New Year's Resolutions...

Its January 1st and I'm am SO. READY. FOR. A. CLEAN. SLATE. called 2014.  I saw a great quote on Facebook that said, "Today is the first day of a 365 page book with empty pages.  Write a good one."

I'm on it.

We'll start with today....the laziest of New Years Days...spent loving on my kids, playing games, watching movies and eating cheese dip.

My kind of day.

I do have to backtrack to that cheese dip, though.  Its actually kind of amusing how that all came about....for New Year's Eve we went to a party at a friend's house.  She is Columbian...her other friends that came are Puerto Rican and I was the lone "American."  We were all supposed to bring something to share.  Columbian chicken with ham and pineapple and a delicious gravy from Columbia...rice and beans and and flan from Puerto Rico and Velveeta Ro'tel Cheese dip from the good old U.S. of A. 

ha ha ha...when she told me to bring something from my country I had to laugh...I threw out a bunch of options including tater tots, hamburgers, ribs, etc...and she jumped at the Velveeta cheese dip.

So...the American contribution to the New Year's celebration was cheese dip. 

Makes me laugh.

Ok...resolutions...I've got a few.

I lost 60 pounds in 2013.  I love that.  I have 60 more to loose to be at my BMI recognized goal weight.  So....Resolution 1 is the reach my goal weight.

I've already got my zumba classes lined up and I'm starting crossfit this month too.  yikes!

Resolution 2....sprint triathlon.  I do not like to run...but I love to bike and swim...so if I can enjoy two out of three I'm thinking a sprint triathlon is a good goal for me.

Resolution 3.  Cook with less processed foods.  I want my kids to love veggies and real cheese and not macaroni from Kraft.  Please disregard all previous comments about velveeta cheese dip.

Resolution 4.   Draw.  I bought a sketchbook and my goal is to draw more...with Bella in particular.  I want her to love art...she's a good good artist.  So we will be following this woman's lead....I've already done our first picture and am working on the second.  I'll be posting more about them.

Resolution 5.  Blog at least 3X week and get my website up and running.  That means you'll be hearing a lot more from me.  I'm hoping that's good new.

Cheers to a New Year...and much happiness in 2014...

Father's Day...

What's that saying?  Oh yeah...Better late than never? 

Thats the motto of this Father's Day post.  We're only about 2 weeks late on it...but with a new baby I think I have a pretty good excuse for not posting right away.  (Yes...I'll continue to milk the new baby excuse for as long as possible.)

The man of the hour....notice he has become the bearded one...thats what 10 days of paternity leave will do to a man.  :)

Anywho...Father's Day was fun.  John wanted Greek food and bowling.  Easy to please, he is.

First...Greek...

Delicious it was.  I'm a huge fan of the lamb...and the tzaziki sauce.  Sooooo good.

After dinner we went bowling...It was Jax's first time bowling...he was a real champ.

Oh wait...a close up of his excitement...

John was the only one that bowled.  I was too recently post partum...Bella just didn't feel like it.  So Big Papa J bowled by his lonesome and bowled a pretty mean game...

Bella and I took cameo shots of each other...its amazing how much more beautiful she gets every. single. day.

And the mama...

So, happy Father's Day to a man that I've always considered a great dad.  I don't know two little kids who adore their daddy any more than my little ones adore him.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Happy 4th of July!

A 4th of July in the middle of the week.  Its a little weird, I must say.  I'm sure in the history of my 38 years on this earth this has happened before, but for whatever reason I seem to only remember 4th of July holidays that coincide with a weekend...or extended weekend. 

Regardless...It was a GLORIOUS 4th of July Wednesday.  The sun was out...it was hot and humid. (Thats not part of the glorious bit.)  We spent the 4th lounging around...like any good holiday should be spent.

I did find time to finally put together the 4th of July outfits for the kids...I'd been planning it for awhile, but never got around to actually making them.  So...we ended up with these makeshift outfits, but they looked pretty darn adorable in them!

I crockpotted a turkey breast roast...John mixed up a cold potato salad and we dined on a delicious dinner before heading out to Grafenwoehr for the fireworks.  We met up with some friends there and spend just a couple of hours chatting and socializing...

And then it started to get dark and the show started!

God Bless America...Land that I love...

