This week was a busy week.

Tuesday was election day and Isaac was all over that. He reminded us to go and vote, especially after the disaster that was the Scott Brown special election. He warned us against being complacent in the face of a invigorated Republican party. Its not that Republicans are per se bad, there are good ones, like Ohio's Mike DeWine, but the ones in Massachusetts were nuts this time around. You combine a dash of Scott Brown enthusiasm with a heaping gob of Tea Party and you get Bill Gunn. Isaac did some digging and found that our Congressional House candidate, Bill Gunn, wants to get rid of the Department of Education and the IRS. He also said he defends the constitution, but apparently forgets that the IRS was created pursuant to the 16th Amendment and Article 1's Necessary and Proper clause. Apparently he defends only the parts of the constitution he likes. Oh well. He got CRUSHED. As did all of the crazy extremist Republicans that ran in Massachusetts. Our all-Democratic House and Senate continues, excepting, of course, for Scott "Underwear Model" Brown. In Massachusetts there are no moderates--only crazy Republicans and slightly less crazy Democrats. So there is not much choice. Either way, someone as crazy as Bill Gunn had to be defeated, so here we are voting:



Political rant over.

So the normal Saturday morning post was disrupted so that we could show Isaac in his bouncer to G-Daddy live over iChat before he saw him on YouTube. We got a device that looks like a combination of an ice claw (those big hooks used to carry ice around before refridgeration) and bungie cord from Domenic and Erica. You hook it up to a door jamb and the more the little tyke pulls down on it the more the claw part grips (there are plastic "talons" to prevent it from destroying your door jamb. At first Isaac was a little puzzled by his new verticality. But eventually he got use to it and became a bouncing champeen. Here is a video of our little bouncer:



After a while he just gets tuckered out and hangs his head with exhaustion.

Yesterday we went to Wakefield and walked around the lake. We also snagged some Harrow's Chicken Pies and a few books. Mom wanted the new Karma Wilson book (of the Bear Snores On fame). Dad got Isaac a Dinosaur Encyclopedia. I can't wait to show him the dinos. I read him some pages and he seemed excited. I can't wait to take him to a museum to see some in real life. I still remember seeing this for the first time.

This Friday Dad took off and Mom is going to work, so it will be the reverse of normal. It is officially called "Boys Day" and we will be doing only boy things. I have the 360 ready, some cigars on the way, and some massive fort plans. Be ready.

New pics and videos up.

November means a lot of things--Thanksgiving (and we have a lot to be thankful for this year), elections, chilly weather (which necessitates me building a fire in the fire place, a touch to make things feel a bit cozier), and Christmas tunes. Unlike at 20 Sexton Dr., where Christmas tunes came out on the day before Thanksgiving when my Mom and Dad were making food for Thanksgiving, in my house (under MY ROOF, I still don't get why owning a roof gives you the right to determine the rules of a house hold), November 1st means it is time to bust out the Christmas tunes.

As we get ready for the holidays, I just can't help but be excited to see Isaac Anthony do some of the traditional holiday things. He may even be eating solid food enough to have a bit of turkey (actually, realistically, I am hoping for some mashed potatoes) at Thanksgiving. I can't even wait for...OMG...going holiday shopping as I will now have something to do other than wander around and play on my iPhone while Mom searches for things. We may need to re-institute the Sculimbrene tradition of touring communities for Christmas lights. I am sure Isaac Anthony will love that, as he likes being in a car and likes bright lights.

The election is tonight and I, for one, am glad the campaigns are over. For whatever reason, maybe it was the vicious backstabbing involved in the Governor's race here in Massachusetts or the stupidity of the Citizens United decision, the election season seemed so much dirtier this time around. Each year I am stunned at how little media coverage normal people get. Normal people saying normal things with good ideas, a recognition that the fundamental lesson of politics is compromise, and the willingness to work hard just don't seem to be interesting to the media. Instead we get coverage of "I'm not a witch". By the way, how did we, as a country, go from "We the People" and "Four Score and Seven Years ago" to "I am not a witch"? Thomas Jefferson would be shocked at the stupidity of some of the candidates running this year. Shocked. Either way, Isaac Anthony, Mom and Dad will put on the Baby Bjorn and go vote tonight.

Ah...November.

Yesterday was a great day. My favorite Halloween ever, and that is saying a lot as we had some good Halloweens at 20 Sexton Dr. with our hours of candy sorting and me passing out, not sleeping, after I secretly consumed 20 fun sized Milky Ways in the span of an hour. Meanwhile, Monica's candy some how made it to Easter as she carefully rationed them out over time (just to annoy me).

As promised, here are some videos (I noticed now that I have none of him in the Tootsie Roll). The time in which he was in the costume was fast and fleeting, as you can see from the Pissed Tootsie Roll picture, he was barely tolerating it, just as a way to humor us. That doesn't mean, however, that we didn't capture any Halloween fun.

Check out Spooky Kid (those are squeals of delight, look for his smile):



And here is Myles and Isaac playing very well together:



Dad and Isaac outside on a Fall Day:



Finally, Knock with Colby and Myles: