Drama in the barnyard

Isaac and I are sitting here at the computer, and I realize that a drama is unfolding a mere yard away.  The little people barn shiloh got for christmas is embroiled in a soap opera!           

the director being only 2 and a half, i dont understand all the lines, but this is what ive got so far..

The goat is having an identity crisis and cant decide if it wants to be a cow or not.

the sheep is really impressed with the barns silo/slide and keeps yelling WOW!!!  every time it takes a ride.

The chicken must have done something terrible, because the horse felt the need to spank it and yell NO NO!!


Along with its identity problems, the goat upset because SOMEONE left legos in the yard, and its very busy kicking them all out with great gusto.

to be continued after snacktime..........

Christmas Love!

After Christmas comes pictures!!!!



      We made cookies a few days before christmas, and its totally going to be mine and shilohs new tradition!    she had a blast making them, and i had a blast helping.    She insisted on having  eyes, nose, mouth, and teeth on most of the cookies, even the bows and christmas trees.        Its strange that i dont feel bad eating one of the gingerbread man shaped cookies, but almost cant bring myself to bite into a smiling christmas tree.

We did christmas Eve at my brother and sister in-laws house.

Ate delicious food, opened "stockings" (they dont qualify as stockings in my book, since its not big fluffy socks, its gift bags so big i could fit inside them).

Played THE GAME.   our family game rivalry that really is called THE GAME.     its like aggrivation on steroids.    marbles, playing cards, large elaborate board...   

This is as close as we got to a picture with all the grandkids at once due to unfortunate photoshoot by my sister in law where i was not present to save shiloh from torture- "do you want a spankin? you better sit down and smile pretty!"    only one of many colorful examples.. 

so shiloh runs everytime My Sister-in-law walks into the room with a camera.

My handsome little boy checking out the christmas tree!

Isaac with some booty from his stocking!

yes. those are perry the platypus pj pants that i got seth for christmas :)

These gloves were in her stocking, and she just HAD to put them on right away.   they did hinder present opening quite a bit, but hey. shes happy:)     

Shiloh got her favorite movie in the whole world- homeward bound 2 ( i figured it was only her favorite because she hadnt seen the first one)  on a dvd that had the first homeward bound also.    Now they are both her favorite.

A barn, a drum set that i may live to regret buying but as much as she likes music, how could i not??

And last but certainly not least......................................(drumroll please)...................................................................................................

who knew?

Ok,   I got a brand new stove when we moved into our house.      I was (and still am) thrilled with the thought of a new appliance that didnt have anyone elses food crusted on it for me to scrape off, and ALL the burners would work!!  all the time!!   and i would be able to SEE  the temperature on the knobs instead of taking an educated guess and hoping i wouldnt burn food.              

I am soo happy with my nice, pretty, new oven, that I want to keep it nice and clean.     
So, I decide to clean up some stuff that spilled in the bottom during thanksgiving.   
I have never used the self cleaning feature before, and i was all, ok, great!   i can just push this button and the oven will clean itself!!  

       Yeah.    So, i look in the oven about ten minutes after pushing the button and i see FIRE!!   lots of fire!!       thoughts begin racing through my head....   is it suppose to do that?   should i call the fire  department??    what was it that you use to put out an electrical fire again??    this would qualify as an electrical fire right??     should i scream and wake up sarge??    (im sure that would just be great for his ptsd)   NO,   I'll do what any sane person would do when their pretty oven is on fire.......google.                 Fortunatly, I am not the only person who has made the mistake of not cleaning out the big stuff in the oven before using the self clean.         By the time I found this out, the fire was gone,  but i turned off the oven, and i will scrape away as much of the heavy whipping cream charcoal as i can before using it again.

On a lighter note,   christmas vacation has begun!  i only have my two yr. old to deal with until january 3rd!!!!!!   

weekend warrior, family style!!!

I am attempting to put an entire weekend into one post!            FYI,  some of this story involves the military and for OPSEC reasons names will be changed.


Lets set the scene-       Husband is in army reserves.  It is a two and a half hour drive to his unit.   they are having a christmas party for soldiers and their families.         We are able to stay on base, in a two bedroom HOUSE for 35 dollars a night!          This is our first mini vaca with  both kids.

We arrive friday without incident at FT. blank.      Go to thift store and buy ugly sweaters for ugly sweater party we attending saturday.     Have wonderful dinner at cheddars with Sarges aunt and uncle.                  head to cottage, go to sleep.     
            
Saturday-   Sarge leaves early in the morning for drill.           Me and the kiddos sleep in :)

Sarge comes to get us at 10:00  for unit christmas party.           Santa shows up at christmas party riding with a motorcycle gang.   they drive straight into the building.     Belle falls in love with motorcycles.           line up to sit in santas lap.      attempt to sit Belles in santas lap.      she arches her back and goes limp, almost hitting santa in the nose.       get picture of Belle sitting with daddy, NEXT to santa,  who she is till giving a dirty look.           get adorable picture of isaac sitting in santas lap.                                 

