Let me mention how much I HATE packaging peanuts!!

I H-A-T-E packaging peanuts!!! They have made my day miserable. Earlier today we were swimming in a sea of them. Tootie had a blast playing in the box of them. The after math was the head-ache. I spent the majority of the day picking & re-picking them up. I was not a happy camper.

I got the nerve up to make more cookies today. So it took about a week to recuperate from my cookie making spree last week. I've made 3 dozen so far & have another 2 dozen to do in the morning. Those are all for DH to take into work. Tonight I made a dozen peppermint cookie, a dozen Hersey kiss cookies, & a dozen ginger bread men. Tomorrow I'll do the chocolate cookies. Maybe chocolate Christmas trees & snowflakes? Then I need to bake for the neighbors & for next week. I'm going to be set for the next year.

Donut of Misery

Going... 91% done, 9% left

Dr Phil & stuff

I had my 15 seconds of fame (again)!! The camera panned the back of the audience at the very end when credits rolled. YAY!!

I made a trip to Target today. Sometimes I think I live there. I could, lol. I can NOT stand going to the Walmart here. You end up parking in Alaska & then you have to run people over just to get through the isles to wait in a line that is a mile long (at every register). Any who, I'm hoping I bought the last package of pull-ups for Tootie. I'm only putting them on him at night. We've even ventured out into public in big boy undies. He'll stay dry until we get home & he is distracted by chasing the dogs around. Nap time he wears plastic undies. I'm thinking after this package I will start putting him in those at night, too. He's starting to be dryer in the mornings.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About 2 months ago I went to a taping of Dr Phil with some other military wives. Well between Britney Spears, child molesters, the fires & a few other things, our episode is FINALLY being aired... tomorrow!! If you are home & get a chance to catch him, keep an eye out for me. If you are looking at the stage we were on the left side in the back. I had on a black polka dotted blouse.

Cookie exchange

It went well. There were 5 of us. I came back with some yummy cookies!! I realized on the way home that I made more than 3 dozen cookies. I can cook tired, but I can't count tired. lol Oh well, the hostess got the extras. Turned out that the cookie exchange was right around the corner from us, so I loaded the kids in the stroller & we walked there. I finally met another mommy with a little one (versus grown children) in the neighborhood!!

On a side note, 2008 BAH rates are out. Ours is going up $166. YAY! Still not even for the market out here, but it's a nice boost.

No dog or 2 year old can eat this!!

Build your own ginger bread house!

Cookies cookies & MORE COOKIES!!!

I'm going to have nightmares about cookies tonight! I made Lemon Snowflake cookies and a couple variations of Cake Mix cookies. It's a quarter to midnight & I am still baking... almost done, though!! I really hope I get some good cookies tomorrow at the cookie exchange.

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday (late) morning the kids & I went to the local community center to have breakfast with Santa. It was o.k. It was $5/seat. You got a plate with eggs, biscuit, hash browns (that could have been cooked longer, imo), sausage, bacon & orange juice. Kids also got a little goodie bag. After breakfast there was some singing & then Santa & Mrs Claus made a guest appearance. Table by table we lined up with the kids to have their pictures taken. This year Santa went over better than last year or even the Easter bunny. I think it helped that I talked a lot about Santa before & showed Tootie pictures.

Later that evening I had a spouses meeting to attend down at the harbor outside of base. Kids were welcomed. There was a light show which was a bunch of boats decorated. It was fun & I had some of the best hot chocolate at the restaurant. The whip cream was nice & think, sprinkled with cocoa. My next vehicle MUST have GPS. LOL Yet again, I got lost venturing in new territory.

I started on Christmas cards yesterday. I wasn't going to make them this year because I just wasn't feeling too creative. So I designed something online & before submitting the order I previewed it. That's when the creativity bug bit me. I decided that I could just make what I had created online for less. I'm almost done, but my hands are tired of cutting, adhering, stamping & writing. I'm going to try to finish them up over the next few nights. When I get done I will have to post pictures in my other blog.

My MOMS club is having a cookie exchange tomorrow. As soon as Tootie & Princess are up from their naps we'll make a trip out to the store. I found some yummy recipes to try. I'll post those in the other blog, too, after I put them through the taste test. I have to make 3 dozen cookies for tomorrow. Late next week I will make cookies for some of our wonderful neighbors & for DH to take to work with him. I have a few recipes in mind for that baking frenzy. I'm sure there will be enough to enjoy ourselves!

Santa's coming to town

Haven't posted in about a week. This past week has been busy but uneventful. Everyday except for last Sunday. That was Tootie's official 2nd birthday. It was just me & the kids. I took Tootie to IHOP for a birthday breakfast. Then I took them to the Wild Animal Park. I got season passes that are good for the SD Zoo & the Wild Animal Park. Tootie's been to the Zoo a couple times this year, but hasn't been to the WAP in a while. I might take the kids back there in the evening before Christmas to see all their holiday lights. Later that night I took them to the holiday light show on base. There were tons of give aways. There was even a little train ride for kiddies. Tootie rode it twice & I had to peel him away from the line.

Monday he had his 2 year check up. He's now up to the 25th percentile for weight & height. Nothing wrong with that. He's a small boy. He eats just about everything but he's so active. He's starting to talk more & more every day. He has about 30 words & 8 phrases. His favorite words are "mine", "no", & "bad". Potty training has been going good. Kinda driving me nuts going to the bathroom like every 20 or so minutes but I understand his bladder doesn't hold much yet. I do think, though, at the slightest feeling he is going. I've been letting him run around free & he makes it every time. When he naps he wears plastic underwear & bedtime he gets a pull-up. He's even dropping the Cosby kids off at the pool!! Now to get him to wear big boy undies & not get distracted when he needs to go.

