"You Missed."

Charlotte decided to play a game of catch with her Daddy.  She handed him the football, backed up the appropriate distance, held her arms in catching position and waited for the toss.  Jason tossed the ball into her waiting arms and body.  The ball gently bounced off her chest and dropped between her waiting arms, she declared "You Missed."

I am declaring the next few weeks a blogging vacation.  I will post if and when inspiration really hits.  I plan to be back blogging regulary mid to late March.  To avoid wasted time here at my blog, please subscribe to an RSS feed!  Thank you and see you soon.!

MRE's

Sorry I have been MIA.  Even Jason mentioned my lacking of posting lately.

I am posting about MRE's.  I will be honest with you - when ever I heard the word MRE -I thought gross, military, and cockroach (survive a nuclear explosion!).  Recently Jason had to leave for some training and they were provided (out of their paycheck) with MRE's while away from home.  I was here comfortable and cooking up yummy food and thinking poor Jason.

Well - he brought home some of the leftovers and we tried them.  I was suprised to say the least.  MRE stands for Meal Ready to Eat.  They are just as tasty as any frozen already prepared food at the grocery store.

Each MRE is different.  There is a main dish, a side dish, a snack, a drink, and a desert.  We opened up 4 of them and all of it was tasty.  All you need is a little bit of water and you will have a nice hot meal [I should probably add here that MRE's would still get old if that is all you get to eat - so I still feel bad for our troops that are far from home and want nothing more than a home cooked meal]. 

We tried - Chicken and Dumplings, Chicken Fajitas, Chicken and Salsa, Beef Burrito (can you tell which ones my husband doesn't eat?).  Side dishes - fried rice , refried beans and mexican rice. 

Snacks - PB and J with the yummiest whole wheat biscuit (shaped like a slice of bread), crackers with cheese, and cheese crackers. 

Desert  - short bread cookies, milk shake (just add cold water - yummy), and another kind of cookie. 

Drinks - Tang, and coffee.

I added the unopened ones to our 72 hour kits.  If you can get some MRE's I think they would be a great addition to any 72 hour kit, warm food!

It's Official - New Orders!!

Jason just forwarded his Orders to me...



and...




we...



are....



going....



to....








Okinawa, Japan!

For the next three years.  So many questions.  We are excited, and nervous.  What an adventure.

Should have used Tooth "Paste"

It seems like I keep posting about Jayce and his teeth!  He lost another one last night, that makes #8.  He is thrilled, he has pulled all but 2 of them.

Scenario Grief!

This is a post that will emphasize how strange I am. 

I  know lots of people play out worse case scenarios in their minds.  I think I do it because I like to have a plan.  I want to already know what I would do if that scenario happened. 

One of my worst ones - for me - is my parents canal.  The canal can get very full and runs under the road.  Every summer I spend several weeks before making the trip home agonizing at night while everyone sleeps soundly what I would do.  Do I jump in and try to save my child - OF COURSE!!  But, wait what about getting myself stuck in the culvert under the road - then I leave two children without a mother - That is not okay.  So while my family safely sleeps, I quietly sob into the night - trying to find the win-win solution to this problem.  I still don't have the answer, and the thought of losing a child is heartbreaking. 

Another one - getting the phone call or having uniformed people show up at my door to share the bad news. 

For each of these scenarios - I let the grief wash over me (maybe I like a good cry - I hear it is therapeutic).  I know for anyone who has experienced any of these things that what I experience in my mind is just the smallest fraction of what reality would be like.  I do not mean to diminish anyones pain and heartache.

Last night I read a blog of family who lost their almost two year old girl (only child) to a tragic accident.  I sobbed, I empathized.  I grabbed my two year old girl and held her tight while we slept.  As I layed in bed snuggling her as close as I could, I thought about how and if I could deal with that kind of tragedy.  I had read many of her blog entries as she shared the different aspects of her grief. 

