A Bushel

Snowman Playdate

2012-01-25T20:12:00.004-05:00

We seem to have skipped winter here in Hampton Roads (I'm knocking on wood as I type this). Despite the lovely weather, we hosted a Snowman-themed playdate for our friends last week and have another one coming up this Friday.

The first snowman craft was very simple. I traced the circles on each piece of blue construction paper. We then instructed the kids to decorate the faces of their snowmen before adding the marshmallows. A thin line of craft glue on the traced circles and the kids were ready for the marshmallows. Pretzel sticks for arms and added crayon decorations were all that the kids needed to complete their snowmen. So easy! The only hard part was keeping the marshmallows out of the kids' mouths!

With two marshmallow crafts, I had to find a savory snack idea. These snowmen bagels were a hit! Only one little girl didn't eat her broccoli, otherwise every last bit was consumed. Carrot nose, olive eyes, sliced ham mouth, broccoli & string cheese ear muffs and a bagel with cream cheese to hold it all together. Yum!

I cheated with the next craft idea. We had previously made robots with marshmallows, spaghetti, pretzels and Wilton food markers, but this seemed like a great way to make snowmen as well. Naturally, the kids did not complain.

Someone really needs to remind me to check the settings on my cheap point-and-shoot camera. It was set to some outdoor setting and these pictures turned out funky. Oh, well!

The playdate ended with a snowman puppet show. I found this cute printable that Ian decided should be turned into puppets. They all figured out their family roles in this new snowman family and put on a show for the moms.

Let's hope the playdate on Friday goes as well as round #1!!!

My Kids Are Weirdos

2012-01-11T19:51:00.005-05:00

Today the boys almost came to blows...over a smoothie...containing spinach. I do believe I have the weirdest children alive. And my smoothie didn't even look nearly as pretty as the one below (nor did it contain whipped cream)!

In my attempt to have the family eating even healthier this year, I've been trying out new recipes almost daily. Today was the mocha "green" smoothie. I didn't plan on sharing with the boys as it contains espresso powder, but I figured a sip to taste wouldn't hurt. This way I would know if I should even bother making them their own espresso-free smoothie, right? Little did I know the chaos it would cause and that they would LOVE the smoothie even AFTER I told them it contained raw spinach.

Here's the recipe so you can make your own yummy smoothie:

1 handful of fresh spinach (about 1 cup)
1 frozen banana
1 T instant espresso powder
2 T cocoa powder
1 1/4 Cup non-dairy (or dairy) milk
1 handful of ice

*I used chocolate rice milk, but overall the smoothie was too "chocolaty" for me so next time I'll use almond milk or less cocoa powder. I could have easily handled more than 1 handful of spinach as well and I will add 1 T of chia or flax seeds next time too.

Christmas Program & Gingerbread Houses

2012-01-02T13:45:00.004-05:00

Looks like we are starting off 2012 playing catch-up. Some things never change. December was a busy month for us, as I'm sure it was for everyone. Nathan performed in two Christmas programs at school, I hosted three gingerbread house playdates with the playgroup, Ryan and I escaped to attend a holiday party with his squadron (and I don't have a single picture showing off my super cute shoes!), I hosted two cookie exchanges, we did all the usual holiday things as a family and I'm likely forgetting 25 other activities because December is already a blur.

Please enjoy a few pictures from Nathan's school program and the final gingerbread house playdate.

Nathan represented the 11 Pipers Piping from the 12 Days of Christmas. He was bouncing with anticipation as his big moment approached.

The entire kindergarten class posed before joining in with the 4-year-old preschoolers. Nathan was in an exceptionally foul mood as the little boy next to him stepped on his shoe and didn't apologize. I'm surprised I was able to capture this smile. Notice his outstretched arms. Nathan is a big fan of personal space and was clearly bothered by the closeness of his classmates. He makes me laugh.

Ian was so happy to be able to participate in the gingerbread house playdate. He often misses out on a lot of the fun now that he doesn't get home from school until just after 3pm.

Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) Ryan arrived home just in time to see the boys complete their houses and snap a couple pictures of me as I helped them with the royal icing. I need to start wearing make-up.

I am glad the boys and all of their playgroup friends enjoyed these gingerbread house playdates. After hosting 3-4 of these each year for the past three years, I think I'm "retiring" this one. I have a plan for next year involving houses made from brown lunch bags and decorating with stickers and construction paper. I never want to smell a graham cracker again.

New Camera Lens

2011-12-09T19:08:00.004-05:00

Why in the world did I wait so long to purchase a new lens for my Canon Rebel??? Here's one of the first shots I took with the 50mm f1.4 lens today. I am not at all accustomed to using this lens as it is so different than our other lens, but I already love it! Oh and this image is straight out of the camera. Yay!

Not too horrible for a dreary, cloudy day. The handful of indoor shots I've taken so far are a hundred times better than what my old lens would have produced. This lens sucks in so much more light and will be so great to have all winter when we're mostly stuck inside. Sorry, I'll stop going on and on now. Go out and buy this lens (or the less expensive f1.8) now if you have a Canon DSLR!!!

Lights at the Beach

2011-12-07T11:47:00.004-05:00

Sometimes an event rolls around that reminds me how awesome it is to live in Hampton Roads. The McDonald's Holiday Lights at the Beach is one of those events. Finally, the boys and I were able to attend the opening night where they allow foot traffic on the boardwalk for this event. We've attended each year in our car, but this year the boys and I walked through the lights, played on the beach and enjoyed hot chocolate together. It was SO much fun!!!

Ian was trying to pose like Ronald McDonald. He rarely stands nicely and smiles for photos these days.

Both boys "presenting" one of the light displays. They make me laugh.

We ran into friends while walking along the boardwalk. Three of the boys just had to take a picture in front of the dinosaur. Why are there dinosaurs on the beach as part of a holiday light display? No idea.

Citizen of the Month

2011-12-05T10:19:00.003-05:00

Ian was selected as the Citizen of the Month in his first grade class for the month of November. He was chosen under the "Diligence" category. Not only did we have this sign in our yard for a month, but Ian was also able to attend a special breakfast at his school. Oh, and his school mascot is a bear. Despite this, I find the use of "Beary" annoying.

Ian is doing very well in school this year...almost too well. He's reading at a very advanced level and finishing his work first every day. The teacher joked with me that she needs to expand her in-class library so Ian doesn't run out of books to read. We hope he doesn't grow bored or become disruptive. For now, he's perfectly happy reading every book in sight to stay entertained. Maybe I'll just start buying books in various foreign languages to challenge him. :)

Hello Again!

2011-11-21T12:27:00.002-05:00

Look who is back home again! This has been such a crazy year. It feels like all we do is try to keep track of where Ryan is, when he comes home and when he leaves again. Fortunately he will be around for the holiday season this year. We are always grateful when that is the case.

The boys were so thrilled to pick Daddy up at the hangar after his cross country return flight from Nevada. Can you imagine spending about 9 hours in a plane wearing all of that gear (plus a helmet)? So glad it's him and not me...

Naturally, the boys wanted a chance to try on Daddy's helmet and pose for quick photos. Future Navy pilots or flight officers?

10 things you may not know about military wives

2011-11-08T21:45:00.002-05:00

If you're on Facebook and you have at least one military spouse friend, you've likely seen this link pop up on your news feed. As I sit here alone (as usual), I felt compelled to share this post here. I've been a Navy wife for over 11 years and the author has only been a Navy wife for 3. Her revision of this list will be more forceful in a few years. Ha!

Link to original post: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/parenting-guru-10-things-you-may-not-know-about-military-wives-2607864/

Hope you enjoy reading this! Couldn't resist adding my own thoughts in ( ).

Parenting Guru: 10 things you may not know about military wives

1. When a deployment is imminent, we just want it to start. That doesn’t mean we want our spouses to leave. We don’t. But when the date has been set and our husband’s bag is sitting half-packed in the corner of the bedroom, we start getting anxious, worried and a little bit angry. We think about the upcoming months and everything he’s going to miss and everything we’re going to have to do alone. It’s overwhelming. Once they leave, we can start to tackle the challenges one at a time and that’s so much easier than the waiting. But those last few weeks before he leaves are wrought with frustration, nervousness and a little fear. (YES!!! Just ask Ryan--it is so normal for me to just blow up over everything. This wasn't the case prior to kids, in case you were wondering.)

2. We are not miserable the whole time they are gone. We don’t like that our family is split up, but we can’t live in the future or press a pause button on our life, so we focus on other things. Hobbies, children, visiting friends and family, work; our life is still full. Just not complete. (I'm miserable approximately 1% of the time.)

3. But there are tears right underneath the surface. Whenever our children do something new, or something exciting or sad happens, or even when there have been just too many nights that we’ve stayed in alone, we get really sad. And we can’t always be sad because we don’t want to upset the kids. (I almost never get really sad, just frustrated. I'm more likely to cry from tears of sheer frustration.)

4. That being said, most of us like our lifestyle. We enjoy the adventure of moving every few years, starting over, making new friends and living in various parts of the country and world. We have close friends everywhere. It’s stressful yes, but also exciting. (We've lived here 3.5 years and I am so ready to move.)

5. We rely on our friends a lot. Even when our husbands are home, we are used to be canceled on at the last minute, not knowing schedules until an hour before an event, or having a job take precedence over the family. So, we have friends who are reliable, patient, flexible and who make us laugh. We love and truly appreciate our friends. So do the kids. (Um, I'm the friend everyone relies on...it's the truth! I do have a handful that will help in times of emergency and definitely plenty who are there to support me emotionally.)

6. Our children are well adjusted and okay. In fact, most of the time, they are amazing in their ability to see the silver lining in every challenge. From the beginning of their lives, they’ve moved around, started over and had a parent leave for huge amounts of time. We have lots of strategies to help them stay connected, and we analyze how to make each deployment as painless as possible on the children. (The kids think our lives are completely normal. They are so very well-adjusted.)

7. We don’t need or want pity. We look for love, friendship and fun. We don’t need you to say “I’m sorry,” when we tell you our husbands are away. We knew what we signed up for when we got married. However, we’d be so grateful for a helping hand. Helping us with something that would normally take two people, like shoveling snow or even just bringing in our grill for the winter would be awesome and will relieve the stress a little. (DOUBLE YES!!! Let me take this opportunity to give a shout out to my neighbor (who will never see this). He mowed my front lawn the entire deployment. THIS is what we want/need.)

8. Please don’t ask us what we are going to do to “keep busy” when our husbands are gone. Just like you have a healthy relationship with things outside your marriage, so do we. We don’t need to “keep ourselves entertained” or “find something to do to pass the time” while he’s gone. Those comments are insulting. We will just continue to live our life. Yes, there will be a hole in it, but we will not be pining away for six months or a year. So don’t try to give us projects or find stuff to keep us busy. We’ll be fine. (People can be so dumb. Like our husbands are ever around even when they are home! No one should rely so heavily on someone else.)

9. There are romantic moments about military life that rival only the most dramatic movies. We’ve been spun around by a man in uniform after he hasn’t seen us in months. We’ve seen our children run toward their daddy with pure glee and excitement. We’ve dressed up like royalty and attended military galas and we’ve watched ships pull into port, with sailors standing at attention around the perimeter. (Royalty? Not me. That reunion at the end of every deployment (God willing) makes everything almost worth it.)

10. And sometimes the civilian population can be so supportive and sweet that it just brings tears to our eyes. These moments are precious and get us through all the tough stuff. So thank you. We appreciate all the thoughts, good wishes and the extra stuff you do to make us feel better. We notice it. We see it. And it really does help. (Again, my neighbor rocks! We need more people to offer to watch our kids for a couple hours for free, offer to help with the crazy tasks/heavy lifting, etc. Oh, well!)

Sarahlynne is a Parenting Guru and has been married to a United States sailor for 3 years and 3 deployments.

Catching Up

2011-10-24T21:37:00.004-04:00

Ryan was home for all of 2.5 weeks and in that time he and I attended a Change of Command ceremony. Highlight of the event for me was when the outgoing Skipper requested a round of applause for all my work as the Ombudsman. Ha!!! Really, the highlight for me was wearing cute 4.5 inch heels and receiving a Starbucks gift card from the outgoing Skipper's wife...she knows me so well. Don't you love the blurry picture Ian took of us?

The next morning I raced out of here and headed to Baltimore. I had this tiny bed all to myself for two entire nights. :) I loved that the room was cleaned by someone other than myself.

