Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #41

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue....and now we have a day off every year to celebrate! Can't wait 'til the kids get older and we can really do fun crafts. They're still a little young for all that yet.

Up:

• Sometimes I could just squeeze the heck out of my kids I love them so much. They do/say the cutest things and (for the most part) are awesome kids. This week Jackson has added the neighbors to our list of people we bless during prayer time at night all on his own. Last night he was trying to learn the prayer we say at meal time while taking a bath! I love that he shows interest in learning more about prayers/God/etc., now if we can only get him to sit still and listen in church! Jackson and Kennedy play so well with each other and you can tell they genuinely love each other which definitely makes me smile!

Kennedy, my moocher, trying to get some of JP's cheerios!

Being the nice big brother that he is, he fed them to her!

Kennedy's newest obsession is to take out a bin, dump it out and sit in it!

My monkeys up to no good.

We've been caught...

Handsome Jackson before church on Sunday!

• Sounds like Mike is having a great time in Florida. They went fishing on Saturday and are going back out on a boat today. I told him to eat as much fish as possible because he won't be getting any of that here! I'm not a seafood fan so he always takes advantage of eating it when he can!

Mike was apparently the only one who didn't get the memo that the dress was t-shirt and flip flops. He came decked out in his fishing gear!

These are all the fish they got to keep and eat. The rest had to be thrown back.

• We are on day 4 of no bottles! It's hard to know if she's getting enough milk compared to when I feed her bottles, but it is nice to be finished with bottles and clear them off my counter where they've resided the last 12 months! I think she'd do anything to be like her big brother. Also good news, we bought Kennedy a sound machine for her room and she's been sleeping 'til 7am every morning since! Jackson has one in his room too and I really think it helps especially in our house that echos everything. 

Down:

• Jackson just doesn't know how to listen or doesn't want to - who knows! I know he's two and he's a typical two year old, but it can get very annoying/frustrating to deal with 24/7. He repeats the same thing over and over that I constantly tell him not to. Yesterday he lost his bedtime books, his constellation turtle light (which he loves), and TV today because he just wouldn't quit. I'm open to any suggestions to help with this!
• Really missing my friends and family back home now. I know I say it all the time, but we just miss out on so much by not being close to family. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I don't really like our current location either. If we weren't out in the boonies and I had more to take my mind off missing out on stuff maybe I wouldn't be so whiney about it, but it is what it is. The good news is that my brother-in-law Pat will be moving to Salt Lake City soon and will be a short 4.5 hours away! It will be nice to have family closer.

Favorite Thing:

  My feet always get so torn up from wearing flip flops in the summer that I try to repair them in the winter. Until now, my favorite product has been Burt's Bee's foot ointment, but it's pretty expensive. My neighbor told me about a product called Kerasal, it's a foot ointment in the pharmacy section of your grocery store and is less than $4 a tube. A little goes a long way. I've been exfoliating my feet in the shower then applying it afterwards and putting on some cozy socks! My feet feel awesome!

Sorry, couldn't figure out how to reorientate the pic!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #40

Up:

• So glad Kennedy is such a good eater! I pretty much give she and Jackson the same food now and no lie, she eats more than Jackson does. Plus, she is always open to trying new things. She'll let you know if she isn't a fan, but she will always give it a try. She ate an onion ring today and liked it! That's my girl. I'm currently trying to switch her over to milk. It's going pretty good so far, but I don't think she's quite ready to completely give up her formula.
• Mike got a new computer and now our family is completely MAC addicted! He got the same computer I have, just the newer model. His PC would barely even turn on and with a deployment coming up next year, we knew he needed a reliable computer to communicate with us. While MAC products are definitely more expensive, they are totally worth it because they last and hold up over time. We also got this really cool time capsule thing that backs up our computers wirelessly and automatically!
• Our sister squadron, The 391st Tigers, are coming home from deployment. Homecomings always make me sappy! So happy for those ladies that they are getting their men back!

