On Our Way to Florida

Today was a pretty good day…as good as spending 9 hours in a car can be. We left Abingdon around 8:30 after a stop at the Red Box, Chick-fil-a and the WaWa for a monsterously large Mountain Dew. Dan’s job for the day was chauffer. Mine was entertainment director and I came prepared. The kids had new movies, new coloring books, activity books, crayons, chapter books, stuffed animals, DSes and games, joke books and madlibs. My job was just to pass them out. I also had a stash of silly bandz (thank you Krissy). With each hour that passed that the kids didn’t complain about being in the car, I gave out a silly band. When we stopped at the hotel, they each had 9 bandz that were threatening to cut off their circulation. I might have to rethink my silly band strategy.

The only thing funny that happened yesterday was in the middle of Virginia. We were stuck in traffic for “grass maintenance” when someone in the next lane over yelled at us and waved. It was a guy Dan works with. He and Dan had a nice conversation as we were idling our way down the interstate. It was one of those random odd things.

About 3, we looked at the map and decided Knoxville would indeed be a good place to stop. I was so anti-smart phone, but I must tell you again, I LOVE IT! I got online, found us a hotel and made the reservations from the road. So cool – I also stayed up to date with Facebook, games, emails, and my message boards from the road :p. Unfortunately, as we pulled up to the hotel, I had picked the one hotel that we’ve stayed in before that was horrible. How in the world I managed that, I have no idea…in all of Tennessee. Anyway, our stay was much better this time. No stinky, smelly room, although our non-smoking room was in the middle of the smoking floor. It’s gotta take a lot of brains to plan that out.

The Jedi Masters

Blooms

I love seeing my yard coming alive with colors.

Hydrangeas with a touch of pink

Jaelyn's Spiderwort that we rescued for $1 at Lowes

Yummy, Yummy Peaches - Golf ball sized now, but in a month or so...Bubbly Hot Peach Cobbler. I can't wait!

A beautiful Trumpet Vine that is slowing covering our fence

Another $1 rescue, beautiful sunny day lillies

The Tooth Is Out

After begging, Allie agreed to let me put ambesol on her tooth so we could pull some more. I was teasing her and asked if she'd let me pull her tooth out with pliers and she said yes. I was being silly and ran downstairs to get the pliers out of my toolbox (don't worry, Mom, I cleaned them first).

I raced upstairs to find Allie in Dan's lap. He told me to stay back, that he almost had it. The next thing I knew, Dan pulled Allie's second bottom central tooth out of her mouth.

The root was kind of long and well attached so it bled a bit. Her lateral is a tiny bit loose so I'm going to start wiggling it and do everything we can to get that tooth in where it belongs!

Random Stuff

We went from summery weather last week to cool and rainy today. It's been in the 60-70s the last few days. I had my windows open yesterday and it was so nice. Unfortunately Caden and Dan have colds. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's just a cold. I need to run errands today, but Caden is on the couch with benadryl in his system. Every time I mention going anywhere he starts to whine and cry. I think he'll stay put and I'll run my errands tonight when Dan gets home. I'm on the hunt for Madlibs and 2 jars of elusive peach salsa. My dad fell in love with it here and took a jar home. That jar's gone and he can't find it in Pensacola. You should see my pile of stuff to take home to give to other people. Pretty soon, we are going to have invest in one of those boxes to go on top of the car.

Allie's tooth is still wiggling. She's let me try to pull it a couple of times, but the root on the front is still in there really well. We need to push it back, I think, but the other tooth is behind it so we can't. It makes me so sad every time I look in her mouth. I know a good orthodontist can fix her smile when she's older, but it's her smile. I'm scared her other teeth are going to do the same thing.

I'm still keeping track of my food in my IPhone app. I'm actually slightly addicted to using it. Anyway, Dan picked up Panera for dinner last night and I was SHOCKED to see that my favorite chicken salad sandwich has over 1,000 calories and 55 grams of fat. That's just insane. I know it's packed with mayo...but seriously? That's 75% of my calories for the day and it's way, way, way over the amount of fat I need. No more Panera for me! Well, not no more...I just need to plan better and make eating there a treat I only give myself once in a blue moon.

