Birthday cake, yum, yum

We've been on the late summer birthday party circuit these days (think 5 birthday parties in a 4 week span...and we're not yet completely through it!). For some reason, late August - early September is B-U-S-Y with birthdays.

As a tribute to our friends' kids who have recently celebrated birthdays we've attended, I thought I'd post a few party photos of every kids' absolute favorite part of the party - CAKE!!!!

(The goody bag handout ranks high with our kiddos, too)

And of course, a piece of cake is often followed by sugar-induced exuberance.

Here's a chronicle of their sugar-high, cake loving (and eating) adventures at various friends' parties.

BE it, don't just do it

So I told myself that I wasn't going to use this forum (too much) to even remotely pontificate (and/or rant, as I have been doing) on politics.

But lately I am finding that I can't help myself.

Why?

Because I CARE what happens to our country. And because I CARE how it affects my family and my kids, especially. And just because I lean left, that does not mean that I am not patriotic and I don't love America. Quite the contrary.

Tonight I read a very good, succinct blog post from Jamie Lee Curtis, the actress no less, on The Huffington Post. And she had echoed some things Obama said this weekend that I said a few days ago after having listened to Ms. Palin's RNC speech thinking to myself,

"Uh, oh...she was good (delivering from a teleprompter). SO GOOD that people are going to forget she's a friggin' puppet and be brainwashed by all of this KarlRovian garbage...like they were brainwashed in 2004 and 2000 - Lord help us."

Anyway, something in Jamie Lee's post struck me, and it was what she had quoted from Gandhi:

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

While this is not the first time I've seen this quote, it really resonated with me, in particular, related to this election.

With all of this talk about "change" from both sides (especially now that McCain decided to take on this as his campaign message), and with all of the GOP mockery of community organizers, this was the kick in the pants I needed. For me and the now and how I can make a difference come November 4th.

And as a registered Democrat and strong supporter of Barack Obama, I realized that I mustn't just sit here and let 2004 happen all over again. I needed to do my part outside of donating (which I have already done) or putting up lawn signs and bumper stickers in a state that will likely go blue anyway. And I can no longer be complacent and assume the last 8 years is enough to speak volumes and direct the American public to our candidate.

So this weekend, on a whim, I applied to help the Obama campaign and the Deputy Field Organizer Groups that they are mobilizing in California to spread the message to the audiences who most need to hear it. As such, the Obama campaign is recruiting a team of "community organizers" to attend Camp Obama with the goal of developing grassroots coalitions to gain victory in the battleground states. And while I can't travel to the battleground states with my current family and work responsibilities, I asked them if they could leverage me somehow remotely. I really don't know how, and highly doubt I will get "accepted" but I feel better knowing that I am trying to make a difference in this election.

Just BE it. My not-so-new mantra.

Not-so-new because when I stepped back to think about it, I've already started being some of the things I want to change in the world. But I still have more to be including making a difference (however small) with the choice of our new leader.

(ok, I'm done ranting for today.)

Celebrating life and it's dichotomies

Today was a good, but strange day.  

Good because it was quality time well spent with the kids. 

Strange because of the dichotomy of our activities today, both celebrating life in different ways.

9:00AM

Hannah, Luke and I went to a memorial and celebration of life for my friend and colleague's beautiful, sweet 7-year-old  son, Max who passed away after 4 years of fighting cancer. 

It was a beautiful and heart-felt gathering of his family's friends, family and general support network -- there were probably a couple hundred of us there at the park sitting high on the bluff in scenic Seagrove Park in Del Mar, celebrating Max and listening to his favorite stories being read, hearing his teachers telling us their favorite Max stories, and watching his favorite vintage WWII planes fly overhead to salute him as he stared down at us from heaven. Family, friends, teachers, colleagues, kids, babies, parents, classmates from Max's school were there to pay tribute.

The event was purposefully family and child-oriented, complete with various Lego building stations of the take-your-Lego-creation-home-as-a-memory-of-Max-and-the-toys-he-loved-s-much variety.   And with that, Hannah and Luke left with an airplane and a robot creation made from the very Legos that Max played with.  Despite our sad reason for being there today, the kids had fun.

11:00AM

Contrast this with our next planned event 2 hours later, where we attended a birthday party for our friend and neighbor's daughter at PumpItUp, which is basically a huge gymnasium of inflatable bounce-houses.  

Hannah and Luke and friends ran around for an hour and fifteen minutes jumping in the bouncies, sliding down the slide, and then ate pizza and had birthday cake.

There were at least 25 2-5 year old kids there with protective parents in tow.    And again, not surprisingly, for different reasons at this particular event, we were surrounded by the birthday girl's friends, family, classmates, etc.  Of course, the kids had fun.