I found this little park down the street from my hotel where I enjoyed a few hours of sipping my coffee and reading a book ALONE. I drove all over Baltimore, sometimes on purpose and sometimes accidentally. Everyone who knows me knows that I do not believe in owning a GPS and that eventually I can find my way anywhere. Poor Ryan did receive a couple calls from me when I followed my printed directions (which led me astray) and when I failed to look up directions for the return trip. Navigating DC without instructions is not recommended. Baltimore was a breeze though...just follow the other cars around town and you'll eventually get to some sort of highway.

While away the boys enjoyed many outdoor meals, lots of outdoor play and a fun movie night at home. We all had a great weekend!

Having returned feeling refreshed I cooked a "real" meal for the family which included these Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes. As you can see, Ian was so excited to eat his potato that he couldn't be bothered with utensils.

Naturally, a 2.5 week "visit" with the family wouldn't be complete without attempting a home improvement project. Ryan ripped out our UGLY entry tile and I've been tasked with removing Pergo from 4 additional rooms. (How am I supposed to move the dining room hutch/buffet???) We are hoping the installation of our new flooring will take place while Ryan is away so we can check something off our never ending to-do list.

And, as always, we said goodbye yet again to the so-called man of the house. Pretty sick of all of this time apart...Ryan's never home long enough to remember all of my house rules! ;)

Home Again

2011-10-04T21:40:00.003-04:00

Look who the boys found at the airport Saturday night...

We are so happy to have Ryan home (again) and a little bummed that it is only for 2.5 weeks. This is getting ridiculous.

On a bright note, I am getting away for the weekend ALONE!!! Can you believe it? I cannot. I'm heading to Baltimore to visit Ikea, Tiffany's (to fix/clean my ring), Container Store and West Elm. It will be so weird to be able to walk around and shop while not being forced to talk and explain myself aloud the entire time. I already feel guilty, however, and I haven't even left the house yet.

Kindergarten

2011-09-12T09:35:00.003-04:00

Today it was Nathan's turn to begin the new school year. My "baby" is in kindergarten!!! He was a little bit concerned this morning because his big brother warned him that today would be tough since he'd be learning Spanish. Thanks, Ian. Yes, this private kindergarten now teaches Spanish. I like Ryan's response to learning this piece of curriculum information: "Why not focus on getting English down first?" (Or something similar to that...sorry to butcher your quote, Ryan).

We were too early so I decided to snap a couple extra pictures outside of the school. As you can see in this photo, Nathan was totally thrilled with this decision. I have NO idea where he gets these expressions (or his attitude).

Happy first day of school to me! I am listening to very loud punk music while drinking my coffee. Bliss!

First Grade

2011-09-06T08:46:00.003-04:00

First grade? How did this happen so soon? Ian was so excited to start school at the "big" school (elementary school versus the small private preschool/kindergarten he has attended the past two years). I was barely able to slow him down long enough to take this quick snapshot this morning. I will do my best to get a decent shot this afternoon when he has hopefully settled down a bit.

Fearless and confident Ian headed straight for the bus without so much as a glance behind him. Nathan just kept waving and saying, "I love you, Ian!" Knowing Ian, he had a new best friend before the bus pulled up at the school.

Nathan begins kindergarten next Monday. I cannot believe that both boys will be in school FIVE days a week. Nathan, of course, attends a half-day type of kindergarten, but STILL!!! I'm so excited and cannot wait to celebrate that first day with a huge cup of coffee, loud punk music blasting through our surround sound and a book. My goal is to accomplish nothing that day, but some much needed relaxation before diving into volunteering, more schoolwork (me and the boys), etc.

Under the Sea Muffin Tin Monday

2011-08-24T20:01:00.006-04:00

Earthquakes and hurricanes, oh my! We are in full hurricane preparation mode here in Virginia Beach while Ryan "enjoys" the desert of Fallon, NV, but early this week we enjoyed a fun playdate with friends followed by the largest earthquake experienced in this area in over 100 years. A little 5.8 (this description coming from the California girl, not the locals).

Our Muffin Tin Monday playdate technically took place on Tuesday since I have microbiology lab during the lunch hour on Mondays. Fortunately, the little ones are very forgiving. All of the moms brought a themed snack to share and I brought 3 snacks since we had two moms that needed to back out at the last minute. The fun fish-shaped bread was Nathan's request and quite tasty! We also picked up Sponge Bob Cheese Nips and Sponge Bob Graham Crackers. I had planned to make shell pasta, but ran out of time. The ocean-themed cookies were perfect as well! Notice we also had fish sticks and Swedish fish. Fun!!!

After lunch and more fun on the park's playground, each child took a break from the sun and worked on a simple fun foam craft. I had lots of ocean/fish fun foam and stickers on hand so we just dumped it all out and gave each child glue and blue construction paper. It doesn't get any easier than that! I attempted to cut up tissue paper squares so each child could decorate a chipboard fish, but the wind was gusting at random. We decided to save that craft for an indoor playdate.

My silly boys wearing their fish sunglasses which I purchased from Discount School Supply forever ago. After 3 hours of playing and crafting, Nathan was not interested in posing for this photo at all. Too bad! Ian was a great sport, on the other hand. With all of the crazy weather predicted for this weekend, I am so glad we had the chance to spend the better part of a day at the park this week. Thank goodness for 82 degree weather!

Okay, back to laundry and other tasks that require electricity.

Another "Ah Ha" Moment

2011-08-08T19:52:00.003-04:00

I am still filling the freezer. I wasn't as motivated as I had hoped the other day. Ryan and I did manage to make 3 dishes/condiments (smashed potato soup - slow cooker, red beans and rice & chipotle ranch salad dressing), but then we ended up eating a bunch of it instead of rushing it to the freezer. Whoops!

As I type this, I'm making breakfast sandwiches to freeze. I'm making 12 and we will eat 4 tomorrow and 2 will be going to the parents of a beautiful new baby from our squadron (along with dinner and dessert). I decided to mix up the eggs and put them in a greased muffin tin in order to get a neat, round egg layer. We'll see how it turns out. Sounds like a good idea, right?

Back to Reality

2011-08-02T19:13:00.004-04:00

Ryan returns to work tomorrow and we will be back to "normal". This normal will last for a couple weeks before he leaves again. In preparation, we've been working on small projects around the house (Ryan has, I've been taking a break from projects), hanging out not doing much of anything, attempting to buy a new car (that's a funny story), etc.

Tomorrow is my day to build up my stash of freezer meals. I'll try to remember to take pictures and share the recipes. Having homemade meals and snacks ready to go in the freezer brings me peace of mind and somehow makes me feel prepared to be a solo parent. With a new school year and completely new schedule for our family on the horizon, I want to FILL the freezer.

I saw this idea on Pinterest (my current Internet obsession) and wondered why the heck I never thought to do this before now. My boys love smoothies or yogurt for dessert. I now have 6 packs ready to go and Ryan just returned from the store with yogurt so I can make at least 8 more packs tomorrow. Make-ahead freezer smoothie packs - 1 cup frozen fruit, 3-4plain (or vanilla) frozen yogurt cubes (from yogurt frozen in an ice cube tray), then simply put in a blender, add milk or juice, and whirl until smooth. Genius!

He's Home!!!

2011-07-18T23:33:00.003-04:00

Ryan is finally home safely from deployment. Yay! 6 months and 1 day. It seems like forever and nothing all at the same time. It's a very odd thing to experience. We all picked up pretty much where we left off and by the time we were back in the hangar Ian was already talking to Daddy about the Wii.

Enjoy just a couple of photos from our homecoming. More to follow eventually. :)

A photo of the boys and I waiting just inside the hangar for the planes to fly overhead. Beautiful shot by Amanda of Kimberlin Gray Photography, even if it was shot at an angle that makes my rear look larger than normal. ;)

The boys receiving their first hug from Ryan. This one is SO sweet!

A friend of mine took this snapshot (her husband returned the following day on the ship). Please notice that both boys are holding Daddy's hand. They both insisted, as did I, that we hold Ryan's hand. None of us were willing to let go only a moment after getting him back.

For the Moms

2011-06-28T21:33:00.004-04:00

Since I have officially reached the nesting stage of deployment and find myself cleaning and organizing more than normal, I thought I would share a photo from today. I decided to finally clean out my favorite red purse that I haven't used in 4 months and I came across a couple of crayons in the center pocket...

I laughed and thought that it's a darn good thing I've pretty much given up using my "fancy" Coach and Dooney & Burke purses.

Now it's time for a fun book recommendation for all moms, especially those who don't have a bunch of mommy friends. You have to read "I Was A Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids." Isn't that the best title? First person to send me an email (my maiden name @cox.net) will get my copy to read and pass on to another mommy friend. This book reminded me of my first MOPS meeting where I broke down in tears and realized I was not alone (on this crazy mommy train). Since then I've joined and started my own playgroup and have found many, many others more than happy to share their funny day-to-day tales from Mommyland. This book is filled with quotes quotes that will make you laugh from real moms from interviews conducted by the authors.

Most of my favorite quotes are not really appropriate for the blog. Oh, what the heck, I'm sharing them anyway! Maybe this will encourage some of you lurkers to post a comment so I know who you are...or maybe not. Here we go!

"Sometimes I think, I can't believe I gave up 9 months of drinking for this." (HA!!!!)

"Whenever my husband leaves his stuff lying around, I lock it in the closet." (Ryan, ignore that comment, I have NO idea where your work boots, Friday patch, hat, various uniform pins, etc., are.)

"A boner in the back is not foreplay." (Best. Quote. Ever. And totally the worst quote ever all at the same time. This book is too funny.)

It's Almost Over!

2011-06-26T22:54:00.005-04:00

This ridiculous deployment is finally nearing it's end. The ship is on its (long) way home after much detour and delay. We've rather happily survived 160+ days apart...I don't keep track, but my friends do. In fact, I won't begin counting down until we're under a week because I never really believe it's real until the ship is in the open ocean, preferably halfway across said ocean. To "celebrate" I'm sharing some pictures of Ryan's adventures. My adventures are more of the cleaning and reorganizing variety (Ryan is probably going to want his dresser drawers back) and not worth photographing.

Ryan while flying. The boys love seeing pictures of daddy in his uniform and flight gear, however, they failed to recognize him in all this gear the last time he stood directly in front of them in the hanger. Kids are funny.

The Big E posted the following two pictures to their Facebook website. Don't know if you'll notice, but I'm 99% sure that Ryan is one of the two guys standing up in the green flight suit in the picture below. Only wives tend to notice things like this when flipping through tiny photos posted by strangers.

The ship while it transits the Suez Canal for the second time this deployment. Yay!!!!!!!

Beautiful Souda Bay, Crete. The ship was only in port long enough to load supplies and mail which leads us to...

Ryan showing me some love and appreciation for his most recent calendar square. These hang in the ready room (the squadron's office, so to speak) and he did not really appreciate pictures of us from middle school, high school and one in his dress whites back in 1999. Whatever. I thought it was fun. His sense of humor must have been left behind during his last port visit...70+ days or so ago???

Despite all the jokes and sarcasm, we love and miss Ryan very much and can't believe how lucky we are that he will finally be home soon (soon, in Navy wife terminology). Keep your chin up, Ryan, and keep enjoying the delicious coffee I send your way as it's the very least I can do for you to help get you through these last weeks!

First Dance Class

2011-06-20T22:20:00.002-04:00

Here's a terrible, blurry picture of the boys after their first dance class tonight. The loved it!!!

I found a really great local deal for 8 weeks of dance class (only $40/child) and Ian was SO excited. Nathan wanted karate and we had to convince him to try dance and promised karate would come soon (found a great deal on that too). Well, on the way home from tonight's first hip hop class, Nathan said that he wants to go at least 12 more times. Yay! It's a 6-8 y/o class so he was the youngest of the bunch at only 5. I was worried he would be intimidated as he tends to be a bit more shy than Ian in regular day-to-day activities. I am so excited that they loved their dance class and rushed into the house to show me their moves. Hopefully they'll let me record some of the class and I'll figure out how to post video to the blog.

Dad, are you proud of your boys? They're so modern.

My Mother's Day Gift

2011-06-08T23:13:00.004-04:00

The boys and I had pictures taken of just the three of us for Mother's Day this year. The idea was to also share these with Ryan as a sort of Father's Day gift since there isn't really much to share with him from 8,000 (or however many) miles away. Plus that "lucky" guy will be hitting up ports in the Med again come mid-June so he doesn't need anything from us. (Right, honey?)

Here are some of my favorites from our mini session beginning with my favorite picture of the three of us.

