My Smart Girl!

Hip-hip-hooray *and a heel click*! I met our new neighbors today. Let me tell you, I have been praying for a nice military family with kids to move in next door. Let's just say...they aren't just military, they are Navy....she's a stay at home Mom and they have a 5 year old daughter, 2 1/2 year old son (see the trend) and a 3 month old daughter. I fore warned her to let us know if during nap time she finds Max's saw to be too much noise pollution. Her husband quickly informed me that the sound of power tools is music rather then noise pollution. Sounds like another wife might loose her husband to Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, Harbor Freight, Rockler, Woodcraft a garage. Sad story I tell ya. I'll have to give her the tip that dinner is not served at the work bench. He'll get hungry sooner or later.



-------------------------------------------------------------



"Mom, I'm a bit peckish."

"A bit what?"

"peckish, you know... hungry!"

"Kalee, peckish is not a word. Why do you keep saying that? Say hungry!"



Now I must admit...I Googled it. Because we homeschool I look up everything from birds to bees (no I didn't say "and the") and what squirrel skat looks like. My life line is Google! Lets just say this is what I found upon my search of the word "peckish":


peckish (colloquial)
mildly hungry
irritable; crotchety

What? Crotchety? Didn't know that was a word. :) This couldn't be possible. So I kept searching...

peck·ish adj.
Ill-tempered; irritable.
Chiefly British Somewhat hungry.

Holy cow! My child just taught me a word! Then I had to ask...

"Babie where did you learn that word?"

"From Ned and Ted. They are Ants that walk and talk like us....on Miss Spiders Sunny Patch?"

I allow the kids to watch NOGGIN wheather I'm in the room or not. It seems to be the only TV channel I can trust. Maybe I should start watching it too. Before you know it her vocabulary will raise some eyebrows. Gosh wouldn't it be nice if I had a walking dictionary?!?!

Speaking of vocabulary. Today I asked Kalee to show me all the signs she knows so I could write them down and see where about her signing vocabulary is. I believe she knows of more but so far we came up with 119 signs in one sitting. WOW! That's my girl...

She also made a sign on my bathroom wall....

Yes, I did peel it off to make sure the band-aid was not covering up a boo-boo. I asked why she wrote her name on it, "Because we didn't have any more good ones like Dora and Diego or Winnie the Pooh". Ah-hah, now I can take the cheap way out and use permanent marker on the generic first aid kit band-aids.

----------------------------------------------------------------

While washing the bird skat off my car and the vehilcle we are car-sitting for a friend, Bear found the bucket. Rather then kicking it, he got in! He kept repeating in a random order "pee-pee...no...cold...no...pee-pee...cold". I couldn't quite make out if he was cold and had to pee-pee or if he was not cold and didn't have to pee-pee....or maybe he wasnt cold because he already went pee-pee?

Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you how I gave him a hair cut. Key words being "how" and "I".... another day my friends.

8 Things...

I got tagged again. Did I ever mention how I hate being "it"? ;)

Rules:
Since when do I abide my them? C'mon I have been know to go as far as not following the traffic pattern for goodness sake. From someone who has been around the Navy for way to long.... I must say I found the "grey area" in this game.

So, I'm supposed to say 8 random things. Only 8? That's a challenge in itself! How about I narrow it down to 8 random things about today...

1. Before my eyes even opened this morning I felt Bears feet digging into my side. I quickly sat up and asked "Do you want to go potty now or in 2 minutes?"... "Do you want me to help you or do you want to go by yourself?"... "Do you want to sit or stand?".... Gosh this Love and Logic makes me want to get up in the morning.

2. I thought about cutting my own hair this morning...then I snapped out of it like I do every morning and pulled it up.

3. I went to the library as I do about twice a week and checked out 28 books. My kids love reading and I finally figured out this was cheaper then spending nearly $300 on children's books like I did one season. Recently we average about 40 books a week.

4. After the library we went to Sonic. I usually let the kids out of the car seats when we are parked. As Bear climbed in the front he hung his upper torso out the window and yelled "ALLLL ABOARD!!!". I laughed so hard my nose almost expelled the $0.99 special Banana shake.

5. Kalee read me "The Eye Book" by Dr Seuss needing help with only one word...underpants. Then I had to explain what they were.

6. My recent obsession during nap time is reading up on sunset photography. I'm really nervous to do my Bub and Liz's wedding pic's only because I have not mastered shooting into the sun and they are getting married on a yacht at sunset. But I'm super excited because...it's my brother! Even better I think I really like Liz...and this is a step closer to making me an Aunt by the time I'm 40!

7. I let the kids play in the rainbow sprinkler while watering the yard. Bear straddled it. He looked so funny in the squat position it made me think of one of Max's not-so-blog-friendly sayings. Kalee proved to be my child when she saw her brother face down drinking the water and quickly turned the water up. Soooo something I have done to my brother!

