Funny Baby Of Ours!

At dinner the other night, little miss put her hands together for the first time. Precious!

Jas was issued a new pair of 'Mickey Mouse Ears' (as the AF nicknames them) for his new job. Caroline thought they were a hoot. We thought she was a hoot trying them out!

I am loving those chubby cheekers in the side shot! She's a mess!

She was singing in the rain...
Since Daddy is on a trip, the evenings can tend to drag on a bit. So, I try to drag out bath time to keep my little hot mess entertained and having fun! We drained the tub and tried out some fun in the rain.....I mean shower. My crazy girl insisted on a paci accompanying her to bathtime the other night, too. Oh my! But, the rain/shower time was a big hit! XO

A Soccer Player and His Littlest Cheerleader!

Bryce's first game with his new team was an away game today. We were filled with anxious, nervous and excited energy as we made our way there! And during our trip we listened to, and of course sang, Elmo songs because Caroline insisted we watch Elmo. I know, I know, how can an only 14 1/2 month old insist on what goes down you ask? Trust me~ she does and she does it LOUDLY when in a car with all the windows rolled up! Bryce can sing a pretty mean rendition of Elmo's version of Elvis' 'Blue Suede Shoes' though! We always laugh when it comes on. He's such a good sport! What a GREAT big brother he is! She is one lucky gal!

Coach Matt giving the team a little pep talk before they started... (Bryce is 2nd from the right on the bench). What an AWESOME group of boys and parents this is! We feel very lucky to have been lead to try out for this team this year! Go Kixx!

Go, Bryce, Go... Get It!

Bryce's Biggest 'Littlest' Fan today was Miss Priss~ all decked out in her soccer gear, of course!

Bryce giving his baby sis some lovin' when we got home!

P.S. I told Bryce I was going to post some of his soccer pics from today after he went to bed and he told me to make sure I said, 'I love you Dad', to his Daddy who is out of town and will be peeking in to see this update on the blog! XO

He Loves Me...

...He Loves Me Not! My poor hubby helps me each time we have to go through this 'decoration MESS of a closet'! And right now, this MESS if VERY apparent. You see, we're painting all of our doors black and changing out the hardware from builders brass to satin nickel so with no door on we have to look at THIS! He's rushing through to finish before he leaves for a TDY on Friday. Can he beat the clock?!? Yeppers, because I've had some fun painting, too! Wish us luck though because it's pretty humid here tonight so I hope the 1st coat on the last few doors dries so we can put the 2nd coat on in the morning. Miss Priss has no bedroom door right now. Fingers crossed she sleeps o.k. tonight and has a good nap time tomorrow, too. Momma NEEDS those nap times of hers you know!!! ;)

This is what we get for buying a house 'sight unseen' from Germany... Lesson learned! We did NOT realize how small the storage closets were and that we really do NEED a basement! This is after our massive garage sale earlier this month, too. Yikes!!!

Most of our fall decs are in tubs in the attic above the garage because THIS closet is filled to the brim (literally) with Christmas storage tubs! The Christmas trees are all in the attic, so this is only the tubs. Lordy, I might have a problem! "Hello, my name is Leslie and I have a decorating/storage problem..." ;)

I do have a few odds and ends things in the front of this closet where I literally just stashed them as I was putting out fall this past weekend. Can you see my 'Bryce-size' Santa's red jacket peeking out from under the trash bag? He is my absolute FAV! I'll take some fall pics soon~ Almost ready! XO

I am one LUCKY girl today!

Holy molly just when I thought my day was not going to be the best~ You see, it's a Tuesday that feels like a blah Monday (I had to bribe Bryce out of bed after a long and hot soccer practice last night that must have really worn his toosh out, and also had to wake Miss Priss up to take B to school...WHY OH WHY don't they sleep like this on weekends or days off I must ask?!?)

Anyhoo~ I got not one, but TWO blog awards from two FABULOUSLY FUN blogs I have loved adding to my daily blog reads! These are my first ever awards and I just think that is the coolest thing ever!

This one is from Carrie at 'Buzzings Of A Queen Bee', who told me in a note last night that I needed to pop by her blog this morning to see something. This was it! What a fun surprise Carrie! Thanks hun! You and your blog ROCK!

I am sure the rest of you are old pros about this, but here are the rules for this award:
1. The winner(s) can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link to the person you received the award from.
3. Nominate other blogs (up to seven) to pass along the award to.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of people you've nominated.

And, here is the 2ND SURPRISE ... I just popped over to Jenni's blog at 'Nest To Keep' so I could copy/paste her URL to present her with the award I got from Carrie and oh my goodness...look what I found there waiting for me! Thanks Jenni! What a FUN, FUN, FUN way to start off my day! I, too, love to read your blog!

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to pass both of these awards on to a few blogs!

~ Jeni, my fellow military wife friend I met in Germany; showing us crafty cards, pillows, yummy recipes and fun family posts over at 'At Home In Georgia'

~ Belinda, Mommy to 2 very little cutie patooties and my daughter's future Mother-In-Law ;) blogging at 'Journey To Our Family'

~ My fellow "best name ever" ;) gal, Leslie, blogging her little heart out at 'Princesa Guatemalteca Abby and her Familia'

~ Shannon, a wonderful interior decorator who shows us her beautiful home and treasured finds at 'Bless Our Nest'

~ Rae, a fun mom, with fun kids, and a fun blog to boot at 'My Life On The East Coast'

~ Amanda, who just hit her 100th post~ You go girl! 'McMama & Her M&M's'

~ Meme, an awesome blogland teacher, holding classes regularly at 'Screaming Meme, My Life Decorated'

In no order whatsoever~ you're all #1 in my book and I {heart} all of your blogs & think they're Must See Blogs as well!

