Its 53F. . .

And we are LOVING IT!

My one and only political thought. . .

“Lord, ... we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right.”

I'm not into politics or care much about them honestly, but this really irritates me. Since moving to Missouri I have been called racist on several different occasions. . .basically for holding the black girls I supervised to the same standard as the whites. I never said anything degrading. I never called them names or talked badly about them to any one. I feel I treated them the same. . .and I have several black friends that would agree with me. (But obviously many that would not) Anyways, I'm white and I feel this quote insinuates that I don't embrace what is right and seems very one sided and even racist. To be honest, if i were Asian I would also be mad too. Saying that they should be mellow. . .whats that suppose to mean???? Are they high strung or "unmellow?" I can't believe people aren't totally upset about this. If it had been flipped around and a white man would have said blacks were in the wrong for something. . .anything, there would have been riots right on the spot. Someone tried to inform me this was socially acceptable to say that whites have not been equal to blacks but to me this comment is flat out saying we are ALL choosing to do what is wrong. That makes me mad. Whites did vote for Obama. . .Even if he would have said whites would continue to embrace what is right or something else. . .To me this just seems like a slap in the face. . .Do you agree? Am I reading too much in to this? What do you think?

Here he goes. . .

Obie has taken off. He took is first few steps in October but has been refusing to walk. . .until 2 weeks again. In the past two weeks he has become a pro. . .well almost. He can get up and down by himself. Go through doorways, over toys, and even turns in circles. Its great to see the excitment on his face.

So we have a perfect pair. . .

Grace and Obie love berries. We bought some strawberries and blueberries at Costco and when we got home we gave them each a handful of each. Grace ate all her strawberries and Obie at all his blueberries. At the end they swapped their leftovers and both were happy.

Freezing. . .

Last week was freezing. It was -5F. Can you believe that. FREEZING. I came downstairs and was welcomed by ice on the inside of our window. . .that can't be good.

1st Birthday!

Obie was so cute on his birthday I had to add some more pictures. We had his party on his actual birthday which ended up being the day we flew in to CA. We got there at about 11am and his party was 5:00pm. We did this so friends would be able to make the party since it was a Sunday. Anyways, it went really well. He loved his blue cake. When it came to present time he was a little bit tired and overwhelmed. There were about 10 other kids there who were very intested in his presents; the packaging and what was in them. They were more then willing to help. Obie really just wanted to go to bed. We had a great time and here are some more pictures.

California

Grace blowing out Jesus' Birthday cake.

Ella and Grace jumping on the hotel bed.

Sand. . .I think this was before he put a handful in his mouth.

Tacos with her cousins.

First time at the beach in California.

Seeing Santa. . .well kind of.

In complete ahhh.

Disneyland!

Obie turns 1.

Man, I forgot how warm it stays there. . .60s seemed so warm now but I remember when we lived there we longed for the 60s to come so we could wear a sweater. Our visit was fast. We zoomed around trying to see all of our friends and family that we haven't seen for so long. Although we only got short visits with each of them the moments will be treasured. It was so fun to sit and catch up, see how people have changed and how families have grown. Here are some favorites from our trip. . .they are some memories we will never forget.