Random Things

The kids slept in today!! WOO HOO!! I am so glad to have been able to get an extra hour and a half to two hours of sleep, but it kind of jacked up our day. On Sunday mornings I always make filled pancakes. Depending on the type of filling I put in it usually takes about an hour or so from start to finish so when we get up between 6:00 - 6:30 breakfast is ready to go usually before 8:00 (I have to make my coffee first and wake up a bit...I do have priorities).

So today we woke up at 8:30 - YES I SAID 8:30!!!!! Holy cow. Then we all hung out in our bed for a few minutes before actually rolling out of bed...the kids always come in and snuggle for a while before we actually get up. Hey, if I can manage a few more minutes of sleep this way, I will take it!

We ended up having breakfast at 10:15...so that totally jacks up the rest of the day's schedule. Forget church today. Sunday school starts at 10:00....and I am not even showered yet. But...I made some darn good filled pancakes this morning. I used this recipe from Williams Sonoma this morning - YUMMY!! I did not use their pancake recipe because let's face it...I am not a domestic diva...I have to use the mix....

I am totally on a sugar high and I know that I will crash soon, but these were really good. I love my ebelskiver pan!! Brian bought it for my birthday last year and ever since I started using, I use it at least once a week. There are so many different flavors and fillings you can try. I totally recommend the product! I think there is a new fancier version, but it rocks! A little piece of advice if you do go out and buy it is to use a non stick spray such as Pam (I use the generic brand) because it makes it so much easier. I didn't have any spray this morning and had to use butter - it was a bit of a challenge. They still tasted good, but the didn't look as pretty as when I use the spray.

There's something wonderful about living in a small town. I took Katie to High School Musical 3 last night. It was to be a surprise for her and sort of a "awww...you had a rough time at the doctor getting your MRI" treat. She was super excited!!!

We walked into the theater that was showing HSM3 and umm....it was empty. We were the only ones there. So that was pretty cool! Since I had bought the soundtrack a few weeks ago and we listen to it ALL THE TIME, we knew all the words :) Katie was up dancing and singing through most of it which would have been a major annoyance had there been anyone else in there. So hooray for small town movie theaters!!

Ok, so Katie's MRI on Friday...mmm....yeah....first of all we parked so far away from the entrance to the MRI office that we ended up almost 15 minutes late from all the walking and we were there at 6:50 (we needed to be there at 7:00). The hospital in Pensacola is LARGE. So then we fill out paper work and talk to 3 different people who ask the same questions and tell us the same thing (do these health professionals communicate to eath other at all??!!) . The anesthesiologist was the last to come in and off he went with Katie and sent me to the waiting room. "It should be about 30 - 40 minutes".

An hour and a half later I hear her screaming.

I am in the waiting room alone and the door to go back to where she is can only open with a key. Perfect. So I wait...and then I start knocking on the door. A nurse comes out to let me in after a few minutes so I get back there and ask why she is screaming (well, there was blood spurting out of her hand, but more on that in a moment.) The anesthesiologist tells me "they usually wake up the same way they went down." Ha ha. So I guess she didn't want to go down without a fight! Why am I not surprised?

So she is in there screaming and totally out of it...she ripped the IV out of her hand and blood was everywhere. She was shaking so bad because she was freezing and after I got her calmed down they offered her an apple juice which she chugged down and shook even harder. They gave up on trying to get her blood pressure and offered a grape popsicle for beating the anesthesiologist at a guessing game. Ha!

She turned purple...she was just freezing...they finally brought in a blanket and gave us a few minutes to warm her up and then sent us on our way. The poor thing was just wobbly because she was still a little out of it and frozen. So I picked her up and carried her back through the hospital towards the parking garage 600 miles away... ;)

We stopped at Starbucks to pick up a hot chocolate :) Mmmmm....yummmy!! I got so many funny looks...like I would actually let my 5 year old drink coffee. Silly people. She had chocolate dripping off her chin.

We should get the results back this week sometime...

Smug

Pronunciation: \'sməg\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): smug·ger; smug·gest
Etymology: probably modification of Low German smuck neat, from Middle Low German, from smucken to dress; akin to Old English smoc smock
Date: 1551

1 : trim or smart in dress : spruce
2 : scrupulously clean, neat, or correct : tidy
3 : highly self-satisfied

— smug·ly adverb
— smug·ness noun

Haha...the description for #3 is probably best suited to describe the smugness around our house this weekend. Kasey had gotten a toy out of the "treasure chest" at the fall festival we went to on Halloween. It was this sort of puzzle thing. It's like a cube that breaks apart and you have to fit the pieces together just so. I couldn't figure it out after trying for much longer than I had planned.