Down:

• Mike is leaving us again on Friday for a little over 2 weeks. I'm already super bummed because he's really not going to be around much of October at all. The up side to all this is that after being in the military ~7 years, I've finally decided that I'm not going to let his schedule dominate our lives. I postpone so many things until Mike is home to enjoy them with us, but the truth is he's always so exhausted from work that he doesn't really enjoy them like I think he will or we don't ever end up doing what we plan to do. Therefore, I'm just going to start doing stuff with the kids on my own or with other ladies. I can't just wait around for a 'good time' and I really can't believe it's taken me this long to figure that out! Hopefully this will be better for the kids too 'cause I feel like ultimately they are the ones who suffer. We'll still do as much stuff with Mike as we can when he's around, but he totally understands that his schedule is crazy.
• Potty training is still hit or miss these days. Jackson does so well when I expect him not to and then has his accidents when we are at home. I don't understand at all, but we keep trying and hopefully it will just get better over time.

One of the guys in Mike's squadron hosted an Oktoberfest this past weekend. We found these awesome t-shirts online so we could be festive and I made Hot German Potato Salad for the first time!

My sexy German man!

I wasn't about to wear a bar maid costume!

Beautiful although with her reddish hair and green eyes she looks a bit more Irish than German!

Finally enough hair for just a bow!

Favorite Thing:

I love Fall because it is the only season that Pumpkin Head Ale is made! Back when Mike and I lived in Pensacola we always used to go to this bar called Brew's Brothers and during the fall they carried Pumpkin Head Ale. Our friend Phil is really the one that began our addiction and we would all go watch Texas Tech play and split pitchers of this oh-so-amazing beer! It is really hard to get out this way because it's brewed in Maine, but our friend Brent found it in Boise and bought every case they had (to share with us of course)! If you can find it, run don't walk to try it because it is seriously delicious!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #39.5

Up:

• Mike has officially been home a whole year! He returned from Afghanistan on Sept. 27, 2011 and while he has been gone most of the time since returning from deployment, we are sure happy to have him with us.

• While Mike's schedule is always hectic, we did actually get to have dinner with him a couple of nights this past week which is always nice. Wish it could happen more often.
• Kennedy is already 11 months old. The time is seriously passing way to quickly. She has 5 teeth and loves to eat. She is happy all the time unless you she thinks you are depriving her of food. She adores her big brother and misses him terribly on the days he goes to school. We are so blessed to have our sweet baby girl!

My Fashionista!

Adorable!

• Love that Autumn is here! This is my favorite season! It means we can start making heartier food, wear jeans again, and have pumpkin everything! I love the changing of the leaves, which we don't really have here, and the crispness of the air! I've also gotten quite carried away stocking Kennedy's closet with her new fall wardrobe! The funny thing is though Mike acts slightly upset when he looks at the credit card expenditures, he loves that little girl to pieces and how cute she looks in all her outfits! I also found some absolutely adorable jack-o-lantern underwear for Jackson at Gymboree on sale that I couldn't resist!

Can't wait to see Kennedy in this!

and Jackson in these!

• Speaking of heartier food, I made my Nana's famous Acorn Squash recipe this week. Mike is not a big fan of vegetables in general especially squash, but Mom used to make Acorn Squash for us in the fall and it brings back memories. My sister actually created the recipe from my Nana's chicken scratch of a little bit of this and a heap of that. I've posted the recipe in a separate blog entry for anyone interested! I also made biscotti for the first time ever and it turned out very well - much easier than I anticipated!

Down:

• In case you didn't know September has the most birthdays of any other month of the year! This past week(ish) we've missed 4 family member's birthday: my sis-in-law, niece, mom, and bro-in-law. Every year I get more and more distraught when I think of all the life events and happy times we miss out on with our family. I so wish we could move Mike's work to Texas and reunite with everyone.

Jackson with his friends at school getting their guns up! My friend Kara also graduated from ttu and has begun brainwashing her twins too!

Getting in some playtime before bed.

Very rare that Daddy can read bedtime stories.

