Chronicles of The Mommy

They say it cant be done ...

2011-12-29T23:59:00.001-07:00

Okay, maybe that's too dramatic lol but, for the most part, I think people think we (I) am reaching for stars much too far beyond my grasp. So, it won't stop me, of course, but I am thinking about starting a new blog focused on our self-sufficient ish endeavors. This blog, I think, should go back to focusing on homeschooling and mommy things. I hate to add another blog, but I'm hoping to get more connected online and I wonder if the homeschooling interest will be bored by the gardening, etc. And, more importantly, these are two subjects that having clear notes will help me plan and adjust. I think the seperation will help me be more organized. Maybe one day I'll figure out how to have several blogs in one! So, I'll update later with a locale for anyone who'd like to chat about composting and energy efficiency ... oh and feeding a family of 6 on a tight budget (and only one of those 6 is a child lol).

So, for now, check out my view from my balcony!

Snow, snow, snow, SNOW!

2011-12-13T12:56:00.001-07:00

We made it to our house over the weekend. Still no internet, bit who needs it with all this SNOW? Ok, I do, but we'll figure it out!

I want to be like Tori ... Spelling and Hipster Homemakers

2011-11-30T14:31:00.001-07:00

So, it's sort of funny how I get interested in something and soon it seems like the world is also interested. It's, obviously, more that I tend to surround myself with people, articles, programs that center around my interest, but it's still funny sometimes. Yesterday I had a couple of hours to myself (sorta) and watched a few episodes from last season's Tori and Dean. Love her or hate her has little bearing on my thoughts about it right now, it's more that she seemed to be pushing toward a similar (if on a significantly higher budget) lifestyle that we are embarking on. Of course, I can't say, "Oh, chickens are the next purchase," and run out to buy them, but the idea is there.

Mainly, I watched and wondered how she does it. Must be some serious energy in that girl! I know that we are seeing an edited version of her life and I'm sure there are far more bad days than what we see (however, I loved seeing her facing some 3 year old issues while Dean was away). It still makes me think ... I want that! I want to be so enthralled with my child that I have less frustrated days. I want to have tons of ideas and then take those ideas and make something from them. I love that.

Anyway, I had planned to post about this yesterday, but for some reason blogger was being a child and refused to open. Then, today I hop onto facebook and see this article: Hipster Homemakers and "Extreme Domesticity" by Rebecca Cusey. I would love to just copy/paste the article here, but it'll really just take up so much space. I encourage you to read it and then let me know what you think. Essentially, Ms. Cusey describes the modern housewife/stay-at-home-mom as some kind of rebellion against feminism and a life choice that should only be made if you just love it ... you know, those people who are just naturally talented in the garden, with their kids, at the stove, etc. She talks about new methods being unequivocally better, simply because new must mean better. Another of the huge beefs I have with this article is that those of us who are "hipster homemaker's" are doing this out of an excess of wealth (ha!) and neurosis. Maybe I can't argue against being neurotic ... hmm.

Now, I don't know this author, so maybe her words aren't translating the way she means them to (something she, herself, claims responsibility for should her points be misconstrued). I have a lot of arguments to this article. First, I don't live this mom/gardener/homeschooler/cook, etc, life because I am just so damn good at it. I'm not, not at all! I might, on some level, even be happier if I was back in my working woman lifestyle. Surely we'd have more money because we're fortunate right now to live near so much family. Would I be happier, though, hitting the drive-through because everyone was too tired to cook or shop? Or when I came home and spent an hour with my son before we went to bed? The idea of being drained from an outside-of-the-home career and then trying to pull together a bit of energy for my family and home just sounds so sad to me.

Having fresh eggs and produce from our own garden may not save a ton of money, but putting the effort in, watching our work grow and then the satisfaction we get from what we receive is so much bigger than saving, or not saving, money. It brings us responsibility and a relationship with the world around us. Composting allows us to do something productive with the waste we generate ... and we actually learn why that's a good thing. Having such an active hand in my family is FAR more satisfying then being able to buy more. I don't have to wait for someone else to tell me what my child is learning or struggling with. I'm there. I see it.

And, on to this "excess of wealth" comment. So funny! Now, maybe that's the case for a celebrity or someone who is wealthy, but who cares? I mean, teaching your family to garden, to raise animals, to do things for yourself ... how can that ever be a bad thing? Shocking, truly! But, for most of us, there isn't excess wealth. But, what's so odd about this article is that Ms. Cusey goes from accusing this modern homesteader to having too much money to saying that instead of trying to save money by recycling, growing food, etc, mom's should go out and get a job. That this extra income is better for our kids than having less and having one or both parents at home. What?! I'm very confused by all of this.

Feminists who want to work, go for it! But, isn't feminism a movement to allow women to make their choices? Just because my husband goes to work and comes home to a (sometimes) clean house, dinner (usually) in the oven and clothes (now and then) clean and put away, doesn't mean that my lifestyle challenges that of the feminist movement. Not at all! I boost that movement because I am doing what I choose; what I deem best for my family. I'm not doing what I think society expects of me. I'm making a choice to live the way that I think provides my child the best opportunities and creates a home that is safe, loving and supportive. I am doing what I think is one of the most important, necessary jobs ... in our life. Now, if someone wants to live a different life, well, go for it! Just stop analyzing everyone else, look around, find what works for you the best and use that. Let the rest go. Women should be the very last people criticizing other women for choosing to live a certain way. Men shouldn't complain either ... they either get a career woman who brings home the bacon or a woman who fries it up in a pan!

What can I do?

2011-10-23T23:55:00.001-07:00

As the days speed by, I find myself wondering what I can do ... for myself, my family, the world. It's been theory up until now. I recycle. What else? What do I do now that is leading my family to a better way of life?

1. I recycle. Which I've said. I try to reuse and I have more than enough reusable shopping bags (despite the fact that I forget them a lot). But, I need to do more.

2. I make our own soap. I haven't bought hand, body, shower, etc soap in over a year and a half. I would like to reopen my Etsy shop next year, but we'll see about that.

3. I make our own laundry detergent. I also haven't bought store laundry soap in the same amount of time.

Goals:
By this time next year I am hoping that we have had our fill, or are still having our fill, of veggies and fruit from our garden. By the following year, I am hoping that we are spending almost nothing on produce from the store.

Almost immediately, we will have our composter up and running so that we are greatly reducing the amount of garbage we are sending to a landfill, while also providing all of the great dirt we will need for our garden.

Chickens. Still debating on how and what we'll be doing with chickens. I need to research more to see if this will be a viable option for us to cut back with. Will having our own eggs be financially advantageous or not? Will we be able to barter/sell the surplus, if any?

I'm also hoping to learn about bartering over this next year. I'd like to really be able to reduce the amount of money that we spend on things that people around us have a surplus of.

I think it will be interesting to look back next year to see how far we've come!

Crafty updates

2011-10-13T14:19:00.004-07:00

Well, I'm really good at coming up with ideas. I'm not so good at actually going through with those ideas. The faerie houses took hold of us and we've had a lot of fun! I'll be honest in that I did most of this first batch, however, I wanted to get some experience before Monkey had questions I couldn't answer. The first is a decent size, maybe 8-10 inches square. We cut a door and added in a window. We also carved in some other decorations and Monkey helped with that before baking. Still waiting to make a roof and paint, but for now it's fun to see!

I was expecting them to come out of the oven hard, but after an hour and a half, they were tough, but not hard. Over the last few days they have hardened more, though.

Monkey wanted to take a picture too! This was all pre-baking.

After baking, I used four clay "sticks" to glue the walls together. Adding a roof will hopefully add in some stability!

Monkey's carving contribution, unfortunately it doesn't show up too well.

We also made many small little houses and mushrooms. We painted three to give to a few friends the other night. I wish I could do all that photoshop magic so the colors were better, but, c'est la vie! This one went to a good friend of ours ... Monkey, of course, picked the colors!

I have also been thinking a lot about how we can not only save money, but eat better and more naturally. There are three things I don't think I will ever go to the store for again: Laundry soap,

Faerie Homes

2011-10-04T23:26:00.002-07:00

There are a lot of things we are looking forward to in this new adventure. What has my attention tonight is providing homes for all of the little faeries who are sure to inhabit such a lovely place! This will be such a fun project for our family and friends to connect us tightly to nature.

Clay, recycled boxes, stones, twigs, leaves and flowers are a few of the things we'll use. I'm looking at ideas tonight and we'll get started tomorrow. I'm really hoping that over the next couple of months all of our friends and family here will help us so that we'll have a part of them with us in Parks. I don't know if it's obvious or if I've mentioned it before, but are so blessed! We have patiently waited for the beautiful friends we now have. It makes me sad to leave, but also so happy to know that they are in our lives, whether we live here or somewhere else!

I've stumbled upon not only many images, but also some cool websites on creating a faerie house. What I'd love to find is a website that includes not only creating a faerie home, but also some of the natural correspondences. This is so exciting!

Who doesn't love Faerie??? :)

Fun websites:
Fairy Houses
Fairy Woodland

Country Living Around the Corner

2011-10-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

We have found a house! 2.5 acres and massive inside, we are so very excited! It's a unique house and will fit us perfectly. We will have room to have lots of guests and fit them all comfortably. We will also have room for gardens and eventually horses and chickens ... fresh eggs and beautiful rides in the Kaibab Forest. We will even get to cut our own Christmas Tree!!

Even though we've lived in two houses together before as well as own a home in Texas, this is feeling like a brand new beginning and it feels like this is our first house. Can't wait to share more about our country life ... from our gorgeous living room!

Country Girl

2011-09-18T03:11:00.004-07:00

Some might read this and think Texas rubbed off on me, but the reality is that while I grew up in a decent sized city, the country was just down the road. In fact, even in our city yard, we had a pretty big garden filled with veggies we ate throughout the summer and even into winter. I can remember when we "tried out" having a garden. We rented a plot (okay, I was like, maybe 10, so the whole logistics of it are a mystery to me!) in a farmer's field and grew corn, lots of corn. There were other veggies too, I just don't remember. I can still picture stopping alongside the road to weed and otherwise check on our garden. I even remember the first time I checked an ear of corn and found worms ... yuck! But, such a memory!

The idea of living out in the country has always been in my mind. Fixing food from our garden and using fresh herbs from the windowsill brings a smile to my face (trust me, I'm not thinking about the weeding!). McH grew up with farm animals and I know he misses that. So, when we started looking for a place to rent, we were very excited to see that we had some options that were not only out in the country with room for gardens, but also properties that would allow for animals, maybe someday even horses!

We knew that living here wouldn't be a forever thing and even if we don't move in December (in time for the Spring semester), we will eventually move. We have crunched numbers, searched for the perfect towns, dreamed of country life and ultimately decided that we are going to just have faith. Faith that this lifestyle that seems so beautiful can be ours. Maybe not forever ... or ... maybe forever! We don't know, but hopefully this Christmas we'll have snow and in the summer we'll have veggies!

There are many paths to the top of the mountain.

2011-08-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

It's funny. We have 2 laptops and 2 desktops in this house. My mom rarely touches the computer and while my dad reads the news, he isn't monopolizing a computer. McH and Monkey, on the other hand, definitely log hours, and, being honest, I put in a good showing online at night. So, why is it that I have such a hard time getting to my blog? Mainly because 1 desktop is a dinosaur, 1 laptop is at the kiddie desk and a pain to use (when Monkey lets me near it!) and my laptop is hooked up to the tv and not conducive to blogging. Which leaves the other desktop ... brand spanking new, but won't seem to read my SD card for pictures! I do have my phone, which seems to use blogger pretty easily, except for my silly signature. I think that will be going away so I can blog easily.

