The Zoo

Yesterday mom and dad went with us to the Louisville Zoo. It was GREAT! Here are some pictures from our fun day.


*Me and mine (look --> I'm actually in the picture!)



*Lunch at the Island Pavilion



*Bones and Dan-dee




*Bub and MaMaw getting a close up view in the aviary

*Komodo crew

G-ism

Mom and Dad are here in Kentucky with me during most of the kids' Spring Break. It has been wonderful to have help -- and adult conversation!

Well, one of the things that my kids have done almost every night is -- put lotion on our feet and give foot massages. G is the resident foot masseuse, but F wanted to do something too... So she gave facials.

Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful.

Tonight rolls around and G asked if she could give me a foot-cial. Like a facial... but with your foot. Clever.

Promotion

Sure was nice to see my hubby's name on the PROMOTION list this morning :-)

WooHoo!!

Congratulations, Rob -- I love you!

Wednesday's Thanks

1- The weather has really become wonderful. We spent most of the afternoon outside. Wonderful.

2- Today was the kids' early day from school. That can either be good or bad. Today it was good :-)

3- Early dinner. I love not having to rush the kids through the night-time routine after dinner.

4- Got Sam a new potty seat today. He isn't ready for it, but I don't want him to be afraid of it when he is ready!

5- Finished Faith's DaisyHead Maisy costume today. Also did one for her best buddy down the street. They will be Daisy Head Twinkies on Friday :-)

PS -- something's up with my internet tonight. I had cute pictures... oh well.

Thankfuls

1- Big Bang Theory tonight was HILARIOUS

2- Got a Bridal Shower invitation for Katelyn tonight. So excited -- though I can't go. But I'm super excited that her wedding is getting close!

3- Less than a month to go... and Rob will be home!

4- Tomorrow I'm having a pedicure. That's right... I'm going to get my nails did. {slight eye twitch for the poor grammar, but I just think you *have* to say it like that}

5- Bought New Moon on Saturday. I am such a Twi-mom. Don't judge!

Nightly Cry

What can make a mama cry? Finding a work sheet from last week in G's notebook tonight. All about St Patrick's Day... The sheet?

If a Leprechaun granted me three wishes, I would wish for....

G's #1 answer?

My Daddy.

Soon, baby girl, soon.

Granddaddy Harris

Granddaddy Harris died this afternoon. Daddy and Aunt Melody were with him. These are the times that I really wish I wasn't a part of the Army (yes, I know I am not technically the one *in* the army, but the Army life is my life).

I wish that I lived 30 minutes from home.

I wish more than anything to be able to hug Daddy right NOW.

But I can't. So, in an attempt to stay positive, here are the things I am thankful for on this sad day:

1- I had 31 years of knowing Charles Harris as my granddaddy.

2- (completely selfish) I am glad that I haven't seen Granddaddy's decline in health. Though he wasn't as 'hip' as usual the last time I saw him, he was happy because the whole family was with him at Christmas.

3- Grandaddy is no longer in any pain and is watching over us with Grandma! I think he's just been waiting -- ready to reunite with her for the past (almost) 2 years.

4- Though I can't have Daddy with me right now, he and mom are coming out to visit in a week. Spring Break for mom is the same as for my kids, so they're coming out :-)

5- My girls (at least) will remember one of their great-grandfathers. I'm not sure about Josh, but here's hoping. I never knew any of mine. Have fond memories of two great grandmothers, but none of my great grandfathers.


**Note: This is one of the only pictures I have of Granddaddy. This was June 2009. We were all sitting under his pecan trees -- eating homemade ice cream :-)

Night Sounds

When the kids and I lived in NC in 2006/07 (during deployment #1), I went shopping with Analee and found a soothing sound machine that played ocean sounds. I put mine in a drawer somewhere and kind of forgot about it. Analee, however, used it in rKt's room since his birth. So, when I had Bones, I thought I'd bring it out for bedtime. It really did drown out the noise of the house and let him sleep better. I took it everywhere... when we traveled to NC last year, I took it. I always knew where it was.

Let me backtrack... we got them on clearance... for like $1. I really didn't expect it to last, but Analee had had such luck with hers. Hers only needed its batteries changed sparingly. So, when I started really relying on mine, I was disappointed that mine needed new batteries every two weeks. But I always had extras for the reason that I couldn't imagine having to get him to sleep without it.

Fast forward... our broke (about two months ago). Well, I thought that the batteries had gone bad, but when I opened her up, she had been corroded through the guts :-(

I was so desperate the night it broke that I set up my ipod speakers in Bones's room with nature sounds going. It worked, but anybody who knows me, knows that I need my ipod to go to sleep. So, I bought a new, fancier one. This one:

This one has six different sounds. It is wonderful. I would recommend it to anybody needing some white/relaxation noise.

