What are the chances...

I had a Mom who regularly attended my PT TOTS class in Japan with her oldest child and was pregnant with her second (she was also a midwife that worked at the hospital prior to becoming a Mom, and I helped with subbing her un-medicated birthing circle)

...and that same person is attending my Mommy & Me that I'm teaching here in Virginia with her second child and is expecting baby number three.

What are the chances? It's not like we are immediately surrounding the base. Wow! One of those military advantages. :)

Jean Issues

Me: Kalee get dressed.
K: But I have nothing to weeeeear (the whines started and I decided to try to turn it positive)
M: I just did laundry yesterday. C'mon, let Mommy go help you find something.
K: (I pull out a pair of jeans) No those don't fit. (and another) those go up my butt (and another) you said not to wear those because we might get a flood.
Me: Buahahahaha.
K: Mooooom, stop laughing at me.
Me: We might have to make carpi's out of those for spring. Guma just got those jeans for you last month.

It's soooo frustrating to have a child as picky with how jeans fit as I am. She has had a serious growth spurt. I can't keep enough fresh produce in the house. Denying my children fruit as a snack is like denying them books. It won't happen!

Speaking of which, I'm thinking about getting the kids one new book for every day Daddy's ship is out. Then I stopped tallying the days when it exceeded the amount we spend in gas a month. Blah!

Fixing dinner for our fabulous neighbors tonight. No, I'm not thawing Stoffurs lasagna and slipping it into my own dish...um, yeah-no, that thought never crossed my mind.... I'm making goulash instead. Easy, quick and my kids gobble it down like there is no tomorrow.

I'm out!

I am...

....becoming a cardio junkie again! Anyone else want to join me?

I just have to stay out of Wal-Mart because the conversation hearts on isle 10 kill me...and they have a whole Valentine candy isle on the grocery side too.

Trip to CA vol.2

Obviously it's my journal...not real entertaining for most...sorry.

Monday- The kids and I went to lunch with our cousins. It was nice to see them again. After we went to my brothers house to check his mail and feed Iggy the iguana. He left me a note on the counter telling me where everything was and how to do it. "Sis, Iggy will NOT run out of the cage!" Um, hello? I have been married and out of the house for some time but I was like 12 when you got him and he was no longer then my finger. Now that his body and tail are longer then Bear is tall you think I wont feed the thing? He....actually I think my brother said it was a she, eats good veggies. Bub had food cut and wrapped in the fridge all ready. He even cut up an orange and put juice in there for the kids. He's such a thoughtful Uncle. All together now....awwwwwww! On my way back in the afternoon, I stopped by a friends in Escondido. We flew into Japan on the same March day in 2005 and were neighbors in the Navy lodge. She and my other friend Erica (who already moved there and we were neighbors in San Diego) were with me at the hospital 5 days later when I found out I was pregnant with Bear. Mosa helped me tremendously when I was pregnant. That first year in Japan was awful, but without Erica and Mosa I don't know what I would have done. It was fantastic to catch up with her and Niko. She made us fiddeo, pizza, lasagna bread and rice pudding for dinner. They made sure we were stuffed before we made our late night drive home. Bear, Kalee and Niko.

Tuesday- Since I had not seen my Aunt, we went back to my cousins house and headed out to Farmer Boys for lunch. After, I returned to my Dad's and packed our suitcases, loaded the kids and Bub and Liz's dogs in the truck to head up the hill to my Mom's house. I dropped off the luggage and animals at Mom's and met her at my sisters school for a basketball game. We made it during half time which was perfect for the kids short attention spans. Bear chanted "Go Lippy, Go Lippy" for some time. We went back to Mom's after. Kalee was sad that the water bed that was in her Uncle's room, was no longer there (wasn't at his house either...lol)

Wednesday- I was supposed to meet up with a friend Joanna and her kiddos for some play time in the morning, but the kids and I were so pooped I cancelled. Bummer. I would have so loved to catch up with her. I also cancelled visiting with another friend Candice who I grew up in Church with. We just needed a morning of down time. I feel so bad for running the kids like Energizer bunnies. That afternoon I went to visit my friend Tara and her mom "Momma Ell" . We had lunch and I swear my kids depleted the entire supply of grapes. After, everyone went outside to run amok in the large backyard. My kids played bubbles...Savvy ate them. It was sooo cute! Last time I saw her was about 22 months ago (which was the last time I was in CA) and she was only about 3 weeks old. My, time has wings!

Me and Tara, one of my bestest friends in high school.

BTW, I was amazed at the 60/91/215 interchange. Those that grew up in the 909 and 951 know it has been a work in progress since I started driving. That interchange was rated one of the states worst and I knew plenty of people that wrecked in that vicinity. The new flyover is beautiful! I remember the 60 freeway as being 2 lanes...now it's FIVE! And the carpool lane...wow! Even in San Diego they extended the reversible carpool lanes. Finally, all after we leave.

