single parenting

Daddy is away on a cross country field trip for school.  So, I'll be single parenting 3 muchkins for a while.  Today hasn't been bad but it hasn't been all that great either. Let hope my hair doesn't completely fall out by the end of this.  On the up side, it will give me a glimpse into what deployments will be like with three kids insert sarcasm here.

Thank goodness for Daddy Dolls! He came to the commissary with us this morning.

Note: This picture was taken when the kids first got their Daddy Dolls, back in April 2010.

Oh, and Sweet Pea decided to randomly ask how babies come out of mommy...lucky for you dad, you were done! I told her it was like magic. She's satisfied with that answer for now.

Happy Birthday to Me

A week or so ago, Olivia went out with Daddy (Justin went too) to pick out my birthday gifts. That night at dinner, I asked her how the trip went.  Before I could finish my sentence with, "and don't tell me what you got me because its a secret," she blurts out, "we got you a robe, Mommy!"

Ryan and I could only look at each other and laugh.  How could we get mad at such an innocent and excited little girl? Not more then 10 minutes later I mention, "at least I can still be surprised since I don't know what color it is." Spoke too soon again, "it's purple, Mommy!" Says Olivia.

We do love her so much!

Thank you for my wonderful "surprise" birthday gift.

Colorful World

After finding the cutest idea for homemade Valentine's Day card on the small little website called Pinterest (wink wink), I couldn't wait to try it out for Olivia's class.

Collect discarded, broken, old crayons from around the house (or new crayons for more vibrant colors) and take off the wrappers. It helps to use a knife to make a slit down the crayons to easily peel the wrapper off.

Cut crayons into small sections 

Place crayons into silicone mini cupcake mold.  

I suppose you could use a metal pan but silicone is much easier to clean up.

Place in a 300 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until melted, checking regularly.

Remove from oven and let the mold cool completely. 

Then pop out the new crayons.

Have your resident artist decorate the Valentine's Cards.

Attach crayon in a creative way to decorated card.

Then write a cute quote to finish off the most adorable homemade Valentine's Day Cards. Ever.

We made 24 heart shaped crayons (the number in the mold) and I am so proud on how they turned out. Not as pretty as the original Pinterest picture but they are made with lots of tender loving care.  I think I'm more excited to give these away than Olivia (I get to help with her class party tomorrow, yipee).  Did not want to give candy away, knowing she'd be getting quite a bit back herself, this was the perfect alternative.

Happy Valentine's Day!

twins

Ever since Olivia was born, people have said she's a spitin' image of Ryan.  I agreed when she was a baby but people are still saying it, and its something I can't see anymore.

Now that Liam is getting bigger, I think he's a good blend of both Ryan and myself, but people are again saying he looks just like Justin.  So I decided to do some investigating back into our collection of pictures.  Turns out everyone is right!

Holy Crap! They are like twins!!  Both photos were taken when the boys were two months old.  Can you guess who is who? Justin is on the left and Liam is on the right.

The more I look at them, the more differences I see, but at first glance, I thought I needed glasses.  They are definitely brothers.  Makes me excited to see what Liam will look like as he grows up. We also think Liam will have curly hair since he has the same hairline as Olivia, while Justin has a different hair line.  Hopefully we won't have to wait til Liam is a year old since Olivia couldn't grow hair til after she turned 1!

Here's a picture of Olivia and Justin at the same age in our Oklahoma kitchen.  Just goes to show how much faster my boys grow than my girl.

Justin at 13 months on the left and Olivia on the right. J-man is certainly taller than the second drawers and Olivia is not!

snow bunny

We had our first real snow here in northern Virginia yesterday.  I knew it was going to rain but instead it snowed.  Olivia and Justin were super excited to see the snowflakes fall to the ground.  Actually, I don't recall Olivia ever actually seeing it snow.  Nothing stuck to the ground at first but then the flakes got bigger and fatter and wetter.  Perfect snowman making material.

 Liam was outside for just a little bit for his first snowfall. Once that cold snowflake hit his warm cute face, he wanted to go back inside.  I don't blame him at all.

 After dinner Olivia headed outside to play.  Why no pictures of Justin? He preferred to stay inside where it was toasty warm.  I dragged all three kids out to go to the commissary after nap time and I think he got his fair share of the snow.  It was coming down pretty hard.

Olivia woke up this morning talking about making her snowman.  It was super fun to play in the snow with her.  She would have stayed outside longer if I let her but her tiny hands were getting too red!

gas is grand

One thing I hated about moving to our first duty station was the gas stove.  I only knew how to cook on electric, but since that first move, I've fallen madly in love with gas stoves.  Currently, I have a gas stove.  It's fantastic when the power goes out due to an east coast hurricane.  Food can still be prepared (although we just went out for lunch up the road that particular day).

