Christmas 2007

Hello!!! Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful week. One set of my in-laws are in town. They got here Sunday and aren't leaving until next week sometime. The kids have been having fun! I put captions on the pictures, but for some reason I can't get them to show up here. JJ and Maddie love to take baths. They recieved new towels for Christmas, but Maddie just can't seem to figure out what is on JJ's head! JJ gots lots of things with wheels on them! He loves to drive around his cars/trucks/trains. We got a bucket of snow dumped on us last Sat and it is still here! It was nice to have a white Christmas after not having one last year. And you can see JJ is still putting things in rows. We got a box of oranges, grapefruit and lemons and he had a blast with them. I don't have a picture of it up yet, but JJ got a wonderful rocking chair from grandma and grandpa that looks so cute!

Who do I look like?

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

JJ absolutely LOVES PB&J's. It must be some sort of mandatory childhood love. He'll eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner every single a day! And some days he'll eat two at at time. At least there is some protein in the peanut butter, right? And can't I count the jelly as a fruit????

John says "What time is it?" and JJ's response is "Peanut Butter Jelly Time!" He then runs around the house screaming this over and over.

Pretties

Maddie got a new "pretty" in the mail yesterday! It is the most adorable thing! I wish I could go back to Michigan and shop for some more.

Our New Pet

Well, not really. Apparently we have the most comfortable front porch furniture. This cat is always sleeping on it when I get up in the morning. There seems to be two stray cats wandering the base. The other one is a tabby and tailless and John thought that was very strange.

Maddie

I found this photography studio in town that does special kids photo shoots every month. This month one of the specials appealed to me so I took Maddie in! You don't get to pick which shot they print for you, but I figure they'll do a good job. They want you to come back, don't they?

Random Pictures

Emeregency Room Fun

JJ thought it a good idea to drink the rest of the Benadryl this morning. Luckily there wasn't a whole lot left, but enough to be concerned. I called poison control. She wanted me to call 911 since I didn't know where the nearest hospital was. They preferred to send the troops out. Holy cow. The fire department showed up, the base police, and then the ambulance. They figured he'd be ok, but to be on the safe side we loaded the kids up and drove over to the ER (after they gave us directions--and we still got lost). JJ was so unthrilled to be there. He didn't want the hospital wrist band on and screamed for five minutes because that was on his wrist. Then we had to weigh him and that was another screaming match. As well as getting the thing taped to his toe to measure his vitals. After all that we sat in the room for a while. Luckily there was a TV and it just so happened that his favorite show was on, Little Einstein's. After an hour or so we got the clear to head home.

(The only reason I got this picture was John happened to bring in his cell phone. I looked at JJ and told John this would be a picture perfect moment, belly hanging out, legs spread, eating raisins; too bad I don't have my camera in the diaper bag. At which point whipped out the good ol' cell phone. What would we do without those things?)

Maddie's Crawling!!!

Elfin' Around

Thanks Tanya for your inspiration...here's what the L fam looks like.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1112568595

Jackpot!

Today John and I decided to head over to the base club for their annual Holiday FREE event. I say this because we literally decided to go 30 minutes before it started. I thought it would be super lame and even had dinner ready for when we got home, which we'll be eating tomorrow. They had h'ordeurves (more like a 5 course meal), bouncy castles for the kids and mommy, Santa, and local vendors to include free chair massages. You know I took advantage of that! They also had free Krispy Kreme donuts. We currently have a dozen and a half of those on the counter. John will be taking those to work or they'll all end up on my hips and thighs. JJ has found that these are his new "Love." He ate two while we were there and asked for one more on the way home. He didn't get that one.

Some of you reading this have been to club functions before. I am use to free meaning a handful of fried foods, which they never have enough of. Not the case here. They had two huge subs lining the tables with, lots of veggies and dip, meatballs, crab rangoons, crab legs, hot dogs, make your own nachos, chili, cheese and crackers(they even had my favorite--brie!), and fresh fruit. They had all this and the place was a ghost town. BUT, I am not complaining. We won a $50 gift card to Babies R Us and $30 to Kid to Kid.

We took the kids over to see Santa and JJ wasn't having any of that. Maddie even gave him a "who are you?" look.

Target Journey

This was my Target journey this evening to try and win a free gift card. Yeah, I was bored...and JJ liked watching the guy push the shopping cart.

