Too Smart for Me

So, I often joke that ES is smarter than me. But in all seriousness, he might very well be! Granted part of the problem is his interests vary from mine, he is most definitely Blunoz's son. They have long detailed conversations about things that bore me to death!

In Blunoz's post about the Pinewood Derby he was horrified that ES picked out complimentary colors for his car. I am sure he blames this on me, that is something I know about. But it was not me! I never taught him that! Of course knowing ES, his favorite colors are orange and yellow so he probably just wanted a yellow car and picked the purple because it is the complimentary color to yellow.

Then the other day, I picked up ES at school and we started talking about what he did in music that day. He seems to really like playing the percussion instruments such as the xylophone. He said they played an instrument similar to the xylophone but it was called something else that he couldn't remember, I think he was talking about the Marimba, but I am not sure. Anyway, I commented that I noticed he really liked playing percussion instruments and that lead me into talking about wood winds and brass, etc... you know what I got from the backseat? "I know... I know... I know...".... Okay, sorry kid! I won't try to teach you anything ever again! :-)

I am so glad to be back in Loudoun County where ES is getting a great education. Even at private school in Hawaii he was lacking in the extra stuff. He had PE 2xs a week and music once a week for the first half of the year and then they switched to art for the second half and of course library once a week. Here he is getting PE 3xs a week, art once, music twice and of course library.

It has been a rough couple of weeks here. We returned from a fun trip down to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg to celebrate YB's 5th birthday with friends from Hawaii to the news of Blunoz's Aunt and Uncle passing away. On top of that tragic news that is still incomprehensible to me, we all got sick. The two boys have been stuffed up with some coughing, Blunoz was stuffed up and that turned into a sinus infection and I have had multiple symptoms, the most persistent being a low grade fever for over a week now. On a happy note as soon as Blunoz started on his antibiotics you could see his mood improving greatly. I dream of antibiotics and have been to see the doctor twice to be told I have a cold. Really, I don't go to the doctor for just a cold. The low grade fever is really knocking me for a loop, I have been having trouble staying awake during the day and have lacked all sorts of motivation. I asked about mono and the PA I saw looked at me like I had ten heads. Since there is nothing they would do for mono besides prescribe rest, I didn't pursue it further.

We received our first official snow since returning from Hawaii and the boys got 2+ days off from school. I felt bad that I didn't even get them out to play in the snow, their first snow in 2 years. But I just didn't have the energy to be out there with them. Supposedly we are getting more snow Monday night so hopefully I will feel better by then and get them out to build a snow fort or something.

The bird feeder was half full at the beginning of the day and all the birds emptied it!


Our front steps covered in snow before I shoveled.


Yes, I still have some Christmas Decorations to take down. :-)


I love the look of these bird feeders. A little touch of whimsy out my window.

I will try to get more rest this weekend while Blunoz is home from work and can look after the boys for me. I think last night was the first night I slept through in a week since YB has had me up most nights. The other night I could see him over on Blunoz's side of the bed trying to wake up his Daddy to no avail. Well at least he tried. :-)

Happy 5th Birthday YB

I feel sad... today is YB's birthday and we are all sad and/or sick. Not much celebrating is going on here. I am just thankful for the two days of fun we at at Great Wolf Lodge over the weekend before we learned of a tragic family loss.

As down as we all are, I did not want to let the day go by without saying Happy Birthday YB! Five years ago today we were at the Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego having our scheduled c-section. Blunoz had been back from deployment for a mere month. Though Blunoz was not around for much of my pregnancy with YB, YB was instantly a Daddy's boy. A genetic bond I suppose, versus recognizing the familiarity of his voice from hearing it in for 9 months in the womb.

My mother had come out to San Diego to look after ES while we were at the hospital but we thought it was important that Blunoz be home at night to put ES to bed. While Blunoz was hanging out in the hospital room with YB and I, YB would sleep and sleep. As soon as his Daddy left he would be wide awake. I just figured that this was some sort of phenomenon related to the hospital. No such luck. We got home and YB quickly got on a good sleeping schedule but Blunoz was called back to the boat for an underway. Suffice it to say, I did not get a lot of sleep. (Thanks Mom for staying and helping out for longer than you had planned!) This continued for many months. YB would sleep well at night, Blunoz would go back to sea and YB would not sleep. Isn't it amazing what a little baby can pick up on? Thankfully the sea stint was near its end and that summer we moved to Virginia.

YB continued with his Daddy's boy mentality. If he would get hurt right before Blunoz was due home from work he would take me as a consolation but as soon as Blunoz walked through the door it was Daddy he wanted. Maybe he was just trying to tell me it was time to go make dinner. :-)

Of course as life normally does. Things do change. He isn't so much a Daddy's Boy as he used to be. Probably something to do with 10+ months of geo-bacherloring/deployment that ensued two plus years ago and growing up of course. I am proud of YB for adapting so well to what life has thrown at him. My mom and I were really worried about how YB would handle things when Blunoz left for 3 months of school, never having any idea that Daddy would be gone as long as he was.