Jaelyn is driving me batty with getting dressed in the morning. We fought over her coat all winter and I couldn't wait for warm weather so the battles could stop. They haven't, they've just changed. Now the whine is "I don't know what to wear." She'll seriously stand in front of her dresser and cry for 30 minutes. She has clean clothes THAT FIT HER in her dresser. The other day it became so bad with her refusing to pick an outfit that I grabbed the first shirts and shorts I saw, that matched, and physically dressed her. The cry changed to "but it's too busy." Apparently plaid and cute cherries are too much for her, but she looked really cute. Last night, I told her to pick out her clothes before she went to bed. She didn't so I got out an outfit and told her that's what she would wear and I made her wear it this morning after another argument. I can't wait for summer when she can stay in the house all day and wear her PJs if that's what she wants. I see a nudist colony in Jaelyn's future. Wouldn't that make life easier :p ?!?!?

Our Tax Payer Payed Vacation

I thought I'd shared, but maybe I haven't. If I have and everyone already knows this, Sandi, this is for you :)!

Dan has a class at Eglin Air Force Base in Destin, FL. Home is Pensacola, which is just 2 hours away. Instead of going by himself and flying, Dan asked if the kids and I would like to tag along. Are you kidding? Of course! We are driving and the Army will pay mileage and a hotel along the way. We'll spend a week in Pensacola with my parents, the next week in Destin with Dan, and the last week back in Pensacola. We hadn't planned on going home this summer so this is a real treat. I've already got playdates with friends and a spa day planned (Serenity here I come for your Pina Colada Spa Special) and then of course, there's get togethers with cousins, sleep overs at Grandmother's and meals at all of my favorite places! I can't wait.

So, to all of you hard working, tax paying Americans...Thank you! :p

Allie's Ploblem ~ no, that's not a typo :)

Allie came running into my room this morning to tell me some very important information. She said she "could feel something hard and bumpy in her mouth behind her teeth when she woke up so she looked in the mirror and there's something white." She was very alarmed. I turned on the lights and squinted into her mouth and sure enough...her new tooth is coming in behind her baby tooth. Her baby tooth has been loose on and off for months now. It's really loose now, but only because she pulled the stopper out of a ball with her teeth. Allie immediated wanted to ask Baba what we should do since she knows everything about teeth. It was too early to call so we sent her a video...

I called the dentist's office once they opened and they told me to keep working the baby tooth and get it out of her mouth as soon as possible. She has an appointment to get her teeth cleaned the end of July. They'll check it then and see if there's anything they need to do. I don't want her to be a snaggle tooth until she a tweenager and can get braces. :(

A Hodge Podge

Apparently, I'm ignoring my blog again because I have a ton of small topics I've been wanting to post about for days all jumbled around in my head. Here they are in no particular order or relevance.

4 more sleeps and we leave for Florida. Dan hasn't heard anything about the other TDY so no news is good news. Joan asked me if I was all packed last week. Ha...I'm thinking about it. I really need to make a list for shopping tomorrow, but I won't do laundry or dig out my suitcases until Thursday. I did finally clean out our storage closet last night so I can reach suitcases when I need them. Our beachy stuff was located as well ~ not that we'll spend anytime at the actual beach since it might be covered in oil by the time we get there :( .

I got to work in the yard this weekend. I transplanted a few plants that are being swallowed by our butterfly bush. It's huge and the new one I planted last year that was 18 inches tall in March is now over my head. They must love our dry, hard clay. We also dumped new bark in the flowers beds after I expanded one to fit the above mentioned smothered plants. It looks so pretty. Jaelyn was a big helper. She was making up for getting up at 6 AGAIN. I've started calling us (Jaelyn and I) Grumpy and Grumpier in the mornings. I'm not sure who is who yet, but I am so tired of being woken up between 5 and 6:30 every morning. Neither of us do well on too little sleep.

