Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #45

Up:

• The kids had a great Halloween. On Tuesday they had a party at Tot-time. Then Jackson had fun celebrating at his school. We went trick-or-treating with our neighbors that evening. The kids were exhausted by the end of the evening, but absolutely loved it. Jackson is still asking to put on his costume and go trick-or-treating again. 

Jackson was roaring like a dragon so Kennedy had to join in as well!

My neighbors Becky and her daughter Abby at the Tot-Time party.

Kennedy stealing another kid's food -typical!

Checking out what they got in their bags.

Jackson and Kennedy eating the suckers that Becky made for their treat bags.

Since Daddy wasn't home to help we had to put the treats out on the porch for kids to get at our house, but our kids thought they were for them!

Checking out our 'Toodles' pumpkin.

Trick-or-treating at the commissary. We saw some of our friends while we were there. 

Jackson getting some love from Eva.

Jameson didn't want to be left out so he decided to give Jackson a hug too!

Getting ready to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood.

As soon as Abby came outside Jackson ditched Kennedy and jumped in Abby's wagon!

Kennedy loved all the candy!

The kids surveying the loot when they got home.

• I painted my nails this past week which I maybe do once every 10 years. I actually think I might do it more often. It made me feel more girly which I need sometimes when I've been in 'mommy mode' too long!
• Halloween and the 'pumpkin pictures' with Kennedy totally confirmed the idea of getting a better/nicer camera. Can't wait 'til after Thanksgiving when I get my new camera and don't have to wait what feels like 12 hours for it to reboot before taking the next picture!
• We cut Kennedy's mullet this week! It was looking pretty bad and her hair is so thin that it made it even worse. My thought was, if we cut it off, maybe it'll thicken up as it grows back out. It looks so much better and I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. Kennedy HATED getting a haircut and screamed the whole time. At one point we had to take a break because she was crying so hard she almost threw up - ridiculous!

Down:

• Mike, Jackson and Kennedy are all sick. So very thankful that I haven't gotten it yet because someone needs to take care of everyone! They all have bad congestion and high fevers. Mike has had his since Thursday night and still isn't rid of it. The kids I think are quicker with it and are hopefully on the upswing although J man still had a fever this morning. It seems like we aren't the only one in this boat though. A lot of my friend's kids have been sick too. In fact, my neighbors daughter even had a febrile seizure which is super scary, so I've been overly worrisome this go round!
• In addition to the illnesses, the time change has royally messed with my mind. The kids haven't adjusted at all and we end up going to bed at normal time,  but waking up at roughly 4:45-5:15am - ahhh! Hopefully they'll adjust soon and I can catch up on sleep.
• Christmas is just around the corner and I feel so unprepared. Usually I have an idea of what I would like to get for my family, but this year -nothing. Not even a back-up plan. Parents are super hard to buy for mainly because they have everything already. If you have any thoughts, I'm open to anything at this point.

Favorite Thing:

The Air Force family is great about taking care of those 'in need'! Our squadron always takes meals to those that have a new baby, a death in the family, surgery or any other hardships. They've used some pretty neat websites to accomplish this and I wanted to share then with all of you non-AF peeps so that you can use them in your own church/friend circles as well. They'd also be great with all the holiday events coming up!

1. http://www.takethemameal.com/index.php - This website lets people sign up to bring meals to others' house for example if they just had a baby. You can just sign up for a date and type what you are going to bring. This way the person doesn't end up eating 10 crockpots of soup, but you can vary their menu a little! It also sends you reminders so you don't forget!
2. http://www.perfectpotluck.com/index.php - This website has sign ups for different ingredients or menu items to make a potluck work. This is a great way to avoid duplicating menu items and to ensure you have enough food, not just desserts etc. This one also sends out reminders.
3. http://www.tastebook.com/ - This final website is a way to electronically share all your yummy recipes. After your potluck or meeting you can just type in your recipe onto this site. Our squadron created their own username and password that is known among everyone. This way once your recipe is loaded anyone with the log-in info. can access the recipe. You could also use this to create a cook book for your organization as a fundraiser!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #43 & 44

Apologies for the super late posting and picture overload! I think I've been in shock the past couple of weeks that my baby is already a year old, so I've been weepy and reminiscent looking back at old pics and trying to keep her from growing anymore. Despite my best efforts, she is growing so much each day.

Up:

• As I'm sure you saw from the post I made last week, Kennedy had a great birthday. She annihilated her cupcake and has loved all her new 'girly' toys. She still enjoys playing with brother's cars, but it's nice to have some more feminine options around now! She was even a champ on her one year check-up. My poor baby had to get 6 shots and have her blood drawn. Though she screamed during the process, she was super happy the rest of the day - it didn't slow her down at all! Her stats were 30" tall (92%) and 20.4 lbs. (36%) - tall and skinny just like brother and daddy!

• I hosted my first baby shower last weekend with my friend Amy for our good friends Brent & Heather. They will be having a little boy in mid Nov. and I can't wait! We lived with Brent while  he and Mike were in EWO training for 6 months in San Antonio. We've they've had the pleasure of being stationed at the same bases thus far! Anyway, it was a co-ed shower and was a lot of fun! There are something like 8 babies being born in our squadron before the guys deploy next year - crazy!
• We just made our final trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend and Mike got to go with us. It was definitely colder than last time, but I don't think we really noticed 'cause we were having a great time. All the pics are on Facebook, but here are a few highlights:

Jackson with his friend Annalise on the barrel train. He threw a fit when Mike was going to ride with him, but had no problem sitting next to a pretty girl!

• Last year after Kennedy was born, we put her in a pumpkin to snap a photo for her birth announcement. I couldn't help but do it again this year and she enjoyed it much more than last time!

Last year...

Much happier this year in the pumpkin

Daddy carved Mickey in the pumpkin this year, but to Jackson this is Toodles!

Down:

• It seems like this time of year (every year) fills up so quickly; like we aren't super busy the whole year until the final quarter of the year when everything happens. I'm not complaining too much 'cause I definitely like to stay busy. I just wish we had more hours in the day so I didn't feel so rushed to get everything accomplished!
• Jackson has developed quite the attitude over the last week and has started to 'talk back' as my Mom used to call it! Time outs are helping, but he is so bull headed it's hard to get through to him when he's in that state of mind. Pray that he reverts back to my angel boy - I miss him being so sweet :(

More Pics:

Fun with Mr. Potato Head mustaches!

Mike decided to keep his on after the photos were finished! 

My beautiful sunflowers from Brent and Heather!

The afternoon after the shots -someone feels better!

Silly kids!

How do you sleep like that?!

Kennedy in her cute puffy coat! It keeps her so toasty in our cold weather out here.

The kids were playing in the coat closet trying on all the hats. Jackson said look mommy a fashion show - I think he's been watching too much Minnie's Bowtique!

Favorite Thing:

As I've mentioned before, Mike has an obsession with smoking meat in his electric smoker. The kind he has also lets you smoke cheese too. We bought this block of cheese - Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese - for him to smoke, but needed some shredded cheese for something else, so thought we'd just use some of it since we already had it on hand. Oh my gosh, once we tasted the cheese we were hooked. It is the best cheese I've ever tasted. We  have been buying it ever since just to munch on and shred for other things. It is so good that we couldn't even think of smoking it. Sorry folks, this is just one for the locals!

For a block this size it's about $7.50, but it lasts a good while.