Ridiculous & Adorable

2011-05-31T21:27:00.004-04:00

Friday was "Graduation Day" for both of the boys. Ian has completed kindergarten and Nathan finished preschool. Such a milestone! I did not really appreciate having to sit through two ridiculous graduation ceremonies, but they looked SO adorable in their caps and gowns that I forgave them.

Earning My Keep

2011-05-21T20:17:00.006-04:00

Because I just didn't have enough to do (please note the sarcasm here) I thought it would be a great time to re-seed the backyard and see if we can actually grow some healthy grass. During the 3.5 hours the boys were in school on Friday morning I managed to swing by Starbucks, fertilize and seed the lawn, run to Home Depot to trade out one of the bags of seed, spread bags of compost over the sandy sections of the yard and then cover the super bare sections of lawn with the four huge bags of peat moss. Oh, and I was able to squeeze in a quick shower and clothing change before picking the boys up from school. Most productive 3.5 hours ever.

Here are a few "Before" pictures of our weeds and sand.

Ryan--Here you can see the compost I spread out to help feed the seed since sand doesn't contain nutrients. Who knew? Ha! I miss California & Washington and having DIRT in the yard.

The peat moss is spread over all the bare sections of the yard. This stuff is essential with our crazy weather. Highs of 70 one day and 89 the next. I wish we had a sprinkler system because I hate watering twice a day by hand and/or moving a sprinkler around. Wonder how much that would cost to install...

Here we are 8 days later. Really, 7 days later since I didn't water that first day. I just wish we didn't have to wait until mid-July before applying Weed & Feed. The weeds are going to drive me crazy! Tomorrow I'm going to try to pull the dandelions. Wonder how far I'll get before I give up.

See, new grass! I'm very proud. :)

FRG Halfway Party

2011-05-10T23:02:00.004-04:00

This past weekend we celebrated reaching (and surpassing) the halfway point of our current deployment with a picnic and treasure hunt. It was a beautiful Saturday and we were happy to spend it with so many command families. Here are a few pictures of the boys and I having a great time.

Days 46-50

2011-05-04T22:11:00.004-04:00

Did you think I forgot about the 365 Challenge? I did try to forget, but here I am posting daily pictures (for you, Ryan).

Day 46: The boys doing what they do best: eating. Looks like slow cooker ravioli and sausage, salad and bread. Yum! We are lucky to have boys that love to eat.

Day 47: Nathan loves his Legos from Aunt Evie and Uncle Rich. They received a huge box of Legos for Christmas which prompted Daddy to dig out his old childhood Legos as well. The boys now play with Legos at least 5 days each week.

Day 48: How do I attempt to maintain some sanity during deployment? I invite my girl friends over as often as possible (since I can rarely leave the house at night myself). Tonight's theme: CHOCOLATE!!! I did not try that chocolate wine you see pictured here...too scary. I did, however, buy a bunch of double chocolate cake donuts from Dunkin Donuts!

Day 49: Nathan is completing his homework first thing in the morning. He doesn't consistently have homework so I often forget to check his folder at night. He looks so cute in his jammies.

Day 50: Broken siding because something must constantly break during deployment. We had this section of siding repaired shortly before Ryan left and now it's coming lose again. (It's lose AGAIN in case anyone is keeping track. It's driving me CRAZY.)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:57:00.002-04:00

We hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Easter together. The boys had a great 2/3 of the day full of hunting for eggs, searching for their baskets filled with goodies, homemade banana pancakes, dying eggs, a lesson in the story behind Easter and we finished our day off with a trip to the ER! It just wouldn't be a true deployment holiday without some sort of catastrophe around this place. Nathan took his first nap in two years and when I forced him awake he began screaming and vomiting. He had a high fever and complained that his ear hurt...loudly. Fun times were then had by all at the ER and the pharmacy. Didn't expect to have McDonald's for dinner tonight!

The Details

2011-04-18T00:48:00.003-04:00

I have been known to be distracted by details. I seem to never finish large projects because I get distraced by the little things. Birthday parties are no exception to this rule. I get caught up wrapping Hershey's candies in little robot-themed wrappers and practically forget to wrap Ian's gifts. I make my parents cut out robot shapes and have my dad tape robot labels to ice cream cups. If Ryan were ever home for an in-home birthday party, I may finally have the chance to execute all of the fun little details that I envision. For now, enjoy the pictures of the party and the FOOD!

Love this picture of Ian looking out the windows in the door as more of his friends arrive. So many of his friends were sick (like we are now AGAIN) or playing soccer, but he really appreciated everyone who was able to attend.

Ian's Birthday

2011-04-10T23:39:00.003-04:00

A few days ago our big kid turned SIX! Can you believe it? We cannot. I promised Ryan I would add photos from his birthday and the party before his next port visit so he can catch up a bit with us. I'll add at least one more birthday post soon. :)

Here's a photo taken the last evening both of the boys were five-years-old together. They wouldn't really hold still or cooperate, but I think they still look pretty cute.

Ian was thrilled to go to school on his birthday. He shared cupcakes with his classmates, wore this crown all day and thoroughly enjoyed himself. I have a funny picture of him from dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant (his choice) wearing a sombrero, but it is still on my mother's camera.

Such a typical pose for this kid. He can't be bothered to stand up straight and smile fully, so this is what we get. We threw Ian a robot-themed party, in case you can't tell.

It was a crazy morning full of calls to my ombudsman phone line so I was running behind in the food prep when the party began. Can you tell that Ian is trying so hard to be patient and wait to eat? This picture captures him perfectly.

Finally, time for a cupcake!!!

The Book Challenge 2011 – The BBC Booklist

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

One of the many reasons I don’t post to my blog more often is that I spend much of my free time reading. I carry a book almost everywhere I go even if I know I most likely won’t get a chance to read it. Yes, I will arrive at the preschool/kindergarten three minutes early and try to read as many pages of one of my current books as possible. In any given month I tend to read 10-30 books. I’m working my way through a 1,001 popular books to read challenge that was first created in 2008 or 2009 and has now been expanded to 1242 books.

Here is a slightly more reasonable list for “normal” people. Oh, and please, always pass along your recommendations for books to read on to me. We all know that the 47 unread books on my nightstand are just not enough!

After going through this list it is clear that I need to add more classics to my reading list. The fact that I own over twenty books on this list that I have yet to read makes me sad.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
*2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
*6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
*8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
*11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
*13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
*14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (%)
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
*18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
*24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (%)
*25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
*27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
*29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
*34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
*37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
*40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
*41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
*46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
*49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
*57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
*61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
*65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
*68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
*71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
*72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
*73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
*74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
*75 Ulysses – James Joyce
*76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
*81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
*87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
*89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
*97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
*98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
*99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
First Round:
Read: 33

Days 41-45

2011-03-22T22:43:00.003-04:00

Two posts in one day!!! I'm trying to catch up, but it is going to take some time.

Day 41: Another random snow day. We had far too many snow days this season. I was so done with the snow that I didn't even let the boys go outside to play in the snow this time. In fact, I don't even remember if they asked to go out in the snow.

Day 42: Nathan is talking to Daddy via Skype again. He's showing off the ridiculously expensive toy that I purchased for them after the Madagascar Live show. I think it is healthy to cave into their requests occasionally.

Day 43: It's fun to have the girls over in the evening, but it is not fun waking up to this mess. This was a wine and whine kind of night as all of our husbands were in various stages of deployment.

Day 44: The boys and I made 45 more heart crayons to include with their valentines for their classmates. Here's the stack for Ian's class.

Day 45: Happy Valentine's Day!!! The boys could not wait to get home from school and dig into their decorated VDay bags.

Days 36-40

2011-03-22T15:24:00.002-04:00

Everyone keep your fingers crossed that the home network continues to function today so I can get more than one post up on the blog. Thanks.

Day 36: I ordered adorable rain boots for the boys and today they put them to good use. The boys are drenched after some puddle jumping through the neighborhood.

Day 37: Mississippi Mud Pie. I hosted a pie-themed afternoon playdate on a lazy Sunday. Each mom brought a pie to share and we all enjoyed a nice sugar high together. I didn't particularly care for this recipe so I won't bother sharing it with everyone.

Day 38: Ian thoroughly enjoying gelato at a local cafe. We had a Groupon that we had to hurry up and use and the boys LOVED their gelato. I had a shot of espresso poured over my vanilla bean gelato and it was delicious. This is my new favorite way to enjoy ice cream at home too.

Day 39: Sick monkey. Nathan woke up not feeling too great today and passed out on the couch while Ian was in school. He hasn't taken naps in almost two years so I felt awful waking him up to go pick Ian up from school. He had completely recovered by the next morning.

Day 40: The boys and I on our way out the door to go see Madagascar Live! We met up with a bunch of friends at the show in downtown Norfolk. This was our first live action show together and the boys had a great time!

Days 32-35

2011-03-15T18:51:00.003-04:00

Oh, man. The flu kicked my behind!!! I was out of it and just trying to survive (and keep the boys happy and healthy) for a solid week. Miserable. Anyway, I'm fully recovered and I'll try to catch up as best I can under the circumstances.

Day 32: Nathan was chosen as the Super Star Student for his preschool class and we were tasked with making a poster to display outside the classroom. He was pretty thrilled to help me create this poster completely devoted to details about him.

Day 33: A quick snapshot of one of the many playdates I host. I think I hosted 60+ playdates last year. Can't wait for warm weather so they aren't in my house!

Day 34: Another playdate. I know, I'm a glutton for punishment. Today's playdate had a craft: heart-shaped crayon making! I purchased these ice cube trays at the Dollar Store last year so they've survived 4 rounds of crayon making so far. I remove the wrappers from all our damaged crayons (that I save constantly), cut them into small pieces and let the kids mix and match. Only use Crayola crayons...the cheap crayons don't melt very well. I never remember the oven temperature setting so I start at 250 and increase as needed until everything melts. Be careful not to jiggle the pan when you remove the cookie sheet as you don't want the colors to mix together completely.

Day 35: Keeping the boys from going crazy after dinner is a challenge. I don't understand that behavior, but it happens almost daily. Tonight's solution was to pass out some new puzzles and beg them to quietly put them together while I washed the dishes.

Turkey

2011-02-27T10:40:00.004-05:00

Ryan spent a few days in Marmaris, Turkey earlier this month. He worked Shore Patrol the entire time so he wasn't able to take advantage of the cultural tours...or the drunken debauchery. Instead he worked rotating shifts with other guys from the squadron policing the crazy 18-year-old sailors who were able to legally drink in Turkey. Fun times!

There he is! And there's the ship!

The one street full of bars or whatever. This is a summer resort town so a bunch of stuff was closed at this time of year.

Fancy, right? I don't know how they choose their port cities. This one didn't really seem large enough to accommodate everyone, but I'm sure they were all just happy to get off the ship.

The USS ENTERPRISE leaving Marmaris. Beautiful!

And, because he knows me so well, Ryan took a picture of his morning coffee (sludge) and sent it to me.

Days 27-31

2011-02-19T12:05:00.005-05:00

Day 27: Nathan talking to Dad courtesy of Skype. Dad was in a hotel lobby in Portugal and Nathan was in our slightly messy family room.

Day 28: Starbucks! Instead of running errands while the kids were both in school, I met a few mommy friends at Starbucks this morning. It was so nice to spend three hours talking to adults!!!

Day 29: Piles of fabric strips. I hosted a Mom's Night In craft event for my playgroup this evening. I cut hundreds of fabric strips to decorate heart-shaped grapevine wreaths. In fact, I upset my tendinitis and couldn't tie strips on to my own wreath! It also hurt to drive for two weeks. Next time I won't cut all of the strips in one day.

Day 30: Ian is completely grossed out by today's craft. I thought it would be fun to make string hearts and mail them to Dad (another thing that has yet to make it to the ship). I made cornstarch glue and the boys dipped strips of yarn into the glue. We then placed the strips of yarn inside heart cookie cutters on parchment paper.

Day 31: Who is this? This one's for you, Ryan! Me, around midnight, no makeup.

Days 23-26

2011-02-18T19:41:00.003-05:00

Ryan is virtually yelling at me (via email) from 8,000 miles away telling me to update the blog so I'm going to give it my best effort over the weekend.

Day 23: Nathan is going crazy playing with a balloon that we brought home with us from the FRG meeting the previous day. Between the static from the dry winter air and the remaining helium, the balloons continued to entertain the boys for two entire days.

Day 24: Can you see Ian's newest wound? It's under his right eye. Best part about this wound is that he couldn't even tell me how it happened. Maybe we should have his tolerance for pain tested at the next doctor visit.

