FTF

1. Scrapbooking - It's a creative outlet and feels productive at the same time. I have the freedom to highlight my photos and memories however I choose. No two pages are anywhere near the same. It's doing something for myself and for my family at the same time. I have the fun of creating the pages; they have the enjoyment of looking at them and reflecting on our memories. Both kids already at 3 and almost-2 enjoy looking through the scrapbooks, seeing pictures of themselves and remembering the fun things we've done. Especially in the military life I love having the memories of things we've done together, the places we've traveled, the places we've lived, friends that come and go, and especially documenting the kids' lives when Daddy isn't always here to see it first-hand.



2. Winter in Texas - I am getting so spoiled living down South. Growing up in Alaska I know what winter CAN be. Winter in Texas reminds me of summer in Alaska. On the "cold" days in Texas it reminds me of fall in Alaska. Now it does truly get cold here in Texas, it can be damp and windy and below freezing on occasion. The key is it isn't very often and it doesn't last very long. You may have to wear a jacket & choose to stay inside on Monday but by Friday you can wear a T-shirt and go to the park. Being an outdoorsy girl I really love that you can easily spend time outside year-round here. And yes it does get VERY hot in summer but its not so bad if you're not pregnant and besides that's why they invented A/C, ceiling fans, spray parks, sprinklers, kiddie pools, and popsicles!

3. Cali Napping - This has become a rare occurrence but when it happens it is so wonderfully quiet in here. Ahhhh! This girl does not like to sleep and its been months since she stopped taking her daily nap. She still goes in her room, we read a story (or three), she gets in bed, I sing to her and walk out. Five minutes later I hear her rustling around, rummaging through books, sorting through baby doll paraphernalia. In the beginning I'd go in there every few minutes and tell her to get in bed, to leave her toys alone, to only take one book to bed. I realized I couldn't' force her to fall asleep and I was only driving myself crazy going back in there every 5 minutes. Now I just expect her to stay quiet and stay in her room. She does come out though... she can't find her baby's shoe, she wants to put a dress on, her feet are cold, she's thirsty, she has to potty... you name it she'll think of an excuse. It's not so bad though because I know that the trade-off for her not taking a nap is that she will be fast asleep by 7:15. On a day like today where she is still sleeping soundly at 3:35 she will be wide awake until at least 9:30 saying... I'm not sleepy, my hands are cold, I want different music, I'm sad Daddy's not home, I need lotion on my cheeks... But I tolerate it because I understand her. I never liked to go to bed early either, and to this day am very much a night owl. It's hard to be frustrated when I know exactly where she gets it from.

Wacky Wednesday

Dave took this picture. I'm not sure quite why. The potty-training fun continues in our house. Some days are better than others. I thought I'd provide a list of items I would recommend to have on-hand if you should find yourself needing to potty-train someone in the near future:

• Little potty or potty seat for the toilet (get one with a "shield" if its for a boy!)
  
• Poster board for a potty chart
• Variety of stickers that match your child's interests (i.e. dinosaurs, cars, animals, trains)
• Variety of interesting books/magazines to pass the time
• Other treats/bribes if stickers aren't enough incentive (I had to make a "Treasure Box" full of little plastic animal's for Cali. Diego is happy with "nan-dee" aka mini marshmallows.)
  
• Flushable moist wipes
• Sanitizing wipes for wiping the potty (or floor) clean
• A good carpet cleaner (some days we might as well have a new puppy)
• Hand Sanitizer
  
• Disinfectant/odor elminating spray or plug-in air freshener (I like the Glade Plug-in with a fan and Oust Disinfecting spray)
  
• Pull-ups (when you leave the house or too busy to keep a close eye on them)
• Undies (beware my kids both peed in these early on in the process)
• Lots and lots and lots of time, patience, and enthusiasm!
  

Good News!

From an Army Times article "Gates details plans for deployment, dwell time"...

Gates also brought the committee good news for Army troops and families, providing for the first time a timeline for boosting rest and recuperation time back home. Soldiers now are deployed for 12 months and return home for 12 months; Gates said he expects to increase so-called “dwell time” at home for brigade combat teams to 15 months by October, to two years by October 2010 and 30 months by the end of fiscal 2011.
The changes continue a reversal of dwell time that began in 2007, when Gates increased Army Iraq deployment lengths to 15 months with 12 months back home — which often turned out to be less in reality. Last spring, the Bush administration, on the Pentagon’s recommendation, returned to a 1:1 ratio, shortening future deployments to 12 months with 12 months back home.

Click for full aricle. I just wanted to say... its about time for some good news for us Army folk! Plus, I'll believe it when I see it.

