The Rock Climbing Wall

This is just some of the fun we experienced yesterday during Military Appreciation Day. Ashlyn wanted to climb the rock wall and I didn't want her to do it because it was very very high, but she insisted and she was very good at it and everyone cheered when she rang the bell at the top.

Haley was too quick at hugging the dog for me to get a good picture.

Haley shaking the Crime Dog's hand.

The girls shooting basketball.

The girls with Sparky the Fire Dog.

Military Appreciation Day

Yesterday was Military Appreciation Day and they had a lot of activites planned on post so we all went to check it out. It was a beautiful day, with winds out of the north at 700 mph. This is not a picture of all the soldiers on the base here, but it does include Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. The side closest to us was all Army.

Here is a picture of what was going on at the back of the formation. Scott is actually paying attention to the speech, but LTC Chester is fooling with his blackberry.

Ashlyn's Thanksgiving Play

Last week we went to see Ashlyn's class perform a Thanksgiving Play. It was very nicely done. The children all remembered their lines and no one cried. Ashlyn was a pilgrim, that's why she has on that hat. When she came out to say her lines it was quiet and Owen yelled loudly "I see Ashlyn right THERE!" and everyone laughed.

This is a picture of Ashlyn's teacher, Mrs. Williams, helping Ashlyn take off her hat to get ready for the song part of the show.

The song they sang was "50 Nifty United States" which is a song I actually learned in 3rd grade, so Ashlyn is no doubt smarter than I am because she learned it in 2nd grade. In this song you sing the names of all the states in alphabetical order. Scott has often mentioned that my ability to do this is not at all impressive, but he thinks that a lot of the stuff I have floating around in my mind is useless knowledge. However I think he is the king of useless knowledge. Who cares about all the countries of the world and the names of all their leaders and what the temperature and climate is like in any given country at any given time? That must be an army thing...

Patience

A surefire way to get Owen to be still for 15 minutes straight: Bake cookies!! He brought in his chair and didn't move!

Veteran's Day Parade

Here are the pictures I took at the Veteran's Day Parade down in Menard, Texas. Menard is a quaint little town with about 500 people, and all of them were at the parade, and all of them were packing (if you know what I mean). All in all, it was a beautiful day, an impressive parade for the size of the town, and a good time. Afterwards we went to the VFW and had lots and lots of homemade food that all the nice people of the town brought.

My reasons, issues, problems, etc.

Several people have asked me in the past few days why I haven't updated my blog. There are a number of reasons, the main one being that my family is making me crazy right now with all their issues and crap. The school has sent home so much paperwork regarding upcoming events that I had to go and buy a pocket calendar just to keep up with this week. That is just the beginning.

Ashlyn:
She has two main issues I am dealing with.
1. It is pretty cold here in the mornings (40) and she is a weenie. So every morning she cries because she is concerned that when she rides the 1.5 miles to the school she will be cold.
2. She wants a bra for her birthday. This is because her cousin Rebeckah visited us in July and told her that when you turn 8 you can get a bra. (Joan, we need to discuss how much of a bad influence your daughter is)

Haley:
Okay, who are we kidding here? Haley has no issues with anything or anybody, but we have issues with her. Haley knows no such thing as stress or worry, but she gives me gray hairs daily.
1. She has a boyfriend named Alex. Alex brings her stickers and stamps each day and on Friday he pays for her popcorn--not the .25 regular kind, he splurges on the .50 cheddar because that's Haley's favorite. I don't think any further detail is needed for everyone to see my issue with this.
2. She regularly trades away the small amount of healthy food we send in her lunchbox for other peoples' desserts. Again, enough said.
3. She really really really wants a real live turtle for her birthday and if she doesn't get one then that's fine, she'll just ask Santa for one. If anyone has any advice on this one, let me know.

Owen:
Owen has regular issues with everything I do. He now speaks in full sentences which include:
1. Get off the inner-net and play with me.
2. Owen needs a taco.--Owen thinks everyday is run for the border day at our house and begs for tacos all the time. fyi-it's actually a mexi-melt with no pico.
3. We go to the commissary...you buy this for Owen.--never have I met a child who enjoys grocery shopping so much. the buying part is basically reserved for peanut m&ms, which he eats at a frightening pace.
4. Look up.--Never, ever look up when Owen tells you to do this. This is just a ruse to get you to lift your head so he can punch you in the neck. Scott taught him this little gem, and we are all thankful. Owen is planning on doing it to Pops when he gets here Monday because another way Owen gets his jollies is to threaten my chance at an inheritance.