Brian grabs all the piece from me and puts it together in just a few minutes. Hmmph! He said. Hahaha...he was feeling pretty smug about it so we've been throwing the word smug around all weekend. Too funny. Guess you really need to be here to really feel it.

There was an ad in the mailbox today and they advertised a turkey fryer at a decent price. So we went out and bought one. Mmmm....

Last year when Brian was TDY in South Carolina, his friend had us over to their house for Thanksgiving and he had fried a turkey and it was delicious! So we are going to try it ourselves this year. Since it is still fairly warm this time of year, it will definitely cut down on the heat on the inside of the house. yay!

Not much new going on in our world. Katie is scheduled for an MRI of her knee next Friday. They are going to have to sedate her. Hmm...so they suggested I park in valet parking because she will probably still be knocked out or at least groggy when we leave and I won't want to carry out a sleeping 5 year old out to our vehicle. (Which I still can't believe she's 5!!) We have to drive to Pensacola for the appt so we might try to do a little shopping afterwards if she is coherent. The appt is at 8am, but we have to be there at 7am so we'll have to leave here no later than 6am. Ouch. It's hard enough getting Katie out the door at 7:45am during the week. AND she won't be able to eat or drink anything until after it's over. This could get ugly.

Fall is in the air! The temperatures are dropping..hooray! It's still warm out, but there is a bit of a chill in the air and I love it!!

Katie and I made 2 dozen flower pens yesterday. She is always trying to steal them from the doctor's office so I thought "let's just make some!". They turned out really cute (the battery on my camera is dead so I haven't had a chance to take pictures...). We also made some orange pumpkin cookies...which I think were underbaked but they were yummy :-)

I can't believe Katie is going to be 5 on FRIDAY! Holy cow! Where does the time go???

Her skin looks amazing. Thankfully all of the antibiotics and medications she was put on have done the job. We also got rid of the dogs to help with the allergies. We are still looking for a home for the cat, so if you know of anyone in the FL panhandle or Emerald Coast that is looking for a cat, let me know!

Katie is so excited for HSM3 coming out on her birthday!! I created this for her today :)



Katie starring in HSM3!

I haven't posted anything in a while...sheesh, you'd think I was busy or something ;)

Katie is doing much better in school which has been fantastic!!! Her teachers/principal have all told me how much she has changed since that first week. It's amazing! She still doesn't like to listen to us at home all the time, but we're working on it!

Katie's skin had a major eczema flare up. We went back to the allergy doc who basically told us we needed to get rid of our dogs and cat for Katie's allergies. OK, we can do that. We haven't found anyone to take them yet so I think we are going to take them to the no-kill animal shelter here on base tomorrow.

We got that outbreak under control and then she broke out again and we ended up in the ER yesterday for several hours. Another skin infection. The sad thing is that this time I packed us each a lunch and some books and other things to do to pass the time. You just never know how long your ER stay is going to be.

The doctors/nurses always laugh at me when I tell them that in order to get blood from her it will take at least 4 adults to hold her down. Oh, how they doubt me. There were 4 males, myself and 2 female nurses that ended up having to hold her down to get blood and start an IV. She was just screaming and yelling and it was ugly.

So the reason we went to the ER is because the skin infection is at her knee which is making it difficult for her to walk. They worry about the infection spreading into the joint or bone itself so we had to head over to the orthopedic doc this morning after our initial follow up with the pediatrician.

They think they saw something on her x-ray.

Scary.

It's not associated to the current issue.

So he showed me the x-ray from last May of her left knee and then the x-ray of her right knee from last night. There was some erosion on her right knee which could be a number of things. He suspects it's either just the fact that she is 4 and still growing or maybe rheumatoid arthritis.

HUH?! She's only FOUR!

I don't think that's the issue personally as she has never really had problems with her joints in the past. But we go in for an MRI after her infection clears up just to make sure.

Sigh.

Kasey learns new words everyday and continues to keep everyone laughing. He has finally started his terrible two's....which umm...he's almost 3 so he got a late start to that. We don't think Katie is quite out of her terrible two's. :)

I plan on taking Katie to the $2 movie theater here in town tomorrow. Kung Fu Panda is showing. She will be so excited!!