Anyway, the title. I was reading over at the Secular Homeschool Forum's and one of the ladies wrote that line in her response about Waldorf schools. It really made me think. There are many path's to the top of the mountain. Some are winding, some shoot straight to the top and some circle the whole, big mountain. The really funny thing is that two people can start on the same path, yet the path will lead them in very different ways.

I'm proud that McH and I, two fairly quiet people, are really forging along our own path ... taking input from the hikers around us, but making the calls that work best for us (even when they aren't the most fun at the time). We try to be open-minded and free-thinkers and try to pass that on to our Monkey. Will we make mistakes or ever make it to the top? I sure hope so!

This week has been the official "start of school" week for us. McH went back to school (after a lot of stress) and we started the MbtP curriculum. I am loving it and I think Monkey is as well. It doesn't take an inordinate amount of prep on my part and it flows together very nicely. We're also using Time4Learning and it can sometimes be a little strange, but mostly it's working for us.

One thing this week has impressed upon me is that I need to continue helping my two guys with reaching their goals, but that I also need to realize some of my own. So, to begin that I need to write them down ... can't stick to them if you don't clearly know what they are!

1. Connect more! Whether it be online or not, I need to make connections with people.
2. Blog more! My goal is to develop this blog into a place where I am sharing our homeschool progress and ideas, as well as sharing the struggle to find age-appropriate resources to teach Monkey about our beliefs.
3. Write more! I have written nothing more than blogs or scribbles in 2011. Not good!

So, there ya have it. I know there are some amazing people out there in the world and I just have this feeling that I'm about to meet some new folks!

Wowza!

2011-07-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

We have had a wild summer so far! We had a great trip in early June to Texas. The first few days were spent in Dallas/Fort Worth at a few great museums and aquariums. P really was excited to see and touch a few pretty cool animals!

Daddy and P checking out some stingrays AND feeding them!

P chillin' out with the sharks.

"Did you really catch that Monkey?"

We couldn't survive this heat without our daily (multiple times) swims! I can't get over how amazing he's doing in the water. Saying that he swims like a fish is an understatement. One of these days I'll figure out how to take videos! lol

My brother and his family were here last week, so we took advantage of having so many people here and had pictures taken. We had to improvise for a few of them and here's a cute shot of three of the great-grands.

My beautiful Nani, with 4 of her great-grandbabies.

And, the latest addiction ... phone games. They sure are cute, but I'm close to tossing the EVO's into the pool (kidding).

Anyway, our books for this coming school year came in today and they look fantastic! Daddy and P took some time to look through them, I'll get my turn soon. I've definitely lagged and allowed myself to really enjoy summertime without much in the way of responsibility. Most adults don't get that chance so I'm savoring it. I'm planning to try and take more time to prep for September. I really do need to get more networked with other homeschooling families, especially since we don't have a homeschool community here. But I have super smart kid and I'm really excited to see where we go this year. And, I can't wait to share my excitement as I create a path for us and then watch as we follow it, divert from it, change directions from it, go back to it and eventually find our way to where we are supposed to be!

Mom's day and Home schooling update

2011-05-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

Hi all, what busy-ness we've had around here! I had a great time for Mom's day, my sweet and thoughtful hubs and kiddo bought me a new bathing suit, cover-up and a box of amazing chocolates. They also had gone that morning to Lowes and made me an adorable flower vase with a heart chalkboard on it. I can't believe what a lucky girl I am!!

NaniRose cuddling up Jazzy after a swim.

The youngest moms playing with the kids (me and Tia). Notice what the dads are doing in the background??

Bug with his "planets".

Homeschooling this week was fantastic! We learned about habitats, specifically the desert. He did really great and I was so impressed when he told NaniRose what habitat means! We also did some gardening and, apparently, some crossword puzzles! ;)

Replanting our tomatoes.

Watering.

So smart, he's learned to do the crossword in the Newspaper!

Be Jealous.

2011-05-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

While McH finishes up a Geography exam, I thought I'd post a few swimming pics. Our little man swam all by himself on Friday. We haven't swam all weekend because it's been windy, but one of these days we'll be back at it! I couldn't believe he did it! It was like walking ... we knew he could do it for a while, but he just needed time to gather his confidence. And, when he was ready he didn't want to stop!

Anyway, I know my northern friends are jealous, but don't be! In a couple of months it will be hotter than you know what! No one will be jealous then!

This is bug showing off how he can put his head underwater. Now, please tell me why he fights me pouring water on his head when I wash his hair!!

My beautiful water baby.

My two most handsome men. Love those two!

And ... just one of the many, many amazing sunsets. Every night someone yells, "Wow, what a sunset".

On the precipice of Wk 2

2011-05-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday here in the AZ (well, pretty much everywhere hee hee) and I've spent most of the day going over last week; how it went, how I'd planned it to go and what could or couldn't have been different. One thing I realized was just how wonderful the flexibility is. I knew that I was planning and expecting in a very rigid way, however, that is just me and how I am. I fully expected and intended that every plan, thought and list would be changed.

On Tuesday and Thursdays, Monkey goes to my cousin's for a few hours. Right now it's in the morning which isn't the best for us, so I'm sure (as it was last week) it'll be a hit or miss sort of event. But, when he does go, he has a bunch of fun with his cousin's and the other little's that she takes care of.

Last Thursday it was just not happening. He went to bed late and I found myself stressing out about him getting enough sleep and whether or not to wake him in time or let him sleep. And then it occurred to me. Keep him home! He doesn't have to go. My mom's not working anymore so if I really need some time to myself I can get it. On Monday we tried out the schedule. It worked fairly well, but when Wednesday rolled around, we all felt like going to a movie. We saw Rio and had a blast! While the schedule was gone, we still fit some lessons in and it solidified for me the idea that we can learn and still fly by the seat of our pants (not my favorite thing!).

This coming week we'll be finishing up our Alphabet book in a quasi-lapbook format. Looking good so far! He's also really into mazes, so I printed off a few more for him, along with more letter recognition worksheets. I want to make sure he's recognizing all of the letters. We've started BOB books and, while he is ABLE to read them, he is lacking the confidence. I'll probably pull Mat out once on Monday and see if he still freaks out.

So, we'll see where we are next week! :)

Our room and Earth Day projects

2011-04-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so hopefully I'll be able to update a little more timely from now on! We had a great 1st week! Still waiting for the chalkboard to go up, but I'm keeping my finger's crossed for morning! But, here are a few pictures ... we're all so proud of it!

P's desk area.

The chalkboard will go above the colored baskets.

Our reading are and fun new chair.

Alphabet wallies above the patio door.

Last week we made two Earth Day projects. The first were watercolored bookmarks with a pressed flower. Unfortunately our flowers didn't dry enough (who knew that was possible in the desert?!) and they are turning black. Boo! P watercolored on index cards and then we cut them in half. I found a few cute Earth Day pictures that we taped on and then we laminated them. Cute, but too bad about the flowers LOL

We also made a paper mache globe. We got super messy and had a blast!

P stirring up the "goop".

Finished for the night!

Day 2: painting lots and lots of blue.

Mommy painted (not very well) the continents, but P painted the Arctic Circle and Antarctica (well, he painted where Santa lives and where the penguins live LOL).

And, he finished product, hanging above our reading chair! =)

I'm really hoping that in the future I'll leave myself time to blog more ... still sharing pictures, but actually writing more about our experiences. Anyway ... Happy Learning!

Easter fun!

2011-04-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

Pictures are finally loaded!! W00t! So, here are a few from our fun Easter Sunday at my aunt and uncle's house. Everyone had a blast in the pool. The two boys were crazy, jumping over and over! We tried to get them to jump at the same time, but they couldn't get the 1-2-3 JUMP concept LOL

Here Tia and her little "bittles". Man that little chica can rock a bikini!

After pooltime, we were very crafty and lured the kiddos out of the pool with promises of an egg hung! Too bad I couldn't get bug into more than undies! (I was lucky to get him in those!)

Bittles finding an egg.

That face!!! Oooo ... I love that girl!

The boys helped NeeNee put the finishing touches on the deserts.

The pretty princess getting her grub on.

Had a great time, hope everyone else did!

Picture issues, brief update!

2011-04-27T21:22:00.001-07:00

I have been trying since Sunday to upload pictures and they JUST WON'T DO IT! Argh!

We started up homeschooling on Monday and despite a few little rough spots, we had a lot of fun! The room is about 20 minutes away from being finished. McH finished up the blackboard and I painted a border on it today. He hung the curtain and we'll hang the blackboard and final wallies tomorrow. If I have to take a picture and upload it from my phone, I will!

I'm also looking at a few additions to what we're doing over the summer.

Time4Learning is a website with different lessons ... haven't looked too much at it, but I know people who use it and it's on sale this month. $5 for the month is enough incentive for me to try it LOL

Little Passports This looks like one of the coolest programs I've seen. Each month two characters send the student a package filled with items from a country along with a letter about their visit. Sounds like so much fun ... I'm wondering if I'll get a bigger kick out of it? Think we'll try it for at least one country.

The Quirkles This I saw from a giveaway on The Secular Homeschool Community. It mixes science and reading. It looks absolutely adorable and I'm thinking it might be something to look at once the school year starts up. You have until April 30th if you want to stop by and enter!

Spelling City Here is another AWESOME giveaway from The Secular Homeschool Community. Spelling and Vocab made fun ... who knew?!

Anyway, I am hoping that tomorrow I'll have some pictures to share! :)

Here's what we've been growing ... I mean, doing!

2011-04-16T01:59:00.000-07:00

Turns out my kid loves to grow things! We planted Sugar Baby Watermelons (of all things!) and surprise, surprise they sprouted in two days! Aren't they adorable?

My gorgeous baby!

And ... the winds came, knocked our Sugar Babies to the curb and the poor things just couldn't pull through. Sooooo, back to the beginning! We picked up some new supplies ... Taken' it to the next level!

Poor kid. He has my grandpa's smile ... adorable.

We started all but one row in our seed starter, nothing popping through yet, but we remain hopeful.

Starting a garden isn't the easiest thing when you live in the desert. So, we converted a turtle sand/water, uh, thing, for his garden. We even got a little umbrella that might (probably won't) help with the scorching sun that shows up around now. Either way, we're having fun getting dirty and learning about how things grow!

Homeschool room is ALMOST finished! We have a chair being delivered tomorrow that will hopefully make a great spot for reading together and we are just finishing up our blackboard. I had a few pictures, but for some reason the files didn't work ... so ... SOON!

Three weeks later ...

2011-04-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

... and we are well on our way to officially being a homeschool family! I honestly think that everyone here is pretty excited. Watching Bug learn has reminded the grandparents of the awe they felt when my brother and I were young and McH and I are loving the first time around with all of this awe business.

I'm digging through the internet trying to find the right curriculum. Not an easy thing to do, apparently. These days there are a plethora of curriculum choices. That might make my job of researching seem endless, but it's so amazing to see that we can really find something that works for us ... and, if we can't, then I am more than able with all of the options to create something that does.