Today we celebrate the blessing God gave us 5 years ago. A blessing I know we will never take for granted! It is hard to be sad when you have a face like this in your life!

Go hug your kids today and thank God for the joys and blessing they bring to your life!

Happy Birthday YB!!!!
We love you!!!

Not Fair!

I hate the drop off line at ES's school!!!! When we were purchasing this house, I had thought we were far enough from the school that ES would take the bus to school. I was sadly mistaken! We are approximately 0.7 miles from the school. This is not a bad walk but at 7:30 in the morning with YB in tow, it is not a quick walk, so we opt to drive. Especially when it is COLD outside (we did just move from Hawaii, so give us a break here).

The line moves like molasses! Even when we were in Hawaii and the ENTIRE school was being dropped off, it moved a lot faster than the line here. At ES's Hawaii school they had a group of older kids that stood there an opened the doors for the kids and helped get them out of the car quickly. Here is it all up to the kid in the car to open the door, get his/her backpack out and shut the door. Sometimes they are NOT quick and efficient resulting in a long line. We usually wait over 10 minutes in line.

The entrance to ES's school is a 4 way intersection, the one directly across is a dead end road. So most cars have to turn left or right into the school. We turn right. Most parents alternate cars turning left or right and this sometimes irritates me just in the fact that the line of cars turning left is usually shorter so you KNOW they have not been waiting in line as long as you. But then you get the one or two random cars that need to drive straight across. You watch them pull up so you know they just hopped into their car and voila they are there, no line to wait in. Everyone gives them a turn just as if they had been waiting in line for over 10 minutes too. How is this fair? I have to drag my kids out the door early just to ensure that ES is not tardy, but these people don't have to. Where is the justice in that?! :-)

Ahh, I miss the old house here where we backed up to the school and I just booted ES off the deck to run in the back door of the school. :-)

Thank you for listening to my lament. Oh woe is me! What a hard life I lead. ;-)

Where is Blunoz?

If you are wondering why posting on Blunoz' blog has been lite, it is because he has been busy playing Zelda on the DS. :-)

As you all know ES lost his 3rd tooth last weekend. His previous two losses occurred after the adult tooth had already started growing in, so this is his first REAL gaping hole as nothing is visible yet! But rest assured we went to the dentist for the regular cleaning/check and we got to see all the big teeth under the gum line. The other good news was that we have at least another two years before we have to start shelling out for stage 1 orthodontics.

The weather here has also been mild as a Virginia Winter should be, but it has been annoying in that we have had a lot of precipitation and we hover just above freezing.

But this does not stop the birds from coming out...

Or the squirrels of course! :-)

For those of you wondering, WW went REALLY well last week. I managed to lose 3lbs and not feel like I was depriving myself. It is all in the choices! Unfortunately due to a social obligation Saturday night, I managed to gain back a pound. I did my best to eat right but our hosts were from a foreign country and I did not want to be rude and refuse too much food. But I know I can get back on track and lose that pound again and hopefully another one! :-)

New Year Public Service Announcement

So Caffienated Cowgirl just made me aware that not everyone knows about this little shopping trick. If you are shopping online, you need to google/search engine (does anyone use Yahoo anymore?) the name of the store you are shopping at and the word discount or coupon. My MIL taught me this trick quite a few years ago.

For example CC was shopping at Oriental Trading Company getting ready for Little Man's birthday party. She told me she was trying to spend another $10 so she could save the $16 in shipping fees as they had free shipping on orders of $59. I googled "Oriental Trading Company Coupon" and found a coupon for free shipping on orders of $49. In essence not only did I save her from buying more useless stuff but I also saved her the shipping costs. That comes to $26 savings in my book. :-)

Now not all the coupons that pop up on your search are going to work, but keep trying the different codes until you find one that does. Even if a store is not offering free shipping, I can often find a discount that matches or exceeds the shipping costs.

I also frequent the Want Not site that is always alerting me to good sales, coupons and/or discounts.

I hope I save you all tons of money in the new year! :-)

Gonna Try Again...

I have been struggling with my weight for some time now. To think, I thought I was fat when I was in High School is now beyond me. Compared to what I am now, I was a skinny minny, but compared to the girls I went to school with, I was on the heavier side. But now I know about BMI and ideal weights for height and age. I know BMI is not an exact calculator but it is a good indicator if you need to lose some weight. Believe me, I need to lose some weight! I need to lose about 40lbs, though I will be thrilled with 20-30. So Sunday I signed up for Weight Watchers AGAIN. Again you say? Yup, again. I actually have really good luck following their plan, the trick for me is to KEEP following it until I get to where I want to be. I tend to get distracted by having babies or moving. :-) Well, there are no more babies in our future and thankfully there are no moves on the horizon either (I have at least a year, knock on wood). I believe I am in the right mind set to do this, so I am going to do it.

