Not So Yummy Food

We tried some rice cereal tonight for Luke, but he didn't seem to care for it. He kept spitting it out. I'll give it another shot next week, maybe he'll change his mind. He does enjoy his high chair though. He's been joining us in the dining room for meals now. He sits and chews on his pacifier or hands and watches us eat. He's teething now, so he chews and drools and makes a slobbery mess. Just today he started chomping on my face! It's too cute.

Howie and Erin

Howie: Mom, where's the oatmeal?

Mom: In the cupboard where all the food is, did you look there?

Howie: Oh, I forgot!

30 seconds later down the hallway...

Howie: I'm so stupid. (Said with a chuckle in a funny self deprecating way.)

Erin: Howie, you are NOT stupid! You're DUMB. (In all seriousness.)

Aww, the good old days of having a sibling to tell it to you straight. 

For My Daddy

This post is for my Daddy.

Mommy forgot to tell you on the telephone today that I weigh 13 lbs. 5 oz. and I am 23 1/2 inches long, that's almost 2 feet!  I'm getting so big, I even have cute fat rolls on my thighs. I also had to get shots today, but I only cried a little bit, I was a big boy. Mommy's going to give me rice cereal pretty soon, when we get my high chair on Monday.  One more thing before I go to bed, I've been keeping your side of the bed warm, Daddy.  I cuddle with Mommy all the time and I'm taking good care of her.  I miss you and I can't wait to show you all the new things that I am learning when you come home.  Right now my favorite thing to do is take out my pacifier and play with it, it's more fun that way.

3rd Times the Charm

As most of you know I really enjoy decorating, and getting a new home meant that I was able to redecorate.  It's so fun picking out colors, but for those of you who know me really well, it's REALLY REALLY hard for me to make up my mind.  We were so blessed to have Howard with us for a week before he had to leave and while he was here he painted the kitchen, dining room, play room, living room, and our bedroom.  Out of all the rooms, I kept having a nagging feeling that the paint in the living room wasn't quite the right color.  All of a sudden out of the blue I got a horrible nagging feeling that I needed to fix the color and get it done right away.  So on Wednesday I set out to make it right.  I didn't get the color right the second time either, but I had sense enough to stop after I painted the trim, because I could tell it wasn't what I was going for.  Finally after 3 visits to Lowes in 1 day I got it right.  I finished that night at 12:30am.

From left to right - "Lettuce" our original color, "fennel" not quite pale green, almost off white like the horrible masking tape color of base housing in Okinawa. Lastly, "nutria", just the right shade for my living room.  I love to just sit in there and stare at the walls.  Good thing too, since that's all there is to do in that room currently.

On the left is our new color, and on the right is the old one. (It was only 2 weeks old.) 

The new shade is a bit more olive and a little less pastel.

I know why I felt such an urgency to paint.  The very next day, on Thursday, I got a call from TMO informing me that our last shipment has arrived and is ready for delivery.  I will be getting it on Monday.  Yippie!  Once I get everything pretty and in place I will post more pictures.

From this experience I learned a few things that I want to share.

1. Only buy a gallon of paint if you're 110% sure that it's the color you want.  If you have even a hint of uncertainty, buy a small sample can.  I learned the expensive way.

2. Just because it's a good color on the card, doesn't mean it will look the same on your wall.  Lighting changes it!

Disclaimer: The wall color looks okay in photos, but in real life it looks much better, I promise.

Happy Birthday Old Timer

You've had a birthday; shout "Hooray!", 

We want to sing to you today.

One year older and wiser, too,

Hap-py Birthday...to YOU!

Memories

Now that I have all of my stuff out of storage, I have the daunting task of going through it all and keeping the good and tossing the junk.  Most of it is junk, but I have a couple boxes of letters and other personal effects from my youth.  It brought back a lot of fond memories (and icky ones too) as I read through the cards and letters.  I found A LOT of wedding invitations and announcements, birth announcements, cards, and letters.  I just wanted to share a few samplings of my treasures I found today...

This was from a birthday card from my sister.  I don't think that I really got the joke when I received this card, but it's pretty funny to me now!

"You know it's going to be a bad day when the elastic waistband in you pants breaks...

...and they still fit!"   

This next one was a letter from a dear friend in middle school (I didn't consider him a dear friend then, but in hindsight, he's a real keeper.)  I wish ALL boys were like this! I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this.

