Happy Halloween!

One Nation--Under Ohio

"As Ohio goes, so goes the nation." As we draw closer to election day 2012 I can't get this cliched, yet true statement out of my head.

When I was a kid I remember internalizing that voting was a right yet also a privileged. That as an individual I had a sacred responsibility to vote and that I could make a difference with my vote. I also learned that voting was private. You never had to tell anyone who you were voting for--even people married to each other could vote different ways and that was okay and in fact, maybe never discussed.

I also grew up in a home where reading the morning paper was a participatory sport and believe you me, everyone knew where everyone stood on every politician both locally and nationally. So there is private and there is private if you know what I mean.

Today I am a registered voter in the District of Columbia and aside from all of the ongoing struggles with taxation without representation, I can and will indeed vote this year, but I'm having a bit of cognitive dissonance. You see, the District is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats, and President Obama will win the District regardless of whether or not I vote. It's a fact. So in some ways my vote is not as important as some others. Maybe in terms of the popular vote, my vote may mean something, but let's face it, the electoral college votes are the real deal and will decide the election.

You may have heard of a statistician named Nate Silver?  He's made quite a reputation for himself in somehow magically (or maybe mathematically?) making sense of all the possible electoral votes scenarios out there and from what I'm understanding is--it's all about Ohio.

It makes me think that there is no need to spend any time at all trying to convince fellow voters from anywhere other than Ohio to see what I see, and I find that all really strange.

But this election has me worried. I will honestly say that a win by the Republican party will hurt my family. The perfect storm of a President who has no qualms about catering to the agenda of neo conservatives depending on which way the winds are blowing on a given day, mean that strides forward on issues like marriage equality will be erased for sure. Karl Rove and his ilk will indeed be back. Did you know for example that Governor Romney has real issues with people like me--a non biological parent in a gay relationship raising children. Oh the harm I present right? His exact words in the Boston Globe article I linked to were “Some gays are actually having children born to them,’’ he declared. “It’s not right on paper. It’s not right in fact."

No, for so may reasons, I so support President Obama.

And now it seems that the only people who have the power to decide the future of our nation live in a state I have little connection to. It all seems so sort of "bizarro world to me".

So to the few friends and acquaintances I have in Ohio, I'd like to definitely ask you to vote. I can't tell you who to vote for, but I can tell you that in my simplified view of it all, you can vote for either love and inclusivity, or hate and exclusivity. Please don't be tricked into thinking that you will not, over the next four years, fall into that not so loved category for some reason or another. History is littered with examples to the contrary. -M

LOL or Something Like That

From some recent posts we've made to Facebook. Featuring Danny and Benji of course!

October 19
Danny told us tonight that another way of saying you're sick is to say that you're "over the weather." I must admit, this child, he makes my heart happy ;-)

October 15
So one last thing about this fun weekend when we went to Minnesota for my sister Alice's wedding. After we were all dressed and ready to get in the car to head to the wedding, two year old Benji looked at me in my dress and exclaimed "Mommy, your pants! Where are your pants??"

October 15
Flying back from Minneapolis today Danny spied Air National Guard planes on the tarmac. He turned to Susanne and said "Mama, those are the ones for the Army to fly in, and these are the ones for the humans to fly in." She assured them that Army people were humans too!

October 10
Dear Citizens of the World,
Sorry for this belated apology if you too were awakened at 3:45am by our two year old screaming over and over again "Marshmallows Mommy. I WANT MARSHMALLOWS MOMMY!"

Love, the Meanest Mom in the Whole Wide World

October 4
Oh say there? Has anyone seen my pink tutu? Apparently my 5 year old thinks that I wear one ,-)

September 30
Cutest. Thing. Ever. A cable channel here shows reruns of The Flying Nun. We watched last night, and now Benji can't wait to go to school tomorrow as he hopes "his nuns" can fly too! (He's asking to watch it again tonight!)

September 23
At the National's game today we were counting balls and strike with the boys. When I explained what a full count was, Danny asked me "how many balls and strikes in a half count then?" I was uncharacterisically at a loss for words. ;-)

September 22
Self-portrait on display in Danny's kindergarten classroom. He said he gave himself glasses because I wear them. Flattering I guess. I do not plan to ask him where the inspiration came for all that chin hair though ;-)

September 21
Can someone please explain to me the allure of the interior dome light to the preschool set? There but for the grace of God and our eagle-eyed neighbors have we avoided a dead battery about 10 times this month.