I've hit a plateau with weight loss. I was stuck at 25 pounds for the longest time and now it seems I am stuck at 41....I hope this passes quickly! Although 41 pounds??!! Can you believe it? I think that's a great start, but I have some to go.

Katie's birthday is less than a month away!! I think we have all the presents bought so now I just need to wrap! I haven't decided if I am going to make the cake this year or just buy a fancy one. It's so much cheaper to just make one....but she wants an Ariel cake. We shall see.

That's about it. I will try to get better at this again. Work has been keeping me pretty busy...as have FIRE ANTS! Ugh. They invaded our house a couple of weeks ago and Kasey got pretty stung up. I got a few stings myself. MAN, those are painful. Poor Kasey had them all over his body. Fire ants are hard to get rid of. And they are everywhere!

We didn't have any good ones with the whole outfit. She has a cute skort on with knee high socks and mary jane shoes (with flower buckles of course). But she is getting to be a big girl!!

OK...so it was day 3 of Pre-K.

We had to have a conference.

She has been disruptive, argumentative and aggressive.

Might I point out that today she woke up at about 5:45am...didn't nap at school and was so hysterical after dinner that it seemed she fell asleep mid-scream. Today was not a good day. but she did eat a good lunch and was not sent to time out! So it could have been worse!

I pray that tomorrow is better.

The teachers at the school are wonderful and helpful and very open and honest. They really want us to all work as a team.

Tomorrow is a new day and we are going to have a great day!

This does not feel good when accidentally flung into here:

I'm just sayin'.....

Hooray!!!!!!!

While it was technically her first day of Pre-K, we didn't take pictures. The school year officially starts next Monday and her uniform shirts will be here tomorrow. So we will take pictures next Monday :) YAY!

She did good today...apparently I sent her with some "contraband". I wasn't supposed to send her with a backpack. Ok. Check. And...chocolate is a no-no. Ok, so I put a chocolate pudding cup in her lunch. It was fat free. They only accept sugar-free...and only at snack time. Strange. Sending her with vanilla pudding tomorrow...we shall see....

Kasey was an absolute mess today. He was freaking out! Just screaming like we had abandoned Katie in the middle of a scary forest in the middle of the night with no flashlight...or something. We had to head down to base to hit the commissary so we stopped at Starbucks on the way and grabbed a latte and a muffin. Well, I grabbed Kasey an organic chocolate milk...no lattes for him just yet!

We stopped by to say hi to Brian and brought him some yogurt for a late breakfast. Kasey cheered up when we saw daddy and was no longer in despair over Katie.

It sure was quiet around here today. I got a lot done at work! WOO! I actually got my inbox down to less than 100 messages! That hasn't happened in months (unless you count the .pst files I created). Yay.

So....we had our quarterly org call today. And I did end up winning an award! Yay me! My manager went on and on about a project that I had worked on and I just know that I was beat red. It's a good thing this wasn't in a room with a bunch of people!! My manager's manager's manager (I have 8 different bosses - Peter Gibbons, Office Space) complimented me on my willingness to do what it takes and go above and beyond. Nice! It's just a foot in the door that's all...one toe at a time (Motormouth Maybelle - Hairspray).

So that was nice :) And he used the 1st picture in the last post. I got a few compliments on that one. hehe. People are funny.

EXTREME CLOSEUPS! ;)



I had to submit some new photos to my manager today so I took these. I am shiny!! I suspect that I am up for an award because that seems to be the only time he asks for photos. We shall see...

It's Monday. I thought of that lady in Office Space this morning "looks like someone has a case of the Mondays"...if anyone would have said that to me this morning I might have started screaming. I was not in a good mood. Not sure why.

It could have been that Katie snuck into our bed at some point in the middle of the night and hogged the bed. How can a 4-year old hog a king size bed? I'm telling you...it's very possible.

So we've started on Katie's school schedule. Yay! Got up...had a little something to eat. Hopped on the elliptical (okay, so for someone reason I noticed that it kicks my butt even more first thing in the morning than in the middle of the day). Got Kasey dressed and ready to go. Got Katie dressed and ready to go. Got the kids some breakfast. Hopped in the shower....Kasey came in while I was in there and did his "nay-nay" dance. Yep, he got naked and was running around the house. How much fun it must be to be 2.

He left me a surprise on the floor in the front room.