Day 25: Nathan is diligently working on a Valentine craft to send to Daddy (part of the reason I wasn't posting since none of our packages are making it to you, Ryan!!!!). Turns out these didn't make it into the care package because they kept falling apart.

Day 26: We hosted a snowman themed playdate. I made a few batches of homemade "snow dough" so the kids could make snowmen. We also used marshmallows, pretzel sticks and Wilton food writer pens to make edible snowmen. Ian wanted me to hurry up and take this picture so he could eat his creation.

Days 20-22

2011-02-10T12:32:00.003-05:00

Day 20: Just a little preparation for tomorrow night's Mom's Night In event at my house. Can you guess the theme? Twilight "Book Club"! Oh, it gets worse (read: more embarrassing for me)...

Day 21: Team Edward! Yes, I purchased a 6-ft Edward cutout for our fun mom's night. I took pictures of everyone with Edward, but when it was my turn to be in the photo, the mom was laughing so hard they ended up more blurry than this photo! Oh, well, next time. (Yes, it has been requested I host a Twilight Saga night so we can discuss the other books in the series. We are complete dorks!

Day 22: Ian colored this picture to mail to Daddy at today's Family Readiness Group (FRG) meeting. The boys had a great time playing hide-and-seek with the other kids, making crafts to mail to the ship and, of course, eating. We are lucky that our command is full of so many awesome families!

Days 16-19

2011-02-05T13:27:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Project 365 I now have 574 pictures in my January 2011 folder on our external hard drive. Everything has been uploaded and I hope to finish posting all of our January entries by Monday.

Day 16: The boys are drawing pictures to mail to Ryan. Soon his rack on the ship will be very colorful and full of drawings, craft projects and photographs.

Day 17: Oh, goodness, the boys are wearing the same shirts. I had to look back at the calendar and figure out how that was possible. Day 16 was an afternoon bath day since I let them play outside despite the chilly temperatures. Day 17 was a No School day so I let them put on whatever they wanted in the morning. I think they would wear the same clothes every day if I allowed it. Anyway, they are happily playing Candyland together while I cook dinner.

Day 18: Stack of chili for the freezer. One of my secrets to surviving deployments, underway periods and detachments is to cook big and fill the freezer. This prevents those last-minute runs to the Taco Bell drive thru. I cooked a double batch of turkey chili and this is what we had leftover AFTER we ate it for dinner.

Day 19: More food! I hosted a casserole dinner playdate and each mom brought a different casserole to share. I tried out a new recipe and it turned out pretty well. I'll post the recipe with my suggestions below. And this recipe makes a double batch so I added a full casserole to our freezer this night as well!

Baked Penne with Chicken & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

**Makes 2 baking dishes -- each serves 4-6**

6 tablespoons butter, plus more for baking dishes
salt & pepper
1 pound penne
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, halved horizontally
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups whole milk
10 oz white mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups shredded provolone (6 oz)
1 cup finely grated Parmesan (4 oz)

Preheat oven to 400. Butter 2 shallow 2-quart baking dishes.

Cook penne 3 minutes short of al dente. Drain and return to pot.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Season chicken with salt & pepper; cook until opaque. Cool a bit and thinly slice crosswise.

In a 5-quart Dutch oven, melt butter over medium. Add flour and garlic; cook, whisking, 1 minute. While whisking, gradually add milk; bring to a simmer, whisking frequently. Add mushrooms and tomatoes; cook 1 minute. Off heat, gradually stir in provolone and 1/2 cup Parmesan.

Add chicken and pasta to pot; season with salt and pepper. Divide pasta mixture between baking dishes; sprinkle each with remaining Parmesan.

Bake, uncovered, until top is golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Prepare through step 4 (mixing and dividing between dishes); let cool. Cover tightly with foil and freeze for up to 3 months.

**My notes: Double the sun-dried tomatoes, use baby portobella mushrooms as opposed to regular button mushrooms to add flavor. I plan to trade out a portion of the provolone for asiago next time as well to give it added flavor. Also, I think substituting 2-3 cups of the milk with 2% instead of whole would have been fine. It was very rich.

Strait of Gibraltar

2011-02-03T18:41:00.002-05:00

Man, had I known the secret to receiving photos during deployment was having kids I may have had kids sooner. Ryan even included photos with him in them! That's a first!!!

The Rock of Gibraltar. Considering Ryan only has a point and shoot Nikon Coolpix underway, I think this is a pretty great shot of the Rock. It also indicates just how close the ship must have been while taking this picture.

Ryan and a friend of ours from Ryan's college years who just happens to be attached to one of the other squadrons in the airwing. Notice our friend's UGLY mustache. The aviators just LOVE to have these awful mustache-growing competitions underway. Notice that Ryan isn't participating. He's not a party pooper, but he does respond well to threats made by me. Love you, Ryan! (I'm assuming he reads these posts in port...I could be wrong).

While showing the boys this round of photos from Dad, Nathan kept waving at the computer screen saying, "Hi, Dad!" We were lucky enough to talk with Ryan via Skype twice while he was in Portugal (really 3 times, but the drunken evening full of his co-workers doesn't count--the kids were lucky enough to be asleep for that one) so I think that Nathan thought that Ryan could hear him. It was cute and heartbreaking. He tells me every single day how much he misses his dad.

Days 12-15

2011-01-30T11:17:00.003-05:00

Day 12: We had to drop Ryan off at the ship the night before they departed. We enjoyed a nice dinner out as a family and then said our good-byes at the pier. Nathan was very happy to be giving Daddy one last hug.

Day 13: Bye-bye Big E!!! (No kidding, my phone rang 60 seconds after this picture was taken to inform me that I needed to pick up Ian from school because he was running a 101.5 fever. I made it approximately 90 seconds into deployment before the first crisis.)

Day 14: Ian sick on the couch. This is the only time he holds still for an extended period of time. This virus swept through his class and knocked out one half of the class this week.

Day 15: Chemistry. I had my first lecture of the semester this day. I withdrew from school one week later. Turns out I do occasionally acknowledge and give in to my limits. Who knew?

Portugal

2011-01-28T20:15:00.003-05:00

One of the only perks of deployment is that you get to visit some pretty awesome ports around the world. I am so very jealous that Ryan spent the past couple of days in Lisbon, Portugal.

I found this picture on some random person's Facebook page -- they linked it on the Enterprise Facebook page. The Enterprise looks lovely in the background.

Ryan sent this photo showing us the view from his hotel room. This must have been taken before the night of excessive drinking as it appears to be in focus. I will say that he seemed to be the most sober of the bunch when we were on Skype later in the evening.

Starbucks!!! If you click on the image to enlarge it you can see the Starbucks at the local train station. Hopefully he took a picture of the menu too.

The National Pantheon.

Days 8-11

2011-01-28T19:28:00.002-05:00

Day 8: Snow. Again. What is up with the crazy winter weather this year? It has screwed up everything--work, school, errands, etc. The boys are oblivious to the pain in the rear that comes with the snow and think it is just awesome. Oh, and check out my sweet ride. Jealous, aren't you?

Day 9: I finally took down Christmas. Some may think this was late, others may think it was early. Considering how little Christmas stuff we put up this year (just the tree and the mantel decorations) I thought it was late. Early on Melissa time, but late on my mother's time. Ha!

(Day 9 is also when I started to notice how BORING our day-to-day lives really are...only 356 more days of our exciting lives left to document!)

Day 10: Ian loves to read and I love that he loves to read. I cannot wait for Nathan to begin reading on his own so the three of us can enjoy some daily quiet time with our books.

Day 11: Ryan is being a dork in this photo, but that's the norm. Check out the new uniform too. This was the first time Ryan fired live ammunition (and he qualified for a ribbon!) and it was the first time he wore this style uniform. I kept this hanging in our entryway for the first 10 days of deployment to help discourage potential burlars. :) I only took it down because I received funny looks from my friends.

Deployment 2011

2011-01-23T19:24:00.003-05:00

Oh, my goodness. It's still January and I have already fallen behind. I promise that I have been taking photos every single day and I will upload our daily pictures as soon as I have the chance to make them smaller, etc. In the meantime, enjoy some photos taken by the media people on the Enterprise and a few photos sent by Ryan!

Here is a photo taken from the USS Enterprise Facebook page of the ship out to sea on 17 Jan 2011. I just LOVE that huge American flag flying proudly. When we were stationed in Bremerton and I would be waiting on the pier for the Vinson to return, the flag was the first thing we could see before the ship rounded the corner to head to base. The screams that would erupt from the thousands waiting on the pier were just awesome.

This beautiful shot of the battle group was also found on the Enterprise Facebook page. Here the battle group heads across the Atlantic on 17 Jan 2011.

Prior to Ryan deploying I made a note to take a picture of him in uniform standing next to his name painted on one of the squadron's planes. Needless to say, I completely forgot about this until it was too late. Nice guy that he is sent a picture of the plane to me today. Next time I hope he is IN the picture!

Ryan also sent this picture of the F-18's on the flight deck. How they don't end up bumping into each other while moving about still amazes me.

Days 2-7

2011-01-07T19:34:00.004-05:00

I made it an entire week without falling behind on Project 365. Success!!! Let's see how the next 51 weeks go. Again, Project 365 helps document our day-to-day life.

Day 2: This picture will be posted soon. I let Ian take today's picture using the boys' new digital camera. Unfortunately, we haven't found the appropriate USB cord to download these photos just yet.

Day 3: Ryan has been working on a number of small projects around the house to make things just a bit easier for me when he leaves. Here he is "happily" painting the trim on Ian's bedroom window and painting the new (and bright) green paint just around the window so we could hang new blinds & curtains.

Day 4: Bratwurst with lots of onions. Nothing says pre-deployment like eating all of one's favorite meals.

Day 5: Uniform prep is one of my favorite activities because it rarely involves my help. Of course, as I type this I am washing 6 flight suits.

Day 6: Nathan is working on one of his preschool homework assigments. He had to color a mouse and all of the mouse's winter clothing. I had the distinct pleasure of spending 20+ minutes cutting and gluing all of the pieces together.

Day 7: Ryan's first attempt at using our sewing machine was to add a layer of black fabric to his rack curtains. He's attempting to block out light to make it just a touch easier to sleep on the ship.

Project 365

2011-01-01T19:59:00.003-05:00

One of my resolutions for 2011 is to take one photo a day and scrapbook these photos. Since I know I will not complete this project the traditional way, I've decided to attempt digital scrapbooking for the first time! Becky Higgins' Digital Project 365 seems like a great fit for me. In fact, I've already uploaded today's photo and added the journaling! It is incredibly user friendly and I highly recommend it.

Also, in combination with this resolution, I will be posting my Project 365 photos every week to the blog. I did not post often enough last year so I will make an effort to better help our family and friends keep up with our day-to-day life.

Here is today's photo:

The boys each have their own calendar to help them keep track of all their daily activities and achievements. These $1 calendars from Michaels are perfect since each month the boys can color the picture and the daily blocks are large enough for our notes. This will hopefully help Ryan feel connected as well since we will be able to share all our mundane activities with him when he returns from deployment.

Cookies for Santa

2010-12-31T20:06:00.003-05:00

This is the first year we remembered to put cookies out for Santa. To make up for our past negligence, the boys personally decorated cookies this Christmas.

Ian is a big fan of the sprinkles. And the frosting. And cookies in general.

Nathan just had to sneak a taste of that green tube frosting. Yum!

The masterpieces! Aren't you glad that you didn't have to take a bit of these sugar-coated cookies?

Haze Grey, But Not Yet Underway

2010-12-29T12:12:00.006-05:00

One recent Sunday afternoon, the four of us decided to visit daddy's ship to explore his home away from home. The boys had never been on an aircraft carrier and I was excited to compare the enlisted/nuke life of the Vinson to the officer/airwing life of the Enterprise.

I "borrowed" these first 2 pictures from the Enterprise Facebook page. Obviously I do not regularly fly over the ship while it is underway to capture beautiful images such as these. So, here's the floating city:

This is what Ryan actually does on the ship...when he is not busy writing flight schedules and eating quesadillas. He may even be in the plane in this picture! We have no idea, but we like to assume he was flying at the time.

The boys made themselves cozy in daddy's rack. They thought it was awesome that he has the top bunk!

The room holds eight men, here are racks for 5 guys. Nice and cozy for sure. Glad it's not me! At least it is better than the berthing that Ryan used to enjoy on the Vinson...he roomed with 249 of his nearest and dearest.

Sorry for the awful picture, but the lighting was terrible in the ready room. Nathan is sitting in Ryan's chair. The ready room is where the crews brief for flights, conduct training, do the majority of their work and sometimes they relax by watching movies.

