The exciting conclusion...

I am sure you have all been hanging on edge this week waiting for the thrilling ending to my half-stories from earlier. And, lest I allow you to dangle all weekend, here you go!!!

First of all, LPEG left a link via comment to alcohol laws in various states, which was completely and totally news to me. And, seriously, props to her for bringing something useful to the table...God knows I haven't been doing that much lately.

Turns out that it is legal in Massachusetts to serve your kids alcohol. That is not super surprising, really, and I imagine it is pretty standard in most states...under the supervision of a parent or guardian, the consumption of alcohol is not banned. What really got me was the next part: even if you are in an "alcohol-selling premises" (like a bar or restaurant) the consumption of alcohol by minors with parental approval is legal.

Say what?!?! In other words, if you roll into Applebees with you kids, you are allowed to order them a beer. This is true in 10 states (Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming if you are counting). I have to feel like very, very few places would actually serve it, but it was completely news to me that they are allowed to...I have never heard such a thing.

And no, I did not get her a vodka tonic with her chicken fingers last night;-)

Anyway, I am OK with a little glass of wine with dinner. I think it helps to promote responsible use of alcohol and removes some of the "magical mystery" of it, not to mention that it is the default behavior in large parts of the world that have much lower levels of alcohol abuse than we do. But, I am not gonna argue with anyone who thinks it is inappropriate.

Funny thing is...guess who was not on board? Munchkin! She drank less than half of her half glass...:-)

Next subject is her winter trip. I was surprised that she was as torn up about it as she was. She sees her friend every day, and she sees Frenchie a couple of times a year, so it seemed like a pretty easy decision to me. But she apparently has more respect for tradition than I do, because the thought of missing out on the annual trip was killing her. In the end, she opted to go to France or have him come here, but she really thought it over a LOT.

It may not matter...he had something he has to do, which was going to preclude him from coming here before Christmas (and she doesn't get out of school in time, and both Frenchie's Mom and me want our kids home on Christmas:-P), but it looks like maybe that won't be an issue, which would let him come here for a bit before Christmas Day. So, we may not have an issue after all.

Halloween...anyone have any plans? I didn't really get the girls costumes, because I couldn't find any I liked when I finally looked yesterday. I did find some adorable Halloween clothes...T-Shirts with pumpkins and black cats and witches and stuff...so they are appropriately dressed at day care today, but not really in "costume". We have a couple of things to go to tomorrow afternoon, but other than that it will be a low key weekend:-)

Have a good one!

You decide!

In the spirit of election season, we are gonna have our very own episode of "You decide!!!" here in AM-Land.

First scenario...Sunday dinner at Smoking Hot Roommate's place. She cooked (noteworthy in itself:-P) and me, The Boy and the girls and Munchkin, Papa Bear, Big Sis and the Brain Surgeon and little baby EH all went over to join her and the Rocket Scientist. Lots and lots of Italian food...spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread and chicken parm and stuffed peppers and lots of goodies. Very well done:-)

So, she and Big Sis and I were in the dining room, I was setting the table and Big Sis was pouring everyone wine. She stopped at Munchkin's spot and asked "Does she get some?"

And...well, let's get your take on this. Fifteen years old, family dinner, is it appropriate for her to have a half a glass of wine with dinner with everyone?

Second scenarios...Christmas break is coming up, and Munchkin has some scheduling trouble. Last year, Frenchie came for about a week before Christmas, and she took her annual Fantabulous Winter Trip with her friend's family right after (the trip on which she met Frenchie two years ago...two years!!!). This year, however, it doesn't look like Frenchie can come before Christmas (or that she can go there)...which means that she may need to choose between her annual vacation with her friends' family, or a visit with the boyfriend.

Anyone care to guess what she is leaning towards?

Hodgepodge

Seems like my politics post was met with a big fat snooze...

I have learned my lesson...pictures of babies leads to much response, posts about Congressional takeovers not so much. Noted.

The girls had their six month appointment on Monday, and are doing really well. MA is still quite a bit bigger than her sister, but they have both grown well since their four month appointment. LK is now 26.5 inches long and weighs about 15.5 pounds (I think...I should write this down, or remember to bring their little blue books with me) and MA is 27.5 inches long and weighs 17.5 pounds. I know everyone loves percentiles, but I didn't write them down or remember them...they are both at varying stages of the middle for everything, though (except that LK is only like the 10th percentile of weight for her height...she is a skinny minny:-))

OK...now for some brain dumps, much related to television:

Should I care that Brett Favre sent pictures of his junk to a TV host? Should this really be the biggest news story in America?