We had another raining Friday here. Turned the sprinklers off again until we dry out.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Various errands and a spouses meeting, but in the morning we are going to go have breakfast with Santa! I've been talking to Tootie about Santa. I'm hoping we don't have a freak out repeat of the Easter bunny. He seems to be getting excited about the holidays. Every time he sees a Christmas tree or Santa on TV or in a magazine of mine or in one of his books he gets excited & points.

Well I need to get going. I have a few things I need to do before tomorrow.

GO NAVY
Beat Army

Go HOKIES!!

Close to 24 hours later...

And it's still raining. I turned the sprinkler system off & it won't go back on until we dry out. Which states are still needing water? You can borrow some from my back yard. I'm considering purchasing a canoe if this continues. The dogs held out as long as they could & have now gotten creative. I don't blame them.

What's that wet stuff outside??!

It's rain!! YAY! It's been pouring off & on since about 3am. I'm playing the in & out & back in then back out game with the dogs. They are so used to being able to come in & out as they please.

We had an interesting night last night. Our "house guest" visited us. Some of you know about him. I'm pretty sure it's the previous owner. My neighbor showed me a picture of him. So far he's only made his presence known when DH is on a work trip. He doesn't seem threatening. I didn't see him last night, but he let us know he was here. The kids & I were already in bed. Princess got up because she was hungry (her normal eating hour). As I sat in bed feeding her I heard music. At first it sounded like it was coming from outside. Maybe I wasn't fully awake just yet. Then it sounded like it was inside & I recognized it. It was the tune the baby swing plays. After I was done feeding her I snuck downstairs to check things out. & every thing seemed fine. This isn't the first time something of the kids has played with out one of us starting it. The music box in the crib hasn't had the batteries changed... ever. So it hasn't worked since our last house. Shortly after we moved in it would randomly play on it's own & clearly like it had new batteries. I think I need to visit with Sylvia Brown.

It's starting to look like Christmas Charlie Brown

The kids & I went on a Christmas tree hunt today. I thought about going fake but couldn't find anything I liked. I just wanted a small tree since we'll be at the in-laws for Christmas. We end up with a live Charlie Brown tree. I got out the ornaments & a few decorations out while Tootie napped. I wanted to decorate it with him after he got up, but the lights are MIA. I'll have to really dig through the garage tomorrow. We didn't do a tree last year, so it's been about 2 years since I saw them last & we're in a different house now.

California isn't what it's all cracked up to be

The weather here is great if you enjoy having constant dry skin. I've never in my whole life time have had to use as much lotion as I have in the 3 years we have lived here. It's also great for those who have allergies. We're in the midst of yet another Santa Ana. It's were all the desert sand, dirt & allergens get blown in. The summers can get up to 110 degrees F. were we live. That's direct sun beating onto you. Not much cooler in the shade. You don't get the 4 seasons here. It's November & the leaves are some how still green on the trees. I say some how because this whole entire year we have had less than an inch of rain. Speaking of rain, if you like yourself a good thunderstorm you won't find those here. On the very rare occasion that one happens here, the rain comes first & then maybe 10 minutes later you will hear some thunder. Personally, I like a good down pour accompanied by thunder and lightening. It's also not what they show on t.v. T.V. shows show you California as being all palm trees and beaches. Nope, not here. When shows show you New York or Washington, D.C., that's what those places really look like. I'll trade all that for frizzy hair if I can have the 4 seasons back. Oh, & I have never seen so many fake (mainly looks) people in my lifetime. It's all about who has the most expensive car or house. The east coast & the west coast are 2 totally different worlds. Enough of my moaning & groaning...

I am worn out from Thanksgiving. We drove to the in-laws last Wednesday & came back Sunday. In between those days were packed full of activities. I made a pumpkin cheese cake, pecan pie, and spinach souffle-phyllo cups. Tootie sampled just about all the different foods and Princess got to sample the mashed potatoes. Between the in-laws, us & BIL/SIL, there were 5 dogs. Some how none of the food was sampled by them. That night SIL & I studied the black Friday ads & made a plan to go shopping. We got up at 3:30am & were on the road by 4am. I am pretty much done all my shopping now. We got back from our shopping around 3:30pm. MIL made ginger bread pieces for everyone (well the families) to create & decorate their own ginger bread houses. I'm a little biased, but our house was the best. :) LOL The next day we celebrated Tootie's 2nd birthday at Chuck E Cheeses. We did it a week early since DH will miss it. Tootie had a blast!! I made him a helicopter cake. Cake decorating will not be on my resume, but it was still recognizable & yummy. Tootie was out like a light before we even got out of the shopping center. Chuck E Cheese has changed a lot since the last time I had been in one. Maybe it was just this one. No more ball pool where there have been reports of dirty diapers & such lost in them.

I got my wrapping done yesterday. Now I just need to find the Christmas decorations so I can do a little decorating. We're not going to do a tree since we will be back at the in-laws. I do want to get a live 2'-3' tree or even a Charlie Brown tree to decorate & get the kids picture in front of. I may take them on a hunt this week.

I learned my lesson

The more people there are, the more laundry you will have to do. Which means you either do laundry more often or you spend a whole day washing, drying & folding. NOT what I call fun times. There are 2 thing in this world (that I can think of at the moment) that I wish could take care of themselves... 1) the laundry & 2) the dishwasher.