Kennedy is not at all interested in story time.

Kennedy taking over the neighbor's car! 

The kids playing with our neighbor Abby!

Favorite Thing:

Unfortunately this item is only available in West Texas. Anytime we made anything growing up that called for chili powder, my family would use Morton's Chili Blend. It is a much more intense flavor and makes any recipe better! I stock up when I'm at home and store it in the freezer so it will last longer. If you are ever in the area it is a must have item!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Stuffed Acorn Squash 

originally Marietta Britten's (Nana) recipe, adapted by Carey Major Lindemann

3 med. acorn squash

1/2 cup margarine

1 can cream of celery soup

36 (or one sleeve) Ritz crackers

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

dash salt and pepper

1/2 tsp. paprika

Wash squash and cut in half. Scoop out all seeds. Place on cookie sheet. Put 1/2 tsp. margarine in the center of each squash. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until squash is tender. Meanwhile, saute onion until tender. Remove squash from oven. Scoop squash out of shell and into large mixing bowl without puncturing shells. Add soup cracker crumbs, remaining margarine, onion, and 1 1/2 cups cheese to warm squash, mix well. Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and mix thoroughly. Spoon squash into shells. Smooth tops evenly. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Can also be frozen for future use. Just freeze prepared, unbaked squash.

I made the above recipe just as it says but with 2 squash instead and it turned out great!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #38

Up:

• Jackson's neck has miraculously healed! There is only some discoloration left that I'm sure will go away in time. So thankful that he doesn't have any more pain and we are no longer getting dirty looks from passer-bys!
• I'm super proud of my hubby! On Friday Mike began the instructor upgrade course. It lasts about 2 months and is extremely hard, but when he is finished he'll be an instructor! I think it speaks very highly of him that they think he is good enough at his job that they want him to teach others. The only downside is that the upgrade requires a lot of studying and reading, so we won't be seeing as much of him over the next couple of months. Everything has it's price!
• I've been crazy productive this weekend and cleaned the whole house and cooked a bunch of yummy stuff from our bountiful basket! Literally I don't think I sat down at all on Sunday until dinner that night. Speaking of dinner, Mike smoked a yummy brisket (as usual) and Kennedy literally shoveled it in her mouth. I could not get the bites on her plate quick enough! Glad she is such a great eater!

Down:

• This whole past week, as I mentioned in my last post, there was an 'exercise' going on here on base. During the exercise sirens and fake bombings would go off periodically through out the night as well as the jets doing night flights. Mike is super off schedule due his shift changing to 11:30pm-11:30am and then back to a regular schedule on Friday and this week. My sleep was so interrupted from Mike leaving right when I would get to sleep and all the sirens etc. Let's just say I was more than ready for the whole thing to be over. I'm pretty sure I can speak for everyone else on base too whether you have children or not!
• While I'm super glad I cleaned the house, honestly you wouldn't even know it if you looked around today. I think it is entirely impossible to have a clean house with children! Yet another parenting lesson for this neat freak to absorb!

Girls are so much fun to dress up! I wish she would leave her headbands/bows in all the time!

Game day!

Get your guns up!

Just like a guy to watch the woman to all the work!

Playing with the new addition in the backyard.

Jackson pretends it's a drive thru window!

Trying on Daddy's chemical mask that he had to wear for the exercise at work this week. Too bad I don't have video of Mike wearing it and seriously scaring Kennedy like a horror film!

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Reading...still one of his favorite activities.

Jackson's neck almost completely healed!

My mischief makers looking very guilty!

innocent

not so innocent!

Love those beautiful eyes!

