Disneyland for two political science nerds

Yes. We are insane. We took 5 kids to a political rally. It was hot. It was crowded. It was loud. It was SO worth it!

Earlier in the week I had seen on the news that there was going to be a McCain/Palin rally in Old Mesilla New Mexico which is only a half hour away from our house. Having lived in Utah most of my life I had never been to something like this before. We had planned on trying to go after Garrison's birthday party. We were thinking that it might be too late but then Conal ended up behind the McCain motorcade and we decided that we still had time to make it. So, although we were totally unprepared, we put all the kids back in the van and headed to Las Cruces.

When we got there we found out that we were even more unprepared than we originally thought. We were supposed to have tickets! Um, oops?? So we decided to stay outside of the fence for a while, listen, and see if we could catch a glimpse of anything. As we were standing there one of the security people took one look at Conal, Me and the kids and motioned us to come over. He said "Do you guys have any protest signs?" and we laughed and said "no" and he said "well if you do, this is the biggest ruse I've ever seen" as he motioned to all of the kiddos and then waved us on in. As a side note, there is no way I would drag 5 young kids to a rally just so that I could get in to protest a candidate. SO not worth it! ha ha

So we went into the plaza at Old Mesilla, a place that we have been to so many times and it was totally transformed. If it weren't for the big gazebo, it would have been totally unrecognizable to me. They had a crane with a huge flag:

and it was packed with people and political signs:

We didn't have that great of a view but hey----beggars can't be choosers right? (Check out the Secret Service guy up top)

I took a picture of this lady's shirt because I thought it was so funny that it had so many different causes on it. Plus I took it for my Dad since it has a "drill now" sticker, a "global warming is a lie" sticker and a "fair tax sticker".

Conal and I had a blast "booing" the prospect of socialism, laughing with everyone else at the "Jose the Electrician" sign (not to be confused with Joe the Plumber) and the "Maggie the nurse" sign and cheering for LOWER taxes.

Yes, I have to say, for 2 political science nerds, it was a great day out. The bonus was that the kids couldn't have been better. And if this is our last time ever to Old Mesilla, I have to say that it was well spent.

And we have a 7 year old!

How time flies----Garrison is 7! That seems so crazy to me. I could go into the whole it-seems-like-yesterday speech, but I'll spare you. ha ha!

Yesterday was the perfect day for a zoo birthday party! It was in the low 80's! Plus it was the day they have their Halloween celebration. I'd love to say that we planned it that way but we actually didn't know about it and it turned out to be a fun bonus for the kids.

Conal took this picture for me because he knows that I LOOOOOOOOOVE scorpions!

The kids also got a fun bonus on the way home. They got stopped on the freeway so the Senator John McCain motorcade could pass safely. Since they were at the front of the line they got an awesome view of the motorcade and got to follow directly behind for a couple of miles. More on that in the next post.

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Holy cow I can't believe Jackson is two! Wait a second.....yes I can. He acts like a two year old (see previous post. ha ha). What I really can't believe is that two years ago today I only had 3 kids and now I have 5.

Well, at least I have an October off from being pregnant. I was pregnant in October of 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Ok---back from the weird side note. Jackson is two! Yay! His favorite thing to say right now is "Can I have some____?" which is great when he wants some crackers or milk but comes out funny when he says "Can I have some Barney?" or "Can I have some ball?" or Can I have some fire truck?".

Two-year-olds can sure be a handful but they are also very entertaining. He won't be two forever so I'll enjoy it while I can!

Happy Birthday Jacky!

A day (ok really 5 minutes) in the life of Jackson

Jackson is almost two----and boy does he act like a 2 year old. The little guy gets is into everything! Yesterday, we were trying to keep the house clean because we had prospective buyers coming over to look at it, and boy, was Jackson giving Conal and me a run for our money! Once the people had left, Conal said "I should just get the camera and follow him around for 5 minutes so when he gets older we can all have a good laugh about how crazy Jackson can get." I thought that was a great idea so he got the camera and here are 5 minutes in the life of crazy Jack (not to be confused with wacko jacko).

First he climbed the stools. I wish Conal was able to get the shot of him climbing up two stools and them sliding apart so he was doing the splits, but this will have to do:
Then he ran for the drawers in the kitchen:
That got old quick so he had to go grab some pot lids out of one of the cupboards so he could bang them on the tile:Next the pantry where he got out a box of raisin bran, took the bag out of the box and started chowing down:

Then he offered some to Conal. Then up the high chair on to the table:After JUMPING on the table he had to play with the bouncer (good thing Macy wasn't in there):Now to the piano (not pictured: playing a lovely song with his feet):No five minutes in Jackson's world is complete without the guest room closet where he takes one of the kids' tent poles and runs around wacking everything (luckily not everyBODY) with it:

Nor is it complete without a trip to the bathroom to open and shut the door 10 times and then to either rip toilet paper into a bunch of little pieces or to play in, or dip something in the toilet:

About half way into this, Jackson noticed Conal was taking pictures of him so he would stop every now and then and yell "CHEESE!" at the top of his lungs. What an eventful 5 minutes! Sure love ya Jack!

Go ahead kids....play with matches

The fire fighters came to Garrison's and Hailey's school this past week. The kids came home with a bunch of stuff. They had some fire safety information, a plastic fireman hat, a coloring book and crayons and a rub on tattoo that said "Never play with fire". Hailey talked Grandpa into putting on her tattoo for her. For some reason the "never" part of the tattoo was the only part that didn't rub off onto her hand.
So go ahead kids..............play with fire!

Big Brother is watching

I went to Garrison's and Hailey's parent teacher conference yesterday. I had to laugh because Hailey's teacher told me that Garrison took Hailey to class one day and asked Hailey's teacher if Hailey was behaving in class. I swear I didn't tell him to do that. ha ha. Her teacher thought that was so funny. Good thing you are being good at school Hailey! =)

The Loot

My mom was here this weekend so of course we hit the stores. My awesome dad entertained the kids for us and they did this while we shopped.

He took Alexia and Jackson and I was carrying Macy in my arms because I forgot my "Native Baby Carrier". Oh boy, big mistake. After about an hour at The Childrens Place, my arms and back got so sore. I called my dad to see if he could come get Macy since I was suddenly in a lot of pain. Either that or I suddenly noticed that I was in a lot of pain. How could something this small:

cause one to be in so much pain? Well it was probably carrying around the 44 items that I ended up purchasing there more than carrying Macy. After The Childrens Place, Carters, Gymboree, The Gap, Sam's Club and Burlington Coat Factory, I ended up with 64 items. This picture just doesn't do it justice:

Buying clothes for 5 kids is exhausting.........not to mention expensive!