Next time I'll post before and after pictures of our "homeschool" room, we are very nearly complete. The last major items are to find a big, comfy reading chair and to make a blackboard - we have the items, just have to get it finished. THEN, we get to decorate! We have wall stickers with the alphabet, numbers, fishies and big, fun circles!

So, back to researching I go. I have been settled two curricula over the past several weeks (ha!) and I'm thinking I'm close to settled for the third time! Will it be the charm?

Here are the two I was previously enamored with:

Enki Education
Oak Meadow

Now I'm looking at:
Moving Beyond the Page

I'll add in foreign language (Spanish and maybe French or Latin??) and music. I may also add math. We're going to start out using Starfall and BOB books for phonics and see if we need to add Explode the Code.

So, there ya have it! Funny, I read about a lot of people who have people around them being very harsh and critical about the choice to homeschool. We just haven't had that! It's like when we adopted and so many of my friends had such a difficult time with the mean and ignorant things people (even family!) would say and we were absolutely blessed to go through the process without that. I'm SO thankful that we have such a supportive family!!

Wonder where we'll be in another three weeks!!

New Direction ...

2011-03-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

Ladies and ... well, let's be honest, I don't know how many will read this entry, but I'm pretty sure it's all ladies!! If there's a gentleman out there, then my apologies!

Anyway, this blog has sort of fell to the side. I mostly blogged to share things with my parents and since we live here, there isn't a need for that. My in-laws have trouble loading all of the pictures I post and they'll be here soon as well. The other blog motivation I had here was to let off deployment steam. Again, that's gone so this blog has just sort of sat for a while.

NO MORE!

We had such a great experience with school in TX. Really the only thing we liked about the 6 years we were there. I was floored and crazy disappointed when I found out that there is no public pre-k in our city. Private school is insane expensive AND is far more daycare than school. We have tried one thing after another and have bruised noses from all of the doors that have shut in our face. Even our current homeschool option seems to be closed to us for the moment ... BUMMER! But, I'm not letting it get me down. I have ALWAYS loved the idea of homeschooling, but not for pre-k, not even for elementary school LOL Just never been my teaching cup of tea.

So, I know that I'm going into this with a disadvantage ... I'm used to teaching kids that have a longer attention span and can do some independent work. This will not be a blog that will always espouse the joys of homeschooling. I'll probably be really frustrated some days ... I am surprised, though, that I'm starting to get excited about this. So ... homeschooling ... here we come!

Settling in ...

2011-01-24T22:21:00.002-07:00

A big chunk of the fam.

It is really hard to believe that our last day as a military family was only 7.5 weeks ago. We've been in Arizona for just less than that. McH started school last week without much problem; the Monkey's education has not been quite as easy, but he is absolutely loving all the time with his Cissy. My acclimation has been the most difficult. I'm disjointed and unsure of what I'm doing. I think I'm having the issues most would expect from McH! He hasn't seemed to have any problem adjusting to the civilian life. Me, on the other hand ... I'm still trying to figure out my place. I'll find it, though!

Cissy and Monkey at the races on New Year's Day

One thing that we are loving is all of the time we get to spend with family. It also doesn't hurt that we have a fantastic babysitter (my mom!) and are able to spend a lot of time together. McH bought a new motorcycle a few weeks ago ... haven't taken it out for a long ride yet, but we will be ... soon!

The new ride

Me and McH on our way to AZ

So, back to me and my purpose. I'm going to get a tattoo ... then I'm going to write, then I might find another fun thing to try out. I'm going to make soap ... lots of soap. I'm going to remember what it is I believe and why. I am going to enjoy every beautiful moment that we have here, I'm going to cherish the fact that I didn't have to go to a deployment briefing the other night and take lots of moments to pray for my friends that did.

So, here we are ... settling in!

El Paso

2010-12-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged here in such a long time! Soap took over my life and then the Army really messed us up. Some day i'll share all of that, but for now i'll start from here. A U-haul truck speeding through El Paso, over the Texas border into New Mexico. We'll be in Havasu tonight or tomorrow, ready to start our new life as civilians. Crazy where a year can unexpectedly take you!

I successfully ignored what I'd miss in Texas. Family and friends. I don't thing I'd have survived without our neighbors Scotland Tasha. Oddly (though typical for Army life) we only met them in September. They helped us so much without expecting anything ... can't thank them enough! We also for very lucky that friends could move into our house. It's nice that I can be confident that my home is in good hands. But, that brings up my biggest worry: who will I do a Twilight marathon with when Breaking Dawn comes out???

We would have had a much tougher time the past six years if we hadn't been so close to my in-laws ... already missing them. One of our nieces was there when we left and she wanted to come with. Too bad we can't bring everyone.

Anyways, we're almost out of Texas. Not our favorite place but we started our life here; became parents here. I'll do my best to only keep with me the good memories.

SEE YA TEXAS!

Remember me?

2010-01-25T10:04:00.002-07:00

What an absolutely wonderful and BUSY December and January. It was so fun to put up the Christmas tree together ... Monkey was a fantastic helper!

At the last minute we decided to pick up and drive to AZ. FUN FUN! We stopped at Cracker Barrel and found a cute little Kai-Lan doll. The trip was L O N G, but Monkey did great and we survived!

They had this amazing park with horses. We spent several mornings with my cousin, her two little ones and my aunt.

Monkey and McHottie hanging out at the park, checking out the tractors.

We also had a really great New Year's Eve with Cissy and Papa. Monkey picked out our hats and made sure we all wore them AND blew our horns as often as possible. He had such a fun time!

So, now it's getting back into a routine. McH is back to work, though next week will probably be the first week of full days. No fun and Monkey really hates daddy being gone, but we're all handling it and SO glad he's home! It's been so nice to have such a long vacation and half days at work.

Can't wait to get back to AZ ... July, here we come! My little brother is getting married ... YAY!

HE'S HOME!!!

2009-12-02T12:48:00.004-07:00

After a LONG 51 weeks, McH is HOME!!! Here are some pics, I'll post more about it later!

The sign on our garage.

"Sgt. Grimsley extra duty starts NOW" !!!

It was C O L D!!!

This is one of my friends ... we've pulled each other through the past few weeks. Her daughter was born the day they deployed!

Me and Monkey

Zoo day!

2009-11-08T12:02:00.003-07:00

Fun day at the zoo! Forgive my camera. I am so bummed because it takes such crappy pictures and I've only had it a few months. I'm seriously considering going back to a camera with film.

Monkey playing with the kitty.

The great thing about this zoo is that throughout the entire thing there are different play areas for kids. This was a cool slide that went through the otter exhibit.

Another play area.

There is a new exhibit with a HUGE orangutan. It was really cool. Outside of that they had monkey ropes for the little "monkeys" to play on!

We got him to sit with the orangutan for about 2 seconds LOL

Happy Birthday to my beautiful boy!

2009-11-03T23:10:00.004-07:00

This is late! Yikes! Wasn't feeling too well today, but we still had a nice time! I couldn't find my camera until now ... in the Halloween candy bowl ...

Anyway, more pictures in the next day or two of birthday presents, Halloween and the zoo. He got a big kitchen so he can cook when mama does :) He also got a music set with a drum, maracas, and a flute. And, mommy and daddy got him a new train set. Somehow he also swung a new Dora bedset!

So, here's my big boy through the past three years! He's amazing, beautiful and it still blows my mind that we are so fortunate to be his parents!!!

One of our referral pictures. 1Dec06

Canyon of the Eagles 2November08

Chillin' at home October 08 (I'll come back and update this with a better pic!)

Singin' in the Rain

2009-10-25T17:20:00.002-07:00

I hate post titles.

2009-10-06T09:29:00.005-07:00

Monkey and his little girlfriend aren't seeing much of each other lately. The end of the deployment is hard on me and her mom, so neither of us are doing much. But, we got them together last week ... excited much?!

Nana and Papa came to visit and we went out to our local Italian restaurant. Monkey decided to drink his soup!

Good?!

NOT YET!!! I'm not ready for this!

I thought maybe someone might like to see how McH communicates with us ... so, I took a pic yesterday.

I have such a funny kid! He loves to sing and dance ... and give him someone else's clothes and he is a very happy camper! ((Sorry it's sideways!))

2009-09-20T16:38:00.002-07:00

I was on the phone with my mom and Monkey was pulling the blankets and pillows. I had NO idea what he was doing until all of a sudden he did ...

My tiny ... falling ... dancer.

Random

2009-09-20T11:32:00.003-07:00

It's always random when I wait so long to update! Potty training is in full swing and he's doing fantastic! I still have to ask him, but he's pretty good at going on his own! So, diapers are gone except during nap and night time.

Monkey? Yes mama?

How do you like going on the big potty?

We had some very windy, rainy weather last week. Monkey had to hold on tight so he didn't blow away!

Today I really tackled cleaning, but was sidetracked into legos and blocks :)

I got a video on my phone while he was singing and dancing in the car. For some reason, it disappeared :( I tried with my camera and he'd dance, but no singing.

A couple of icks ... a pattern?!

2009-08-14T22:45:00.003-07:00

Just a quick one tonight. Our fallen gazebo and mommy's night time boo-boo.

I'm not sure if I mentioned our gazebo, but it went up days before McH came home and crashed days after he left. It pretty much knocked me out, but ya know, life goes on! Here are some pictures of our sad backyard.

We had a pretty decent day today and then night fell ... ha ha. My IM was up on our desktop which I rarely use and I'd forgotten to change my message alerts. Usually it only alerts me if a message is sent, which at midnight is a sure bet it's my husband. Well, I was tangled in laptop cords and half asleep when the alert went off AND I heard my bug get out of bed. By the time I made it down the bed and realized that the alert just went off when a contact came online, I was already headed to my new adornments - a Go Go AND a Dora Bandaid. I got to show Monkey that the medicine really doesn't hurt, though. I know the picture just looks bad, I won't deny that, but above the bandaids that really is a huge lump. Ugh ... we're due for some good days that end with good evenings!!!

Yes, these make me cry too!

2009-08-13T20:06:00.002-07:00

A few of the tear jerkers.

I believe Monkey was using his new line of, "good day, sir", replacing 'sir' with whoever's name. This one was "good day, daddy".

Getting ready for a big kiss.

And, there it is.

And, finishing up with a bunch of snuggles ...

And a nap. How do I love these boys.

((I am desperate to figure out how to make my signature match my blog ... ugh)

R&R #2

2009-08-11T15:16:00.008-07:00

Papa, Nana and McH (holding Monkey). They were feeding fish, I believe.

Checking out something that was apparently pretty cool.

My boys.

My special picture ... I'm going to use this to remind my lovely husband just how difficult a 2 year old can be!!!

Trying to play with the otters ... see them in front of Monkey's right hand?

We spent a lot of time with McH's parents. Here is Monkey and one of his cousins "playing" cards!

Monkey learning how to efficiently eat oreos with milk!

McH and Papa being very cool.

Monkey trying out a Dora tube. He did fine as long as he could hold the string of my swimsuit. He's such a great little swimmer! Ignore the end of the second video where Monkey decided it was funny to smack mommy ... possibly because we were all laughing!

More to come later!!!

San Antonio

2009-08-01T17:03:00.006-07:00

We've been having a great time with McHottie home. On Thursday McH, Monkey and I took McH's parents to San Antonio for a few days. When we bought our car we never really thought much about how many passengers we could fit, but it's turned out so great that we can fit 6 people in it.