Unfortunately we had an early morning. I won't go into details (rather boring), but once Tootie is up there is no getting him to go back to sleep. The kid & I were suppose to go to a MOMS meet-up this morning, but that didn't happen because Toot went down for an early nap. Which was all good because I had a mountain of laundry to do. After he got up I got to work on his room some more. Over all it was a pretty boring day... up to the point of me typing. Now I must comfort a crying child.

Busy weekend

We had our 1st ER trip this weekend. Tootie was goofing off & tripped, hitting his head on the coffee table. He almost needed stitches but the doc decided that since it was not to horribly bad that he would just glue him back together. The scar should grow into his eyebrow as he gets older. We had a long wait to be seen, but Tootie did really well. He also did pretty good with the doctor considering the circumstances. Only my child would ham his picture up...

We got to work on Tootie's big boy room yesterday. I'm hoping to be able to finish it up before his birthday. I have a few sewing projects left.

There's been a Victoria Beckham siting...

Oh, wait... it's just me & my hot new 'do'. LOL I don't dare post any before pictures. They were HORRIBLE. I learned that I am no good at taking my own pictures. Ahhhh, scary!! The rest of the afternoon was pretty rushed, so the only pictures I have are from the ball. Those don't show off my hair cut too well. I'll have to try & do it nice this weekend & have DH take a few pictures. For now, imagine this hair, but darker & on me...

The ball was fun. So far the best one we've attended. It was at the San Diego Hotel & Marina. The room rates were average, but the prices for everything else were outrageous. $20 to park your own car!! $8 more & they will park it for you. The complimentary breakfast was $$, too. Not very complimentary. Drinks at the bar were insane. $18 for a Midori Sour & a double Rum & Coke ($8/$10). The bar in the ball room were serving Rum & Cokes for $4, but no Midori Sours. The dinner & dessert were very tasty. It was the people at the ball that made it fun. The guest speaker was very entertaining. We could have been in the middle of the desert & still would have had a grand time. The beds in the room were divine. I want to splurge & get the pillows they have on the beds. The best sleep I have had in a while. Mainly because there weren't any kids &/or dogs in the bed with us. Here's a picture...

I've started 2 new blogs in addition to this one. More or less a way to organize everything going on. I've just created them. "Home Sweet Home in Temecula" will chronicle all the on-going house projects. The second, "Crafty Momma's World" will be a place for me to talk about, keep track, & hopefully stay on top of my million and one other projects. Nothing to see just yet. I should have them up & going some time next week. I'll let you all know when there is something more to check out!

Nothing creative to title this post

I have a few free minutes this morning so I thought I would post a bit of randomness. We have our USMC birthday ball to go to tonight. Always a good time. I need a hair cut so I figure this would be a good morning to get it done since they would style it much nicer then I ever could. A friend came & picked Tootie up a little bit a go. She has a son his age. They have kind of grown up together. So it's just Princess and me this morning. I packed Tootie a little lunch and a few snacks to have. This other military wife (& pilot's wife) on a board I frequent has been making Bento meals for her DH and kids. Very cute & inspiring. This morning was the perfect time to try it out. I made this one for Tootie...
I made him a peanut butter sandwich (2 stars & a chili - couldn't fit a 3rd star on a 1/2 sandwich), string cheese, fruit salad, gold fish, trail mix & raisins. This should hold him over until I am done with everything this morning. It was really fun to make & I hope to keep up with it. Tootie seemed excited about it, too. He was ready to dig in even though he had just had breakfast. At lunch time he gets his gummie vitamins. He walked into the kitchen as I was taking them out. He HAD to have them right then & there, lol.

Princess seems to be an over achiever just like Tootie was & still is. She's mastered rolling over & is now working on sitting up. She gets a little frustrated in the bassinet because she can't get herself all the way up. She can get herself in to position with out a problem. I sat her in her papasan chair this morning while I got Tootie together & ate my breakast. She got herself to sit up & was very proud of herself!

Well I am now running out of time. I need to finish feeding Princess, get her dressed & get us in the car. Hopefully later I will have time to post before & after pictures of my hair. Tomorrow or later this weekend I will be back with ball pictures.

If I pretend to be a rock and hide my face...

Then no one can see me!! Yes, this is Tootie's newest trick. When it's time to go to bed, or he's in trouble, or doesn't want to do something, where ever he is (ie. floor or couch) he drops, curls up into a ball with his face to the ground. I told him that mommy's and daddy's have magical eyes and can still see little children when they try to hide. I know this one will come back & bite me. I can't believe that he will be 2 in a few weeks. A friend stated a while back that he acts like he is 3 going onto 30. It's true, but since I am the mommy I am allowed to say that he can't grow up... at least not this quickly!! Grandma H mailed him and Princess a little package. It came today. A few new books to share, a wallet for Tootie and a Hello Kitty bag and stickers for Princess. I am mentioning this because Tootie is such a little man. He has a pretend set of keys (well real keys not needed anymore). Any time we leave he takes them with him. He also has to carry his bug box with him. I took DH's bigger wallet and put cards in it for Tootie. Yesterday DH had to run out & Tootie wanted to go. So he grabbed his keys... and his wallet!! Now I can return DH's and Tootie has his very own.

Below are the pictures I mentioned about the kid's Christmas shoes...


The go-kart trophy that DH won but Tootie has claimed as his own...

Princess is her VA Tech outfit(s)... (I pluralized that because she blew out of the first one.)


The boys snoozing...

I have some updated house project pictures. I am not going to post them here - at least not now. I may just start a separate blog for them. Need to organize them all first. If I do start another blog I will link it with this one.

