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I'm putting my Money on the Founding Fathers

I have avoided politics throughout this whole election.  I have my views, some the candidate I will support share and some he differs vastly with me.  And I'm ok with that.  I have made a choice on who I believe will be the best representative to this country.  The country I wake up every morning and go to work and support.

I know that there will never be a human being that is the perfect President.  You have to have certain character traits to even seek the office.  Character traits that many of us would find intolerable in a friend or partner.  And let's be honest 95% of what is said on the campaign trail is an idealistic representation of a person's views or opinions, scripted to play to the most influential audience where every word has been so measured and calculated there is hardly a genuine thought.  And at the end of the day, regardless who holds the title of President for the next four years, very little will change.

You may say that sounds defeatist or resigned of jaded.  But in truth, that is what I am banking on.  Because more than any one person, I believe in our system of government.  While many will lambast the Congress or the President (or both) for not getting anything done, most don't realize that this is exactly what the founding fathers had intended.  A government that was slow to move.  A government that had to work very hard to realize the smallest changes.

Our founding fathers crafted a system of government that placed numerous checks and balances against itself in order to protect our nation from any one person, any one body or any one view point.  Think about it - there is very little the President can do without Congressional concurrence.  And that crazy Congress can hardly get it's two house to agree and lives under the constant threat of the veto pen.  Throw the Supreme Court into the mix and you have a recipe for inefficiency.  Oh, yeah, and if things weren't complicated enough then add in the political parties, regional alliances and local issues.  Honestly, it's a pretty awe inspiring feat when all of those competitive bodies and priorities line up and a law get's passed. 

So while I have my favorite that I will go in and back tomorrow, in the end, I'm putting my money on the founding fathers!

All of this to say that despite the divisive rhetoric that is going around and the pandering to swing voters, the bottom line is very little will change due to the outcome of tomorrow's election.  The Middle East will still be a mess.  Unemployment will still be high.  Jobs will likely continue to grow and we can still count on two things in this lifetime - taxes and death!  I'm confident in saying that a Romney White House will not roll back women's rights and a Obama White House will not lead to the destruction of our nation.  Regardless who is President this Country will continue to face challenges and regardless who is President I'll agree with some decisions while disagreeing with others.

More than "my guy" winning tomorrow, I hope that each individual person can take pride in the roll that they played in our democratic process and recognize that it is just that . . . a process.  There is no absolute right and there is no absolute wrong.  We are each, in the words of the wise Daniel Tiger, going to need to "stop, think and choose."  And at the end of the day, when the votes are tallied and we find ourselves on the losing end of the vote we need to take a few minutes and try to find the good in the majority's pick.

It strikes me that there must have been the same passion during elections in the past. They have come during times of war, economic crisis and scandal - but something has changed and that is the ability for all of us to share our uncensored thoughts at any time, from any location with the masses.  To quickly tweet out anger or impulsive thoughts that were once upon a time kept within one's own house.  Social Media has exacerbated the "mob mentality" and brought it into our living rooms.

And what is even scarier is that our adversaries are watching every word of this.  Watching us pick ourselves apart and making assumptions about the strength and cohesiveness of our nation.  That to me is truly frightening.  Because I still believe, Red or Blue, Romney or Obama we are strongest when we are on nation under God.

Tomorrow I hope that anyone who is reading this takes a few minutes before hitting post on facebook or submit on twitter and instead of adding to the divide you try to find something good to say - and if not take the advice given by mother's over the generations and "keep your thoughts to yourself."

And that is all I have to say about that!

More Fall Fun

Today was another beautiful fall day.  While Matt raked the yard the boys got some fresh air.  Looking out the bedroom window I couldn't help but grab our camera and go capture some of the fun!  

Sam was really hamming it up for the camera.  I love that he was so carefree!  Will was running around like a lunatic - I got more pictures of his back as he ran away than anything else.

I've been wanting to learn more about our digital camera and some basic digital editing and have been spending some of my new found free time scouring the forums at www.clickinmoms.com .  I've picked up a few pointers that I have begun to put into practice.  While I'm sure these pictures are not technically perfect I think they capture just how much fun a big pile of leaves can be!

A Perfect Fall Morning

 There is just something about the smell of fall that I love.  It's crisp and earthy.  And the air is dry and fresh.  It makes your cheeks hot and your nose sting and let's your breathe deeper than the hot humid air that is so common here during the summer months. 

Along with all those wonderful attributes also come shorter days.  The loss of day light seems to have a strong effect on my mood.  So I'm making sure I pop my Vitamin D daily and I'm trying to take advantage of the day light before the cold of winter sets in.

This morning I bundled up the boys, strapped them in the stroller and headed out for a walk with a friend.  It was . . . PERFECT.  We stopped at a farmers market and picked up fresh baked pumpkin bread, took a leisurely stroll along the creek and then the boys spent some of their energy at the play ground. 

 We came home, red (and runny) nosed, and rewarded ourselves with some of that pumpkin bread, an episode of Daniel Tiger and a mug of hot coffee (that last one is just for me). 

One of the real gifts of the 3-day was learning how much better I feel with a little bit of physical activity and some fresh air.  Now we are going to snuggle in for a fall afternoon nap.  Happy Saturday!

The Cat and the Hat: Zombie Edition

Halloween has come and gone but thanks to the modern miracle of film (or digital pictures) the memories can live on forever. 

This year we dressed the boys up as Thing 1 and Thing 2.  This is something I had been looking forward too since the day Will was born (literally).  And to complete the ensemble I went a little crazy with the black eye liner and threw on a hat and tie.

Halloween 2012 - The Cat and Thing 1 and 2

The boys were clearly not as excited about this get up as I was.  And the white face paint may have been taking things just a little too far.  Instead of cute "Things" they ended up looking like Zombies.  This was the BEST picture we had -- YIKES!

They did however enjoy going house to house.  We had been talking to Sam about Trick of Treating all week and he was raring to go when we hit the first house.  He was so excited he walked right past the woman who answered the door and into her home.  We had to re-explain the finer points of trick or treating and then all was back on track.

It's really nice, our neighbors get an annual permit and shut down our street so the kids have a safe and car free place to run up and down.  And the residents go all out, decorating their houses and dressing up.  Will made it about halfway before his little legs got too tired.  Dad carried him the rest of the way while Sam politely asked for a second piece of candy and promptly put it in Will's bucket.  

And while Thing 1 and Thing 2 were big hits around the neighborhood, I think Matt's Pumpkins stole the show.   They even made it into PBS's internal newsletter! 

Daniel Tiger and Simba Pumpkins