We stopped halfway there and ice cream was in order. Monkey hung out and ate his push pop while sitting on these beautiful chairs.

Post ice cream.

On Friday we went to Sea World. The day was really beautiful. It was a little cloudy which kept it from being too hot.

First stop ... DOLPHINS!!! They weren't feeding yet, but we hung out for a bit so Monkey could have his first close encounter.

Unfortunately, Papa G had the first splash encounter.

Nana G, McH and Monkey

Monkey loved the aquarium. It took him ages to look at every single fish!

We got one show in, Viva. McH and I saw it last year and it hasn't changed ... and was still fantastic. It was a lot harder with the baby, but for the most part he liked it.

At the end of the day we headed back to feed the dolphins. Check out the video ... Monkey had NO problem grabbing those fish and tossing them in. He loved it!

Dish pan hands

2009-07-21T10:03:00.004-07:00

FOR NANI!!!

I know, I'm terrible about updating, but, well, things have been crazy!

So, Monkey realized his love of doing dishes. I promise you I am looking forward to the day he can actually clean the dishes (and am not so delusional that I think he'll still like doing it!). Maybe he'll take after Nani and love dishwashing ... maybe.

Here he is at Nani's lovely casita.

It started just with washing his hands, then escalated into full-blown, use the scrubber, dishwashing.

Don't forget to rinse!

Look at those tippy-toes!

Carrot Fingers

2009-07-01T20:27:00.007-07:00

To be sure, there are a ton of pictures to share from this past month. But, I'm going to try and take it slow and start with our little trip to Oatman, Arizona.

Oatman is this great little town up in the mountains near my parent's house in Lake Havasu. It was a mining town and the honeymoon spot for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. What I love is that in a world where most animals are domesticated and the descendants of wild animals, the burros here are the opposite.

Anyway, on to our own Oatman story. Besides the cute town, shops and little restaurants, the big attraction are the wild burros that come down from the mountains. The first trip we took with Monkey was soon after home and I was one paranoid mama! I was convinced he'd be eaten by a donkey. Well, the worst thing that happened on that trip was that his Cissy introduced him to ice cream ... not such a bad thing, but it sure was funny! (I nearly forgot that she also tried to put him on one of the babies. The townsfolk frown on this and a few ran out shouting ... mortifying at the time, funny now.) This time I was calmer ... and he got bit!! No worries, just a little scratch and a terrified Monkey (and mama). The first donkey we'd seen was a baby and that cute little guy sucked on Monkey's fingers.

He loved it ... one of the next was an adult and Monkey had a great time passing on a carrot (you can't feed the babies carrots).

Unfortunately, Monkey remembered the cute baby and the next donkey that came up to him, he decided to forgo the carrot and just held out his hand. When Monkey held out his chubby little fingers, that donkey was convinced there was a carrot somewhere! He sure was wrong!

Now, when he's showing off his attitude, I tell him I'm going to get his carrot fingers!

The offending ass.

We did have a nice day; the weather was great! There are such fun shops and we had a nice lunch while listening to some live music - Monkey loved that! He also loved seeing all of the "bikes" (motorcycles).

One final funny story. Cissy wanted to take a picture with Monkey at this Jackass Junction sign (below). She didn't realize that it was a swinging door, though! A few things happened simultaneously. Cissy tried to get as close as possible to the door and nearly fell through when it swung backwards. At that exact moment, a donkey across the road behind me started feeling a little frisky toward one of the other donkeys. His loud declaration of amore made me nearly fall over. Cissy thought it was some kind of alarm and was trying to quickly move from the door (there, however, was a small ledge that she was trying not to fall over). The pursued donkey raced across the street right in front of me, with Don Juan right behind her. I definitely wanted to keep my family out of the middle of their courtship (and whatever direction it decided to take - good or bad), but we still got the picture! The look on Monkey's face most likely resembles mine!

I accidentally deleted my little signature, but, as always, this is The Mommy.

2009-05-21T21:56:00.004-07:00

Okay, another one! We hit Olive Garden before we went to the museum. Service sucked awful. However, the salad and gnochi soup were obviously quite good. Cissy might not have known how good they were for herself, though!

Gnocchi soup ... ooooooooo ... lovin' it!

Oh, wondering why the Monkey is nekkid (well, shirtless)? He dumped juice down his shirt in the car which required a trip to Target because I couldn't get the shirt cleaned ... my grandmother I am not!

Children's Museum

2009-05-21T21:20:00.004-07:00

Two posts tonight, but I needed to get them up, so make sure you see our lego pics!!

We had SUCH a fun time with Cissy. Monkey is doing fabulous and it's so amazing to see how much he's growing and learning. Yes, he still asks, "where Cissy go?", but today he actually answered himself and replied right away, "at Papa's house". It's so cool to watch him and see that he actually "gets" that Cissy didn't disappear, but that she went home.

This little room is SO fun! It's about the native people from this area and they have these cool drums and little robes. We love it!

THIS was hysterical! He was listening for the ocean!

More tomorrow!

Nani Noo Noo gift!

2009-05-21T21:07:00.004-07:00

Nani Rose is always real good to us! I forgot to take a picture of the Dora blanket, but I will do so tomorrow, along with the Dora towel.

But, she also got Monkey a bunch of those chunky legos. We heart chunky legos!

Especially since they don't hurt when your two year old flings his arm around to knock them flying!! YAY!

And, as promised ... more socks pictures. :) Stylin' hardcore.

Temper, leg warmers, heels and food

2009-05-12T22:26:00.007-07:00

Monkey is very into socks lately ... namely MY socks. There will be more coming, I'm sure, but here are a few of his "leg warmers". I can't remember why at the moment, but he was throwing a tantrum.

The tantrum wasn't hard to keep up with Dora on tv.

Cissy brought a pair of my shoes that I'd left in AZ. Seems Monkey also enjoys wearing mommy's shoes ... make sure to check out the hi-frickin-larious vid!

Monkey loves getting a ride at Walmart!

Tonight we went for dinner at Cracker Barrell. Monkey had a delicious meal of mac 'n cheese. After he finished it, he decided that Cissy's dinner looked pretty good.

We also had a really fab dessert.

But, these two obviously thought the other had something better.

I love ... LOVE watching these two together. I have the chance to see my son through a different set of eyes and I see my mom through his. My life would be perfect if McH were home.

2009-05-05T16:53:00.004-07:00

Back with a vengence! We have nice weather for about five minutes a year here in good 'ole Texas. The mornings aren't too bad, but it's been super muggy after about 11a. Yuck. Here's monkey finally wearing the sunglasses I bought him 2 years ago. We were playing out in the back ... he was having a blast until the ants found him ... ugh.

And, the glasses are gone. I'm bummed this came out a little blurry. Looks like he's wandering a jungle!

And ... my nosey nelly! Part of the fence was rotted, so for a few months he's been able to see pretty clearly into our neighbors backyard and probably wondering why they have a lovely manicured lawn and he gets the jungle!

We also made our first trek to Chuck E. Cheese since he's been old enough to get it. I couldn't believe how these two played ... first of all, she's a year younger, though you'd never know it by size! Second, she's a brawler and my little guy is a lover. But, they had a good time together until his other girlfriend grabbed his attention!

BALLOONS!

This is the true love of his life ... well, after mommy, daddy and Cissy. Depending on the day, she's first and sometimes the other grandparents and friends are on his list!

If Daddy is accurate at 300 meters, than he's sure going to match that!

These two are so cute. She typically ignores him for the first hour, but after that she's practically ... well, actually literally dragging him around by whatever part of him she's able to grab and hold on to. Girl knows what she wants!

Been a long time blogger friends!

2009-05-03T09:23:00.002-07:00

There has been a good reason for my absence! Someone, I won't name names, took off with my memory card for the camera and lost it! I'm painfully (ha ha) aware that my blog is routinely checked not for my witty reparte, but for my photography subject.

Today Monkey is coloring, mama is writing and later we will probably be pulling some weeds out in the yard.

Six days and counting until Abuelita is here!! YAY!!!

http://Writing.Com/authors/marleigh.rose

Too funny - urban dictionary

2009-04-10T13:50:00.002-07:00

I found this and was cracking up ... probably long and nothing to do with Monkey, but here ya go.

--Go to urbandictionary.com and type in your answers to the following questions.--Post the definition it gives you.
--Only do this is you are not offended by swearing and such...urban dictionary has lots of it...

1. Name: Amy

to take, hold, or steal your heart. a person who is a soulmate. a good lover.
she is one fine mean looking girl. Though she is normally horny and likes to bash people during sex.
"how was the girl last night?" "she was good a bit of an amy though" "i can tell from the bruises"
A person who laughs at everthing, this includes people falling of chairs. Part of a "girl" group.
Falling of a chair during music lessons. Painful for the victim but not for Amy

2. Age: 33

A code-word for weed that can be used anywhere without anyone knowing what you're actually talking about. It's an evolution of the 1337 spelling for weed - 'w33d' The 33 was then taken from the middle of the word and is used on its own.A code-word for weed that can be used anywhere without anyone knowing what you're actually talking about. It's an evolution of the 1337 spelling for weed - 'w33d' The 33 was then taken from the middle of the word and is used on its own.

3. One of your friends: Ben (had to get his name in here!)

A Â£10 bag of weed. Used throughout england! (Looks like we're potheads lol)
The awesomest
Probably the most awesome person ever, and every girl thinks he is sexy. Is good at many things, and very original. Not a poser in any way shape or form.

4. What are you doing?: cleaning ... well, I was before this popped up!

v) The act of shoving everything in a closet and calling it decent.
Haveing fun with ur partner in a sexual manner. (I wish ...)

5. Favorite color: Green

yes... it is most definitely referring to the marijuana... and also, upon occassion, any substance with similar uses. (yikes ... this is making me nervous)

6. Birthplace: Kenosha

((I had to edit some of this out ... it was the only entry, obviously from someone bitter about Kenosha LOL)) 4th largest (to be the 3rd largest) city in Wisconsin. In Kenosha, you will find a bar on every corner. You will find asshole drivers (Some of them from Illinois) who WILL drive and WILL push their way through wheather you like it or not. What's there to do in Kenosha? Drink beer at one of the corner bars. Outlet Shopping (Like outlet malls and stuff, go to Kenosha) Other recreation includes shoplifting from ShopKo and other department stores, fighting, and smoking weed. Thats really about it. People who live in Kenosha often nickname it "Kenowhere" or "K-Town"

7. Birthmonth: November

The month in which the most babies are born. And which, by chance, is exactly nine months after February.

8. Last person you spoke to: Terri

the cutest hunny bunny you will ever meet

9. One of your nicknames: cushy

comfortable, touchable, fun to cuddle with

10. Kind of car you drive: Chrysler Pacifica

pimp sleigh

I love you

2009-04-06T16:09:00.002-07:00

Sleeping, Bloomin' Fest, and Sprinkler Time!

2009-04-04T17:02:00.007-07:00

Wow, it's been a CRAZY week! Monkey has moved into his big boy bed, for real! He's been sleeping fantastic, despite being sick. Wish I could say the same for myself!

Here is a funny set of pics. I've been putting Vics on his chest with a warm towel before bed.