Owen's other main issue is that he truly believes that his stomach hurts not because of all the peanut m&ms or the 8 packs of fruit chews he averages a day but because he has a baby in his stomach. This is a huge point of contention between the two of us. Basically, he is right about it and I am wrong-there really is a baby in there.

Max:
1. With the new fence being built Max is only allowed outside when he is tethered to the picnic table, which he doesn't enjoy. He is also a weenie about the cold weather in the mornings.
2. He refuses to poop in front of anyone, and with all the fence builders outside it's impossible to get any privacy.

Frosty:
Frosty's problem is he is a cat, and cats are weird. And though it has not been diagnosed by a doctor, I believe Frosty has ADHD and needs medication for it.

Scott:
Scott's issues are all soldier related. How oh how do you make 300+ people act like decent human beings? Well, you don't, so you hand out article 15s and take away rank and pay and get home at 7:30 every night.

Jennifer:
I suppose all these problems I have listed above are actually my issues. I also have others, which we will not go into because they are pregnancy related and therefore gross. But I will say that I detest all people who can poop on demand and who get a good night's sleep every night.

So that is pretty much it, if you don't count all the stuff I didn't mention. Owen and I are fixing to leave to eat lunch with Haley. This is parent involvement week, so we will eat with Haley from 10:45 to 11:15. At 11:00 I will be in Ashlyn's classroom to watch her perform as a pilgrim in her class Thanksgiving show. (and yes, I will magically be in two places at one time). Then at 11:30 we will eat lunch with Ashlyn. Scott is supposed to meet us there--he'll be late. Owen told me he'd act decently--he won't. Wish me luck. At least I remembered to charge the camera so I will have hard evidence for the doctors...or lawyers.

It's a GIRL!!!

Here's a 3D picture of the baby. That curly thing by her eye is the cord. 3D pictures like this are a little freaky looking, so her right eye looks weird. Scott thinks she looks like Owen when he's sleeping.

And yes, we have a name.
And no, we're not telling you.

At this stage of the pregnancy the baby should weigh about 2 pounds, but of course this one weighs 3.3 lbs. After the ultrasound they did the diabetes test and when I got home I found out I failed the test, and I failed it miserably, so I have to go back tomorrow for the 3 hour one and to speak with the hospital dietitian. Oh, and I'm anemic too. Very anemic.

So maybe that 3 hour test will be negative and we can be done with it, but if not, then so be it. I think it's supposed to go away after the baby is born.

But she sure is a cutie!!!

The 3D Ultrasound

I am fixing to get ready and leave to meet Scott for lunch (yes, shocker that he actually gets a long enough lunch to share it with me inside a restaurant as opposed to the drive-thru) and then we are off to the 3D ultrasound appointment.

This ultrasound will tell us many things, one of which hopefully being the sex of the baby. It's pretty simple--if it's a girl we will have another wedding to pay for, and if it's a boy Owen will get a "partner", some little innocent being to corrupt. So either way we're screwed.

What a comedian

Owen: Where are we going?

Me: We're going to get some kung pao chicken.

Owen: O wants a taco.

Me: Well okay, we'll drive through Taco Bell and get you a taco.

Owen: Where's O's taco? (please keep in mind that Owen watches entirely too much Sesame Street and speaks of himself in the third person, much like Elmo does)

Me: It's at Taco Bell. We're going to get it.

Owen: O needs a taco now.

Me: Owen! We're on our way to get you one.

Owen: O TACO NOW!!

Me: Good grief Owen, we'll be there in a minute. I can't just magically produce a taco!

Scott: Yeah, it's not like it's a kid or something.

Come as you are

Apparently yesterday I was tagged by Becky to put a picture on the blog of me exactly at that moment. I didn't check her blog yesterday so I had no idea. Today, I was getting ready to go to the commissary and checked everyone's blog and so here's a picture of me. I would have included my stomach, but it won't fit in the frame of the picture because it's so huge.