Pictures

Here some pictures finally. In the first one Maddie is wearing a dress/sweater set her grandma made her with a matching hat. If you will notice JJ's hair in the first picture he is in, it is cute and little boy like. Then you will notice that it got short, really short, in a later picture. Let's just say, we won't go there...He is really into climbing ladders with daddy.
Maddie is loving her table food. And crawls everywhere. This morning she chased the vaccuum around while John was using it. It was pretty funny. You will see how JJ is obsessed with putting things all in a row. I have only caught the fruit loops on the couch with the camera, but he does it with his cars, the magnets on the fridge and probably lots of other things I can't think of at the moment.

Take the Test

To see which presidential candate's views most resemble yours for the upcoming election.

Go to www.glassbooth.org

I am not sick, dying or dead! --Just my computer

I have wanted a few times to get on here and blog about something or another since I last posted, but you see we decided to install Norton 360 on this computer for virus and security protection. I knew it would slow the computer down a tad, but man I didn't expect it to be tis bad. On top of it all, the computer has a nasty virus I have been trying to fight for the past 3 days. How is it that I buy reputable virus software and I get a virus that I just can't seem to get rid of? I am thinking of returning this product and finding something else. Any suggestions would be a great help!

So what have I been up to, you ask? I ventured out to the squadron spouses' meeting on Sat. I have to admit I was a bit nervous on the drive over to the squadron. How were these women going to treat me? Were they going to be as hoighty toighty as the last bunch I tried to hang out with? Nonetheless, I brought my platter of pumpkin bread I had baked and marched up to the second floor of the building. What I had been hoping was true! They were friendly, talkative and a fun bunch! We made baby/toddler blankets for Project Linus. They donate baby/kid blankets to hospitals, women's shelters, etc for kids in need. It's a nice foundation.

I recently found a website sahm.meetup.com. (SAHM = stay at home mom) I was looking for a mom's group where I could meet new people. It is an interesting site. The moderator of the group I joined sets different fun things to do with the kids. We went to the Barnes and Noble story hour on Tuesday. It was fun minus the old lady who wasn't very kid friendly if you can believe that. The moms that came were really nice. One just lives down the road from me. And last night she scheduled a mom's night out at a mexican restaurant and then we splurged and found some ice cream.

The weather is finally cooling down a bit here and I am really enjoying it! On a different note, JJ has figured out that he "lubs" pop. We have gotten him to sit on the potty on several occasions without any luck yet. Maddie just baffles me everyday! She is so completely different than JJ. Two nights ago she pulled herself to standing in the tub and can now pull herslef to standing in her crib! She crawls all over and puts everything in her mouth.

I'll post pictures when I have more time. This computer issue is driving me insane!

Family Pics

We went to Sears tonight to get these done. JJ wasn't very cooperative, but you can't really tell in these pictures!

A Picture of Me at 6 months

So here is a picture of me that my mom just sent me. I thought I would share it!

Another fun present that came today!

And some yummy minty body scrub, lotion, lipstuff and body wash! So refreshing in the shower!

I do have to say I recieve a dozen beautiful red roses last night too!

We tried to go out last night, but when we tried to drop off the kids at the daycare, they weren't home. So we ended getting food and going home. We were pooped anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

I also signed up with The Angel Company and received all of my start up supplies yesterday! What a treat! I can't wait to get all of my stamps put together.

Birthday Wishes

I couldn't pass this one up! I had to share!
Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the well wishes! Here is one of my favorite things I recieved today!

Happy Halloween

I took the kids while John stayed back and passed out candy tonight. They don't mess around with Halloween here! There were hoards of kids in the streets. The MP's were out passing out glow sticks and flashing buttons to the kids and riding around on golf carts keeping kids out of trouble. Our street was full of all kinds of little trick or treaters! We must live on THE street to trick or treat on.

JJ couldn't get enough of the evening. He dragged his little bucket for over and hour and refused to let me carry it for him. Maybe he was thinking I might steal it? Hmmm, do I like candy? Never! haha. I brought him back while before the evening ended and made him get in line to get candy from daddy. He was is such a candy zone that he didn't even notice who he was getting the candy from. I think his thoughts were "give me more, give me more!"

A Random Day at the Park

I took the kids for a walk today and we stopped by the playground to let JJ get some of that crazy energy out of him.

Before we went to the park, I was kind of ignoring JJ's ramblings. Apparently I shouldn't be! He was laying on the floor where we change his diaper saying the word diaper over and over! Hello Mom! Get a clue! Oops!

Out for a walk...

And the kids both fell asleep yesterday! If I had on my walking shoes I would have walked for hours. It was so peaceful outside.

