A quick explanation of the financial crisis

Got this in my e-mail today- thought it was helpful:

Five years ago, Republicans proposed "the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry [in a decade]." (Source: New York Times)

Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee blocked efforts at fixing Fannie and Freddie. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... are not facing any kind of financial crisis,"

At least 18 times since 2001 Democrats blocked efforts at overhauling Fannie and Freddie even as accounting scandals and executive rip offs became public.

Why? For starters, the top two recipients of Fannie and Freddie campaign donations were Democrat fat cats Chris Dodd ($165K) and Barack Obama ($126K) (Source: Open Secrets)

And Fannie Mae paid well. Clinton-era Democrats, serving as the CEO, CFO and Vice Chairman, paid themselves $200 million in only six years even while a $10 billion accounting scandal was exposed. (Source: Wall Street Journal)

And Democrats like Chris Dodd also got favorable loans under a "VIP program." Dodd alone saved over $75,000 on his mortgage payments. (Source: Conde Nast Portfolio)

So where are former Fannie Mae CEOs like Franklin Raines ($90 million in salary) and Jim Johnson ($21 million in salary in one year)? As you might expect, they're serving as Barack Obama's key economic advisers. (Source: Washington Post)

Hiring Fannie Mae's two former CEOs as economic advisers?
Barack Obama: not ready to lead.

How did we forget to mention?

How cute was Thurday night? Our favorite couple is FINALLY engaged! What took so long? I love how they played it- it really worked- the rain, the urgency. Preciousness. They almost had us thrown with the funny guy at her school- but I think they knew we would lose it if we had to wait another year for them to work it out. I'm over Dwight and Angela- they have gotten too low- they need to show a little more strength of character- especially since Angela is supposed to be the wholesome gal in the office. Overall- the office season premiere performed as we had hoped- and I hope they keep up the good work!

Quotes from the weekend:

Entering a birthday party on Saturday-
Host: Hi Julia, how are you doing?
Julia: Birfday cake.
Host: We have a jump castle- do you see it?
Julia: Birfday cake.
Host: Would you like a hot dog?
Julia: Birfday cake. Pease.

Riding to church this morning-
Marky: Hey- I DO have hair on my legs- I AM a mammal!

The Secret Garden

Today we went with our friends to the Botanical Gardens for a picnic and adventure. I can't belive I haven't been there in over four years! It's FREE and so much fun. Here are Mary Hannah and Marky on the rock bridge. They are both into pretend play BIG time so they get along great.
Here they are in the Asian garden feeding Angela, Mary Hannah's leopard.
Baby sisters got to play too- here is baby Margaret and Julia. Julia is on the right- a lot of people think she and Margaret look a lot alike. Marky is really sold on this "superhero" pose of his- as you can see from all his latest pictures.
Juliabug loved the Bamboo trail and liked to shake the limbs. The weather is just too perfect to stay inside anymore! I think we are going to try to some of our schooling outside now as well. Happy Fall Ya'll!

Thought for the Day

While watching Adventures from the Book of Virtues: Generosity today we heard this wonderful poem:

Count that Day Lost

If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went -
Then you may count that day well spent

But if, though all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay -
If, through it all
You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face -
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost -
Then count that day as worse than lost.

George Eliot

May we all have days well spent!

Circle of Friends

We've come a long way (although my hair is the same!)

Alpha Gams- Troy State University- 1999- after the homecoming football game.
Backrow: Lori Lee, Amy, Donna, Front Row: Jacqueline, Shelley, Jill


I'm recovering from a whirlwind weekend of Alpha Gamma Delta sisterhood! I had the privilege of hosting five of my favorite college friends this weekend and we had a blast. Here we are picking Shelley and Jill (from Louisiana) up from the airport. Jacqueline and Kelly drove in from Florida and Tennessee respectively. Shana, of course, lives here.
We went immediately to Che Lulu in Mountainbrook for a late dinner and we laughed all night!
Then we went to Billy's and listened to a band. The band was playing songs from the 90s which was great b/c it brought back so many memories!
Here's Shelley and Jill.
We stayed up 'till 3:00 talking and then slept in and had a late brunch. Kelly had driven in that morning to complete our party.
We shopped all afternoon and then went to sips and strokes where we sipped wine (or in my case Sprite) and painted for FOUR hours. Our other sister Joy was able to meet up with us then.