* Jenni, consider yourself presented with the 'I {heart} Your Blog Award' and Carrie, consider yourself tagged with the 'Must See Blog' award, too, chicas! Thanks you two for Making My Heart Smile today! I am so glad to have met you both out here in the 'Wonderful World Of Blog'! XO

Feeding Time~ For Miss Priss and the Geese!

Caroline's new thing is to 'guide' the spoon into her mouth when she's eating. It is so fun to see her little strong personality shining! She even cracks herself up when she does it!

Yummy, Yummy Yogurt~ Here it comes!

On Sunday we took the kiddos to feed the geese after church. This is the same spot we used to take Bryce when we were stationed here before. The geese will come right up and take the bread out of your hands. Bryce and I were laughing thinking about the last time we fed the geese with my Mom. Both of them got pretty freaked out when the geese charged us (they are greedy and in charge to say the least!) and they jumped up on a park bench. I have pics of the whole fiasco. What a hoot!

Jason fed them out of his hand, which Caroline thought was pretty neat-o!

I took a turn and got out from behind the camera for once! ;)

He's gotten much more brave since those early geese feeding days!

Look closely and you can see Caroline has bread in her hand. She was for sure the funniest thing about this trip to the park. She would walk around and pick up the bread we had just tossed for the geese. Oh boy! She would show one the piece and then....

Eat it herself! See? I told you guys she is a hot little mess!

Picking up yet another piece of bread!

Stinker!

It was a HOT day so we took a break in the shade on the swings.

Weeeeeeee

They both had such a good time!

Caroline decided it was pretty fun to lean back as far as she could and give us minor heart palpitations in doing so!

Up, Up and Away! Bryce was a great big brother and actually enjoyed pushing his baby sis on the swings. We had a fun Labor Day weekend together. Hoping you all did as well! XO

Boys & Bugs....Bugs & Boys

Bryce was screaming to Jason and I that we HAD TO COME to the backyard as we were all getting packed up and loaded into the car ready to head out and feed the geese yesterday (post to come later about that FUN!). Neither of us were sure what was going on in our yard~ was he scared of something or was he excited about something? We couldn't tell from his call...

It turned out that the scream was a SUPER EXCITED 'come here guys'! Look what our little bug lover found on our fence... A locust/cicada (I do not know what the difference is and really have to research this for B as he had a ton of questions about the little critters)

He has been finding and collecting the shells and has quite an army of them amassed in a Tonka dumptruck outside. But, this was the first time he had seen one coming out of its shell. I have to admit, even though I'm not a bug lovin' girl, it was kind of cool to see!

Ewww!

Military Wives ROCK!

My sweet British girlfriend, Karen, sent me this in an email yesterday. Since today is Labor Day and being a Mom and wife is my job (aka Domestic Goddess, don't you know?!?) I wanted to share what she had sent.

To all the other military wives out there~ Here's to an amazing job we ladies do holding down the homestead while our men defend!

"What is a MILITARY Wife? A Military wife can be tough to describe.

She is a southern belle, a northeastern mets fan, a California 3rd generation recycler, a Pacific Islander.

She is short or tall, a tomboy, a fashion diva, a physician's assistant, a Republican, a Democrat.

A Military Wife is a career gal, a home-schooler, a scrapbooker, an accomplished cellist, an auto mechanic.

What is a MILITARY Wife?

They may look different and each is wonderfully unique, but this they have in common...

Lots of moving~ moving, moving, moving, far from home. Moving two cars, three kids and one dog (all riding with HER of course!) Moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house, moving curtains that won't fit, moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours, moving away from friends, moving toward new friends, moving her most important luggage; her trunk full of memories.

Often waiting~ waiting, waiting, waiting. Waiting for housing, waiting for orders, waiting for deployment, waiting for reunion, waiting for phones calls or emails, waiting for the new curtains to arrive, waiting for him to come home for dinner. LATE AGAIN!

They call her "military dependent", but she knows better. She can balance a checkbook, handle the yard work, fix a noisy toilet. She is intimately familiar with drywall, anchors, and toggle bolts. She can file the taxes, sell a house, buy a car, or set up a move~ all with ONE Power of Attorney.

She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her, reinvents her career with every PCS, locates a house in the desert, the arctic, or the deep south and learns to call them all "home". She MAKES them all home.

She is fiercely IN-dependent! Military Wives are somewhat hasty. They leap into decorating, leadership, volunteering, career alternatives, churches and friendships. They don't have 15 years to get to know people.

Their roots are short but flexible.

They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who come after them. Military Wives quickly learn to value each other. They connect over coffee, rely on the spouse-network and accept offers of friendship and favors and record addresses in pencil. Military Wives have a common bond.

The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands. His commitment is unique. He doesn't have a job, he has a "mission". He can't just decide to quit, he's on-call for his country 24/7, but for you, he's the most Unreliable guy in town!

His language is foreign~ TDY, PCS, OPR, ACC, BDU
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his. She is the long-distance link to keep them informed, the glue that holds them together.

A Military Wife has her moments...She wants to wring his neck, dye his uniform pink, and refuse to move to Siberia.

But she pulls herself together. Give her a few days, a travel brochure, a long hot bath, a pledge to the flag, and a wedding picture. And she goes. She packs. She moves. She follows.

Why? What for? How come?

You may think it is because she has lost her mind. But actually, it is because she has lost her heart. It was stolen from her by a man who puts duty first, who longs to deploy, who salutes the flag, and whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military husband, She will remain his Military wife."

I wish I knew the author so I could give them credit. This about sums up being a Military Wife though! Don't you think ladies?!?