Goodbye Grandpa Car

Hello new one! John finally talked me into letting him trade in his car for something more "manly." He wanted a "real" truck but got this Chevy Tahoe instead. We really like it.

Pumpkin Carving

JJ was completely disgusted with the guts!

Ta Da!

The Great Pumpkin Patch

Well not really, but we stopped and let JJ look at them. They were really expensive so we opted to go find them elsewhere. That will happen this weekend. I just had to take JJ's picture with all the pumpkins. He was way more interested in the rocks they were sitting on than the actual pumpkins, but oh well!

It's Fall. I love it!!!

This is what happens when my child gets into the mascara. Mental note--put the mascara in the medicine cabinet and not the drawer! We don't need eyeballs poked out.

We made yummy caramel apples last night. JJ didn't understand why he couldn't eat all the upwrapped caramels before they melted!

This one's for you Susan! Maddie in Pink and Brown...

Here is my new toy. Well, at least my new exercise toy. The family room at the gym is not JJ friendly. John insists he'll be jogging with the kids too...

6 Months

Madeline turned 6 months yesterday and she is growing and doing so many new things! This morning at her check-up, she weighed an even 16 pounds, was 27 inches long and her head measured a whopping 42 cm. That means her head is not such a peanut anymore! She had to get her shots and that was no fun, but when are they?
As I sat here on the computer a few minutes ago, I had to ask John if he had sat her up. When I sat her on the floor she had flopped over and was playing with the floor vent. I looked again and she was sitting up!! She sat herself up for the first time. She probably be crawling in the next few weeks.

The Mom Song

Ahhhh....

Peace and quiet. I have been craving that for a long time! The kids are both napping, John is at work for a little while and I have the windows open for some much needed fresh air. It is a beautiful day!!!

Hmmm, where do I start? It first started in Grand Forks. Base housing made it mandatory to recycle. They gave you a nice big bin and you had to separate everything. Ugh. They then made it so you didn't have to separate. After moving to San Antonio, I had to seek out recycling. I got a small, I mean really small, green plastic box I could use. Well, shoot, I could fit two milk jugs in that thing when we were going through at least 4 a week. This wasn't going to work, but for the time being it was going to have to work and I was going to have to shove as much in that box as I could. We eventually got the nice big container on wheels. Yay!

Living on base again, I assumed(you should never assume!) that we would get the nice big container on wheels. Well, we did. One problem -- they don't pick them up! I am not sure where my need to recycle comes from. I think I really just want to help keep our home, the Earth, clean. I try to do many things to "Go Green." I bought Maddie cloth diapers, I recycle as much as I can when I can, we use the new spiral flourescent light bulbs. And our next vehicle, when the van dies, will be a hybrid.

So back to the recycling dilemma. Apparently the base ran out of money to have a recycling program. This frustrates me. That means the entire base is throwing away tons of office paper and supplies when they could easily be recycled. I know the government has a policy that states Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. It's just so frustrating to me that the base can't even follow it's own policies. Hopefully this will get resolved soon. As for now, I am going to collect what I can from the house and use the drop-off points at the local grocery stores. At least I am doing my part to be green.

Well, some of the house is looking half-way normal

The living room is finally livable and the dining room is put together. The backyard is in need of some grass, which won't happen until spring. There are three rose bushes in the bark. We are going to transplant them to the front because they are right in the way of JJ's play area. And the bark will probably become grass as that is Cody's favorite place to leave surprises.

We put some packing paper on the kitchen floor for JJ's entertainment. Maddie got in his way and he got a little upset! Can you see she is finally growing some hair?!?!?

Think Pink

Finally, some pictures for ya'll

The first few pictures are from our Michigan visit. The rest are here at the house!

You have to watch The Office to understand this one...

Pam and Jim are dating!!!! I have been waiting forever for them to get together!

The Inside

Here is the living room looking out the back of the house. The kitchen is through the doorway on the left.
Here is the kitchen. It is a decent size and I like the window over the sink. And we get a gas stove!
Here is the dining room to the left of the kitchen and behind the garage.

Here is the master bathroom. And the pantry is in a funny spot--the garage! I have to go into the garage to get to the pantry. One plus, I don't have to drag all the groceries into the kitchen! See the canned goods in the pantry? Myself and my mother-in-law canned them while we were in Michigan.

The House

Here is a picture of the house. It's a duplex. We haven't gotten the keys yet to get pictures of the inside. In fact, I haven't seen the inside yet. John has. Tomorrow I'll be unpacking!