Is tomorrow over yet?

I have complete election anxiety. I am watching the Seahawks game (which is causing its own level of anxiety) and reviewing my election pamphlet so I know how to vote on various measures. I am taking Dakota and Jayden with me to vote in the morning (I want my sticker in the morning, dammit!), and I've been talking to Jayden about voting, so I want him to see me do it every election. I asked him who I should vote for, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. He said, "isn't Trump the one who said bad things about girls?" I said "yup, that's the one!" (I don't care who you vote for tomorrow, you can't deny he said "mean things" about girls/women). He said, "You should vote for the other one; I don't like Donald Trump." And I mean, if my five year old gets it? So, that's that. We'll be voting tomorrow. And then watching obsessively throughout the day as results come in.

In the meantime, we've had quite the last week!

My little ninja turtles.

Getting ready for Boo at the Zoo.

Daddy and the kids in front of the giant pumpkin with the cat on top. Dakota loved the giant pumpkin.

Sitting in the "nest" on the carousel. It was one of those rides that you can spin as the carousel spins. I felt to sick afterwards - and I think Dakota felt similarly. Jayden was loving it. I think from now on Dakota will ride a horse (or a bear or a penguin, or one of the other zoo animals on the carousel), I'll stand next to her, and Jayden can ride the nest by himself. Oof.

Family photo op. We had planned to stay for only a short time, but the train took so long that we ended up staying until they closed. The good thing is that Jayden understood we had to leave since the zoo was closing! We rarely get family photo ops, so it was nice to have all four of us in a photo together, even if I was the only person wearing a mask!

And thank goodness, the Seahawks just won. That's one anxiety crossed off my list. :)

Jayden's school is doing a recycling project, where they are collecting plastic bottles and aluminum cans. They have been collecting for a few weeks now, and in another two weeks they will take all the recycling to an Albertsons nearby and recycle it in the bins. They'll take the money they make from depositing the cans and bottles and donate it to CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates) to allow them to get presents for the kids they work with. CASA is one my favorites - they provide advocacy (and mentorship/support/etc.) for kids determined to be abused, abandoned, neglected by the juvenile dependency system. I worked with CASA when I was at the Children's Law Center, and my parents know someone who used to run CASA. I just find the work they do to be so important and so necessary.
So. I love this project. It has motivated me to talk to Jayden about recycling, about helping people who don't have as much as we do and just generally about being a good person. I told him a story that a friend told me (she has fostered kids in the dependency system) about how she brought in a family of three or four kids, and when she got them new socks and underwear, their faces just lit up. I asked him if he could even believe not being able to get new socks and underwear, and he definitely could not. So I love being able to have these conversations with him.

Along those lines, I ran across this picture today:

And then I read an article denouncing this meme, saying intelligence and kindness are not mutually exclusive. Which is totally true. But this is like the whole Black Lives Matter movement. It's not that saying "black lives matter" means that no other lives matter, it's just that black lives are traditionally devalued, and you say it to ensure that people don't value one life over the other. Every life matters, obviously, but it's quite clear that there are people in this country who don't actually believe that. And while I'm on my political soapbox for two more minutes, the whole reason Black Lives Matter is because, in the last week or so, three white men have shot six different cops. All three white men have lived to take a mug shot. Yep, that.
It's not that intelligence doesn't matter, it's just that kindness needs to matter equally, or more sometimes. And parents/guardians/educators, need to be able to teach empathy, self-awareness and general emotional health as much as they can teach straight academics. And now I'll step down. But I can't promise it won't come back in future posts - I only have so much self-control!

My office had a Halloween costume lunch, and only six of us dressed up. That is my boss on the right, as "the Dude" from the Big Lebowski. The winner of the costume contest was the 20s girl, who is just so wonderful.

And then it was kids Halloween time. I left early to grab Jayden and Dakota and head to a free fair being held by the city of Tustin. Jayden wore his mask for about 22 seconds, but on top of his head, not on his face. Then he was over it. 

Dakota, on the other hand, rocked her whole costume for a while. She was awesome. People kept thinking she was a boy. But whatever. She's cute either way!

Donatello slam-dunking in the bounce house. 

The best part about this bounce house? The kids exited via the slide. So great.