Loving Mondo's chances to win Project Runway. And love him, too...he has really grown on me as the season has gone along. He is like a little Latin Pee Wee Herman:-)

Jersey Shore: One season was plenty...you try too hard now.

Man vs Food: can next season be Man vs. Diet? Seriously, you are getting fat, Adam.

Juan Williams: should be a bigger story. The case for public radio is sketchy as it is, and when that radio begins deciding what constitutes acceptable free speech versus unacceptable free speech...I think we have a problem.

And finally, just one more politics thought...I can't tell you how many times I have read criticisms of the President lately that he "hasn't done anything". That is incredibly confusing to me. He has re-fashioned the health care industry, dramatically upped a huge number of taxes to pay for it, totally turned the financial services industry upside down, massively upped our commitment in Afghanistan and spent nearly a trillion dollars in economic stimulus money. I could spend hours telling you why I think he has done a bunch of things wrong...but it is pretty hard to argue that he hasn't been doing anything...

Anyway...

Happy Friday!

Election time

So...big elections in three weeks, and I have to admit that I have spent little time thinking about it. There are a couple of reasons for this, including general busy-ness, and disinterest in the opposing factions, and the fact that there is little of note that I get to vote for. We do have a Gubernatorial election here, featuring an incompetent incumbent against a bland, hard-to-get-excited about challenger. Snooze.

The bigger issue is what happens in the House and Senate, which seems to be very much up in the air. Right now, it looks like the Republicans will take the House (although that could still swing a lot in either direction) and the Democrats will retain the Senate (a little more of a sure thing). And I have no idea what to make of the Tea Party, which seems to be a legitimate movement fronted by has-been and never-were Republican candidates.

Overall, it is a tough year to be an incumbent...which is fine by me, as it is usually way too easy to be an incumbent. As Congress and the President continue to throw piles and piles of money belonging to future generations at completely ineffective (and in some cases even counter-effective) solutions, it seems like the electorate is maybe waking up for a brief moment to protest.

It is hard to say what the big issue of this year is, but I almost want to say that it is the deficit. Not that anyone from either party is really offering a realistic plan to spend less than what we take in...but they sure seem to be talking about it. It would be better if they were talking about actually balancing the budget, as opposed to cutting the deficit in half or some other equally lame goal. It would be even better than that if there were serious discussions of spending controls, but now I am just dreaming.

My biggest peeve is the notion that a huge portion of the budget "can't be cut" because it is for Social Security and Medicare. Bullshit, I say...I feel no moral obligation to make good on promises that baby boomers made to themselves to require me to pay for their retirement, AND to pay off the massive debt they ran up because they were never willing to pay for what they asked of the Government. This is the generation that got us into this mess, and it is totally preposterous to suggest that they are somehow exempt from getting us out of it.

Anyway, I gotta go feed some babies before I get on too much of a rant:-)

Six months plus six months equals a year, right?

Heard from Munchkin on Saturday: "You know who I kinda love? Radiohead." Seriously...

Kind of a busy weekend...went to the in-laws house on Saturday, just to hang out. And then to a friend's place very briefly on Saturday night (night=6:30pm). Since doing anything is a complete production, that makes for a really ambitious, busy and draining day...:-). We went to a two year old's birthday party on Sunday, which was much less awful than that sounds like. There were millions of little kids running around, but The Boy and I each had one very content baby in a Bjorn (I get LK cuz she's little:-) and it was a surprisingly low key affair.

Six month doctor's appointments this afternoon...it seems like the time has gone by really fast, but also really slowly, if that makes sense. April seems like a really long time ago, but all of the time in between has sorta flown...not sure I am explaining this very well. Anyway...

Am I a really bad mother if I don't have any plans to dress the girls up for Halloween? I sorta feel like I should...but kinda don't really want to.

I will probably end up doing something...any ideas?

Something tells me that Scott Baio is at fault

MA's got pink eye...hooray!

Actually, it's not that big a deal. Around noon yesterday, her eye was all gunked up and gross, and it was obvious that something wrong was going on. (Babies can get clogged tear ducts which make their eyes a little icky, but this was obviously not that!) So, Smoking Hot Roommate had a little bit of quality time with LK, and I took MA to the doctor, where she was diagnosed within minutes. We picked up a prescription at the pharmacy on the way home and had the whole excursion done within about two hours.