Nail Polish

Cali has asked a couple times to have her fingernails painted. Usually after seeing other, bigger girls with theirs done. In the past I always told her I would not paint her nails until she stopped sucking her thumb. Earlier this week she asked again and I tried a different tactic. I told her yes I would paint her nails but if I saw her sucking her thumb one time I would take it off right then and there. It worked! She still has a habit of putting her fingers near her mouth now and then but I haven't seen her suck her thumb once. I even threw in the added incentive that if she did really well we'd go buy her a new color. She immediately remembered the incredible display of colors she'd seen a few weeks ago at Clare's in the mall. When I mentioned a new color she asked... "from that store at the Texas mall?" So she's earned it and I'm very proud of her. I'm guessing she's going to pick green; she's been saying that's her favorite color recently.

FTF

Time for a few of my "Favorite Things" ...

1. Clif Kids Twisted Fruit Ropes - I stumbled on these at Wal-Mart the other day. They have an incredible amount of vitamins, only 9g sugar, no artificial sweetners, colors, or preservatives and are made with USDA Organic fruit. The kids both agree they taste like candy. If you're interested stock up at Amazon.com - get the 24 ct. box and subscribe to have it sent as you need it for only $13.82. That comes out to about $0.57 per snack.


2. Wii Fit - We invested in this "game" last weekend and I've used it every day since. There is such a variety of exercises, yoga poses, aerobics, and balance games it'd be hard to get bored. You also do a body test every day which keeps track of your weight & BMI and charts your progress. I'm happy to report that my chart shows a steady down-trend. Its so much fun I usually do up to 45 minutes at a time and still don't want to quit. I ended up with every muscle in my body being sore too.


3. Special K2O Protein Water - If you've ever been on a diet/exercise plan and ended up hungry try this out. Just mix it in your water bottle and get 5g protein and 5g fiber, which will help you feel full longer. It also has a nice sweet flavor to help out your sweet tooth.

We're Going to Disney

Price of 4 round-trip tickets from TX to California: $716
Travel time: 3 hours
Layovers: None

Price of ONE round-trip ticket from TX to Alaska: $910
Travel time: 12+ hours
Layovers: 2 or 3

That's just CRAZY to me. We can all four go to California for less than one ticket to Alaska. Not to mention any flight under 12 hours and no layovers will be a piece of cake!

Great Blue Heron

We had a really neat experience today on a little outing. I needed to go to the store and since it was such a beautiful day and no other plans so we went to the park first. This particular park has a decent size creek nearby that we always like to explore. Today, as the kids were tossing rocks, "fishing" with their sticks and just plain enjoying themselves this HUGE bird flew toward us from upstream and landed right across from us on the opposite bank. It was so BIG and beautiful and graceful and didn't seem very worried about us just across the creek. He high-stepped along the grassy bank as we watched quietly. After about 5 minutes he walked a bit closer to the water and I was hoping he'd jump in or catch himself a fish or something exciting. Then here came his friend from the opposite end of the creek and they both flew off together back upstream. At the time I didn't know what type of bird it was. I really didn't realize Herons lived in TX, we've lived here 4 years now and been to that park about 100 times and never seen one. I used to see them in roadside ditches in Alabama all the time. I had to look it up in my Guide to North American Birds when we got home; they actually have a very wide range across the majority of the U.S. I didn't have my camera so I had to use a stock photo here, Cali also drew a picture for me when we got home.

Wacky Wednesday

No photos for this but recently Diego has a really strange obsession with cleaning his knees. If you give him a baby wipe, washcloth, watering hose, etc. He just says "knee, knee, knee" and wants to clean his knees. He gets a bit frustrated if he's in the highchair with the tray on or riding in a shopping cart. Usually his knees aren't even dirty at the time. Its just odd.

Missouri Photos

Goodness I had a hard time getting these photos to cooperate. Mostly its my Kodak Companion program. It crashes every 5 seconds and drives me really crazy sometimes. Without further ado... enjoy the photos from out MO trip.

Skull Bone

If you happened to notice my generic posts this past week its because we were out of town and I set up a few Scheduled Posts to keep you all amused. We took a roadtrip up North to visit my grandparents and other relatives in Missouri. At 12 hours one way its not a trip I'd take by myself with the two kids so we wanted to make it while Dave was home to go with us. I sure appreciate his willingness to wake up at 4am and drive for hours on end as anyone who knows me knows I am not a morning person. We had a wonderful visit and enjoyed the time with my grandparents. They hadn't seen Cali since she was 3 months old and had never met Diego. Every day it was warm enough we bundled them up in layers of clothes added hats and mittens and went out to explore their farm. We even got the chance to drive about 30 miles over to my parents land they will retire on in a few more years. While at my parents' land Cali found what she'd consider a grand treasure!!