September 18
Susanne wrote--Unsupervised homework. Parenting fail. (Worse yet I was standing within 4 feet.)

September 8
Dear Benji's nap,
I hope I'm wrong about this, but I'm getting the feeling that you're leaving. Please don't go. I'm not ashamed to tell you--I love you Benji's nap!

 –Monica

September 6
Should I be worried that my two year old conjugates verbs better than I do? This morning he used the past perfect subjunctive. ("I wanted you to do it.") But on the brighter side, I am totally better than him at reaching stuff on high shelves ;-)

September 1
Danny got a cool a kit with caterpillars that will molt into butterflies soon. The best part of this has been that he keeps calling the caterpillars "patekillers". Makes me think that the butterflies will be called "flutterbys"!

July 11
Still in shock. Today I offered little Benji lots of options for music in the car and he wanted "words" (NPR). Clearly, Susanne, who drives 90% of the time has influenced him.

Wedding Fun!

Well I apologize again for being a horrid blogger. All is well here. The boys are growing, but apparently they grow a lot in their sleep, as they both seem to take turns waking up with various complaints. Interruption-free nights are becoming like the holy grail. I dream of those nights. I rarely get those nights. But I remain ever optimistic that one day we will manage to tire them out completely, feed them the exact right foods, find the exact right alignment of the stars--and they will sleep all night long. Please. But I digress.

You see, I'm not here to complain about lack of sleep. No, I'm here to share about a most wonderful day. My sister Alice married her very long time boyfriend Dave, (who I can now officially call my brother-in-law) on October 13th and it was so much fun!

We traveled to Minnesota for the nuptials and with Danny as an usher and Benji as a ring bearer, it was all very sweet. I even got to give one of the toasts (Dave's brother gave the other one) and it was a great evening.

We were so fortunate to have had the chance to stay with long-time friends, Amy and Matt, who not only shared their large attic with us to crash in, they also let us borrow one of their cars (to not crash in ;-)  It was so much fun. They have two kids who are 11 and 9 and the boys adored them. They also loved Finn the dog. Benji at the crack of dawn one morning squealed with delight "Finn is it you?" This as an animal licked his face in the dark. Happy to report it was indeed Finn.

Without further ado, here are a few pictures. My wife who looked gorgeous at the wedding, somehow managed again to not get in many/any? photos. She's that good. Here you go. Congrats Dave and Al. We love you and wish you the very best. Love, Monica

P.S. Susanne did get in some lovely photos taken by our host Matt who is an amazing photographer. Those we'll post later.

Me and my sister Alice at the reception.

Me and Benjamin. He's a doll right?

The brothers getting ready for their "starring" roles.

Danny and his beloved uncle, my brother Paul kicking back.

My niece Niki, her mom (my sister Mary) and our sister Alice the beautiful bride.

My brothers Paul and Neil make us all laugh by assuming a pose our dad and his best man struck at our parents' 1956 wedding. This time with cell phones instead of wristwatches.

The happy bride and groom in the receiving line. Congratulations Alice and Dave!

Strike a Pose!

Danny and Benji trying on their outfits to wear to their Auntie Alice's wedding. Handsome lads eh?

Joy in Mudville

Last night was a historic one in DC as our professional baseball team clinched the National League East title in the first time in, well, forever. Either they had to beat the Phillies or the Pirates had to beat the Braves, and even though we would have preferred the former, wel happily took the latter.

As the top of the 9th inning ended, word spread quickly through the stadium (and everywhere) the the Pirates had won 1-0! In the Nationals last at bat it would have been awesome to overcome the two run deficit and win too, but that was not meant to be. No matter. When the final out was recorded moments later, the Nationals began their celebration.

The boys were asleep long before the game ended, but when they woke up they were so excited to see all the pictures in the paper. They are having so much fun watching their favorite players on TV and well, so are we. They are really starting to understand the balls, strikes and outs thing and cannot wait for the next game to come on.

Here's to quite a few more weeks of baseball in DC (and maybe a World Series Championship?) . Go Nats! -Monica

P.S. In the short video above, the boys show their "Natitude" while eating breakfast this morning!