I started Bones out with the ocean sounds, like the old one. Awesome. Close your eyes and you can almost feel the breeze coming off of the water. We've used all of the sounds now and I am shocked at the one that we love the most.

The Heartbeat! Because his room is next to mine, I hear the sounds too. And the first time I put it on, I kind of had a "Tell Tell Heart" moment in the middle of the night until I remembered what it was. Now, when I hear it, I can fall asleep SO fast! It really is comforting to hear another heartbeat. I guess it is why I like to sleep with my head on Rob's chest.

Pictures for Picture Day

My pretties -- ready for pictures

My G:

My F:

My Bub:

Bones (yeah, I know he wasn't going to take pictures, but he wanted some pictures taken too):

Thanks

1- The bathroom is fixed! At least one of them -- the new work order is in for the other one, but it is still functional. We can't use mine until tomorrow (they had to re-tile after redoing the fixtures), but I know it works!

2- Got everything to make Faith's costume for next Friday's Favorite Dr Seuss Character Day! I'm as excited as she is. Hopefully the "simple A-line dress" is really simple.

3- The weather is starting to get better. Though it didn't get quite warm enough for me to want to be outside all day today (high was 57degrees), tomorrow is looking better (expected high of 64degrees).

4- Kids' pictures tomorrow at school. They got new outfits and went to bed SO excited :-)

5- I was angry today. Angry. Doesn't happen much. But today, angry. Then my boys had a Kissing Mama contest. All went away :-) By the way -- I was not angry at my kids. I have some pent up anger with the army right now... so they really didn't know I was angry. We play this game that I pretend that I'm falling down and need kisses to come back to good health (imagine Tinkerbell needing Peter to clap to keep her alive in Hook). Josh just said I could use some kisses -- and whatever Josh does, Sam does! And I benefited from that today :-)

6- I know I'm a clutter bug (but I am getting better), but I am SO thankful that I am not a hoarder. Anybody else watch those shows? Scary... and sad... and makes me want to clean out my basement RIGHT NOW!

Thankfuls

1- Busy Tuesday is done -- girl scouts, t-ball, FRG (since 1600hrs).. whew... I'm beat!

2- The maintenance guys are coming tomorrow to fix my bathroom! YAY... we'll be back to a two bathroom family soon :-)

3- Report cards came in today for the girls. The girls did awesome! Faith is already at grade level expectations (3rd quarter) and Grace is already exceeding grade level in some areas!

4- Rob's location now has internet service!! I had to get a new webcam for the new computer (the ones that I had were not compatible with Windows 7). I may get to see him before next month!

5- We are just over a month away from Rob's redeployment. I'm definitely ready!

6- We are official -- there are orders for Fort Leonard Wood in Rob's hands! With a report date of 15 July. WHAT?!? AAAAAHHHHHHH.... yikes... maybe this isn't a thankful... :-)

Thankfuls

1- Feeling back to normal -- looks like the sickness is gone from here!

2- Got G some new shoes this afternoon. I took the big three to the store on Friday -- and G neglected to wear socks. So... she didn't get shoes. She was such a great helper that I made sure she got her shoes too.

3- Speaking of G's shoes... she liked the $55 shoes (of course), but I didn't. So... we compromised and she still got some she liked that I liked too! They weren't much less money, though. When did kids' shoes get expensive? Oh well, I am putting my faith in "you get what you pay for".

4- Got the big three each a new outfit -- school pictures are Thursday. Our kids take pictures twice a year. Once in the fall (where I make them wear their school pride t-shirts) and then once in the spring (where they get to dress up). They are all so excited!

5- Today is the 15th of the month. All of our bills are paid (current). It sure is nice to be financially stable. I can remember struggling -- not that there are times we don't seem to struggle now, but usually it is because we want something big. Hopefully we can keep up the trend of savings!

Sickness strikes again

Oh My Gosh. I thought that I was going to die this weekend. So sick.


It started out innocently enough. Girls' night at my house. Two glasses of wine. All of a sudden, I'm not feeling so great. I think... hmmm... I may need to eat something. So, I eat a little bit. Doesn't help. Gets worse, if anything.



Violent. That's all I can say to describe it. Violent and Fast.


This has happened to me before. Rob and I call it the Schlotzsky's Syndrome. When Rob and I were (what? dating? did we date?) dating, we went to Schlotzsky's Deli and ate before going out drinking and dancing. After only 2-3 drinks (well under my tolerance level of sickness), I got violently sick... all over my poor husband's shoe... in a club. Yep, got thrown out. Sickness continued... in the alley nearby. There were moments that I remember and moments that are complete blanks. It lasted over 36 hours. Just like this time.