She's been fascinated with bones & skeletons for months now so imagine her excitement when we found a real life deer skull by the creek. She could hardly believe her luck. She wanted to bring it home but I told her we should leave it, so instead she made sure I took plenty of pictures "for my scrapbook." She kept asking where all the other bones were. We explained that other animals like mice, squirrels, and coyotes had taken them to chew on. At one point she told me that... other kids came and got the other bones, then they got their glue sticks and glued it back together to make it into a deer again. She's been looking at books about dinosaur fossils and how the scientists glue them back together to form skeletons so I guess she wanted to do the same for this deer.

From the Vault pt. 3

Growing up I had this one friend named Taneka, she is the one friend I have known the longest which is saying a lot since my dad was in the Air Force and even though we got to stay at one base for 11 years other friends still had to come and go. Anyway I had this friend Taneka since Kindergarten we were good friends and spent a lot of time together. I really can't remember how old we were but one year she told me that she was born on a leap-year so she only has her birthday every four years and her REAL birthday is on June 31st. She just celebrates on July 1st the other years. So that stuck with me for awhile, until one day I learned that leap year in fact has nothing to do with July but instead gives us a February 29th every four years. I don't know where she came up with the June 31st idea but I still think its pretty funny.

From the Vault pt. 2

For some reason I had it in my mind for several years that Niagra Falls was located in Africa. That is what I thought and how I had it pictured in my head. Now bear in mind I lived WAAAY up North in Alaska far away from the "Lower 48" and in 7th grade the U.S. might as well been another country Geographically speaking. Anyway one day as I sat around with my 7th grade GT classmates on our beanbags (I remember this very clearly) the topic of Niagra falls somehow came up and I said "Oh yeah isn't that the largest waterfall in Africa!?" Well it took quite a bit of convincing but they finally did explain to me that no Niagra Falls is in fact located in New York State and Canada. In my defense though I must have been thinking of Victoria Falls which IS located in Africa and IS the largest waterfall in the world. Must've just gotten those too mixed up somewhere along the way. Sometimes I wonder if it's something my brother told me!

Wacky Wednesday

Ok just for kicks I'm renaming "Wordless Wednesday" in honor of Cali's favorite book right now: Dr. Seuss' Wacky Wednesday.

After playing in her room with D for awhile the other day Cali came out and ran down the hall laughing. I came to see what could be so funny...



I'm really not sure how but she squeezed herself into this Newborn size diaper! I just laughed and said "Wait! Let me get a picture."

From the Vault

When I was little we lived on an Air Force Base and way at the end of our street and not far from our school was a coal burning power plant. It was a great big building with a rotating light on top, one side was green and the other yellow I believe. The colors not important though... The thing is we lived in Alaska where we happen to have lots of Northern Lights, you know Aurora Borealis. Well when I was little my big brother told me that that flashing light on top of the power plant was "THE Northern Lights". And yes I believed him for awhile but one day someone must have explained to me that the light was actually so aircraft didn't hit the big tall building, but I still remember him telling me that.

Favorite Things Friday

Please go visit my friend Tiffany at The Boren Life to see her great blog. She's the one behind this idea!

YOUTUBE for the Kids
If I try to sneak into the office during the day the kids usually find me at which point they now start asking for "movies". Even Diego since that is one of his favorite words (along with Candy "nan-deee", Juice "juuuu", Snack "sna!", and Mickey Mouse which sounds something like "ma-moot"). Anyway here are three of our faves.

Pigloo - Papa Pinguin (French Version)
Careful this one tends to get stuck in your head for days!

The Elephant Song by Eric Herman
MY favorite because I do like Elephants

And last but not least this cute ABC Song. Hope you and/or your kiddos like them too.

New Year's Interviews

I just came across this great idea to do a New Year's Interview with your kids every year. Make sure you keep them somewhere special so they can always go back and read their past years too. Here is the link to the article. And while I'm here I'll go ahead and post my own answers...

Favorites:

cereal - Strawberry Chex
vegetable - roasted broccoli
drink - water
toy - Wii
TV Show - Ghost Hunters
game - Animal Crossing (on Wii)
book - Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
restaurant - new Mexican place in Waco I don't even know the name
holiday - Christmas
animal - Elephant
If you could change your name, what would you choose?
Rainbow Brite... jk I like my name

What do you love about each person in our family?
David - he is very helpful around the house, provides for us, is always happy and laidback, makes me laugh, is a wonderful Daddy & husband
Cali - she is so helpful and kind and caring and silly and creative, i love her wild imagination and her insatiable curiosity about the world
Diego - he's so adorable and mischievious at the same time, he's so hilarious he makes himself laugh, he's fearless and always happy and loving, he's highly entertaining and loves to laugh

Where would you like to go on vacation this year? Disney!!

