Unintentional

I have had a lot going on the past week or so. If you follow me on here or Twitter, you've probably noticed that I've been suspiciously MIA. There are a few reasons for this and its not something I want to share on my blog.

I just wanted to update everyone and let you know that I'm okay, but I probably will be taking another unintentional break from blogging for a while. I don't know how long it will last. I'm not sure if I'll ever share on here what is going on, but I didn't want to just drop off the face of the blogosphere and worry you all!

I hope everyone has a happy and relaxing Thanksgiving and that you enjoy your time off this week.

Veteran's Day

Today I am spending the day with my hubby so I'm re-posting what I posted last year on Veteran's Day.

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Happy Veteran's Day, everyone.

We should remember the sacrifices that America's veterans have made for us and our freedoms everyday, but especially today. If you know someone who has served, be sure to take the time to thank them today.

(Source)

A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. That is beyond honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact.

I don't feel like I have the time or mental energy to write something that would really do justice to this day and all it stands for, so I'll thank my veteran and leave it at that.

Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like....

Well, Christmas.

Now I know that over the past few years it seems as if the stores have sort of started to skip over Thanksgiving completely and are going straight from 4th of July Halloween to Christmas, but I think there's a reason for this.

People are shopping for gifts earlier. The economy has created a situation where very many people simply cannot afford to do all their shopping during the four-week period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Add to that the expense of holiday travel and it makes even more sense that we want to start shopping earlier and spreading out the hurt a little bit.

With that being said, I personally think its incredibly hard to get in the mood to Christmas shop without Christmas decor splashed all over the stores. I mean, nothing says "Happy Holidays!" like eating a pound of leftover Halloween candy and then hitting the big box stores, now does it?

But seriously, I am finding myself shopping for Christmas gifts online more than I ever have. Partly because we live far away from family and will be flying to see them, and partly because there is really nothing worse than trying to execute an all-day shopping marathon with a whiny toddler repeatedly asking if she can "walk" through the aisles of Tarjay. {No, you may not walk AJ, because then I'll spend the next 17 hours cleaning up all the things you pull off the shelves.}

Not to mention the fact that when shopping online one can still take advantage of not just Black Friday sales, but Cyber Monday sales as well! Talk about convenient. I can sit on my couch, in my jammies and use "one-click ordering" (Thank you, Amazon!) and its done. I never even need to think about throwing 'bows to get to the hot item of the season!

With that being said, AJ's first Christmas gift was delivered to our house yesterday, thanks to my little brother!

Can you guess what it is?

I'm so excited to put it together and have it waiting for her under the tree on Christmas morning!

P.S. I really like Christmas, so the longer the season, the better, I say! D used to get mad because when asked what my favorite holiday was I'd always answer "Thanksgiving. Because it starts the Christmas season." :P

P.S. Again- I may or may not have attempted to start decorating our house for Christmas this week, only to discover that my hubby is one-step ahead of me and hid all our decorations in the attic. He ruins everything. ;)

3T?

I went to Wally World yesterday and had lofty goals to stick to my list and get out.

I'm sure you know how that went.

As we were walking from the "ironing board cover" aisle over to the grocery side of the store to get ketchup I happened to glace into the baby section and I noticed that they had Carter's fleece footy pajamas in big sizes. I don't know about you, but I seem to have the hardest time finding them in sizes bigger than 12m.

I checked the sizes & saw that they had them up to a size 5T, plus they were only $6.50!

I'd like to say I've been looking for these everywhere, but that would be a big, fat, lie. I have looked when I'm out, but I actually went onto Carter's website and was planning to order them online (for $11 each). Imagine how happy I was when I found them for $6.50! I bought a bunch of them in 24m and some in 3T because I can keep them for next week later this winter when AJ gets too tall to wear 24m jammies.

I know that most of you really could care less about cheap jammies, but I was really so shocked that I was buying size 3T for my baby that I felt the need to share it here with all of you!

So mamas, if you need to stock up on winter jam-jams (they had lots of girl & boy patterns, plus holiday and winter-themed patterns as well), head to Wally World before they sell out!

Happy Halloween!

This past weekend we went to the local pumpkin patch to pick out a few pumpkins. I had bought two randomly at the grocery store about a week or two ago, but we've never taken AJ to a pumpkin patch, so I really wanted to go. Lucky for us, we waited until it was 42* and drizzling to go. At least it wasn't crowded!

