I just posted some pics from October which include hanging around the house, Halloween costumes, and a Zoo Class. Too tired to write right now so, enjoy!
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I’m not gonna jump on the bandwagon and write a long diatribe about the future of our country here (maybe a quick one, but not long). ;) After all, the blogosphere is currently saturated with such posts and no one seems to be saying anything unique.
Instead, I thought I’d share with you the thoughts of a 3 and 4 year old on the matter. Lindsay brought home a little booklet from preschool, all about the election process, with pictures of the two major candidates, circled in their parties’ colors. I tried to explain to her that Barack Obama belongs to the Democratic Party and that John McCain belongs to the Republican Party, hence the blue and red, and that this generally means they follow a set of beliefs and values that the rest of the people in their party adhere to. I told her neither one was necessarily right, but that it was our job to choose which man (and maybe someday, woman) we thought would do the best job for the country as a whole at the given time. She then asked me which party I belonged to, and I told her that for the most part, I usually vote Republican, but that I’m free to vote for whomever I want in the Presidential Election, even if they’re not in my party, and that I’m also allowed to vote however I want on all of the ballot measures, where we all decide which “rules” will have to be followed. I told her this was the first time I was voting a primarily Democratic ticket, and also voting for Barack Obama, because, well… I can’t really sum it up easily. Part of me really wants to see a change in this country, and I’m sort of morbidly curious as to whether or not the Democratic party can make the positive difference in our nation that they think they can. I certainly hope so, so fingers crossed.
I still have great respect for John McCain though, especially with how he handled the race in the end, and am pretty disappointed in his supporters for their behavior at his concession speech. It makes me hopeful though that if someone like me, who has always been a pretty hardcore Republican, can start to listen to those around her and concede that the world may not be as cut and dry as I once believe, that there is hope for those people as well, and that they will open their minds and unite with the rest of the country toward a positive change.
Anyway, back to my story… So Lindsay asked me early in the day which candidate I had voted for and I told her about Obama. I also told her it would be very historic if he won because it would be the first time in the history of our country that a black person had been president. I also told her people have a lot of hope in him and think he can make some great changes in the way the world sees us. She then spent the rest of the day marching around saying, “Barack O-BA-MA! Barack O-BA-MA!” and asking me every half hour if he was going to win.
At dinnertime, she then decided we should pass around her little election booklet and point to which candidate we wanted to win and say why. I started, telling her again that I voted for Obama and why. She then said she was voting for Obama because it would be historic and he’s nice. Barney refused to comment…because, well, he’s Barney; way to pass up an educational moment. ;) Emery “voted” for Obama because he said the “other guy” looked mean and Obama looked nice.
Lindsay then announced she wanted to be black. Not joking. 
Lindsay: I want to be black!
Me: Why?
Lindsay: I want to be a President!
Me: You can’t be black sweetie, and you don’t have to be black to be a president. In fact, if Obama is elected, he’ll be the ONLY black  President we’ve had. But you could be the first woman to be President!
Lindsay: I want to be the first black woman president!
Barney and I just laughed and shook our heads…
Needless to say, Lindsay was a little excited this morning when I told her Obama was going to be our new President. I only hope he’s prepared for one hell of a hard four years, and I hope he and his family remain safe and happy throughout. And I truly hope he can help move our country forward in a better direction.
Lindsay has developed quite the love affair with my camera and asks to practice with it on a regular basis. I don’t really mind, as it’s not like when we were kids and could waste an entire roll of film on photos of our eyeballs or the floor or up someones nostrils, and have it cost our parents money. The nice thing about digital is that they can obviously take pics of whatever they want, and it can be easily deleted with nothing lost.
I’ve been really surprised at how good she is at actually lining up a shot though. Most of her pics have had almost all of the subject in the frame, and most of them have also been in focus, which is more than I can say for most adults’ photo taking skills! 
I recently let her have free reign of the camera here at home, and then later at the park during a playdate with our friends Carrie and Ana. She created quite the photo story of us following a squirrel along the trails. There are also a few pics thrown in that Emery took, and two or three that I took of both of them. Enjoy.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for poor Emery.
One of the only disadvantages I can see to kids having a stay-at-home parent is that they don’t grow up with it being normal to not see that parent every hour of every day. This was never much of an issue for Lindsay, as she has been such a strong, independent personality from day one. Dropping her off at school or extracurricular activities has never been a problem and rather, always been such a joy because she jumps into everything with enthusiasm, much like myself. Emery on the other hand - I knew from the day he was born he was going to have a tougher time dealing with things. He’s extremely intelligent and a complete crack up most of the time, but also very sensitive, emotional, and stubborn; also much like myself. ;) Just like me, he thinks that because he’s made his mind up about something, that’s the way it’s gonna go. You can see how this might be a problem now that he has started preschool. I had to pull him out of gymnastics last week because he simply refused to go out there with his class, and what do you do; drag them kicking and screaming to go do something that’s supposed to be fun?
Preschool’s another story though, because he’s gonna go whether or not he thinks he wants to. It just makes it so hard to leave him every time when he’s distraught and refusing to join the other kids who are quietly writing their letters. I remember seeing, or hearing rather, the little boys in Lindsay’s class last year throwing fits when their parents would leave, and thinking to myself at the time, ooooh boy, that’s probably going to be Emery. Why is it always the boys? Why do boys tend to be more clingy at this age? I don’t really know, but I know he’s having a hard time. and I’m having a hard time. But hopefully he’ll get used to it, and start to enjoy his time away from me and the house. Let’s just cross our fingers that that time comes sooner rather than later…
Summer’s really over? Already? I think I’m in denial to be honest.