Today we went over to Lampasas (about 15 miles away) for their annual Bloomin' Fest. It was a little lame (lol), but we had a good time and the weather was FANTASTIC! Something we can't say very often here! We walked around for a bit, but you know how expensive all those outdoor vendor food places can be (and this stuff didn't look near worth it), so we checked out this shop that had a sandwhich place in the back. Very yummy :)

Monkey saying "cheeeeese". Make note of both the cup and doll ... neither are very far away at any given moment!

Mommy and me!

They had a big slide too ... too bad the dumb lady was blocking my way so I couldn't get him sliding down ... you can see how expensive it was LOL

After we left the Bloomin' Fest, we headed over to DQ for an ice cream. Someone really likes ice cream!

The day was so nice that we decided to set up our new fun sprinkler. Note the sunglasses ... not covering his eyes, but holding back his hair!

He had a ball picking it up and trying to spray me ... we were in the front yard because the back has a lot more dirt which quickly turns to mud. I'm sure our neighbors were either laughing or cringing at me running around screaming LOL Oh, also, if you can see his chest he has a "boo boo" ... not a real one, but I have to give him a "D-d-d-d-dora boo boo" daily (Dora bandaid ... no, he isn't stuttering, he's singing the theme song lol)

Vids

2009-04-02T16:29:00.004-07:00

A few videos for the fam!

I think this was Blue's Clues ... dancing ... funny.

One of his new friends will sing Dora's theme song and I guess he caught on!

Finally, for Tia! Monkey learned one of her tricks!

Such a helper

2009-03-28T17:28:00.004-07:00

Monkey is such a helper ... always has been. I didn't say he helps me, but in his little head he thinks he is! So, today he helped me take some pictures and load the dishwasher. See if you can figure out what the pictures are of and the problem with the dishwasher. :)

This isn't a hard guess ... lovely pic of The Mommy lol

Monkey is also learning that his bed isn't so bad after all. Maybe not for sleeping in, but we're working on it. Oh, and I also just took the two seconds to reset the date. Again, I promise this wasn't taken eight months before monkey was born!

EARTH HOUR!

2009-03-27T21:05:00.002-07:00

If you know me at all, you probably know that I'm a tree-hugger at heart. So, I was surprised that I hadn't heard of Earth Hour and am so happy I happened to open a link on yahoo!

Shut everything off from 8:30-9:30p local time and celebrate Earth hour and a little time in the dark! Here is the article along with some tips and ideas for things to do in the dark!

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/236/flick-your-switch-off-for-earth-hour.html

Someone posted the following as some good Earth Hour ideas (some for adults!)

for people who like eery views: be in a grotto that sports lovely quartzes and stalactites and the like by that time (if you do not even want to use batteries, experience what it is like to be in a strange environment without light, only sound and smell for one hour) - play hide and seek (with, possibly, sexual repercussions) - meditate. Open your window a crack, close your eyes, and listen to the sounds in your body. Then listen to the sounds near you. Then expand what you listen to until you hear the highway ten miles away etc. It is a great way to feel part of the world/your neighborhood vs. lonely

Where to start:

Steps to take that cost nothing, listed in order of energy (and money) saved, are: Lower your water heater temperature to 120^°F, lower your thermostat in winter, wash your clothes in cold water, turn off unneeded lights and electronics, and air dry your clothes in summer.
Low-cost steps, also listed in order of savings: Install aprogrammable thermostat, seal large air leaks in your home, insulate your water heater, add insulation in your attic, seal and insulate your HVAC ducts, and install efficient showerheads.
Additional steps: Conduct a home-energy audit, have your heating system serviced, and open curtains on south-facing windows during the day to allow sunlight to naturally heat your home and close them at night to reduce chill.

Where does this chair go?

2009-03-27T14:41:00.004-07:00

Monkey was chillin' out in his room ...

If he looks a little tired ... it's because I am. I mean, he is.

This is our new favorite thing ....

Wazoos

2009-03-25T21:56:00.004-07:00

We went to the inflatable park today with a friend and her kids and had a really good time!

Falling down!

Monkey making his way through one of the big ... toys, I guess they are.

The three kiddos ... man it's hard to get three kids to look at you at the same time!

She wanted the ball and took him DOWN with a choke hold! He returned the favor a little later, but I didn't get my camera quick enough!

Partners in crime.

Monkey went on this big slide last time, but he went down with the other mom I was with. This time he was perfectly fine doing it on his own!

Don't be jealous!

2009-03-18T19:22:00.002-07:00

We did some of our outside gardening today. It was quite warm out, but, I know that I'm gambling with the weather. Last year I did some of my gardening around this week and we had a few frosts before summer really hit. Two years ago we had snow in late April, so I could be completely wasting my time, but we'll see!

I have been looking forward to having a little help from my sidekick. I think that this year was still a bit early, but it was definitely different than last year's experience! I didn't tie him to a chair last year, but I'm sure I wanted to!!

He has this new thing with chasing bags lately; his substitue for balloons, I believe!

All of that work makes a kiddo thirsty!

Chillaxin'

2009-03-15T16:55:00.005-07:00

Not much going on here. Trying to get used to cleaning these new floors (pics coming soon) and doing a lot of painting. Also joined a gym ... hooray for gym childcare so I can take a shower alone LOL

Now if I could just figure out how to change the date on my pictures! I promise I didn't take these two pictures 8 months before my kiddo was born!!!!

Thoughts on the hot pink bean bag?!

There is a song on one of the Jack's Big Music Show dvd's by Laurie Bergner where she sings about Boots. We love that song! And, we love Dora. A lot.

DEMO!

2009-02-28T18:39:00.004-07:00

So, first of all, I'm now noticing that the date on my camera is WAY off! So, this weekend McH's parents were over and helped me get ready for our new floors. We took off the 1/4 inch round piece on the baseboard and ripped up the carpets.

Then, this morning we went down to Austin and picked up the floor. It's a really pretty mahogany. It's going down on Thursday, so hopefully by next weekend I'll have new pics!!

Monkey "helping". We were laughing because he wanted to lift one of these himself! We finally talked him into helping his papa, rather than carrying one on his own! (After he spent 15 minutes trying to just move one inside the van! lol)

I'm thinking this looks like FAR more flooring than we need, well, it is, but it just seems like WAY too much!

And, finally, Monkey is hoping that once the floor is in, we can get him a more comfortable reading chair!!

Next 3

2009-02-26T21:57:00.002-07:00

Nothing much to say, except that the exchanges between Seacrest and the judges is SO uncomfortable! Not a huge surprise with the picks and I was glad to hear Simon's comment that "we may see a couple from tonight" back with the wildcard picks. I really think that both Jesse Langseth and Megan need to be in the top 12, though, I still would like to see Matt Giraud back.

My Idol night

2009-02-26T00:55:00.002-07:00

Okay, here we go. Three categories: BO-ring, MY EARS!, Not bad and then I'll hit my picks.

First, quickly, I have to say ... WHAT ON EARTH WAS GOING ON?! Actually, I'm thinking about it tonight. Ya know, supposedly (and I think they did) they were focusing less on the crazy auditions this year. Well, I think they compensated by putting the awful in the top 12. What is with the song choices?! Why are so many girls singing boy songs?! I'm waiting for next week when I just KNOW one of the guys is going to sing Britney Spears or something ... maybe Rehab by Amy Whinehouse ... what is going on?!

So-So:

Jasmine Murray. I mean, it was aight. Not a huge fan.
Matt Breitzke ... eh. I debated which group to lump him into and decided here. His voice is good. He doesn't deserve AI. What was up with the weird way he was saying his words? And, he'd do a ballroom dancing coach proud with his "rise and fall". Yikes.
Kai Kalama. Now, if I didn't have to watch him, I think I'd have put him in the 'Not bad' cat. But, whoa ... craziness!
I have to stick Nick/Norman here. I think he's funny and one of the highlights of the show, but at the end of the day it's getting old. I have a feeling the AI producers who decided to let him through are going to get bit in the arse for that decision. It was funny ... was. Now, it's turning into a joke on AI, rather than just a joke.
Matt Giraud .. wow, I really like him and I hope he goes through. I actually liked him singing Cold Play, though it wasn't the best.

My Ears!

Jeanine Vailes ... there is absolutely nothing to say except HOW did she get through to even Hollywood?! When you move your hand around like Mariah Carey does, it probably means you can't sing.

Not Bad!

Adam Lambert. Yeah, really good, but I have this feeling he's in a production. Like, I think he sings the rocker/alternative kinda thing really well and I think he takes that and then determines WHO he is to fit that ... does that make sense? Just feel like that's not really him. But, yeah, his voice is ridiculous.
Kris Allen. I really liked him. I hope he goes through. Maybe the song wasn't the best, but I really thought he had something raw and lovable.
Allison Iraheta ... holy mama! I was nervous through her song, but man I thought she nailed it! I thought I'd easily be able to predict her through ....
Mishovanna Henson. Um, I actually liked the song, thought she had an amazing voice, but it was a bit detached. I think it would be sad not to see her in the top 12.
Megan Corkrey ... it wasn't my favorite, however, I think the competition would really miss out without her. Her "dancing" was a little weird to say the least, but she's got something different, just like ...
Jesse Langseth ... again, not my favorite, but wow she's got something too. I am no longer pulling for that funky chick from group 1 ... can't even remember her name! These two girls NEED to be in the competition.

I think THIS is the group (at least compared to group 1) that it would be a real disappointment if the judges had to pick only one wildcard from each group.

My picks: I'm going to do two for this one. I'm going to give who I think will go through and who I would vote for.

Guy: Adam Lambert (I'd vote for Kris Allen)

Girl: (ah! this is hard!) Allison Iraheta (I'd vote for Megan Corkrey)

Next Top Vote: uhhh ... Jesse Langseth for both.

To Whom It May Concern

2009-02-23T00:06:00.002-07:00

Well, I should be talking about Amazing Race. But, other than the fact that I think it's a big bummer that the cute little "hick" couple got booted. My only hope is that the flight attendants go next.

So, now that we've got that out of the way LOL Here is my letter.

To those of you without children:

Let me first make clear that this is not to every person who has yet to have a child ... but, you will know when you read this if it's for you ... if you don't know what I'm talking about in this letter, than it is directed at you!!

First, let me say that very few moms expect special attention, that being said, all of our lives will be happier if you can help us out with a few things.

1. If you are a sales associate helping us out at checkout, please try to gauge our child/ren. If he/she/they are screaming, please don't take 10 minutes to comment on his/her/their smiles/chubby cheeks/outfits/etc. Please just quickly take our money and hand us our bag. We'd like to get our crabby child into a better mood in any way possible and sitting in a stroller/stuck in a vice grip in our arms is just not working. Besides, if he/she/they kick/bite/push/yell/etc at me one more time I may have to take it out on you ... absolutely nothing personal.

2. If you are our waiter/waitress. Bring crayons and bring something ... crackers/bread/a tough piece of leather STAT! Don't look at us like we're nuts while we try and contain a child/ren and look over your menu. If you really want to get a tip, attempt to distract said child/ren by being nice or send over someone who can. DO NOT put my drink in front of my child/ren, ESPECIALLY if it is hot. This should be common sense. And, on the topic of hot things, bring us an extra plate if the plate with the child/ren's food is hot. EXTRA NAPKINS! And, finally, don't make us sit around for a check especially if my child/ren is running circles around the restaurant. Bring us our food, bring the check!

