One Crazy Adventure...

I mean really... REALLY??

2009-07-24T12:15:00.000-04:00

I will preface this by saying that I don't have any illusions that I will win a 'Mother of The Year' award anytime soon...

So, the other day, I am snoozing on the couch as the girls were outside playing on the porch with some other kids (see beginning note). Little E comes in and tells me that Hannah needs a phone wherever she goes and then asks if she can have mine. I immediately say 'No', but then ask if she needs to call someone. Hannah calls her mom, and the mom tells her that if it starts to thunder and lightning, to come home or go inside our house. E tells me this and then asks if it's OK for the kids to come in the house. I shake the groggy-ness off enough to say, 'Wait, what are you asking me? You want them to come inside and play right now?' Yes... exactly.

OK, so I have seen these kids around the neighborhood and know their names and the girls have spent several hours playing with them, but I have never once seen or met their parents. To me, that is kind of one of the prerequisites of entrance to someone's household. I would never let my kids go to anyone's house that I had never met, let alone stay there for several hours. Am I alone here? And the fact that the six year old boy has a note in his pocket that has his name, address and phone number on it... while I will give kudos to the parents for having the foresight to include that nugget... to me, is just wrong.

I mean really... REALLY?? How is it OK that your are in my house?

For more funny, funny stories, visit my friend Patty's blog: I mean really really

Blogidity Blog Blah Blah Blah

2009-05-05T10:27:00.000-04:00

OK, I have been absolutely horrible about blogging. But I don't need to tell you that... if any of you are even here anymore. I will try to get better, but I am not making any promises.

My great friend Amy got me addicted to Facebook so that's where I have been spending a lot of my time. If you want more frequent updates, come join me over there. In the meantime, here's what we've been up to.

We've been really, really, really, really busy.

For those that don't know, E received IA orders to Afghanistan. And for those that don't know, IA stands for 'Individual Augmentation'. Basically, he is a Navy man that will be going Army. He leaves the end of this month for training in Kansas for 3 months and then heads to Afghanistan for 350 days to be an embedded training mentor. Total days gone: 438. Sweet!

We decided to move into military housing in our area. We have lots of friends in the neighborhood, a huge park in our front yard and lots and lots of kids for the girls to play with. We packed up our huge house and moved ourselves down the street. I take that back, we didn't really move ourselves. A fabulous man from E's office coordinated a moving party for us. 17 people from the office showed up at 8 AM and had us unloaded by 11 AM. The amount of support that we were offered was overwhelming. I almost cried. I am so thankful for this life and the wonderful people that we have met along the way.

The kids are doing great and continue to learn, change and provide us with endless laughs and frustration.

Little e participated in her first Daisy Girl Scout cookie sale. I volunteered to be the troops' cookie mom. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought that I would be that, but it was fun and I will do it again next year. Little e has also lost her second tooth, got a new hairdo (pictures coming soon), learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, jumped several levels in reading, has had strep (and given it to us) 4 times and still continues to be our sweet girl.

Our tiny terror KK is still just that. She never sits still for a minute and has started sneaking into our bed at night more and more. She has stopped going to her Tuesday school and then started again. It's a love/hate thing with her. She learned how to swing on her own (hallelujah!), she dresses herself several times a day in fabulous ensembles, rarely eats, no longer wears pull-ups at night and is the best cuddler in the world.

I have signed myself up for the Marine Corps Marathon for this coming October but have only run once since the last one. Oops. I did sell my double jogging stroller and bought a new single, so hopefully KK and I can get some good runs in. In true me form, I started a juice pouch recycling program at little e's school but it shouldn't take up too much of my time. Famous last words, right? Other than that, I am just trying to stay on top of things, maybe make dinner every now and then and maintain a positive attitude.

Big E's last day of work will be this Thursday and then we head down to Disney World with our good friends for some much needed fun time. After, L&L are coming this way for a few days.

Alright, KK just told me that I have been on the computer all day, so I should probably wrap this up. Keep us in your thoughts and I will try to keep up with this so you all know what's going on with us.

Litte E is the Winner!!

2008-12-29T07:37:00.003-05:00

She pulled out her wiggly tooth this morning. She is so excited!! And she won the loose tooth contest that I posted about a while back.

So, what the going rate for a tooth these days?

Random Thought Friday

2008-12-26T19:42:00.003-05:00

So, early today, I was looking up movie times on the internet. It got me thinking about back in the day when you had to call the theaters to listen to the pre-recorded times. Does anyone else remember that? When you would call, you would inevitably get the end of the recording and you had to call back again and hope that you would get it at the beginning. It took several calls to get the times of the movie you wanted to see. Man, I love technology.

We're Suckers

2008-12-13T08:04:00.005-05:00

Meet Yoshi... the girls' early Christmas present.

The KK Khronicles, Part Deux

2008-11-05T13:10:00.005-05:00

Kids says the darnedest things and Super K is no exception. If you missed my first installment, click here .

On politics...

While playing with her doll, a political ad was on TV.

KK: "Here Daddy, Barack Obamaca makes my baby cry."

While scratching her bottom and listening to news coverage on the election...

Daddy: "KK, what are you doing?"

KK: "John McCain makes my butt itch and he makes me tired."

On losing her mermaid doll...

KK: "Where's my stinkin' mermaid doll??"

On potty training...

KK: "What a big girl am I. High 5 Girlfriend!"

Little e also makes us laugh...

While I was getting ready, she came into the bathroom to use the potty. I told her about our plans for her day off which included a trip to Build-A-Bear and going to see High School Musical 3. The news made her "toot".

e: "(laughing) I was so excited, I blew!!"

We Did It!!!

2008-10-29T07:32:00.004-04:00

Big E and I ran the 33rd Marine Corps Marathon in DC on Sunday... and finished! I had no doubt that E would finish, I was more worried about me. I had been battling a nasty cold, complete with uncontrollable coughing when I would breathe out and my knees and heel had been bothering me. E's original thought of running the marathon together lasted until about mile 7 where he decided that running with me hurt... I take absolutely no offense to that since I am way slower than him. Anyway...

Big E finished in 4:12 and I finished in 4:56... woohoo! I beat 5 hours and E beat Oprah!! It's very surreal to have it over with. Months of training seemed to be over in a flash. The girls (especially KK) are glad that we are done training... she hated when we would leave to go run.

So, what's next? Who knows. Definitely not running for a little while. I still hurt. Will there be another marathon in our future?? I can't say.

Lots of Things Come With Training...

2008-10-01T09:31:00.007-04:00

for a marathon. Like, sore knees and legs, lots of sweating, and this:

Last night, this little guy started following me on my run. He ran next to me and in the road and when I reached the main road with a 45 mph speed limit, he was still with me. I was able to grab him to see if he had any identification... nope. So we walked down to the local wine shop to borrow a phone to call E. He and the girls came to pick us up and we searched for his owners to no avail. So, he came home with us. Sophie and the girls loved playing with him.

This morning, we took him to the vet to see if he had a microchip... and thankfully, he did. They called the owner and I spoke with him and offered to drop 'Jack' off. He was very happy to have him back. When the owner opened the door to go back inside, Jack escaped again. He was able to chase him down so Jack is now back home, safe and sound for the time being.

Pierre Von Gobble

2008-09-19T14:42:00.024-04:00

Seriously, that's his name.

When I dropped little e off at school yesterday, the school nurse who got her out of the car (they have curbside service there) asked if we had seen the turkey. It turns out, Pierre is one of the teachers' pets (heehee... teachers pet) and she brought it to school so the kids could see a turkey up close and personal.

KK and I decided to investigate.

I have never seen a turkey that close and he was really friendly. We were able to pet his head and touch his feathers. The head of a turkey is strangely soft and fuzzy and squishy.

KK was intrigued by his wiggle belly button... uhm, nose thing.

After school, we stopped by to see Pierre one last time and get a picture of little e with her newest friend.

Don't you wish your kids' school had a pet turkey too?

Wanna Bet??

2008-09-06T18:54:00.006-04:00

We have two loose and wiggly teeth in our household.

One of little e's baby teeth is loose. She is so excited. When we went to the dentist in April, the dentist told her that she was going to lose a tooth soon. She took that literally and has been telling everyone since then that she is going to lose a tooth. When one actually started wiggling, she was beside herself. The loose one is on the bottom, left of center.

If you remember, KK did battle with the cement last year and chipped one of her front teeth. When I took her to the dentist in April when it started to discolor, they took x-rays and said that she would probably lose it by the summer since the roots were dying.

So, the question is, who is going to lose the first tooth? We're taking bets... which girl will be the first to lose a tooth and when??

I pray that it is little e, because man, how can a little sister beat you to that accomplishment??

Adventures in Potty Training Part 4 & The KK Khronicles

2008-09-03T14:19:00.003-04:00

Ahhh, potty training. One of my most hated parts about child rearing. We have decided to take a rather lax approach with KK since it was so frustrating with little e. The second time around has been interesting and definitely much more enjoyable. If you need to catch up, read all the other potty training posts here .

So, head strong KK has moved into big girl panties but is very opinionated about which panties she will be wearing. She does have accidents every now and then, but I have not bought diapers or pull-ups since the end of July. Yippee!!

We have also had some very interesting conversations with her while potty training. Hence, The KK Khronicles.

Before heading out to Tae Kwon Do...
me: 'Do you need to go potty?'

KK: 'NO THANK YOU!!!' (at least she has manners)

Me: 'You need to go potty before we leave'

KK: 'Sure, whatever'

After an accident...
KK: 'I absolutely peed in my panties... my lemonade made me do it'

Picking out princess pull-ups...
KK: 'I found Jasmine!! Those, I want those!'

me: 'You like Princess Jasmine?'

KK: 'Yeah... I wish we could go at A Taste of Monterey and see Jasmine... I miss her.'

me: 'Me too'

KK: 'Did she used to be your friend?'

me: 'She still is my friend'

KK: 'Is she my friend too?'

me: 'yes'

(Side note: to all my ATOM friends... miss you all and hope all is well.)

Have a great Wednesday!

Sweet Serenity Tuesday

2008-08-27T12:59:00.004-04:00

Yes, I know it's Wednesday and I should probably be cleaning, or doing laundry, or figuring out something for dinner, or... well, you get the picture. But I thought I would take this rare moment of quiet to let you know about my great day yesterday.

It started out a little hectic since Big E and I both ran 3 miles in the morning... he went first and then I went with the dog (ugh!). Sophie is not the fastest or most focused runner, but she hangs in there so she can take a dip in the bay half way through.

Anyway, Big E and little e are now carpool buddies since her bus stop is on the base and he drops her off on his way to work... great daddy and daughter bonding time. After sending them on their way, I hopped into the shower and got myself and KK ready and dropped her off at her school. Well, it's not really school. More of a kids day out/mommys morning out program that she goes to once a week from 9-3:30 (hallelujah). I know it sounds awful, but to be kid free for 6 hours is just what the doctor ordered.

I had a little time to spare before I had to be at little e's school to volunteer in her classroom. (I know, a free day... and how do I spend it?). I figured it was the least I could do and she was really excited for me to be there. I was in charge of the art station where the kids made their faces on paper plates and added yarn hair. I have to say, there are quite a few abstract artists in the class. After stations were over, I joined e for lunch in the cafeteria. It was quite a different atmosphere than at her previous school (S, you can vouch for that). Smaller school/classes make for way less chaos.

So stomach grumbling, I said my goodbyes and stopped to get lunch at my favorite fast food addiction joint, McDonalds. At least I was by myself... Big E will be happy with that. He HATES fast food and the fact that the girls even know what McDonalds is. I have vices, what can I say?

Then, it was off to get my watch battery replaced, roam through JoAnn Fabrics for a while, a trip to BJ's to get some bulk Crystal Light, then to Old Navy for some returns and browsing, more browsing at Ross and then back home. Whilst at home, I organized the girls closet and hung up hooks in the toy room for their dress up outfits. Then I headed to the commissary for one more stop of sans free kid shopping. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes and got everything I needed... and nothing that I didn't. After, I picked up KK at school and went to get e at the bus stop.

When we got home, I brought the girls upstairs to see the new enhancements made to the toy room. They stayed up there playing for a good hour and a half... no screaming or fighting or tattle tale-ing. I was able to unload all of the groceries and organize them, thaw something for dinner and cut up loads of vegetables for dinner and snacking.

After dinner, we headed to a local ice cream place to celebrate little e's first full week of school. e decided she wanted a quart or pint of double chocolate chunk ice cream, but we got her a small bowl instead. KK got an ice cream cone bigger than her but enjoyed it.