I realized with a start that a huge part of my grief would be guilt.  Not because I didn't do what I should have to stop the accident, but because of my mothering.  This is not a post where I am hoping friends will leave comments telling me I am a good mom.  I know what you see and I know what you don't.  More often than not at the end of the day, I am disappointed with my performance.  If only I could have company all the time, I stay patient and kind when those watchful and judging eyes are present. 

I will do better...  No ... I must do better, even if tragedy of that variety never strikes our family, I must do better.  I must recommit myself to being a mother and the kind of mother and Heavenly Father would want raising these special, kind, loving, innocent, sweet, (and all other wonderful words) children that I have been blessed with.  I have many great examples in my life - My Mom, My Grandam, My Grammy, My Mother-In-Law, and friends.

I love them with everything that I have and all that I am.

BIG FAT Just Kidding!!

As I said in my previous post - that we had an offer, but there was still tons of steps before we could relax and consider our home sold.

Well.... We hit our first obstacle and it turned out to be our last.  They decided that a super cool historical home (turning 97 this year) was not for them.

Darn it!!  But that does mean we will be sticking around here for longer than we were thinking!

Currently Dreading This...

In case you have not heard - we have an offer on our house!!! little cartwheel 

They want to close Feb 17 - YIKES - but still so far from being over.

As moving day approaches (and faster than I was anticipating), I am currently dreading havig to tell Jason that he has to move my rock collection into a truck, into storage, into a truck, and into more storage. 

I know, I know - ROCKS!!  [7 - 5 Gallon buckets of them]  If I was Jason I would have made me throw them away by now.  I am very glad that he has not for lots of reasons.  The two biggest:

1.  I was able to be a guest Geologist at Jayce's school for a few hours and I had lots of examples.

2.  It reminds me of me and that I do have other passions besides diapers, potty time, time outs, and nap time.

More Love!

This past Sunday we were admonished once again to express our love for those we love the most.  Read this talk by David A. Bednar.  It is great. 

I don't think you can ever tell your little ones you love them often enough.  My 7 year old tells me several times every day that I don't, so I need to keep at it - until it sticks in there that I really do!!

For Family Home Evening tonight I decided to try an idea I had seen on Super Nanny a few years ago.  She made laminated hearts for the family and then every night at dinner each child was to get a heart that had a message written on it from Mom or Dad.

My only hesitation about the idea is dinner time is hectic and that is one more thing to do - but the 6-10 seconds it will take for me to write something down is truly minimal.  I think that excuse, not having time is terrible - there is always time to say I love you or to give a hug.

I grabbed a heart from my clip art files and stretched it to fill up a sheet of paper.  Then I printed it out on pretty cardstock (I cut our another heart of other paper for the back, so it would be cute).  I stamped WE LOVE YOU... one one side and their name on the other.  I added a few decorations.  Laminated it and will use a dry erase marker. 

Now I can write a quick note expressing my love to each kiddo one more time each day.

Charlotte's Purse

For Christmas I made Charlotte a purse to carry her makeup and her phone in (and any other essentials - like dinosaurs!!).  It turned out cute, it would have been better if Shalet Godfrey would have make it!!  I just used what I had around. 

I found the pattern at Made By Rae.  I used the Buttercup Bag pattern (its free - if you use it for you).  I then reduced it about 60%, this was the size I wanted - so then I had to add seam allowances back.

Sledding

Everyone was home and it was a warmer winter day - so what do you do?  Grab the skiis - I wish.  Maybe when they get older.  No - we grabbed the sled and headed over by the VA hospital.  The hill was nice and packed smooth, makes for hard landings. 

Charlotte went on the first run alone (on a smaller hill - no pic).  She is so funny, she loves it.  She would cover her eyes every time she would go.

Jayce is crazy on the hill and would sled for hours.

Grahm is a little nervous, it takes some coaxing before he will go down.  Holding tight to Jason's leg!!

Jason is crazy on the hill.

Me - well they made me go - and I forgot how much fun that can be.

We took a break to build a snowman.