3. Don't give me a dirty look because my child is screaming/running/crying in the store. Don't loudly whisper to your ugly husband that 'people like that should take their kid(s) home'. We don't have any milk/bread/eggs/laundry soap/etc so deal with it. I want to hear it even less than you want to hear it. Trust me. After I struggle to keep my child/ren in the cart (those 'seat belts' are a joke) while I try not to drop anything as I load the checkout belt and simultaneously disgard all of the things that my child/ren has/have added to the cart unbeknownst to me, I have to get into an enclosed metal box with this screamer/cryer/whiner.

4. If I am walking with a stroller down a ramp, don't walk in front of me ... especially not slowly. There is a chance that I will not be able to slow my momentum. Now if I am going up the ramp, you're probably good. Unless, of course, I've had to take a running start to get the stroller and all of my packages up said ramp. I do not take any responsibility for you being mowed down by a jogging stroller filled with a child, shopping bags and the remnants of a happy meal pushed by a woman who has not showered in two days, has a shirt on which has a smear of jelly/juice/snot/or something much worse, and is half asleep.

Here is my promise to you. If you help me out with the previous things, I will promise not to intentionally aim my child/ren at you if he/she/they begin projecting any bodily fluids.

Small print: I cannot be held responsible if previously stated projectile bodily fluids splatter/drip/leak onto any person who agrees to the 4 requests. Mother can only attempt to direct said fluids toward a person who does not agree to the requests.

FFF and I've been tagged!

2009-02-20T09:16:00.005-07:00

Favorite Foto Friday!!!

These pictures are from a Western days fair that I went to in Arizona with Monkey and my dad. Typically when we hit the petting zoos, mama stays out and takes pics while daddy goes in with the tot. All those animals grabbing at me makes me nervous! But, I went in this time and we had so much fun! Mumble was hysterical!

Yes, he's really hopping right into the food bowl. Thankfully the goats didn't seem to mind the Monkey.

Okay, at this point I really should've picked him up, but it was SO funny! This pig slept the whole time we were in there and Monkey wanted SO badly to pet him and talk to him (her?). So, since the piggy wouldn't wake up, he just got right down there to talk to him!

TAG!

I was tagged by a friend to go into my picture folder and find the fourth folder, then upload the fourth picture. Well, after cleaning out my folders (really, there were a ton of either blank folders or folders with pictures that Monkey took of ceilings, bookcases and the floor), I found my fourth folder ... which contained only two pictures. So, here's the second of the two. This is from when McH was in Sgt school and had to come home and pack (in like two hours) so that his bags could be shipped to Iraq. It was a crazy afternoon! I love his bald head, I think I'd just shaved it a few minutes before this!

My tag-ee's:

Erin

Tara

Ruthanne

Kelly

Nani (maybe it'll be a good 'figure out pictures' project!)

The Results

2009-02-18T21:29:00.002-07:00

So, looks like I got the first 3 right, which I'm glad about. Paula made the point that you never know what will happen and I think that's obvious with last year's Michael getting booted. Very glad to hear he's got a CD coming out, looking forward to hearing that. But, I was disappointed with his and Carly's song. They were both favorites of mine last time, though, I didn't like that song when they sang it on the finale last year. Can't imagine why they couldn't come up with something new in nearly a year! Too bad about Carly's hair ... seriously, I don't think any of us needed to hear that.

I'm wondering if the judges have to pick one wildcard from each show ... I kind of hope not, though, I suppose Jackie Tohn would be interesting to see.

Hello Idol Fans

2009-02-17T22:15:00.004-07:00

So, I guess I'm into reality tv! It's funny to think that reality tv can be an escape from reality, but ... there ya are!

So, I always kind of think it's crappy when you have a situation like Idol this time. 12 people. The top girl, the top guy and the person with the next highest score get through. But, what if all the girls suck and there are 5 really awesome guys? One crappy girl gets through and 3 great guys don't?

Well, first I need to say that I nearly fell off of my couch when they announced that Tati-crazy-ana was going to sing Whitney Houston. Really, I was kind of excited ... I think it was the train wreck mentality! I was blown away that she didn't completely suck, however, "reality" as it were, came back into focus as soon as she finished singing. Do you think that the voices in her head are far too loud for her to hear the judges? I mean, she never seems to actually answer a question. Kara cracks me up.

Who stunk:

Casey Carlson ... wow, that was just weird. Personally I hated her outfit. I thought her voice was okay until she started some of the notes that she held. Weird.
Stevie Wright ... ouch. I think she seems sweet and it's obvious that she and her family were confused by the judgements comments. But, my opinion is that if you choose a song, outfit, look because of a judge, then you aren't being WHO you are. She seemed like she had fun!

Who I fast forwarded (boring, but okay - basically, not bad enough to watch, but not good enough to watch either:

Ann Marie Boskovich ... she's good ... but there's no way she'll beat out the top 3 in this group.
Anoop Desai, Brent Keith, Ricky Brady, Stephen Fowler ... I think that for the most part they have great voices, but nothing special. I mean, David Archuleta has a fab voice and I really liked him the first couple of times I heard him ... and then it got boring because it was the same ... really nice, but nothing that made me think OMG I must have his cd.
Jackie Tohn ... okay, I didn't FF her because I couldn't get over her pants (yes, I said pants), however, I didn't think she stunk. Nope, her vocals weren't great, but yes she was entertaining. So was Amanda Overmeyer, but, she got old too.

My picks to go through:

Girl - Alexis Grace. One word. Wow.
Guy - Danny Gokey. The first time I heard him I picked him as the winner. My opinion hasn't changed.
Third - Michael Sarver Loved the song. I think he has a shot to go somewhere.

Good night all!

"Don't let a cheese hit me"

2009-02-15T20:05:00.003-07:00

Amazing race started tonight. I always want to watch a whole season of this, but I've never been able to. Now, with the power of DVR, I'm going to!

First episode was tonight. I'm not even through the entire episode but am laughing so hard that I knew I had to blog about it! The first big deal was bunjee jumping from, I believe, the second highest spot in the world. Not funny, but cool, for sure.

AND THEN, came the cheese. Yes, the cheese. They went to Lucerne and had to carry these huge wheels of cheese down this wet, slippery hill on these ... I don't know what they're called ... cheese carriers, I guess. It all started fine and very un-funny. And then the first carrier broke. And the second. Then the first wheel of cheese went rolling down the hill. I really wonder what kind of speed that thing clocked!

The funniest was one of the guys (who looks to be tall) who lost control and started running faster and faster before he finally fell. I mean, I was impressed that he didn't fall on his face because I would have LOL

Man, though, really. What an experience?! I mean, how many people can say they fell, slid, crawled up or down a hill carrying a wheel of cheese in Lucerne?! One of the "older" contestants was sliding down the hill when another wheel of cheese became a runaway. His response?

Don't let a cheese hit me!

Love The Cutest Blog on the Block people!!

2009-02-14T23:26:00.002-07:00

I've made some changes!! I'm still trying to figure out how to get rid of the codes for the side graphics, but hopefully I'll be able to fix that soon! I've never used photo editing software (or whatever it's called lol), so I was full of trepidation when I downloaded paint.net. I went through a tutorial and found it pretty easy to make a collage. Next I think I'm going to try and do one of those black and white pictures with a hint of color.

So, I know that most people don't comment, but leave me a comment if you don't mind and let me know what you think!! The background of the collage was from the night before McH deployed this time. I think it's such a poignant picture.

I've said it before ... I'll say it again ...

2009-02-14T19:39:00.003-07:00

WE LOVE THE BATH!!!!

I really just can't say it enough! Last night I wanted to just skip bathtime because it'd been a long day, but, I was begged and yes, I usually give in. So bathtime was had by all.

Cissy knows what I'm saying while I'm taking this picture ... SPIT IT OUT!!!

We love the bath so much that we even like to get in fully clothed! THIS is what happens when mommy trys to shower. Okay, that may not make sense, but just after I shut off the water, this child CLIMBED IN! I couldn't believe he actually did it. Definitely confirmation that he grew a couple of inches during our AZ vacation.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T18:24:00.003-07:00

Well, kinda crappy here LOL But, still ... Happy Valentine's Day to all of my friends! Hope you all have a great day! I'll be cleaning my house. Fun. This "card" fits my "love" of spending this day without my really hot husband!

Bike Ridin'

2009-02-13T18:03:00.002-07:00

Today, two of Monkey's friends stopped by and took him bike riding! Such fun they all had!! Monkey really wishes he was big enough to ride his own bike, but he's gonna have to wait a few years! Thankfully, these boys are so good with him and don't seem to mind much that he's so much smaller, especially when they can play in the sprinkler when it's hot!

Quick update and pics

2009-02-07T14:00:00.004-07:00

My husband bought me a new ring!!! Well, I bought it, but we'll say it's from him!

And, we are starting the potty training journey. This (below) is not really how we're doing it, but it's pretty funny. Monkey didn't have a diaper on and started to pee - not really, but he said 'pee' and Cissy, as though she'd never had a child, started running around holding him out as if she didn't know what to do! She finally plopped him on the potty!

Along with all of that we've had tons of excitement and fun here in AZ. I'll write more about it later, but here are some park and other fun pics.

Practicing for the X games.

And ... just because my son is just like his daddy ... all about the boobies.

2009 Here we come!

2008-12-31T23:22:00.004-07:00

Happy New YEAR!!!

It's bittersweet this year. It's hard to hope for a happy year when I know the other part of me is gone and in danger. At the same time, I have this goregous little man with whom I want time to just slow down ... he's growing up TOO FAST! So, I am torn.

And then I remember ... time will keep moving whether I want it to stop or go fast, it just continues on and it's only my perception that makes it seem different. So, I'm going to try and figure out how to enjoy every single moment, while at the same time keeping the days from dragging.

I'm also realizing that I'm super tired and that this all probably sounds like an idiot has written it!

So, here are a few pics to save this post! Happy New Year everyone!

Discovering the magic that is can cheese!
Taking his cousin for a ride.

"Helping" Papa play a video game.

Riding with nana on the new pony. I walked into the living room one day and he was on the pony watching tv! He loved that horse!

2008 is DONE!

MOnkey

2008-12-29T13:35:00.002-07:00

Crazy Christmas Lights

2008-12-29T13:22:00.002-07:00

Time with Santa

2008-12-29T12:45:00.002-07:00

We didn't go see Santa last year. I thought Monkey was too young and I didn't want to do the whole "screaming-who-is-this-stranger" thing with him. We went up to see my inlaws and there was a party at my MIL's work. Santa showed up and Monkey LOVED him!

Pointing out the naughty kids.

Mommy having fun ... why that dumb lady needed to get in the pic is beyond me.
Giving Santa a goodbye hug.

Christmas came early

2008-12-18T21:18:00.005-07:00

Some would say our early Christmas isn't something to be happy about considering the reasons behind it (daddy heading off to the sandbox). But, I'm choosing to look at it as a blessing that we were able to have our very first Christmas in our own home and had the chance to spend it with both my parents and McH's (and his sis)!

So, I'm going to start with some decorating pics! This was our first year to decorate and it was SO fun! Now, I'll admit the wicked wind we have and the damage it has done to our lights ISN'T very fun, but decorating sure was! (Especially since our fingers weren't freezing off ... Wisconsonites, you know what I'm talking about!)