But hey....I look at it this way. He's just trying to tell me he's ready for the potty, right? Umm...yeah...I certainly hope so!

After my shower, I got the kids all hopped up on the Disney Channel. A little Handy Manny, some Little Einsteins...started some laundry, made some coffee, had some breakfast, picked up the front room, cleared out the dishwasher and reloaded...and I still managed to log on to work an hour early. Sheesh. Worked my butt off today...tomorrow is full of meetings. I don't get nearly as much work done during meetings. I actually have to get involved in meetings these days...it used to be me sitting here on mute listening to people drone on and on...I hardly ever had to say anything. And now...I have to talk. Blah. You can tell how the call is going to go by how they say "Hi, Sarah" or "hey, Sarah"...or if they just say "hey". Not too bad today - I had some good news to share with several accounts so I will call it a success!

I was able to get both kids down for a nap after lunch today - Katie is going to have nap time at PreK so I thought I had better get her used to it. They woke up happy and hungry. Hooray for snack time!!

It's 9:30 now. I got the kids to bed about an hour ago and got the laundry folded. I need to go to bed soon since I am on the new schedule. It's too early. My body is not ready. I will have to do some reading before sleepy time. Maybe hop in the bath. One can never shave often enough in the summer time - especially with as dark of hair as I have with my pasty white legs.

We bought an elliptical machine a few months ago. I LOVE IT! Absolutely love it! It is so convenient for me. I was telling a coworker earlier today that I think I am addicted to it...haha! She said "at least it's a healthy addiction!". Funny.

AND...the day after we purchased it at Sears, it dropped in price by $200. So we got $200 back :) YAY! And on top of that they gave us back an extra 10% so I think we got a great deal on it.

Brian's squadron is having their annual beach bash on Friday. I am taking the day off to partake in the festivities. Although I don't think I am quite yet ready for beach volleyball...I think the kids will have a good time. I am making Oreo Cookie Salad for a dessert to bring along. MMmmmm....always a crowd pleaser!

I have decided to go for my project management certificate. I have 6 months to complete the required prep courses. I think I will be able to knock those out quickly...at least I hope I can! I don't think that I am quite ready to go back to school to finish my bachelor's degree, but we'll see how things go with Katie in school this year. I might take a class or two here and there. Brian only has 6 classes left until he is finished. Yay!!! My guess is that he will go right into pursuing his Master's degree. Good for him though! He may not re-enlist this time around so having that education on his resume should help in the job hunt. And if he does re-enlist, it will still be good to have that education on his resume after he retires.

Word of the day: snowman. Kasey kept saying "sfnowmehn" today...cute.

I had to steal this from my bro's myspace page...take a listen :)

There was a scorpion in my bathroom this morning. Ewwww! Thankfully it was small...and dead. Which meant that someone/something in the house killed it. I couldn't find Sully for a long time so I thought maybe the cat was injured by a sting or something, but he was fine.

Weird. Gross. Eww. I hope I don't see one again any time soon...inside OR out!

We met with Katie's teacher today. She was so sweet. Miss Margaret. :) She was telling me how a lot of kids have a big problem with the separation anxiety at this age. Umm....Katie went in and made herself comfortable. Clearly, I won't have that issue with her. Which I think is a great thing! Now, getting her to leave was a bit of a struggle, but she did not have a meltdown which was amazing.

She can start anytime between now and Aug 18 which is when the official school year starts. We've decided on starting her on Aug 11...that way we have a bit of time to get her on "school schedule" before she begins. She'll have to wear a uniform which will certainly help with the getting up and getting dressed routine. She'll be wearing a purple polo shirt and khakis. Nothing too fancy, but it will be easier to get her dressed in the morning I am sure.

That's all for today! Have a great week!!

I love peanut butter.
I miss my brother.
I want to take 2 days off and read as many books as I can.
Our water/electricity bills are out of control!
I haven't had a really good salad in a long time.
I bought some pants today that were 2 sizes smaller than the rest of my pants - ya y!
I want a new black coffee maker and bean grinder.
Mmm....coffee....
I drank an entire Route 44 Diet Dr. Pepper from Sonic today. Yeah...my bladder about burst on my way to the mall.
I am a closet 311 fan.
7 hours of uninterrupted sleep is too much...
I am looking for some jumbo hair rollers. I want big hair. Haha!
I always have a song in my head.
Janet Jackson is still one of my favorites and I cling on to the dream of being one of her backup dancers.
Mr Clean Magic Erasers are a must have with toddlers.
I really like the Green Works products.
The popup sponges from Williams-Sonoma are excellent.
Mmmm....Macintosh scented Yankee Candle.
My kids look just like my husband. It's really scary sometimes how much they look like him.
3 hours spent all alone shopping today...nice.
Unpacking/organizing the rest of the boxes...not nice.
I am looking forward to my Pineapple bubble bath even though it's 11:00pm on a Sunday night.
We are taking Katie to meet her new teacher tomorrow!! YAY!
I straightened my hair today. Not so good in the humidity. I put on a headband and now look like a hippie. :)
Good times. Good times.