This is the room that shocked me the most. The ward room. I cannot believe this is where Ryan eats onboard the ship! Such a change from the galley on the Vinson. I especially love the huge flat screen TV's hung on the walls and the covered chairs!!!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T14:35:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We have taken hundreds of photos this month and will share of the highlights with you soon. It has been a busy month full of holiday school programs, craft playdates, cookie decorating, underway period for Ryan and deployment preparation.

Snow Day!

2010-12-17T21:42:00.003-05:00

We enjoyed a random snow "storm" yesterday. The weather guessers predicted snow at a 30% chance so we all ignored it and went about our daily business. School was cancelled in advance (not that I checked the website) and Ryan went to work. Whoops! It began snowing while the boys and I were at the commissary across town which resulted in a 90 minute drive home. At least we all had fun once we were home! Hopefully Ryan will edit the video of the boys and I engaged in an unfair snowball fight (I used a shovel).

3 Months Behind

2010-10-08T13:19:00.003-04:00

Yes, I'm 3 months behind on all things blog related. That's my life. I still don't have Photoshop so I'm sharing some unedited photos of the boys. These were taken on the 4th of July!!!

We didn't do anything special, mainly because our boys go to bed at 6pm. They would NEVER be able to stay up past 9pm to see fireworks. Instead, we record the NYC fireworks display and let them watch it on TV. They seem happy with this routine.

Love this photo of them just waiting for me to adjust the settings on the camera. So enthusiastic!

And this is how they act the majority of the time around here...

A New Post???

2010-08-20T00:49:00.002-04:00

Did you think that I forgot my own blog address? Probably. It has been almost two months since I lasted posted pics of the kids. We have been experiencing one computer nightmare after another. I am typing this on my new laptop (that I pretty much loathe) and Ryan has spent countless hours getting his desktop to work again while losing all the programs it formerly contained. That means I do not have Photoshop at the moment. Scary, I know. I'm working on it. I see CS5 at the student rate in my near future.

To hold you over, I'm sharing photos taken by my friend, Amanda. These were taken back in April and I just realized I never posted any of them here. Shame! The boys had another mini session with her a week ago and I cannot wait to see the new photos. She is such a talented photographer!

Toy Story 3

2010-06-27T16:10:00.003-04:00

We finally took the boys to see a movie in the theater for the first time this past week. Ryan took a week off from work so we have been enjoying our 'staycation' and time together as a family. We've also had contractors working in the backyard (again), but that's never fun.

Let me apologize for this awful photograph! I switched to auto mode on the camera and THIS is what I ended up with AFTER brightening the photo in Photoshop. This is why I rarely use auto. Hopefully you can sort of see the boys and their excited faces.

Popcorn was the key to keeping the boys happy as they sat through countless commercials followed by tons of movie previews AND a short. My goodness! It's as though the powers-that-be had no idea this was a children's movie. I had to explain at least 10 times to Nathan that Toy Story was going to come on soon after the many, many previews. I promise.

Toy Story 3 was definitely different than the first two movies, but the boys enjoyed themselves tremendously. I am relieved they have not asked to go and see it again. Yet.

Graduation Day

2010-06-18T16:06:00.002-04:00

Can you believe that Ian has already graduated from preschool? I cannot! He is so very excited to start kindergarten in the fall. So excited that he tells virtually everyone who walks through our front door.

All three 4-year-old preschool classes combined to put on a little musical performance. These shows are always so cute and Ryan ALWAYS missed them courtesy of the Navy.

This is Ian's entire class along with his two teachers, Miss Pat and Miss Teddi. Nathan is very much looking forward to being in this same class in the fall.

Sorry for the strange picture of the two boys. They were not being very cooperative and struggle with looking AT the camera at the same time.

Dinner and a Movie

2010-05-07T10:21:00.003-04:00

...Peck Family style.

The boys and I took in some live action entertainment the other night...field carrier landing practice! It was awesome! There is nothing like being a few feet, yes, FEET, from an airplane as it is practicing carrier landings. The F-18's startled the boys so they stayed in the van until the E-2's came along.

Wave to Daddy!

The boys enjoying some popcorn in the field. Only our boys find food just as captivating as an airplane speeding past our faces.

This one is for you, Ron. Guess I know where you'll be requesting to go the next time you visit. The pictures don't quite show you just how close we were. We were allowed to go in the shack on the side of the runway, but I couldn't bring myself to put the boys within 5 feet of a moving airplane. Instead we hung out about 10 yards away most of the evening.

In Memory of...

2010-04-14T00:15:00.004-04:00

This has been an incredibly tough couple of weeks for all of us in the Naval aviation community. I say this as though I'm a pilot or naval flight officer. Being married to this community makes all of its members family. This has never felt more true than in the last two weeks.

On March 31, we lost a true hero, Lt. Zilberman. A father of an adorable 4-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl. He fell in love with his wife in high school and they married in 1998. He was 31 at the time of his death. He flew the E-2C Hawkeye so that the other 3 crew members--one pilot, 2 naval flight officers--could bailout safely and survive the crash without injury. Had he not been so brave and quick to act, we would have most likely attended a memorial service for four lost aviators last week. Prayers for Katrina and her two young children. May she know that we continue to think of her and her children every day and we will always be here to help in any way that we can.

If you wish to read more, please do so HERE.

Personally, I have struggled every day since the news was released that an E-2 crashed. I know that it's "rare", but that does not make it any easier to sleep at night. It doesn't help that my husband is still 3,000 miles away training on this very plane every day...even as I type this. The memorial last week resulted in some of the most difficult hours of my life. I've always found it difficult to sleep when I know he is flying. I still get dressed every time his plane is scheduled to take off. I am very conscious that hostile fire is not my only concern. Up until now I was able to compartmentalize things to the point where my day-to-day activities were not affected, but that is out the window now. The life of Navy wife is tough enough--moving on command, taken away from our family and friends. I actually plan what I will do if my husband dies! We will stay here in Virginia Beach since this is where my young boys will remember living and playing with their daddy. All of this makes me want to stop going to school and stay home hugging my boys.

Yesterday, a T-39 crashed and all 4 aviators are believed dead. The plane was part of Training Air Wing 6 out of Pensacola, FL, Ryan's former command. One quarter of the fleet's original T-39's have crashed and no one has survived these crashes. Source.

We support our loved ones in their desire to defend our rights and freedom. I have said it before, that if Ryan were not in the Navy, I would join. I do not sit here feeling sorry for myself or my family. We have taken the risks with the rewards. How many people can honestly say they have a job where they fight for a way of life, a cause in which they truly believe? Not too many. I just needed to "write" down a few on my thoughts. My silly little blog is my therapy right now as I don't really have anyone to talk to about all of this.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T16:05:00.002-04:00

It's been a very busy few weeks for us so I apologize for the lack of blog updates. With Ryan out of town (again) and the end of the semester quickly approaching for me, there just hasn't been any spare time. Oh, we also had our backyard ripped apart and we are putting it all back together again...this means I'm out watering the entire new lawn by hand twice a day. Fun, fun! I promise more updates whenever I have the chance or feel like avoiding my homework.

Vote for Nathan!!!

2010-03-29T18:46:00.002-04:00

Help my boys win a photo session with an awesome photographer here in Virginia Beach!!! You can vote two ways, every day until April 2.

#1: Here's the link to the contest on her blog: Cutest Kid Contest. You get one vote per IP address, per day. Nathan is cute kid #22 and the poll is at the end of the photos.

#2: Here's the link to the Facebook Fan Page: Kimberlin Gray. Once you become a Fan of her Facebook Page, leave one comment per day on Nathan's photo found HERE.

Thanks for your help!!! I promise to share photos from this shoot if we win!!!

More Birthday Photos

2010-03-11T11:46:00.004-05:00

I had better finish sharing photos from Nathan's party before Ian's party sneaks up on us!

Roar! Dinosaur Nathan was ready for his friends to arrive.

Ian, showing off his quick dinosaur door hanger craft. He was thrilled to be able to make a door hanger using his favorite color - black.

The CAKE! I was not allowed to make a cake or cupcakes for this party since Nathan had been talking about this very specific WalMart dinosaur cake for almost a year. It was delicious!

Blowing out the candles (with a little help from his nearby friends, whether he wanted the help or not).

Happily waiting for his piece of cake. These boys will do anything when they know food is only moments away.

Ian was showing daddy how big of a piece of cake he wanted. He polished off two pieces of cake, but the still didn't add up to his desired amount.

Our two 4-year-olds. They are so goofy and they very rarely look at the camera at the same time.

Nathan was so very excited to receive his Toy Story bike! He immediately climbed onto it and was ready to go!!!

A little bit of instruction from dad and Nathan thought he knew everything about riding bikes.

Both boys ready to explore the neighborhood. Yes, we made it two houses down the block. These kids are a bit slow when it comes to understanding the "art" of riding a bike...and not putting on the brakes constantly.

Dino*mite Party

2010-02-26T14:22:00.004-05:00

Nathan is 4! It's hard to believe that our "baby" is 4-years-old already. He had been talking about a dinosaur cake that he saw one day at WalMart for the 10 months leading up to his birthday, so we hosted a dinosaur party this past weekend.

Nathan thoroughly enjoyed his dinosaur cake and remained at the table eating frosting long after all of his friends had finished their slices.

Always underestimating how busy I will be, I decided to make or embellish all of the decorations myself. Will I ever learn? Probably not. These dinosaurs are from a cute digital scrapbooking kit I found online.

The 50 cent balloon chandelier decoration rocks! Oh, and it is still up, just in case you were wondering. Ryan's birthday is Monday so that's my "excuse" for not taking the balloons down just yet.

Goodie bags! Again, using the digital scrapbooking kit I quickly made up these personalized panels to decorate the plain bags.

We have about 150 more pictures from Nathan's birthday and I will be sure to post more soon...just as soon as I finish studying photosynthesis and have a chance to edit them all in Photoshop.

I Do Exist!

2010-02-24T11:56:00.003-05:00

When it snowed last month (yes, I'm a month behind on my blog posts) I made a point of getting in a picture. It's proof that I'm really still here. I think that I may need to buy one of those children's digital cameras so I can teach the boys to take pictures. Ryan isn't around often enough and I have no idea if there is a timer on my camera. Also, I will not be handing my heavy Canon DSLR over to the boys any time soon. So rare is it that I'm in a photo with the boys that I have scheduled a professional photo session for the three of us at the end of March while Ryan is away. It's my mother's day gift to myself!

First Snow

2010-02-13T18:34:00.002-05:00

The boys LOVED playing in the snow!!! Ian was especially thrilled when he realized he could eat as much clean snow as he wanted and we didn't yell at him. Nathan enjoyed throwing snow at all of us more than anything else. It's a good thing he's short and his aim isn't so great.

We're still here

2010-02-09T21:59:00.003-05:00

I promise to post some fun things this weekend! We have video of the boys playing in the snow and pictures from recent events. Things are crazy, but I have over 100% in my biology class right now and I guess that's a good thing. My children are still healthy, mostly happy and the house...well, that's another story.

Wish Me Luck

2010-01-15T10:27:00.002-05:00

...and come babysit my kids.

I don't know why, but I have enrolled in school again. Just part-time, but it is sure to be the death of me. I really want to be a pharmacist, but I am a mother already. My husband is never home and it's not his fault, but it really doesn't make this easy. I have about a week to decide if I want to withdraw and wait until both kids are enrolled in school in the fall. I'm leaning toward that decision, but I'm trying my best to make this work.

The class I REALLY need to take, Biology, is the one where nothing is working online and the professor is useless so far. Oh, for clarification, my Biology "lectures" are online and my labs are in person...in Norfolk...they begin at 7:00pm. There are no real lectures, just a couple of powerpoint pages of fill-in-the-blank sentences. Are we given the answer key? No. Does the professor answer emails? Not in my experience. Am I able to log in to the online access that goes with the textbook? No. Did the bookstore sell me the wrong book twice? Yes. Did the textbook company include the wrong online access code? Yes. Are they going to fix the problem? No.

I don't like to fail. Withdrawing one week into "school" seems like a failure to me. Not getting an "A" is a failure to me. However, I don't have childcare for my boys during the day and I'm struggling to line up sitters for them for all of my labs. Could I do this if Ryan were around? Certainly, but that's not going to be the case for a LONG time. Why can't I just look at the situation and realize that it is beyond my control and not a failure on my part? I don't know. I'll let you know what I decide...

