'Tis The Season of Halloween Fun and Battleground Politics

We've kept real busy these past few weeks with lots of Halloween fun and being volunteers with the Barack Obama campaign.

Happy Halloween

We kicked off the trick-or-treating last weekend when we went to Sea World's Halloween event. They had workers dressed up as sea creatures throughout the park for trick-or-treating. They also had some extra Halloween shows. It was a good time.

Pumpkin carving!! No matter how hard we tried, Jake wanted nothing to do with touching the slimy inside of a pumpkin. It was quite funny. Finally he resorted to simply drawing on his pumpkin with a marker. When he finished his work of art, he told us he made a "sporty" pumpkin. That boy is obsessed with sports. Sydney did her entire pumpkin on her own. She was very proud of it.

Halloween night!! We snapped a few more pictures of our mean little pirates before we headed out trick-or-treating. It was our first time trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood and it turned out to be great. We love our neighborhood. We had a lot of fun seeing all the kids out and getting to know even more neighbors. There were TONS of kids and we handed out lots and lots of candy. Sydney and Jake got way too much candy and had a great time. They were out for almost two hours. Mike and I took turns with them. A funny story - Jake doesn't like chocolate. Crazy kid! As he knocked on doors, after he said "trick-or-treat" if he saw them handing out chocolate he was quick to voice his opinion to them saying "I don't like chocolate". Everyone just laughed and then spoiled him by searching through their candy for non-chocolate candy. Spoiled boy!

Sydney helped me decorate our walkway with lit up paper bags. We put sand in the bottom of them and then a little candle. She had fun with it.

Barack Obama and Volunteering

Thanks to my up bringing, I have always had a great interest in politics and government. I think this is probably the first year I have been so involved. I've never been so excited about a candidate like Obama and have been a volunteer with the the campaign. I can't wait until this election is over. My heart has been very involved this time around. CNN has been on for far too many months now. It has been fun living in a battleground state and to have so many opportunities for volunteering. It has been a very fulfilling experience and we've met some really neat people that we'll continue friendships with. I usually drag the kids along and Mike when he's not working. Yes, I'm one of those crazy people that has been making lots of phone calls and knocking on lots of doors. These past few weeks have been really busy. We recently had a rally here in our area and I brought the kids along. We had great seats since we are volunteers. The kids are brain washed to say the least. They love campaigning for Barack Obama. Mike knocked on doors with me yesterday and has been very excited also. I never remember a political season quite like this. It's very exciting. Hopefully our hearts aren't broken come Tuesday.

pictures of rally below - yes we are wearing winter coats in an evening of weather in the 60s. Florida has made us wimps with the weather I guess.

Proud Parents

Sydney's school had it's first awards ceremony a few weeks ago. All the kids came and watched. A few kids were picked from each class as outstanding citizens for being kind and good citizens of the school. We were really proud of her and she was very proud as well. One of her friends she met while volunteering for Barack Obama was also awarded from her class. Picture of them below.