My Political Rant

Politics have my blood boiling once again. I'm not a political person, so I'm not going to rant about any one person or party. It is totally annoying that we have a 2 party system. Really? There are only two views that can solve the problems of our country?! I don't feel like I can totally commit to all that the Republicans stand for or all that the Democrats stand for. Also, I feel like all politicians are either liars or naive. They don't ever seem to do what they said they would during their campaigning.

I'm sick of the mayoral campaign ads that I've been seeing. Why don't candidates campaign with their goals, views and plans instead of just saying-My opponent stinks, don't vote for him/her. Another thing that bothers me is what the voters will base their decision on. People will vote for a candidate because of name recognition. They may know nothing about the person's political plans, but they've heard the name on the news, so they vote for them. People will vote or NOT vote for someone because of their religion or race. How does religion affect your ability to be a good government leader? And race?-Don't even get me started. I don't know the religion of Congress members. I don't know what religion Barack Obama is part of. There are mostly Christians in our nation. I am one of them. I believe a person of the Islamic faith or Jewish faith could be just as good of a government leader as a Christian. I've heard other Christians say they would ONLY vote for a Christian. I just can't identify with that. Why don't we start voting based on political plans and views instead of our personal judgements?!

The Kiddos

So, Owen has been saying "sayings" that he obviously does not get the meaning of. I heard him yell at Noah, " I don't like you! If it's the last thing I do!" He understands that people say that when mad, but not quite getting the full meaning. Also, the other day he left some stuff in the van and then only brought in part of it. I asked why he didn't bring in all of it and he shrugged his shoulders and sighed, then told me it was a long story. Goofy kid!

Noah lost his FIRST tooth tonight. It has been hanging in there forever. He has been super afraid to pull it. I'm glad it's finally out. Noah really doesn't enjoy learning or studying. He almost always cries when it's time for homework. Tonight he spelled a word without crying and excitedly said, "I didn't even have to cry to spell that one right!"-Because crying always enhances the learning experience!

Heidi won a lip-sync contest last week at our local festival. She did Taylor Swift's You Belong with Me. There were only two acts that showed up. I don't know if more signed up and just didn't show up or what. The elementary school division prize was an iPod shuffle and the middle/high school prize was a step up from the that, the Nano. Well, the other entry was a couple of elementary aged girls too. So, Heidi ended up winning the Nano and they got the Shuffle. Not bad. So far she has Taylor Swift and Justin Beiber and one Beach Boys song. She has been listening to it tons. Noah thinks he should enter next year to try to win one. Heck, I might enter. The adult division prize was an iPod Touch!

Staller Family Lake Vacation

All of the Staller's spent a week together at a Lake house on Stone Lake in Cassopolis MI. We had lots of laughs,fun and good food. It was a little crazy at first. The kids were all so excited and wanted to check out everything. The guys went fishing at 6 every morning. Some even went at 4:30 one morning. They then fished more throughout the day and evening. We had some yummy fish to fry come Friday night. Heidi is a good little fisherman. She caught 4 one time and one or two the other times she went fishing. She said that catching fish by herself was her favorite part of the vacation.

We went swimming off of the pontoon most days. It took a while to find a good spot with no seaweed. Owen was pretty scared about going in the water, but by the end of the week, he was a bit more comfortable. We went to Silver Beach on Lake Michigan one day. There were some decent sized waves and we all enjoyed that.

Dad seemed to disappear a lot and the most asked question during the week was, "Has anyone seen Dad?" We had a trick played on us by Ryan and Brent. Brent typed up a fake news article about the house being haunted. We spent much time Googling it, but soon discovered it must be a farce. It was not until the end of the week that we found out that it was the work of Brent, and Ryan was in on it too.

We played Beyond Balderdash one night. If you have never played, you are missing out. It is hilarious. There was one where you had to tell why this guy with the last name of Leotard was famous. Dad's answer was: A burlesque comedian billed as Leotard the Reotard." We were all laughing so hard! I liked my movie synopsis of "The story of two rival gangs in Miami. Will Eduardo make it out alive?" I only got one vote for it, though. I also enjoyed Chad's movie synopsis of the Woopie Boys: "3 Half brothers steal a card and sail it down the Mississippi on a homemade raft." There were tons of funny ones and it was hard to read through the answers without busting up. It was great that all of us kids got to be there.

Oh no, All the girls will Like me!

After graduating from high school, Chad worked at Target for the summer. I was informed by my sister in law, who worked with him, that all of the girls at Target liked him. It's fun to tease him about it. He was quite the stud. Tonight Chad was showing the kids his old pictures and there was one with his Target name tag, so I shared with them that the girls he worked with liked him. Owen hung his head and said, "I don't want to work at Target. All the girls will like me!" It was pretty funny!

King George

I won!!! I have been listening to US 93.3 for a couple of weeks straight, trying to win George Strait and Reba McEntire tickets. The concert is in Indianapolis next week. If the radio station plays a George Strait song, followed by a Reba song and you're the 93rd caller, you win. Usually I just get a busy signal. Yesterday when I called, they actually answered, but said to call back. So, this morning when they answered I was expecting the same thing. I was so happy when they asked if I wanted to go see George and Reba!! Finally, I can listen to something other than country music. I like country, but two weeks of nothing but country is tooooo much for me. I don't want to hear about anyone being stuck like glue or about your hillbilly bone, and definitely don't want to hear the term trailerhood. Chad and I went to a George Strait concert 4 years ago and it was soooo much fun. We are pretty excited to see King George!

Absolute Kindness

On a day when I was feeling especially crappy about my mothering skills, I received a little assurance that I'm not completely failing with my children. While at the grocery store, the woman in front of us left money with the cashier to pay for my groceries because she said that I seemed like a good mother. How nice?! I couldn't believe it! I was able to catch up to her in the parking lot and thank her. She said that my boys were just so cute and she has 5 grown boys. So, maybe it wasn't so much my mothering skills as it was the cuteness of my little stinkers. They are pretty darn adorable!