Get out the vote!

I imagined long lines and the voting booth this morning but I waited all of 2 minutes. They said it was busy at 7:00 and would be busy at noon. I took both kids with me so Jackson proudly sported an "I Voted" sticker with me. I was surprised by how emotional I felt when I voted. I actually had a little moment before I pressed "Obama." This will be a history changing day, however it turns out. That's pretty amazing. I was proud to have my kids with me and Jackson helped me press the "Submit your vote" button at the end. A guy from the Manhattan newspaper was there and he took our picture and then got our names. He said, "I took your picture because you seemed to have a real battle voting with your kids and all." Um, okay. First of all, the kids were angels, none of us were in pajamas or anything, and I didn't even trip while pushing a stroller and holding Jack's hand. I guess I wouldn't call it a battle, more like a privilege. I think they are probably doing a story about how people are doing anything they can to get out and vote today. Then he asked the kids names. When I told him, he laughed and said, "Andrew Jackson!" I cannot tell you how totally irritating it is to us when people say that. We get it. Then I realized it is a presidential election and it is pretty ironic. Only today are people allowed to acknowledge that. We have started introducing the kids as Jack and Andrew to avoid dealing with that reaction. Hey, it could be worse. We could have named them Jackson and Michael. Anyway, maybe we will be in the paper tomorrow. Glad I took a shower. If you haven't voted yet, make sure you do! It shocks me that there are people who aren't going to vote in this election. EVERY VOTE COUNTS! And if you don't vote, then you don't get to complain!

I haven't blogged about our Halloween yet. It was a gorgeous day! The kids new something was up right away and were way too excited for naps. How Andrew figured that out I have no idea, but he did. You would think I had given Jackson a bag of candy for breakfast. We went in costume to Brian's work in the morning. Then we picked him up at 4:00 and took the kids downtown to treak-or-treat at the businesses. A nice time to do it for the age group we have. Then we visited a couple friends here and went out for pizza at Pizza Hut, a McCornack tradition. We were home at 8:00 and kids went right to bed. We took off Andrew's costume and he had huge hives on his back. We assumed it was from the unwashed tights he had on, but the hives have continued since. Today is better - he's only had a few, but until today they have been all over. Benadryl clears them right up so our doctor said not to worry about it. From what I can find on the internet, it's probably some random virus from a cold or something. Strange. Anyway, I will post a couple Halloween pictures though the kids weren't really in the mood for pics.

And in an Andrew update, he can now pull himself up to stand and has 4 teeth! He went in for his 9 month well-baby check and he is in the 92nd percent for height and only 38th percent for weight. My child?! They've never been below 75%!

Today was a good day for Jack at school. He told me a few times this morning that he didn't want to go and I just told him we weren't going to talk about it yet. He walked into school with a smile and went right into his classroom without even saying goodbye to me. I waved at him through the sea of parents and he yelled, "Have fun mommy!" Well...how about that? I realized in the car that I forgot to write down my cell phone number where I can be reached today so I am full of guilt. I know they have my information in the office, but I still feel really bad. I am one of those people who imagine that now a natural disaster will probably occur, the office will be destroyed, and they won't have my number on that sheet in the classroom.

I started my Christmas list for the kids yesterday and actually got Jackson a couple of things at Target already. For the past 6 years I have done some kind of Christmas show that always paid for presents. It really stinks to not have that this year. I think it's time for me to start teaching. I sent my resume to the high school choir director and gave my name to the music store in town. I'd like to start with voice students, but I know that it's easier to start with a piano studio.

That's all for today. Remember, "Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote." GO VOTE!