The Parrillo Family

Every time an election comes around it seems that it is billed as "the most important election in a generation".  But, this one earlier this week, did indeed, feel different.  And important.  Nat and I went to vote after work and - as usual -  took the three kids in with us.  She took the girls and I took the Beef.  And despite the fact that our votes mostly canceled each other out (and she ended up voting for all winners while I voted for mostly losers!), we were there to teach our kids something:  that voting matters.  And is important to be engaged politically.  Nat has done a great job educating the kids about why participation matters and even encouraged them to help her with her march with the #resistance .  We've been doing this since they were born.  Here's the photos of this same crew in the Spring Primary election this year .  And here's Nat and the kids in a more hopeful time right after she voted for a woman ...

One of the experiences that Natalie has been pretty serious about is exposing the kids to the voting process and being involved.  Most recently, she worked with the girls to join #TheResistance .  And we've done it quite a bit in their early lives.  There's a whole bunch of posts here on the blog showing the various times we've taken the kids along with us to vote .   This Spring, we had the primary election to vote in and it was the first one in our new house.  Which meant a new polling place.  After work, we took the kids to the new place and had them engage in democracy with us.   The kids scored stickers, of course.  But, I also brought SD into the booth with me, where she helped fill out my ballot.  I told her how I skip non-contested elections.  And then...(gasp!) had her help me fill in the "no" vote on the tax increase referendum.  Start 'em young, right???  (welp...the referendum passe...

Over the past six-plus years, we've posted numerous times about our family taking part in elections and going to the polling place as a family each chance we get.   Here's the latest one of those posts from this past fall's general election showing Nat and the kids voting and all of us staying up late to tally the (unfortunate) totals .  We've been engaging the kids at each turn in voting since they were very small.   Here's a bunch of the voting posts going all the way back to when Eloise was just a little thing that we carried into the voting booth ! So, it was a natural extension of that engagement in the process for Nat to work with the girls around the Women's March that she and her mother and sister planned to participate in down in the Loop in Chicago.   I'm sure Natalie can provide much more color, but the pictures tell the story.  After talking to our girls about the process  (see the 'what does the President do?' brochure on the ta...

Like most Americans, on Tuesday, we went to the polls.  And like we have done in the past (see here for all of our 'voting as a family posts '), we went as a family.  This time a family of five.  And Nat made sure she brought her two girls. Our polling place gives the kids their own special ballots and the girls worked together to fill it out. And Natalie wanted to try to help make history, so she enlisted Eloise to help her cast her ballot.  This is Ellie's hand darkening in the circle. And both girls helped insert the ballots into the counting machine.  Kinda neat!   You can see Frankie on the far right on this one below.  He was taking it all in!  This was his fourth time at the polls!  Just two, but he's been there four times!   November 2014 , April 2015 , the primaries this year and just yesterday. And then we waited. Ellie got her 'game face' and 'game shirt' on. And we even set up a little war room. ...

A few weeks back, we packed up all three kids and took them with us to cast their ballots in the local elections. This is Topper's 2nd time at the polls, but the girls are old-hands at this voting stuff already. Here's a post from last November when they all helped us vote . I snapped this photo of Nat and Frankie as she cast her ballot.  He was trying to turn around and check out who she was voting for! The election judges hand out dry-erase ballots for kids to fill out and Ellie made her selections on such important matters as who her favorite princess is and what is better....hotdogs or pizza! We've been to the polls quite a bit on this blog.  Check out some of the history below: Here's a picture of the girls from last March where we voted in the Primary . And... here's the girls back in 2012 voting for the President . When we had *just* Ellie, we took her to vote in 2010 . And here's the first time she voted with us when she was just ...

Eloise actually casting a vote! This is the seventh time that Eloise has joined us at the polling place and the 3rd time for Sadie. But....being just two weeks old, this is the first time that Topper joined us! Here's a picture of the girls from this March where we voted in the Primary . And... here's the girls back in 2012 voting for the President .  When we had *just* Ellie, we took her to vote in 2010 .  And here's the first time she voted with us when she was just a few months old . With Ellie getting close to being five years old, she was MUCH more interested in the whole process.  She even joined Nat in her 'booth' to help cast the vote for our friend Tom Cross for Illinois Treasurer. Check out Sadie's sticker.  She was so proud!

This morning, Nat and I took both girls to 'participate in the process' and vote for one of our good friends in his race for Illinois State Treasurer.  (Shhhsh....Nat may have even pulled a ballot for the 'good guys'.  She's not proud of it, but she had to support our friend!) I've posted before with photos of the girls at election day. It seems that the last time they were with us was back in 2012 for the Presidential election in November.   Here's a post with photos of both girls.  That was SD's first time . Here's a photo of Ellie back in 2010 when she voted for the 2nd time. And here's the first time Ellie came to the polling place back in 2010 when she was just a month old . Today, we voted on the way to school (actually...our polling place *was* at Ellie's school, so that was convenient!).

As we've done in the past, Nat and I brought Ellie to the polls this morning to cast our votes.  For the first time, we brought her sister Sadie, too! I'll have you all know that I took both girls into the booth with me so I could show them the correct folks to vote for on the ballot!?!?!  If you look closely at the photo above, you'll see both girls are proudly displaying their "I Voted!" stickers. To see how much Ellie has grown in just two years, here she is at the mid-term elections in November of 2010 .