Here we are. It's Jacqueline, Shana, me, Jill, Kelly, Shelley and Joy.
(Jac will start a blog soon- Kelly says she has no time!) And our "beautiful" paintings. None of us are hanging these in our homes. The backgrounds were ridiculous. But it was a funny adventure nonetheless. We stayed up again after painting laughing and talking until 3 a.m. again and then slept in the next day. Kelly and Jac had to leave Sunday after lunch. That night Shelley, Jill, Shana and I went to see The Women and ate dinner outside. I don't recommend the movie- they tried too hard and it didn't work. Anyway we stayed up talking again Sunday night and then Jill and Shelly flew home this morning. Thank you guys so much for coming- I love you and had a blast!!! The absolute real hero of the weekend, however, is my sweet husband. I feel like I was on vacation too because I basically didn't see my family the whole time. He took them to the YMCA, the zoo, the park. He fed them, bathed them and put them to bed. Since some of the girls slept in Julia's room, she and Marky shared his twin bed. It was so precious- they giggled for a while and then would pass out. They slept great and the first night we put her back in her big girl bed she cried for Marky.

Gym Day

Friday we had our first "home school P.E." day. It went well- they do relays, kickball, and dodge ball (how politically incorrect) with the younger elementary kids. Here is Marky with his buddies John Paul and Joseph. They were running around and got lots of energy out!
Julia and the other babies just watched. This is her and her buddy Ann Marie. If you look in the background- the yellow chubby tummy is my prego belly. Holly, this is probably the only pregnancy picture I'm putting on here (if I can help it). : )

Please watch this

You can just substitute the word "Catholic" for "Christian" because this message applies to all believers.

Is it narrow-minded to be a one-issue voter?

Is it narrow-minded to be a one-issue voter? It depends on the issue. In this article, my husband Marc compares being a "one-issue" voter in regard to abortion to being a one-issue voter in regard to slavery.

An odd thing seen in this year’s presidential election is the purported “pro-life” voter who is considering voting for Sen. Barack Obama. Sen. Obama is, of course, staunchly pro-choice, and has said that one of the first things he would do in office would be to sign the “Freedom to Choose Act,” which would invalidate many state pro-life laws. Sen. Obama is so pro-choice that, while a state senator, he even voted and voluntarily spoke out against a bill that would require doctors to save babies born alive following failed abortions. Not even the violently pro-choice group NARAL opposed this bill, which, simply put, was meant to prevent outright infanticide. Fully-born babies were literally left to struggle for life and eventually die in cold pans in operating rooms. For some reason, Sen. Obama decided to fight to make sure that doctors were not forced to save these babies. Indeed, Sen. Obama is perhaps the most pro-abortion candidate we have ever seen.

Nonetheless, a few who call themselves “pro-life” claim that, while Sen. Obama’s stance on abortion is “regrettable,” that is only one issue, and his stances on other issues favor voting for him for President. In other words, the fact that he is aggressively pro-choice is not enough of a reason not to vote for him. Leaving aside the merits of Sen. Obama’s stances on other issues, is it really true that his abortion stance is not enough reason to vote against him? It seems that the only way one can actually take that position is to not take abortion seriously. Abortion is the intentional (and violent) taking of an innocent and helpless human life while in the safest place in the world – the mother’s womb. Babies are literally cut to pieces in utero. It is the worst, most inhumane practice imaginable. It is a mother voluntarily deciding to kill her child. This is why the vast majority of women cannot go through with abortion when they see their child on an ultrasound. They realize that they have been lied to by politicians and so-called “feminists,” – they realize that this is a living baby, their baby. They realize as every mother (and father) should that no sacrifice is too great to protect their child, not money, personal convenience, personal “dreams,” etc.

Given the truth about what abortion really is, one wonders whether the argument of the “pro-life” Obama supporter really holds water. Would we say the same thing about slavery? Slavery was a totally evil abomination: the violent taking of persons and forcing them to work under often horrible circumstances. Abortion is certainly as much of an abomination as slavery, if not more so. Indeed, with abortion, the most defenseless persons of all – babies – are literally ripped apart. An abortion always ends in violent death of a child, and, since Roe v. Wade, has lead to the deaths of over 40 million children.