Go go speed racer

DH has a 4 day weekend starting today. A bunch of them decided to meeting up this afternoon to do go-kart racing. The kids & I tagged along since we had a Hail & Bail, also known as a Hail & Farewell, to go to afterwards in the same area (not close to home). Tootie had a blast & wanted to get in a car so bad. Unfortunately he is to small and for safety reasons he could not ride with daddy. Maybe in a few more years the midget will be tall enough. They all raced in two separate groups. Each group got two chances to do how ever many laps it was around the course. Then the top how ever many people in each group raced again (in their separate groups). DH came in 1st place for his group. Not surprised since competing is natural to him. He received a trophy that Tootie has claimed as his own. He can add it to his beauty pageant trophy.

Afterwards we all went out to lunch. Tootie is now going through a phase where he HAS to check out bathrooms every where we go. This includes sitting on the potty. I might have to resort back to getting him pull-ups. So we've tested out the potty's at Starbucks & T.G.I.Fridays. This is quit the work out for mommy. By far, though (at least so far), Friday's has the most amusing sinks and paper towel dispensers. You have to push down a knob for water & the wave your hand in front of the paper towel dispenser. LOL, of to be a toddler again.

I'll have to take pictures of the trophy & the kids Christmas shoes tomorrow and post them. Princess's shoes makes everyone say "awww".

Score!!

Tonight I had to run out & pick the kids Christmas shoes up that I ordered. On my way home from the mall I stopped by the local drug store to look for something. While I was there I hit the jack pot!! They still had Halloween candy on sale.... 75% off. We're using M&M's for Tootie's potty training. He LOVES them! I searched high & low. Finally!!! I found them. I grabbed 3 bags and headed to the cash registrar. They rang up at 80 cents each!! I might go back & buy them out. I would stock up for next Halloween if I knew it would last.

Sissy is NOT a baby doll

Tootie is really into imitation. What ever daddy does, he has to do, too. He will copy me on a few things, too. When I vacuum he has to pull out his little vacuum, too. Today he was intently watching me feed Princess. Princess was a little gassy, so I was patting her on her back to see if she would burp. I don't normally need to burp her. Both my children are fairly good at releasing gas on their own. Makes mommy so proud, lol. Later on this evening I had her in her bassinet in our bedroom while I put away some laundry & cleaned. I was using my Boppy to prop her up. I also had a neck rest in there for extra support. Tootie climbed up on our bed and into her bassinet. He sat her straight up and patted her on her back like I was doing earlier. It was cute... everything he does (well for the most part) is cute. He then took the neck rest, which looks like a small version of my Boppy, and put it around his waist (just like I do), and tried to pick Princess up to hold her. He loves his sissy very much. She thinks her brother is rather hilarious. As soon as she can crawl she will be giving him a run for his money.

I found the car keys that I was looking for the other day in our fold out couch. Tootie could not tell me where they were because he did not intentionally hide them. They fell through a gap to the ground. It was a good thing because we (the kids & I) were going to have lunch with a friend before she left to move to North Carolina. She was going to take us, but neither one of us could get Tootie's car seat unlatched.


Amazingly Sam has managed to not rip his stitch site open. He's gone about his normal life of wrestling, jumping, and running. I literally laughed at the vet when he said that Sam needed to stay calm for two weeks. Sam is pretty good an knowing his limits and when he needs to rest. So I'm not worried about him over doing it and hurting himself.

Things come in 3's...

1) Car battery died Friday night (Luckily I made it to where I had to go).
2) Discovered a cut on Sampson's side. Needed stitches, spent Saturday back & forth to the vet. Poor guy has had enough of vets.

We think that he had a scratch from rough housing and it got caught on a stick which made it worse.

...AND now...
3) The car keys are MIA. The black hole of the house has eaten them. Since they are important maybe now I can find something else I have been searching for. I have a tendency not to be able to find something until I am searching for something else. DH claims that Tootie had them last. Christmas gift idea!! One of those key finder things. Not sure if Tootie was the one who misplaced them. When he does "hide" something he can find it if I ask for them. I ask him where the keys are, he just shrugs his shoulders and says "Idon'tknow" (yes, one word).

GAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!

Saturday night we went out with the in-laws and DH's brother & his wife. We went to PF Changs for dinner and then saw Jersey Boys. It was a good musical. Went through how the 4 Seasons came to be and their history together. I would love to go see Wicked.

Did everyone remember to change their clocks back an hour? Another memo Tootie did not receive. He was up an hour earlier than his normal too early wake up time. Ugh!

re-introductions and dreams

All these letters for peoples names are getting out of hand. Plus I am going to run out of letters for people. We have several "A's" in the family to keep track of! So here it is...

DH, aka the hubby, pilot, one of the "A's"
Tootie, aka "R", child #1.
Princess, aka "L", child #2

Those are the main characters in the family, plus the 2 dogs. Anyone else will get an introduction as they come along.

I really need to watch what I watch before I go to bed. DH & I discovered a great show on the National Geographic channel called "Taboo". It normally comes on at 7pm either Tuesday or Wednesday. I don't remember because we DVR it and watch it later on. The one we watched last night was about 'gross foods'. Foods that other cultures eat that we find gross. One segment was about the Philippines and how they eat dogs. In my dream our older dog had some sort of foot infection so I had to cut his foot off (ankle down). I just chopped it right off. Not messy. So I go to work and then return home. There he is sitting in the dining room curled off. I look closer to him and he's now missing 2 more feet (again, ankle down). I look under the table and the remains are laying there on the ground. The other dog had bit his feet off! I don't even know how to begin looking that dream up. I normally visit Dream Moods dictionary to help decipher some of my dreams. I've also been known to have really bizarre dreams. DH just shakes his head when I tell him about a dream.