You are also supposed to talk about the person who tagged you and I don't ever get to see Becky so I don't know what to write. I tried to think of something funny, and it seems to me that when I lived in Rome it was always very easy for me to shock Becky in some way, usually in ways involving the large number of children I always had with me. But then I remembered one time we were talking about ironing--Chris's iron specifically, which could very easily put a crease in a concrete wall, and I mentioned that I would like to have an iron like that for quilting and Becky said "Well, why don't you get one." And I said "It cost $240." And then in a had-to-be-there moment I'll never forget her eyes got as huge as plates and her voice got all squeaky and she said "OH MY GOD! For an IRON?" If any of you know Becky then you must know exactly the expression and voice I'm talking about. If not, then you need to try to shock her sometime because it's totally worth it. Even as I think about it now I'm laughing and I don't really know why...I think all my blood is going to the baby...

Oh, and I'm for the come as you are thing I'm tagging:
1. Amber- who won't do it (fuddy!)
2. Karin- who never updates her blog, so she won't do it
3. Lucinda- who might actually do it

Happy Halloween!

Last night the we attended the battalian Trunk or Treat. It was lots of fun and the kids got entirely too much candy. Owen actually went up to a few cars and got candy on his own. Those who have been reading for a while may remember last year when he refused to participate at all. After he got a few pieces of candy this time around he was more content to sit down and eat it than collect more.

We have received some flack about Owen's choice of costume for this year. This has come mostly from Scott's soldiers. Comments have included, but are not limited to:
1. That's the textbook definition of cruel and unusual punishment.
2. That's a kid doing what his dad tells him to do without knowing any better.
3. Hey Owen, come over here and try on my Notre Dame hat...





















And here are the three of them together (note that Owen now has candy permanently attached to his hand/face now)

Another new hat

After pining for Will's hat, Owen's finally came in the mail (thank you Lucinda and Nana). He loves it and wears it almost every day. He always has a hat on!

































Here, once again, Owen demonstrates the WRONG way to use the basketball goal Arden gave us.

The Finholms

We've known the Finholms since we lived in Alaska. They were also in Hawaii with us. Now they live in....Maryland? Virginia? anyway, someplace near D.C. Tim is gone a lot to secret places doing secret things and Jenn is busy with Zoe and Anne, but they have a blog going right now...

www.finholms.blogspot.com

The littlest soldier

Haley cannot make a single decision in her life without doing the obligatory "eenie meenie miney moe" and Owen has picked up on this. He has learned the words, but he does not realize that the outcome actually makes some sort of choice for him. However, when he and I walked into the BX here and he saw this outfit, there was no assistance needed from anywhere to let him know this is exactly what he's wanted his entire life. He threw his body on top of it like some sort of sacrifice and began screaming "YOU BUY THIS! YOU BUY THIS FOR O!"

Not one to make a scene, I bought it.

He wears it proudly, for at least a little bit, EVERY DAY. It is huge for him that it matches Scott's. Scott came home, saw him dressed in it, and nearly burst with pride. They sat down together and he checked it out from head to toe. It's amazing that it's got all the pockets exactly like the real thing.

Central HS Tailgate Party

Another week, another Supersquad event. This time it was the Central High School Tailgate Party. Basically we got there at 5, stood in the parking lot until 5:35, then watched Ashlyn and Haley's group perform 2 cheers, got in the car and left. Time well spent, let me tell you. I tried to take pictures of the girls cheering, but because of Ashlyn's height she is toward the back and you can't see her for the millions of pompoms people are shaking in all directions. Haley is on the front row, but she doesn't really perform as much as stand there. The money it costs every month for them to do this is really not well spent.

So this picture was taken right before we left.

My feelings exactly

Ashlyn's fall show

Last night the 1st and 2nd grade at Ashlyn's school had a short performance where they sang Halloween songs. When I say "short", I mean exactly 28 minutes. Ashlyn sang every song so we were proud. And she also had a part in one song where she whacked a tube on her hand along with some other kids. The tubes were all different lengths and supposedly made different sounds, but you couldn't really tell.