******************

Two events, back-to-back, both celebrating life in different ways.  

One event (the birthday party) was planned weeks ago and meticulously and lovingly executed. 

The other event (the memorial) was not planned and meticulously and lovingly executed.

The dichotomy of life.

In either scenario, it is worth celebrating.   And today, in particular with the unplanned juxtaposition of these two events, I have better perspective on how to value it.

I'm not buying the red meat

I have been watching the RNC this week with curiosity as well as with a sincere attempt to be fair and balanced going into November (although I do have my biases).

As much as I commend Sarah Palin on her ability to read and deliver a wonderfully-crafted speech from the teleprompter and rally her conervative base, I remain largely unimpressed and have yet to hear anything new that will restore my faith in the Republican party. While they may critique the Democrat's rhetoric, I critique the patronizing, fearmongering soundbites and old ideas that they continue to leverage...soundbites that unfortunately people like my own Republican right wing conservative parents buy into and take as fact.

Big government! High taxes for everyone! Islamic terrorism! Country first!

So what else is new? And where are the real issues like the economy, health care, education, energy independence (outside of drilling), fiscal responsibility and fiscal balance, making America competitive again in the face of globalization? Issues at home that we have largely ignored while we've spent billions and billions of taxpayer dollars protecting America outside of our walls. With all due respect to our military, I commend their courage to protect us abroad as well as continuing to execute on their charter to restore peace and democracy in areas that need it, but honestly, it's time. Time to divert some of this attention back to your own home and see what you need to fix - or your family unit might just fall apart. Isn't this about Country first? Last I checked, it was.

Does America have selective amnesia from the last 8 years? I find it funny that after Day 2 at the RNC with all of us watching the sitting president orating via satellite, there has been no mention again of the Bush administration. Does the GOP think we are that stupid?

So, again tonight, I will watch with curiosity.

Oh, and by the way, I am not putting my America hat back on...I never took it off.

Today's WTF news...the mommy wars (campaign-style)

Wow - check this out.

And so ignites the firestorm on one of the most polarizing issues ever (at least among women) outside of the abortion debate - the mommy wars of stay-at-home vs. work-away-from-home... at the highest and most political of levels.

Quick summary – Palin certainly has her own issues to deal with but now people are questioning if she should even take the VP post (implying working moms = bad, especially with her ) is insanity.

I may not be a supporter of McCain-Palin for November's ticket, but I am a supporter of women and their right to choose the path that's best for them - whether they decide to work outside of the home or not.

And for this, I commend Sarah Palin in her efforts to do what she has to do for herself and her family.

Yep. Uh-huh.

Bring it on.

I am so broken hearted.

My friend's 7-year-old son, Max Mikulak, passed away this weekend.    He has been fighting neuroblastoma (an aggressive form of pediatric cancer) for 4 years now and he finally succumbed to the disease on Sunday night.  

I have posted about him several times, and more recently here, but I guess that our prayers to chase away the cancer monsters did not work (at least in this world).  And if they did work, God did hear them and Max is now in heaven, chemo and radiation-free, pain-free, having all the popsicles his heart desires and having victorious light saber duels over Darth Vader.

I met Max only once, several months ago at the beach.  But through his father who is my friend and colleague, I felt like I knew him so well - between their blog, their photos and stories about Max, I felt like he taught us some very important life lessons about living life to its fullest potential...living life to the Max.   And all of this was engendered from his parents who have given us incredible examples.   He and his wife Melissa, are two of the strongest and most admirable people I know.   

Sweet dreams, beautiful Max.  

Whip It

We had date night last night.

And it was all planned very nicely by my husband.

My sister in law came in and watched the kids while we went to the Del Mar Fairgrounds to watch the horse races.   And we won $8 from the last race (the only race we watched) which paid for one of our expensive beers.

The highlight of the night was watching a free concert at the end of the night by Devo. Yes, that Devo...the band with the red energy dome hats with the funny videos that accompanied signature 80's songs like "Whip It" and "Beautiful World."

Funny, he positioned it to me like were going to watch to Del Mar to watch and bet on the horses.  Never mentioned Devo.

I know he just wanted to see Devo.

Tricky one, he is.  (But a keeper!)

The sisterhood of the traveling pant(suits)

I have a cool group of Bunko chicas I've been hanging with this year. And while many of them are very similar to me personality-wise, others are not. But we do all have one thing in common: we are all mommies who are trying to do/have/balance-it-all, dammit.

Lately, our adventures and get-togethers have extended beyond our once a month girls-night-in playing Bunko. And many of them have become my friends.

We now go to each others' kids' birthday extravaganzas.

We attend each others' own birthday dinners.

We throw each other baby showers for #2 (or #3).

We support each others' fundraisers.

We sneak away during weekend errands to get manis and pedis together.

We get together in the guise of creating farm-fresh, organic meals for our families at those big-ass dinner-packaging places when we are really just looking for an excuse to have a glass of wine with our girlfriends during the week.

We support each other when getting botox and lipo...(oh, sorry, wrong mom's club...that's in Orange County)

We even walk 5ks, train for and run half marathons together.

And so, it's opened up a whole new social circle for me: the world of Southern California suburban super-mommies. They are MY sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits.

It's a world I always knew existed but never thought I would be a part of, at least 4 years ago when I started this adventure called parenting. And here I am in the thick of it...and I love it.

But lately, my husband has been complaining.

He thinks all of these social events weekend-in and weekend-out is just too much. And that it's taking away from us. The family. Even when a lot of our activities with the sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits involve the family (outside of Bunko of course).

So why is he still bitching about it?

I am hypothesizing it's because he is slightly jealous that I've developed a bond with these ladies that he hasn't replicated with guy friends since we've lived here. I'm also conjecturing that he does not like to have his social plans almost exclusively scheduled by me. But of course, he would never admit that to me.

Or is it because, at a fundamental level, he does not understand that women need other good female friends, that they feed off each other and rely so heavily upon the female bonds we make to feel normal and semi-validated?

And that the time we spend with other women vindicates all of the seemingly crazy emotions we feel as moms-trying-to-balance-it-all-dammit. And that all of this is just par for the course of attempting to be a super-mom, a super-woman in this day, in this age, in our situations?

Well, I don't know that he will ever really understand, but I guess that's why I rely on my sisterhood.

And in WTF news...

...this just in.

Huh?! This weakens all of McCain's arguments against Obama's lack of experience.

At any rate, this may be a lame attempt to woo Hillary's supporters. But I think it's kind of insulting if that's true. People don't vote because someone's male or female or black or purple or white (or maybe they do and I just don't carouse with them...which is likely since we would probably not get along.) They vote because the candidate stands for what they believe in - and Palin and Hillary could not be further apart. Just about the only thing they have in common is that they are both females.

More to come as we learn more about her over the next few days.

(Ok, I am done with my political rantings now...back to blogging about working mommy stuff).

I am moved

I totally connected with Barack Obama tonight.

His speech almost moved me to tears and gave me hope that this country can be great(er) again. He was inspirational. He was larger-than-life. He was presidential. A true leader who wins hearts and minds. Someone this country so desperately needs right now.

And you know what? I don't care that he's a junior senator who has not been seasoned (read: infected) in the ways of Washington.

I actually like that he's idealistic and not schooled in the old guard M.O. I believe in his platform for change. Is McCain saying these things? All he can say is that Obama lacks the experience and the track record (temperament and judgment)...what's his case for change? I find it amusing and laughable that the GOP even bothers to waste their critiques over his acceptance speech venue dubbing it the "temple of Obama" with it's pillars and grand stage. Again, here goes the GOP making small issues out of big elections. What else ya got, McCain?

I will say this: The Republicans rightfully critiqued that his speech rhetoric does not fully contemplate the realities of funding his platform specifics to drive change. And I am curious to hear over the coming weeks and through the debates how exactly he plans to bankroll some of his aspirational (but not insurmountable) promises such as affordable education and health care for all, without increasing taxes. (And of course, those taxes will probably be assessed on people like me.)

And will he be able to execute on every tactic in his change platform? Probably not...let's remember that the Congress has its role to play in terms of policy-making - checks and balances was instituted for a reason. Our Founding Fathers were smart that way. But, I do believe that Obama will try his damnedest to uphold his promises, because I know that he believes we will hold him accountable.

Nonetheless, his idealism, optimism and his potential to drive true change is there and it is palpable.

And I so, so feel it, like I've never felt with any Democratic candidate I've supported before. Maybe it's because this is the first election where I am a parent and I am moved by such issues that affect more than just my generation? Regardless, I think many Americans who watched tonight felt the energy and the stirring too. And like me, many probably also feel that there is a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel we've been traveling through for 8 years.

And yes, while potential is no match for true experience (which is the retort of the McCain camp) what we do know is that when you put a damn smart leader with great potential who is hungry in a BIG job, they often rise to the occasion...just as Barack Obama has demonstrated time and again.

And that is the track record that I am using as my benchmark. It may be naive, but I believe.

Tonight Obama was "epic, yet accessible." And as David Gergen stated, his wasn't so much "a speech but a symphony." A masterpiece. And he had me at hello.

Forget my post from 2 days ago (I'm over the Hillary thing, even though I loved her speech too...), I am a proud supporter of the Obama-Biden ticket.

God bless him.