Married White Female...Republican

Ah...election season has been in full swing for a while now, and I truly enjoy sitting back and listening to all the political banter. It's all so interesting to me! I remember when Tom called his grandparents to tell them that he had proposed, their first question to him was not "is she nice?" or "is she a good person?" it was "is she a Republican?" To them, that one question would answer all their questions about me. At the time, my political affiliation was really indifferent to me. I had never voted in an election (not because I was too young, but more because I didn't care) so I had never really considered this question. Of course I answered "yes, I'm a Republican" because I supposed between the two major parties, this was more alligned with my personal beliefs.

Well, since that question was posed to my then fiance', I've spent alot more time figuring out just what I thought was important to me and my belief system and now I can say with a resounding "YES" that I'm a Republican.

All this is coming out right now because the other night Tom and I were watching the movie "Juno." It's a movie about a high school teen who finds herself pregnant and initially sets out to abort the baby, but then can't. She instead sets out to find the perfect adoptive parents for her unborn child. She doesn't want to keep it, but she doesn't want to kill it based on the fact that by this point "the baby had fingernails!!" It was an interesting movie, but I especially liked it because I'm very pro-life. Even before I really cared about politics, I felt abortion was wrong.

So, because I'm a flaming Republican, I read Ann Coulter books while working out. Today I started reading "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" by the divine Ms. Coulter. I've read it before, but I find that reading her books while working out really helps to get the old heart rate up and pumping! Anyway, I wanted to include a passage from this book here about abortion:

"Liberals are more upset when a tree is chopped down than when a child is aborted. Even if one rates an unborn child less than a full-blown person, doesn't the unborn child rate slightly higher than vegetation?"

I love it! Yea Ann Coulter!

This is about my kids. Because I should.

I never really feel like blogging because I never really have much to say. Everything is pretty much same old, same old. No overly funny stories, no crazy trips across the country. Nope...it's just spring time in Houma.



But since I feel like I should post something, I will! Our kids are so great. William is really growing into such an amazing little boy. He is so incredibly friendly and kind (maybe not always to his sister, but anyway...) Complete strangers tend to notice this about him.



Two weekends ago I decided to take the kids on our own spring break to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Tom had some "business" in Florala, Alabama, which is just over the state line north of the Florida panhandle. So, I drove north, dropped him off for the weekend, then drove straight south to the beach! I got us a hotel right on the beach with a balcony and a view of the Gulf.


It was a little daunting taking this whole trip on my own, but the kids were such great little helpers! We spent the first night on the beach till about 8pm. They just didn't want to leave. Being on the beach was so relaxing and just the break we needed from Louisiana.

While there, William would make friends with anyone his size. The other kids tended to be nervous about a strange kid at first, but they would soon warm up and they would become the best of friends for the day. On the morning we were scheduled to leave, we went down to the beach for one last romp. William quickly became friends with Logan from Indiana. They played for about 2 hours, but then we had to go. Just as we were packing up to leave, a grandma and her grandson came over to us. She was wondering if her little guy could play with William. I apologized, but we had to go so that we would have time to check out. She was sad because she said her grandson is really shy but really wanted to play with William because he seemed so kind and outgoing. Isn't that really what all mothers want to hear? It really made me feel good!

And then there's my Natalie! Where William came into the world at 8 pounds 12 ounces of 100% hulking boy, Natalie is the polar opposite. Even from birth, (6 pounds, 3 ounces and half a push to get her out) they have been so different. William has always been the top of the percentile chart, but Natalie has always barely made it on the chart. Still very slim, I do think she's finally starting to sprout vertically!

What a funny girl. When she was a baby, we took to calling her "Stinker Binker" because she always had the foulest smelling diapers. "Stinker Binker" was soon shortened to "Binker" and from there to "Binkey." And it's stuck! If you ask Natalie what her name is, she will tell you it's Binkey. Any other name makes her angry. I can't call her "sweetheart," "girly," or even "young lady." It's just Binkey!