We were in and out of there pretty quickly, even though I'm pretty sure that AJ would have liked to stay all day. We could have stayed longer, but someone (ahem *hubby* cough, cough) didn't dress warmly enough. As it was, we let AJ pick out a few pumpkins and then we headed home. She literally was running around yelling, "PUMPKIN!"

I did manage to take one picture, though.


AJ checking out some pumpkins. No, this is not one of the ones we got.

We got our pumpkins Saturday morning and then I forgot about them waited until after AJ went to bed that night to carve them. She's not really at the right age for activities involving knives, and I didn't feel like scraping pumpkin guts off my kitchen floors and cabinets until Christmastime.

In the end, they turned out nice!



Mine is on the right in the top two pictures and the left on the bottom one.

Our pumpkins sitting in from of our house. Apparently its SUPER dark where we live. Ha!

I've been looking forward to taking AJ trick-or-treating all week and of course now she has a terrible cough, runny nose and is not feeling well at all. I'm probably going to try to get her in to see the doctor tomorrow, so trick-or-treating may have to wait until next year. : (

We will, however, be celebrating Halloween with the only dinner I've ever eaten on this spook-tacular holiday, "Beanie Halloweenie!" The recipe is simple (most likely my mom* created it because it was easy to cook when we were out trick-or-treating as kids).

Beanie Halloweenie**

1 family-sized can baked beans
1 package hot dogs

Place all ingredients*** into a square glass baking dish. Bake 30-ish minutes or until liquid is bubbly.

*Please note that this is a super trashy recipe and my mom will not be pleased that I shared this with you.

**Also note that its freakin' delish!

***I always add a squirt of mustard and ketchup, plus a generous tablespoon (or three) of brown sugar to my baked beans.

Cool Video

Well, I think its safe to say that I'm back to blogging, at least sporadically. Like I said yesterday, I can't promise that I'm back for good, or that I'll blog everyday, but I have found a few things lately that I've felt like blogging about, so I'm going to!

This post will likely be short, but I just wanted to share a really sweet video that my dad emailed me.



I'm not sure if that video works, but if not, then just click on this link:

Silent Monks Singing Hallelujah

Enjoy!

Some Updates

I'm not sure that I'm back, but I have been feeling like I should write about the things that are happening around these parts, so I'm heeding the call. I don't even know that I'll publish most of the stuff I write, but I figure I'll see where the spirit moves me.


D was in a 6-month-long school that ended and he was home for about 2 weeks before starting his next phase of the program. This phase is already proving to be a bit more unpredictable than the guaranteed-home-by-4:30-everynight routine we had going on before. One day he's home by 2:30 (sweet!) and the next he texts me at 5:45 to tell me he's leaving the office. Oy!


Either way, its one step closer to the next stage, which is still (typical Army) undetermined. We're not sure if we'll be able to stay here or not, but we've got 3 options and we're okay with all of the outcomes.


As for baby girl, well, things are craaaaazay! She is intense. She is emotional. She is stubborn. She is energetic. She is talking!


She has mastered the stairs. She knows what she wants, when she wants it and she will ask for it (typically) by name. She says "please" and "thank you."


Her tantrums have decreased markedly now that she is able to verbally express what she wants or needs, but that doesn't mean that they don't still grace us when she is told "no."


One of her favorite things to do is wash her hands. She also likes to stand on our step stool, ride her rocking horse, color, watch "tt", eat hummus, wear my shoes, kiss the dog, pick berries off our bushes, carry rocks around, pretend to put chapstick on us, blow bubbles (she calls them "bubbos"), make silly cheesy faces when I take her picture, and sit in chairs like a big girl (even though she falls off them).

As for me, I'm counting down the days until Thanksgiving so we can spend some time in (hopefully) sunny Florida! This year we're holding another recipe contest, but instead of appetizers we're tasked with making anything as long as it uses 5 ingredients or less and costs less than $20.


I've been busy with lots of things, but I also feel like whenever there is something I really want to do, like go to the Spouses' Club meetings, or MOPs, things come up (either AJ gets sick or something else). Speaking of AJ getting sick, she's had a few minor colds over the past few months, she also had her first ear infection. It cleared right up once she got on an antibiotic, but we were trapped in the house for almost 2 weeks! Ugh!


We've been trying to be more financially responsible as of late. This means we're introducing some new practices into our everyday lives, namely spending less, saving more and not eating out (like, ever). Its obviously not as much fun as spending more, saving less and eating out all the time, but we all have to grow up someday, right? I guess this is my time.

So folks, that's the update from our house since I last posted a month and a half ago. We're getting ready for Halloween and I, for one, am very excited for all the candy.