8. Tonight, in preparation for Max's return I flipped through cookbooks to start a menu. Kalee asked "What are those?" I replied "Cookbooks to teach me to make yummy food." She came back with a sigh and rambled "Well, you need to keep reading those Mom!" Ummm... thank you???? Erhm- well, now she's Max's kid!

Before 10 AM!!

Wow, sorry about last night's blog. My thought process is .... different when I'm tired.
This is what has happened today and it's only 10:00.We did a lesson this morning and he managed to sneak some blue clay away from the table... it ended up on carpet right behind me while I was on the computer....errrr!



Then I hear "ooooo, Bear your in trouble!" and turn around to find this...

Sadly, this is not the first time he has plucked keys off my laptop. I managed to crash it not more then 24 hours after my computer genius left so it's not like I can use it anyway. I have XX days to get the keys back on so he can fix it.

Great, gotta wrap this up...he's trying to torture his sister with the the fingernail clippers that have been missing for a few weeks...wonder what else is in his stash?!?!

What I Learned in a Briefing

Last night I went to the homecoming briefing. You know... the meeting telling you not to camp out in the parking lot overnight, balloons are prohibited on the pier, not to bring a cooler of beer or wine, and to leave your .50cal at home. I mean really? Who would-- I shouldn't ask such a question... I have run across some psycho wives interesting people in my time. They also answered questions from spouses. Any event that has media coverage and is expected to attract 10,000 people must be well organized.


"How will I know what pier they will be pulling into? Will we be able to see them tie the ship up?"
-Nah, something that large is actually a chameleon. Pay no attention to the crowd that watches the mooring process either.


"How will the Sailors know when liberty call is and is it by pay grade?"
-Most will already have bags packed and ears glued to the 1MC. Usually khaki is allowed to race off depart in an orderly fashion first...unless your Max...but his wife got used to chillin on the pier with her friend chattin' away making fun of Barney and Fred Flinstone . ;)


"Is there only one way off the ship?"
-right now 2, fly or swim. On that "special day" look for the brows...not on your face.


"You mentioned they set sea and anchor at xx:xx but what time are they expected to be pier side?"
-Thank You! Finally one of my questions answered.



I sit back and think about some of the questions asked. It brought me back to that Spring we got married, I didn't know anything! Literally I new nothing! I started reading books and took interest in learning more about this lifestyle since I knew it wasn't going away any time soon. I'll ALWAYS be learning, but it makes me realize I have come a long way. Max was close with a lady and her family when he was a single Sailor stationed here the first time and she is my go-to for community happenings. She has taught me so much and I love how she has the perfect amount of "tough" in her! I have also learned from "more seasoned" Wives and "newbie's", many in which I miss terribly. I have learned from talking over coffee with a wife whose hubbie is nearing retirement....and from other Chief spouses (oh, I can't tell you how much I learned here) and Wardroom spouses. I have learned my opinion of one group of people may never change, even when I am one of them...or better yet vow to not be one of those. I have learned how to communicate between the lines keeping OPSEC (Operations Security) in mind. I have learned from some of my friends who were active duty, and dual military couples. I have learned from serving as a Command Family Ombudsman (overseas at that!) for a couple ships. I have learned it's possible to have an excellent CO spouse and a fantastic Commanding Officer and not be active duty. I have learned from and about the overseas community. I have learned to not allow others experiences influence my opinion. It's amazing what the years have taught me...but it's shocking what I learned about the Navy, myself and my family...especially while living overseas.

So the questions that spouses asked above made me realize.... they are learning what I have once learned... have patients as others once did (and are doing) with me.

Hi 5's to the person that can count how many times I can include learn/learned/learning in a single blog. I did it to drive my friend Renee crazy and see if she actually makes it to the bottom. :)

Riding Ridgid!

I got the formal living room carpet up this week. The last carpeted area to attack is the formal dining room. I removed all the nail hazards and had the kids take turns vacuuming. After a few minutes of hearing it turn on and off and plenty of giggles I went to inspect.....

Um, well...I'm beginning to think that riding weird things runs in the family. Notice the Cars jammie top with dinosaur jammie bottoms. Dressing himself has become a new hobby. My laundry basket proves it.

All in a Day!

I walked into the bathroom "Maaaax get in here! What is this?"......


"Uhhhh, i-o-no (with his fake innocent smirk)"
Did you have and accident standing on the toilet leaning over the toilet paper roll while brushing your teeth, washing your hands or playing swish/spit in the sink?
"Des Ma'am"
Looks like you forgot to change the toilet paper roll.
No further words are needed to explain why I choose not to buy Cottonelle's triple roll.

