Marine Detachment Christmas Party

Olivia loved watching the band

So did Justin!

Olivia was looking so forward to the Christmas Party this year because Santa was coming to give her a present.  Despite showing over the top excitement with Santa at Sear's a few weeks ago, this time we think the other kids made her a bit nervous.  She wouldn't go up to Santa without Daddy's hand.

Waiting for Santa to give the kids their gifts

Sometimes you take the pictures you can get!

As always, Justin really did not want to sit on Santa's lap so this is the best I could get of the two of them.  We think Justin just wanted to walk around and play, that it had nothing specifically to do with Santa.  Olivia really enjoyed talking one-on-one with Santa.  When asked in the car on the ride home what she asked Santa for, she replied Rollerskates.   I think think the big guy will come through on her simple request since that is something she asked the other Santa for as well.

Thank you Santa!

Thank you Santa!

On the Chimney with Care...

It's Cold Outside...

Took the kids outside today to test out their winter coats and snow pants.  Nana has Olivia's pants up north so she squeezed into a 24month pair I got for Justin.  He is wearing some pants given to us by friends, but can't really walk well in shoes, so I don't think I'll get him snow boots.  The kid walked straight off the edge of the patio like it wasn't even there, and fell flat onto his face.  In his defense, I should have helped him but was video taping...bad mommy!  The wind here makes everything bitterly cold so we can become acclimated to freezing temperatures to survive Christmas up north after that blizzard!

Boys will be boys! Olivia loved playing with all her sippy cups and dishes in the same drawer when she was Justin's age, however, she never got inside.  He loves stacking the cups and climbing inside whenever he can! Doesn't he just have that look of, "opps, I'm caught, darn!"

The other night we packed the kids up in the car and drove around our small little town to look at all the Christmas lights.  Both Olivia and Justin enjoyed themselves very much despite the lack of Christmas cheer in our town.  Not nearly as many people had lights up but we still enjoyed the family time.

Finally finished Justin's hat.  He loves it.  Next year I'll have to start earlier so the kids can wear the hats longer!

Great-Aunt Deed got Olivia Candy Land and we finally just pulled it out to play the other night.  She loves the game so it looks like we'll be getting a few more for under the tree this year.  So far we've played it twice last night and once today.  I'm sure it will get old but she giggles everytime she wins!! Daddy won last night and Olivia came in second, but was still happy she got to the end, thinking she'd won!

Getting ready for Christmas this year is so much fun because of the two little angels who are so excited to open presents.

Yipee, It's Fall!!

It's fall and that means decorating the house, warming up apple cider and getting ready for bonfires!! This is by far our family's favorite season.  We can open the house up to air out, have a fire in the morning if we so desire, and take family walks after dinner.  Even though the day time tempurature is still in the high 80's, in just over a month we can do all our favorite fall activities, YIPEE!!  We are going to find a pumpkin patch to get our family of pumpkins for Halloween, and I plan on making a find Thanksgiving dinner for all! 

Justin will turn ONE soon and thinking about on his first year of life makes me miss all the little things our family has done together.  Traveling to see family over 4th of July, watching Ryan take his first true command as the Marine Detachement's Marine Battery Commander, hosting Nana, Papa, Great-Granny and Great-Granddaddy, Gammy and Pop-Pop, and watching both kids grow up way to fast!

I greatly look forward to what the future holds for our family, both good and bad.  I look forward to teaching Olivia and Justin so many wonderful and exciting things, carrying on my child hood traditions and creating our own new family traditions.  This world is too good to pass up and I will not let my children be starved for adventure. I love them way to much!

Pudding Lips

It's a Jungle Out There!!

I took Betty for a walk yesterday and we found a turtle crossing the road.  Of course, she was interested but we continued onward.  Tonight, after dinner, Betty started walking up and down the back fence line, nose to the ground.  Then she started to jump at something and bark.  My first thought was a stray cat was sitting on the other side of the fence.  When I went out to stop her barking, I was a turtle smashed against the fence trying to hide in fear.  After unsuccessfully trying to keep Betty away, I placed the turtle in a bowl and walked him to freedom in the empty lot by the house.  Earlier, this huge moth landed on the window screen, and ironically, Betty let it be all day.  Don't worry, it's still alive, I poked it with a bottle cap and it moved.  It's a jungle out there!!

Olivia turns 3!!

Olivia celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday.  Time has just flown way to fast.  It's nearly the middle of 2010 and it feels like yesterday we were just waiting for her to start to walk.  We watched the video of her as a new newborn in the hospital and coming home from the NICU.  That was per her request.  She is completely potty trained, no longer needs pacifiers at night and has a vocabulary that is just exploding.

Have to mention that Justin is starting to rock up onto his knees and his cutting his 5th and 6th tooth!

Way too long!

Ryan ran the OKC Memorial Marathon and Justin and I completed the 5k




Up date from the last month. Olivia is finally potty trained! Even though she's still on daily Miralax, she's excited to collect her stickers and prizes thus goes every moment she can. Justin has started solid foods. We're taking it slowly introducing him to anything other than breast milk so we don't have another child with pooping problems. He loves water out of a glass and enjoys bath time. Ryan takes over the Marine Battery as Commander on Monday. This means more hours at the office but he's excited! I'm working on getting our yard and flowerbeds beautiful. I think I've finally settled on what I want to do. Pictures to come.