Our Holidays

2010-01-09T13:31:00.004-05:00

Expect me to always be behind on my posts. Things are crazy around here and they are only going to get worse.

Here are some photos from this holiday season. Enjoy!

The seasonal pack of Cars...a special thanks to Grandma & Grandpa S. for these. As we speak, these cars are all lined up "watching" Ian play Super Mario Brothers on the Wii.

Nathan looking up at the fake snow as we wait in line to meet Santa. That is probably as close as he will come to being in the snow this winter.

Cookies. What is Christmas without a cookie swap? I made NINE DOZEN cookies for this swap. The lemon glazed cookies (in the middle) were so yummy and reminded me of my grandmother's lemon meringue pie. I'll have to post the recipe!

More cookies! Some jam thumbprints finished off my cookie selection. I was tired of rolling out the dough.

Yay! Daddy was home before Christmas. This is pretty much the only reason our tree made it up this year. I will have to schedule less for myself next December (when Ryan will likely be gone) so that I can make sure to provide the boys with a full Christmas experience.

Ryan is roasting marshmallows in the fireplace in this picture. All he wanted for Christmas was a finished fireplace that we could use so I purchased these glass doors and he bought some fancy grate (who knew such things existed). Don't ask me how I feel about the fireplace now...

Two happy boys on Christmas morning. Ian is still asking where his reindeer with wheels is..."Santa" was unable to deliver that particular present. They were both thrilled with all of their new toys, games & books!

Gingerbread Crazy

2009-12-27T20:41:00.006-05:00

Call me crazy, but I thought it would be fun to host a gingerbread house workshop with my playgroup. The response was overwhelming and I soon found myself adding a second workshop, then a third and yes, a fourth. We needed 15 houses for the first two workshops...

The first step is to trim the graham crackers to make the pieces for the front and back of each house. Use the short end of a graham cracker as your template when cutting the crackers. I used Honey Maid brand and found that I also needed to trim off the bottom "row" of each cracker so they weren't too tall when constructing the hosues.

Next, I trimmed large rectangular cake boards (cut each into 4 smaller rectangles) to act as the bases for each house, prepped my pastry bag and dug out my Wilton spreader. Make sure you have a Venti Mocha from Starbucks on hand as it takes up to 4-6 hours to construct 15 houses when you have a 3 and 4-year-old to tend to during the whole process.

Be sure to place a damp kitchen towel over your mixer as you begin to make the royal icing. The last thing that you want is powdered sugar ALL over your kitchen! I use Wilton's Royal Icing recipe.

We used tons of candy--M & M's, Skittles, Dots, gumdrops, sugar cones for trees, etc., to decorate the houses. The kids had a wonderful time and were all on a sugar high after they finished decorating their houses. Surprisingly, only a few kids were more interested in eating the treats than decorating.

Here is Ian's second gingerbread house:

And here he is proudly sitting in front of his house waiting for the fourth and final gingerbread house workshop/playdate to begin.

Nathan's second gingerbread house:

Nathan LOVED decorating the houses and couldn't wait to take this picture so that we could show it to Daddy when he returned home.

Photo with Santa

2009-12-13T21:30:00.001-05:00

The boys were more than excited to go visit Santa this year. Can you believe it? Nathan was forced to toss his Lightening McQueen car in the garbage a week or two ago after breaking the wheels off. That was his motivating factor. He just could not wait to ask Santa for a new Lightening McQueen. In fact, he didn't even wait for Ian to make it up on Santa's lap before asking for his new toy. Ian asked for a reindeer with wheels...let's hope he doesn't remember that come Christmas morning. All day Ian talked about asking for a race car and then he changed his mind at the very last second.

Coupon Crazy

2009-12-06T20:21:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of my most recent (and hopefully final) attempt at coupon organization. So far it is working really well for me AND even Ryan finds it easy to locate coupons for the things that he needs. I have over 20 categories right now and every time I clip and sort coupons I find that I need to add one or two new ones. Every little bit of savings help!

Playgroup Party

2009-11-13T11:00:00.002-05:00

I am behind on everything these days so I apologize for just now uploading more of our Halloween photos. Oh, well, that's my life!

The kids were all so excited to see each other in their costumes. Ian was most excited when he saw the two tables covered in food. I was relieved that Ryan was able to attend the party because he kept an eye on Ian who was very determined to steal food before it was time to eat.

I saw this hummus graveyard in Family Fun magazine and just knew that it would be perfect for the party. We attempted a spooky food theme, but only a handful of us seemed up to the challenge. I just love that Wilton manufacturers the food safe pens which I used to write on crackers to create the headstones.

We requested that the kids allow us to take one group shot before eating. This worked well to convince my two boys to sit patiently for the picture. Ian never took his eyes off the food. Seriously. I promise that we do feed this boy 3 large meals plus snacks every day!

Before I even placed the lens cap on the camera, I swung around to see that Ian had taken a mummy dog for himself. Oh, my, goodness.

Nathan was a bit overwhelmed at the party and chose to sit safely at the table and nibble on food for 1 1/2 hours instead of joining in all the fun. He eventually played all the games and ran around, but he waited until half of the guests had left the party. Ian, on the other hand, was in good spirits (despite the too-small costume) and was more than happy to pose for a picture with dad.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T22:42:00.001-05:00

We hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!

Spiders & Ghosts

2009-10-27T20:58:00.003-04:00

Let the Halloween crafts and events begin! This particular craft has been one of the most popular crafts that I've hosted in our local playgroup. These pictures are from a park playdate, but we completed this craft again at today's Halloween party since many members missed out the first time.

This is such a simple craft! All you need is construction paper or cardstock, washable or acrylic paint, a paint brush and some wiggle eyes. When making the spider, only paint your child's 4 fingers and half way down his or her palm. You don't need any paint on the thumb. Paint one hand, press down and then paint the second hand and press down. Perfect spider! The ghost is super easy--just paint the bottom of your child's foot and press down.

Here's Ian showing off his spider handprint.

Don't forget Nathan! He was also very proud of his completed projects.

The Best Snack Ever

2009-10-21T11:53:00.002-04:00

...according to my 3-year-old.

By now everyone knows that we rarely have a difficult time getting our little ones to eat healthy food. Nevertheless, I get bored serving food the same way day after day. To make our afternoon snack just a bit more interesting, we decided to mix things up. Literally.

Ian is more than happy to help prepare his "special" snack. Here he is dumping some cinnamon into a ziploc baggy filled with chopped apple squares.

An up-close shot just for fun!

Make sure you seal the ziploc baggy well, unless you like sticky, cinnamon all over your counter. Nathan is ready to shake up his apple snack.

Shake, shake, shake! They just thought this was hysterical.

Yummy cinnamon apples. How easy is that?

Muffin Tin Monday

2009-10-08T18:20:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I hosted another Muffin Tin Monday playdate. These themed playdates are so much fun! The only problem is that now I am obsessed with muffin tins of all shapes and sizes and think that I might need to install another kitchen cabinet to keep them all organized. I'm sure I can come up with some way to justify that, right?

This week we had an ocean themed MTM. Forgive me because I took a photo of Nathan's muffin tin before I served him the shell pasta. Whoops! I was babysitting a 2-year-old girl this day so I was distracted at times. The other fun themed snacks included blue jello, Swedish fish, colored gold fish crackers, starfish rice crispy treats and octopus hot dogs. Too fun!

For the craft, each child painted a paper plate blue to create their very own ocean. They then attached fun foam fish and shell stickers. Our playgroup includes children ages 2-5, but now that school is back in session, we mostly see 2 & 3-year-old children at our playdates. This was a perfect craft. After all, what young child doesn't like to paint?

I rode in an ambulance...

2009-10-05T16:06:00.002-04:00

and all I got was this lousy "balloon".

The flu has come and gone in our household. We are so glad it is over and hope that all the other strains stay far away from our family this flu season.

10 days ago I picked Ian up from school and his teacher said that he kept getting chills throughout the morning. They checked his temperature and it was normal. He was perfectly healthy when I dropped him off that morning. Less than 2 hours after we returned home, Ian was shaking and spiked a fever of 104.6. That was the beginning of our crazy flu experience which culminated in a call to 9-1-1 and Ian's ride in an ambulance. Mind you, Ryan was in Fallon, NV for this entire experience. He always misses all of the fun.

Our entire family was ordered to stay home as soon as the flu was diagnosed over the phone. We were told to avoid the doctor's office and hospital unless the symptoms became so severe that they required medical attention. (I didn't know Ian would go from normal to unable to breathe with a 105+ temperature in a span of less than 15 minutes one evening). Anyway, I am grateful for my friends who brought me medicine (and Starbucks--extra thanks to Melanie for that) for my sick child and who volunteered to bring us groceries. I'd like to give a thumbs down to the Navy for the broken transport plane and their lack of desire to send our loved ones home in a timely (read: commercial airlines) fashion. This would have saved Tricare the cost of an ambulance ride...probably the equivalent of flying my husband home 10+ times.

Nathan and I never developed anything more than typical cold symptoms. Poor Ian is still using an inhaler to help him breathe--the flu resulted in an upper respiratory infection (half the reason I had to call an ambulance to help me get him to the hospital safely). The doctors never tested him so we can't be 100% sure what strain of the virus he had, but they said it didn't present like H1N1.

Well, I hope all of you stay healthy this year! Let's hope we can avoid another round of the flu!

Watercolor Initials

2009-09-27T14:40:00.003-04:00

I hosted yet another crafty playdate at our local park. The boys and I love this set-up and are not looking forward to the cold weather that will be arriving soon. It's so stress-free to entertain moms and preschoolers at the park as opposed to my house.

Before starting the craft, the kids ran around on the playground. This was the first time Ian and Nathan had been to this particular park. Virginia Beach has so many neighborhood parks!

Ian always jumps right in and has to try out every part of the playground.

Nathan is a bit slower to explore. There was a little bit of water on this frog, so Nathan opted to just pet it and not ride it this particular morning.

For the watercolor initials craft, I cut up lots of strips of contact paper from the Dollar Store. Each mom then taped the contact paper strips to the watercolor paper to form each child's first initial. We then let the kids paint to their little heart's content.

Both boys enjoy painting, but Nathan definitely displays more patience when crafting.

Once the paint had dried completely, I just peeled off the contact paper to reveal their pretty artwork. This was such a simple craft and you could cut any shape out of contact paper to make seasonal art projects with the kids too! Don't be surprised if you see more of these over the next few months.

First Day of School

2009-09-11T19:37:00.002-04:00

Today was Ian's first day of preschool. He has been looking forward to this for months! I am pretty sure that it lived up to his expectations. When I asked him what he enjoyed most today at school he proclaimed, "being the caboose!" with enthusiasm. I guess he was "the caboose" in line today to and from the playground. I thought that he would surely choose lunch as his favorite part of the day.

It is pretty shocking how much Ian looks like me on my first day of preschool (am I right Mom & Dad?). I think our expressions are almost identical. He was very excited to show off his new backpack.

He is all ready to go! He absolutely could not wait to run to the van and head off to his first day of school. In fact, when we arrived at his classroom he attempted to charge into the room without even pausing to say goodbye to me. This didn't surprise me a bit.

Nathan was a bit lonely at times without Ian today. He was quite confused when I arrived home without Ian (I left Ryan home with Nathan for Ian's big day). I asked him why he was sitting at the window and he said, "I am waiting for Ian to come home." So cute...and so quiet. I actually forgot to feed Nathan lunch on time today and this is something that Ian NEVER would have allowed to happen. That kid is always begging for food and asking me what time it is. I'm going to have to set two alarms--one reminding me to feed Nathan and a second to remind me to pick Ian up from school.

Together again! Nathan was waiting at the window when we pulled into the driveway and he ran outside to give Ian a big hug. They continued to give "squeezy hugs" once we were inside. This lasted about 3 minutes and then the bickering resumed.

More Playdate Fun

2009-09-04T12:24:00.003-04:00

The weather has been particularly mild this summer...or at least that's how it seems to this Virginia Beach newbie. We have not had to cancel a single outdoor playdate due to excessive heat this season (we won't mention how many have been rained out). The boys and I have kept very busy with all of our crafty park playdates and hope that this will continue through October.

We met up with our playgroup at Princess Anne Park to make craft stick flowers. Such a simple craft and the kids loved it!

Who knew that all I needed to keep Ian in his seat was a plate full of tacky glue and some craft sticks? Trust me, had I known this sooner, our house would already be full of craft stick creations!

Ian made 2 or 3 flowers this day. Had I not dragged him away from the table to go play, he surely would have used up all of our friend's supplies.