We headed down to Niceville today to go to Turkey Creek for a little bit of nature! : ) The kids were excited!!

Don't they just look so sweet?!
CHEEEEEESE!!!!!!!
They decided to run away from me. It's almost as if they are floating....
Oooh....what did they find? A bug perhaps?
Kasey's getting sweaty and telling me he's hot!
Time to go! Nature was cool, mom, but we're hot...let's go!!

Kasey now has allergies. So he is on 3 of the same meds Katie is on. Neither Brian or I suffer from allergies (ok, so I am allergic to Ibuprofen, but I am not really counting that.) It seemed like as soon as we pulled into our driveway after our trip to SC, Katie was one big rash. We have it mostly cleared up, but I wonder if she is allergic to FL? Possibly? Hmm....

We had taken Katie to the doc about a month ago because she was throwing up for like 4 days, but continually hungry and acting completely normal. Turns out the poor thing was just that backed up. :( I was so thankful it wasn't something scary! So we had gone to both her PCM and allergy doc in the same day. We left the clinic with 8 prescriptions for her. Holy cow! Mostly things for her skin issues, but sheesh! That just seems excessive. I am hoping she grows out of eczema some day...but the allergy doc says to be prepared for asthma. Sigh.

So back to Kasey...if there is an ant in the house or outside it finds Kasey. I am convinced. He has ant stings from the fire ants all over. I had to take him to the ER the other night (by the way, I MUST give kudos to the Eglin Hospital!!! We left our house at 8pm on the dot, drove 25 miles to the ER at 55mph or so and got back home at 9:34pm. That was record time! THANK YOU!!). He had a few ant stings that had become infected - I have seen this a few times so I knew to act quickly - and we needed to get some antibiotics before the skin infection got into his blood. The poor thing. We have found several more since then. I wonder if they are attracted to certain things in people because no one else is getting stung. This is the second time since we moved to this house (3 1/2 months ago) that this has happened. I think it's time we discussed moving away from FL. Katie's skin is awful here. Kasey gets eaten up by bugs. I had gotten an ant sting last fall that got infected... Is there a bug free zone anywhere? hehe ;)

So enough about that!

We went to the beach down in Destin on Saturday. It smelled. Evidently this time of year a bunch of algae comes inland and stinks up the place. I wonder if that's why the water is so green? ;) just teasing...but it was super stinky. No less than 30 minutes after we got there the black clouds started rolling in so we had to leave. It was ok. Katie's skin was so scratched up that the water and sand were hurting her terribly. And Kasey was fearless and thought he could tackle the waves. My little shark :-) We saw a dead jellyfish which Katie thought was cool and a bunch of little crabs. Ahhh...nature!

I am hoping to take the kids to the Turkey Creek Nature Trail down in Niceville this weekend if it doesn't rain. It's been raining too much to do anything outside. But I have high hopes for this weekend! Katie used to go there when she attended day care and seemed to enjoy it. The best part - it's FREE! So maybe we can do that and make a picnic. Who knows. I just want to get out of the house.

Brian and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary without much fanfare. I am actually still logged on to work to post some last minute additions for a customer. Where has the romance gone? hehe...Brian bought me some beautiful flowers and I put them in the biggest vase I could find. :-)

We went to South Carolina for the 4th and had a great time. Katie was so excited to see Brian's friends little girls that she was just a little wiggle pants in the van during the whole drive. We made great time and got there just in time for pizza. MMMmmm...we got to meet some of Brian's buddies' family members. Always fun to meet new people!!

We had lots of food, drinks and fireworks on the 4th until it started to rain. Bummer!!! A couple of the fireworks went a little crazy, but overall it was a great show! The lightning in the background certainly added a special flare...