My mom came to watch Olivia while Ryan, Justin and I went up for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon at the end of April. I pushed Justin in the 5k and Ryan completed his second marathon. Not a Personal Record time but he finished strong. He's signed up for the Tulsa Marathon in November but must over come a bad sprain in his right knee LCL. I'm trying to start training for a 10K or half-marathon, we'll see how that goes before I commit myself to anything. Ryan's are in town for the change of command. They've enjoyed blowing bubbles with Olivia, and holding Justin.

I hope to update this more often, but seeing as Ryan does not have a graduate class for the next month, we'll be spending as much spare time as possible taking down our fence and installing a new, stronger fence. Til next time...rock on!!

Ice Storm

How we are spending our days in the hotel...make each other laugh


The storm wasn't even over yet and this is how much ice we had


Hanging out in the living room to stay warm


Ryan's poor truck was stuck outside



The worst ice storm that I can remember came through town last Thursday and dumped an inch of ice onto everything. Ryan can home about noon on Thursday after having to go into work in the rain. About 2pm everything was starting to form ice on it and then the power went out by 4pm. We had enough wood, water, battery's and food to last us through Thursday night. Olivia couldn't sleep with the fire going...she kept staring in wonder at the flames, so I took her in our bed with lots of blankets to sleep. Ryan stayed out in the livingroom to man the fire...the one thing I insisted on having in our house, with Justin in the pack'n'play near the fire to stay warm, until 1:30am when I switched with him so he could get some sleep.

We then recalculated the amount of wood we had Friday morning and determined that we couldn't last until Monday when the power would be restored. So, thanks to my wonderful aunt who made our reservation, we got a hotel room down in Wichita Falls, TX (about an hour south of our house) with a microwave and mini-fridge. Hotels in Lawton booked up Thursday night and not all of Lawton lost power. Hotels here booked up fast Friday as people from all over OK made their way south.

Could we have survived in our house, sure...by why stay? Upon returning yesterday, the thermometer in the house registered 47 degrees. Needless to say, we are going stir crazy here in the hotel, the kids sleeping schedules are all screwed up but we're glad to have someplace warm and cozy that is our own. We have friends we could have stayed with in town but this means the kids can nap and we have a place of our own.

Now we're just waiting for the power to be restored. First we were told, Monday, then Tues, then Sunday neighbor's said it was back on. But this morning there wasn't any power, don't know where they got their information. Now it could be on this evening but it looks like it's tomorrow. I'm planning a trip back to my parents house in WI at this point because it'd be more fun waiting up there then here in a silly hotel room.

But the adventure continues as the kids are napping now and I'm blogging in the dark. Oh, I do get to go to Target now...it's right down the road! LOL!

Happy 2010 (and Merry Christmas 2009)

Dec 2, 2009 Justin is 2 months old



Decorating our tree


Christmas at Nana and Papa Rankin's


Sledding for the first time at Nana and Papa's


Visit to see Santa



What an exciting time the last few months have been since my last posting. Justin turned 2 months old in the beginning of December, although he'll be 3 months tomorrow, ahh! We celebrated Christmas early, including a visit from Santa, at our house before leaving for our parents home in MN/WI. Olivia did a great job putting ornaments on the tree, even putting the star on top. We then traveled up north to my parents house (Nana and Papa) and celebrated early with them since they were going to visit my sister in Trinidad. She's working down in the tropics a while for work and going to be gone for the holidays. After finding out my parents couldn't get down to see her, we all had a wonderful white Christmas in WI. Olivia went sledding for the first time and absolutely loved it. Christmas Eve Day we, including my parents, met Ryan's parents to visit Santa and had a wonder lunch together before my parents traveled back to WI before the snow got to bad.

Olivia enjoyed playing with her cousin Lydia at her Gamma and Pop-Pop's house. We all watched football and I even got some knitting time in to finish Olivia's hat. While up north, our house was hit with a huge blizzard, something that doesn't happen very often in OK. Yes, we do get bad winds but our neighbor's reported having a 3 foot snow drift in their driveway. Needless to say, we are returning home with a snow shovel. The storm knocked out power to the town so the water reserves were depleted. Since contractor's damaged the main water supply in town, our house was without water after the power was resorted and our trip up north got extended.

With our extended time up north, we traveled back over to my parents house and was able to go flying with my dad. Ryan actually flew the Cessna 172, with my dad right next to him, while Olivia and I looked out the back window. Olivia enjoyed every minute of it despite her reserves about flying before getting up into the air.

This year, I actually stayed up to watch the ball drop at 11am, however, promptly fell asleep by 11:20. Olivia slept all night long and so did Justin. He's going longer and longer at night without needing to nurse, something I'm enjoying! Ryan stayed up til midnight and then kissed his entire family to bring in the new year.

We want to with everyone a Happy 2010, those here with us and overseas!!!