McH and Monkey working on the tree. It looks a little sad, but when it's lit up it's really pretty. However, it is a little wobbly after someone decided to pull it down ... :)

It's not very easy to show the house lights, but we did a little "snowscape" in front of the house.

I had to have a little snow :)

Aries napping next to sleeping Santa. This thing is hysterical ... well, actually it's Monkey that is so funny. Santa snores when it's turned on (he snores jingle bells lol) and if he notices it when it's off, he gets quite upset.

Our Christmas Eve with all the gifts under the tree. Last year we were at my parents house and we helped put out the gifts, but it was SO fun to do it for the first time at our house!

I knew he'd notice this first!

Getting daddy's help

The "theft" bag. It beeped and yelled when you got near it!
Doesn't he look like a pro?!
Phew! All those gifts worked up quite a thirst!

And, finally, all the gifts replaced under the tree!

Deployment Day

2008-12-14T10:22:00.004-07:00

Bummer. Major. McH left for the sandbox last Friday. I won't go into all of the crap that happened right now, but I'll say that despite some of the idiots there it was a lot different this time. I cried, but I didn't have the panic that I did last time.

I also haven't had much time to really think about it. That night Monkey woke up throwing up and continued to do so every 1/2 hour until about 4:30a. I've been battling a cold for a few weeks and now I'm a little worried I might have strep. McH called this morning, but I never heard the phone. I'm upset about it, but, I at least know he's there safely and hopefully he'll be online tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from the past few days.

Monkey and Daddy watching TV

Lots of cuddles.

McH trying to fit everything into his ruck LOL
McH, his dad and Monkey
McH trying to get his new PSP all in his bag. Me and my baby.

Calling for Help

2008-12-08T10:35:00.003-07:00

As I said in my previous post, a dear friend of mine's daughter was killed a few days ago. We all can imagine, I'm sure, that this is beyond difficult for them. They are busy trying to pick up the pieces and make sense of something senseless. We summer sisters have decided that we would do whatever we could for Carla and her family. Money is something that no one wants to think about, especially them. So, we will do it for them. We will spread the word and do our best to reach out to anyone we can in hopes that we can all help them.

I gave her blog address as a link in Josi's picture and I will give it again. If you are able and you want to help, please go to her blog and read about this sweet little girl and their family. It's hard not to see the love they have for Josi and how they simply wanted to be her family. This adoption took a lot of money, even beyond the normal adoption fees. If, after hearing this story, you want to help, please click on the "chip-in" button on the left hand side of her blog and donate to Josi's memorial fund (it has not been changed from Josi's Adoption).

http://azhderianfamily.blogspot.com/

Here are a few more pictures in honor of Josi.

This is Carla, her husband, their son and Josi at their first meeting last year.

A Time of Great Sadness

2008-12-08T08:03:00.004-07:00

There is a group of girls I met and became close with during our adoption. We called ourselves "Summer Sisters" because we all started in the summer of '06. One of my "sisters" began a second adoption of a sweet girl soon after they brought their son home. They had just received Josi's new birth certificate listing them as her parents and giving her their last name.

I can remember watching all of the videos Carla would post of Josi and just how excited she was to bring her home. I was gone for the past few days and when I came home, I had new emails and when I saw Carla's name I was positive that it was her travel dates to pick Josi up.

I smacked into a wall when I read that Josi had gone to visit her foster mother's sister, brother-in-law and two kids and was brutally murdered during that visit along with the other four people. My friend was nearly to the finish line when someone took her daughter's life. It is sad and horrifying. I cannot imagine her pain, anger, confusion or the mulititude of other feelings that must be a part of her life right now.

Goodbye sweet Josi. While you were here on this Earth you were loved and cherished. You had a hard life that had begun to change drastically with the amazing love from Carla and her ... your family. Sleep peacefully.

*You can click on Josi's picture to go to Carla's blog and leave her a message. I know that she will appreciate every comment whether she knows you or not.

FFF

2008-11-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

He's just so cute! This was his very first haircut!

Wedding

2008-11-05T19:23:00.004-07:00

Well, I don't actually pics from the wedding McH was in this past weekend, but I do have pics of us! And McH was in his Class A's and looked super hot ... to me, at least! lol

This is what we did during the wedding!

Monkey checking out Daddy's medals after the wedding.

We found this caterpillar outside of the church. We couldn't believe how big it was!

A family picture

Day at the Park

2008-11-05T19:04:00.004-07:00

We went out to Burnett, TX last Sunday for a day at the nature park. It's a place where you can see bald eagles, though, we didn't get to see any :( Maybe in a couple of years we'll take the cruise and see some. But, we had a great day hiking on the trails and found a few armadillos!

Enjoying his lemonade

Just chillin' while mommy and daddy tried to find the park.

Canyon of the Eagles park

Looking for what else? Bugs!

An armadillo. They obviously have terrible sight!
A family pic attempt ... as you can see it didn't work out so well!

Daddy taking a picture from WAY up on a rock! Monky found a feather that he kept trying to fly with!

Daddy teaching Monkey about tree bark and what we can and can't touch.

We took a ton of pictures. I've uploaded them onto shutterfly if anyone would like to see them! Here is the link for our new shutterfly site. http://grimsley1.shutterfly.com/

Two years ago ...

2008-11-03T08:17:00.003-07:00

Two years ago the most handsome little man entered this world.

How does time move so quickly? I feel like it was just yesterday that I saw him for the first time. And then, at the same time it seems like he has always been a part of my life. Maybe in some way he has been.

Two years ago I didn't even know this sweet boy existed. Yet, he entered the world and that moment, despite not being aware of it, changed our lives.

It also makes me think of the person who may not be celebrating this day. I'm sure she thinks of him and wonders about him. Wonders if he's walking and talking. Probably wonders often if he's happy and loved. I can't imagine how she feels on this day. I can only hope that she feels peace and somehow knows just how much love has filled his life and how much love he brings to the people around him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOY!!

Referral 12/1/06

Mommy's first visit 2/21/07

Canyon of the Eagles Lake Park 11/2/08

Monkeys first TOT and a birthday celebration

2008-11-01T01:08:00.005-07:00

We had such a fun night! Actually a fun day all around! Monday is monkey's birthday, but we decided to celebrate his birthday out at lunch today. We have a new Cracker Barrell, so we had lunch before a wedding rehearsal.

We had a card from Nani that monkey just LOVED! Especially the lion on the card. He kept growling!

Here mommy is thinking ... please get your jelly hands out of my hair!!

Mommy and Daddy also got him a new coloring book and his first set of real crayons along with a little checkers set.

We had a great day and then trick or treating time came along. Monkey was ... a ... um, monkey. He looked adorable and I'll have to add in a picture later of him just standing in his costume. My camera has been acting up lately so we've been using Ben's and it doesn't always take the best pictures. Add that to the dark and we don't have the greatest pictures, but you can still see how much fun we had! I did have to carry Monkey to the first house and explain how TOT works, but after that wonderful man placed the little bag of M&M's in his bucket, he was sold on the idea! In fact, he kept looking at us like, "why haven't we tried this whole costume = candy thing before?!"

Daddy walking Monkey up to the first house where he had to actually knock on the door (most people were sitting outside)

Checking out his bag!

This guy was great! He had a scary mask on and a few kids right before us were trying to talk each other in to going up to him. Monkey just headed right for him, though the nice guy did lift his mask. I think at that point monkey would've done about anything for candy!

A pig?! An ANGEL pig?! Too funny! McH said, "look, I think that's a pig up there" and mommy said, "babe, don't say that loud, it's probably a dog with short hair or something, you'll offend someone!" Nope, it was a super cute piggy!

Man, that was a fun street. So much different from our street!

We hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and lots of fun Trick or Treating if you went. We had a blast!

Coloring pages!

2008-11-01T00:25:00.005-07:00

We're always looking for activities and lately monkey is loving to color. Here are some free pages for coloring! If clicking the picture doesn't work, click here.

A time for Reflection

2008-10-31T06:39:00.002-07:00

Tonight at midnight, in our religion Wicca, begins the end of the old year. Thus, it begins a time of great reflection for me. First, it is a time when I look back on the old year and thing about what's gone, what is coming. Of course, it's ingrained in me to do this on December 31 as well. Next comes the birth of my son. A miracle to me. Then comes the anniversary of my grandfather's passing, followed not long after by my own birthday. And then we have Thanksgiving.

November is a month that I believe will be far beyond emotional for me. We are celebrating the holidays with family and soon after we will begin our second deployment. There is a lot to go back and be thankful for. A lot of strength to draw from this past year.

Today we will celebrate Monkey's birthday a little early. We will take him out for trick or treating for the VERY first time! And, we will vote. There is a huge mixture of the past and future in today.

So, tonight at midnight we will put out our cakes and drink to offer those of our family that have passed. We will reflect on our year and far beyond that I'm sure.

What do I hope for the coming year? I hope for strength. Not to survive this next deployment and not even that it flys by. I know that it won't. My request for strength is that we can appreciate every day. We will be apart, but we will still love each other. We will still be parents to our son. Those are things that need to be appreciated.

I also hope that I can not only find strength, but that I can learn to live in the moment. I've always wished to be able to do this better and I'd like to really find that ability.

This month, I hope, will be filled with posts about the milestones we reach. There are so many. I've past up so many without blogging, mostly about Monkey. But, I think that I'm in such a different place than I was one year ago. I'm ready to truly relish every moment.

Home to pack

2008-10-26T16:19:00.003-07:00

Stupid Iraq ... *gag gag puke*

McH got five hours off today to come home and pack. Thankfully most of the things he needed to pack are with him at this school, so he really only had to pack about a half of a duffel. So, it didn't take too long. Five hours goes pretty quick, but we tried to make the most out of it. (I made him scarf lunch down in the car so we didn't have to bother with eating during OUR time lol) Mumble loved it, but did not love it when he realized "Da-Da" was gone when we got him - he'd fallen asleep. Sleeping is a whole other issue.

So, anyway, I snapped a couple packing pictures ... Do you love the messy garage?!

Potty

2008-10-16T21:30:00.003-07:00

These pictures would be so much cooler if they were real! Oh, and if my bathroom were clean LOL By real, I mean if he really was using the potty for more than a chair ... there is a diaper on that cute tush!

... just turnin' the page, mom ... do you really need to take pictures?!
....
All Done!

Dancing machine!

2008-10-14T16:02:00.002-07:00

Our little monkey LOVES to dance!

Day at the Pumpkin Farm!

2008-10-11T15:37:00.007-07:00

I finally found a pumpkin farm! It's about 45 minutes away, but it was worth it! Not the same as bundling up and enjoying hot apple cider, but we still had fun! We actually had a hard time getting Mumble to leave the parking lot!

There were hay bales set up for "hay jumping". Mumble wasn't too sure about it though. He took a few steps through it, but for the most part ...
he ...

preferred checking out the girls LOL

He did love the tether ball!
We also painted a little pumpkin.

Painting more with daddy.Tried hard to get a nice picture, but he rarely sits still! Here he is with his dried pumpkin!

To compare, this picture is from last year on his first birthday! (Thanks for the idea, Ruthanne!)

I wish this video was from his first run through the maze, but it's like his tenth LOL I forgot about taking a video. I really didn't think he'd go through it without us, but this is actually the first time one of us went in with him. The first time he got out he had to run over to the young girl taking tickets and give her a high five!