I feel all parents should have to sit through a performance like this. We were in a non-airconditioned gym in 110 degree heat sitting behind a hugely fat lady who had rolled her obnoxious kid's stroller through dog poop on the way in the door. Owen and Haley had a blast though, and we have pictures of the blessed event, and Ashlyn was so proud of herself she couldn't stop smiling, so in the end it was worth it. Plus, by the time we got out of the gym and to the car and home it was about 6:30 so we decided it was too late to cook enchiladas (the planned meal) so we went to Wok and Rice and got some kung pao chicken. Good times indeed.

The pictures are dark. Little people mess with my camera and the settings are all switched so you'll have to get over it just like I did.

Dog Hair

When Husker comes over there is an increase in the amount of time we spend vaccuuming, because he sheds a LOT. Today Owen decided to take matters into his own hands...

Exercise is fun

Last night Scott went to Sears and bought an elliptical trainer. He put it together while Lost was tivo-ing (we feel we're too good to watch commercials so we always watch the recording instead of the live showing). Right now it's in the bedroom, partly because I want to keep the kids off of it and partly because it was pretty funny watching Scott move it around the house once it was fully assembled.

After we go it situated I proceeded to get on it and try it out. I was on it for roughly 75 seconds before my right thigh muscle fell off my leg. Doctors always say to "listen to your body" when you are exercising and I feel mine was saying "75 seconds! Excellent! Reward yourself with some much needed rest!"

It's all good

And God looked down from Heaven and saw that Ashlyn and Haley had been in school for over one month now. And he saw that Owen was too short to reach the light switches, and that Jennifer would open the blinds and use the bright Texas sun to light the house instead of electricity. And he saw that if she needed a light for some reason, she was diligent about turning it off as soon as it was done. And he saw that there were not two girls in the house all day, turning on all the lights, including in the closets and bathrooms, for no reason or having their t.v. on in their room when they weren't even in there watching it.

And God saw that there was no electricity being squandered, and he was pleased, because he knows Texas is a deregulated state and electricity costs .19 cents per kilowatt hour here.

And God sent Jennifer the electric bill, and she saw that is was $187.55 cheaper than it had been the month before. And Jennifer was sooo happy, because $175.00 was the amount she was trying to con out of her father to finish paying for the elliptical trainer, and she knew that $187.55 would cover the rest of the cost AND get her some kung pao chicken.

And Jennifer was so excited she tried to call Scott, but he was giving a brief to the incoming soldiers. So she tried to call Amber, but she was apparently sleeping in. So she blogged about it. (she did not call her father, on the off chance that he had already put some extra money in her checking account...)

Max's fun day

Tomorrow Maxie the Patsy is going to the vet to officially do away with his manhood. What with the whole fence-falling-over situation while Scott and I have a baby on the way we decided it would be a good idea not to put ourselves in a position to have some paternity test thrown at us because Max cannot control himself around the other dogs that invariably break into our back yard and eat his food and drink his water.

After that I am off to Sears to buy an elliptical machine because obviously I am going for a new world record as far as my weight gain goes. The doctor seems to think that if I exercise I will be fine. He's such a party pooper. He's managed to get Scott all fired up about it also. But high blood pressure is nothing to laugh at and neither is being put on bed rest when you live with someone like Owen, who can get 6 inches of water into the bathroom floor in the other bathroom while you take a 2 minute shower. So if anyone would like to contribute to our elliptical fund, email me and I'll get your our routing number and account number at the bank.

Sears pictures

We took the kids to Sears on Sunday to get their pictures made. Owen was all pumped up for it and when we got there he went into some huge panic, so they are not as good as I'd hoped for. After he found the ball and started playing with it he calmed down, so there is a ball in just about every picture. The girls of course were pros.

What goes on in her mind?

Haley how was school?

Good. We got a new student again.

Oh really? What's their name?

Um...Joy?

That's good. I know someone named Joy.

Jolee?

It's Jolee? Well, I went to college with someone named Jolee. It kind of reminds me of a song too.

Julie! I think it's Julie!

Julie?

Julianna.

Well anyway, were you nice to her?

Nice to who?

Julianna.

Julianna? Oh nevermind. Her name is Mackenzie.