We ended the night with a bubble tub (my turn), where no one got yelled at, stories, and both of the girls willingly going to bed with neither of them exiting the room once.

So, there you have it. It may not sound like much, but it was a great button reset day. I feel like a whole different person. I was much more patient with them yesterday and today and am definitely looking forward to next week. It may make me look like a bad mom to be so thrilled with a day away from my kids... But, there really is something to be said for being able to stop several places and not have to buckle and unbuckle kids, hold their hands so they don't get run over in a parking lot, scoping out the nearest bathroom for the accident prone one who's potty training, not constantly saying 'hands off, don't touch' and worry about lunch and nap time, yadda yadda yadda.

Here's to days of feeling non-mom like and not feeling guilty for it!! Hope you all are able to enjoy those few and far between zen-like moments.

Kindergarten, Part 2

2008-08-20T16:47:00.033-04:00

Today was little e's first day of Kindergarten... again. If you remember, she started Kindergarten when we were in California since she met the age cut-off there. We debated and went back and forth over the decision to re-start her and after today, we are so at ease with our decision.

Although there is an elementary school, literally in our backyard, we put little e's name into the lottery for the new charter school in the area and were lucky enough to get a spot. The waiting list for the school is huge. They follow all of the state education guidelines, but are free to create their own curriculum. The focus is on community, development of self, creativity through arts and music... they even do organic gardening.

And the best part... uniforms!!!

...although one is able to express their self through their Hanna Montana bookbag.

She wore her necklace that her CA boyfriend gave her for good luck.

Little sisters are so much fun!

Dad took time out of his busy day to join us for a treasure hunt through the school to get us all acquainted with the layout.

At the end of the treasure hunt, one of the teachers read the kids the book, "The Kissing Hand", which is a great story about a raccoon that is scared to go to school.

And last, but not least, there is a new "K" in our life... here on out referred to as BFFK. Not more than 5 minutes of being in the classroom, little e and BFFK were holding hands. I think they had met previously at one of my friends houses. Her teacher told me that they were inseparable today which is great since they will be riding the bus together next week. What a perfect way to alleviate her bus fears.

When I picked little e up, she was all smiles and said that she loved her new school. Nothing better than that...

What We Need

2008-08-14T16:29:00.004-04:00

My friend Amy did this on her blog and thought it was fun, so decided to do it for us.

How it works: type your name and 'needs' after it in a google search, and list the top 10 results.

1. K needs more people for her to relate to and so she can finally have a friend (yeah, probably).
2. K needs coffee (don't drink it, so I should maybe take the suggestion).
3. K needs to get her head out of her elbow (huh??).
4. K needs you.
5. K needs to cut her hair (Sukanda here I come).
6. K needs to learn that everyone is replaceable.
7. K needs to do something about her top front angly-weird teeth (um, I think my Mayo Clinic orthodontic work is just fine).
8. K needs to move to New York (OK, see ya MD).
9. K needs attention.
10. K needs to quit one of her jobs (No problem... one family on the auction block, takers??).

1. E needs to complete the game.
2. E needs Christine in his life (ummm.... who's Christine?).
3. E needs to come home (he's spending way too much time with this Christine girl).
4. E needs to speedily retract and denounce his earlier comments on the subject.
5. E needs to work (definitely).
6. E needs cable (true... DirecTV is on his last nerve).
7. E needs his woman (that's right... take that Christine!).
8. E needs a girl (nope... #7 answered that).
9. E needs some buddies.
10. E needs to wear hearing aides in both ears (I've always said that he's deaf).

1. e needs a loving new home (this one is horrible).
2. e needs sunglasses NOW!
3. e needs squares (what??).
4. e needs a drink (no... that would be what I need).
5. e needs to break her spell.
6. e needs to paint, paint, paint (perfect for our artistic girl).
7. e needs cancer treatment (thankfully, no).
8. e needs it most (needs what the most?).
9. e needs chun (yeah, I have no idea).
10. e needs a vacation (again, that would be me).

1. KK needs a special venue for musical, theater performances (I would pay money for that).
2. KK needs to face reality.
3. KK needs to stay (put, in one place without running everywhere like a crazy child).
4. KK needs more attention (like you can ignore her).
5. KK needs no one.
6. KK needs more residential high-rises (I'll take a cut of her profits).
7. KK needs to post the trailer on www.mmorpg.com .
8. KK needs one incorporator (I would like to see what kind of business deal she's up to).
9. KK needs curly hair.
10. KK needs no further mention (perfect).

Happy 1 Year Anniversary...

2008-08-12T18:45:00.002-04:00

to my blog!! I am a little late and had to look back at the archives to see when I actually started this whole thing. August 1, 2007.

My, time has flown by since I have been blogging, and more recently, not blogging. Hopefully when school starts, things will settle down a little bit and I will be able to devote more time to blogging. I truly enjoy catching everyone up with what we are up to and I appreciate that all of you stop by to read.

So, new years blog resolution... blog more. There you have it.

Thanks for reading!! K

Ketchup, Part 2

2008-08-07T08:37:00.004-04:00

I figured I would take this rare opportunity while KK is still sleeping (day 2 in a row that she has slept past 6:30) to post something quick.

Marine Corps Marathon here we come!!

E had already decided a while ago that he was going to run the marathon. Then, while over at a friends house, I met a girl that lives a few houses down from us... she was looking for a running partner and we figured out that our pace was pretty close. And then, she asked if I wanted to run the marathon with her and my few glasses of wine spoke up and said, 'I'd love to!!' I'm not sure why or how I thought it would be a good idea to run a marathon since I had never run more than 3 miles in my life but I am going to attempt to.

We are currently in week 7 of our 18 week training program. The marathon is Sunday, October 26th at some horribly early time... so if any friends or family want to come out and watch the kids, let us know!!

We'll keep you posted as it gets closer and give you our bib numbers so you can keep track of us online.

Wish us luck!

Catastro-Wii

2008-07-26T15:29:00.000-04:00

Always, always, ALWAYS wear the wrist strap....

Now accepting donations for the 'replace our plasma' fund.

Ketchup, Part 1

2008-07-23T14:54:00.017-04:00

When I was in school we used to have "catch-up" days and I always thought it was so funny to have "ketchup" days... and apparently, I still do. Silly.

Anyway, since I have been so lax about blogging for a while, we are going to need to go way back to May. That is when little e tested for her yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Here she is focusing and getting ready to recite the 10 rules of Tae Kwon Do... such concentration.
Warming up with punches.
Master Shim...
who is apparently rolling in the dough judging by the sheer numbers of people that come through the doors of the academy... and the brand new studio that is nicer than many houses I have seen. (Check out the look on the little boy's face who is next to him... priceless).

Little e tested on a Saturday, but had to wait until Monday to see if she had passed.

Drum roll please...

Was there any doubt?

I love how proud she is when she reaches a new level.
And of course, the congratulatory hand shakes from the black belts.
Congratulations big girl!!

We're Alive!!

2008-07-22T21:34:00.003-04:00

Yes, we are still alive and kicking and I have a lot of catching up to do.

I have been all out of sorts for the past couple of months and finally feel like I have things under control. It's amazing how changes in routine can really throw you off. Summer break has been crazy and I don't know what I am doing half the time. Add in a 3000+ square foot home and two extremely active and social children... well then you really have no time to do anything but clean and entertain.

I plan to post lots about our goings-on over the past 2 months and our fun filled MN vacation but tonight, I am too tired to do anything more than this pathetic post. Today I watched a friends girls, ages 3 & 6, and had all 4 kids in the pool at the same time. What the heck is wrong with me?

Talk with you soon!

Things That Get Yer Goat

2008-06-26T22:23:00.003-04:00

OK, we've been busy... very busy. I was actually scolded by my mother the other day for not posting. Sorry Mom. We are heading to MN for our annual vacation tomorrow and I promise that I will catch up then.

In the meantime...

We live a stones throw away from an elementary school and while sitting out on our deck at night, we often hear people throwing their trash in the schools dumpsters. Really... seriously?? You only have to drive a mile to get to the public trash dumping facility. How much is it costing the tax payers for you to dump your trash in a public schools dumpster? Come on now people...

Yes, random, but that's what got us tonight.

Wish us safe travels and wi-fi at the hotel so I can update ya'll on everything that we've been up to.

Conversations with Kids

2008-06-05T16:02:00.003-04:00

I have to admit, one of my favorite things about being a parent is getting to see the world through our kids eyes. Sometimes I have no idea where they come up with some of the stuff they say.

This morning while getting the kids ready, the conversation went like this:

Me: 'KK, come here, be a good listener and let's get you dressed.'...she actually listened for once and came over to me.

KK: 'I'm so proud of you Mommy.'

Me: (confused look)

e: 'Congratulations on being a grown-up!'

Me: (still confused look) 'Huh??'

e: 'Well, you've been alive for a really long time. I mean, they didn't even have cars when you were born.'

Me: (laughing) 'I'm not that old.'

e: 'Oh yeah, Grandma & Grandpa are pretty old... they definitely didn't have cars back then.'

After thinking a little more...

e: 'Were Grandma & Grandpa in the war?'

Me: 'What war?'

e: 'You know the one that happened a million years ago?'

---------------------------------------

On the way home today, e noticed that a lot of people were mowing our neighbors lawn.

e: 'How come a lot of people have people mowing their yards?'

Me: 'Well, some people have a lawn service to do it for them.'

e: 'How come we don't have one? Oh! We do... it's Daddy!'

----------------------------------------

We had a storm here last night with lots of wind, rain and according to KK...

'Lighbening and Blunder'. 'Can you save me from the blunder Mommy?'

----------------------------------------

Now, if I ever get any of this on video, that would be so much better. On the old note, is it still even called video anymore??

Ticki Ticki Tembo-...

2008-05-30T20:35:00.014-04:00

...no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo. An interesting book, Tikki Tikki Tembo, retold by Arlene Mosel... try reading that to your kids after a glass of wine.

Where was I? Oh yeah, ticks.

Starting in late April, early May, Southern Maryland is riddled with ticks... and living on an acre and a half, a majority of which is woodsy, does not help.

The current tick count is: little e - 2, with 1 tick head embedded in her head; super K - 2; big K - 2, plus 2 more found crawling on me; and leading with a big goose egg - super big E. Way to go Superman!

Whilst enjoying ice cream with the girls tonight, I mistakenly thought KK got a glob of chocolate on her head... which is by no means unusual. Instead, I found this...
Yuck, ewww... definitely something to make your skin crawl.

With the help of my trusty assistant...

...I employed this technique:

'To Remove the entire TICK safely..........

Tick Removal Please forward to anyone with children .... or hunters, etc!! thanks! A School Nurse has written the info below -- good enough to share -- And it really works!! I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it's sometimes difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc. Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and let it stay on the repulsive insect for a few seconds (15-20), after which the tick will come out on it's own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, "It worked!"'

...provided to me by my good friend Amy's mom, Doris, when she originally heard about e's tick head-head problem.

I did not work quite as promised, but did stun the nasty bugger enough for me to get it completely out.

As for me, one of the two little f*%@ers that bit me a month ago, must have had it out for me. For the past week I have been extremely tired and have had horrible knee pain. So, I loaded up the crew, including one 2 year old, sans nap, and headed to Naval Medical. After speaking with the doctor and providing three viles of my precious blood, I received a 21 day course of antibiotics to treat Lyme Disease. My results will not come back for a week, but hey... definitely better safe than sorry, right?

Darn, military housing or model home are sounding really good right now!

Reasons Why Not...

2008-05-20T20:26:00.008-04:00

...to leave a 2 year old unattended for a minute.

Example 1:
Mom's bright idea to give her a plate of crackers and easy cheese for dipping.

Example 2:
Dad's bright idea to set up a paint station in the garage.

Incredible Hulk Jr.

Punk rock highlights.

These two events happened a day apart from each other.

Will we ever learn?

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T13:31:00.002-04:00

To my Mom... thank you for being you and helping me to become who I am. I love you!

Random Thought Friday, Part 2

2008-05-09T19:17:00.002-04:00

I swear I will get back to regular blogging soon as we have something brewing as usual, but in the meantime...

Some things are better left to the professionals.

Random Thought Friday

2008-05-02T10:18:00.004-04:00

So, this is the first time that we have had an actual mailbox since we moved from CT in 2001. Apartment mail, post office box in Guam and community mailboxes in CA. Anyway...

I do a lot of looking and thinking when I walk the dog and I started focusing on everybody's mailboxes. Hey, I didn't say I was doing great or profound thinking.

What I found was that every single mailbox has this on it...