I finally got to start on Tootie's ABC's, numbers, and colors (scrap)book today. I did some while he was napping & Princess was having her belly time. She rolled from her back to belly several times this afternoon on her own. She's done it before, but not a lot. She worked so hard that she ended up falling asleep on her blanket.

Don't forget to brush your teeth tonight

Yesterday R & I made some super yummy strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing. So yummy that R decided to sneak one for breakfast this morning. He had fun helping me. I let him pour, stir, and hold. We made a dozen cupcakes, 3 ice cream cone cupcakes (which fell flat), and 2 jar cakes.

Oh! I took the kids yesterday to get their Halloween pictures done. So cute!!! I'll have to scan them in. I mailed a few out.

The past few days have been lazy. We're all coming down with something. It started with R, then me, & A came home last night feeling 'off'. I'm hoping L doesn't catch what ever it is. We all have a lot of congestion & R has a little cough. He sounds worse when he wakes up.

Today was a pretty busy day. I know I am worn out! Everyone Wednesday is music class. Today the kids got to come in their Halloween costumes. Music class in general tired R & me. It's kind of at a hard time, too. 11 to noon. R ends up falling asleep in the car on the way home before I can get him lunch. Sometimes I will wake him up to get lunch, but if I do that he won't take a good nap after lunch. Today he got a little goodie bag. He broke into it on the way home & sucked on a tootsie pop. He ended up falling asleep with a red ring of stickiness on his face and hands. YUCK! I was going to take R up to the mall for a little trick or treating before hitting up our neighborhood, but for some reason they weren't doing it this year. I made calzones for dinner tonight. I pre-made them this afternoon so all we had to do was pop them in the oven when we were ready to eat. I also figured it was an easy meal to eat if we were going to be answering the door a lot. When A came home I loaded the kids up in the car & took them to a friends house to trick or treat at their house. We stayed their for a few & then headed back home. A & I decided to take the kids out to a few houses. We put a small bowl of candy at the door. I figured someone would just take it all, but they trick or treaters were good. We had a few pieces left. R came back with his pumpkin pretty full. We let him pick out 1 piece to have after he ate his dinner. I'm going to have to find a better hiding place for his candy. It's up high but it's visible. While we ate a few more kids came to the door. We went through 2 of those big mix bags of candy. After his bath, R came back downstairs to lay on the couch. His busy day really pooped him out! He's snoring away. L looked sooo cute in her ladybug costume. I've had several people ask me where I found R's pilot suit.

We're all going to sleep good tonight!!

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire...

Wrong time of year, but I have this song... well actually only that one line, stuck in my head. It's like a scratched record that just keeps playing the same line over & over.

The fire situation has died down for the most part. Things seem to be under control. The air is clearer here. The winds are gone for now. The weather is definitely cooler.

I haven't written in a few days because I had company over. A flew out earlier last week to meet up with his brothers to see a Tech game. Then he drove back cross country with one of the brothers. I'll call him MB. MB's wife, A, & her daughter came down for a weekend visit. They are stationed just north of L.A. They got here late Friday night. Saturday we just kind of dorked around some. Drove down to Poway to pick up my car that A left at his parents house. The air there is still filled with smoke. The 45 minute drive left us parched. I had A take pictures of the fire damage on our way down. We got to see an amazing rainbow over Poway. A nice change to the scene earlier in the week. We went & saw The Game Plan. It was a cute movie. Later that night A & I took the kids to a Japanese steak house for dinner. R enjoys watching the chef cook in front of him. He's not even scared of the fire. The guys some how made it back a day early. They got in late Saturday night.

Today was a lazy day around here. None of our house projects were touched. It's nice to have a relaxing do nothing day once in a while. We caught up on some t.v., carved one of our pumpkins, & made a failed attempt at hot spiced cider (I left the spices in waaaaaaay too long). I'll probably roast some of the seeds tomorrow night. R really enjoyed getting his hands inside the pumpkin to clean it out.

Off to bed. Just wanted to do a quick update.

Things are looking up

It's not looking like the fires will head our way. We are getting a ton of smoke and ash, though. It's only been in the 80's, but the air is so dry that it feels hotter. The ski is one big smoke cloud. Sounds like the majority of the fires around here (Temecula, Fallbrook, Camp Pendleton) have been some what or all contained.

Last nights sleep was pretty bad here. R woke up, the dogs were on alert all night, so they were in & out. I think L was the only one who got a good sleep.

Nothing really new here otherwise. R had his music class this morning. Afterwards we went to Target for a few things & then back home. I didn't let R play outside today obviously. So he ran his energy off inside & the house shows it.

Once I figure out how to make a section just for pictures I will include the ones I have taken from the fire.

Just in case...

We are to the east of all the fires. As long as the winds continue blowing to the west we're good. Right now the two closest are Rosa and Rice. There is a fear that the two will merge. I ran out this evening to the mall to pick up something. I made it up the street and looked to the left before turning. No cars were coming, but I saw smoke just over the mountains. The first picture is a view of the Rice fire from my neighborhood. It's still far enough away to not worry too much, but I only had to go a block to get the picture. The 2nd picture is the smoke from the Rosa fire. I took that while I was at the mall. On my way home, it was dark, I tried to get pictures of the Rice glow but the street lamp messed all my pictures up. You could see it pulsating.

Here is one of tonights sunset...