Imagine, therefore, that slavery was still present in this country, and we had to make a choice for President. Candidate X favored freeing the slaves, but Candidate Y supported the continuation of slavery, among other things. Candidate Y talked in glowing terms about fighting for the personal right to one’s own “property” (as slaves were then considered), and would stand up for one’s right to choose to keep slaves. Candidate Y would note in his speeches that (as had happened in the Dred Scott case) the United States Supreme Court had recognized that slaves were not persons but were property, and that the government and the abolitionists needed to “keep their hands off of other people’s property.” Candidate Y might also note that having slaves and making them do all the work sure does make life easier for the slave-owners – in fact, those slave-owners have many doors open to them and can live a much higher quality of life than if they had to sacrifice to do the work themselves.

In the battle between Candidates X vs. Y, who would say “Well, Candidate Y’s support for slavery is regrettable, but I really like his ideas on tax policy, education and national defense.” Nobody would say that, unless they really did not think that slavery was truly the abomination that it is. Well, abortion is clearly the slavery of our age. These days, people think back to the days of slavery and say “Can you believe that people used to think it was ok to steal someone from their homeland and force them to work??” One day, God willing, our children’s children will think back on our Nation’s history and say “Can you believe that people used to think it was ok to butcher their own children??”

The abolitionists had a slogan that directly challenged those who argued that slaves were non-persons and were just property: “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” Today, our unborn children ask “Are We Not Your Own Children? Will You Not Protect Us?” God forgive and save us all.

Marc Ayers

Passing the Time...

This is what the kids do at night while mommy cooks supper. They used to watch T.V., but we're getting away from that. So now we do either puzzles or art- after all, they are usually going to be coming in and out of the kitchen to see me anyway. What I love about this picture is how it shows their personalities. Marky is focused and working on a hard puzzle- he actually did three of those last night during this time. Julia worked on her ONE three-piece knob puzzle the whole time and mainly used them as cymbals.

Update on Sleeping Beauty

Well- she's slept for two nights in the bed and had two naps in the bed and has not gotten up ONCE or fallen out (even though there is no rail). And in the mornings she calls us just like she always did and then when we get in there she gets herself out. So I guess operation big girl bed was a success! Now I need to start operation big girl potty. I'm dreading that one! (However it looks like Rocks in My Dryer has a good resource on this!)

Go big girl

Notice anything different about baby girl's crib?
If you guessed "missing one side" give yourself a high five. Yes, tonight as I was leaning my big prego belly over the side of the crib to put her down I said "that's it" and we turned her crib into a toddler bed. Totally on a whim- but she seemed to LOVE it. See how happy she is?
Even Marky loved the new bed and asked if he could sleep with her. (No.) This post may have a new picture of us putting the rail back up if she ends up getting up all night- but I have a feeling that she will stay put. She loves her bed and her bird-projector thingy and I HOPE this is a forever move. If it works we will get her full-size bed out of storage and really have a big girl bed!
Sleep tight princess!

Mama has been down for the count

What a week. I think I mentioned a while back that last Sunday I got really sick with a stomach virus and we were just getting by for a few days. Well- that "stomach virus" lasted ALL WEEK and even yesterday I was talking to my doctor and finally getting some medicine because I was afraid I was getting too dehydrated (which can cause early labor). Along with the usual stomach virus stuff- I had terrible reflux. I think it's b/c my stomach was always empty-- so w/ the reflux, I couldn't sleep at night. Well- today is a NEW DAY! I took my meds, slept through the night (on an incline), and woke up feeling MUCH better and ate solid food today at a birthday party! My sweet hubby was an ANGEL this week and cooked me soup at night and played games with me while I moped on the couch. Last night we played "battleship" (yes the kids' game) and trivial pursuit. Anyway- I'm so happy to be back on my feet! I've changed the sheets, Lysoled the house, and we're back on our way.

This picture is a picture of Julia at around 6 months. I'm only posting it b/c 1) it HAS to make you smile, 2) I can't have one more post without a picture, and mainly 3) because her smile mirrors the mood I am in today!

What I learned tonight

Tonight was our first soccer GAME...and I'm happy to report we won- 5-4! It's all that great coaching by daddy! I learned several things tonight:

1) Marky's hair curls in the back when he sweats.