Favorite Things:

My Dad and I are both big connoisseurs of kitchen gadgets. Between the two of us I'm sure we could stock a Bed Bath & Beyond! Last year for my birthday he gave me this apple slicer, peeler, corer. It has been great for many reasons. It's perfect to cut up apples for the kiddos that are peeled and also to make delicious apple pies like I made yesterday! This is a picture of this magic gadget in action. It retails for $19.99 and can be used for potatoes too!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #37.5

I've got to get better about posting on time!
Up:

• Although I'm not working, I do still have too keep up my dietitian certification. This requires me to obtain 75 continuing education units over a 5 year period. My 5 years wasn't up until May of 2013, but I had 83 credits, so I went ahead and submitted. They approved all my hours! Yeah! This is seriously such a load off to not have to worry about getting these hours for a while. My next 5 years for recertification doesn't even begin until June of 2013! 
• Kennedy had her echo yesterday for the hear murmur they found at her check-up. The doctor said she has ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) which basically means the hole in her heart was bigger than normal and didn't close up after birth. She felt like it wasn't anything to worry about since Kennedy is growing so well. We will just monitor it with yearly check-ups! Such a relief to know that my little girl is gonna be just fine :) Small world too, our doctor went to med school at Texas Tech, so I knew we were in good hands!
• I found a fabulous deal this week! On a local facebook site, a lady on base was selling two plastic playhouses for $20 each. If you've ever priced those things, you know that is a steal. I'm usually the last to find these great deals, but in this instance I jumped on it and one of the houses was still available. After we negotiated pick-up with the owner, she said that the other house deal fell through and asked if we wanted the other one as well. We only needed one, but I figured my neighbor (who has a little girl) would want it. We both ended up with great deals! Our play house retails for $550 new and we paid $20 for it and another $20 to replace broken or missing parts. My neighbor's house retails for $200 and she paid $20 with another $20 for replacement parts. Honestly how could a deal get any better! The kids have loved playing with them!

Its' really cute with a kitchen, table and chairs, bay windows and fun shutters. I ordered a door bell to go with it!

Mike reassembling it!

• We had a great time at the Annual Air Force Appreciation Day parade in Mountain Home this past weekend! It was the 52nd annual one and also the biggest parade in the state of Idaho. Mike's squadron always has a float (although this year we just followed the squadron bus) and throw candy and beads to the crowds. Even Jackson was trying to throw beads! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures this year - bummer.

Down:

• Well if you haven't already seen my update on Facebook, Jackson had a bit of an accident this week. He went golfing with Mike on Monday afternoon while Mike was putting decided to turn on the golf cart, grab the wheel and put both feet on the accelerator. By the time Mike realized it, Jackson was going too fast for him to catch him on foot. Jackson hit a tree and flew over the steering wheel through the plexi-glass windshield and into the weeds. Thankfully, he escaped with minor injuries: he chipped his front tooth, bit his tongue pretty good, has a few scratches and some really nasty road rash from behind his right ear around the front of his neck. The neck bothers him the most, but honestly it could have been so much worse. We are so thankful that he is ok. Mike is of course in the dog house for that one and lesson learned, won't be leaving the key in the cart the next time he takes JP golfing. Now I just have to tell the story over and over and deal with the dirty 'you beat your son' looks!

This is a view of the road rash. It's one of those things that has to look bad to get better?!

Poor guy, here is more road rash and you can see the chipped tooth.

• The guys are doing an exercise on base that is taking it's toll on everyone. Poor Mike is sleeping in the day and working basically 11:30pm-11:30am daily. Meanwhile, during the night there are sirens going off on base, jets taking off multiple times in the night, and to add to that Kennedy's smoke alarm ran out of batteries at 3:30am! Never a dull moment at our house and certainly not any notable sleep for any of us!
• Can't believe 11 years has passed since 9/11. Still difficult to think about that day/moment in time and how many lives have been affected by just one day.

Favorite Thing:

  So I've been seeing all these Nutella recipes on Pinterest, but didn't want to try them. I tried a generic version of Nutella once and thought it was disgusting. I decided to give the real thing a try and see if it really was as good as everyone says - OMG - IT IS DELICIOUS! I've been eating it daily to get my chocolate fix. It's not super fabulous for you, but it's not as bad as eating a candy bar, so it could be worse :) Now I am going to go try all these Pinterest recipes that use it - I'll let you know how it goes!