We’re about to jump into our new Fall schedule around here, and boy will things be crazy with two kiddos going to preschool. Lindsay will now be attending the Pre-K class Monday through Thursday, and Emery the 3’s class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They’ve also been begging to do gymnastics again, and because of school, the only day we could do it was Friday, so we now have something every single weekday, pretty much right in the middle of each day. Yikes.
Since I haven’t posted in so long, a quick catch up for you…
I got back from England on the 6th of July, thoroughly exhausted but filled with memories that will last a lifetime. I know I’ve promised to tell you all about the trip, but I need to wait for life around here to settle, and for me to have the emotional energy to do it properly; to do it justice. Home life has been crazier than usual with the introduction of such close new friends into our lives, and things have been both wonderful and complicated for the past month. With the end of summer comes the realization that things have to go back to normal. Everyone slips back into their schedules, their routines, and we lose the ability to focus so strongly on our friendships, our relationships, which is both good and bad; a relief and painful all at the same time. Such is life. We have to hold onto those beautiful moments in time, and be fueled by the hope for more in our future. Like I said, things are complicated around here, but we’re working on it.
We celebrated Emery’s birthday on the weekend of the 9th of August; a small gathering of family and friends. You can check out the pics here, as well as checking Chloe’s site.
We’ve gone to a few outdoor concerts this summer, and I even made it out to watch a friend perform as Brutus in a Shakespeare in the parks series, which was awesome. We’ve packed picnic dinners and enjoyed the music and the arts together. The latest was last week, when the kiddos and I joined Dan and his friend Kerri and her baby Ela, who are visiting from Mexico, at a performance of well known orchestral pieces given by the Oregon Symphony. It was amazing, and we also got to see a quick performance by Portland Taiko, which if you haven’t ever checked out, you should. Very entertaining. It was a great evening, and wonderful to get to know someone like Kerri, and to get to play with a baby as adorable as Ela.
Choir starts up for me again on Tuesday, which of course I’m looking forward to. I love the singing, the music, the challenge, and the friendships. And I don’t have any solos this season, which is kind of a relief! I need to spend some of this weekend learning the music. I figure as section leader, I have some sort of responsibility to know it well enough to help anyone who is having problems with it! And the fact that I don’t actually know how to read music makes it imperative that I sit down and listen to recordings and midis and learn it all by ear to start with.
Ok, that’s it for now. The fam’s waiting to go to the library, so I’m off! Enjoy the pics.
…virtually of course. I realized I hadn’t uploaded photos in a couple of months, so now I’m bombarding you with several new galleries all at once. I’ll try to get back on here and tell some great stories from all of the craziness of the past two months, but right now I’m sick, and exhausted, and ready for bed after wading through over 300 pics!
Enjoy the slideshows!
- December 07 - Some random pics from December (and the first week of January).
- Christmas Tree Hunting 07 - If you need explanation, just close the browser.
- Christmas Morning Boisverts’ 07 - The first round of Christmas presents, at our house.
- Christmas Morning Whislers’ 07 - The second round of Christmas presents, at the Whislers’.
- Christmas 07 Warrenton - Christmas evening in Warrenton for round three.
- Lindsay’s Birthday Party 08 - uhhhh, Lindsay’s birthday party 08.
Are you guys sick of me yet? If you hadn’t guessed already, we’re testing out a new camera.
I couldn’t help but try out the Macro setting, so you get to suffer through a gallery of mostly flowers, bugs, and veggies. Don’t know if the image quality will shine through due to website/internet resolution restrictions but enjoy!Â
We are here at the lovely Oregon coast for a week and a half of family fun.
Cousin Iain is here for a few days, then Uncle Tom and Aunt Joanne arrive, followed shortly by Cousin Moira, Cousin-in-law Mark, and little cousin Addy. It’s been fun so far, and we’re looking forward to even more catching up, ping ponging, golfing, goofing around, book reading, and of course, being the Boisverts……EATING!
I’ve added a gallery of new pics and there are sure to be more to come later in the week. It’s a large gallery so be patient while it loads!
Have I ever mentioned how much I love this series, or how much I’m going to miss the excitement of waiting for the next installments to come out? Well, I do, I love it. And I’ll miss going to the midnight magic parties with friends (and sometimes alone) and waiting with anticipation, to rush home and devour the book in one night. I can’t wait to share in the wonder of the whole thing again with the kiddos once they’re old enough. And I know that we can at least look forward to two more movies, so there’s that. And I will most certainly re-read the whole series over and over, the way I’m sure most of us devoted fans will. But still, there is that pang of sadness that comes with such closure; The end of an era.
I can’t wait to talk to my fellow Potter fans about this last book, but out of a courtesy to those who have not yet finished reading, I will wait a week to post my thoughts about it. So you’ve been warned, in about a week, if you choose not to know anything about Book 7, don’t read this site until you’ve finished reading the book yourself! In the meantime, feel free to post comments about the book in my comments section. I’d love to hear what you thought, and any questions that remain for you, etc. Once again, to those of you who haven’t finished the book, DON’T READ THE COMMENTS!!!!!!!
We’ve been enjoying the first few days of summer with baby showers, BBQs, trips to the coast, family visits, etc. You can check out pics from all of that in the June ‘07 Gallery. Enjoy!