2) He knows how to hustle and is a good defender

3) He knows how to throw a little smacktalk around "i'm gonna get that ball from you- watch out- I'm going to the goal" (I didn't expect that one at all)

4) Julia's tubby little tummy is a bottomless pit- she ate two cereal bars, two boxes of raisins, a bag of cookies and that's all I had packed. Once the food was gone she was done sitting around and we had to do laps around the field.

5) We have to have a 'snack schedule' for the parents b/c apparently kids cannot play a 30- minute-long game without organized snackage. And apparently I have to volunteer in the "concession stand" next week b/c we can't expect all the teams to play 30-minute long games without a concession stand open and volunteer moms (and one hungry two-year-old) working in it.

6) I enjoy this soccer mom stuff and peanut butter coookies at Subway after the game are absolutely divine!

Not on my watch...

So this morning we had a l0t of fighting in the house. Marky and Julia just kept pushing each other's buttons and fighting, fighting, fighting over everything. It is so exhausting when they get like that. I even called Marc at work to have him talk to Marky on the phone. Then when I talked to Marc myself I said "I'm just waiting for the day when he protects her- not fights her."

Fast forward to tonight. We had dinner at Chick Fil A tonight (on an unrelated note I've had an awful stomach bug and been off my feet the past two days and we went there so I could get chicken noodle soup and the kids could play). They were in the playground and Julia walked out whining about something with her arm. We kissed it and she ran back inside the playground and seemed happy. Then we noticed Marky yelling at these two girls (they were probably 8 and 9) and shaking his finger at them. Marc immediately jumped up and got on to him and said "why are you yelling at these girls?" And he said, "Daddy these girls have been hitting Julia on the arm with their shoes." The girls said, "well, that little girl touched our shoes" and Marc said, "have you been hitting her?" and they said, "ummm.....uhhh..." Marc quickly told them that Julia was just a two-year-old baby and couldn't have harmed their shoes by touching them and then they ran out. Marky all the while was saying "she's just a baby- you can't hit her." It's the first time I've ever seen him defend her, and I was so proud-- especially since he was "getting onto" kids much older and bigger than him. I've been waiting for this moment. I know they will probably fight tomorrow- but I'm glad to know that Marky will jump in when OTHER kids pick on his Sissybug.

Oh yes it's ladies night....

So last night we threw a little "unmentionable" shower for my friend Christy who is getting married in November. It was so much fun- above are the hostesses, Tally, Catherine and me. Tally and I are quite pregnant and will be bridesmaids nonetheless- we aren't scared!
Here is the blushing bride and her sister Allison. Do you like Christy's hairpiece? It screams "classy bride".
Girl talk is so much fun! Why don't we make more time for it? Congratulations Christy! We had so much fun last night- I'm so happy for you!

You got served.....

Amazing night. Conservatism is back. In the words of Ricky Bobby, "THAT just happened."

Put me in coach!

Well- I'm officially a soccer mom! Tonight was our first ever adventure into the world of kiddie sports and let me say- we had a blast! Marky has been talking about playing soccer for months- he's been wearing his gear around the house and practicing in the backyard and tonight his dream came true and he got to meet his team. Doesn't he look big? What happened to his baby face?
And look at his cute coach! Coach Daddy!

They ran around like crazy- all the kids were so sweet and I'm so glad they got all their energy out! I bet he will sleep like a log tonight!
Here's the team doing their drills. Marky is the youngest on the team- but not the smallest.
Julia occupied herself as best she could by eating many peanut butter crackers and raisins.
Then she got her energy out on the playground with the other "little" siblings. Here she is all worn out on the rock wall. What an awesome day!

Weekend Fun

Guess what I did this weekend? Here's a hint:

Yes, we worked hard in our yard getting it all beautiful- we planted flowers, re-mulched, re-pinestrawed, and edged it. I think I actually like planting flowers- even in the heat. I'm the one who does it (with help from little buddy). Saturday we ended up having a last-minute party. We had invited one couple over, which turned to two, which turned to three, and finally we ended up with 10 adults and five children over here cooking out and watching football.

On another note- this is what I saw when I went to the breakfast table this morning:
Apparently Daddy helped our little frog lover put on one of Marky's old halloween costumes. She is still wearing it two hours later. Not sure we're getting her out of it. I may have to add a pink bow on top!