Random Things

We had a nice long weekend! I took the day off Friday as did Brian and we took the kids to the beach early in the morning to avoid the rush of beach go-ers. It was quite nice. Brian and Katie found a few hermit crabs while "swimming". I sat in my chair and read some of my book while Kasey sat in his car seat and slept. He likes the beach. hehe

Saturday we spent most of the day cleaning up the house. Oh, what fun! Katie and I sat in her pool for a couple of hours in the afternoon. She just loves the water. I wonder if she will be a swimmer like Brian. Brian put his new Florida license plate on his truck. He decided against the "Save the Manatee" plate and went with the Air Force one. I will probably do the same when it comes time to get new plates for the van.

On Sunday, I took Kasey in for his 3 month pictures. He looks so blonde in the pictures! I couldn't believe it when they popped up on the screen how blonde he looked. We got ready for the hurricanes in the afternoon. Well, at least partially. Hurricane season officially begins on June 1. So, we ran over to Sam's and stocked up on some water, canned goods, batteries, flashlights and things of that nature. We still need to get gas cans/water cans, gas and a generator. But at least we are somewhat prepared in case one hits us!

Yesterday was Brian's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN! He woke up crabby as can be because the one thing he really wanted for his birthday was to sleep in. Well, the kids wake up by 6:00am every day and we were being loud yesterday so he couldn't sleep in. Sorry, honey! We drove around the base to find the beaches here on base and the camping areas and stuff. We were under several planes when they took off. That is still so cool! Then we ran over to Destin and went to Bass Pro Shops and had some lunch at the Tropical Smoothie. Yummy! After we got back home, Katie and I sat in her pool again for a couple of hours and we brought Kasey out to the pool for a few minutes after his nap. I think the water was just a tad bit too cold. He liked it for a few minutes then Katie started splashing so he got a little sour look on his face which told me he was done. It was very cute! Then I made some dinner and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Brian, had some VERY chocolate cake that I made and some chocolate ice cream (you can't have too much chocolate, can you?). Then it was up to the tub for the kids and finally bed time for us. I was pooped!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Everyone in Florida has a pool in their backyard, right? Well, Brian stopped at the BX before coming home today and picked up a pool for our backyard. Katie was having a blast! She went over and invited the neighbor boys over, but the older one was too shy and the little one was still napping...

Here is a little picture of Kasey. He really is a happy little baby. He just loves everyone and smiles and smiles at everybody. He really likes to stare at his big sister and watch her run around being a silly little thing!

The other night after work we were at the BX to pick up a few things. We decided that neither of us wanted to cook so we ate over in the food court. While we were sitting there, an older gentleman came over and asked Brian if he was active duty. He replied, "Yes, sir!" The gentleman stuck out his hand to shake Brian's and thanked him for serving our country. He also gave him a Thank You card and in it he had written, "You're appreciated very much!!!! Serving our country, and helping to protect others makes you a remarkable person....someone truly worthy of our deepest gratitude."

I watched the gentelman hand out several of these Thank You cards and the reactions of each active duty service member was the same. They all got great big smiles on their faces and said "Thank you very much, sir!" Several members said to their spouses or whoever they were with, "That was very nice." A simple thank you goes a long way. That man sat there at his table filling out more cards and each time someone passed, he asked if they were active duty. The majority were, of course. He must have handed out a few dozen of those cards while we were sitting there. That man looked so happy.

For those of you who know Katie, know that she hardly ever leaves home without her yellow pillow. Well, yesterday the dog bit a big hole in it and it is now headed to the landfill. Goodbye, yellow pillow!

Today is my grandmother's 84th birthday! Happy Birthday, Grandma!

We had a nice weekend. We spent almost all of Saturday outside which was nice. Katie and I went to some garage sales in the morning and picked up an outdoor slide toy for $10. I thought it was a pretty good deal since the slide was in almost perfect condition. Then we planted a bunch of flowers in the back and Brian planted the grass plugs. Sadly, he had to give up on the beautiful grass he had been working so hard on because come July/August, the grass would have died due to the heat. So, he got some St. Augustine plugs since that is what the rest of the yard is. He is hoping to make it look the best that he can.

We were outside for the majority of the day from 8:00-3:00. I am happy to report that Katie is still the whitest little girl in Florida due to all the sunblock I rubbed on her.

We went to Olive Garden for dinner and Katie was just cracking us up. You know how you get all giggly when you are overtired? Well, Katie just gets plain silly! We were eating our appetizer and when we finished the waitress came over to take our plates. She got about 3 steps away and Katie yelled at her, "Hey! Give me my dinner back!" The people around us were all laughing as was the waitress. It was pretty funny. She said that again when the waitress took our food plates away.

