All I Want for Christmas

Is there anything cuter than a child who is missing his or her two front teeth?  Jaelyn lost both of her front teeth at the same time.  Allie's first central came in before her second central fell out.  When Caden's front teeth got loose I started hoping they'd come out at the same time.  Well, my mom pulled one last week.  The other one was just a little bit loose until Caden's mouth connected with Jaelyn's knee a few nights ago.  It was hanging on be a tiny root yesterday.  He was quite the snaggletooth.  The little stinker wouldn't let me touch it though.  He likes money so I offered him a dollar.  No deal.  Two dollars.  No deal...

Three dollars....DEAL.  One good yank was all it took to create that adorable gap tooth smile!

Willy Wonka

My parents and I took the kids to see Willy Wonka on Sunday afternoon at the Pensacola Little Theater.  It was their first live performance and they loved it.  I was worrying about squirming and talking, but the kids did really well.  It helped that we knew three people in the musical.  Allie has decided that while she'd like to be an Oompa Loompa, she's rather be a model when she grows up.  Silly.  I'm hoping I can find a performance of the Nutcracker to take the kids to at Christmas time.  I think they'd love that as well.

Mo Petros

My Last Week

Last week went by pretty quickly.  Sunday I hiked up Mt Taylor with Bill H.  It was a good 7 mile out and back hike.  Once you get around 10k in elevation the going gets slow.  During the week we were able to tour White Sands Missile Range...it encompasses the Trinity Site where the first nuclear device was exploded...not sure why they say exploded over detonated...maybe since it was a device versus a weapon?

This and That

Last week was a fun week.  Monday, the kids had a slumber party at Grandmother's house and the my parents and I went to see Harry Potter.  Tuesday, we spent the day with the Beatles.  I forgot my camera, so would you share, Jen?  We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant for Brody's birthday.  Of course, my kids ate a cheeseburger and hot dog.  Allie did order a taco, but the taco touched her refried beans and she wouldn't eat it.  After lunch, we headed to the TT Wentworth Museum to play on the top floor.  They had a Play Nazi on duty.  "Don't move this.  Don't do that."  It's a play area for goodness sake.  Anyway, we still had fun and then we found a couple of geocaches to wrap up the day.

Wednesday and Thursday were demolition days.  I was rewarded with a steak at Coach N Four (Yum).  I'm pretty cheap labor.  Today, the kids will be "playing" car wash.  It's time to start prepping for our trip to Missouri.  I've decided we are going to leave on Saturday.  One more week!!!

I have a 1 bedroom hotel suite reserved until the 17th.  Something big must be going on in Missouri because that's all I could find.  After the 17th, I have no idea what we are going to do.  I found a couple of 1 and 2 bedroom furnished apartments for monthly rent in Rolla that I'm going to call about on Monday.  I like the idea of short term rental while we wait for a house on base.  I don't want to have to break a long lease and lose a security deposit and I don't want to have to move in twice.  I just wish I knew how long the wait will be.  Joan and my Mom have both suggested knocking on doors when we got to Missouri and telling people we need them to move :)

As far as housing on base, I talked to the housing office last week.  No one has given notice on a 4 bedroom major's house.  The reason we moved up the list is that they placed all the LTCs they put ahead of us and the majors on the list took off post housing.  There are some renovated captain's houses in the works, but those will be offered to captains first (and the list is kind of long) before they'll offer them to us.  It seems kind of unfair since they bumped us for LTCs.  Don't you think they should bump captains for us?

We Unleashed the Monster

After ripping out the wall, the monster was loose and set on demolishing the rest of her kitchen.  Dad wasn't so set on it, but since I was here and willing...

The biggest issue with the kitchen remodel is what to do with the refrigerator.  The plan was to move it to the other end of the small kitchen.  My mom is a visual person and needed to see it so we cut the edge off their countertop and moved it.  This was my first experience with a saw and I think I might have enleashed a monster in me too.  It was fun.

The refrigerator was huge there and we hated it.  Plan B was to build a wall and take up space in the living room.  Again, being a visual picture, my Dad bought some sheet rock and we built a faux wall.  I painted it and added a couple of pictures to help my mom visualize it better.  We like plan B.  Plan C is to take some space out of a bedroom to move the A/C unit into and put the frig where the A/C unit is now.  I like the idea of taking space out of the bedroom.  Dad likes the idea of taking the space out of the living room.  I think the quote from the A/C people to move the unit might be the deciding factor.  No matter what, we like the frig being out of the middle of the kitchen.

Since I'm here and free labor, we continued with the demolition.  Mom is thrilled!  Dad, while I'm sure is glad to have the help, still isn't thrilled with us :p.

The kids loaned me their goggles from Lowes Kids' Workshop.  You like?  Dad just got the cut started (I've figured out how to do that now).  I got to finish cutting off the counter.

Jaelyn helped with removing doors and taking hinges off.  Anyone have a need for a huge bag of really good hinges?  My parents have one to sell.

My shoulder might be hurting me just a little from contorting myself like a pretzel to get everything taken apart...

 

and ripped apart.

