Leininger Family Holiday Hoedown

As you can see we've spent way too much time online today...

Checking for Accuracy...

Jon suggested I check to see how accurate this thing is by putting in pictures of my mom and dad. Here's what we got...I say not bad! Which Haynie sister do you think this looks the most like?

Feeling Inspired

Seeing our "baby" inspired me, and I decided to check out the offspring of my siblings. Presenting....

Brooklyn in a few years?

Joseph & Megan's future child

Diana & Jonny's child-to-be

So...what do you all think?

News Flash!

So, I found out what our baby is going to look like. Pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Jon thinks our little peach looks like him. Who do YOU think he/she looks more like?

Classics.

I have been meaning to write a post about food storage, but I have been too tired/lazy to upload the pictures from our camera, so maybe I'll do that later, and for now, I will post something else I have been thinking about for awhile. My movie collection. Which is seriously lacking. In fact, I think I personally own about 2 or 3 movies and the rest I inherited when I married Jon. Most of his are of the action genre, which isn't particularly bad, but is not particularly good either. We really need to build up our collection of classics. The kind of thing we can raise our kids on. Wholesome, entertaining, and uplifting. So I made a wish list, just so I don't forget, and I will post it here, in no particular order.

Singing In the Rain
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Meet Me in St. Louis
The Music Man
Christy
While You Were Sleeping
The Sound of Music
Pride and Prejudice (long version)
Little Women
Mulan
The Lion King
Aladin
The Little Mermaid
Cinderella
Beauty and the Beast
Peter Pan
Robin Hood
Newsies


I would also appreciate any suggestions. After reading this list you should have some kind of idea what type of movie I am talking about, so please, use the comment button to share your favorites!

5 things I've been thinking about...

1. I'm glad this whole election business is over, even though it didn't all turn out how I hoped. I am grateful that Prop 8 passed, and I am feeling peaceful about Obama as President, and looking on the bright side. For one, I think he has a totally adorable family and I am a little jealous of his two daughters who get to live in the White House. See, my dreams of being a First Daughter were crushed at a young age when I found out that Presidents of the United States must be natural-born citizens. My dad was born in Peru, and I was pretty darn sure that that was the only thing that really stood in his way (still am really...well, that, and a lack of desire to be involved in politics...). It was a tragic moment for a young girl. However, with the ambiguity about Obama's birth country, maybe I shouldn't have given up quite so easily. My sister (who will not be named here) didn't. She wrote my dad in on the ballot. Maybe more of us should have done that...I DO like him a lot better than any of the candidates I had to choose from.

2. Modern medicine=good. However, it's maybe not quite the miracle drug I originally thought it to be. I'm learning that I still might be sick every once in awhile. But I'll tell you what. Vomit once a day is a WHOLE lot better than vomit four times a day. So I'll take it!

3. Eggnog=a complete meal. I think I have pretty much always felt this way. At least since college when my parents were no longer around to supervise my eggnog intake. You have to down a couple glasses to really make the meal, but it's got the protein, the dairy, and it's just plain delicious! I look forward to eggnog season* all year! I just love the stuff! In fact, this year I got the very first eggnog of the season. The grocery store guy had to go in the back to find it for me because it wasn't even out yet. And it sure is delicious! One disclaimer though- I am SO not down with homemade eggnog. The stuff totally grosses me out!

4. "Seriously, are these fall colors real???" That's what I think every time I go anywhere. For those who have never spent an autumn on the east coast, I highly recommend it. It's like, trees are EVERYWHERE, and all of them are totally gorgeous. It's a wonder that I haven't run anyone off the road while staring at the trees.

5. Looking forward to my two dates with Jon this weekend. Saturday we are going out to eat downtown and then attending a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert. We've seen them once before and they are fantastic. Tonight we're going to Costco for a food storage acquisition and cheap pizza date. We might even score some free samples while we're at it. Is it bad to admit that I'm kind of looking forward to Costco more? I mean, I really like the BSO, honestly. It's just that I haven't been to Costco in a really long time, and well, it's Costco!

*Eggnog season: the time of year between Halloween and New Years when eggnog is sold in many stores and readily available.

Seriously!?!?

Hope everyone is making it out to vote today, or has voted early in states that allow it. Jon voted early this morning on his way to work, and I'm headed out soon.

I have had the sick feeling throughout the entire campaign that this year it's not really about the issues (now that I think about it, is it ever?). I'm not crazy about either candidate, but I wish that people would pay attention to who the candidates are and what they stand for more than what they are (ie. white, black, old, charismatic, etc.) Anyway, Jon sent me this sound clip today and I was absolutely astounded. Seriously, you need to listen here for an explanation of why some people are voting for Obama. YIKES!! No matter who you vote for, do it for the right reason!

Well, we shall see the outcome shortly, and the good news is, no matter what happens, if we stand in holy places, we will be protected from the storm. Happy voting!

Fall--My Absolute Favorite Time of Year!

We have been LOVING fall in Maryland. It is totally gorgeous here, and these pictures definitely don't even do it justice, but yesterday to celebrate Halloween we finally made it to a local pumpkin patch. We've been wanting to go all season, but with sickness, tiredness and business, we ended up putting it off until now. I used my theatre makeup skills to once again create a low-key but surprisingly effective "costume" for Jon and I. We were going to a non-costume Halloween party, so we thought this was a good middle ground.
We took some shots at the Pumpkin farm which is in such a beautiful area, not so far away, that I thought aloud that when the time comes to buy, we should start our search there. It was very country and reminded me of my upbringing. Jon thought this was a really cool one of me "walking into the light". Procrastination definitely had its consequences, but we managed to find a couple of decent pumpkins anyway (don't be alarmed--the hanging man behind Jon's head is just a scare crow...looks pretty creepy though).
After the pumpkin patch (where we picked up some fresh cider to boot) we headed to a Halloween party with some of Jon's work friends. We got busy carving our pumpkin. We decided to collaborate and donated the larger lumpier pumpkin to some friends whose pumpkin procrastination was not as fruitful as ours. I was the scraper of the insides and the designer, and Jon was the cutter of the design (engineering makes him good at that--very detail oriented). The results were not so bad if I do say so myself. I like to call this look "HELP! I'm stuck in a pumpkin!"


On another note, Thursday evening we had the pleasure of meeting up with Shane who was in DC for a job interview on Friday (we thought he should have shown up decked out in a Halloween costume). He took the train from DC to a cute town called Odenton, MD, which is on the way to our area from DC. We met him there and drove to locations designated by Maria as potential future abodes for the Oka family. Of course, this is NOT an announcement that they are moving here. It is one of several possibilities, but we had a great time hanging out with Shane and checking out Odenton. After doing our "homework" we headed to a local Italian place for dinner. It was pretty authentic and really yummy, but unfortunately we grossly underestimated the size of a 14" pizza. I managed about 1 slice, leaving Jon and Shane to do most of the dirty work. I'm ashamed to say that we ended up with pizza in our fridge. :)

And just for good measure, I stole this picture from my dad's blog, but I just can't get over how cute my niece Brooklyn is, dressed up as an apple for Halloween! I think she totally has Shane's smile in this pic!