We tried to go trick-or-treating and just couldn't find a good neighborhood. Next year I will research better, because I was pretty disappointed this year. Instead, there was a local church that had an event with games and treats, so we took the kids there. It was fine, it was just kind of low-key, and not the trick-or-treating experience I was hoping for. Luckily both kids had fun, and that's all that matters.

For better, or for worse, we got goldfish at the event. Four of them. By Wednesday night all four were gone. We still have the aquarium, so the plan is to do a better job of getting hte necessary equipment - apparently we need a chlorinator - and then we'll get a single fish that we think we can actually keep alive. And we'll move the aquarium out of the kitchen. Because that's probably not the best spot. 

And then I bought these shirts for my little social justice warriors. I adore these shirts. I bought myself one too. They're by a company called Wire and Honey, and they have all kinds of amazing shirts - Vaccines Save, Bro; Stand Against Racism; Stand Against the R-Word; Stand Against Bullying, and all kinds of other awesome sayings. AND, you get a piece of honey candy with your order, which is so so good.
Also, that is Dakota's "cheese" face. Seriously doesn't get better than that. 

I had my first "mom of girl must buy cute clothes" moment this weekend. We went to Target and I found a cute dress for Dakota's 18 month pictures. And THEN I found these boots. Because oh. my. gosh. These boots. I spent the next two days searching for them, or something similar, in an adult version. Nothing. Literally nothing. I'll keep looking, but I'm afraid I'm out of luck.
I've also realized that, despite my best efforts, Dakota is likely to turn out to be "girly." She already loves shoes. She wants me to put lip balm on her if she sees me putting it on herself. She seems to love pink and purple and skirts and all of that. It's driving me nuts. Obviously I will follow her lead, but I was so planning to raise a tomboy! On the other hand, she has absolutely no problem getting dirty, so at least there's that!

The coolest kids in town.

#whymykidiscrying
She is covered in wet paint and I wouldn't pick her up. Yep, that happened.

Cuddle time with Gramma. At first Dakota wouldn't look at her, but kids just have a sense about Grandma Barb, and she quickly cuddled with her when I had to leave for work on Friday morning. 

Sunday we went to a birthday party for one of Jayden's friends. They had a balloon artist who made the coolest things you've ever seen. This is Donatello, obviously - he says "Cowabunga Dude!"
(and also, they had Hawaiian roles, fried chicken and a chinese cabbage salad - so good!)

The party was a Star Wars-themed party, so the kids had "jedi training." So cute to see them warm up and practice with their "light sabers." Then Darth Vader came out and Jayden sat in my lap until the mask came off. He is just not about Darth Vader, even if he understands it's a costume. This is why I am not going to push him to watch shows/movies that he's not ready for - it's just not worth it.

Grandma got Dakota a puppy on a purple leash, kind of like Jasmine! Dakota adores puppies, so this was the perfect choice. Dakota has already popped/destroyed half the balloon puppy, but luckily she doesn't care one bit!

The family is the birthday boy, his dad, mom and baby sister. Jayden wanted to watch them get their pictures taken. I kept telling him to scoot over to get out of the picture, so he sat on a stool about an inch out of the picture to watch. And when the photo printed, he very carefully carried it over to the mom. It was very sweet, and a little weird. But that pretty much summarizes our oldest child - sweet, and a little weird - but in the best way possible.

My face in these pictures - ack!
But Jayden wanted to take pictures, and only with me, so who am I to say no. I love the printouts that we got - I just wish I had thought through our poses first!!!

And finally, before bedtime, one more cuddle with Grandma, reading a silly book about Chester, a horse who talks. Even Dakota was in on the fun. 

So there it is. A full week of adventure and fun with the Wallace kids. And tomorrow could be the apocalypse or it might not be, but either way it's going to be stressful. And either way, I am worried about the hate that has been encouraged, fostered and has grown in this country over the past year or so. It makes me scared for women, for people of color, for people with disabilities, for anyone who has experienced discrimination in some form or another. I hope that we can heal. I don't view Canada as a real option, although I do think it would be lovely to live there, but I would seriously explore all options if the apocalypse does happen tomorrow. Good luck to everyone, and #GoVote!