Top 5 and Bottom 5

Best moments of the day:

• Getting Mason to school on time despite a crazy morning
• Carter wearing his fireman's helmet to take Mason to school
• Getting my calendar, bills, writing schedule, and bookmarks organized
• Having fun at a baby shower that I dreaded all day
• Bedtime hugs from chubby little arms

"Not so best" moments of the day:

• Running late again with my morning routine
• Carter throwing his shoes and fireman's helmet at me on the way home from school (luckily he has really bad aim)
• Getting behind on my writing by spending too much time organizing
• Cleaning pencil marks off the wall (Carter) and attempting to tape my broken glasses back together (Carter)
• Mason's drama/complaining/whining about being sent to his room (for throwing slices of bread at the top of the refrigerator, trying to knock down a toy that I had taken from him, for throwing it across the room, after I told him not to....there's more to the story, but my blog space is limited)

Portrait of a President

I'm watching Diane Sawyer's interviews with McCain and Obama, and they're very interesting. Putting my political views aside (for once) I'm intrigued by the life stories of these two men. I almost cried when I saw the picture of 10-year-old Barak clinging to his father's hand the one and only time his father visited him. And I loved the story of John McCain standing up for the Filipino cafeteria worker when an upperclassman harassed the guy. And, of course, his POW experience was incredible...especially the fact that he had a chance to be released before he was tortured, and he refused because it wasn't his turn. Above all, though, I think they both need to be thankful that their mothers chose to carry them to term and give them the gift of life. I pray that Obama will have a change of heart about the live-birth abortions he supports, and I hope McCain will learn a lesson about the sanctity of life from his running mate. (Did I say political views aside? Oops!)

I wrote this!

Here are some of the writing projects I'm most proud of. It's fun to see my words on professional websites.

New York Dog Tours - I felt like I was a New Yorker for a week, researching and writing about Manhattan.

Childcare E-Book - You have to pay to read the whole book, but some of the paragraphs are on this intro page. I probably won't do another e-book. This was a TON of work, even with my own home daycare experience and a file box full of childcare manuals and state documents at my fingertips.

Art Pottery - I'm learning to love the history and culture of art pottery as I write for this blog.

Womb to Bloom - This site hasn't launched yet, but I loved writing "girlfriend to girlfriend" articles about maternity and newborn topics.

Real Estate - I now know more than I ever wanted to know about Alabama, Connecticut, Minnesota, and 21 other states, thanks to this project.

A Big Night

We finally made it to the Big Truck Event that Mason's school has every year. It was BIG fun!

Highlights of Mason's night: "Driving" the ski boat and getting M&Ms from the ambulance.

Highlights of Carter's night: Getting up in the fire truck 15 times and "riding"the school bus.

Highlight of my night: Talking to Mason's teacher about how sweet he is in class. You never know how your kids act when they're away, so I was thrilled to hear her gush about him. She also told me that he started a small prayer group in the library the other day. He was waiting with a few other kids in the library while the rest of the class went to the restroom. One of the kids said, "Well, what do we do now?" and Mason answered, "We could pray." So they all bowed their heads and prayed for their friends and family. We may have to change his name to Mason Graham :)

OH...and I got roped into attending my first PTA meeting after the Big Truck Event. It was a little scary, but I survived. I thought I might get trampled by the parents of the kindergartners when the kids sang at the end. People rushed to the front, some even standing on chairs and tables, to get their cameras and video recorders in a prime location for the perfect shot. I'll find out if kids are performing before I attend another meeting!