She's the sort of little girl who wants to hug, kiss, and cuddle all day long. If I could just do those three things with her all day long, she would be the happiest child on earth. Unfortunately, I can't do that, so she has her moments, but she's still becoming very fun. She loves animals, especially pandas, giraffes, and the lioness (what is the plurel? Lionessi?!?) And she loves all things pink. It doens't matter what it is, if it's pink, she loves it. She enjoys playing soccer in the backyard, especially when I block William so that she can score a goal for Team Panda! Oh, and did I mention she inherited, among other things, her mother's long tongue? Well, she did. I had to take the picture when we were in Florida and got some ice cream. She used her tongue like a little spoon to scoop up the ice cream to deposit into her mouth. It was hilarious to watch. And she was in a trance-like state the entire time!

So, I guess when I have nothing interesting to blog about, I can always blog about my kids. They are fun, exciting, and ever changing. (Speaking of "ever changing," William is constantly hungry/eating, though never gains an ounce. He must be growing again. Good thing I get such a great discount at The Children's Place, or I couldn't afford to keep him in clothes!)

...and a Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, too!

Oh, the fun we O'Brien's have on St. Patrick's Day! It all started last week with William asking me what a Leprechaun is. I explained it was a wee folk who will give you his pot o' gold if you catch him...and they also like to play pranks, too. I'm not sure if that last part is really part of the lore, but I threw it in for good measure. Last night, William went to bed determined to catch that leprechaun. Well, his mommy is always two steps ahead of him!

With a bottle of green food dye in my pocket all day, ordinary things would magically turn to green and I would exclaim, "William...you just missed the leprechaun again!" and he would laugh hysterically at the newly green item. To give some "for instances," last night I turned a whole gallon of milk green. This morning, I asked William to grab the milk out of the fridge for breakfast. He opened the fridge and yells out "oh, my gosh! The leprechaun must have put his finger in our milk, mom! I gotta find that guy!" He then went to school telling the tale of his green milk. (I'm sure he got alot of strange looks for that one!) Later on today, I asked him to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge for me...low and behold it had turned green, too! And when we tasted it, it still tasted like water!

The highlight of the pranks would definitely have to be when I put the dye in the water tank for the toilet right before bedtime. When he flushed the toilet and green water came out, I thought he was going to explode! "The leprechaun did it again, mom!" But, alas...the leprechaun got away. No pot o' gold this year. But William has grand plans for next year, and so do I!

On a nostalgic note, I remembered a story from St. Patrick's Day past that I shared with Tom and he said I had to blog it for posterity's sake. Well, this happened way back when I was in first grade. The morning of St. Patrick's Day I was picking out an outfit for school when my mom decided to teach me a little bit about our family's geneology. She was explaining that some of my ancestors came from Northern Ireland, therefore they wouldn't have worn green since they would have been against anything Catholic/Southern Ireland (? not sure if I got any of that right at all.). Anyway, she explained that in order to honor our family history, maybe I should wear orange instead of green. Sure, mom. Sounds good to me. So, I get to school and we have a spelling test and after the spelling test we are given a printout to color. It's of a shamrock. Now, my mom never told me I couldn't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but that's what my 7 year-old mind determined she was getting at. So I pulled Mrs. Beten aside and told her, "I'm sorry...I can't color that picture. My family doesn't celebrate St. Patrick's Day."

So, I tell this story to Tom and he asks me what my teacher's response was. I thought about it and really she didn't seem to be surprised at all. Then I reminded him that we were the only Mormon family in the school district and many people find Mormons to be weird, and maybe she just thought Mormons don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day! There you have it, Mom! I stuck up for the family heritage at the ripe old age of seven!

And a last note: we found out that you can hook the Wii up to the internet and purchase/download old Nintendo games (you just turn the Wii-mote on it's side and it's set up just like the old-school Nintendo controller!) We downloaded Mario 3 for my sake and it was so fun to play! I am absolutely terrible at it! But I reminded Tom that I haven't played in probably 15 years (oh, my gosh I am old...) and Rome wasn't built in a day...

Yes, still alive...barely...