What are some of your wishes for this year? To enjoy our time with Dave while he's home, creating fun memories for the kids and that he comes home quickly and safely from Iraq for the second time.

Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes I have photos I don't even know how to explain...

Green Beans

Cali is recently on a big Green Beans kick. She often eats a whole hearty serving and asks for more. At bedtime she was telling me how much she loves green beans and that is all she wants to eat. I said well green beans do have a lot of vitamins, of course she wanted to know which ones. I took a guess and told her Vitamin A & Calcium. For future reference though they happen to be "a good source of Riboflavin, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Folate, Iron and Manganese." - Info from http://www.nutritiondata.com.

Cali's Art

I have a little clothesline on the wall I clip the kids' art to and it was about 5 layers deep so I cleared it off, tossed a bunch, and scanned my favorites for posterity's sake. I think 3 is such a fun age, I really enjoy seeing Cali's creativity and imagination run wild. I just have to say the "Brain" picture is definitely my favorite when I asked her what that was on our heads she said "those are your big brains mommy." What a sweet girl : )

D's a Big Boy Now!

My goodness they grow up quickly. Diego is two months away from his 2nd birthday and is starting to act more like a "big boy" all of a sudden. Just before Christmas he started showing a lot of interest in his potty.. we've had it sitting out for months. We started taking him with us when we went and he'd sit as we read to him. Once he had a few successes I went out and got him some Go, Diego, Go! Easy-Ups and made him a sticker "chart". Cali was so excited for all this and is a great supporter, she always wants to pick out his sticker and give it to him. So far he's doing great when we keep him naked from the waist down, he will run straight to the potty and go when he needs to. Next phase is just getting him to not go when he has undies and/or his Pull-Ups on. Oh and here's the really fun part. He learned in less than a week that the potty is a GREAT excuse to get out of or avoid going to bed. So we've been having lots of fun sitting for up to an hour before bed to see if he really needs to go or listening to him cry and cry from his bed wondering if he really needs out or is just messing with us. Usually its some of both.

On another note he also stopped wanting to sit in our laps in the glider-rocker for bedtime stories. He was sitting on the windowsill instead so we figured it was time to move the chair and create a cozy reading nook instead. Dave installed his Ikea star light and Cali donated her pink couch. He's happy with it but we'll have to work on the idea of sitting still now.
Of course they were sitting so nice and still and cute before I got the camera but you get the idea.

Mmm.. Crunchy!

My parents are wondeful gardeners and we always had a family garden growing up. I remember spending many a day at the garden unhappy to be there having to weed and hoe and what-not but I sure appreciate it all now. After we visited my parents back in September (which happened to be their peak harvest time) we were ready to come home and plant our fall crops. Now the carrots are a decent size and the kids just chomp them up!

Favorite Things Friday

My fabulous friend Tiffany started this fun weekly post and I thought I'd join in. Click the icon above to visit her wonderful blog.

1. Keeping up & Catching up with old friends - Between the blogs, Facebook, Myspace, etc. its so easy these days to keep up and catch up with old friends. As a military family its so nice to have these connections when we all have to eventually move on to the next adventure. Oh and I should mention making new friends and keeping up with them is just as fun!

2. January in Texas - I spent many, many, many a winter day way up north in Fairbanks, Alaska. Trust me I KNOW winter so when its 80 and sunny in January I savor every minute of it. I think of my parents and my many friends North of here and I try to enjoy the sunshine for you too.

3. The Cleaning Fairy - If only she really existed my life would be all set. There's so many things I'd rather do than clean. Actually I'd rather create a mess than clean one up. Sometimes when I'm really lucky Dave cleans up after me as I cook or folds laundry, unloads the dishwasher, does the dishes, even cleans off the counters, sweeps and vaccuums. Actually he does those things most of the time when he is home and it makes me so happy! When I've spent so many months doing it all by myself I sure appreciate every little bit of extra help.

Handy Man

It sure is nice to have such a handy husband. Last December he built the kids a playhouse in the back yard and this year it was a swingset. They sure love the new swings. Sometimes its hard to get them back inside and it hasn't been all that warm the past 2 days. Cali looked out the window as I was making breakfast today and exclaimed "Mommy come look, the swingset is still here!!"