Dan has been talking about disassembling the swing set for a while now. It was cheap when we bought it, but we knew it only need to last a couple of years. The swings were really getting rickety. He took the swing part off and left the fort and slide. Our yard is so small that just removing 2 swings doubled it's size. That's sad.

We had an amazing time this weekend at Nathan's birthday party. Nathan is Caden's best friend. He invited everyone to the party and Miss Krissy out did herself (even though she hadn't had electricity for about 20 hours when the party started). Everyone got a Star Wars costume complete with foamy light saber. They set up their huge water slide and passed out water balloons. The kids love playing with Mr. Ben, Nathan's Dad. Jaelyn especially had a ball blasting him with water and running. Ben has 2 boys, so he got a lesson in how mean and sneaky girls can be. The kids played hard for over 3 hours. They were all asleep within 15 minutes of going to bed. It was a quiet, peaceful night for me...Dan was at work. Phone duty stinks!

I've been calling Outdoor Rec at Aberdeen for weeks now trying to get the kids signed up for swim lessons. Finally today the right person answers and the kids are registered. We'll have a week when we get home from Florida to play, then swim lessons 4 days a week for 2 weeks, another week off, then 2 more weeks of lessons, another week off and school starts. It's going to be a fun summer! I learned that Mr. Lee, our favorite life guard, won't be life guarding this year. Allie and Jaelyn are going to be crushed when they hear because they had quite the crush on Mr. Lee last year.

More Reading

Jaelyn the Artist

I'm always looking for the area where my kids can excel and be proud of themselves. Jaelyn isn't too into school. She's a pretty average student who'd rather spend her time talking with her friends than listening to the teacher. For neo, academics are not her interest. Art, however, is. She loves to draw and paint. I'd like to sign her up for art classes when she gets a little older. Well...she came home today and told me she won't be bringing her ceramic house home this school year. Her art teacher is keeping it and sending it to the county art show. I'm so proud of her and she is equally as proud of herself! Way to go Jaelyn!

To see pictures of the aforementioned house...go here!

To Answer the Question

I've had a few people ask for the name of the book I'm using with Caden. It's called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

Teeny Tiny Geocache

It took us forever to find this cache and we almost gave up twice. Jaelyn is the one with the eagle eyes who finally spotted it in a place we looked over and over again.

Silly Plunger Boy

Caden loves to go grocery shopping with me. His favorite aisle is aisle 8...home of cat food, light bulbs and best of all, plungers. I'm honestly not quite sure how his little obsession started, but he loves to suction the plungers onto the floor and pop them up. My rule is normally 3 if the aisle is not busy. They don't keep a lot in stock so sometimes he only gets to stick down 1 or 2. We get laughs and smiles while he's playing most of the time, but we've also gotten grumpy frowns. Well, last week, I was stopped looking at something at the end of the aisle and I told him he could go ahead to the plungers. When I looked up, I saw this scene...




...Count them - 8 plungers and I couldn't do anything but smile, shake my head and take a picture!

Learning to Read

My dear friend Jennifer recently shared with me about a program she did with all of her kids to teach them to read. I'll have to discuss with her why she just now decided to share this nugget of wisdom with me. I have had 2 other kids who needed help learning to read, you know ;-), but for now, I headed to the library and checked out her book. It turns out it's the same program I used when I tutored at Ferry Pass and when I taught at Montclair. Caden and I have been doing a few lessons a night and if I forget, he'll come and get me to "do our lessons." He loves it and is doing really well. He has a few site words and is getting faster and faster at phonics. Pretty soon, he'll be doing all of the decoding in his head. His kindergarten teacher is going to love me because he's going to be reading on his own by the end of the summer or maybe she'll hate me because he'll be way ahead and need to be challenged.

Here are a couple of short video clips Dan shot the other night of his "lesson."