I am going to write about it periodically to keep some accountability with myself. This is not a body image issue for me, this is really a health issue for me. I want to be around for a long time for my husband and my kids. I want to live a long vivacious life and not worry about trying to get around or about having heart attacks. I know that as an "apple" shape I have a higher risk of heart disease, so now is the time to take care of it. Though I believe it is never too late to try to help yourself.

Two things I know from past experience that really help with my own weight loss is drinking more water and exercise. The drinking more water may be that I am just cutting out my biggest vice, REGULAR Coke. Hmm, I love Coca Cola... Exercise speaks for itself. :-) What do I do for exercise? Walking videos. I know, crazy. I love Leslie Sansone and I also like the Stott Pilates Walking Videos. My two favorites are:
Leslie Sansone - Walk Away the Pounds For those of you just starting out you can start with the 1 mile walk, it will only take you 20 minutes. As you are able to complete that video then you can add in the weights or bump it up to the 2 miles (30 minutes) and then up to 3 miles (45 minutes). It doesn't take very much. She keeps you on pace, no one is around to see you huffing and puffing, or even out of sinc. It is a no fail! As Leslie says "You can't do it wrong, just keep moving!"
Stott Pilates: The Secret To Weight Loss vol 1 This walk has a few different moves than Leslie's to add some variety to your work out routine and if you have the time you can do some SIMPLE pilates at the end.

So here is to sticking to the plan and learning to eat healthier. Here is to a longer, more energetic life!

Country Quotes to Live By

Ok, so I am not that into the country look but for some reason I get the catalog from The Country House and I always flip through it. They have lots of cute signs with sayings on it. I love the saying so I thought I would share some.

• Enjoy the little things in life... for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things!
• God doesn't give us what we can handle; God helps us handle what we are given.
• It is what it is.
• All because two people fell in love.
• Be nice or leave.
• Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.
• Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.
• Life life in such a way that if anyone should speak badly of you no one would believe it.
• Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you decide to see beyond the imperfections.
• Laundry today or naked tomorrow.
• It's never too late to live happily every after.

And most importantly:

• Home of the Free because of the Brave.
  

They also have a needlepoint that says:

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?
-Thomas Jefferson

Interesting question, even in this day (or maybe more so).

Wildlife Habitat being Recreated

We are working on recreating our Backyard Wildlife Habitat.

The previous owners left some nice trees, bushes and a bird house for shelter.

Another requirement is food.
I think we have had great success! We have attracted cardinals, turtle doves, finches and some others that I have not identified and of course a squirrel or two which I believe are YB's favorite.

Man Time

One thing Blunoz likes to do with the boys is Geocache. Yes, he likes me to go along too, but I don't like the ones just stashed around our neighborhood I would much rather one that took us someplace new, like a waterfall or scenic overlook. I also think by not tagging along I give the boys some much deserved "MAN TIME". Yesterday I snuck out behind Blunoz and ES as Blunoz knocked the one closest to home off of his list...

GG and Papa

I am very lucky, my grandparents came for Christmas! They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this past summer and are both in their mid-90s. I was sad that we were in Hawaii and were unable to make it to the family celebration of such a momentous occasion, but I am glad we are back on the East Coast so we can see more of them.

I wanted to share some pictures of them and YB taking a walk out to the dock behind our neighbors house.

Still arm in arm after all these years!

I have so many great memories (way too many to list) of both sets of my grandparents growing up. It thrills me that my children have the opportunity to create some memories with at least one set of my grandparents! As they all know, at our house we have an open door policy to any grandparents or great-grandparents that want to visit us (that goes for Aunts and Uncles too)! I want my kids to have the great memories that Blunoz and I have of spending time with our own grandparents and I am grateful for the ones they already have.

On a side note, here are a couple of nature shots I took that day too.

Be warned, there will be more nature to come in the days ahead.

Happy 2009

Do you get contemplative at the new year. Wonder where life is going to take you and look back on where it has taken you? The woulda coulda should of mentality?

I have never been one for regrets, and this year is no exception. I can honestly say I believe that life has taken me where I am supposed to be and I am happy for it. Oh sure it was a crazy year, but isn't ever year crazy when we stop and think about it (hey I am married to a guy in the Navy after all). But I don't focus on the craziness I focus on the joyful moments. I believe those crazy moments take us to the joyful moments and the ones that don't, teach us something. Focus on the positive is my mantra!

A few things I wish for this new year are to:

• Live in once place
  
• Cherish the moments we have together as a family (immediate and extended)
  
• Create lasting memories
• Lose the weight I have been wishing to lose for 5 years
  

What are your wishes for the new year?