Today while washing my hands, I noticed a Tupperware cup IN my garbage disposal. I had to overcome my fear and fish for the cup. About 20 minutes later, using Cutco scissors and some weird tool I got out of Max' tool box, I got it out. Luckily the story didn't sound like this e-mail I sent Max in May of 2005 (she was about Bears age now, 2 1/2):

It's official. Our daughter just killed her two fish today. She fed them...I think she overfed them. Goldie had a hard time swimmin' and was laying on his side periodically when I went to change the water. While I went to flush him down the toilet she came running in yelling fishie mommie. I ran to the kitchen to see what happened and the fat fish was missing. As she pointed into the sink drain I thought "Lord, please give me words to explain this nicely to her if I cant save it". Sure enough fatty was floppin' around in the garbage disposal. After about 10 min of my hand down there to get him and running water on him so he wouldn't die, I told Kalee I couldn't see him. She said "it's OK Mommie". Yes I am guilty, garbage disposal, water, and a Tupperware bowl over it just in case fatty came flying up in litle pieces. And this is what motherhood is?

Kalee and I keep eyeing that blueberry! Looks "oishie/delicioso" (JaSpanglish for delicious)
My tomato plant that Bear watered back in March is still alive!
Daddy's corn. I killed his crop last year so I owe him at least one good corn plant. I need to pluck weeds. Figure I'll wait til right before Max gets home so I can say "See Babe, been doing this all along."Kalee's sunflower is getting tall.
..and um, yeah, gross...any ideas?

Blisters Oh My

I know it's been a few days. I got lost, and just found my PC. As mentioned before, ripping up carpet is my new found hobby. Now it's not just carpet. I got the entry linoleum up today. What a mess! I now have blisters (because I wasn't smart enough to remove my rings) and calicus' on my hands. The worst part is I still have glue to scrape off the concrete, and lift the linoleum in the bathroom and closet. Wshew! I gotta figure out how to hang on remove the light fixture in the kitchen so I can add 'install recessed lighting' to his list. Of course it would be right under laying tile, knocking out a half-wall, remodel kitchen, built in bookshelf for my reading study, ceiling fans, cleaning gutters, pressure washing...oh yeah and we still have to unpack the garage. I'll spare my readers the whole "Honey-do" list until after his return. I know he reads and I'd like to save the shock until he reads the scroll himself....in less days then years I am old! Yeah!

Off to relax my mind from hearing "Ah-Mah, what's dat?" and "i-o-no" after reading oh, about a dozen books to my lil man.

Just a couple random eye pics...

Greece/Beach

Max got to spend a day on land. He visited Rhodes, Greece.

While he was there he decided to grab a bite to eat. At first I seriously thought he took a picture of someone elses meal because I saw the beer at the top of the pic... in case you didn't know there IS a such thing as a Sailor that doesn't drink...they are far and few between but I married one...then I noticed the edge of his red Coke can on the bottom. I wonder if it's a gyro (I think that's how you spell it). It looks yummy!

Knowing him, after dinner he likes ice cream. He managed to find a Greek ice cream truck! Funny how above the picture of ice cream it's says "To take away". I'm wondering if it's common practise to enjoy a cone on the bumper as they drive the town? The kids and I went to the beach with a neighbor and her 3 kids. Well, the locals call it "ocean front" and others call it the "shore". This California girl calls it the beach.

We were watching Kalee build a sand Castle.

Here I go sneaking in sight words in the sand. I use any form of nature to teach....and we got some PE in had fun running from the waves...My cool dude loves the sand.

Reading...Pee!

Today I printed out a couple sight word charts to see where Kalee stands. She has been doing well reading "We both read" books. I just love them. In about 2 weeks we have read and perfected all of this series this city's library has to offer for her reading level. I get the tickle in my tummy when I hear her read...I can't wait til her Daddy gets to listen to her. What is amazing is that girls ability to comprehend even the smallest detail and tell the story back to me. She gets is from me you know...*wink*


Tonight as I was bathing my kiddos, Bear stood up and gave me the "watch me" smirk. Within seconds he was peeing on his sister! How could I not laugh?!?! Kalee was trying to figure out what I was laughing about and realized she was being used as a... tomato plant, bush, tree...sadly I could go on. She looked at me with that poor me-trying not to smile face. While trying to explain to this boy why that was not a nice decision, he dumped a cup full of "pee-water" on Kalee's head. Now Kalee has always had issues with water in the face...but today she closed her eyes, spit, and said..."That's nasty! It tastes like pee....it smells like pee...I want new water Mommy. Brother's rude!"
Rude?
Yeah...
I guess you can call it that...