Daily Burn

So in honor of all my friends who like to "keep it real," I thought I'd do that today.  I used to be so skinny and most people would say I still am, but life has driven me to chocolate one too many times over the last few years.  I've gained a little bit of weight, not a lot, but enough that my shorts don't fit.  And I don't care how big or small you are, when your shorts don't fit, they don't fit and it's time to do something about it.  This is a new experience for me and I don't like it at all.  I discovered this really cool app on my Iphone called Daily Burn and I'm using it to track what I'm eating.  I was appalled when I really started looking at labels.  For the last week or so, I've entered everything that's gone into my mouth into my Iphone.  I'm nerdy and having accountability, even if it's to a program, is all I need.  So far, I've last 6 pounds, with 6 more to go to get to my goal.  The best part is we aren't dieting.  We are eating really well with lots of fresh fruits and veggies and by eating well all the time, I can afford to have a treat every now and then like the Cocoa Cola Cake the 5 of us split at Cracker Barrel last night.

Tonight's dinner - Chicken Shish Kabobs with onion, mushrooms, bell peppers and pineapples

I've also started exercising again.  I've been walking and doing strength training at the YMCA.  It feels good to be doing something for ME!

You Can't Find Them All

Dan dragged me out of bed at 9 this morning to go geocaching with him and the kids.  While I was unhappy being told I needed to get up, I was thrilled I got to stay in bed till 9.  Yea Dan!  Apparently while I was sleeping away the morning, Dan was researching local geocaches because he had our day all planned out when I came downstairs.  We started with a cache next to the Y.  It was pretty easy to find.

Dan and Caden heading to the spot - isn't that the sweetest thing?

We did really well at this cache and even found another tracker.  We'll register where we found it and then hide it in another cache on the way to or in Florida.

Next, we stopped by the Home Depot to hunt in their parking lot.  We were right on the spot, but we must have been blind because we never could find it.  It was hidden well in a hedge of junipers and who wants to go sticking their hands in there.

After that, we went to one of our favorite places, Ladybug Woods (aka the Estuary Center).  They have several hidden here and Dan has even emailed to get permission to hide our own.  He's very excited about it.  He has plans to hide a two part cache and has everything ordered.  We'll even have our own tracker so we can see where it goes.  Alas, the first cache at the estuary center was impossible to find.  We were clueless, and we needed this cache to get the clue and coordinates for the second part of the cache (which was the more fun, hiking part).  We searched for 20 minutes and came up empty handed.

The second cache we wanted to find at the estuary center wasn't too far away and we found it without much difficulty.  You have to look hard for some of these.  This one was well hidden under a log.  Jaelyn pushed so many leaves around it when we put it back that it will be impossible to see without moving things around.

You build up quite an appetite out in the woods so we headed home for lunch.  The kids were begging to go again so we headed to one of our favorite creeks, Jerusalem Mills to try and find another one.  We walked the white blaze trail like we've done a zillion times, but we always turn around at the covered bridge.  Today, we had to keep going and I'm so glad we did.  It was a little treacherous at times with steep inclines and roots everywhere.  We walked along the creek and the views were beautiful.  The cache was hidden somewhere between this huge formation of rocks and the water, but we never found it.  Another family came looking while we were there, but they had no more luck then we did.  We'll have to try again another day.  The kids were tired at the end, but they walked about 3 miles today so I don't blame.  I was tired too!

So in the end, we were 2 for 5 today, but it's not really about how many you find, it's about having fun as a family! We had loads of fun today and we are making memories that I hope my kids will cherish one day!