Hello all you faithful blog viewers...both of you! So, I went on a slight vacation...not that I was ever that great at keeping a daily blog or anything, but this time my break was a bit ridiculous. I mean, come on Christa!! Well, to be fair to myself, at least I am more consistant than at writing in my journal. (I'm pretty sure there's no mention of William being born yet, so I'm guessing we're looking at 4+ years!?!) Ok, so without further ado...what's been going on with the O'Briens:


Well, for starters, we've all taken a turn at being horribly sick. There's been this lovely virus circulating throughout Houma, and we were fortunate enough to all share it. I mean, I did teach my children to share with each other, and so I guess they were just doing as I told them...It was a nasty stomach virus that lasted a little over 24 hours but kept the body sore for about a week. (And I'm pretty sure Natalie got it twice, unlucky girl!) I'll say that's reason #1 I haven't been able to post in a while...tending to the needs of the family.


Let's see here...Ah, yes...the backyard! When we bought our house, it came with an ancient ginormous pool in the backyard with an even huger (is that a word? It is today) pool deck. Well, we kept the pool through the first summer that we lived here and it was ok, but nothing I was overly crazy about. Pools demand alot of upkeep as well as I kinda think they are a big money pit that I just keep dumping money into year round! And the worst part is since it was so huge it left little, if any space for play in the backyard. And with a body of water in the backyard, there was no way I was going to let the kids just go out in the back and play while I put laundry away or started dinner or something. So, it kinda became like we didn't have a backyard at all. So, last Christmas I asked Tom how he felt about removing the pool/deck and he said if he didn't have to do any of the work he was ok with it. So, I spread the word that if someone wanted the pool they could come and have it for free. The neighbor's brother jumped on the offer after about 15 seconds of being on the market. Ok, people, you need to understand a little about southern louisiana...it doesn't matter what it is or how trashy it is, put it on the curb and say it's for free and it will be hauled away within minutes. Case in point: this past fall I broke a rake in two. Yes, I am an extreme raker and that's just how I roll...anyway, there's no way it would be useful to anyone, unless they happened to be a "person short of stature" because that's just how it broke. Not kidding, within minutes of putting it in the trash can on the curb, the crazy guy in the blue suburban asked if he could have it. But anyway...





So, sometime after Christmas a whole crew of the scarriest looking men showed up in the backyard to remove the pool and deck. Obviously they didn't remove everything so we were stuck with alot of debris and a whole brick patio that just didn't make sense with the backyard. I decided to rip up the whole brick patio and move it so it would make sense. It was alot of fun to do, actually. There was a huge "beach" of sand from where the pool had been, so the kids had a giant sandbox to play in while I ripped out this whole brick patio. Once all the brick was removed, I had to prepare the area where I wanted to put the brick, lay the sand, and actually figure out what exactly I was doing since I don't really have alot of experience in brick laying, surprise surprise!


Long story short...I know, too late...got about 2/3 done with everything and we are realizing we just don't have the big equipment to do it all ourselves, so we get some estimates on the backyard to finish it off. We get two quotes, go with the slightly cheaper quote, and then all the real troubles begin...




Oh, my oh my! Lets quickly talk about the few things that Louisiana is known for. In politics, that would be corruption and greed. As for schools, they are ranked 49th out of 50 states, so education probably isn't so important?!? And I know there are immoral people everywhere, there just seems to be a higher concentration here than anywhere else I have ever lived. I think the owner of the landscaping company who we hired to finish the overhaul on our backyard was a great cocktail of all the above mentioned "faults of Louisiana." I don't want to get too messy, but let's just put it nicely, he did his best to mess with us every step of the way. But, we made sure he finished the job and we have our new backyard! So...mom...here are the pictures you've been asking for!

And don't worry...everyone's grass is brown like this right now. It's in the dormant stage. My neighbor thought they were laying a bunch of dead sod!

You can see my brick that I layed. I did about 2/3 of the job and they finished the rest of it. Not to brag, but I actually think I did a better job on my part than they did on theirs! Maybe I have a future in bricklaying!

So, faithful followers, be not afraid! I'm back and will try to blog a little more often. Of course there is much more going on here, there's always a story to tell when you have two kids, but the hour is late and I think I've rambled enough. We are fast approaching our two year anniversary of being in LA and we are looking to move on. I was reading this morning about all the snow that was dumped in Ohio yesterday and it made me miss it so much! I guess you always want what you can't have! But we hope to be able to make a new part of the world our new home soon, and I will keep all of you updated as to our next whereabouts!