What happens if you have one that isn't approved by the Postmaster General? Will they deliver your mail? Is anyone crazy or daring enough to find out? Do ya think?? I wonder...

Cater-pod-UGH-illar!!

2008-04-29T20:27:00.006-04:00

These creepy things are hanging out all over the place. Little e tells me that the caterpillars that are inside will turn into ugly brown moths.

I'm going to take her word for it and hope that they disappear sometime soon.

Who Isn't...

2008-04-20T10:26:00.003-04:00

grilling cinnamon rolls this morning??

Just one more thing that has E grumbling, 'Where is my model home?'

Stay tuned for more old house fun.

Board Breaking and White Striping

2008-04-14T14:54:00.000-04:00

Little e has moved on to board breaking in the world of Tae Kwon Do.

Here she is holding her board prior to class. Hard to believe that this sweet little thing could have enough power to break a board with her hand.

She actually broke one while waiting for class to start, so my initial fears were put to rest.

Ready, set, ACTION!

That was called, 'Palm heal strike'.

Since that picture was taken, she has broken several more boards using her feet and elbows. I am not looking forward to the day that she does it with her head... ugh!

She also earned a new belt a few weeks back... it's called 'white stripe'...

...why, I am not sure, since it clearly has a yellow stripe on it. But who am I to question years of tradition?

After each achievement, we can clearly see a sense of pride of accomplishment in her.

I cannot get over how old she looks here. Time is definitely flying by.

Congratulations!!

SUKANDA!!

2008-04-05T17:23:00.004-04:00

Moving is hard. It stinks. Having to start over every 3 years, give or take, really can take it's toll on you.

And the worst part about it?? Consoling your kids because they miss their friends, adjusting to the new neighborhood/house, finding activities and schools for the kids, unpacking, dealing with move damage... the list can go on and on.

Nope, not one of those things makes me fear moving.

Finding a hairdresser... now that frightens me. Especially when you live in the land of the mullet... women included. There is no discrimination here. After looking at everyone's hair for the past 3+ months, I was very distraught. I had not seen one person that I wanted to find out where they got their hair cut. Then, while on a field trip with e's school... it happened. I finally found someone who had cute hair. I immediately and shamelessly marched right up to her and asked her who cut her hair. Thankfully, being a military wife has helped me to abandon all reservations and not feel strange at all going up to complete strangers and asking them anything.

Enter, Sukanda (cue harps and choir signing 'Ahhhh').

She is a cute little lady from Thailand that does a wonderful job cutting hair. After seeing her work, I was confident enough to let her not only cut 4+ inches off my hair, but she also thinned it for me.

Whew, one more thing checked off my list. MD is getting closer and closer to home every day.

Look What I Made!

2008-04-03T21:51:00.001-04:00

Jacinda over at Creative Legs has been taunting me with her insane amount of creativity and talent which prompted me to dust off my crochet hook. OK, I actually had to go buy one, but lets not split hairs, shall we?

My Grandma taught me how to crochet when I was a kid and I basically got really really good at doing one long chain and I think maybe I could go back and forth a little, but I don't believe I ever really made anything.

Little e saw a poncho that the neighbor lady had made and has wanted one ever since, so when I went to this website and found a free pattern that said, 'easy', I was hooked... no pun intended. Because if it says 'easy', it must be, right??

Well, if you have never crocheted or looked at a pattern, you've got a surprise coming... because they are written in hieroglyphics. Here the first line of my 'easy' pattern...

'Ch 3, make 2 more dc in same space, [skip next ch, 3 dc in next ch] 17 times, skip next ch; join with slip st in top of beg ch - 18 Blocks.'

What the ???

I promptly emailed Jacinda and then later picked up the phone to ask her what any of that meant. She got me started by trying as hard as she could to dumb down the lingo for me. I started crocheting and making up whatever stitch I thought would work, because I was making a poncho after all... no one would ever know if there was something wrong with it. That's the beauty of things that you just throw over your head... no accuracy required. I am making scarves next!!

And I got this done just in time for summer. Thankfully, I made it plenty big enough that it will fit for years to come. Princess M, one is on its way for you too... perfect for those chilly days in CA.

Spring in the East

2008-04-01T11:37:00.020-04:00

Ahhh, Spring has officially arrived on the east coast. The cherry blossoms are everywhere and are beautiful!!

Last weekend, we headed up to Washington D.C. to play tourist. We parked our car at the closest Metro station and jumped on the train... 'Bullet train, bullet train, yeah' (parents of young children: name it)... and headed to The Mall.

We did all of the touristy things... we went to the monuments, The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (one museum was one too many with the girls), had street vendor hot dogs for lunch and looked at the thousands of beautiful blossoms.

We also enjoyed the many, many kites that were flying.

Turns out that last Saturday was the first day of the Cherry Blossom Festival, complete with a kite flying competition. Had we have known, we would have never gone... the amount of people on The Mall was insane. We are so glad that we went though. One more adventure under our belts.

These cool pictures were edited with Photoshop, which is one of my new favorite things. I can't wait to see what more I can do with it... stay tuned!

Don't Stop Believing!

2008-03-21T22:15:00.001-04:00

Wow, seriously. Why did the 80's have to die? Check out the pants and the guitar player. That's hot!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-03-16T14:20:00.016-04:00

No, I haven't completely lost my mind. I DO know it's St. Patrick's Day, but I'm not Irish, and I have really no idea why there is a St. Patrick's Day. I mean, I know it has something to do with St. Patrick, but this holiday has never really spoken to me... well, maybe it did in college with the green beer and all.

OK, I just read up on the history of St. Patrick's Day here, so now I'm not a complete ninny. Does anyone even use that word anymore? I'm not sure if I ever have save for just right now.

Anyway....

I never got around to posting our Valentine's Day fun, so I figured that I would go ahead and take the opportunity to do so today.

We started our morning with pink heart shaped pancakes.

My heart cookie cutter that my mom gave to me has gotten sooo much use over the years... it's great for sandwiches too.

MD had a dusting of snow, so school was canceled. e was pretty upset because she was going to miss her Valentine's Day party, but her mood quickly changed when she realized that she could do this with the neighbors...

KK had a great time too and

even made a new friend.

Friday's weather was back to normal and e was able to have her school party. They made these really cute boxes to collect their valentines in.

Every time I glanced towards the box, I wanted to yell, 'Get off the counter!'

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day and have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Mystery Solved!

2008-03-14T13:48:00.002-04:00

After several emails back and forth between Sophie's previous owner and me, the strange mystery has been solved. I figured that I would share because if any of you are like me, you need to know.

Apparently, his marriage of 13 years just recently ended. The house where he is living, is owned by one of his good friends, and he is renting the basement. Once his affairs are in order, he is heading back to England.

Ahhh... now it all makes sense and I guess they're right about what they say when you assume things.

And on a side note, I took Sophie to the vet today just to put to rest our post-Isis jitters. Dr. Adam said that she looked great but is in need of LOTS of exercise, but we already knew that.

Have a great weekend!

Fate?

2008-03-11T14:13:00.013-04:00

I'm not really sure what to call it... so I am going with fate.

The day after we had to put Isis down, I was speaking with a parent at e's school... which I guess I never told you how we solved our dilemma. OK, quick sidetrack...

We found a part-day private Kindergarten for e. It's at one of the church's here and is from 9-12 everyday. It's perfect. She gets to go for the morning, learn something and hang out with friends and then in the afternoon, her and I get to hang out while KK sleeps. In the fall, we are going to re-start her in Kindergarten, either at the school in our backyard, or the charter school. Not sure about that one yet, but we have plenty of time to decide.

Alright, back to fate...

I was speaking with a parent at e's school and told her that we had to put Isis down. The next day, she told me that she had heard from a friend of a friend, that a man was moving to England and had a 2 year old lab that he was looking for a family for and wanted to tell me about it first because of our situation.

I mentioned it to E, but neither of us thought much of it at the time. Then we started talking more, and you all know what happens when we start talking and thinking...

So, we decided to email the guy and just get a feel for him and the dog. We emailed back and forth and he told us that she was a really sweet dog, was house and invisible fence trained. He told us that he works 10-12 hours a day and it's not fair to her to be left alone. He also might be moving back to England where there is a 6 month pet quarantine. And he sent us this picture...
Obviously, a puppy picture, but look at that face.

After more emails and questions, we were informed that it would be an adoption, not a sale, and she would come with everything. Oh yeah, she's spayed too. Now, with our history of all things strange, we didn't think twice. 'Cuz why start now??

We arranged to drive 2 hours north of us to meet them. They were outside waiting for us. We talked outside for awhile and then proceeded inside... first to the garage where all of her supplies were waiting (toys, food, bowls, etc.) and he told us that he didn't remember the name of the food because his girlfriend buys it. We then went inside, he put the dog downstairs and we went into the family room where we were introduced to two girls, older than ours, and told one was upstairs. His girlfriend also poked her head down at one point to say, 'Hi.'

Hmmm, OK, so I was sort of under the impression that this guy was single. But while sitting on the couch in a really awkward conversation, I looked around at the pictures where there was one with him and his girlfriend and the three girls. Back to this in a minute.

So, we decided that she was the one and we were going to become dog owners once again, much sooner than expected.

Meet Sophie
a 2 year old, REALLY black lab, in need of a couple of work-outs but has the cutest face ever.

When loading her into the car, the guy was tearing up because it is SO extremely hard to let a pet go. But no one else came out of the house, no one else said good-bye. This is one part of the whole thing that I cannot wrap my brain around and I don't think I ever will, no matter how much I obsess about it. I mean, is the dog always alone at home? What about the kids and the girlfriend? Did they recently become involved? I will never know.

Anyway... she LOVES to play tug of war, and her and e have become fast friends. Sophie will drag e all around the house with e laughing the whole time.

She does have some bad habits, not her fault, so we will be doing some re-training over the next... well however long it takes to undo and redo. It should be a fun challenge.

And she also came with this on her collar. Fate or something else??

Seasonal Affective Disorder

2008-03-10T19:03:00.002-04:00

Who feels happier today with a little extra light after dinner time?

We do!

Thank You!

2008-03-08T16:49:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to thank all of you for you thoughts and prayers for our sweet Isis. It was greatly appreciated.

Everyone is doing much better and the girls speak to her daily by looking up at the sky. How innocent they are... I wish we all could recapture that.

Stay tuned... we have something up our sleeves...

We're crazy, we like adventure...

it's one crazy adventure we're on.

I'm a dork and E is hanging his head in shame...

The Life & Times of Isis

2008-03-04T13:37:00.013-05:00

It is with a heavy heart that I write this entry. After a long month of trying to figure out what was going on with Isis, we ended up having to put her down this afternoon.

After our wonderful day at the beach, she just wasn't the same. We thought that all the activity wiped her out, but when she didn't eat and moved very little the next day... we realized something was wrong. Our Vets were on vacation, so I took her to a different animal hospital and was told that she may have hip dysplasia and we were sent on our way with anti-inflammatories and a $290 estimate for sedation x-rays.

We didn't agree with the diagnosis and made an appointment a couple of days later with the fill-in vet. Both she and the vet tech agreed that she was showing signs of a tick-borne illness (E had pulled a tick off her that previous Sunday) and we were given pain medication and antibiotics. After 3 days with no sign of improvement, we saw our regular vet, who also agreed with the tick-borne illness diagnosis and he decided to increase the antibiotic dose to see what happened. Again, no noticeable improvement was seen. It was like a light switch was turned off and our puppy turned into a old dog... she no longer wanted to play or run.

Another call to the vet was made and we decided to do x-rays to see if there was something that had been missed. The diagnosis that came back was Panosteitis... which is inflammation of the long bones. Basically, growing pains for a dog. We switched pain medication and were told that we should see improvement in the next couple of weeks. The following week, she seemed to be doing better... she was learning to shake paws and was constantly wanting to shake. She even picked up a few toys to play with.

Then the past 3 days, she was steadily getting worse. She started whining and yelping when she would get up. The night before last, she was clearly in pain as her yelping increased during the night. Yesterday, I called the vet and got more pain medication since she spent the whole day being extremely uncomfortable. When I spent last night physically carrying her up and down the deck stairs, I decided to take her in today.

Needless to say, the news wasn't good. The thought is that there was neurological damage and we could have gotten a MRI or taken her to a specialist for a second opinion. The specialist is located in VA and I could not stand the thought of driving her a long way when the 10 minute drive to our vet had her in terrible pain.

I called E and we discussed it and decided that we needed to end her pain... which was a horrible decision to have to make. But I believe that we did indeed make the right one. The past few days have been so hard to watch her cry out and not be able to do anything for her.

She was loved by this family and will be sorely missed.