The medicine is kind of a pain because it is a paste that you have to put directly onto her eye, which she is not at all a fan of. The good news is that it was already better this morning, and she should have no problem going to day care tomorrow. I told St. Mother-in-Law (who watches them today) that she could give her the medicine if she wants to, or if it looks really bad, but that she doesn't have to bother if she doesn't feel like it. I don't want Grandma to have to be the evil distributor of medicine:-)

It is pretty disgusting, but it doesn't seem to cause any discomfort, and she didn't have any trouble eating or sleeping, which is all good. Through some miracle, her sister (and her parents) have thus far managed to not get it, although I don't know how long that will last. The doctor went ahead and wrote us a refill on the medicine based on the likelihood of LK getting it, too.

Other than that, I got nothing for you! SHR and I had a lovely day yesterday, went for a long walk with the girls, did some shopping and some gabbing and just basically enjoyed a lovely fall day! We should do that much more often. Like maybe next Wednesday:-)

A dynamic duo

Looks like the secret to inspiring readers to comment is to post pictures of the kids...hmmm...who knew? Now, when I get around to posting another picture in another three months, I will know what to expect...:-P

Special Wednesday treat today...well, for me, not really so much for you;-). It is my normal day to be home with the girls, but Smoking Hot Roommate has decided that she can do without work for the day, and is staying home with me...Yay!!! Truth be told, I have had entirely too little SHR time of late, and I miss her dearly. So, this will be fun:-)

Also, based on my confessed love of pumpkin muffins from Stop & Shop, The Boy bought six of them for me last night. Of course, Munchkin and I ate three of them immediately, and the other three have absolutely not chance of making it through the day.

SHR and cream cheese frosting?

BEST DAY EVER!!!

In other news...hell has frozen over...

This is a couple weeks old...and not the cutest picture of them, but I just love the looks on their faces. MA (on the right) looks like she wants to fight, and LK (left) looks terrified of the camera...

Meet the world's greatest rapper: Lay-Z

First of all, let's get one thing straight...it is cold, dark and rainy, and there is very little chance of me getting out of bed on my own accord today. The girls are completely wrapped up in the covers and pillows next to me, super cozy and looking like itty bitty versions of grown-ups! And as long as they are cool to hang out in bed, so am I!!!

And have I mentioned yet that The Boy and Munchkin walk to school sometimes in the morning? Depends on when they are both leaving...but seriously, the cuteness meter is gonna break trying to measure that.

Well, you know where to find me if you need me!!!

Lay off, I am eating for three

Munchkin's foot has been bothering her lately. If you have been reading since January, you probably remember that she broke her foot and spent most of the spring rehabbing it. That all went pretty well, and she was cleared to start running again this summer and fully cleared for the fall soccer season. She hasn't had any lingering pain or lack of flexibility or anything, which is all good.

However, in the last week, it has flared up a bit. She thinks that maybe she just stepped wrong during a game or something, and it has swollen up a bit and is hurting her a touch. The doctor says to rest it and to not worry unless it doesn't heal itself in a week or so. But, that means no soccer this week, at least.

He team had an away game, so I decided to leave school a touch early and pick her up at her game so we could run some errands before we went home. One of those errands was the grocery store, which led to two humorous events.

First, her ability to attract male admirers was on full display. An admittedly-charming boy struck up a conversation with her in the produce department...which I observed at a bit of a distance and with great humor. He asked if she was in school around here, she said yes and said the name of the school (which could be mistaken for a really small college). He asked what her major was. She said she didn't have a major. He asked what year she was. She said Freshman. He asked if she lived in the school's dorms. She said "No, I am a Freshman in high school." Awkward pause...

He handled it pretty well, sort of sheepishly admitting that he was indeed hitting on her, and kind of embarrassed at himself. But not really apologizing for the obvious, which is that she is ridiculously gorgeous, and could legitimately pass for 22.

OK...second thing. We discovered pumpkin muffins at Stop & Shop. I got kinda hungry, so we ate one. Then it was so freaking good that we ate another. By the time we checked out (with three of them in a box), we had the following exchange with the cashier.

Me: Oh, and we ate some muffins, too.
Cashier: How many?
Me: Um. Five.
Cashier: You ate two and these three make five total.
Me: No, we ate five of them already.
Cashier: You ate five muffins?
Munchkin: They had cream cheese frosting.

So yes, we ate five muffins during our shopping trip. And no, I do not regret ounce bite of them, they were freaking awesome.