You can bank on it!

The comic relief that my kids provide! Today I was driving my son to his school when we stopped at a red light. Out Natalie's window there was a crew busy working on constructing a bank. This is how the conversation went:

Natalie: "What's that?"

Mommy: "They're building a new bank."

William: "Is that a bank we can go to?"

Mommy: "No. We go to a different bank."

Natalie: "Different bank?"

William: "Yes, Natalie. We go to a Mormon Bank. That is a Catholic Bank."

National Champions!!!...of Choking!!!

Ugh!!! Two years in a row now I've watched the beginning of the National Championship Football Game and really felt Ohio State would run away with it. And two years in a row now I've been horribly dissappointed!

However, last year when they choked for the first time, I wasn't a resident of Florida, so the ribbing wasn't that bad. Of course there were the comments about how dominant the SEC is, blah, blah, blah...but no Louisiana resident really had much to say...

This year is completely different! We live in Louisiana, so there was alot riding on this game: our Ohio Pride! The kids at William's school were aloud to wear LSU stuff instead of their uniform tops, and William proudly wore his OSU football jersey. (This did result in some confusion...he couldn't understand why all his friends didn't want Ohio to win!)

Alas, we lost. The result: alot of harrassment! We woke up to LSU signs all over our front yard and a life-size Santa Clause dressed all in LSU gear. The text messages, emails, and phone calls won't stop. I think I will crawl into a cave today and wait till their drunken buzzes have worn off! But, wait till next year! Third time's a charm...am I right!?! GO BUCKEYES!!!

Christmas 2007

I have finally found some time to sit down and blog again! We have been so busy with Christmas, and then my family came down for a few days after Christmas...we have been swamped! But, we did have a great Christmas! It all started with William's Christmas Program for his school. Since it is a private school (meaning we pay his tuition) they are allowed to sing songs about Jesus. I heard some of the more interesting songs I've ever heard leading up to his program! My favorite was when they sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus in not only English, but also in French! I don't suppose I ever thought to sing "Happy birthday" on Christmas. How rude of me! (That's William, top row third from left)

This is William and his friend Izabella. Don't let the camera tricks fool you...William really is like a foot taller than her!

(**As I'm typing this, the kids are playing nicely in Natalie's room...or, of course, so I thought...until I just heard a giant crash. It seems William decided he wanted something from the top of Natalie's closet, and rather than asking me, he thought he could just pull himself up on the rod that holds all her clothes on their hangers. Well, that obviously wasn't meant to hold his weight and he just ripped the whole thing out of the wall. Just add that as one more thing for me to do today! But, on with the blog! If I don't do it now, it will never get done.**)

Moving on then! Ok, Christmas Eve we have the tradition that the kids are allowed to open one present. That present is the Christmas pajamas that Nonna and Papa get for them every year. However, when I saw the matching bathrobes that came with the jammies this year, I had to get them! So, this is the kids on Christmas Eve in their new jammies and bathrobes.

Christmas Morning! William did an awesome job of not waking up his parents! We told him could open his stocking, and he did just that...getting into the candy too, of course! When Natalie finally woke up, it was present time! The highlight of Natalie's morning was her new Princess Castle with "glittery walls that shimmer and sparkle." It came with all the princess, too. Her favorites are Ariel and Cinderella. As I sit and watch her play with her princesses, I am blown away that any daughter of mine would ever prefer princesses to, say, basketball or a new baseball mitt. Oh, well.

Ah, yes...the Buzz Lightyear costume! My son just loves to dress up, even if Halloween is months away. Santa found this in his size at the after-Halloween sale at the Disney store, paying about $7.99. Santa is such a bargain shopper! Anyway, he loves his new costume, and this was the first present he pulled out of the package to take a closer look.

So, we had a good Christmas. We tried to help the kids remember the true meaning of Christmas by giving to our friends and others as well as helping those less fortunate. It's been an interesting year and a half for us here in Louisiana and we hope to simply be able to teach our kids what is right. (And here's hoping we'll be writing a Christmas blog from a new city next year :). Merry Christmas!!