Miserable. My normal tricks (cool showers, Tylenol, water, etc) didn't work. I couldn't keep medicine down long enough for it to work. This time, fever was involved. High fever. Like, 103 fever. I was starting to get worried... well, in my brief moments of waking lucidness. little did I know, my phone was dead. So the girls that had been over, to witness the beginning of my horrid sick self, had been trying to check on me. Last night, Jessica came over to check on me. I had started to feel a bit better, thankfully.

Grace was a champ. And she will be rewarded for it. Yes, she will.

I got up this morning, got the kids on the bus and then went back to bed. I have basically slept since midnight Sunday morning. Miserable. Sam, luckily, slept until 9am then played in his room until 10! What a great bunch of kids I have.

So, I think I'm on the mend. I have eaten a piece of toast today and feel pretty good. Lots of liquids. Things are staying where they are supposed to now.

PS -- turns out two other families in my neighborhood had the same thing this weekend! I hope nobody else gets sick!

Thankfuls

1- The new computer is up and running -- after an hour on the phone with Dell Tech Support. I was trying to salvage my old hard drive (and all of the stuff on it) so I swapped the old one for the new one in the new computer -- yes, that's right, I did it myself. I thought it would be a good idea. Not so much. The computers went from (old) Windows Vista to (new) Windows 7, which doesn't jive so much -- the computer was having trouble recognizing both the mouse and the keyboard. So... since I had the old hard drive in the computer I took everything off of the good ol' C:/drive and backed it up onto my external hard drive. I do this every so often anyway, just in case, so really I only had to back up my 2010 files. Then, I swapped the hard drives back out. Now I have the new hard drive back in the new computer and it works great -- plus I didn't lose any of my songs on iTunes or my pictures!! Oh... and I am really digging Windows 7 so much more than Vista (but who doesn't).

2- Muffins with Moms this morning at the kids' school. Had a bit of drama with Faith, but it all worked out for both of us.

3- Got the bags I ordered from Thirty-One today. The girls got new lunch bags and they are so excited to use them for the first time tomorrow!

4- American Idol. I am so glad it is back on for the season :-) I know, cheesy, but I do love watching it.

5- Got Bones signed up for hourly care on Friday afternoon. The kids don't have school on Friday, so I really expected hourly care to be packed. I have a parent teacher conference with Bub's teacher and didn't want to have the distraction of little brother running around. The girls will both be there, but I can put them out in the hallway with their NintendoDSs and they'll be quiet... hopefully. I'm excited to see what Bub's teacher has to say about him. You know, he is the youngest in the class and I always worry that he's behind. Though I think he is a genius :-)

{Okay, so he isn't the youngest in the class. In DoDEA schools, some kids qualify to do two years of PreK due to some sort of developmental delay(s). So there are two in his class that are younger.}

WOOHOO!

My new computer came today :-) I should be back to normal in a few hours - after I get all of the software installed :-)

Yippee!!!

Peek-A-Boo!

Quick share...

Sam has a new favorite game. Peek-A-Boo. He's done it for a while, but now every time I get a dishrag from the drawer, so does he. This is how it goes:

Me: Where's Sam?!?

Me: There he is!

Sam: A-Boo!

And where is his favorite place to sit and play this game? On his brand new potty chair, of course! You know the one... the one he pushes everywhere around the house -- other than into the bathroom. He uses it as a stool, as a seat... everything but it's purpose. He doesn't even like the 'seat' part on it. He took it off -- and took the bowl part out too!

Because where else is he supposed to put his feet?



Here he is in action:

Ah... nevermind. I had a video, but it tried loading for over an hour. No luck! I'll try again later!

A Day at the Zoo

Warning: This post is WAY photo heavy!

Today was one of the first real spring-like days here in the Fort Knox/Louisville area. The high today was around 53 degrees. Nice! So, what does this family do when the weather gets nice? We go to the zoo!! Today was no different. Well, it was a little different -- in two ways. First, I packed lunch for everybody. It was so nice to have a break in the middle of the zoo to sit and talk with the kids. Plus, it was nice to have the lunch already made so we didn't have to pay the crazy zoo prices for food. Second, I let Bones walk. Yes, I was *that* mom -- you know the one -- I put a cute little monkey backpack on him with an extra long tail {ahem... leash}. It was so great though. He loves his "monk EE" and he got to walk. No fighting him into and out of the stroller. He got to see all of the animals. I knew where he was without having to pay 100% attention to him. It was nice to be able to interact with the big three since I wasn't always focused on "where's Sam?!?" Speaking of the big three... they were awe.some! Awesome, I say. It was just a great day all around.