Another great feature, and probably the best feature, of a gas stove is the option of making yummy smores with the kiddos INDOORS.

super excited to make her own smore

she was very careful

yummy bliss

 Not knowing how many people wanted smores at our New Year's Eve Firepit gathering, I over bought.  However, that wasn't a bad thing in this family.  It all just. has. to. be. eaten! But the chocolate in the house combined with my lack of will power, my intended progress on losing this baby weight is hurtin' !

J-Man's turn

just a pose for the picture.  mommy did most his work

enjoyed mouthing the marshmallow, but not a true fan

National Marine Corps Museum

Today was a day I've waited over 5 months for...  We toured the National Marine Corps Museum as a family.  It's one of those things you are always meaning to do, you know, sight see in your own city.  When visiting a far off land, you cram so much into a short vacation in order to see it all but not when it is literally in your own backyard.  Oh, no, that's when it gets put off til next week, then the next and so forth.  We only had to travel the 2 miles up the road from our house to the museum but I was determined to get us out of the house to sight see this Christmas Vacation.

Although the museum is fantastic, the location stinks.  Sure, it is here at the Marine Corps base at Quantico, but not to many tourists from the city will venture down here to see it.  Picture this...

You enter this gigantic atrium and look up to see this...

The entire atruim has this glass ceiling with several aircraft haning above.  The kids were in awe of the entire space. During the day you can see the tippy top of the museum from the highway and at night the lights shine bright up into the night sky...it's breath taking!

Next, you're guided through the history of the Marine Corps, starting with "Making A Marine." The famous yellow footsteps start your journey through time.

Your brain is overloaded with the sights and sounds of boot camp.  There are two telephone booth size displays you can enter to listen to what grunts hear from drill instructors, one for males and one for females. The entire museum is laid out in such a way that you just stroll through each period of time, reading, looking and learning, so effortlessly...it's wonderful. 

There are display cases everywhere, vehicles, and aircraft but also life size, walk through displays.  Making the visitors feel as part of the history was apparent.

Some display areas had doors closing off the area from the rest of the museum.  Below, is the Korea War.  The room was small but ice cold.  Marine figures were "talking" to one another about the conditions of the cold weather.  We truly felt transported back in time!

The kids did not like the Vietnam display walk through room because the helicopter vibrated making them uneasy. I loved it...I felt like I was in a operational helicopter about to disembark to fight the enemy.

Being that we are located so close to Walter Reed Hospital, there was a children's section where they could draw pictures and letters to send to recovering service men and women.  Of course my kids aren't old enough to draw something well enough that strangers can read and interpret the message but they had fun coloring anyway.

The museum designers wanted to make learning fun and a family affair so there were several stations throughout each historical time period with uniforms we could try on.

Today was truly a fun filled day. Olivia told us that the museum was not scary for little boys (Justin was pointing at everything clearly enjoying himself) but scary for little girls (she was not a fan of the loud noises and guns not behind glass) but it is ok because Daddy was there for protection! She understands everything was pretend but that did not comfort her when the floor of the helicopter was vibrating and the speakers were playing sounds of disembarking!!

Now to just go back without any kids so I can actually read the writing on the wall, all the stories about heroism and courage.  I was inspired today to continue feeding my love of history and learn more... since I was also humbled by how little I actually remember about history!

Christmas Traditions

 Before we had kids, we never really thought about blending our Christmas Traditions.  Every year, even after our first two kids were born, we traveled back to our parents homes to celebrate like old times.  This year is different.  With Little Guy being so tiny, we're staying put for the holidays.  So, we are now blending our childhood traditions.

Ryan grew up with artificial trees (I can't call them fake since technically they are in the shape of a tree just not living). I grew up with real trees (or as Ryan would say, recently cut down trees). He let me have my real tree since I'm willing to fork over big bucks for a great artificial tree on sale after the holidays.  See our real tree in the far right window of the house...beautiful!

I lived in Germany for a few years as a kid and every year we took part in the local traditions, like Advent Calenders.  Our good neighbor's here in VA are from Germany and  asked if we would let them get the kids Advent Calenders.  Of course I said yes since I was planning on getting them some myself.  It was extra special this year because the tradition was explained to them by Germans and I got it on video.  J-Man is super excited to open his calender every day, as is his big sister.