We headed over to Myrtle Beach on Saturday and got some sand and seashells. The beaches there are much different than here. The sand just isn't white and soft like flour. Nope. It's exactly the way I thought all sand was until I moved here. We didn't stay too long because the kids were hungry and tired from the previous day so we headed out after about an hour and a half. What I want to know is...is it customary to just drop your drawers and pee into the ocean in front of hundreds of people?? We were almost directly in front of the life guard stand and this little boy (with his grandmother, I believe) dropped his suit right at the edge of the water in front of everyone and peed. Not that I was shocked, but come on! Please try not to be so obvious when you are making the water warmer. Yuck. Maybe I am a little naive...

We drove home on Sunday and stopped to stretch our legs at the outlet mall in Darien, GA. I picked up a bunch of stuff from Bath and Body Works and we grabbed a few things at the Gap. It was too hot to do too much strolling around, but it was a nice break from the van.

What is the obsession?? Why do kids love toilets?

Both of my kids loved to "toilet fish", but I gotta tell you that Kasey takes it to a whole new level. Just before we moved out of base housing a few months ago, Kasey decided to put an entire bar of soap down the toilet. It took me a day or so to realize what he had done, but it was a huge mess and NOT easy to get out of a toilet once it's been soaking for a few days...

So Kasey's been toying around with the idea of being potty trained. He and Katie were in the "bot-tee" (as Kasey calls it) after dinner while I was cleaning up the kitchen. I heard Katie say "do it again, Kasey!" and then a "Hi-YAH!" from Kasey...this does not sound good. Let me go back for a sec...for some strange reason when Katie goes to the bathroom she likes to karate chop the toilet paper. She can't just pull it off and rip. Nope. We get a "Hi-YAH!" everytime. This is hilarious when in a public restroom by the way. It scares the *blank* out of people...I find it comical the things kids do in bathrooms.

Anyway...

So they were karate chopping the toilet paper and Kasey decided to shove the entire DOUBLE ROLL of toilet paper down the toilet. He had his hands in there and everything (and he was completely naked because evidently he can't go "bot-tee" with even a shirt on). Needless to say the floor was completely soaked. I do find it hard to not laugh in these situations...but since I get to be the lucky one to clean it up...

Sigh.

Wow. Lots going on since my last post. I'll do a quick rewind...

Mom and dad had come out for a visit the last part of March. The kids loved spending time with them and we had some gooooood food :) We got to show mom and dad the house just a week before we closed on it. We had some great weather when they came out, although it really was a bit cooler than normal. Ahh well...it was nice!

We closed on the house on March 28! WOO!! Exciting stuff! Then came the whole moving in thing...yeah, we still have a ton of boxes to unpack, but I did make a lot of headway in our bedroom and kitchen the past couple of weeks...

Brian's aunt, her daughter and her daughter came out for a visit in late April. We had a lot of fun!! We kept really busy with doing so many things that it just didn't seem like it was time for them to leave when they had to go. We had gone to the beach and I missed rubbing sunscreen on a spot on my back...it's quite lovely. I might even consider it art. Hehe. We got to see a family of dolphins while we were out there. That was pretty cool! We also headed over to Pensacola one night for High School Musical on Ice. That was soooo cute!! Katie kept yelling to the skaters "TROY!!!! SHARPAY!!! OVER HERE!!!" So cute! We really had a great time!

A few weeks after they left, the kids and I headed up to South Dakota for my good friend Jessica's wedding. We had a GREAT time while up there. My brother and his buddy Ryan were playing at a bar in Mitchell one night and I hopped up there and played keyboard with them. It was fun! Everyone was wasted so who even knows if I was playing the right notes! haha! Good times!!! Oh yeah...and the bar smelled like fried chicken. Interesting...

It was so good to see all of my friends and family. I saw so many people that I hadn't seen since either high school or my wedding! It really was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time too! They got to play at grandma and grandpa's house and play with their cousins. It was awesome! I love seeing the kiddos play together. Absolute drama one minute and then uncontrollable laughter the next. :)

Then we drove down to CO for a week to visit Brian's family. We had a great time there as well!! I just love seeing all the kids! All the kids are getting so big!! I hate being so far away from my family! (both those in SD and CO!) But Florida is pretty great so far and I really do like it here.

