Save that date!

So our save-the-dates were officially sent out on Friday and I'm hearing from a lot of people that they've already received them-- even in Rhode Island! You go USPS :) If you didn't receive one, don't be alarmed, not many people did. Remember, we're keeping it small because we have to. When we first made the guest list with including everyone, it was well over 300...yeah...so, we had to do what we had to do. Unfortunately, in the name of being fair we had to skip inviting a lot of people we'd obviously love to be there. Like all of our cousins :( I never thought I had a big family until recently! haha Apparently having like 25 cousins is a lot...and most of them are married, so make that 50, plus kids, then multiply it all by 2 for Ivan's family. Bottom line, we can't pick & choose so we went with none. Aunts & Uncles got invited, and I'm spreading the word this way-- if aunt & uncle can't come, but their kids (my cousins) would like to come, the invite is theirs! And we had to skip the kids all together too. Everyone's pro-creating fools. So just our nieces & nephews have made the cut, and the wedding party's kids. So anyway, I know who's invited and who's not can be a sticky subject sometimes, but I don't want it to be. Not one person wasn't invited because we didn't want them there, the only reason we had to keep it small is because there are far too many people we love. Sounds kinda jacked up I suppose but it's just true. The good news is that we're hoping to have a cookout/party back home so we can still celebrate with everyone who couldn't make it. I might even be looking forward to that more than then wedding weekend itself since that will be a no-stress situation!

Anyway, if you did get a save-the-date, please go to the website listed there and make your hotel reservation as soon as you know you're coming!! It's a small resort and they could only set aside a certain amount of rooms. Once that amount is full then they will set aside more. I really don't want to see everyone wait til the last minute and then not have a room at our resort. That would be so sad! So if you know for sure you're coming, just make the reservation. They don't need a deposit, just a credit card to hold it on. And that website again is: http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/ChelseySpaulding&IvanNicholson

So if you didn't see it, the picture above is the picture we used, with the caption "We're taking the plunge!" Yes we really jumped in the pool in our clothes. About 2 seconds after this picture we landed in the water fully clothed. Luckily my friend Kametia who was taking the picture landed it on the first try. We were practicing with my mom taking it because we did this when they were here but she was crumbling under the pressure (sorry Mom, but you were) so Kametia stepped in and saved the day :) Oh, and no it's not my wedding dress. I just happened to have a white dress laying around, and Ivan had an old black suit. Worked out nicely. We just wanted to set the tone with something fun & playful to show how we hope the wedding weekend is too.

Now that we're pretty settled into the house the wedding is slowly creeping back into my thoughts. Although I don't know what I need to be doing...? Which I guess is a good thing. I guess we're pretty decent decision makers.

So anyway I guess that's all for now. Life's good. Hope yours is too!

Obama's School address...

I just need to share my two cents about this whole ‘Obama addressing the students’ thing.

What’s the big freakin’ deal? I get it, some people don’t support Obama. Ok, again, what’s the big freakin’ deal? Presidents address the nation all the damn time. So why is this any different than any other time the nation has been addressed? Because he wants to speak to the future of the country specifically? Wow, what a terrible idea. Such a tragedy to have a President want to get our future involved in current events and hearing information. Whoah, better watch out for your kids, they might learn something, or form an opinion. God knows we hate opinions right? We better just shield them from hearing things WE might not like, or better yet, just from a person WE don’t like; Who cares what the information is…which I believe is something like “work hard in school” and things of that nature. Yes, we definitely don’t want them to hear that either. It must be better to keep them at home or taken from the classrooms than be told be the President of the United States of America that education is important…it is better to learn that if you don’t like something you should just stay home from school, because hey, they learned it from their parents right?

Which is what gets me the most. What are we teaching the kids by saying, “Mommy & Daddy don’t like this so we’re staying home from school today!” What a great lesson to teach your kids. Hide from the things you don’t like, education clearly isn’t that important, if you don’t like someone you don’t have to listen to anything they say, respecting/listening to authority figures isn’t important, you need to do what you want in life. Yes all of these things are definitely better for kids than hearing the President talk about the importance of education, and all of these parents actions spell that out loud & clear.

Why not instead use it as an opportunity to have a conversation with your child? Discuss what they liked or didn’t like? Discuss what they think should be different?

I just think it’s a horrible lesson for kids to keep them home from school just because of some 20 minute speech that nobody really knows what will be said. Are people so insane that they really think their kids are going to be brainwashed or something? I don’t think 1 person really believes that. I think most people just enjoy making a big deal out of nothing at all. It makes them feel important. Well as long as you feel important! These are the people raising the FUTURE of this country! Wonder why we have the problems we have; Welcome to “Easy Way Out-ville.”