Here's where we stopped demolition.  We went to Lowe's yesterday and designed their new kitchen.  Thank you, Joan, for watching the kids.  It's going to be beautiful.  My parents tend to live in their destruction while they decide what to do.  I've given them a Christmas deadline.  We'll see...

It's Not a Visit to My Parent's House...

if we don't demolish something!

My parent's consider their house a work in progress.  On previous visits, we've helped rip out flooring, sheet rock a laundry room, and repaint a bathroom room.  My mom has wanted her kitchen redone for years.  Two summers ago, we ripped out top cabinets over the bar to help open it up.  They are finally ready to remodel, but weren't sure about removing a small bookcase/wall. On a whim, my mom decided we should take out the wall to see if she'd like it out.  Yes, I think she does recognize the faulty reasoning there.  You don't have to tell me twice.  Once I had permission, I had a pry bar and hammer and was going to work.  Dad brought the mallet and helped me finish the job.  Fun times!!!

Yeah, he wasn't as excited about my mom's whim as I was.

Bring on the Tooth Fairy

Caden let my mom pull his tooth out!  Now to start wiggling the other central.  I love it when kids lose both of the central teeth at the same time.

Hanging on by a Thread

Seriously...this tooth will not come out.  It's been hanging down like Nanny McPhee for weeks now.  There's one little root holding it in, but it is a doozy.  Caden has been a trooper.  I've tried to pull it several times.  He's tries to pull it.  My mom has tried to pull it.  We need SuperDad - he's the champion tooth puller at our house!

Jaelyn's 9th Birthday Party

Jaelyn turned 9 last on Sunday.  We celebrated quietly with just us and my parents at Ruby Tuesdays (her pick).  We had her party this afternoon.  My parents and I had been working for days to get ready for her outdoor water party.  We cleaned the house and brought chairs and a canopy from the motor home.  I paid way too much money to get an extra long slip n slide shipped here in time.  Last night, I baked cupcakes and my mom helped me filled 500 water balloons. {tangent - it pays to buy the nicer water balloons.  They fill and tie so much easier than the cheap ones.}  My dad helped me set up the yard this morning.  It started sprinkling as we got the canopy and slip n slides set up.  Within 30 minutes it was raining cats and dogs.  The bucket I had filled with chalk had 6" of water in it when it finally stopped.  By 1:30, the rain was gone and we were ready to party.  It wasn't a huge party.  We had ten kids, including mine, but it was perfect.

I bought water blasters to take home as party favors.  The kids used the swimming pool to fill them up.

Jackson and Caden quickly turned our rocket blaster into a water canon.  They were quite the team.

The extra long slip n slide was a hit; although I still saw the big kids go off the end.

Everyone had fun with the water balloons. 

Get ready...

Get set...

Fire!

My Dad, my brother and my nephew slipped behind a big bush where we had hidden a few "reserve" buckets and started lobbing balloons into the fight.  It didn't take the kids long to join forces to defeat the grown-ups.

We actually celebrated two birthdays today, Jaelyn's and Joan's, my mother in law.

It was truly a great day and I'm so thankful we could be here in Pensacola to celebrate it with friends and family.  Thank you to everyone who came and made Jaelyn's day so special.  As always though, I wish Dan could have been here with us.  We have just a few more weeks until we are all back under one roof.  It might be the roof of a hotel, but we'll all be together and that's what's important.

Thankful Thursday

Encase you have no clue what this means...it's the waiting list for a 4 bedroom Major's house at Fort Leonard Wood.  I'm jumping up and down excited.  I never thought we'd make it to the top of the list.

Now, start praying for a 4 bedroom, big windowed, 2 story rennovated single family house that used to be a duplex to open up.  That's what we want.  Oh, and we'd like it in the next 2-3 week.

Roller Skating

My kids are all relatively proficient at ice skating, but we've never been roller skating.  We went yesterday with the Beatles.  We had a blast.

I love seeing my kids personalities coming out when they learn something new.  Jaelyn refused to hold anyone's hand.  She slowly went around and around the outside of the rink, holding onto the wall.  Evenually she worked her way out from the wall and could skate very slowly on her own.  She did hit the floor several times.  Jennifer kept telling her to keep her legs together because invariably, she ended up in a split.

Allie was gung ho, but she' wouldn't listen to us.  Jennifer's oldest daughter Cassidy held one hand while I help the other.  She hit the floor more than anyone.  After a bad fall where I ended up on top of her with her roller skate in my stomach and floor burn on my knee, I finally figured out to let go and just let her fall.  It didn't stop her in the least.  She declared yesterday "THE BEST DAY EVER."

Check out Jae in the background...she had the best time falling.

The kids with the awesome Cassidy

Caden went back and forth between walkers, turning wheels and walkers. He decided he liked wheels that didn't turn the best so his legs were pretty tired at the end of the evening.  He particularly enjoyed pulling me around on my roller skates.

The Last of the Camping Pics

I finally connected my parent's camera to my computer.  Here are the last of the camping pictures.

Who needs a camp fire??

Riding in Style

I like Glamping!

He did it!

Me and my little ducks