After I get R down for bed (it's already late for him), I'm going to pack us each a bag. I'll load it in the car with some important items. I need to make a list. I don't think we'll have to leave, but I want to be prepared. I don't want to have to pack last minute & forget stuff or feel rushed. I just want to toss the kids and dogs in the car. Side note, the winds seem much calmer tonight. Our tree in the back is pretty beat up. I have a few windows open to cool the house down, but there isn't much of a breeze. I guess that's good. Surprisingly we haven't smelt smoke since Sunday when Rice started. I guess that's another good sign.

Good news, the in-laws house is safe. So are the houses of everyone else we know down in that area. The fire never crossed the street. They moved back in this morning. MIL said the gardener was there working when they came back. They were also surprised at how good the air quality was.

Enough of the heavy stuff... this morning the kids and I attended the MOMS club Temecula South Halloween party. It was a good time. Would have been even better if this one particular mother would watch her child and discipline him (instead of every other parent there having to do it) when her child would push other children down. He did this a handful of times. R was one of his targets. :( L was a ladybug. A super cute ladybug, too. She reminded me of the Anne Geddes ladybug. R was a pilot. Hopefully over the next week I can get some better pictures of them.

I'm going to go head off to pack a few things and go to bed.

Vegas anyone??!

I'm sure all of you by now have heard about the fires going on here. Yes, they are close to use, but we aren't in an danger... yet. I don't think we will be either. There are over a dozen fires going on between San Diego and LA. We're in between both those places. In fact the closest fires are about 10 minutes away from us in both directions. I believe those are all 100% contained. The winds here ares still going strong. It's like hurricane weather minus the rain. This is what I woke up to this morning, it's our backyard...

I had to take A his flight suit in just in case they had to help with the water dumping. Fallbrook, the town we go through had to evacuate & then they closed the highway. Luckily there was a very back roads type of way for us to take. By the time A was let out of work that was all closed. The only open highway was I-5 north & EVERYONE was taking that, so it's bumper to bumper. The exit off of that is farther north than us, near another fire. That road, 74 is under construction. Parts of it goes down to 1 lane for 2 ways of traffic. Not good in this case. He says he's barely moving & it will take him hours to go home. I think it's going to be a soup & sandwich night. IF we have to evacuate, my plan is to go to Vegas. Might as well have some fun, right??!! LOL It's about a 4 hour drive. Hopefully that's not where everyone else decides to go, too. The in-laws have been evacuated. They were going to try to come up here, but with the highway closures they could only go south. Hopefully their house is ok. MIL said they were going to try & go back tomorrow. If they can't get back in they might try to come up here. A is suppose to fly out tomorrow. I hope he can get to the airport. WOW, the winds are starting to really pick back up. Some how the weather people seem to think that we will only have these winds for another 24 hours. They don't normally have the best track records. I don't think I will get my trip to Vegas. I'm just hoping for a better nights sleep. The wind scared R, so he ended up in bed with us. He flops all around.

L had her 4 month check up today. She's average for height & weight. It's neat to compare R & L. L is 24" tall and weighs 13lbs 4oz. R at this age was 24" tall, too, and weighed 13lbs 12oz. I was pretty sure L would weigh more than he did. Dr. R gave the go ahead to start her on rice cereal. He said in a few days I could introduce a food if I wanted to.

I'll update when I know more.

If you wear a wig, today is the day to tie it down...

'Cause it's insanely windy out there! We've been here for about 3 years now & this is the 1st time we've had wind this strong. You can hear it inside the house. Sounds like wind you hear at the beach from the inside of your hotel room if you have the sliding glass door cracked. This isn't good for the fires. We are about 2 hours south-east of the Malibu fire & about an hour north of the Ramona/Julian fire. It was very smoky here this afternoon/evening. A just came in from out back & said the wind is so strong that it's breaking branches off of our big tree.

This morning we (the 4 of us) went to Bates Nut farm. L is super cranky right now, so I'll write about that adventure tomorrow. I need to give the princess a bath & get her to bed.

You've been Boo-ed!

We finally mapped out the electrical stuff in the house. This has been the hold up in finishing up the walk-in closet in our bedroom. The house is 20 years old. The electrician must have been on something when he was wiring the house. Outlets and switches are randomly connected to breakers. A few breakers have one or two things linked to them. Another breaker or two has about ten things linked to them. Half of the nursery is on one breaker & the other half is on another breaker with R's big boy room. Our room, but not our bathroom, is connected to a breaker also servicing various parts of the downstairs. It really does not make any sense at all.

After all that A went out and ran an errand while I stayed here with the kids. R escaped his crib again. I didn't give in and after a while there was no noise coming from his room. I went up there to check on him. He hit the lock on his door again. I used my pick lock expertise to break into his room, again. Some how I did this with out waking him. I could only crack the door open a little because he fell asleep right there. I got it open enough to know he was ok.

After A cam home I ran out and did my errands. I had to go walk a friends dog and get a few things. It took going to two stores to find orange paper bags for my MOMS Halloween party next week. Going to the two stores wasn't a waste because I found a few Christmas presents and snow gloves for R. I ran to the mall to find him a hat and a scarf. Looks like I am going to have to order his snow boots and snow suit from Old Navy. This being California, the land with 1.5 seasons, no one seems to sell those items even though we have Big Bear a few hours away. I got L her ornament and ordered her piggy bank. I'm done shopping for her. I just want to get R 2 or 3 more toys since his birthday is that month, too. Then I am done shopping for him (birthday & Christmas).

