A new beginning

Today a remarkable thing happened...a bi-racial man named Barack Hussein Obama was elected president.

Though the McCain campaign tried to make America afraid of this man, they failed. Lordy bee, Sarah Palin called him everything but Hitler reincarnated, literally throwing the kitchen sink at him and they failed. It rejuvenates my belief in the American spirit, the strength and goodness of the people I call my fellow citizens.

Did you take the time to listen to the speeches delivered tonight by John McCain and Barack Obama? Did you hear the contrast in the crowd? When Sen. McCain congratulated Obama the crowd booed on the flip side, while Barack Obama congratulated John McCain, thanked him for his service and commended his campaign the crowd cheered. Do you see the difference in the mentality? I am constantly amazed at the contrast in the two parties. I am often asked why I am a Democrat. I always respond because the Democratic party accepts all, the Republicans are a divisive party. Did you ever notice the crowd at McCain's rally's???? Mostly white. I consciously looked to see who was in the crowd...Obama rallys, ALL RACES, FACES, RELIGIONS AND CREEDS, what does that tell you? It speaks volumes to me.

When you take the time and really think about what he has experienced in his lifetime. He's the child of a black man from Kenya, and a white woman from Kansas....born in 1961, do you realize that when he was born it was not even legal for a biracial couple to be married???? Yep, it was not legal for a black man to marry a white woman until June 12, 1967 Loving vs. Virginia...Then to make the odds even harder, his father abandoned Barack and his mother. Through many twists and turns he ended up living with his grandparents, white grandparents from Kansas living in Hawaii. Even in Hawaii he was a minority, not simply because he was black but because he was also white, the majority of people living in Hawaii are Hawaiian, Samoan, and of Asian descent.....still today.

Tonight we go to bed with the light of a new dawn, a new era. One I am very proud to witness and have been proud to have participated in. Barack Obama was not my first choice I am the first to admit, but he has grown on me but he has a lot to prove. He needs to prove to his critics that he's not the do good, feel good candidate, that was simply elected because the current administration is so un-popular. But that he truly is the capable man that I know in the my gut that he is.

So congratulations Mr. President elect, go get 'em make us proud. Your "Toot", your grandpa, your mom and even your father are looking down smiling and so very proud proud of you. Not because of your race but because of the man you became and all you have accomplished.

Mimi and her walker!

Yesterday John, Kyle, Cassidy, Aidan, Amelia and I decided to go exploring. We headed north east into the area known as Copper Valley to a small planned community called Copperopolis, yes, that's the name. Actually its a very neat little area. After spending all day cruising around, looking at open houses and finding what is considered Copperopolis "proper" we stopped and ate dinner at a small hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. Dinner was very yummy! Amelia is at that point now where she eats her dinner, then wants to sample what everyone else is eating. I felt a wee bit bad for the waiter as we left. I looked down and saw all the crackers, cheerios and shredded cheese she left on the floor and hoped John put a little extra in the tip :)

So as we are headed out of the hills we realize we need to stop at Babies R Us in Stockton and get a few things for little Miss! I love Babies R Us, it's probably a really good thing there is not one closer.

We go in and the first thing we look for is a new diaper bag...the one we have been using is since Cassidy was a baby, my old trusty Baby Trend back pack diaper bag. I tried looking at the old regular kind, nope I decide, just not my thing, so I picked out a new back pack diaper bag LOL. I might be a mommy, but I don't need to look like an old bag carrying around a bag...

Next isle we go to is the walkers. Now that Amelia has mastered crawling, and is trying to pull herself into the standing position on furniture, we figured it was time for a walker. Boy have walkers come a long way since Kyle and Ashley were babies (strange how the one we had for Cassidy and Aidan disappeared). We ended up choosing quite the Cadillac version for Mimi. Oh boy does AJ love it, for those who don't know he's addicted to cars. Anyway, this thing sooooo cool! It's a red, GT walker, lights and sounds included. I will post pics later. But boy since we put this thing together last night all she wants to do is be in this walker. AJ is thrilled, he gets to push her all over the house now. He has a real live version of a car and Amelia just giggles the whole time. I wonder how long it will take for her to really learn to maneuver this thing since she's getting used to being pushed around in it?

Babies R Us can be a very dangerous venture. Next was off to get Mimi some new socks, then it was off to the sleep sack's. Sleep sacks have got to be one of the greatest inventions ever! No more getting up a million times a night to make sure the blankets not smothering the baby, no more cold baby legs and feet in the morning, just awesome! Wish they had been around when Kyle and Ash were babies.

I guess that's enough rambling for now....need to go check on sicky Ashley.