Cuddled up on the couch with her blanket to be more comfortable.

One of the last shots taken.

Maryland has not been good to us on the pet front. It is so hard to have to explain death to the kids. Our ever sweet and emotional e wanted to say this prayer...

'Jesus, please help my dog. Feed her, let her sleep and drink. Please take care of her and train her too. Amen.'

What Do YOU Do When You're Alone?

2008-03-03T20:38:00.003-05:00

E left us for 3 days for a fun-filled work retreat, complete with briefs and brainstorming sessions. I'm sure there isn't anywhere else he would rather be. Of course, to me, that sounds like a fabulous way to spend 3 days... especially the lone hotel nights.

Anyway, when the kids are finally down for the night and I have the house all to myself... what is it that I do? Watch a movie, take a bath, curl up with a good book, surf the internet?? Not even close. I clean. Sick, twisted, insane... believe me, I know, but there really is something so calming about order to me.

I think I first realized this problem of mine when I was in college. When I had a big test to study for or a important paper to write, I would first clean my dorm room and later my apartment. That way, I would have a fresh slate and a clutter free mind... no distractions to speak of. And yes, I do realize that this is also a form of procrastination. My motto used to be, 'The last minute is just as good as any other minute.'

Every since having kids, it has gotten worse. Whenever I get angry or frustrated, I start picking up the house or cleaning the kitchen counters. I guess it's my way of taking control of such a control-less environment. For the most part, our kids are great. Don't get me wrong, I love them both, but kids are not 100% controllable. I guess no one is 100% controllable, but you do get a higher percentage when dealing with contemporaries in a management situation. So, I guess I grab hold of the one thing that I can 100% control and that is the cleanliness and organization of my home. Because this is my sanctuary and it should make me feel good, right?

So, yes, I am in need of a good psychologist, but in the meantime... I am off to clean another room and maybe organize a closet.

But I want to know...

what do you do when you are alone?

Adventures in Potty Training Part 3

2008-03-01T11:28:00.014-05:00

As most of you know, this has been an unusual progression in potty training for KK. If not, catch up with the first installment or the second installment of Adventures in Potty Training.

She continues to surprise us. Her latest thing is pooping on the potty, but not pee. She will tell us that she needs to go and will sit there until she is finished with her business. Backwards, I know.

I put her on the potty the other day and when I came back to check on her, here is how I found her. It made me laugh to see just how interested she was in the dog supply magazine.

And speaking of potty training... the dog is pretty much house trained. Woohoo! But, now that we send her out on her own, we have to go on periodic poop hunts. Turns out that her favorite spot to go is in the leaves... not the easiest place to spot poop. Can you find it? It's like 'Where's Waldo?'

Congrats to kmm for finding the poop. You should be proud!! Something fabulous is coming your way sometime soon! (How's that for specifics??)

By the way, I am sure that my neighbor thinks that I am insane... it's not every day that you see some one walking around with a pooper scooper and a camera. And yes, I already know that you think that I am insane.

First person to find it gets a prize! What's the prize you ask? It's a surprise. Hopefully, it's not a steaming bag of dog poop. Come on, who wants to play?

Go Rockets!!

2008-02-27T14:57:00.005-05:00

I just received an email from a former HS classmate telling me that they have started a website in order to plan our 20 year reunion. Holy Crap!! 20 years?!? I figure this June will be 16 years since I graduated from high school.

Reality check... you are OLD!!

I've Been Tagged...

2008-02-21T08:37:00.006-05:00

**Random fact #1 updated Saturday February 23**

Blunoz tagged me with a meme.

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

I can do this... wait, I already did this, but it was early in my blogging and no one really asked me to play. So, I am going to re-post what I wrote so that you all can share in my craziness that a lot of you may have missed. I was actually thinking about this post the other day as one of my favorites, so I'm glad I got tagged. You can click here to see the original post and comments, or just scroll down and enjoy.

Here goes...

1. I have an irrational hate of conversion vans. Not that there are many around anymore, but still, I have nothing but hate for them. It could be that I dated a guy for 3 1/2 years that drove a big brown one. Or it could be the accident that I was in, in a conversion van, when I was a child, where we drove into a ditch full of water that proceeded to fill up the van. I just can't pinpoint it. Probably a topic for a therapist down the road.
**Apparently, we have moved to the land of the conversion van. On the way to run errands yesterday, I counted 7 conversion vans in the course of one hour. Some one help me please!!**

2. I alphabetize. If it can be alphabetized, I do it. Movies, file folders, spices. I distinctly remember a progress report from the 5th grade where my teacher said that I was great at alphabetizing. See, what you learn in school DOES translate into the real world. It really it a useful skill.

3. I hate wash cloths. Despite my mother-in-law's quest to convince me that the wash cloths that she uses and searches far and wide for are, 'The best wash cloths ever', I can't have anything to do with them. Not for dishes, countertops, or personal hygiene. I cannot stand the foul order that will emit from a wash cloth that has been used for over a day. I think I single handedly wiped out a forest with my use of paper towels. That's the way to do it. Lysol or 409 cleaner and paper towels, that's the only way to get your counter clean.

4. It takes me almost as long to unload my groceries as it does for me to go grocery shopping. I not only put my groceries away, I organize them as well. Not at all shocking to those that know me. I take every individually wrapped snack item out to put into the 'snack basket'. The film over the juice boxes is removed and they are lined up according to flavor. I cannot stand to have trash in my cupboard. Old fruits and vegetables are removed so that the newer ones are placed in the bottom of the drawer. The good ol' FIFO method. Yet another lesson learned that can be applied to the real world.

5. I am addicted to reality TV. There is not a reality show that I haven't liked. OK, there are a couple that I don't watch, but for the most part, I love them. In fact, my friend Jenn and I auditioned for 'The Amazing Race'. I have no idea why they didn't pick us. We would have made great TV... we had only known each other for a couple of months.

6. I rarely go more than one day without talking to my sister. Sometimes I talk to her 5 or more times in a day. E is an only child, and not a woman, so cannot begin to understand why we talk so much. 'What do you guys talk about?' is always his question and my answer is always, 'I don't know, stuff'. That usually explains it.

7. I ALWAYS have a scrunchie on my wrist, unless my hair is already pulled back by one. You just never know when you are going to need to put it up. The ladies that worked for me at Target used to call it my 'work hair'.

I don't have 7 people to tag, but I will tag:

Felicia at Bread, W(h)ine & Cheez
Jacinda at Creative Legs

and anybody else who would like to play along.

Manamana!

2008-02-19T10:22:00.004-05:00

KK and I were waxing nostalgic this morning of our times with our great friends, The "A" Team, that we left back in California.

We have watched this video over and over and over and... It's sure to put a smile on your face.

Have a great day!

Hiiiiyahhhh!!

2008-02-17T10:26:00.013-05:00

e has found a new love in her life.... Tae Kwon Do. Ever since Guam, she has been asking to take Karate. Had we've known how much she would enjoy it, we would have done it sooner. It is so much fun to watch her.

A couple of weeks ago, she earned her white belt... she was so excited. She worked really hard to learn her kicks, punches, blocks and terminology.

Here, the chief instructor is putting her white belt on her.

Bowing to the class and some great photography.

Congratulatory hand shakes from the other instructors. Look at the smile on her face.

Congratulations little e!! Good job!!

A Great Day

2008-02-12T08:43:00.000-05:00

The nice thing about where we are living now is that we have a wide range of temperatures. One day it can be snowing and the next day will be sunny and in the 60s... we get to experience it all.

This past Sunday was beautiful and we all went for a long walk through the woods and down to the water.
There is a great path just a couple of streets away from our house where you get to see this...
or this... I love scenery.
When you get to the end of the path, you climb down this sturdy ladder to get to the water.
and if you're a little nervous about it, don't worry... someone will be there to help you down.
'It's OK... follow me, girl.'
Everyone had fun playing and running on the beach. Isis played fetch and even took a dip in the water. e collected rocks, as usual... our geologist in the making.
Mom and e even braved the cold water...
to retrieve this beauty.
'Can we come back again?'

Unheard Of

2008-02-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

We met with some friends at a park today for lunch and play... which meant that KK didn't get to take her nap at the usual time. The girls played for a couple of hours and then we went to E's work for a tour and then to the NEX and Commissary for some last minute weekend necessities. KK was pretty whiny when we got home and said that she wanted to go 'night-night'. I said 'fine, go ahead,' not really thinking anything of it. About 15 minutes later, I went upstairs to find her in her pack-n-play fast asleep. It's now 5 pm and I am thinking I should probably wake her up, but...

Baking with Philpop

2008-02-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

Philpop is a nickname for my mom's husband, Phil. A mispronunciation on KK's part allowed this one to stick... I love mispronunciation's. Anyway, he is a great cook and I have posted one of his recipes before and will most likely post more in the future.

This one comes from his Grandmother who used to bake these yummy, yummy

cookies and send them to him when he was in Vietnam. Now, my mom and him bake tons of these and send them to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, go bake some for yourself or for someone else. You won't regret it.

Ingredients

1/2 cup shortening
1/4 stick real butter (melt in microwave on defrost)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (or caramel or butterscotch extract)
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup each chocolate and butterscotch or caramel morsels
1/2 cup broken walnuts (optional)
cream or half & half (optional)

Preheat oven to 340.
Cream shortening, butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Add slowly to mixture and mix thoroughly.
Add morsels and nuts.
Add small amount of cream or half & half to thin slightly for thin crispy cookies.
Place about a tablespoon glob spaced about 2 inches apart on baking sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Remove onto grate or cooling rack.

The cookies pictured above are made with chocolate and butterscotch chips. The nuts were eliminated because we have picky, picky eaters... and I didn't use cream because I didn't realize it was on the recipe. They still turned out really, really good. They are a crispy cookie, not a mushy, ooey, gooey cookie, but they are dang good.

Thanks Philpop!

5 Signs...

2008-02-05T09:04:00.000-05:00

your extremely active toddler does not feel well:

1. She lays on the floor in the same position when you take a shower.

2. You get her dressed and she does this:

3. You drop your husband off at work 2 miles away from home and she falls asleep in the car.

4. While waiting for breakfast, she does this:
and

5. She asks to take a nap at 10am.

Feel better soon Bean!

Homeschool Lesson

2008-01-30T14:30:00.000-05:00

Home Economics 101

Laundry...

Bed making...
complete with hospital corners.
Sewing,
stuffing...
and the finished product.
Vacuuming...
Yep... Home Ec... at least that's what I'm calling it.

Money, Money, Money!!

2008-01-28T21:02:00.000-05:00

Tis the season to do taxes... fa la la la la la la la la

Ours are done... woohoo!

Are yours??

Update and a New Dilemma

2008-01-23T20:39:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for your advice and comments regarding KK's new affinity for all things not sleep. Fortunately, we had such great advice, we decided to try everything... and so far, it has worked.

L&L, thank you for the reminder of the music... that seems to be key. She listens to the bottom tune for naps and the top one for nighttime.

We also incorporated the crib/pack-n-play advice from ya'll. She takes a nap in her pack-n-play and sleeps in her big girl bed at night.

We also tried placing a gate at her door so she couldn't get out of her room... not a winner.

Bribery has played a key roll in this latest adventure. I made a 'Staying in Bed' chart, where the girls (e had to be involved too, of course) receive a special sticker every morning after they have stayed in their beds. After 5 stickers, they get to choose a special place to go or thing to do. So far, so good. We are on week two. e's task has been changed to 'No screaming or crying for Mom,' since that has been a frequent occurrence over the past couple of weeks. We will get past this... I swear.

Since you all have such great advice... let's throw a new dilemma your way.

As most of you know, e started Kindergarten when we were in California. She was young, but California has a late cut-off date, so we figured, 'what the heck?'. MD, on the other hand, does not have a late cut-off, so that makes her really, really young. We have been given these options:

1. Put her in Kindergarten now and she proceeds as normal.

2. Put her in Kindergarten now and re-start her in Kindergarten next fall.

3. Possibly put her in the public school pre-K program (if she gets in since it is tiered... those with most need get the spots).

4. Put her in a private preschool or Kindergarten program.

5. Don't put her in anything and do home schooling when KK sleeps.

And, to make matters worse... the school that is in our backyard is a Title 1 school which means that over 50% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. It was named as a 'Distinguished School,' which means that they have dramatically increased their test scores. She will definitely learn about diversity and learn to appreciate what she has... but I am worried that she might get lost since she is really smart. There is a public charter school here that we have applied for (for Kindergarten in the fall) that works on a lottery system. So, we won't know if she got in for awhile, but I am not sure if that's the right place either.