Eco-friendly Lawn Mower

I picked a fine day to mow the lawn. It started sprinkling...luckily not bad. I have decided that pushing a lawnmower with this size yard stinks. I liked the size yard we had in Japan... everything mowed, weed whacked watered and put away in half an hour. The front yard, and the front of my back yard, is not that bad but the back-back part is a weed garden and I refuse to use chemicals...So I have come up with an idea. I think I want a goat! Yes, you read that right, a goat! Actually 2. One for each kid. Haha. They are not solitary animals anyway...they travel in herds. No I haven't talked to Max but check out my thinking. We can make a goat-run on the side of our house. If we get it when it's young we can train it on a leash. We would keep them as outside dog goats so I'd have Max build a goat house for the bad weather days. Max gets to do more woodworking...that alone will encourage him to say yes! I can go out and milk them daily for fresh non hormone added, easily digested, free milk. I wouldn't have to mow, weed or spend nearly $5.00 a gallon on cows milk or $3.00 a quart of store bought goat milk. No more buying fertilizer or borrowing the neighbors tiller as the hooves would do it for me. The kids would have their four legged furry pet... and I could call myself and organic farmer doing my part to save on global warming!

Whatcha think?

Wh-wh-what are you doing?

Oh, ya had to pee! Instead of walking into the restroom he felt the need to step outside. I only hope I never find him doing this out a bedroom window.

What Carpet?

Our Church is in the neighborhood of where the tornado hit. WOW! I got chills watching it on TV but seeing it in person made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

Speaking of hair...I got a wild hair up my rear and decided to start ripping out carpet. No, seriously! I got the living room carpet all rolled and taped up sitting by my front door. I hate carpet! If we had a single story, the whole house would be either be hardwood or tile...well tile now, because this boy would have me on the windowless padded deck of the hospital from watching him scratch lightening Mc Queen across hardwood. So after I started the project I called my Mom asking if there was an easier way to remove tack strip other then using the pry bar. Mid sentence, while I was subconsciously thinking about how we have not seen ER since we have moved here... I pryed in a downward direction and middle finger met 2 nails on the tack strip. Once I finally peeled it off my finger Mom kept reminding me NOT to look at it. Yeah Mom, I didn't look at it...not even while I was rinsing it in the sink...or putting pressure on it to stop the gushing blood...or to clean it...and surely I didn't look at it while bandaging it. All this time my major concern was 'when was my last tetanus shot and how long are they good for'...ridiculous I know! What's weird is years ago I probably would have passed out... but after seeing how Max caught himself while fishing (I promise you he did!), having 2 accident prone children, giving birth, and watching birth....I have come to realize my eyes are immune to the color of blood. If I freaked out every time I saw blood I'd be too much like.... heh, and you thought I was going to put a name there. My finger is fine. Swollen a bit but it didn't fall off so no need to rush to ER. I'm hoping to get the 3 layers of linoleum off the kitchen floor next...and work my way in a circle around downstairs so ALL flooring is up. You know why I'm doing this right? To shorten the honey-do-list...and prepare for the all-in-one. He can unwind, clean out the garage and lay tile...all-in-one project.


Yesterday the FRG hosted a Picnic for the families. They did a fantastic job at coordinating events and my kids had a blast.
She gets the love for cotton candy from me but the big mouth from her Daddy! For the record I only had 3. By the last one the guy was holding the stick out as he saw me walking towards him.
Don't worry- bee happy! The night before this event she had me researching working honeycombs...She always full of smiles!

Tossing the balloon. We figured out he belongs pitching not catching.

Pic's for the Daddy...

This blog is dedicated to the Daddy...since I promised pics and your e-mail keeps bouncing them back to me...need to talk to them ADP guys about that issue...I don't see anything offensive. Unless it's because they see land...next time I'll be sure to include a pool of water with Bear's bath tub boat.... until then...

Actually, it's another way of trying to get him to read my blog...and not just the first and last lines either. ;) ...do I know him or what?!?!

Proof I weed whack...you should see your son's hair!

See, I mow lines just like you. Good thing the huge patch of grass I missed was behind me when I took this pic.

...and look I didn't till the entire yard! I have 2 rows on the other side of the shed too. This was before I planted everything in the ground. I'll get those pics on here shortly.

When these bushy plants started growing in I was going to pluck them while weeding....good thing my Mom stopped me. I find them rather pretty.

... no more butterscotch walls! But beware by the time you get home there will be no more carpet... heck, no more flooring downstairs!

For part of today's lesson we did spelling on a cookie sheet. I asked Kalee to write a word starting with the letter "D". Can you guess who's on her mind?

...and notice the mess behind her. She is lil' Miss Clean.

Her brother is NOT! No wonder I have so much laundry.

But how can you get upset at this face? Love Ya Babe!