I got to meet up with a few coworkers while out there. Always nice to hang out away from the office :)

Brian's grandmother drove back to FL with the kids and I. We had an absolute blast on the drive. Seriously. I love that I have a minivan...when gram was driving and the kids were being naughty and I just jumped in back and hung out. After they calmed down I jumped back in front. Gram was laughing at me. We went through a few bouts of what seemed like sleep deprivation and were laughing uncontrollably. Our stories weren't as fun to others as they were to us. Haha!

Grams hung out here for a few days and cooked some yummy southern food. Mmmm...

The kids were really sad to see her go and when we dropped her off at the airport, Kasey said "wait, guana, wait!!!!" and Katie just cried...

Although it was fabulous to visit with everyone, it is nice being back to just the 4 of us. I think the kids were really out of sorts and it took them just a few days to get back to the swing of things.

And here we are!

I should have some more time to post as HOPEFULLY my workload slows down some. I won't get into the details, but lately it has been HELL!!!! So think good thoughts and have a great week!!

WOO!!!

The transition from crib to big boy bed was awesome! Brian just took it down and now his room looks funny. BUT I do love that he is in the big boy bed!

Ok, so maybe a toddler bed isn't really considered a big boy bed, but it sure seems like it to me. He is soooo funny when he wakes up now though. He used to just play with a few toys in his crib when he woke up and when he decided it was time for me to come get him he would start screaming MAMA!!!!

Now he walks to his door as soon as he wakes up and knocks 3 times and says "MAW!"

knock. knock. knock. MAW!!!!
knock. knock. knock. MAW!!!!

I wonder what he is going to do once he learns how to open his door....I think he will go into Katie's room and start screaming "Shay-shay! Shay-shay!"

That's what he calls Katie. Shay-shay. Adorable.

And Katie just loves it! She says "aww....he loves his Shay-shay!"

The next big thing after we move is going to be potty training. Pray for me.

Nougat...

Brian was reading the ingredients on his Snickers wrapper today and I just thought "nougat is a great word".

So what exactly is nougat?

According to Wikipedia, Nougat is a term used to describe a variety of similar confectioneries made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios or hazelnuts are common, but not peanuts) and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from chewy to hard depending on its composition, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and chocolates.
There are two basic kinds of nougat: white and brown. White nougat is made with beaten egg whites and is soft, whereas brown nougat (called nougatine in French) is made with caramelized sugar and has a firmer, often crunchy texture.

Nougat

We signed a contract on Saturday!! Yippeee!! After looking at just over 40 houses, we decided to put in an offer on one. And it was accepted! AND...we'll be closing at the end of the month. WOO!

I am really excited! Can you tell? I took several pictures on Saturday. If you want to take a peek let me know and I will send them over. Unfortunately, the camera battery was about dead so I had to point and click. The pictures didn't turn out great, but Katie was able to smile for the camera on a few of them so they are cute :)

So now we make a list...and check it twice. It's been over 2 years since we moved so we're a little rusty. haha! I am going to have to find someone to watch the kids for at least a day or so while Brian and I get the boxes/stuff from this house to the new house. I don't think I can move with the kids running around. Last time we moved, I was almost 8 months pregnant so it was a MUST that we hire movers. This time I think I can get away with a little more sweat.

I took Kasey in for his 2 year well child appt yesterday. The doc told us that Kasey is a little...well, for lack of a better term - FAT! Haha! I was like, are you looking at him? He is a skinny little thing! But what do I know? Just because he went from 50th percentile in weight to 75th percentile means we need to cut back on his cheese intake.

Cheese.

My kids' favorite food. I don't think they could survive without cheese. All day long Katie says "Can I have some cheese, mommy?" and Kasey says "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeee". Is there a support group for Cheeseaholics?

Today our little man turned 2! It's hard to believe he's 2 already!!

Happy Birthday, Kasey!!!!

In case you didn't know, he is completely obessed with anything related to Cars. Lightning McQueen is the best thing since....well, I guess he's just the best thing ever! We have more Cars things in this house than princess things for Katie if you can believe that. Sheesh!

We had bought him a toddler bed a few months back when he decided to climb out of his crib a couple of times. That didn't work. So we broke it out again last night. I bought some new toddler bedding (Cars, what else?) last weekend to try to help the cause. It worked fairly well. He cried for about 30 minutes and kept screaming for us, but I calmed him down and he slept until 6 this morning. YAY! And...he took a great nap in there today. I am really hoping to get rid of the crib soon!!

Well, I am off to make some birthday dinner and get ready to have some birthday cake! Have a great week!

Wowsers! I have not been good at posting anything lately. I really will try to start posting more often again.