We had a really great time and ended up finding a really great restaurant on the water. We're also thinking about heading up there next month to cut down a small Christmas tree since we'll be celebrating early this year when most of our family will all be together.

I love my SARGEANT!!!

2008-10-08T07:40:00.004-07:00

McH was FINALLY promoted to sargeant!! There are two things (other than previous rank and years of service) required to be promoted to an NCO (non-commissioned officer). The first is to go to the Board, which is, I believe, similar to defending a dissertation. You go in front of a panel of ... higher-ups (lol) and have to defend why you should be promoted along with your knowledge of your job and the Army. Well, McH went to the Board the week I brought Mumble home from Guatemala ... July of '07!!!

The second requirement is to have enough points. You get points, typically, from college or online (Army) courses as well as the courses you go through in the Army and any commendations you receive. McH had an issue with his points. Part of it was there was a problem with who could actually record the online course points he had, another part is that the number of points required for promotion change monthly. Well, while he was in California in training, the points dropped and he had enough without even having his other points turned in, so he was promoted!! YAY!!

So, basically it means that he now has more responsibility. He was promoted a couple of months ago to Corporal, which is basically for people who haven't met one of the two above requirements. More responsibility for no extra pay LOL But, I think it's given him a good taste of being a sargeant.

Needless to say, I am very proud of him! Though, he did get a talking to because he failed to thank me in his speech (that was basically, "I've got nothin'" lol). But, I know how much he appreciates my part in this!

He was officially promoted on 1October, however, his pinning ceremony was yesterday. I get the privilege of promoting him, though, I let Mumble get the "punch" in. It is tradition, that those at his new rank or above get to hit him. Before they went to ACU's (the new uniform), the rank was a pin. The tradition was that you "run the guantlet" and the other soldier's would line up to congratulate the soldier promoted. Those with the right rank would hit the soldier where the rank was ... oh, and they didn't put the back onto the pin. The "hazing" was "outlawed" a few years back, though most ignore it. McH says it's a right of passage. Well, now the rank is velcro, but it doesn't stop several from giving a punch to the new rank.

One of his idiot sargeant's punched him in the ribs. If I hadn't been worried about what McH would've said and hadn't been holding Mumble, that jerk would have had a few choice words from me! Anyway, here's a few pictures from the day!

This is the beginning of formation. Those being promoted had just been called up.

McH is the second from the right.

The second Lieutenant is motioning for me to come up for the pinning.

Here Mumble and I are waiting for the first two to be pinned.

Our turn. You can't see it well, I had forgotten that pictures were being taken, but Mumble is "punching" daddy's rank LOL

The newest NCO's.

Formation finishing up.

New Haircut!!

2008-10-06T19:27:00.003-07:00

Hi all, well I finally chopped off my hair!! YAY! So, here are a few pictures!

Also, when I was getting the pictures off McH's camera, I found some more of my great helper. If he can climb something, then he's all about helping!!

Really this is tiring ...

2008-09-26T08:39:00.004-07:00

I have to complain for a moment ... okay, so I complain all the time. What's it to ya?! I'm tired of McH always being gone. I'm tired of how you have to clean every five minutes to actually have a clean house (it was clean when Cissy left two weeks ago and I was gone for a week, but it's still a mess). I'm tired of my weedeater not working because McH is too strong for all of us and screwed the cap on too tight. And, did I mention I'm tired of McH always being gone? lol

Talked to him late last night. He sounded very tired, but said that things are going well. I miss him. Over the past two weeks we've talked twice and for only a few minutes. I miss him. Oh, I said that already. He should be home sometime next week ... I have a lot to do around here, but I am ready for him to be home.

Well, enough of that! Here are some pictures from the duckpond. We went with Cissy. It was nice, but I have a slight fear of birds so I got a little nervous LOL

The Mommy and the monkey

Throw it!

If I'm really sneaky I'll catch that pigeon.

Hmmm ...

We also headed over to Olive Garden since Cissy isn't near one anymore. Honest, we fed him more than dessert .......
He loved the lemon cake!

A lot ...

A lot a lot a lot ... some might say he "like i' a lo'" ... okay, so my Jim Carrey doesn't come out so well in typing.

A little after dinner coffee from the creamer pot.

Man, who came up with these after dinner mints?!

Seriously ...

Oh, and if you want to read a funny blog, check out Rosebud

Fun times at the Museum

2008-09-17T14:58:00.007-07:00

Actually, that's a bit misleading. That title implies that we saw more than about 20 feet of the museum! They, at some point, combined the Natural History museum with the children's museum (and if you're from the Chicago area, do NOT compare the size of YOUR museums to ours lol).

Anyway, it's on the Baylor campus and was a really nice building, but Mumble was only interested in the animals and the toys LOL In fact, we only saw a few rooms of the children's part, but it was nice and the main thing is that he enjoyed it which meant that we enjoyed it!

Mumble playing on the BIG toys

Cissy and Mumble checking out the turtles

We had just walked in and he beelined for the animals. As you can see in the vid, he can't seem to sit still, he has to run back and forth to see them all as MANY times as possible lol

These jumbo block thingies were way fun and the bug just really got him goin'!

And, finally, just a short few seconds where I thought Cissy's camera was in picture mode, when it was actually in vid mode. But, it's cute watching them ... I'm sure they're hatching an evil plan.

Been a long time blogger!

2008-09-14T09:12:00.005-07:00

Well, I don't have much of an excuse for my bad blogging habits. But, things have been a bit busy around here. We're coming up on both a second birthday and a second deployment, both are leaving the family a bit crabby (birthday - not for the birthday itself, but the whole "terrible" part).

We are ending (insert wailing and gnashing of teeth) a visit from Abuelita. It was SUPER fun and despite Mumble's propensity to have his "moments" he was on his best, cutest behavior. Mama isn't really looking forward to tomorrow LOL

I'll have lots more pics over the next day or so, but here are a few.

Enjoy!

Two peas in a pod

Playin' in the leaves

Wiggle worm

Most of the time a happy boy =)

My new hobby ...

2008-08-14T22:11:00.003-07:00

... which may be short-lived! I have often been awed by my aunt's ability to make a great cake. And, I always find myself staring at cakes wondering how on earth they do that. So, I decided to give it a go. I thought I'd start with cupcakes since I'd be able to practice MANY times without making MANY cakes. I don't really know my neighbors, so who would eat all those cakes?!

I learned a few things.

First, if you actually check your baked goods at the right time (and if not finished, every couple minutes for real) they actually turn out without burning.
Second, if you measure the ingredients correctly, your baked goods will taste like heaven. And, I'm talking, running the knife over the edge of the measuring cup to get it perfect and everything ... a "heaven" taste isn't easy, after all.
Third, air-tight tupperware is fantastic for storing icing. However, unless it's a huge tupperware or a tiny bit of icing, don't try and re-whip the icing in the tupperware.

So, here's where I started. Yes, they're a bit misshapen. I don't know why. Please ignore it. Thanks.

And, voila. Quick and easy as those kitchens on tv.

Okay, not really. It was several hours, a two year old that decided he was FOR SURE not going to go to bed, a hubby who had to get up at the crack of snot and was exhausted and a woman who seriously didn't know what she was doing. But, I did it! Oh, why did I do it, you might ask? Because I'd promised to send my misshapen little practice treats with McH to work. And, The Mommy doesn't break promises ... most of the time.

And the colors? The last picture is the most accurate. McH was a doll and stopped at the store on his way home to pick up food coloring. The sweetheart got ... NEON. I'm still laughing.

Oh, and did I mention they taste like heaven?

Beer Chops

2008-07-31T11:35:00.002-07:00

I thought I'd share with y'all my latest recipe. I rarely make pork chops, but in an effort to get our lives into a better routine, I thought I'd try something new. I'd also never used my crockpot before and let me tell ya, I love it!

So, here it is. Beer chops:

2 butterfly pork chops
1 onion, sliced into rings (for only 2 chops, I'd say a small onion would be plenty)
salt/pepper
garlic seasoning
2 tblsp BBQ sauce
can of cream of chicken soup
can/bottle of beer (preference)

I used two butterfly pork chops, but I think the amount of sauce would handle another pork chop. Cut the chops in half and season with salt/pepper, garlic powder (I used a garlic grill seasoning mix). Brown the pork chops and onions in olive oil. Put in the crockpot when browned.

Mix the cream of chicken soup and 1/2 can/bottle of beer in a bowl. Add more seasonings to taste and bbq sauce. Pour over chops and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 2-3.

I checked mine at 6 hrs and they were falling apart. I also made the sauce into gravy with some corn starch and water.

Hope y'all enjoy it like we did! My in-laws said it made great leftover sandwiches!

Stompin'

2008-07-31T10:14:00.006-07:00

Well, I'd like to keep this post to one topic, however when I downloaded our stompin' pictures I realized there were a few from AZ in there, so I'll add those in here first. Mumble really loves fruit, especially if he can do it himself! Here he is with Cissy eating an orange ... he likes it, ya think?!

All mine!

Here we are on our way to the Pheonix Airport. Mumble decided to try his hand at the camera!

Mumble missed the pool already! He's practicing how to hold his nose when he goes underwater!

Here's daddy and Mumble chillin' at the airport.

I think daddy was trying to sleep, but someone wasn't havin' it!

He's a zerbert master!

On to the Stompin'!!! This weekend the in-laws are here visiting and I forgot that I'd turned the sprinkler on very low for Mumble. Cut to hours, yes HOURS later and we had created, by accident, a mud pit! Here's Mumble looking for Nana to come back from their van.

Stompin' around in the mud pit.

Plop!

Mama, is there something on my face?

This is way super fun!

Ahh! More skin to get dirty! Now, how do we get more water up in herre?

Enjoy your muddy summer days!

The Mommy vs. The Frog

2008-07-19T21:57:00.002-07:00

Maybe it was a toad, or I should say is a toad. And, I should also say that I am safely in the house and the frog/toad is still outside ... on the porch ... actually right outside the door.

So, here's the story. It begins with ants. Many ants. Ants everywhere. Most harmless, but few that are the mean-o kind. The fire ants. They've invaded my home, my yard. Attacked myself and my son. They are awful and I believe that I've developed a very serious fear of ants, red or otherwise.

Which lead me to spraying this lovely bug killer around the doors and floorboards.

Anyway, it brings us to the frog. Toad.

Aries spent time outside while I did the inside and then was in for a while when the outside was done. So, it was time for the pup to get outside. He dove out the door and I saw this poor frog ... toad, hop sadly across the porch to get away from the scary dog. I did my best to protect the sad little hopper while my doggy did his thing. I brought my furry friend in or started to and noticed the sad hopper coming toward the door rather than away from the door and where I was heading. Hmmm ... I stomped. I clapped. I grabbed a broom. I tapped it in front of the hopper. What did he ... it ... do? It attacked! No, I had to be wrong. So I tapped the broom in front of him again and he ATTACKED IT!

Seriously, I was going to call my father-in-law. Why? I don't know. I threw a bucket at it. Really. A bucket.

I think he's still out there.

Favorite Foto Friday

2008-07-18T08:18:00.003-07:00

HA HA! I've done it! It's Friday and here's a Favorite Foto!!!!

In honor of my yard that needs some serious attention, here is a couple of Mumble playing in the mud. One of these Fridays I'll actually get some new pictures!