Mom Dating

I had a mom date yesterday.  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, the phrase was coined by my dear friend Jenn.  A mom date, also sometimes referred to as a play date, is a time when kids and moms can get together to play and visit.  The kids play happily on the playground and the moms get to sit and talk and see if they click or not.  Mom dating can be very positive, but it can also put you in relationships you'd rather not be in :p, sort of like real dating.  Our dates yesterday were with Leslie and her 5 year old son, Wyatt.  Leslie's daughter is in the girls' brownie troop.  At Brownie Bingo, Leslie and I started talking and realized our husbands work together at the 20th.  At Kindergarten Registration, we ran into her again and learned she had a 5 year old son.  Nature took it's course and we decided to get the boys together to play.  In the meantime, Dan and Dave, Leslie's husband, went to Las Vegas together and finally realized the connection we've both been telling them about.  Dan has become "that EOD guy" much to Leslie's chagrin.  Anyway, we met at Chick-fil-a yesterday and had a great lunch.  The boys had fun playing, although who knows if they really played "together" in the play area.  Leslie and I had a great time talking.  We have a lot in common and I'd say I have a new friend.  Dave told Dan he sees backyard grilling in our future.  Fun...it's been a while since we had another family we could hang out with as a whole.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I've been eating so good this week and I don't know why I would want to ruin it with temptation, but I had zucchini that needed to be cooked so I went hunting for a recipe today.  I found one for Blueberry Zucchini Bread that had really good reviews.  I altered it a little to make it healthier (Kendra, you are rubbing off on me).  I substituted half of the oil with applesauce, cut out a cup of sugar (which Dan says I need to add back) and used half white flour and half wheat flour.  With all of the changes, I think the bread is pretty good.  Caden even ate it and liked it.  He wasn't too thrilled to be eating something with green things in it, but even after I told him it was zucchini, he finished his piece.  Next time, I'll use a finer grater for the zucchini.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.

2.In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.

3.Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

***Mine only needed about 35 minutes of baking time in my mini-loaf pans so keep an eye on it if you make it.

What's Up With Dan

When Dan and I got married, he told me he'd clean the bathrooms, but that he was not washing dishes.  He's held true to that statement; although I could probably count on one hand the number of times he's cleaned the bathrooms.  He has always been good about emptying the dishwasher for me though.  He doesn't count that as "doing dishes."  Well, I don't know what's the matter with him?  Last night, I needed to clean up after dinner and get the kids in the bathtub.  I asked him for help and he always picks baths.  Last night, he picked the dishes.   Not only did he wash the dishes, but he had to wash them by hand because the dishwasher was running.  I was so impressed with how nicely he stacked the plates. I don't even do that.

Dan has always been cool, calm and collect.  He never gets too excited or too mad or too sad.  He's the most even keeled guy I know which is great because I'm far from even keeled :p.  Well, he came home from work a few weeks ago really bent out of shape.  He was so angry at what was going on.  He was ranting and raving about calling his branch manager and trying to get orders.  He didn't care where we went as long as we went soon.  It shocked me!  My only response was to tell him to think about it for a few days and if he felt the same way, to go for it and I'd support his decision (as long as he didn't get us sent to Alaska).  Within a few days, he calmed down and things settled at work.  I asked him how he felt about things yesterday and his response was "I'm over my hissy fit.  Everything's fine."  HIS HISSY FIT!  His words, not mine.  My cool, never get his feathers ruffled husband had a hissy fit.  I love it.  Think I'm rubbing off on him finally???  Now if only my bed making skills could rub off on him next!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

I went on a field trip with Jaelyn's 2nd grade class to Camden Yards today.  It was awesome and I don't like baseball.  Our tour guide was fabulous and filled the day full of interesting facts.  Did you know new baseballs are rubbed with a certain type of mud from a secret place along the Delaware River?  I googled it encase you don't believe me.  They prepare 7 dozen balls for each game?  That's 84 baseballs that have to get rubbed down with mud.  Too funny.  I think my favorite part was learning about how they care for the grass.  Grass patterns make me happy...what can I say?  It's just like vacuum marks!  Ahhhh! 

Jaelyn got a kick out of seeing the ground's keepers with little buckets picking up little teeny tiny bits of stuff off the grass.  That crew works hard.  We got to go in a luxury box that runs around $100,000 a year, the kids sat in the dugout and we learned all about the famous Orioles players and their records. 

We had a blast.  I loved getting to see Jaelyn in action...interacting with her friends.  We took the tour, had lunch and got some shopping in.  Camden Yards rips people off.  They charge $1 to smoosh a penny.  I've never paid over $.50 for any of the pennies in my smooshed penny jar.  I'd hate to see what they charge for a hot dog!

The kids listening to the tour guide.  Jaelyn is wearing a white shirt with a blue backpack on her back.  I'm always amazed by how tiny she is compared ot her peers.