Quite a dilemma, wouldn't you say? What do ya'll think?

It's Tricky

2008-01-20T13:06:00.000-05:00

Yep, really random, but I couldn't get this song out of my head this morning and this is what was playing.

We miss you guys!

Uhmmm...

2008-01-18T15:59:00.000-05:00

So, e picked up a coloring book that KK had been scribbling all over and asked me this:

'What's her name Mommy?' and I say (without looking), 'I don't know', and she says, 'But it says her name's right here.'

'Uhmmm, oh, yeah, that's not her name.'

'The Best Day Ever!'...

2008-01-15T21:53:00.000-05:00

according to e.

We experienced our first MD snowfall today. And, as you may remember, e LOVES snow. We grabbed our coats and the dog and headed outside.

The snow was flying everywhere and came down really quickly. Our snowstorm lasted all of 30 minutes. But it left us this.

And we were able to make this.

And Isis discovered that she loves snow just as much.

Serenity Now!

2008-01-14T06:11:00.000-05:00

I am almost positive that I have stolen this post title from my great friend, Amy, but I just can't seem to get it out of my head this morning.

Prior to this move, the girls' were in separate rooms, e with her bunk bed and KK with her crib. We decided that when we moved, the girls' would share a room. KK is now 2 years, 4 months old... so plenty old enough for a 'big girl bed'. She was so excited about it and did really well... she went to sleep the first night with no problem. But, the last week, she has decided that it would be fun to get out of her bed every 2 minutes after being put to bed. She also climbs into e's bed causing her to scream for us. The past few days, we have had huge fights over nap time and this morning, she was up at 4 AM. After about an hour of trying to get her back to sleep, including setting up the pack-n-play again, I gave up.

Since then, we have already had breakfast, I have taken the dog out twice, cleaned up dog throw up and watched The Wiggles Dance Party twice... ugh!

So, here's our dilemma:

1. Do we forget about the nap and completely lose our sanity?

2. Put her back in her crib in the girls' room?

3. Put her back in her crib in the guest room (we don't have guests all that often)?

4. Set up a big girl bed in the guest room?

5. Pack my bags and sneak out in the middle of the night?

This is such a strange experience... e was a completely different child, we never ran into these problems with her.

Since We Have Nothing Better To Do...

2008-01-11T16:52:00.000-05:00

and there is something completely wrong with us, we decided to get a puppy. You see E's parents never got him a dog which he has always wanted. He had been talking more and more about it over the past few years and I was able to successfully hold him off. But now, he has enlisted the help of two little girls to help plead his case. e has been asking since Monterey when we were going to get a dog. She actually decided that it would be OK for Buddy to die so that she could get a dog. KK even would ask, 'can me get a dog Mama?'. And now, we actually have a yard... I didn't stand a chance.

Meet Isis... a not so puppy puppy.

We had been looking everywhere over the past few days and just couldn't figure out how to find a darn dog. All of the breeders we found were hours away and we didn't really want to go to a shelter and get an animal with lots of baggage. We finally looked up the classifieds in the Washington Post and happened to find lots of ads for lab puppies and actually found a lady in our area... just 20 minutes away. She told us that she had 2 female yellow lab puppies that were 12 weeks old. The price was right and we headed out to look... cash in hand.

We pulled up to this beautiful house with horses and dogs... a hobby farm, I guess. It seemed like the perfect place. As soon as we pulled up, we saw the dogs in the 'play yard'... 2 English Bulldogs and 1 yellow lab. Bonnie descended from the porch to greet us, enrobed in soiled barn attire and front tooth protruding ever so nicely. She told us that we got there too quick... she was able to get one of the dogs in the house, but the other was still in the yard. We headed over to meet her. Dog #1 was extremely friendly and excited to see us. She was big, but cute. Bonnie told us that she was going to be 100 lbs. After playing, we headed in to see dog #2. We were warned that she was a little shy and would need to warm up a little bit. Shy might have been an understatement... the dog wouldn't even look at us. She sat there while we petted her and e fell in love with her. She wanted to get her 'because she was sad'. That's our girl... she's going to save the world some day. We somehow convinced her to head outside and take another look at the other dog... we were concerned that a 'nervous' dog would not do well with KK (those that know her will understand that decision). When we stopped petting dog #2, she got up and we noticed that she had soiled herself. Yep, good idea to go look at the other dog.

We decided that she was the one. I paid Bonnie our money, signed some sort of document that said she wasn't responsible for anything... including Parvo (see she was selling the dogs for a friend who was in the process of moving), and we were on our way. After further inspection of the document and the dog, we decided that we should call a vet since we had 48 hours to determine whether or not the dog had a life threatening genetic disorder in order to receive our money back. The people that we are renting from happened to leave all sorts of magnets on the fridge for us, one of which was a number for a wonderful vet. The news we received wasn't so wonderful. Instead of being 12 weeks old, our puppy is actually 4 1/2 months old. Although she was supposedly de-wormed a total of 4 times, she was riddled with round worms. She has juvenile cataracts in her right eye, probably due to blunt force trauma, and will probably lose vision in that eye... unless, of course, we opt to bring her to a doggie ophthalmologist. She also has a severe overbite and we have to keep an eye on the bottom teeth when they come in so that they don't puncture the roof of her mouth. If they don't correct themselves, then capping the teeth is an option.

Did I mention that she smelled? I don't think that she had ever had a bath and had spent her whole life outside in a play yard.

We have made great strides in potty training and stair walking... apparently she had never seen a set of stairs... ever.

With all that though, she is a great dog. We are happy to have her. We feel like we did the right thing... a really expensive pet rescue... and she is so happy to be here.

Moving... Stinks!!

2008-01-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

Normally, we LOVE to move. I know, strange, but we do.

We actually spend weeks prior to our moves de-cluttering, purging and organizing. Before the movers actually come, we stage everything... all pictures are put together, all of our electronics are hand packed in their original boxes, things that shouldn't be packed are placed in a room labeled 'DO NOT PACK', etc., etc. We do that so that we can have an easy un-pack on the other end. And it usually works... until this move.

We thought that we had the greatest packers when we were in CA. We were so impressed with their speed and the supervisor came out to pack our plasma and he told us that we had his 'A team' packing us. We should have had an idea when one guy actually packed the cat litter box, food and water... and yes, they were all full. Common sense would tell you that if we wanted the litter box to be packed, we would have emptied the poop, but who are we to judge?

Anyway, so it is now 8 days since we have received our household goods and we are still not completely unpacked... mostly, but not completely. Some would say that's pretty good, but for us... not so much. Our last move, we unpacked in 2 days.

Enough rambling... lets take a look at what we unearthed, shall we?

Here is a wardrobe from KK's room.
Underneath the toys and books are E's uniforms, including his Choker Whites... nice.

What the... ?
If you can't tell, it's a box of laundry detergent packed with Woolite, stain spray, dryer sheets... all neatly taped inside the box. Problem is, they packed it in the same box with the turkey roaster and rack which punctured the boxes (yep, there were two of these babies) and powdered detergent was everywhere.

Oooh... another wardrobe. What's in this one? It doesn't seem very full.

Oh... OK... yep, two leather jackets DO provide the right amount of padding for a semi-precious stone globe that E so lovingly lugged around Hong Kong to bring it home to me.

And one last thing for the record books. This box was in our garage... empty. Why not use it to pack in? What should we pack in it?

Good, pack the glass fish tank in the All-Clad box. It is the right size. Make sure you write 'Fragile' on it somewhere so that it's OK.

Oops... you forgot to put any sort of packing material in with it to keep it safe. Did you really forget?

There are so many more things that are just not right but that's just part of military moving. We should be used to it by now, but I don't think you can ever get used to absolute disregard for your things.

Next move, I swear we are doing it ourselves.

Note to Self

2008-01-07T22:10:00.000-05:00

Next house should be ranch style.

Introducing...

2008-01-04T20:09:00.001-05:00

Hailey 'M' ... named for e's great friends from CA.

We also refer to her as 'Pinkie Pie' (KK has a great love for My Little Ponies and her eyes really are pink).

Why do we have another hamster you ask? Well, after 14 days, 14 states, 3 hotels, 5 relative/friend houses, 4219 miles & 74 hours in the car, our other hamster 'Hamsley/Snow Princess', decided to off herself. Apparently, adventure is the name of her game. Being sedentary just wasn't her thing. E found her the morning after we got to the East Coast, hind end outside of her cage... we have no idea how he did it, but it wasn't pretty.

e was beside herself with the news. We had a full funeral, complete with flowers and remembrances... and a morning full of tears and sorrow.

We headed to the nearest pet shop to find a suitable alternative. What we found was pretty cute... although she is a bit of a nibbler. One crisis averted.

We also lost our cat, again, and spent the last day and a half looking for him. We informed the neighbors, the pet microchip company, and area shelters. This morning he appeared in our bedroom at 2 AM... we couldn't have been happier. There was no way that we were ready to deal with two pet losses in one week.

Snow Much Fun!

2007-12-27T21:22:00.000-05:00

We just can't get enough of the snow. On Christmas Day Night (is that right?), my sister and I took the girls out to sled and play in the snow... and we had a blast! It was lightly snowing which made the pictures look so cool. e is going to be so upset when we get to our new house and there won't be several inches of snow to play in. I guess we will always have Minnesota.

e and my niece attacking my sister.

KK and me.

The Snow Princess .

One cute pink bean.

The smiles say it all.

Hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas, white or not.

Driving in a Winter Wonderland

2007-12-23T17:19:00.001-05:00

We left Central MN this morning to drive down to Southern MN to visit our great college friends. We decided it was a good idea even after reading the news story about the huge storm pounding the Central US (see post below).

Here is how the drive started out.

A little blowing snow is nothing for native Minnesotans... who cares if we haven't lived here for years?

We weren't the only crazy ones on the road.

Ahhh... why is traffic stopped?

Ohhh... now we see.

Get us off this road.

Luckily, when it got really bad, we happened to be 2 exits away from my sisters' house. Sorry, college friends, we'll have to catch you later.

Wish Us Luck!

2007-12-23T10:15:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! is my homepage on my browser and this is the top story in news...

Storm blasts Central US, at least five die

What the heck are we doing here???

Snow Princess

2007-12-18T21:29:00.000-05:00

Our sun dress and flip-flop wearing girl has discovered snow and has fallen in love. The first time she saw snow, she was 2 and doesn't really have a clear memory of it. She was so excited when we drove through the mountains and saw the snow... 'It's beautiful! I think God put it there so we could be happy.' She could not wait to touch the snow and was beside herself when she got to throw her first snowball.

Look at the smile on that girls face... she plopped herself down to make her first snow angel. She spent a good 2+ hours playing in the snow the first day we got to Denver.

Her very first snowman, complete with 'snowing' effect.

Bannie bought her a shovel and they shoveled so much that she broke it.

Who cares if you don't have a sled?

Today, we got her on skis for the very first time and she had so much fun and did a great job.

Daddy helping to put on the skis. KK wanted to go too... she was in tears when we left... soon enough Bean.

Mom and e ready to go.

On the chairlift, or as KK calls it, the 'chairelator'.

Daddy and e heading down the hill.

The three of us at the bottom of the hill.

We have had a wonderful time here in Colorado and are looking forward to enjoying more snow time in the next couple of weeks.

Congratulations Graduate!

2007-12-16T00:10:00.001-05:00

As most of you know, E has spent the last year and a half at the Naval Postgraduate School working towards his MBA in Financial Management. Not only did he reach that goal, but did very well along the way. We are very proud of him! He graduated this past Friday. His parents and the girls and I were there to share in the moment and capture some great pictures to share with you all.

As you can see, I have become quite the photographer. I have mastered the art of the special effect picture so that you not only see him shaking the hand of the keynote speaker, but you can also see the smile on his face as he walks away. I know, amazing. Just wait... I have more.

E has made some good friends here and they have some special talents.

That, was Trevor. He is so stinking speedy, you can hardly tell that he is there. Very Superhero-like.

Bet you didn't see Trailer there. AKA, the Invisible Man.

Ahhh, Ricky Bobby, you clean up nice... and With Distinction. Who knew?

I see you hiding in there Tec. It's the curse of being tall.

That's one proud and happy family.

Congratulations to all of you. We are going to miss you!

All Our Bags are Packed...

2007-12-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

The movers came today and packed the entire house. Of all of our moves we've done, this has seemed to go the smoothest. Except for the part when one of the movers actually packed the cat litter box. Are you kidding me? E just told me that the guy at least emptied it out first. Whew!