Update: Another German tradition is a visit from St. Nicolas on December 6th, who leaves treats and toys in children's boots.  Our home was visited this year and we were all pleasantly surprised.

Ryan's parents own this super ugly, green avocado colored, paper mache angel from the 1970s that they continue to use every year as their tree topper.  Ryan would fight with his sister as to who would get to put the angel up, so his parents came up with, "One for show and one for keeps."  Meaning, one child would put the angel up for show, it would come back down and the other child would put it back on the tree for keeps. Brilliant!! It switches every year so each child can put the angel on and there are no fights as to who's turn it is that year.  We're going to have to do some serious calculations to figure out a way for all three of our kids to put the angel on and make it fun!

As far back as I can remember, my sister and I made Christmas cookies with our dad.  Mom was never involved other than taking our pictures.  This is something I'm continuing with my kids, although Ryan takes the pictures now.  Justin got to help this year and I can't wait for Liam to help in a few more years.

The kids get to decorate the tree every year, with the help from mom and dad in the form of moving ornaments around the tree to even them out since they seem to get clustered at the bottom of the tree. This is something I always did and our kids enjoy putting the ornaments on so much I have to fight them off of the ornament box so they don't break anything!

This year the kids will open a new family game each and we'll play them both on Christmas Eve.  We'll leave carrots out for the reindeer, and Daddy will read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" in to the kids right before bed.  Watching Olivia this year and Justin as well is such a blessing.  Seeing the excitement in their eyes and joy on their faces is just wonderful.  Some say you can spoil a child, but not at this time of year!

One family tradition that is brand new is Mr. Pop-In-Kins.  He's a special Elf who pops in and out of the house watching the children's behavior.  He then reports back to Santa on Christmas Eve with any and all naughty and nice acts the kids displayed.  Olivia and Justin enjoy searching for him every morning.  Watch out...he can't be touched or he loses his magic and must report back to the North Pole immediately to have it restored.

Merry Christmas!

I finally got one!

After 7 years of marriage and 7 fake Christmas Trees, I finally got my REAL Christmas Tree!  Reason...we're staying put for the holidays and I can tend to my real tree without feeling like it will suddenly burst into flames while I'm gone.  The smell in the living room is intoxicating...like standing in a forest.

When we got it home and I cut the plastic wrapping off...I fully expected to feel a rush of cold air coming from inside the tree.  Not this year.  It was in the mid-60s the day we got our tree instead of snowing like in past years.  I'd be at my parents house in WI to pick out a tree hence the need to feel old air coming from the tree.  Olivia informed Ryan on several occasions during naptime that she just CAN'T wait for Christmas!

Ryan and I are super excited for the holiday season and Christmas this year because Olivia is at the age when this is just pure magic. She believes Santa's real and he's coming to our house instead of Nana's.  She is super excited to paint Christmas trees in art class at school, something she's already informed us she's done.  Justin is excited because his big sister's excited.  And Liam just doesn't want to miss a feeding, LOL!

Hope all your Christmas shopping goes well...we went a bit overboard at Target today...will tally everything up after the kids are asleep.

Liam

3x5 Folded Card

Truffle Ruffle Blue Thank You Card

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View the entire collection of cards.

been Booed

A new tradition began this year at our house, we've been Booed.  Yesterday morning, as Ryan left the house for work, he found a bag on our front steps with a ghost on it and the word Boo.  To our surprise, it is a game the neighborhood is playing this year. I've been seeing the ghosts taped to front door's and was wondering if I missed an email from housing about displaying something for Trick-or-Treating.

The object of this game is to keep it going.  There is a ghost in the bag, a poem and lots of Halloween goodies for the kids.  You put the ghost on your door so you don't get booed again and pass the boo onto two other families in the neighborhood.  Basically, you place a brown paper bag with candy in it on the door step of any house without a ghost on the front door.  The poem is super cute and its a wonderful game to play with the kids.


Who ever booed us knew we had two kids and a girl in the house.  Olivia got a candy necklace and bracelet, there were two of every candy, some crayons and glow sticks.  Again, this is such an awesome game.  We immediately went out to return the favor.  Some friends down the street had not been booed yet so we set our sights on their house.

We filled the bag with goodies and Olivia delivered it after dinner.  It was scheduled to rain in the morning so we risked getting caught to ensure we were the ones to boo our friends.  And...we got caught! Despite not seeing any lights on in the house, they were home and answered the door.  Despite my best efforts to run back down the street pregnant with a two year old by my side, we were spotted.  Oh well, its still a fun game and Olivia had so much fun carrying the bag up to their house and ringing the door bell then running like mad!!!