Dear Tina, 

Yes I do "like" you.  I like you first because you are a strong Christian.  The Bible says "Do not be unequally yoked".  I also like the way your attitude toward school is.  The Bible also reads "Wisdom is supreme over riches and fame." I also like you because you have a great personality.  I like the way you talk, the way you laugh,  and the way you smile.  I also think you are very "beautiful".  I use the word "beautiful" because it doesn't have an impure atmosphere about it.  The Bible also reads "Treat young women as your mother". For me, using the word "beautiful" keeps a proper respect.

Sincerely,

XXXX (I know who it is, but I wanted to keep his name private, just in case he's embarrassed.)

P.S. I printed this letter so it could be read. I apologize for any spelling errors I may have made. I also apologize for anything I may have said or done that may have offended you.

How cute was that?!  I fixed all of the spelling errors when I re-typed it.  This letter is 15 years old.   His parents really taught him how to respect women, I hope that I can teach my boys to do the same, especially in this day and age.

Lastly is a Valentine's poem written by my first high school boyfriend to me.  After reading through all of the cards he gave me, I think that he was a lot more serious about our relationship than I was. He was a nice boy but I didn't want to lead him on, that's why I broke up with him after 3 months, I just didn't feel the same way he did.

Your lips are like the fire of a passionate flame.

Your hair is a river of chocolate; flowing sweet and pure.

Your figure appears to have been molded by the hands of Venus.

Your eyes pierce my inner most feeling of love.

You are the promised gift of Valentine's Day.

This poem was a little too steamy for a 14 year old (that was me, he was 16).  It gave me weird feelings, on one hand it's well written and very romantic, and on the other hand...I was only 14! That's too young for this kind of stuff.  He was a very smart young man, not your typical teenage boy.

Now I need to give Howard credit for something...I don't want him to feel left out.  I also found some of our first cards and letters, but I'll keep those between him and I.  Howard isn't one to write me poetry or even be super mushy, but the best thing that I could ever get from him is HONESTY.  He's pretty straight forward and doesn't really sugar coat anything, I like it that way.  He's not infatuated with me like these other boys were years ago, but he's truly in love with me (on good and bad days).  Tomorrow is Father's day and as a special treat for him, I'll let him sleep in as long as he wants, I'll make sure the kids won't wake him up, and he won't even have to change a diaper!  Now that sounds like a nice day to me.  Happy Father's Day Howard, I miss you!

Pirate Ship Park (American Style)

The other night we went to a park down the street from us on base.  It's a ship!  We took Ava with us and they had a grand old time.  I couldn't get any pictures of Jack because he kept running away from me.

Look at the BLUE sky!  It's beautiful!

...and those beautiful blue eyes!

Here's a shot of Luke from earlier that day.  I know he's a little blurry, but I wanted to show off how he's holding himself up.  He does pretty well.  He's also starting to drool a lot, I've been watching for those teeth.  Our babies get them fairly early (between 4-5 months). Also, notice the blue walls in our play room.  Howard did a wonderful job getting the house all ready for me to decorate.  Thank you Howard! Now I'm just waiting for my last shipment to arrive with all of my "pretty" things that I can decorate with.

FYI - Howard and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary yesterday (June 17th).  I can't believe it has already been 9 years!  The kids and I had ice cream to celebrate and I cuddled up to my little stud muffin last night (Luke). Howard got to study in his room last night...how romantic.

Swimming Lessons

I've finally enrolled the kids in swimming lessons! 

I had no more excuses...I'm not pregnant (and sick), I don't have to get in with Jack, they all swim at the same time, I have a shady spot to sit with Luke, it is affordable and only 2 minutes from my house.

Howie and Erin are in the same class, while Jack is in the pre-school class in the kiddie pool. So far it's going great, I just have to watch Jack really close so that he doesn't get out and run over to the big pool.  He tries to do that and get in with Howie and Erin.  It's a little nerve racking, but fortunately I have a few other mothers helping me out if I can't catch him in time since I'm holding Luke.

Hawaii Pictures

Since I didn't put any pictures up while we were on vacation, I thought that it was better late than never.  

A view from our guest room at Howard's Aunt Wendy's house.  This is Turtle Bay Golf Course.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed the water park!  Jack was a bit more cautious and Luke stayed in the shade with me most of the time, he got his feet wet.

The kids favorite part of the Polynesian Cultural Center was the fishing.  We stayed there for a LONG time.

Howie, Erin, and Jack all fell asleep during the night show, they were all tuckered out for the day.