Now, if we could just find the cat, we'd be in business. We caught a glimpse of him running toward the door earlier today and haven't seen him since. Hoping that he hasn't run away. Not sure how to explain that to the little ones. Now if the hamster decided to run away, that might be OK. Although I'm sure that e would have a bigger problem if 'snow princess' went missing. All of my attempts to get her to donate it to her class have failed.

The movers will be picking everything up tomorrow and then we will finish cleaning. I use the term 'we' loosely. My mother-in-law has practically cleaned our entire house already. Got to love that. It has been so nice to have them here to help us. I will be enlisting help from any willing relative for all future moves. I am hooked.

Alright, snoring KK is making me sleepy. More adventures in moving to come.

My Favorite Knife...

2007-12-08T14:06:00.000-05:00

Is a Five Star Santuko knife from Zwilling J.A. Henckels. We have a whole block of Henckel Knives but this is the one that I always use and it my favorite.

But, it, hates me. Last March, while I was cutting green peppers for a really good omlette that I was going to make, it sliced through my ring finger. After frantic calls to my neighbor and friend, I headed to the ER and spent 3+ hours there and got steri-stripped on up. The finger is finally looking semi-normal, although the nail grows rather funky.

Wait! What is Princess Jasmine doing there? Oh yeah, last night I was cutting green peppers with my favorite knife... you know how the story goes. Just no trip to the ER this time. I am a dummy.

Christmas is Coming!

2007-12-07T11:18:00.001-05:00

I have completed our Christmas letter and will be sending them out today but I have a request for you all.

If you have moved and you think that we don't have your address, please email it to me. If you are in the process of moving and have a different address that you would like it sent to, please email to me. If you have never given me your address and are in desperate want of a letter, please email me your address.

Thank you in advance!

Mmmmminestrone!

2007-12-06T09:28:00.000-05:00

We have been in the depths of pre-move organization yuck, so I haven't been too good about posting. And then I thought, 'you guys must be starving! I'll post the soup.' Now this recipe was given to me by my mother-in-law and we, of course, made some revisions. And this soup can feed your family for an entire week, or you can bring it as a get well gift, or new baby meal, the possibilities are endless. When e was born, we lived off this soup. We would make a batch and eat it for every meal. We made it so often that the ingredients were permanently listed on my shopping spreadsheet (yep, I have one of those, organized by aisle of course). Anyway, let's make Minestrone.

Ingredients

½ lb Italian sweet sausage (Jimmy Dean in the tube)
½ lb Italian hot sausage (Jimmy Dean in the tube)
3 T. Olive Oil
3 large onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 bunch carrots, diced
2 t. basil
2-3 zucchini, diced
1 can (28 oz) Italian-style tomatoes, including liquid
2 cans (10 oz each) beef stock (we usually use about 5)
1 small head cabbage, finely shredded
1 can (16 oz) white kidney beans, including liquid
1 can (16 oz) red kidney beans, including liquid
½ cup rice
Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Fresh parsley, chopped

In a large stockpot, brown and scramble sausage in olive oil. Add onions, garlic, carrots, and basil; cook 5 minutes. Add zucchini, tomatoes (with liquid), stock, cabbage, salt and pepper. Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour. Add beans (with liquid) and rice. Cook 20 minutes. For a thinner broth, add more stock. Serve, topped with Parmesan cheese and parsley (red pepper flakes optional). Fresh bread is always a great accompaniment The soup may be made ahead and reheated. It may also be frozen, but the texture changes a bit. Serves 8 to 10.

I'm Turning Japanese

2007-12-02T18:36:00.001-05:00

I really think so.

Have you ever seen young Japanese girls? The really do have a unique sense of style.

KK has started wanting to pick her own clothes and we are letting her. She comes up with some interesting combinations. I love it!

How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Shower

2007-11-29T01:04:00.000-05:00

1. Send husband off to present his thesis at the Pentagon (see post below).

2. Get two-year old out of bed.

3. Turn on TV and hope that said two-year old would watch something (even though she never has).

4. Hop in the shower.

5. Entertain two-year old by poking head out of shower every now and then to make sure that the Neosporin is not being used as toothpaste.

6. Just as you are about to finish, have two-year old remove PJ's and diaper on their own, yell 'I naked Mama', and climb into shower with you.

7. Oh yeah, make sure that the diaper has been soiled so that when two-year old climbs in with you they are sure to smear feces on the edge of the tub and bring a friend with them.

Ahh... it's going to be a long couple of days.

Green is Good!

2007-11-27T23:13:00.001-05:00

E got his 'green card' today which means that he has officially completed his Master's Thesis. Woohoo!! Somebody give that man a Bud. Wait, he already has one.

He flies out tomorrow to present it at the Pentagon. We will keep our fingers crossed here and hope that all goes well.

Congratulations and Good Luck!

Girls Day Out

2007-11-24T11:48:00.000-05:00

Our long time Navy friends, R, JC and baby C came to visit us for Thanksgiving and we have been having a wonderful time.

R and E headed up to Palo Alto for the Notre Dame/Stanford game this morning, so we had a girls day out. Today was a gorgeous day here on the bay and we decided to go down to Fisherman's Wharf to bark at the seals... and they barked back.

Here are a bunch of seals warming themselves in the sun. This technique still amazes me.

Here's our model-to-be.

And her 'monarch'... 'I know it's a monarch Mommy because of the orange and black and white'.

We headed over to the Coast Guard Pier to find more seals... and did we ever. I have never seen them this close up... we could have pet them (probably not advised, so we didn't). I think they were actually posing for the camera.

I could have shot pictures all day.

Here are JC and cute baby C... and lots more seals.

'Come by and see me real soon.'

You Didn't!?!

2007-11-20T14:51:00.001-05:00

I did! I took two 2 year olds to the grocery store today. Why in the heck would one do that you ask? Here's why:

See, today I was watching one of the members of the'A' Team so that my great friend S could pick her parents up at the airport without having to confine the bug for too long in the car.

And this was the conversation between E and I this morning:

E: 'Are you going to the grocery store this morning?'

Me: 'Umm... probably not until this afternoon, I have L this morning.'

E: 'You don't need to get that much stuff, right?'

Me: 'No, not really. I guess maybe two in a car cart is better than one.'

And then my warped brain started thinking. You see, he threw down the gauntlet. You want to throw any sort of crazy challenge at me, I'll take you up on it because that's the way I roll. I was feeling Wonder Womanish this morning and I figured, I can do that no problem. Others wouldn't do it, but me, I can do it... and just watch, I'll prove it.

And $90 and two cookies later, we were out the door with my last minute Thanksgiving purchases. Whew! One more thing I can cross off my list.

Yep, KK, you're not the only one that feels that way. (By the way, did you notice the filth on the car? No wonder the kids are always sick. Sorry, S, I should have sprayed her down with Lysol before giving her back.).

More of Batgirl's Party

2007-11-18T19:48:00.000-05:00

Here are the rest of the pictures from e's party. If you missed the first post, click here.

It was so much fun to see all the kids in their costumes. Here we have Spiderman, a witch and a Power Ranger.

The Wicked Witch brought her date from the Geek Squad. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everyone costumes... but they were great. Thanks for dressing up.

Even the neighbors dog came in costume.

Batgirl was so happy. There really is nothing like the look on their faces when it's birthday time.

Captain America and Super KK in the jumper/slide. Way too much fun.

e was very concerned that the big people were in the jumper... with good reason. Ricky Bobby took out Spiderman on the way down the slide. Oops.

Sooo many presents. Lots of art supplies and crafty things... perfect for the girl who is always stealing the printer paper.

We forgot that we had a pinata... the few kids remaining got to take a whack at it.

Of course, no party is complete without a game of Wii. Look at the hook on Ricky Bobby. He's not afraid of a little kid.

Ahhh... and the mess. Pictures really cannot capture it all. Not so much fun to wake up to in the morning. Oh well. A great time was had by all and it was worth it.

From the Mouths of Babes

2007-11-15T21:28:00.000-05:00

Overheard in our household...

"I have allergies of the wind"

...e explaining to kk why she was taking medicine.

Happy 5th Birthday, Batgirl!

2007-11-15T15:42:00.000-05:00

I completely lost track of the time and realized that I never posted about e's birthday. So, here goes...

We started out the morning in our pajama's opening family presents. Our creative, artsy girl got the perfect gift of an easel complete with paper, paints, whiteboard and chalkboard. Endless hours of creativity will be enjoyed. She also got a dog that grows, which, if you ask me, is pretty dang creepy... and money not well spent. Notice the crown and earrings? A necessity when you turn 5.

The nice thing about having a birthday so close to Halloween is that you can have a costume/birthday party. And when e decided that she wanted to have a 'super spookey costume birthday party', I was in heaven. I LOVE Halloween and there are sooo many things that you can do with that kind of a theme.

Like have a haunted house cake, blood shot eyeball cupcakes and dip, mummy toes for a main course and creepy, crawly snack mix. The use that I have gotten out of the Woman's World magazine that I bought off the check stand a year ago was well worth the $2.50 I paid for it.

Of course, no Halloween party is complete without naked bobbing for apples. No, seriously that wasn't required, but we did bob for apples. e wasn't buying in on the day of the party, but figured it out the day after.

We encouraged parents and adults to dress up and they did! Barry Bonds, Ricky Bobby and Harley Trailer came.

Blogger is killing me right now. To be continued...

Back to Life, Back to Reality

2007-11-14T11:53:00.001-05:00

I am working on a post for later, but in the meantime...

Is 8:53 AM too early for a glass of wine??

Thank You!

2007-11-10T21:02:00.000-05:00

Thank you to my parents for serving and teaching me what it means to be an American.

Thank you for those that lost their lives serving.

Thank you to those that have served.

Thank you to those that are currently serving.

Thank for for supporting those that serve and have served.

And finally, thank you to my wonderful husband for doing what he does so that we can live as we do. I love you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A good friend of mine emailed the following video (link below) to me. It's about 5 minutes long, so watch when you have time. It was made by a 15 year old girl named Lizzie Palmer. It's incredible and haunting.

And the Winner is...

2007-11-09T17:16:00.000-05:00

House...

#2

Thanks to all of you for your comments and advice. We signed a 3 year lease today.

We absolutely fell in love with the yard and the amount of space that it has. We have increased our square footage over our current place by about 2000. We are going to have to be careful to not go crazy buying furniture to fill it. A refrigerator box desk is sounding like a viable option, along with a cinderblock coffee table for the 'formal' living room. When we get into the house, we will post pictures with our stuff. But in the meantime, take a gander at these.

Backyard and pool.

Deck

Kitchen

Dining Room

Breakfast area

Family Room

Living Room

Entrance/Foyer

Wash Room/Mud Room

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3 (door leads to den/craft room)

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Den/Craft Room

Outside

We might need to paint. I'm not sure if I can live with all that blue for the next 3 years.

House Hunters... East Coast Edition

2007-11-08T18:18:00.000-05:00

E and K are searching for a home to rent at their new duty station. They have narrowed it down to three.

Their budget is $2054 (BAH... Basic Allowance for Housing). A good school system, lots of room, and allowance for pets is important.

Here are the choices:

House #1

Upsides: A former model home, loaded with everything... builder trying to show off. 3500 square feet; finished basement with den, wet bar, and pool table room; HUGE master bedroom with jacuzzi tub, fireplace and two walk in closets; kitchen with stainless steel appliances, double ovens and island Jenn-Aire; deck with gazebo; house wired for internet and sound through-out; gas fireplace on main level and finished basement.

Downsides: Located on a corner lot with virtually no yard; close proximity to neighbors; escalating lease ($1900 year 1, $2000 year 2 & $2100 year 3); e would have to ride the bus past a place called the 'insanity farm' with beware of dog signs; no parks except for an open field with 5 picnic tables; water damage (with mold) to the basement and dead yard.

House #2

Upsides: HUGE yard; nicely landscaped; wrap-around front/side porch; above ground pool; wood burning fireplace; master bedroom with stand alone shower and jacuzzi tub; owners leaving riding lawnmower; close proximity to the bay; partially finished attic space for office or craft room; full mud room; walking distance to elementary school; secluded location.

Downsides: tending for yard and landscaping, tons of leaf raking; pool maintenance; single sink master bathroom and bedroom with small closets; older home; kitchen could stand to be remodeled; rickety fence around pool; no basement.

House #3

Upsides: Lowest rent price ($1700); unfinished basement (lots of room for girls to ride bikes inside); 'designer' color through out house; washer/dryer upstairs; HUGE master bedroom with great closet, large tub and separate shower; nice kitchen with island, cherry cabinets, side-by-side refrigerator; first house we looked at and loved; gas fireplace.

