Sarah Palin Rally

Traffic on the street behind my house...

Tiny me at the rally...my ankles hurt from trying to stand on my tippy toes the entire time!

Not the best image of her, but all I could get from the crowd...

With the elections approaching, I have been thinking a lot about my beliefs, what I want for my family, and where I'd like this country to be. As most of you probably know, VA is considered a battleground state. This is monumental because VA has always been a red state. This shows the changing views of the residents in our area. It has been all over the national news that the county that we live in and a few others in VA could very well decide the outcome of VA. With that said, last week, my town hosted an Obama rally that had probably 15,000 people attend. Traffic was stalled for hours. I didn't attend that one (you can guess why). Then, this past week, Sarah Palin came to town. The rally was held in an area literally in our backyard! I could not miss out on this opportunity. How often can you say you actually saw a Vice Presidential candidate speak in person? We walked over there and are so glad we made it. We saw so many friends there too, and it was a good feeling to know that we are all actively a part of the political process. I can't say that Sarah Palin said anything I wouldn't have heard on t.v., but what an experience to be there in that atmosphere! I hope you all vote on November 4th! It is so important and wonderful that we are able to live in a country where it is possible.

Pumpkin Picking

We went on a search for the perfect pumpkin. Unfortunately, it was freezing outside and M fell asleep in the car, so it was me and the older two. We froze our tooshes off and picked one in record time. Cedric stayed in the car with M and I had to carry a 20+ lb. pumpkin back to the car. That was the fastest pumpkin picking I've ever seen! We are excited to carve it. Check back later to see our carving skills!

Hair Cuts

Here we go again...T insists that I cut her hair instead of going to a salon. Every time she does this, I sweat bullets because I am so afraid of butchering it (literally). I decided to give her a shorter look. She was a champ sitting there for me for what seemed like an eternity as I chopped a little here and then there and then here again. I was so paranoid it would come out a disaster. This is my second time doing this. Here are the before and after pics. I also decided to give Miss M a little trim too (her first cut) while we were at it. I thought she would look cute with bangs. I may have cut them too short, but hopefully it will look cute when they grow a little.

T Before....
T After...

M Before with her cheesey smile...
M After...

Luray Caverns

G has really shown an interest in science. For the longest time, he has begged and begged for us to go to these caverns so he could see stalagmites, etc. For Columbus Day, school was out and we made Cedric skip work because it was again, 80 degrees out. We thought it would be a beautiful drive with the fall foliage through the Shenandoah area. We were right! It was fun to see all the leaves change color. This is probably my most favorite season of the year. The kids loved the caverns. They had quite a bit of an imagination with the rock formations. They loved telling us what they thought the formations looked like. This was the end to our busy weekend while the weather stayed warm!

Apple Pickin

I think this is the first time I had to turn the heat and air conditioner on in the same week. This past weekend, we had weather in the 80's. We had to take full advantage of it. We took the kids apple picking. I didn't realize how many different apples there were out there. Before we loaded up on certain apple types, I made Cedric do a taste test to see if we wanted to pick any of them. By the fifth kind, he wasn't so willing to be our taster. I didn't blame him! The winner for taste for us was the Golden Delicious. The kids loved picking the apples off the trees. We have so many apples now that I have to get pretty creative with what to do with them! I've made apple crisp and will make some apple pie later today. I think I will make some apple dumplings soon too. If you have any good apple recipes, bring them on!

Clearing the Air

I have to comment on my previous post. I'm totally laughing (I'm probably the only one laughing) because there were so many people that thought I was really sick. The previous post was my attempt to make our big announcement in a funny/witty way, but I think I was one of the few that actually got it. So, if you don't get it, just replace the word "mummy" with "mommy" and hopefully you will then understand what I am saying! If not, I will just simply say, we are expecting our fourth Moran kiddo in late March/early April. It will surely add to the craziness of everything, but we couldn't be happier!!!

Egyptian Fever

These past couple of weeks, the kids have had all sorts of illnesses. It may be from the lovely germ spreading arena of school. I, too, had not been feeling well. I usually don't go to the doctor unless it is life or death, but I wanted to get some sort of relief, whether it be antibiotics, or just an assurance that it would go away. When I went to the doc, they ran numerous tests on me and took enough blood to fill the Nile. My doc later came back with the diagnosis. He said I have a rare case of Egyptian Fever. The bad news is that the symptoms will last for several months. Ultimately, when the symptoms are gone, I will then transform into a mummy. I told him that this is not as rare as it may seem, because I have had this case of Egyptian Fever three times before. So, now I am preparing to turn into a mummy for the fourth time. I assured the doctor that being a mummy isn't so bad! Be prepared for my mummy transformation in late March/early April. Stay tuned for details!