Thursday- Stopped by Mom's work in the morning to say hi to one of my most faithful readers Melissa. Kalee recited some scripture to a few of Mom's co-workers. Bear almost convinced his Nana that he needed a large plastic sled. Back up to Bub's in Orange County to feed Iggy. Went to Rim of the World for another one of Jessi's games. The kiddos held out rather well considering they had about 6 hours of car seat time by then.

Friday- Such a blur. The highlight, Morgan and family came up the hill for dinner. I made green chili chicken (turkey this time) enchiladas and beans. Mom made rice and told me to put the cookies in the oven for 10 minutes. How did I manage to burn them? Morgan watched me set the timer. It was at the right temp. I guess I had to prove that I'm not making these blogs up about me not belonging in the kitchen. We had a fantastic visit and it was wonderful to see Becky and Jordan as well.

Random pics:
Me and my Nana.

Bear and Grandpa on wheels.

...you'll have to wait for vol.3 to hear about the weekend and our return flight. More random pictures to come.

Another Busted Mouth

I'm going to attempt this again. Last time I sat down to blog the door bell rang and my husband could have been easily mistaken for a patient belonging in the "lost" ward.

****Warning don't proceed if you get queasy easily****

Yesterday, we filed taxes. I think this is the first in about four or five years that he was around to do it with me. I credit him for getting it done so soon and being squared away. If it were up to me as it has been in the past, April 1st I would start printing off the necessary doc's. While we were signing papers Bear decided to dive off a chair into the carpet covered concrete, taking the chair with him. I saw blood in the mouth and took a deep breath. Having a daughter known for busting her own teeth out, I repeated in my head "oral injury=lots of blood". I swooped him up and noticed the lovely red drainage rapidly escaping both nostrils as well. With the gut serious voice I shouted "Max". We rushed him to the bathroom since by that time my shirt (and bra)already looked like I killed something, and inspected his teeth. We saw a little gash in the lip and I kept saying "oral injury=lots of blood". Since the boy refused to nap earlier, he was tired by now but insisted I held him covered in blood. As he fell asleep (not freaked out because it wasn't a head injury) we inspected his mouth closer and saw not only the lip laceration but a nice gash separating the top lip from the gums (not just the little string part but about 3/4 inch gash literally removing his lip). Lovely! We debated driving about 20 minutes to the Naval Hospital or to take him to the local one about 5 min away. Since the bleeding slowed down we headed off to Portsmouth Naval.

Having been around Military treatment facilities, I'm aware of how the main hospital ER wait can be horrific. After spending up to 18 hours in Balboa's (Naval Medical Center San Diego) ER I have figured out blood gets us in quicker...so I didn't change my shirt. Gross I know but at that point I didn't care. I was astonished when Portsmouth triage us and said we were on the "fast track". The what? "You'll be seen in less then an hour." And we were! Balboa has labeling and maps on every corner, so you could figure out where your supposed to be from that location, unlike crazy Portsmouth....but Portsmouth has got ER figured out! Drove there, in, examined, discharged, pharmacy, and out all in less then 3 hours.

It would have been more traumatic to sedate him and stitch (which it could have used) then to watch what kind of foods he eats and allow his body to heal itself. The Dr's agreed to avoid stitches since young ones have a rapid healing rate and breast milk will speed his healing process.

Seriously, by the time he gets married he'll be off mine and onto someone elses. *sigh*

I know about Mary

If you could only hear the conversation Max is having with Jehovah's Witnesses at our door while he's high on coffee...

You know Jesus? Hey, I know Jesus too! Mary had him. He's the son of God. Born in a manger. You ever been to the manger? It connects to the house that they lived in, where you feed animals through the window of your home.

Ahh-err-hum. Max said something about the 3 wise guys men.

Oh my....I need to go save this conversation.... and call the credit card company to restrict his card from being used at Starbucks from here on out.

Humm?

Between Obama's two children and Bidens 5 grandchildren, I'm curious to see what kind of monkey bar dome thingies will be on the White House lawn for entertainment during meetings.

Ever think about that?

Yes, I watched and sat the kids in front of it... solely for the historical and educational purpose.

Kalee made several fantastic observations:

-they are all old people.
-the picture shows Obama's Mom is a white lady...so why is he black? Oh, I get it. His Dad is black...just like Lippy's (my sister Jessica).
-people are crying.
-old people take too long to walk to their seats.
-Sasha and Malia have to move to a new house like we did. I bet they are sad to leave their friends too. (If she only knew...lol)
-That's it? He had to put his hand up and copy the old man's words and he's President Obama? That's easy! Can I go on TV and try?

Sigh. All from the view of this special 6 year old of mine. Gosh I love her!