Downsides: Door to deck has no deck; SMALL yard not watered since tenants left in June... dead; hurricane (2 years ago) knocked down trees in the backyard (county land) trees remain knocked down; designer paint out of control in some rooms; bedrooms, other than master, are small; propane heating for water heater... what??; located in same subdivision as house #1... same bus problem arises.

We had no idea that we would find this many possibilities... all in one day. PLEASE help us make a decision. What do you think? What is important for you or us? HELP!!

Good Morning from the East Coast!

2007-11-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, E and I on vacation, I mean 'house hunting'.

After 13 hours of travel, we finally made it to our hotel. But it didn't matter how long it took because we weren't dealing with kids and strollers and car seats and pack-n-plays and diaper bags and and and. Our flights were a pleasure. I was able to sleep and work and sleep and complete a whole entire crossword puzzle... unheard of!

After driving 2 hours south, we finally were on the main strip through town and were welcomed by all of my favorites... Target, Pier 1, Old Navy, and so much more. I think we are going to like it here.

This morning we were able to sleep in until 8:30, well really 5:30 PMT, but who cares. I had the most enjoyable shower where no one was trying to get in it or throwing something in the shower with me or constantly opening the curtain to tell me something... just me and my hot shower. Then, I dried my hair with a gentle breeze called the Oster 1200 Watt hotel drier... and it didn't matter how long it took because nobody needed to get to school or be fed or changed or anything. And E couldn't care less because he is currently be held prisoner by the latest Dune book and won't be released until it has it's way with him.

We are heading to the housing office in a little bit to see what they have available and then off to a couple of house appointments. BUT not before we go to the NEX to pick up a disposable camera since we didn't bring either of our digitals. I have no idea how we didn't... I even promised e that I would bring her pictures of her new house. I am a wonderful mother... on top of things, I am.

More later...

I Want My Thing, Mama

2007-11-04T12:07:00.000-05:00

In this house, pacifiers are referred to as things. Don't know why, they just are. It started with e and stuck.

KK is so much like e with her things. Yep, plural. e had two, KK has I don't even know how many. And everyday, at some point, we get to play a rousing game of where's A thing. I have no idea what she does with them and she will have inevitably hidden them when the need for them is the greatest. She starts crying and whining, 'I want my thing Mama,' and we spring into action searching high and low for them. And when we find one, it's not the one she likes. We have already played one game this morning. Sound fun, huh? Wanna come over and play?

Then magically, KK returns from playing out back and hands you these. And balance is restored. (See S , we DO have a cat.)

Good luck to Grandma and Grandpa who will be watching the girls next week while we go house hunting. I might even tell you where my secret 'emergency' one is hidden.

Daylight Savings Time

2007-11-04T11:41:00.000-05:00

Did ya'll remember to set your clocks back? We didn't, but the e and her friend M reminded us. I would highly recommend having a sleepover the next time it rolls around. 5:30 is a wonderful time to get out of bed on a Sunday.

Have a great day!

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-03T11:25:00.000-04:00

I'm a little behind, but I'm sure you can all forgive me, right? We had a great time this Halloween. We live in a fabulous neighborhood where everyone decorates and they go crazy. We have one guy who digs graves in his yard. It is so cool to walk around here. Lots of the locals actually come to our neighborhood to trick-or-treat. We walked past someone who was talking about how nice it was to come here and that it's so safe. And I started thinking about how really nice it is to live here. The safeness of this place could be that it is a military community; we have every branch represented, as well as every specialty. And most people here have kids. So combining a highly trained soldier with a protective parent, makes one potent combination. Anyway, I am rambling. Bring on the pictures.

Batgirl and Supergirl. Batgirl's mask went missing so I had to improvise with water-proof mascara. Crisis averted... pain in the butt to wash off.

Here is the gang that we went trick-or-treating with.

After our dinner of Halloween pizza. How cool. I love Papa Murphy's.

KK and her boyfriend getting the hang of things.

e and her best friend from school, M.

This little bug took a break from singing Barbie's Princess and the Pauper to say 'cheese'.

This picture doesn't nearly capture how many people were out trick-or-treating.

And of course, you need one of these rides so you can eat your candy with no hitches.

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

What is With Kids and Undergarments?

2007-11-01T16:35:00.000-04:00

This is e when she was almost 1. She found herself a new stylish purse.

And here's KK as found yesterday in e's room with the door closed. Yep, those are e's underpants on her head and yep, she's really excited about it.

I Can't Smell Through Plastic!

2007-11-01T15:53:00.000-04:00

I've heard mention that I've been a little long-winded lately so, Trailer, this is for you.

E and I were at the store last week and I remembered that we needed new airfreshners. I handed this to him and said, 'What do you think?'. He handed it back and said, 'How am I supposed to know? I can't smell through plastic!'.

Ahh!! I am not the only one with moments.

Everyday is Blog-Worthy

2007-10-30T15:30:00.000-04:00

And today was no exception. It was quite an adventure. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee and relax... this is going to take a while.

This morning we all got off to a late start. Today was pumpkin patch field trip day at school, so the first challenge was agreeing on something for e to wear. See, those of you familiar with my picky, picky girl, know that the ONLY thing that she will wear is dresses. And not just any dresses, they must be short sleeve dresses, and not just short sleeve dresses, but sundress dresses. And certainly not short sundresses... they must be long. God forbid that there is ever a mention of a shirt underneath a dress for added warmth. So, needless to say, it is quite a difficult task to outfit her in jeans and a t-shirt. Once we conquered that feat, we headed downstairs for the breakfast battle.

After deciding what she wanted to eat, she took the whole breakfast time to eat a whole two bites. Oh well. I had also forgotten to pack her lunch last night, so that added a couple extra minutes to our lateness.

KK has been feeling sick the past couple of days so I let her sleep as late as she could until I couldn't wait any longer. I finally got her up and dressed and downstairs. She whined and cried and had a fit when e was looking at her. Two off on the wrong foot. Super. I got her breakfast ready and some orange juice, which she downed like she had just walked through the desert. At this point, E came down to tell me to get my butt moving. KK cuddled up with him and her bagel, and then expelled it all over him. Ahhah! That's why she was so grumpy.

I grabbed everything that needed to go to school with us and ran out the door. Got e to school just in time and then ran back to drop Big E at school. You see, Tuesdays is uniform day and it's not too fun to ride your bike in your military uniform. I also happened to volunteer for e's field trip, so I needed to be back to school by 9. But I had one more small errand to run.

OK, so nothing is quite ever good enough. I love my new car, but decided that it needed leather and was able to get a good deal on a leather install. So, I headed back to the dealership that I have been at almost every day since I bought the car (too long of a story for this already long story). I was to drop off my new car and pick up my old car to drive for the three days that it takes to install the leather. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong.

Of course, my old car was unavailable since it was given to someone else to drive. Something that i had to let slide off my back since that car is still not paid off... another story for another day, and I was in a hurry to get to the school. They told me that Enterprise would be there to pick me up in 10 minutes, and just like the commercial, they did. They brought KK and I (car seats, stroller, bags, etc.) to one location where we unloaded, went in and got the paperwork ready. Then we waited for another driver to pick us up and bring us to a different location to get the actual vehicle. Once there, I signed the paper and we were off to the pumpkin patch.

Not two minutes into the drive, the 'low gas' light dinged. Naturally, I was on a road void of gas stations. Thankfully, the fumes carried me to the patch within seconds of the buses pulling up.

But I have saved the best for the last. What did they put me in you ask? My absolute most hated car of all time...

The PT Cruiser.

Complete with nasty stains and that smell... uggh, that smell.

Needless to say, I do have yet another call into the dealership for them to get me out of this thing.

The Hummingbird, Jagman and Robb

2007-10-29T23:04:00.000-04:00

Our life is crazy. Since we move every three years or so, it's hard to make good friends and more importantly, lasting friendships. So, when you find someone that is even remotely like you or your good friends, you dive right in and spend ridiculous amounts of time with them. Time is short, so you make the best of every minute that you have. And, you're lonely so every minute that you are able to talk to some one is oh so nice. I have been fortunate enough to meet some great people throughout E's career, but few of those friendships last. That's where my friend The Hummingbird (HB) is different.

A little background for you. Her name is actually Jenn. E gave her the nickname, 'The Hummingbird' (for those of you that know him, that is no surprise to you). See, the first time that E experienced Jenn in all her glory, I was gone. She rang the doorbell and before he even got the door all the way open, she was in our kitchen. She's that fast and as frightening as a small bird is, as E would describe it. I still remember the phone call from him. 'Dude, what's wrong with your friend? I didn't even see her move. She scares me. Tell her never to come to our house again. I don't want to be alone with her... EVER!'

That's exactly what I love about her. She's fast and efficient and organized. I couldn't have found a more perfect friend.

She's also the best gosh darn hairdresser that I've ever had. She had a salon in her house, two doors down from us. I could call on a weekend and walk over a couple minutes later. She cut both of our kids' hair and gave kk her first haircut. When will I ever find that again?

Then there's Jagman, her son. e and Jagman became fast friends too. They both were off of school on the same days so they would run back and forth between our two houses and we took turns watching the kids. I had Tuesdays, and she had Thursdays and then lots of other days back and forth. The two of them were inseparable. Neither of them could function without the other... 'I'm bored, when's he going to be home?'.

And then there's Robb. Just about one of the nicest guys that I have met. He is fabulous with kids and was so good to ours. He's in the Airforce, so the likelihood that we will all be stationed together again is fairly slim.

They moved at the end of August and things just haven't quite been the same. e has made another really good friend at school, but they don't live nearly as close. My hair couldn't be in worse condition and now I have to wait until December for our drive across country... we are stopping in NE for a family hair cutting session. Strange, I know. But it's hard to trust just anyone with your hair. Ladies, I know you know.

Anyway, we miss them and wish them all the best in their new adventure

Obession Can Be Dangerous and Oh So Rewarding

2007-10-24T00:59:00.000-04:00

I got a brand new car in 2006. I bought it when we were in Guam. I did the Military Overseas Car thing, which is supposed to get you a better deal... you don't pay for tax, you don't negotiate on the price, and they give you a 100% price satisfaction guarantee. What could be better? Except for if you don't like what you purchased. From the moment we picked up our new car in San Jose, I wasn't happy. One could blame it on the 24 hours of travel with two kids. I am going to go with poor research and a very week V6 engine. Try traveling through the mountains with that crappy of an engine.

When we went to AZ to visit my inlaws, they had bought a new car... a 2006 Nissan Armada. From the minute that I saw it, I absolutely fell in love with it. I loved that there was so much room in it. After seeing their new car, I thought I would look into trading my way too small vehicle in. I'm sure all of you know, that doesn't make any sense to do that. I quickly figured that out. It was not to be.

Then, my newest friend, S, recently purchased an Armada which got my obsessive juices flowing. She got a great deal, which made me think that I could do the same. So, I decided to go have fun and deal. Usually, not a fun proccess, but when you aren't really in the market for a new car, it ends up being fun. I didn't need a new car... I wanted a new car. I was able to make it so that they made me need a new car. I love feeling like I had an advantage. My years in retail helped me out a lot when they neglected to list the headrest DVD system on the invoice. Oops. $3K advantage K.

Alright, enough about that. I got a new car, I love it and I think I got a great deal on it. Here is my monstrosity.

And before all the smart ass comments come, refer to the post below.

Poka-Yoke and How I Proved It Wrong

2007-10-24T00:45:00.000-04:00

For those of you not familiar with Poka-Yoke, take a gander at this this explanation. Or, if you don't want to click away from this wonderful blog, I shall explain: "A poka-yoke device is any mechanism that either prevents a mistake from being made or makes the mistake obvious at a glance." Not to be cited for plagiarism, I should properly state that the aforementioned quote was taken from this website . There are many examples of this found in everyday life; the 'you must be this tall' sign at the amusement park, most gas caps are connected so that they aren't left behind, and the best example is... wait, I need to give you background first.

Alright, it was 2006... the year that we returned back to civilization from Guam. OK, that's not fair to Guam, but we were really excited to be back stateside. I was really excited to be back stateside, which meant that I was able to head to MN in July. If you've never been to MN in the summer, you definitely need to go. I am getting off track...

So, I hopped on a plane with the girls (E couldn't come since he was just starting his course load at NPS) and landed in good ol' MSP. My sister was there to pick us up and the next day, we all headed up north to E's parents' lake home. The girls and I were going to spend some time with the Grandparents enjoying Northern MN lake country. Another side note, I have the best inlaws ever... I can spend numerous days with them and feel so completely at home.