I finally got around to putting out the "BOO" bags I made. It should be interesting to see if people keep it up. I picked someone who had decorations up and another family that I know has kids. I've had my bags for a week or two now. Kinda got a late start on getting them out, but our street isn't very big.

Off to bed. It's calling me. Before I know it R will be up. We're doing family day at Bates Nut Farm tomorrow. I should get some good pictures to post.

T.G.I.F.

It's finally Friday. Today was a pretty uneventful day. R actual slept in until about 7am. That was nice. Would be even nicer if he could go until about 8am. Last month I joined a MOMS club. All the other moms I have met are pretty nice and R gets to play with some other children. There are a few other ones who are his age. October's calendar was pretty uneventful. This month has flown by in a blur that I can't remember if I have done anything with the group. Today a bunch of us met up at a park. It was nice to get out. R enjoyed himself. He slid down all the slides, sat in the swing, and played in the sand (we brought 2 shoe fulls home). I was pretty sure that after lunch he would take a nice long nap. Boy was I dreaming today! Nap was a no go. He escaped his crib 3 times! I think he escaped the first time because he needed to go potty. He fell asleep in his high chair while A & I ate dinner. It was a late dinner, so R had already eaten, but of course he had to have what we were eating, too. We made it through the day with hardly any tantrums. YAY!!

Oh something funny happened today. I was trying to give R a snack but as usual both dogs were wanting the snack, too. I told the dogs to "sit". Well they sat, but so did R. I think he hangs out with the dogs way too much, lol. At least they all listened to me!

Here is a picture of the cutest brother & sister team...

Add lock picker to the resume...

According to Moms Salary Wizard I should be earning $624,413/year for the area we live in. I guess that's suppose to be an average 40 hour week and everything else is over time. The pay includes such jobs as housekeeper, daycare center teacher, (institution) cook, laundry machine operator, facilities manager, van driver, janitor, psychologist, and chief executive officer.

After today I can add lock picker and nurse to the above mentioned jobs and my resume. R figured out how to climb out of his crib not too long ago, but he never really felt the need to utilize this talent. In fact, I think he's known how to do it long before his first great escape. Yesterday morning he escaped. Today he escaped twice. This is not where the nurse role comes into play. He sleeps with his door closed. He can reach the handles, but can only open a few doors. This is where he did not think his plan out completely. In his attempt to break free he ended up hitting the lock on his door. He knew I was on the other side so there was no panicking. In fact I think he thought it was some what amusing. He's locked himself in the bathroom before, so this is nothing new to him. Mom to the rescue!! I tried a bobby pin, but no luck. I found an old card and was able to help my little guy break free from the confines of his room.

My role as a nurse... We needed to run out and grab a few items for dinner tonight. When I can, I like to go to Henry's. Their fruits and vegetables last longer and are better priced. Plus it's just a neat store to go to over all. It's not the closest grocery store to us, though, but worth the drive. Back to the story... They have little carts for kids to push around. R does not care to sit in the cart seat when we go shopping. I blame it on a 3 hour trip to Home Depot a few months back. So we (a friend was with us) got R his own little cart to push. It was cute, I wish I had my camera. The cart had a pole going up with a flag that said something like "Shopper in training". I think the cart could have used a few bumpers on it and heel guards. Eventually we figured out that if we weighed the cart down with items R could drive as crazy. He eventually figured off that he needed to listen to mommy when she told him not to goof off. I'm not too sure how the events played out, but he ended up hitting his head on the wheel of his cart. Melt-down magnified by 100 because it was also nearing nap time. Poor little guy had a dime size bruise on the side of his forehead. Nothing like a mommy's love and a pacifier to make him feel better.

R's vocabulary is starting to take off. He shrugs his shoulders and says Idon'tknow (yes, all 1 word), our dog Sammy is Mam, I'm momma, A is daddy or poppa (sometimes), his grandfather (A's dad) is Bob (yes, R has called him by his name), & more is mo. Sometimes he will say milk. He can say duck, truck, yuck and one other -uck word (use your imagination). He's tell you bye & wave when you leave or if he just doesn't want to be bothered by you. Oh, yes, he has one other phrase... Oh Sheeet (again, use your imagination). There's more, but I'm feeling lazy at the moment. Lets just say daddy has learned that he really does have to watch what he says around his little bukaroo!

L is quit the talker. She made several new sounds today & I could swear she said "momma", but it was probably a fluke. Nothing really new in her world. She sleeps, eats, & poops.

Some of you know that Sammy was having some mysterious mouth issues. We took him to a doggy dentist because the regular vet was clueless. Sammy wasn't acting himself. We thought this might have been age, even though he's not anywhere near old. He was also doing this weird jaw crunching or cracking and stretching. It's really hard to describe it. It's one of those things you have to see to understand. He ended up having 1 seriously infected tooth pulled and two impacted molars that didn't have roots. Boxers have jacked up mouths - extra teeth, extra gum skins, just issues all over. Oh & he also had some cyst biopsies which came back normal. He definitely has his personality back and his breathe isn't as offensive anymore (think rotting fish), but he still makes that noise with his jaw. We're wondering if it's a behavior. It's almost like nails going down a chalk board. Everyone, the vet, the dentist, several breeders & us are all baffled. Maybe TMJ. It's really rare in dogs, but Sam could be one of those rarities.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

I won the sewing machine battle!!

When I was pregnant with R I had this crazy idea to make his crib set (quilt, skirt, bumper, and curtains). I had really good intentions. I couldn't find anything I liked that wasn't outrageously priced. Things were going well with the bumper, but went down hill fairly fast with the quilt. The machine just did not want to cooperate with me. I lost count how many needles I broke. I never could figure out why they broke. A's mother was kind enough to finish the mess I started. She did a wonderful job and managed to break no needles. Grrrrrrrrr!!! Fast forward about two years (I still have curtains to finish)...