Nathan was under the impression that he had created a pinwheel, not a stationary flower. He is trying to blow on the flower to make it spin.

Usborne Children's Books

2009-08-24T19:52:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to share with all of you that I have signed on as an Usborne Books consultant. Before you think I'm crazy for taking on another business, let me tell you that I am doing this strictly for the discount. What makes this better is that I'm sharing this discount with all of my family and friends. Shh, don't tell on me.

I absolutely adore children's books, especially quality books that don't talk down to my kids. I speak to them like they are adults (as much as possible) and appreciate books that do the same. I have found that Usborne meets this requirement. They also have tons of those search and find books that Nathan absolutely adores and I am all about buying anything that keeps the boys still and quiet.

So, if you are in need of some children's books, I will be placing orders on the 20th of every month. Let me know if you ever need anything. Also, if you visit my website you can enter to win $50 in free books!

Muffin Tin Monday

2009-08-10T16:17:00.006-04:00

Today I hosted a Muffin Tin Monday playdate for my Meetup playgroup. I chose a rainbow theme--we made rainbow cupcakes and everyone brought a color specific snack. So much fun!

I had to steal someone else's photo so that I could be in one of the pictures. Each child mixed the batter to correspond with their chosen color and they took turns filling the muffin tins.

Since my two muffin tins were in the oven full of yummy, colorful cupcakes, I had to come up with an alternative container for the boys' fun snacks. Thank goodness I have a HUGE stash of silicone baking cups.

Ian loved all of his colorful treats!

Here's Nathan happily showing off his rainbow cupcake. I had frosting available, but none of us moms chose to frost our kid's cupcakes. Surprise, surprise!

Doesn't that just look so adorable!!!

Big Boy!

2009-08-05T14:09:00.002-04:00

This past weekend we decided to finally force Nathan to grow up just a little bit. We took him away from his crib. I'm pretty convinced that he would have happily stayed in his crib through kindergarten. This crazy boy of ours never once attempted to climb in or out of his crib. Ever. Ian was climbing out before he was 18 months old!

We purchased a bunk bed set from Flexa about a year ago for the boys. Ian needed a twin bed and we just figured it made sense to buy a bunk bed set since ultimately they would end up sharing a room. We attempted to move them into a joint room at that time, but they were more interested in goofing off than sleeping. Ian quickly returned to his original room.

We think that they *might* be mature enough to begin sharing a room again. Nathan sleeps so peacefully and Ian likes to get up at the crack of dawn, so I remain unconvinced that this is a good idea. Nevertheless, we set Nathan's new bed up in what is expected to be the boys' shared bedroom. We haven't bothered to paint or replace the baseboard so just ignore the background in these pictures.

Nathan loves his new bed! I had to wake him up for breakfast the first two mornings in his new bed. I think he would have stayed there all day if I had let him (love him!). Today when he woke up he actually stayed in his bed and called for me. How adorable! I'm not going to break the news to him that he can get out of bed on his own and come find me.

Water Play

2009-07-25T17:48:00.003-04:00

We have been very busy trying to play outside as much as possible. At times, the heat and humidity is too much for us, but for the most part the weather has been rather pleasant. We've explored some new parks in the area, but more than anything the boys love to play in the water. I love it because I can water the front lawn, read a magazine and the boys are entertained at the same time!

Nathan clearly enjoys this funky little sprinkler that I picked up at Target.

As usual, here the boys are trying to torture each other. No one was yelling at this point.

Nathan was too chicken to ever attempt the water slide. He had fun playing in the built-in sprinkler, but absolutely would not slide down the thing.

Ian tried to slide down a few times, but he preferred just hanging out in the water that pooled at the end of the slide. They can be such strange kids.

All done!

More Sesame Place Fun

2009-07-13T15:14:00.004-04:00

We had a wonderful time at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. The fact that our entrance to the park was FREE made the whole experience less stressful. (Thank you Busch for supporting the troops!) Not spending over $200 to get into the park took off all the pressure to "do everything" that we likely would have felt otherwise. We can't wait to go back again next year before Ryan deploys.

Ryan and I did not wear swimsuits so we were not able to take the boys on some of the water slides, etc. The boys, however, did get to experience Ernie's Waterworks and they LOVED it!

The boys were so delighted to see Ernie and have the chance to give him a hug.

Ian absolutely loved the HUGE net climbing structure. Poor Ryan had to follow Ian through the whole thing doing his best to keep Ian safe...Ian only came out with a large rope burn on one side of his face. Not bad! Ryan had rope burns on his knees.

Nathan hung back with me while the bigger boys climbed the ropes. I don't blame him.

Look, I slipped into another photo! Such a rare thing to see proof of my presence at all these fun events.

We had to stop for a quick photo on our way out of the park. I loved these topiaries trimmed to the shapes of some famous Sesame Street characters.

Typical Ian, making silly faces instead of posing nicely for the camera person.

Who is this kid? I don't think he's related to us...we certainly don't look this good in photos!

For the Love of Elmo

2009-07-02T14:54:00.002-04:00

Prior to leaving on our mini vacation, I made sure to show Nathan pictures of the rides and characters that he would see at Sesame Place. Sometimes Nathan is incredibly shy and unwilling to try new things so I wanted him to understand what was coming. While sitting on my lap looking through the Sesame Place website, Nathan said over and over again that he was going to give Elmo and Grover hugs. To my surprise, the second he saw Elmo he attempted to run to him to give him that hug. Of course, I explained that we had to wait for Ian and then wait in a short line. Nathan could barely contain himself. He took off running, right pass Abby Cadaby who was the first character that we were supposed to stop at for a picture, and headed directly for Elmo. Nathan never stopped hugging him. So cute.

Celebrate!

2009-06-30T20:04:00.002-04:00

Zoey's 1st birthday!!! (A few weeks early...shh, don't tell)

May I just say that it was so delightful to attend Zoey's birthday celebration! We had such a great time visiting with Dalene's family and friends.

Dalene and Zoey. So sweet!

Daddy

2009-06-23T08:57:00.001-04:00

Thanks for being such a great daddy! We love you!!!

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T10:22:00.003-04:00

The boys are thrilled to have their daddy home for Father's Day. It was difficult to prevent them from storming the master bedroom door this morning. Ryan wanted to sleep in and they just wanted to scream, "Happy Father's Day" at him first thing in the morning...just before 6am. Just to make the day even more exciting, Nathan decided to begin to throw up in the van while I was trapped at a red light. Joy! He seems to feel a little better right now and I'm just glad that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet when he chose to get sick.

While Ryan was still out of town I hosted a Father's Day craft playdate at the house. Each child completed a coloring sheet, made a card with a little help and decorated a "tie" for their dad. Too cute! Nathan LOVES to craft and happily sat for all the activities. Ian needed to be bribed with the promise of more snacks if he finished a project. Typical.

Ian...eating. I had to give him three rounds of snacks in order to convince him to finish all three crafts.

Nathan is modeling the tie that he made for Ryan.

He survived!

2009-06-19T15:43:00.002-04:00

The blog is back and open for business again now that Ryan's Navy nonsense is out of the way. He is on his way to the airport as we speak and will be very relieved to be back home where the only people who beat him up are 3 and 4-years-old. Thankfully, Ryan will also be able to take some leave until the end of the month. It's about time! Oh, we are all very grateful that Ryan safely made it through this round of training. If only we could post the details here...

Anyway, I think it has been 2 years since our last mini-vacation so I am looking forward to heading out of town next week. We are going to stay in Washington, DC for a night or two and explore some of the sights. Since it's so hot and the weather is so unpredictable this time of year, I don't want to plan an extended stay in DC for right now. We'll save that for the fall or spring!

Want to hear the most exciting news???? We are going to Pennsylvania! Why is this exciting at all? We get to see Dalene & "little" Melissa and meet their precious baby girls! I'd skip DC all together just to make sure this part of the vacation occurs. Dalene has never met my boys and I most certainly have never met her darling daughter. I cannot wait! We also hope to hit up Sesame Place if the weather is decent during our short visit. Soon the boys will be too old to care about Sesame characters...and Busch Gardens lets us military folk visit for FREE once a year. Score!

I Love My Vacuum

2009-06-14T10:25:00.002-04:00

In fact, I might be in love with my new vacuum. A few weeks ago our trusty Kenmore that we purchased with money we received as a wedding gift died on us. I freaked out. I was not in the mood to spend $500 to buy a Dyson, especially since we already own a Roomba.

Our old vacuum was nice enough to give up on us just prior to Memorial Day weekend so I remained hopeful that we'd find some decent sales at Sears. After getting sidetracked by the shiny new grills (our almost new grill was blown over during a storm and is broken), we finally arrived at the vacuums. We walked in without any information hoping that the salespeople would attempt to do their job. Wrong! They were capable of pointing and reading the information on the sales tags, but that was it. Lovely. They want you to drop a few hundred dollars on an item and they can't even help convince you which one will work best for your house.

Taking things back into my own hands, we returned home and I headed over to check out Consumer Reports and the wonderful Sears comments. Have I mentioned how much I love the comments on individual items on the Sears website? They approve every comment, no matter how scathing and I know this from experience! I checked out the various Dyson models and a handful of Kenmore vacuums. After reading the hundreds of comments, I was completely sold on the Kenmore Progressive Upright Vacuum with Inteli-Clean System, Slate Blue. I was especially happy to be paying $219 for this $349 vacuum.

This smart vacuum tells YOU when your carpet is clean. My carpet looks brand new each time I vacuum. I can vacuum my entire staircase while leaving the vacuum at the bottom of the stairs. The gentle feature doesn't suck up the corners of my throw rugs while I vacuum. I love my vacuum!!!

Just had to share. I promise my next post will have pictures of the kids.

Temporarily Private

2009-06-07T09:37:00.002-04:00

Sorry I had to make the blog private...it's only for 2 weeks. Ryan is off playing in the woods and we don't want any private information out there that we are able to control. If they are able to figure out my name, all bets are off. With a last name like Saarijarvi, I'm pretty sure they will be able to gather all the intelligence they want!

Outdoor Fun

2009-05-21T16:28:00.003-04:00

I am so relieved that the weather has been mostly cooperating and allowing the boys to play outside. Nathan is content with craft activities and indoor play, but Ian NEEDS to be outside. Our typical tropical summer has not yet begun so we are taking advantage of the warm, sunny days right now. These are just a few pictures from a recent park play date.

See, Ian loves to be outside. If there's a hill to be found, Ian will be the one rolling down it.

How did he end up so photogenic? He certainly did not inherit this quality from me or Ryan.

Boys running around being boys. Thank goodness we have a ton of parks here in Virginia Beach!

A sweet friend of ours who is moving to Korea next month...boo hoo!!!!!!!

These three little guys get along so well. It's such a shame this other family has to transfer to a new duty station.

When not shuttling the boys from playgroup to playgroup, I have been spending ALL of my extra time working on my business. It's exhausting. I have yet to find the perfect e-commerce site and that's very frustrating to me. I want a template for my store that I can adjust to make it more unique, but I don't want anything too complicated because it needs to be easy to add items frequently, etc. Suggestions anyone? I've also been adding things to Etsy, updating my current site, trying to make Twitter work for me, blah, blah, blah. It's so bad that my kids now pretend to work on their own websites with big old calculators acting as their laptops. So crazy!

I also help organize three local Meetup groups and it has become a tad overwhelming in recent weeks. I am trying to spread out the responsibilities as much as possible so that it can truly remain FUN for all of the organizers, but this has proven difficult at times. I will always sacrifice my own time to try and make sure everyone is happy...this is something I need to work on.

I Miss My Friends

2009-05-18T16:25:00.005-04:00

Bring on the whining. I'm just going to lay it all out. It stinks being a Navy wife. Moving to new places can be fun, but I'm tired of moving wherever and whenever the Navy says it's time. I am sick of meeting new people. I MISS MY FRIENDS!!!

We've lived here in Virginia for a little over a year now. Sure, I have met some really great people since moving here, but it still doesn't feel like home. I'm not convinced everyone I hang out with "gets me" just yet. I think a few are close, but I don't see them very often. No one knows us well enough to just show up at the door unannounced and if I'm balling my eyes out for whatever reason, I know that I'm going to call Ryan or some friend I've left behind in another state. I'm lonely.

What makes things worse is that when we do make friends, they move! It's not bad enough that we're always moving away, but so are our friends. I can't take it anymore!!! My boys are about to lose one of their first real friends, but I don't think they will really understand it for a few more years. A fellow military wife is moving to Korea and my boys love her son to pieces! He is on their short list of 3 boys that they always ask for at play dates and parties. Such a pity.