I forgot to take pictures on Sunday while we were visiting with family and friends, maybe they'll email me copies.  Hint, hint.

Good Bye Howard

Saturday morning came too quickly and it was time to say good-bye to Howard.  Up until the night before I was just fine, but then on Friday evening and all morning Saturday I was a wreck!  Howard got up early and got himself all ready for his little trip, but between 7 and 9am he fed the kids breakfast and spent some last minute quality time with them.  We had lots of hugs, cuddles and kisses to go around before it was time to leave.  To make it a little easier on me, I decided that I would just load the kids up in the car when Howard got in the car (Howard actually buckled the kids up for me) and we left the base together.  I went in the opposite direction to go see a morning showing of "Up" with the kids to keep our minds off of the new separation. Howard started on his way to Mississippi.  He stopped in Louisiana for the night halfway there.  I spoke with him tonight and he's safely at Keesler AFB.

This past week has been CRAZY! We are SO SO SO grateful for our home on base and especially that we could move in right away.  (We arrived in OKC on Thursday night and we got our house keys Friday morning!) What a blessing.  Then for 5 nights straight we painted our walls.  And we also spent a good deal of our time shopping (I hate shopping now) for all kinds of things...food, mattresses, a broom, lawn mower, paint, etc. All of those random things that you need right away before your stuff comes.  Another blessing that we had was that we received 2/3 of our stuff already, it came on Tuesday.  How awesome is that?! We're just waiting on our big shipment from Okinawa, but since we have our furniture from storage we're living fairly comfortably.  I'm just missing my home decor items (notice the bare walls?) and other random items.  Howard is truly the best husband in the world!  I don't know what I would have done without him this week.  Honestly this week has been a miracle in itself, Howard helped me get done so many things that would have literally taken me months to do by myself.  Luke can get pretty fussy at times and Jack is very rowdy, so I don't have a lot of free time to do much beyond the basics of cooking, cleaning, and spending time with the kids.  Unpacking, painting, and decorating would have been a nightmare by myself.  I still have some stuff to do, but nothing very overwhelming.  

THANK YOU HOWARD...I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Once we entered mainland one of the things to do on my "list" was go to Dairy Queen.  And boy did we go, very frequently.  One time we even went for dinner (and we ordered ice cream!) I've actually never ordered any of their real food, I only get the cold stuff, it's to die for.  My first job was DQ and so I'm very familiar with the menu and even some items that are not on the menu.  While in Arizona we went every day except Sunday I think, I lost count.  The kids love it as much as I do!

Here are a few items that I recommend...

Peanut Buster Parfait

Buster Bar

Arctic Freeze (formerly known as Mr. Misty Freeze)

Cookie Dough Blizzard

Raspberry Truffle Blizzard 

Chocolate Cone double dipped in Butterscotch (not all places have the butterscotch dip)

Peach Sundae (when in season)

I haven't seen a DQ here in OKC yet, but I think there's one in the local mall across town.  It's probably a good thing that it's across town so that I won't go every time I drive past it.

We're Still Alive!

Okay, so I just got my Mac and internet set up about 20 minutes ago. Howard leaves tomorrow morning for school, so AFTER he leaves I promise that I will get some pictures up and be better about blogging!  Please keep us in your prayers while he is gone.  If you want our address and home phone, please leave a comment with your email address and I'll email it to you.  

On the Road Again...

We're all settled in our hotel for the night in Albuquerque, NM. Luke was so happy to be out of his car seat, this picture doesn't do him justice. He was so content tonight just being in a position different for that of his car seat. The kids enjoyed a nice swim in the hotel pool to get some energy out of their systems, while Luke and I sat next to the pool and enjoyed the splashing. It was just a little bit too cold for him to enjoy the water...maybe next time.

Earlier today we took a detour that a friend suggested, instead of going north through Flagstaff, we headed north east on some state routes. It was so beautiful! Arizona has some beautiful scenery when you get off of the interstate system. Howard and I purchased walkie-talkies since we are driving 2 cars, we had fun talking back and forth with each other since we don't have cell phones. We had to stop every two hours give or take, so that the kids could go pee or Luke could eat. We were fortunate to be able to stop at a campground to feed Luke in the late morning. It was in the mid 70s, and absolutely beautiful. The kids collected pine cones and we're going to make bird feeders with them when we get to OKC. The kids can put some peanut butter and bird seed on them and we'll hang them in our trees in our yard, we have several.

We'll be getting to OKC on Thursday evening...CAN'T WAIT!