R is about to move into a big boy room so L can get out of my room and take over the nursery. The theme for his room is "Cowboys". I went to the local feed (horse store) over the weekend and purchased several items to decorate his room with. I'm so excited and want to get moving on this project. Then I went to Jo-Ann's fabric store and purchased several yards of soft, not super furry, cow print fabric and red bandanna print. I'm using the cow print for curtains and part of the blanket. The bandanna fabric will be on the blanket, too, but I also purchased a roller blind that I want to cover it with. I have a vision...

Tonight I made the blanket. I'll probably make a second one. It only took me 2 hours, shouldn't have, but it did. In the two hours I cut, pinned, sewed, pinned some more, tried to convince a 60lb dog that it wasn't his blanket to lounge on, sewed some more, ripped out stitching from half a side, re-pinned & re-sewed. Yes, in 2 hours I only had to rip out 1/2 a side and did not break any needles!! I won!!

Cow print side...

Bandanna print side...




Close up of bandanna print...




On a side note I have started Christmas shopping for the kids. I've only started thinking about it for everyone else. I'm almost done with there shopping. R & L are getting some winter clothes for our ski trip after Christmas. So far for toys, R is getting a wooden CH-46 and a truck. L is getting the twilight turtle that beams stars onto the ceiling, a nice towel set, and a hand-knitted doll similar to this. R got a piggy bank for his first Christmas, so it's only fitting that L gets one, too. Since she was born in the year of the pig and she's my princess, I found this piggy bank. I also want her to have another Barefoot Dreams blanket. I just can't decide which one. They all look so yummy!! She has 1 so far, but a girl can never have too many blankets! I was thinking about getting them some wooden blocks to share. R is so much fun to shop for. It's a good thing his birthday is a few weeks before Christmas! A & I talked about maybe getting him a quad for his birthday. I know he would enjoy it, just not sure if I want to buy it. I discovered over the summer that Toys R Us has a wonderful line of Home Depot toy tools. These are R's favorite toys. He loves to imitate anything that daddy does. They have a few things online that I have been kind of eying. He has the tool box with a few tools, a hat, and tool belt. Just like daddy!!

Oh, before I sign off for the night and debate about washing the pizza from dinner tonight out of my hair... R started his 2nd session of music class (7 in a session) today. The last session there were several girls in his class. Today there were only boys... 4 of them. He had fun. It poops us both out. It's gets the three of us out of the house for a few hours. L sits in her seat and watches or naps. She does really well during his classes. The place where the class is held has a baby scale. I weigh her every week. Today she was 13lbs 9 oz. That's only 3oz less than what R was at 4 months and 1 day. She will be 4 months in about 5 days. Mot sure what her length is currently. She looks bigger than R did at this age. Maybe she's shorter? Or she wears the weight differently? We shall see next Monday when we pay Dr. R a visit.

Has anyone seen my sweet little boy?

Yes, we've entered the terrible two's... and they are very terrible. I've heard the three's are even worse. I sure hope not. If there are, someone, PUHLEASE, get me one of those all white rooms with soft cushions for walls. It's like R is possessed. One moment he's giving me hugs and helping me clean and the WHAM, melt down tantrum with a head-ache inducing shrill. Add the two-year molars to the loads of fun we are already having.

On a positive note, though, it seems R is ready to start potty training. I guess the "new" term is potty learning. Eh, I prefer to call it potty training. I wasn't planning on pushing it until after the new year. I'm still not going to push it until then. For now I will let him do his own thing. Earlier this year Grandma H (my mother) bought him a little potty. I even bought him some big boy potty training undies. He'd occasionally show interest in it, but with only 1 success. Things changed sudden this past week. He's made an attempt to try & potty several times a day. They are obvious attempts, too (grunting involved, lol). He's had several successes!! He's getting M&M's as a reward. I know he knows the feeling, too. His diaper has been dry before a few of his successes. The other times I don't think he's been able to get to the potty in time. I keep telling him that mommy isn't going to wipe his butt forever, lol.

Update on L. She has her 4 month check-up early next week. I found R's 4 month form. He weighed 13lbs 12oz. I weighed L about 2 weeks ago & she was about 13lbs. I'm betting she's going to be about 15lbs next week. I'll post a recent picture of her then. I've got to keep you all coming back some how!

Well I need to get going. L is hungry (what's new?!). R needs a bath & mommy needs him to go to bed. Tonight I think I might unwind by working on one of my ten million projects I have going on. I have several scrapbooks going on, but one of my high priorities right now is getting R's big boy room set up. It's cowboy themed. I found some really cool fabric for his curtains & blankets. That will only be relaxing if the sewing machine decides to cooperate with me.

Into the blue...

Welcome to my world! I am married to a wonderful U.S.M.C. pilot, "A". A and I have two kiddies,"R" and "L". We plan on adding more to the clan. We also have two dogs, Boxers to be exact, Sampson and Raider. We are currently living in Temecula, California. It's just north of San Diego.

I'm hoping to be able to stay up to date with this blog for family and friends. I'll write about our family and military adventures, the quest to update the house we bought earlier this year, the kids and what ever miscellaneous adventures I get myself into.

To end this blog, since everyone has awoken from their naps, I would like to thank Lauren K. for the title of this blog. A is always up in the blue and my hair (waaaay back in the day) used to be blue. Now back to my cleaning...