So, here's some pictures of our day (with a little bit of -ism thrown in)
:-)

G and her favorite Flamingos -- she says "even though they stink" she still loves them

By special request from Rob: The kids on our rock.

Josh thought I meant I wanted to take their picture on any ol' rock... so he stopped here, puckered up and said take a picture here!

In the gorilla house. Josh didn't like how it smelled :-)

Bones, sporting his monk-ee backpack, compared to a full sized gorilla

Bubba compared to a full sized gorilla

G-money compared to a full sized gorilla. I may have to post again with a picture of her the first time we went to the Louisville Zoo... almost five years ago! She really has grown!!

Kicker compared to a full sized gorilla

The lions were OUT today! And very interested in the baby giraffe in the enclosure next door!

On the Ely statue. Josh was mad because I wouldn't take individual pictures on the statue (there was a line to take pictures here). Sam wouldn't stand still -- he was WAY more interested in going back to see the elephants.

Kicker and a gazelle in the background

Semi-Grace-ism:

G: Mom, look at the peacock.

Me: Wow. It is so close. (it was really like 5 feet away from us)

{we kept walking and then...}

G: His feathers are so long. Why don't they give him a haircut?

Me: A haircut? I'm pretty sure birds don't get haircuts.

G: Well, I don't mean haircuts. Why don't they give him a feathercut?

I guess he does need a feathercut :-)

So, I know that I'm biased, but I really have brilliant kids. Bub has learned so much in PreK. His class is studying the continents, specifically he's in the two weeks of Africa. What does this have to do with this picture? We were at the giraffe enclosure. He starts to tell me all sorts of interesting facts about the giraffe. He tells me that giraffes are so tall that they can't drink water from a pond like most animals. So, of course, I ask what he means. He does this {see picture} as he's telling me that they have to spread their front legs really far apart in order to drink.

Now, my rant of the day. You knew it was coming, right? I am not saying I am a perfect parent. I am not. Trust me, I know it. However, I try to be very honest with my kids. If they ask a question, I tell them the truth (age appropriate, as necessary). If I am not sure of the answer, I tell them that. Then I follow up when we get home -- I look for an answer and make sure they know it. So, why do other parents just tell their kids whatever. Even if it isn't the truth?

Today, we were at the tiger's enclosure. There was this lady talking to her -- maybe 3 year old.

Daughter says: Mommy, what is that?

Mom says: See him? It's Mufasa.

Now, I won't fault her for trying to put it in perspective for the little girl. I often will relate things back to movies {That's a meerkat. Like Timon in The Lion King, etc} But, Mufasa? Really. From the Lion King? LION. A lion does not equal a tiger. Maybe she was just dumb and really didn't know there is a difference.

I really wanted to interrupt her and let her know that the tiger wasn't a lion... or that Mufasa was a lion. But I didn't. I made sure my kids knew, though.

I know Rob understands how it gets away with me. One time, when we lived in NC, Rob and I took the kids to a Mexican restaurant in Wake Forest. The restaurant had a HUGE fish tank in the front. There was some random dad telling his kid all sorts of incorrect information. I really had to hold Rob back from telling the guy he was wrong. Why make something up? Tell the kid you don't know. I mean, it was obvious that he was making it up ("see that fish? That's a clown fish" -- it was a fresh water tank, there just happened to be an orange-ish brown fish in it). But his kid was looking at him like he was the all-knowing dad. Hope it didn't come back to bite him in the butt when the kid realizes daddy was WRONG.

Okay... off soap box :-)

Computer Woes

Well, my computer is still busted. Boo. The new computer is on its way -- hopefully. Dang Dell!

So, I have lots more 'free' time on my hands with no computer to blurf. I take a lot more pictures. Here are some I've recently taken:



Faith at her Girl Scouts' World Thinking Day. She tried lots of different foods from many different cultures. She liked *most* of them :-)

Josh really likes my Chicken & Rice soup :-)

Sam's new hiding place. If he isn't running around the living room, he is generally sitting right here!

The kids all enjoying the Plasma Car. Josh was having a fun time hanging on for dear life.

The girls and I did a mini-spa night. Tea bags on eyes and facials for all! I tried to get Josh to do it too, but he said it was for girls!

Faith relaxing --

Grace really did NOT like the mask -- I have a very similar picture of Rob :-)

Josh was in the bathtub last night. He was supposed to be the only one in the bathtub. Hmmm... Sam had a different idea of how things should happen.

but nobody told him to take his pants and diaper off. He just climbed in!