The beginning

Last night as we sat at the table eating dinner I was fully concentrating on stuffing as much food into my face as possible before Scott ate it all so I wasn't really paying attention to anything Haley was saying. Everyone knows Haley talks a lot, and suppertime is no exception. However, she did catch me off guard when she mentioned something about marriage.

What?

Cameron L. told me he's in love with me and he wants us to get married.

What?

Cameron L. wants to get married. I'm just glad it's not Cameron S. because I don't like him at all because last week he told me it was Halloween and I was afraid I'd missed it. But it's Cameron L. so that okay.

Um...what?

(Ashlyn in the meantime looks absolutely horrified and Scott has completely stopped eating and Owen is oblivious to everything except his corn)

At this point Haley decides she's told us everything she possibly can and goes back to eating. A silence falls over the table. Finally, Owen speaks up "Married? Okay."

Scott then looks over at me "Maybe we should re-think this whole 4th child thing."

Oh come on!!

Thanks to Amber for pointing this out, but come on people, you've GOT to be kidding me!

http://thebabybungalow.stores.yahoo.net/potrurforlib.html

Ding-Dong

This afternoon I was minding my own business when the doorbell rang. I answered the door and saw a lady standing there with her teenage son. She smiled and asked me if I was the "mother of the house", and I told her yes.

All of a sudden her smile faded and she stepped towards me and started yelling "Well, I want you to know your son just picked a fight with my son when they were getting off the school bus." I was a little caught off guard so I turned around to make sure Owen was in fact 2 years old and I hadn't just shot forward through time 14 years. He was standing there so I turned back around and said "Ma'am, I think" and she held up her finger and screamed "I'm still talking!!!" I stood there for another few seconds and then tried again to stop her and she screamed "I'm not finished!!!" I listened to her yell about fighting and disregard for other people and bullies and finally I decided this could go on all night so I raised my voice and said "Ma'am, my son is TWO!" and turned and pointed at him for good measure. Owen, ever ready to oblige, held up two fingers, smiled broadly and said "O two!"

The woman immediately stopped and looked at her son, who had been standing there quietly the entire time. "Oh" he said "I guess they moved or something."

I mean...What the hell?

So I said "Are you looking for the Watsons?" and they said yes. So, just to be sure, I said (and I am not being racist here, I was merely trying to prove a point) "You are looking for the black family who used to live here?" and they said yes. I told them where they had moved to and the woman apologized for yelling at me.

All in all, an interesting event. But still...What the hell?

Pictures of Haley

Here are some pictures Ashlyn took of Haley. If you're wondering what happened to her face, no, it was not something Owen did. She scrubbed too hard when she was taking her fake tattoo from the Supersquad parade off and made her face raw.


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Pictures of Owen

Ashlyn took some pictures the other day and I just took some time to go through them. All in all she took 57, but these were the best of Owen. Some are blurry, but they still look pretty good.


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Roy G Biv

At school today Haley learned about Roy G Biv. For those of you who don't know, that is an acronym to help you remember the colors of the rainbow--red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Haley brought her paper to me proudly and asked if I knew who it was under the rainbow. I guessed Haley? and she said No, it's Roy. And the next time it rains I'm going to look for a rainbow and see if I see him.

Obviously, the whole idea was wasted on Haley.

The Big Tease

Owen has now pee-peed on the potty 4 times in a row...twice last night and twice so far today. The last three times it was his very own idea.

I still don't think he's serious.

I HAVE to have this!

Okay, Amber was looking around the internet for a quilt for Arden and she ran across a website that was selling these. I googled it and found it at several different places. I'm hoping beyond hope that someone buys me one. I mean, I think it will serve a great purpose, but really I want it just so people will come up to me and ask "That is so neat! What is that called?" and I can say loudly and proudly "It's a Hooter Hider!"

Lord help us all

Owen's Halloween costume came in the mail today, courtesy of Meena and Papaw. It even has tiny shoulder pads for him to wear under the shirt (he's not that broad in real life). He has not taken it off yet and has been running around the house screaming something about being a Ten-see put-ball payer.