Vilseck Tree Lighting

This year commemorates the third year of the annual Vilseck Rose Barracks Tree Lighting Ceremony.  And this year...as in the past two years its a disappointing affair where the tree has about 5 strands of lights going vertically up and down it and a big star at the top...but, being the optimists and the spirit of Christmas kind of folks we are...we continue to go each year to cheer on the lighting of the tree.

This year we walked up to the commissary parking lot, where the tree resides, with our neighbors...they are the BEST neighbors we've ever had...we love them.  adore them.  hope they travel around for the rest of our military career to be our neighbors for the next 7 years.  :)  Ok...maybe a little unrealistic, but we do like hanging out with them.

Plus...their daughter and Bella are the "bestest of friends."

So....as with the past years we had both Santa Claus and St. Nikolas show up to greet the children...

In my opinion this is themost exciting part of the tree lighting ceremony.  They arrive in a firetruck with lights flashing.  Its very loud and the kids can hardly sit still...and because we've now done this three times we knew EXACTLY where to stand so we were about the 10th people in line.  YES.

So both my "kids" sat on Santa's lap and once again...the younger of the two asked for a "real puppy."  Aiya.  We may have a disappointed three year old on our hands Christmas morning.  :)

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat...smell my feet...give me something good to eat...

if you don't, I don't care....I'll pull down your underwear.

We had a great time trick or treating this year.  On post trick or treating is allowed from 5pm to 7pm.  We were ready to walk out the door right at 5pm...and so were our neighbors!  We spent most of our time trick or treating with My Little Pony and Supergirl!

Bella showing off the beginning of all the loot she collected on Halloween...



It took her a few doors, but she got the concept down quickly. 

The biggest problem is that she wanted to go into people's houses to get the candy!

There were a few really spooky houses.  I loved it. 

This one was "less spooky" but she was mesmerized by it all the same...

We finished our neighborhood and then My Little Pony just wasn't quite done yet so we had a potty break...emptied our loot buckets and went out for more...this is the start of round 2 of Trick or Treating.

Another door Bella found very spooooky!

This is right outside our house...thats HER pumpkin.  She is still so proud of it!

Another cool Halloween setup...these pictures just don't do these houses justice.

Some of them really went all out in the decor.  It was great.

Home at last!  When we combined loot buckets from our first and second rounds of

Trick or Treating she had SO MUCH CANDY!!!

She's trying to decide which three candies she wants to eat before bed tonight.

Her first choice was a caramel.  That made me laugh...



And then it was time for bed...she wanted to sleep in my bed and I said no.  She got so upset and cried so hard that she promptly barfed up all the candy she ate.

I love this holiday.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Remember last year's pumpkin patch photo?  I stuck the girls inside the wooden box of pumpkins at the commissary?  Well, this year I actually found a REAL pumpkin patch....

Bella at her first pumpkin patch...can you see it?  If you squint and look really hard you'll see a strip of field with orange-ish forms on it.  THAT is a pumplin patch. 

I know...I know...its not your typical hay ride, apple cider, corn maze pumpkin patch...but it also isn't the box of pumpkins at the commissary!

Not only was it Bella's first pumpkin patch, but it was our friend Christina's first pumpkin patch too!  How you get to be mid-20's and not have ever gone to a pumpkin patch is beyond me.  She says its because there are none in SE Texas...

I BEG to differ...

Texas: Houston, south east Texas and surrounding counties Pumpkin Patches, Corn Mazes, Hay Rides and More


I'll be forwarding her this link for sure.  :)

Anywho...back to the 2 year old's first pumpkin patch experience...first we went for a big walk and found a really heavy pumpkin.

Then it was a really dirty pumpkin...(see hamsey daddy back there looking on?)

Then we had to take just a short rest on a pumpkin from all that walking and running around...

Then Daddy found HIS pumpkin!

Which finally prompted Bella to find her pumpkin...isn't it so cute? 

And if the photos weren't enough here is a short video clip of her finding the baby pumpkins...Oh, aren't they so cute?!

Kid's Day!

Maddie is quite the little writer.  I plan on taking full credit for it because I require her to write essays when she gets in trouble (for those of you who know my mother...and I her daughter or WHAT?!)  So, yeah...Maddie is a good writer.  And creative.  She writes in her journal daily...she makes up songs...she's really quite a storyteller.

A couple of months ago her teacher asked all the kids to invent a holiday.  They had to write a persuasive paper about the holiday and read it in front of the class.  The kids were then allowed to vote on whose holiday was the "best holiday" based on the persuasive paper. 