I was staying in MN for a couple of weeks, so I had made plans to head back down to the Twin Cities to visit with my friends. When you only get back once per year, you have to pack in as much as you can. E's Aunt was kind enough to loan me her Jeep for the voyage. This is where everything went awry. My wonderful Mother-in-Law starting thinking that an older Jeep wasn't the best thing to send her precious grandchildren on a road trip in. (And by no means am I implying that she was at fault for what was about to happen). She worked her magic on LB (Grandpa) and he agreed that it would be best that I take the brand new Armada down to the Cities. So, AAA number in hand, I was off.

After spending the night at my sister's, I headed over to visit with one of my great girlfriends, 'The Dancer' (a story for another day) and her little boy. On my way back to my sister's house, the 'bitch' (navigation system) got me lost. I was on the phone with my brother-in-law when I got rear-ended by someone. What's worse than getting rear ended in not your own car? Oh believe me... lots... we'll get there. Thankfully, the car that rear-ended me was no match for the Armada. All that was damaged was part of the trailer hitch. I went to Nissan the next day and got an estimate and contacted the lady who was supposed to send my inlaws a check. I wanted to make sure my bases were covered, because man, that sucked. I had to call them and let them know that I was in an accident but everything and everyone was OK.

The next day, I had plans to have dinner with another of my girlfriends. This was a flawlessly laid out plan. We ate dinner and had a great time. After dinner, I bathed the girls and put them into their pajamas and we were off to head back up North. e had a movie to watch and k would surely fall asleep. About an hour into the 3 hour drive, I decided to stop for gas. I pulled into a BP gas station (for those of you that aren't familiar, the BP color is green). e was still awake and KK was asleep, so I figured I should hurry so I wouldn't wake her up. I grabbed the farthest pump handle on the left, which was also the cheapest gas price per gallon. Most of us do the same thing, correct?? Anyway, it didn't fit. I thought that it was weird, so I looked at the gas tank and noticed that there were lots of scrapes around the tank and figured, 'it's a new car, maybe there is something weird with it'. So I proceeded to fill up the tank, while holding the nozzle the entire time. 17 gallons later, we were off.

About 5 miles down the road, when I was ready to turn the cruise on, the car started acting funny. It felt like I was putting the brake on when I was trying to accelerate. What the heck was going on? I pulled over and decided to call my inlaws. I used my best 'nothing's wrong' voice to say, "Everything is OK, I wasn't in an accident, but I just stopped for gas and the car is acting funny". I explain to my father-in-law what was happening and he immediately says, "You didn't put diesel in it did you?" I say, "I don't know, how would I know?"

I pulled out my receipt, and sure enough it said DSL on the receipt... which I proceed to tell him. And then I hear him say, 'She put f*%$ing diesel in it' to my mother-in-law. A proud moment in my life. Worse than messing up for your own parents, is messing up for your inlaws. I thought the world would end. I now knew how E felt everytime that he dissapointed his parents. It was awful.

So, I am stopped on the side of the road, 2 miles away from MN state prison on the phone with AAA and LB trying to figure out how to get me out of this situation. They decided to send a tow truck and the inlaws got out of bed and headed down south to pick us up. Thankfully, the tow truck that came was equipped with 2 young boys that were great entertainement for e while the grandparents were on their long journey.

L&L finally arrived a little after 1 AM and e pushed me towards my father-in-law and said, 'say you're sorry mommy'. Which I did and I don't think I will EVER live this down in my lifetime.

So, the most obvious Poka-Yoke control is that gas nozzles are made so that they do not fit in the wrong tank, but, when you have the right tank, you can put any gas grade into it. Idiot-proof... my a@#!!

The Dryer Ate My Sock

2007-10-21T17:38:00.000-04:00

Don't you hate that when that happens? It's inevitable... the dryer will always get a sock. You never know when it's going to happen, it just will.

Even more hateful, is when your house develops a black hole. Things go missing with no trace. To date, we are missing a shoe, an entire box of markers and a cordless telephone. Yep, that's right... an entire hand set is missing. How the heck does that happen? And where could it possibly be? I do have an idea of who might be responsible though.

Saving the World, One Plastic Bag at a Time

2007-10-19T02:50:00.000-04:00

OK, so they got me at the grocery store. Who can guess why? Yep, it was the 'organize up to 60 bags!'. I love to organize. This was one of those random in the middle of the aisle hanging things. Those things that you never need, but somehow find a way to justify.

Here is a look at all of my plasic bags that I have. Why I have that many... I cannot know. That's way too many for poop scooping. Maybe I'll use them when we have a garage sale.

Then I downsized so that I didn't have to have so many bags, but it just wasn't working. Way too messy.

Here are the bags now. Very nice.

And now, Buddy's food no longer has to share it's shelf. Everything is right in the world.

Yes, I am well aware that I do have several issues. Life just wouldn't be as fun if I didn't.

#2s Really ARE Trouble!

2007-10-16T10:46:00.000-04:00

When I was a kid, my Mom changed my middle name to 'T' for trouble. And I don't blame her. I was always doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing. But that's the nature of #2's. It has all become apparent to me now. Funny how things work out. Lord help us when the girls become teenagers, because I have some serious payback coming my way! I love you Mom! Thanks for sticking with me.

Don't let the sweet picture fool you... take a look at the shirt. She is 'T2'.

Red Beans and Rice

2007-10-11T16:24:00.000-04:00

I promised you all a new recipe, so here you go. I got this recipe from someone that I met when we lived in Guam. She was originally from New Orleans where they make this type of meal. I am originally from Minnesota, land of the hotdish and bland, bland food. So to say that this is a bit of a departure from what I was used to is a bit of an understatement. I love this meal!

Ingredients

Dry Red Beans
Turkey Sausage, sliced into fun moon shapes (see picture)
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/3 - 1/2 bag of baby carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
Lawry's Season Salt
Dried Oregano
Dried Parsley
Rice
Crock pot

Soak the beans overnight in water with a tablespoon of baking powder, or is it baking soda? Does it matter? I'm not sure. I have soaked without either. In the morning, rinse and pick out the bad beans... those are the floaters. Place in crock pot. Cover the beans with water to about 1 inch above the beans. Add onions, carrots, and celery. Here's where it gets technical, so pay attention. Sprinkle the Lawry's over the water so that it is covered with a layer and you can't see what's in the water. Then shake the oregano and parsley a whole bunch of times so it looks like you have enough (probably about a couple of teaspoons of each). Turn crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hours. When you have about 2 hours left, start mashing the mixture against the crock pot. This helps to thicken it up. Do this every 15 minutes or so or until it looks good. Brown the sausage and add to the beans. Serve with rice. It makes a bunch, so have friends over or plan on eating leftovers for a couple of days.

Enjoy!

What's More Annoying Than Spilled Milk?

2007-10-10T10:12:00.000-04:00

OK, let's be honest... spilled milk IS annoying. We do our best to teach our kids that there is really 'no use crying over spilled milk,' because for them, really there is no use. The person who should be crying is the one that has to clean it up. You have to drop whatever you are doing and make a mad dash to get something to stop the milkfall which will inevitably land in every unreachable nook. And God forbid you don't find it all and it starts to smell up your whole house. So really, spilled milk is annoying.

But what's more annoying? When you spill it. And not just a glass... a whole entire gallon... which you spilled because you were trying to carry too many things into the house so that you could get the kids fed and the little one put down for a nap at a decent hour. Even more annoying, you spilled one of the two gallons that you bought on the way home, because if you had bought just one, it would have cost you $4.56, but now the one you are left with was $6.30 (darn club cards). And worse yet, while you are trying to clean up the disaster you call home, your 4 year old reminds you that the gallon of milk that you spilled outside and forgot about is now dry. So you have to roll up your pants and try to pressure wash it off the cement with the freezing cold water from the hose that sprays all over your pants anyway.

I'm sure there are more annoying things than spilled milk, but for me, right now, there really isn't anything more annoying than spilled milk.

Beauty Can Be Found Everywhere

2007-10-09T12:11:00.000-04:00

Since I had a request to post since good ol' Mark was getting to one of my friends, I decided to post some of my favortie pictures. I'm taking the easy way out since I don't have a ton of time today, but hopefully you'll enjoy anyway.

Amazing Fall sunset in Minnesota.

One of many scenic spots on Guam.

Sunsets in Minnesota are really beautiful, especially when you capture a couple of loons with it.

Waves crashing along the coast in California.

Stay tuned, a new recipe coming soon. I know you all are starving for my fabulous cuisine. It's been a while.

Have a great day!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Comments! (and a Blog tour)

2007-10-06T12:11:00.000-04:00

I love them, I want them... I NEED them. Pathetic, I know, but that's me. That's my personality type. I thrive on feedback, the atta boys and way to goes. I want to know that you are reading and hopefully enjoying, but if you're not, I want to know that too... I can handle it. And let me know what you want to hear more of... places we have been, what to and not to do when there, the kids, mine and E's childhoods, more of my craziness... anything goes.

To place a comment, look at the bottom of each individual post. There is a place titled 'comments'. :) Click on that and it will bring you to a new window, where you can type your comment. You can post anonymously, use your gmail or blogger ID, or type in whatever crazy name you would like to use. You can also click on that link to read the comments that others have written.

Now, let's take a look around...

On the right hand side of my blog you will find our profile... I haven't really done much with that. Below, you will find the 'Blog Archive'. This is where you will find all of my previous posts, in order by month. I didn't do this myself, blogger helped, but I love the organization. Can you say 'Freaky Weirdo?'.

Below that is a link to my super secret email address. Click on that and your email program will magically open a new mail message to send to me. I love technology!

And then, there are the labels. I try to place a label on each individual post I write... children, life, photography, you get the idea. So, say you are short on time and just want to know what's going on with Buddy the cat, click on 'Buddy' and that will bring you to all the posts about him. Fabulous, I know.

Last, but not least, there is a list of the blogs I cannot start my day without reading. Click on any one of those and it will bring you directly to their blogs.

And before I forget, anytime you see this (word written in blue ink), you are able to click on it and will be magically whisked away to a new window about any number of various topics, websites, etc. You just never know what you'll get. Just don't forget to come back and finish reading.

One more thing... if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen, you will find a map with dots on it. Supposedly, this map lets me (and you) know who is reading and from where. I don't always believe it, but it's fun to look at the dots and see when someone from India looks at my blog.

A test to see if you are still with me...

Who is the man pictured above, who is also coincidentally qouted? And no fair googling... we are going on pure high school knowledge retention. The first person who gets it right will forever be know as the first person to get it right. The pure satisfaction that comes with that should be enough. Something to strive for.

Happy Saturday!

Seriously?? Is This Really Necessary??

2007-10-04T22:52:00.000-04:00

As a military family, you become used to moving often and know what you can and can't take with you. So, when you move, you always pack up that random box that you can't bear to throw away and bring it to your friends or neighbors... lightbulbs, frozen sausage, a package of batteries, candles and cleaning supplies. Surely someone will be able to use them.

By now, you all know that I am all about organization and efficiency and finding an easier way to do things. But this? Come on. I recently acquired the 'Power Sprayer' when a good friend moved... it shoots a continuous spray of liquid so that you don't have to incesantly pull the trigger that comes with a bottle of cleaner.

That must have been one seriously tired cleaning person to come up with this invention.

Happy 2nd Birthday Bean!!

2007-10-03T18:15:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, k turned 2 this past Sunday and she enjoyed every last minute of her 'happy, happy birthday'. We started out the day with presents from mom, dad, and e. She almost fell over when she saw her own doll furniture set with her very own baby stroller. She absolutely LOVES babies.

Then she found her car. Actually, we had to pull her away from the stroller to point out the car to her. She has been coveting every neighborhood childs car for the past year so we figured it was time for her own.

We moved on to a healthy breakfast of frosting... Dad's great idea. The girls thought so too.

We threw her a luau party later in the afternoon and celebrated with our friends. The look on her face when everybody sang happy birthday to her was priceless. She came a long way from not wanting to have anybody at her house for her birthday.

She received a lot of babies... I believe 5 total, and she screamed and jumped for joy as we opened each one. Her boyfriend from next door gave her a matching vacuum so they will able to keep a clean home together... always important. e's boyfriend and little brother brought her a backpack which she is able to store all of her baby accessories in. Our new KY friends brought wonderful bathtub paint for my tub to forever be a canvas... thank you! The Grandmas did a great job of picking out clothes for her. I apologize for the list, but this is serving double duty for me... my memory just isn't what it used to be and neither of the girls have any sort of scrapbook or baby book so I need to write it somewhere. :)

I cannot believe that this tiny, sleeping, innocent baby has turned into our crazy super k, kk, bean.

We love you!!!