Central High Homecoming Parade

Tonight the girls rode on a float in the Central High School Homecoming parade as part of their first Supersquad duties. They had a blast and got to do chants for about 3 blocks. Only one kid threw up on the float and I'm happy to say it was neither of mine! The parade was pretty decent and some of the high school kids threw candy to the people watching, so Owen collected several suckers and pieces of gum. He liked every float except the swim team's because they had a guy dressed up like a giant shark who chased the swimmers around the float while the Jaws music played. Even I have to admit it was a bit disturbing. I think tomorrow evening we may go to the game and just stay for the first half. The girls are eager to watch the real cheerleaders and high school football is HUGE in Texas.

A Day at the Park

We spent about an hour at the park today with Amber and Arden and had lots of fun. Sadly, after I took the first picture of Owen sliding the battery in my camera died. But this is the one I did get.

The Girls' Blogs

After much consideration and talk, the girls and I have decided that we should stop updating their blogs. They don't do that much different each day so they are becoming redundant. Also, the girls don't like to have to update them everyday. I have to admit they lasted longer than I thought they would last, and maybe in the future we will make one for the two of them to share.

Good times

What is that cat eating?

Ground beef.

Ground beef?

Yes, we gave him some ground beef last night.

Last night? And he's eating it today?

Yeah, he really likes it.

(5 minutes pass)

Mom! The cat threw up! Three times!!

Well, you need to get it cleaned up.

Mom!! Ashlyn won't help because she says I saw it first so I should clean it up and because she says it's my cat, but I cleaned up the poop when Chevy pooped in the house last week.

Ashlyn, clean up the throw up.

MOM!!! Max is eating the throw up!!

Haley, put Max outside.

MOM!!!! Max just peed right on the cat throw up!! And Owen's standing right beside it eating cheese and he's going to step in it just to be mean!

Haley, put Max outside! And get something and help Ashlyn clean that up.

MOM!!!!! I was going to get some toilet paper and the toilet paper exploded.

What?

It exploded. There's toilet paper everywhere. Do I have to clean that up too?

Well, it doesn't really matter because your daddy is going to come home and kill you both.

It's not that big a deal. We don't need to tell him. Can you come back here?

No.

Why not?

Because high blood pressure is not good for the baby.

(one day hopefully I can bottle this crazy and sell it on ebay)

Confusion

OK Go - Here it goes again

I'm sure a lot of people out here have seen this already, but it's Haley's favorite!!

The ants

Every day in my bathroom I have ants. Two ants. No more than two, but always two. They are always traveling across the floor, in some type of cover formation I'm sure, coming from a secret location that I cannot find and going who knows where. Every day I squish the ants with toilet paper, throw the paper away and wash my hands. Every day. Owen watches me do this. And the next day two more are there, diligently trying to cross the floor, as if the queen ant has sent them in to find the ones from the day before and the day before that.

For about the past week or so I have noticed that the two ants are gone. I don't see them, and being pregnant I spend an awful lot of time in the bathroom, so I have lots of chances to look. Out of the blue, after months of seeing them each day, they are gone. I wondered about this briefly, but then decided there are more important things to contemplate, like where the light in the room goes when you turn off the light switch.

This weekend I was going to go to the bathroom and Owen saw me on my way. He yelled "NO MOMMY! ANTS!" I told him that no, the ants were gone now. He shook his head and rushed in ahead of me and started looking around on the floor. Suddenly he clapped, pointed and screamed "TWO ANTS!" I looked and sure enough, there they were again. I went to get some toilet paper and Owen said "No, O do it!!" He then proceeded to bend down, squish both ants WITH HIT BARE FINGERS, lift up the toilet lid and RINSE HIS HANDS OFF IN THE POTTY and then he dried them off ON MY TOWEL.

It took about one tenth of a second for me to realize that he has been doing this every day FOR A WEEK. Killing ants with his bare hands, washing his hands in the toilet and drying them on my towel...the towel that even Scott is not allowed to touch. Honestly I don't know which part of all this bothers me the worst.

Lucinda's Blog

Actually, it's Will's blog, but he's only 2, so I'm giving credit to his mom!!

Joel, Lucinda and Will live in Rome, GA. Will is ADORABLE so check him out!!

http://jlandwh.blogspot.com/