy in my arms and softly singing "Lady Moon" to him when I thought I heard a little giggle. Then it was silent. Then I definitely heard another little giggle very clearly coming from Owen's bed. Pretty soon he was chortling and then full on laughing. It was so funny that it was all I could do not to laugh out loud myself. I nuzzled my face into Quincy's blanket and tried to stifle my own giggles as I thought about children's laughter and how it is one of the things that I am so thankful for.

Halloween

I'm so behind with my blog (as usual). I figured I should at least get our Halloween pictures on here before Thanksgiving gets here.

We went downtown and trick-or-treated the businesses. It's always a lot of fun. We paused for dinner at our favorite taqueria before coming back to our neighborhood and trick-or-treating a few houses. Then it was home to hand out some candy, and the kids were in bed by 7:00. The perfect Halloween!

Farmer Quincy and his ridiculously awesome barn that Grandpa Stan made for him

Sir Owen of Midvale and his buddy Batman (that's our friend Caden)

Farmer Q riding in his barn

QB1Our friends, Alex and Mia

This particular Snow White is Owen's friend, Livvy D. Never have I met a little girl with more character than Livvy D. I'd love to write a children's book about her.
Trick-or-treating at our friends, Tana and Jeff's, house

Quincy thought it was really fun to rifle through the candy we were handing out at home.

Pre-Halloween Festivities

First the pumpkin patch...Then the jack-o-lantern...
And, finally, the Monster March Halloween parade in Britt, Pat, and Rory's neighborhood...

Election Day conversation

I still can't put into words my thoughts and emotions on what transpired in our country yesterday, so I'm not even going to try right now. However, I do want to capture in writing a little conversation that Owen and I had on Monday night.
Mommy: Tomorrow is Election Day!
Owen: I know what that means!
Mommy: You do?
Owen: Yeah, that means they're going to count all the votes and either McCain or Obama will be our next president.
Mommy: That's right, Owen! And what do you think...?
Owen: (with a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face) Obama!

Sweat Pea

Owen took a nap at preschool yesterday, which means he was up very late last night. At 10:00 I knew he was much more awake than I, so I decided to just have him go to bed with me in our bed. That way if I fell asleep before him, it wouldn't matter. Owen and I snuggled into bed (Brady was still out in the living room watching basketball), and he said to me, "I had so much fun with you today, Mommy. I love you. Thanks, sweat pea." It was so funny. I have called him sweat pea on and off since he was born. It was so funny to have him call me that.

Bedtime Books

Owen and I were lying in his bed last night, and I was reading books to him. We had two left, and I asked him which one he wanted next. He told me, "You can read both of them at the same time, Mommy."
"No I can't," I said.
"Yes you can because you have two eyes."
Kids are so logical!

Canvassing for Obama

Owen has been pretty interested in politics this year (see postings dating back to January). It's old hat around here, but someone commented on how amazed they were when Owen pointed out McCain as he flashed on the TV screen during a commercial break of a football game. It all started back in January when he totally cued into Brady and me as we watched the State of the Union address. A few months later he got to be in the front row as we listened to Bill Clinton campaign from a truck bed on the playground of my school. Finally, after months of talking about getting a new president, it's almost time to vote. So yesterday we headed out for a few hours of canvassing.

Brady was freshly back from a whirlwind trip to NY, so he stayed home, but my mom and I headed out with the boys. Owen and Quincy donned their oh-so-adorable Obama shirts, and off we went. We spent a few hours going door-to-door with a targeted list of democrats and independents. Owen, who is really into rhyming words these days, made up all sorts of little rhymes about Obama. My favorite was Obama Llama! GOTV canvassing is pretty fun because you're working with a targeted list which means you're pretty sure not to get angry people going on tirades about your candidate.

Of all the people we talked to, only one person was undecided. She was a very young, working class mom who had wanted to vote for Hillary and "just doesn't like how negative everything has gotten." She was holding her 8-month-old baby and was interested in my kids and the fact that I'm a teacher. We had a pretty lengthy conversation, and hopefully she'll decide to vote for Obama.

All in all, it was fun, and the kids were perfect! We'll be going out again next weekend. In addition to needing to uphold our county's record of highest voter turn-out, there are some really crazy ballot measures (as always around here) that people need to be voting on.

Shortly after we got home from canvassing, the mail arrived and in it were our ballots! Yea!!! I've always held on to my ballot until the last minute because I liked to vote on election day. I have been converted. I will fill out and turn in my ballot right away so that the local campaigns don't have to waste their resources (and I don't have to be bothered) by calling and knocking on our door. I would do it tonight except that Owen is already in bed, and I have been promising him for months that he could help me fill out my ballot!I don't think you can read Owen's shirt, but it says, "Obama-bama-bobama, banana-fana-fofama, me-my-momama, Obama!"