I know it’s really early, but I’ve begun my Christmas shopping because I hate crowds and hope to avoid shopping after Thanksgiving.

The girls love the Scholastic Videos! I love them too because they are in short segments, so we can watch just 10 minutes at a time (or more), as opposed to a full-length movie that is so long.  We have Harold and the Purple Crayon and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom already.

Books!  A couple favorites that we’ve only gotten from the library, and would love to own are Corduroy and Where the Wild Things Are.

Puzzles.  Juliana is really into puzzles now (and it keeps her still, which I love!)

Games.  We only have a few, including Hi-ho Cheery-O, Memory, Dominos, and Sorry.  Juliana and Emma love these games and I’m sure they would like other games like these.

Juliana has said several times that she wants a pogo-stick.  Do they still exist?

Paper and Crayons.  We go through these like water.  I make them use all the space on the paper, both sides even…but they color so much!  They like glue sticks too, usually one glue stick only lasts a day or two, but ends with a couple nice collages.  Coloring books and big coloring pages (Emma really loved the ones she got for her birthday) are great!

Educational things for Juliana.  She loves letters and numbers and is learning to write words, so things that encourage reading and writing are great!  She has an educational activity dry-erase book (birthday gift) that has been used so much, we’re on our fourth marker and the pages are stained gray!

Emma is still into cars and trucks, and is driving one around the living room now.

Cooking things.  I think Juliana would be the happiest girl alive if I let her cook everyday, so a simple cake mix or kids cookbook would be fun.

Please don’t feel obligated to get stuff on this list, but usually people ask what they want…so here is some help for those who want it.  I have a big favor to ask everyone, PLEASE take my sanity into consideration when choosing gifts.  The girls are noisy enough, so toys that make noise really bug me and I’ll probably take the batteries out.  There are exceptions of course, like the piano and mp3 player where the volume can be turned low.  We have every Disney princess barbie-like doll already and I’m really tired of seeing them naked, so no barbie style dolls.

We made homemade “flubber,” a mixture of water, glue and borax.  So simple and so fun!

Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group.

Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.

I saw on sign “yes on issue 2″ in front of a Farmers Market, and am entirely confused.  Maybe that farms owner is getting big government subsidies….  Anyhow, Issue 2 will only make more rules for organic farmers, and cost taxpayers something for the new “Livestock Care Standard Board” they want to create.  Do you have a problem with the way cows are raised in Ohio?  I do…I think that there should be a ban on growth hormones for livestock and rules for more ethical treatments of animals (that means nourishing them properly with grass, not corn)….BUT Issue 2 will create a board to make the very opposite rules, favoring the factory farmers instead.  I’m pretty sure Monsanto is behind this garbage.

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Taken from OEFFA (Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association).

By, now you’ve heard about Issue 2. You’ve seen the yard signs, gotten the robo calls, and heard the radio ads, all telling you that Issue 2 is about “safe, local food.” And, on the surface, Issue 2 sounds great—creating a Livestock Care Standards Board that will oversee and protect livestock in Ohio and protect local foods.

However, Issue 2 will have the opposite effect.

Here are the real facts about Issue 2:

–Issue 2 would create a Livestock Care Standards Board, stacked with Big Ag and factory farm supporters, which would have sweeping authority to make decisions related to farms and food in Ohio that would have the force of law. The Board would have largely unchecked power to override any act by the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Assembly.

–Issue 2 will create a Livestock Care Standards Board with no accountability to voters. Their decisions will be final. There is no further review or evaluation of the standard, no established forum for public comment, and no ability to appeal their decisions.

–Issue 2 serves the economic interests of factory farms, opening the door for the proliferation of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Ohio.

–Issue 2 emphasizes the need of the livestock industry to provide “affordable food,” yet ignores its hidden costs, including environmental contamination, human health impacts, and the loss of rural communities.

Big Ag is spending millions of dollars to pass Issue 2, so defeating Issue 2 won’t be easy.

That’s why I’m asking you to vote NO on Issue 2 and to share this information with your friends, blogs, listserves, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers. It’s important that people know this won’t benefit the farmers we support and care about.

The US government has a bad habit of expanding it’s failures as a way of “fixing” them.

I’m looking at schools for Juliana, who should start kindergarten next fall, and having a very hard time finding one that has half-day kindergarten.  I thought the full-day thing was just a way for schools to make more money and for parents to receive free daycare, but turns out it’s a law that all Ohio kindergartens must be all day beginning in fall 2010.   Schools can file for extensions if they don’t have the facilities, money or teachers.  Since the government typically does everything WRONG, they made this law without extra funding.  Many public schools are staying half day, while most private are full day.  I want to home school, and fully understand how overwhelming this could be….however, peace of mind is priceless and this is the only option so far that would give me peace of mind.

The Nature Center class is AWESOME!  Juliana has a new teacher and she is fantastic!  I can’t wait for Emma to start there next year!  I really can’t imagine finding a kindergarten this good…we’ll see.

Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize – Times Online

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Eleven studies done show that using a cell phone for 10 or more years approximately doubles the risk of being diagnosed with a brain tumor on the same side of the head as that preferred for cell phone use.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/29/More-Confirmation-That-Cell-Phones-Cause-Brain-Tumors.aspx

I hate cell phones.  There is nothing more annoying than people who talk on their cell phones non-stop, or people who constantly check their iphones.  John can’t seem to leave his in his pocket through dinner, but at least he ignores it when we eat with other people and through church.  Not only is it annoying, but dangerous….

http://products.mercola.com/blue-tube-headset/?source=nl

This years Russian Festival was the busiest yet!  I spent most of the day serving food and the line never stopped, until we ran out of food about an hour early!

On to Rochester, where I took too few pictures.  We stayed with my aunt, who was taking care of my cousins cats.  They were so friendly and happy to play with the kids!

Next we went to Connecticut, where we camped at Hammonasset State Park!  Although camping was alot of work, I definitely plan to buy our own tent and camp more regularly.  It’s so refreshing to be outside all the time, day and night.

It was too cold to swim, but we enjoyed wadding in the water, walking, playing in the sand and having the beach mostly to ourselves!  I think I prefer the beach on a cold day, rather than an overcrowded beach in the middle of summer. 

We visited the Glinski’s for lunch one day while in CT, and ate too much food, but it was so delicious!

The last stop was New Jersey, where we stayed with my grandpa and his wife. 

Josie played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and Disney songs on the piano, while Juliana sang along.  Juliana was beaming!

We went to a Children’s Museum in NJ, where the girls enjoyed being construction workers (cowgirls, doctors and everything else!)

And I have another nephew, Landon, who we met yesterday.  So cute!!

I hope no one pukes on their computer when they watch this.