So, friends, move to Virginia. I'll do my best not to move away from you. Those of you without blogs, start one so I can feel like I'm still somewhat part of your everyday life. Oh, and don't be surprised when the phone rings and I'm complaining or crying on the other end of the line. I don't think Ryan wants to be my "girlfriend" anymore.

**Edit: Ryan read this (who knew he read this thing) and said that I made it sound like HE is the reason I'm crying and that he doesn't want to put up with me anymore. Sorry, that was not my intention. I am convinced that any girl who reads this will understand what I was trying to say.

Heart Health Advice

2009-05-04T15:13:00.002-04:00

Because I have a million other things to do that do not include editing family photos, I'm sharing this perfect email from my friend, Jacqui. Enjoy!

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it...don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! .... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape! Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember:

'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride' AND..... For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION:
Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

March of Dimes

2009-04-24T17:01:00.003-04:00

The local March for Babies is this Sunday. If you have the money, I'd love for you to help out and sponsor me ($5 would be great!). There's a link on the right side of this page. Thank you to those of you who have already sponsored me. I appreciate it.

It is supposed to be in the 80's on Sunday. Last year it was too cold to take the boys with me. This year my parents will be here too. However, I've been told that they will not be ready by 9am to walk with us. Lame!

Okay, I am too tired to type anything else or add any photos. I'm off to continue cleaning and organizing my craft room in preparation for tomorrow's clearance sale and new product preview!

Egg Hunt #1

2009-04-16T12:01:00.002-04:00

Last week we attended an Easter Egg Hunt with our 2006 Mommies playgroup. It was a beautiful day and overall the three of us had a great time. Nathan was angry and timid at first, but that's what I've come to expect from him at these large gatherings. Ian loves attention from anyone and everyone!

These bunny ears did not stay on long. I'm glad that I was able to snap this quick photo.

Nathan did not like the idea of running off with all of the kids (and not the mommies) to go find eggs. Fortunately, big brother Ian was more than willing to hold his hand. Once they reached the eggs, Ian took off and Nathan collected eggs in his deliberate way. He would find an egg, put his basket down, open up the egg and then place everything individually into the basket. Ian was just running around grabbing as many eggs as he could. That pretty much sums up their personalities.

Enjoying the goodies...this is when Nathan was finally beginning to act happy.

Other moms looked on in amazement as Ian packed away the candy. This kid has the most amazing metabolism. I wish I could just borrow a little bit of it.

I just love this hoodie on Nathan. I think I spent all of $8 at Target. Love Target! Where did I shop all of those years before kids??? Oh, that's right, Macy's and Nordstrom...for ME!!!!

Couch to 5K

2009-04-14T12:21:00.003-04:00

Okay, I'm still chubby. I'll also admit to eating Taco Bell for lunch today...mainly because I will not drag both kids to the commissary on what is payday for most of us. That's just insanity.

Anyway, I own a bike that I have yet to ride. I love to ride a bike, but not alone. My boys don't comfortably fit in any of the trailers that I've found plus I'm not so sure I want to be pulling an extra 100 pounds behind my bike. I've been driving around trying to find a route that makes me comfortable. The best thing about Virginia Beach that I've discovered so far is that bikes are legal on sidewalks. This is important since we don't have bike lanes! Now I just have to find that magical time where the sun is still up, Ryan is home to watch the boys and I don't have people coming over to my house for a class.

So, I heard about this Couch to 5K program and thought that I would look into it. Where's the harm in dreaming, right? If you know me (and I'm assuming that 99% of the people reading this do), you know that I have never run for pleasure. I don't think I'm capable of running for pleasure. I'll happily chase a soccer ball around a field, but my life does not allow me to commit to a soccer team. Even the most casual team would give me the boot after the third phone call with me complaining, "Ryan just got his schedule (at 5pm) and I won't be able to make it tomorrow."

Here's the link to the program: Couch to 5K. Just go right ahead and ignore that beginner triathlete crap. I know that is outside my limits. This isn't going to be a typical Couch to 5K program since I will most certainly be pushing 80 pounds of flesh in a double jogger while working my way through this. Oh, God, just typing that makes me want to take a nap. I'm determined to lose the abdominal chub though. How the heck did that get there anyway? I have to purchase a sports bra (these babies don't act the way they used to) and make sure my shoes function properly and then I'll be off! I'm sure that you will hear me whine a lot over these next 3 or 4 months.

More Birthday Fun

2009-04-11T14:01:00.002-04:00

This is the last birthday post. Finally! I'm falling behind. We gave Ian his first bike for his birthday. We didn't think that Ryan would be home at all during the boys' waking hours on Ian's actual birthday so we took him out to ride his bike the day before his big day. Ian chose the bike at Toys R Us the week before so it wasn't a surprise. He waited patiently for the chance to ride it for the first time...especially considering it was in the back of the van for that entire week!

Ryan is trying his best to explain how to use the pedals to Ian. Ian isn't the most patient child in the world. He has two other tricycles, but never bothers to pedal. I guess it slows him down???

Ian is giving it a try on his own. I think we need to lower the seat a little because he was definitely struggling with the pedals.

We should not have taken the boys to a new playground for this first bike lesson. Ian could not jump off the bike fast enough to go play on the playground.

Nathan loved running up and down the ramp while I took pictures. Sometimes he cooperates...most of the time he does not.

Birthday Boy

2009-04-10T15:40:00.003-04:00

Ian is such a ham. He will almost always post for a photo. He came up with this pose all on his own! It is way too cheesy for me. He's such a cute 4-year-old!

Here's Ian with his stack of birthday gift, minus the bike and some other smaller gifts from Grandma & Grandpa P. that I forgot to bring downstairs at first. He almost looks like he doesn't know what to do. Oh, don't mind that I didn't wrap two of the gifts or adorn any of the packages with bows or ribbon...Ian certainly didn't mind.

Nathan did his best to wait patiently.

Ian was thrilled with the aircraft carrier from Grandpa & Grandma S.! (Technically this was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but I made the executive (MOM) decision to wait until Ian's birthday). It was so sweet, that night when I was tucking him in he asked if he would be able to keep all of his gifts because it wasn't going to be his birthday anymore when he woke up. He specifically asked if he had to give the carrier back to grandma & grandpa. So cute!

The tinker toys from Grandma & Grandpa P. (Another Christmas gift that I delayed giving them until now) were also a big hit! Both boys play with the Tinker toys many times a day and ask that I make them lots of complicated structures. I already know that I need to buy more of these.

Let Them Eat Cake!

2009-04-08T15:17:00.003-04:00

Ian turned 4-years-old on Monday. Can you believe it? I absolutely cannot! I thought for sure that this child would have somehow killed himself or caused me to somehow kill him by now. In all honesty, he has calmed down tremendously, to the point where I no longer pick up books like, "The No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers." He still drives us a little nutty, but what preschooler is perfect, right?

Anyway, Ian and I were both sick for his birthday. Yay! We had to cancel his birthday luncheon with friends twice and finally just called it off. We did do some fun activities as a family and all that mattered to Ian was a "chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and berries on top." That is what he ordered. I forgot the berries. He didn't care because he was distracted by the chocolate.

I am so disappointed that we cannot locate our second camera battery. Nathan sang "Happy Birthday" to Ian all by himself and it was just adorable! Unfortunately, we do not have it recorded because I will always choose my still photo camera over the video camera.

Ian decided to dig into the cake face first. I guess the fork would just slow him down? I laughed and Nathan followed his big brother's lead.

Again, the fork was slowing down the inhalation of the chocolate cake and Nathan finally just grabbed a fistful of cake. I laughed at this too. At this point, Ryan announced, "that's your problem now" and left to go cut himself a piece of cake. Typical.

I think we have a shot of Nathan like this every time there is a birthday celebration with cake. He is not afraid to get messy.

So Sweet

2009-04-07T15:25:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I'm able to get a cute shot of both boys together. It's rare, very rare. This one is so sweet! It's not perfect, but it makes me happy just to look at it. I am definitely going to have to print this picture.

Did you notice Nathan's pants? They are on backwards! Now that he is going to the bathroom all by himself, he is also dressing himself. I am not going to constantly fix his pants so they are facing the right way. He's so proud that he's doing everything on his own!

Pictures from Ian's birthday to come...hopefully later tonight!

Trying to Help

2009-04-03T15:35:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago the stars aligned and provided us with everything we needed to finally get some work down in our backyard--the weather was nice, Ryan had 3 days off from work in a row and I wasn't hosting a single event. We decided to tackle the extremely overgrown backyard. The neighbors tell us that the previous owners never did anything out there...in the 10 years that they owned the house. It shows.

Other than hiring professionals to remove 2 HUGE pine trees and 2 smaller pine trees in the backyard, we avoided this space completely. Rabits live out there and who knows what else. The swing set was dumped in pieces in the corner of the yard by our movers and there it remained. The whole place needs to be killed, tilled, leveled and then made "pretty" somehow. Wish us luck!

Ian was more than happy to grab some tools and get to work. Since we aren't trying to save anything back here, there's no harm letting him go at it! By the way, that brick path that you see in this picture had been hiding for almost a year. It only took me 30 minutes or so to rediscover it.

Ian gets distracted easily. If we don't keep him focused, he finds his own way of "helping" us. Don't you just love his use of the rake?

Nathan genuinely wanted to be useful, at times. He is trying to master the use of this huge rake.

Now what, Mom? Thank you for trying, Nathan.

16 bags filled, 11 more to go. Now onto the last 1/3 of the backyard this weekend. Uncovering the living grass just means that Ryan now has to mow the front yard AND the backyard. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

Potty Time

2009-04-01T11:51:00.002-04:00

Somehow I have finally managed to convince Nathan that it is time for him to be a big boy and use the potty. He's had decent control over his "movements" for quite some time. In fact, he hasn't pooped in public since he was just over a year old. This has been wonderful! Once Ian was potty trained last year, I stopped carrying a diaper bag. Being in control of this was not enough for stubborn Nathan though. I'm not sure what I finally did "right" in order to convince him to use the potty yesterday.

Here's Nathan showing off his new underwear. I made a HUGE deal out of this special package of Buzz Lightyear underwear just for Nathan. He was so excited. I asked him to turn around and so I could take a picture and he climbed up on the couch...to give me a better view??? I don't know. He can be so silly.

He had to get in a little happy dance after posing.

I tried to encourage Ian to act as excited as possible. He didn't get why this was such a big deal. After all, Ian's been doing this for a whole year. ;) Ian gave Nathan a high-five after Nathan's first potty success yesterday.

Yet another happy dance after potty success. Our family tradition, so to speak, has been an ice cream reward for the first poop on the potty. The boys were thrilled to have a McDonald's sundae after dinner last night. 3-year-olds are still so easy to please.

Spring Has Sprung

2009-03-25T19:09:00.003-04:00

I just like this picture of Nathan. That's a look I see often from him. I think he gets it from me.

Bathroom Remodel #1

2009-03-20T14:16:00.003-04:00

To say that our downstairs bathroom needed a remodel when we moved in would be a huge understatement. My initial instinct was to bomb this room. I NEVER entered this room except to clean the litter box. It was DISGUSTING when we moved in so it seemed like the perfect location for the litter box.

The toilet in this bathroom successfully flushed once. I would like to say that this toilet was never used after that once flush, but that would be a lie. I informed every contractor that worked on our house (as well as every guest that came over before the remodel) that this bathroom was not to be used for anything! Still, it was used not once, not twice, but THREE times. How? I still don't understand. Oh, and remember how I mentioned the toilet only flushed once...gross!

Take a look at the "before" pictures. Horrifying. Even my fancy camera and Photoshop couldn't make these pictures look nice. Somehow even they knew not to take or edit a decent photo.

Don't you just love the commercial soap dispenser? What the heck? We have a plastic paper towel holder in the master bathroom too! The orange stickers are from when the city shut the water off and winterized the home. We stashed construction hardware in here occasionally during the kitchen remodel, but that's about it. To get a better "feel" for this bathroom, click on the photos to enlarge them.

Looking at the "after" pictures is a huge relief for me. Finally, people can use this instead of our upstairs guest bathroom (the one shared by Ian and Ryan). The shower (which you can't see) is the only thing that remains. Yay!!!

I had to include a picture of the new floor--pretty travertine. The old tile, which ran through the laundry room and into the kitchen as well was UGLY!!! Seriously, they were 16 X 16 ceramic tiles that looked like the wood floor of a basketball court...only slightly more orange. WHY??? We kept a small piece to remember how far we have come with all of our projects.