Well we decided to have another go at house hunting. We've been through about 35 houses. That's a lot of houses! We have our top 5 narrowed down and are going to make an offer this week on our top choice. YIPPEEEE!! I'll post pics if everything goes through :) We don't think we will be able to get them down to a price that we like better, but the worst thing they can say is no, right?

I am mentally going through all the things we have in our storage shed and shoved in random places throughout the house and think we might be able to have a nice little garage sale once all is said and done. We can use the money to go towards decorating the new place. I think that sounds fair. But we'll have to see if we can sell anything first ;)

Life has been busy.

Brian made it home safely after a cancelled flight and several delays...the kids were so excited to see him!

I went to Houston the Tues-Thurs after he got back. That was an interesting trip. The sessions could have been a bit more exciting, but overall I learned quite a bit. All I have to say is that I work with a bunch of fun folks! It's nice to meet everyone in person and also spend time with them outside of business hours. What a group!

We have been going back and forth on whether we want to buy a house out here, rent a house off base or just stay in base housing. Sadly, it looks like our best option is to stay put in base so we can save some $$. Sigh....

My parents called today and are planning a trip out here late March. That should be a good time!

Brian's cousin is planning on coming out the last week of April and we are going to go to HSM on ice with the girls in Pensacola. That will be a good time! I know Katie will be thrilled!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Dash will turn 2 on Valentine's Day! He probably won't get a party ;) He might get some special dog treats or something. Poor dog. We probably won't do much on Valentine's Day. Maybe I will make a nice dinner and have sparkling grape juice in wine glasses and pretend we are on a date somewhere fancy...ha!

Kasey will be turning 2 in less than 3 weeks! I can't believe it!! He's getting big! We haven't decided what to buy the little guy just yet. He still loves trucks and cars and airplanes. He really likes to throw things....er, chuck things across the room so sports items are out for now. He hurts us daily. Who knew hot wheels could be used as a weapon?

There really isn't much else going on in our corner of the world. Work, play, eat, sleep...repeat.

Brian comes home on Saturday!! WOO HOO!!!! I haven't told the kids yet - we sort of want to just surprise them, but of course as we pull into the airport parking Katie will know exactly what we are doing. :)

I've done some after the holidays shopping. I have gotten some really great deals! I think I have a problem. It almost pains me to pay full price for something. Well, I'll take it a step further...I even have a hard time purchasing something if it isn't on clearance. I went to BAMM the other day and stocked up on a bunch of books. The clearance books were buy 1, get one 50% off. AND on top of it, since we have a member card, we saved an additional 10%. Good deal - I got some books for myself for under $2 (and they were hard cover) and got several for the kids for under a $1. I am just glad they don't have carts there - I may have walked away with a van full!

It doesn't matter what the item is or if I am using gift cards or what - paying full price for something is just something I cannot do...with a few exceptions.

1. Grocery items. I tend to look for the sale priced items, but if the can of green beans is $0.59 vs. $0.33 because it's not on sale I'll still pick up a few cans. :-)
2. Bras. I can NOT skimp out here. If you don't know why, I am not going to tell you. (Although I did purchase 4 for just over $47 the other day when combining a buy 2, get 2 free sale with a coupon. For me, that is fantastic!)
3. Dog food/cat food. I know they say that all are basically the same, but I have a hard time believing Ol' Roy is just as healthy for my dog as IAMS or Science Diet. The more expesive brands tend to have less grease. Gross. Thankfully we have small dogs that don't go through a ton of food.
4. Things for the kids/Brian. Ok. This is my weakness. I will spend, spend, spend on those 3 often times overlooking the price tag if it's something I really want to get them. While I don't do it a lot, I probably splurge on them more than I should. I love them, what can I say? I like to give things to them :)

Brian got orders yesterday! We aren't going far...he is being assigned to Hurlburt Field. So now that we know we will be here for a while we are looking off base for housing. WOOOOOOOOOOO! While I understand the advantages of living on base...umm...I can't wait to move out of this house. I'll keep you posted!

I have to fly out to Houston next week for a few days for work. It will be nice to meet a lot of the people I work with on a daily basis in person. I've been to Houston several times, but only in the airport! Ha! I've heard the campus is enormous out there. I hope I get to run into a few other colleagues that I worked with for the majority of the past 6 years.

It had been a while since I posted...I've been busy with work and haven't had much to write about. I hope everyone is doing well!