Maddie chose a holiday and named it Kid's Day.  She read it to her class and WON!  Woohoo! 

I won't spoil it before you get to read Maddie's persuasive paper...

KIDS DAY
By Madeline Larson


Hey! There's a holiday that I'm dying to tell you about! It's called Kids' Day! Its August 1st because celebrating on a warm summer day sounds so fun, and we can celebrate on the beach. We kids hardly get noticed with all that homework so we much get a time to get noticed!


Our colors should be purple, pink, red and blue. We should have these colors because a lot of girls like purple and pink a lot of boys like blue and red! Don't you think? Also boys are like all cool and hip so I choose a skull and cross bone for a symbol. Oh, wear your pajamas.Who wantst o get dressed in the morning? I don't like it! That's why I chose the comfortable source of clothes, pajamas!


When we see each other the girls should say "Hi!" and the boys should say "What's up?" Most kids say that so, those are the greetings. Raise your hand if you like sweets. People who are raising your hand get ready to feel the thunder! We'll eat candy, cupcakes, chocolate and fruit. We'Il drink Sprite, Fanta, and all sorts of soda. Even better, the smells are cookies, brownies, and cakes baking! We'll eat the cakes, cookies, and brownies when their done baking. I chose those becauseI only know one person who doesn't like sweets.


Well, the traditions are popular kid doings. We'll draw, talk, dance, read, play, and, EAT! We'll tell stories of our life and family. You should hear the story of "The Grape Flavored Ice Cream." It is so funny! Now who wants to start baking?



So, on April 1st her entire class went to school in their pajamas and played games and ate junk food pretty much the entire day.  No schoolwork, no homework.  It was play all day.

Bella and I took in some "ants on a log" and frosted brownies right before lunch/recess so the kids wouldn't have a lack of suger to keep their energy going all day long.  We got there just as the kids were eating...Here is what Maddie looked like..

Can you see the crazed sugar look?  The pouch of her belly from all the food she'd eaten?  She told me, "Mom...you didn't tell me I couldn't have as much as I wanted so I pretty much ate treats all day long."  Her little friend pipes up...."Yeah...we were amazed at how many brownies Maddie can eat!"

So, I had to put up the stop sign...allotted her 2 more treats in the afternoon, but as many "ants on a log" that she wanted.

Crazy kid...when she got home she said she ate about 15 "ants on a log."

Not surprising...she had a bellyache that night...

But isn't that what kid's day is all about?!

Luffy duffy and all that stuffy...

Once per year comes the magical day of lovers everywhere.  Except in Virginia...which is magical for 365 days of the year because Virginia is for lovers.  My sister that lives there is soooo lucky.  **wink wink**

Anywho...the day I'm talking about is better known as Valentine's Day.  Its a holiday that has kind of a bad rap.  I think mostly because people who don't have someone to share it with don't particularly like the day.  I know I thought it was a farce when I was single and unattached.  And guess what.  Its STILL not my favorite holiday...but it IS a good excuse to eat chocolate.

(see...I don't even get dressed up for Valentine's day.  But I DID show some cleavage.  ha ha ha)

Or if not chocolate...why not eat greek food? 

(Which we may have decided on purely for the reason that John wanted some Ouzo.)

Yep...that is what our lovey dovey family did that night.  We piled the girls into the car and headed out to a Greek restaurant in the thriving metropolis of downtown Vilseck.  Bwahahahaha....that was a big joke.  Vilseck doesn't even have a stoplight. 

Regardless...the greek food is good and so we went to eat some...and gave the girls the loot.  Yes, loot.  Holy cow...we got a box from Maddie's Grandma on her mom's side that was stuffed full of presents and Valentine's day loot.  PLUS we got a package from my sister that had the cutest little ruffle purses for the girls...so I put together cute little loot bags for them and let them go for it...

As you can see...they were very happy with all the great things they got and then decided to do a fashion show for the restaurant.  And I say that because I think the Germans who don't really celebrate Valentine's Day were really amazed at all the STUFF those girls got for what they probably consider a fairly insignificant holiday.  Looking back...I can imagine we fulfilled all of the "overindulgent American" stereotypes that night...

And then when we got home I told John he better get in the kitchen and do the dishes.

You thought I was joking...didn't you?  Ha ha ha ha ha ha