Sunday was pretty lazy. The kids and I went to the commissary to get some groceries and Brian stayed at home to either take a nap or clean. He managed to clean and vacuum the front room. Thanks, honey! :) It's amazing how much sand we bring in on our shoes. Our carpet is always full of sand. Brian made some steaks for dinner and we finished that off with ice cream and a family walk around the area of base housing where we live. It was beautiful outside last night. The kids were both asleep by 8:00, I got the kitchen cleaned, finished up some last minute work stuff and went to bed. Kasey woke me up at about 4:00, but went back to sleep for a couple of hours, so it was nice.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Katie and I had bagels yesterday morning with peanut butter smeared on them. It got me to thinking about an interesting sandwich that my brother and I used to eat when we were kids. My parents would make themselves BLTs and since us kids weren't really into those, mom and dad would make us a kid-friendly version of the popular sandwich. They would take 2 pieces of toast, put on some bacon and then spread peanut butter on the toast. Mmmm. Brian always says he thinks that sounds absolutely disgusting. Don't knock it until you try it, my dear! Peanut Butter and bacon sandwiches. When will they start serving those at Subway?

Look at that sweet little face!

I just couldn't resist! Katie looked so cute in this dress today that I just had to take a picture and post it. I hope you enjoy!

Did you know they have these things called "Cereal Toppers"? These are fabulous freeze dried fruits that you can pour on your cereal to get a bit of extra fruits in for the day. I really like the strawberries, but I think the apples & raspberries pouch has too many raspberries and not enough apples. I haven't tried any other flavors as these are the only 2 available at our commissary. You can purchase these in the cereal aisle in your local grocery store or you can order them via their website. Try them! They are yummy!

Dash...This is our puppy! Awww...isn't he cute? He is always on the go so it was quite challenging to get this picture of him. He really likes to chase Katie around. And he still likes to poop inside - grrr!

Mother's Day weekend was pretty quiet. We got some flowers to plant in the back. No need to water though as it rained pretty heavily last night. The thunder woke all of us up at least 2 times. So far, the thunderstorms out here have been heavy and strong. We never got storms like this out in the mountains.

Saturday we went over to Destin to have some lunch at the Olive Garden, but they were closed for training so no fabulous salad for me! We ended up going over to Chili's and had a not so good experience. The waitress was new and well, she was messing up everybody's order including ours. Brian was a little upset because she brought him the wrong food and forgot to bring out Katie's food. But he did feel bad for her since it was her first day and ended up giving her a nice tip to encourage her to continue on. That was awfully nice. They ended up giving us a gift certificate for a free kid's meal. That was not necessary, but certainly appreciated.

I got a new Coach purse for Mother's Day! :) Woo hoo! Thanks to my loving husband, and my children. That was very sweet. I love it! Now I just need a wallet to match...

I never realized how much I actually "enjoyed" sleep until after Katie was born. All those nights in a row of getting only 2-4 hours of VERY interrupted sleep at night really made me stupid! I am happy to say that Kasey is doing much better in the sleep department. He has been consistently sleeping 6-8 hours every night! Woo Hoo! The only bad part of this is that he usually falls asleep between 7:00-8:00, so he is ready to party at like 2:30am. I can usually get in about 4 or 5 hours in so I am a bit more coherent this time around. Katie still likes to wake up in the middle night about 3 nights a week - usually because she has "sneezers".

I was awakened this morning by Katie yelling at me from her bedroom "wake up, Mommy!! Wake up! (sneeze, sneeze, cough, sneeze) I have sneezers, mommy!" Alright, alright...I'm up. I think I need to create some sort of hover craft tissue holder that floats near Katie at all times. It's like she forgets where the tissues are after she falls asleep...."Katie, get out of your bed, go into the bathroom and get a tissue." "Okay, mama." Done deal. But now that I am up, let's go get some breakfast!

It's FRIDAY! I am ready for the weekend. Maybe we will plant some more flowers out in the backyard tomorrow. It is supposed to be storming this weekend, but that's what was predicted last weekend too and we were able to plant lots of flowers as there was not a cloud in the sky. If it is crappy outside, I think we will need to tackle Katie's messy room...

Brian graduated from ALS (Airman Leadership School) last night and received an award! He received the Dinstinguished Graduate award for "demonstrating superior Leadership and Academic Performance". This is the second Distinguished Graduate award he has received in his military career thus far. Way to go, honey! I am so proud!

Here is a picture of him in his dress blues which I am sure he will be thrilled about me posting...

Sadly, I was not able to join him in the festivities as we were unable to find a babysitter. While he was celebrating his achievements, Katie was having fun playing with tuna cans at the house. Yes, I said tuna cans. I was upstairs changing Kasey into jammies and heard strange noises downstairs. I asked her what she was doing and she informed me that she was skateboarding. Skateboarding, eh? I came downstairs to find her standing on top of 2 tuna cans and she was "skateboarding" across the floor. The creative mind of a 2-year old...