        Eat lunch,  which is served by the senior NCOs.         Its truly awful.     if you know what army food tastes like, you know what i mean, and if  you dont,  you could never understand.             We go back to the cottage around four and shiloh falls into a deep sugar coma nap.      

     Sarge calls, letting me know that hes going to drive back home and get the paper work he needs to get promoted.          time goes by, we have fun in the cottage ect ect...        Sarge calls again.
Sarge-  i got some good news and some bad news.
Me-  ok
Sarge-  the good news is i got a deer!  the bad news is i got it with your truck.
Me-  WHAT DID YOU DO? 
Sarge-  its ok, i couldnt find any damage.
Me-  breathing a huge sigh of relief that husband and truck are ok.
Sarge- more bad news. the deer got away.

more time passes..  Sarge arrives, and we all go to the ugly sweater party!       
stay at sweater party wayyy to late, because its so much fun!          go  to cottage, sleep like the dead until 5:30 when Sarges alarm wakes me up. 

   sunday-      They have a class A uniform inspection today.       Husband is putting on VERY tight  uniform that fit him like a glove in basic training, but now behaves kind of like a corset.         Button pops off  jacket.      Heroic luna (me)  does some handywork with thread and attaches gold button to jacket without a needle!
after a quick warning to be gentle with the button, and ya know, not to breathe in to deep or sit down,    we load the kiddos and drive him down the road to the reserve center.       I come back and sleepily start packing up  because we have to be out of the cottage by ten. 

Drop off keys at billeting,    and drive to the thrift store where i saw lots of nice jeans when we were getting our ugly sweaters.          find out that Belle can open dressing room doors all by herself!!   
find several pairs of nice jeans, all under 3% spandex  : p  (dont get me started on how much i hate spandex in jeans).    Find out that calvin had pooped sooo much that it leaked all over his jeans and his carseat.  clean up that loverly mess.

    go pick up sarge, get some subway cause its like 4 o clock and neither of us have had lunch yet.  
eat food,  drive away.    hear horrible sound from the backseat.   belle has thrown up all over herself and her beloved stuffed bear.           Like parenting superheroes,  we dive into the mess..   i tackle the weepy girl,  and sarge tackles the pool of puke in the carseat.              after that fun waa over, we visited a the kids great grandparents (they hadnt met calvin yet)  and another old realative.   

       after a loong drive through the mountains,  we can almost see the finish line! all we have to do is pick up the dog from the in-laws and get home so we can all crash into bed.    but nooo...  in a stunning crescendo to our weekend............... I hit deer!!!     this one takes out the bottom part of the bumper , the thing that holds the licence plate on, and one of the lights.
So, sarge is doing things with the insurance today.
I am busy washing car seat covers and bear, and holding kids who are really happy to be home and out of carseats.  

AND NOW THE BEST PART!!  PICTURES!

 Daddy and calvin got their faces painted!

Belle got to drive one of the army boats they use when they are building a bridge (sarge is a bridging engineer)

 Calvin was more than happy to sit on santas lap!    and he got a christmas bear out of it!

 Heres Belle, being tortured with kris kringle

 Belle checking out the boat she got to climb all over!

 Belles after party sugar coma, with the bear she got from santa clause
               

Belle, goofing off in the cottage.  who new a nightstand could be so fun?

   Heres Calvin, checking out his bear from santa!

   Belles Bear that got thrown up on, getting a bath in the bathroom sink.  he is to loved to risk getting hurt in the washer..

Happy anniversary santa!

The annual Christmas parade was last night,  so I bundled up the kids and we went early with Nonna to find a good parking spot.       We sat around in the truck for an hour and Belle people watched and carseat (what she calls cars)  watched.              ATLAST,  all the waiting was rewarded!  the  Fire engine came down the street all decked out in lights and fire fighters perched on top.     THEN.    They blew the horn..       and  ran the siren...       I dont think ive ever seen Belle move so fast.   She jumped out of my arms and ran for the truck.         so we watched the parade with nonna and isaac in the nice warm cab of the truck.

She called out Happy Anniversary, happy birthday, merry birthday, ect..  to santa clause.  pretty much everything BUT merry christmas :)    

Isaac sat on nonnas lap watching the lights with that look on his face pretty much the whole time!

Then, it was over...

MORE LIGHTS MOMMY!!

I want some pita

Quiz time-   What happens when a two year old falls asleep at five PM and despite your best efforts to wake her up and stuff food in her mouth, you finally give up and let her go to bed?

Answer-    You wake up at 1 AM to your daughter  bouncing around on the bed saying "mommy! i want some pita! (pizza)"               

quiz over.                

Anyway..   Im up at 1, sitting at the bar with Belle while she eats, and i thought it would be a great time to dedicate a post to Belle and the things i love about her.

I'll start with the obvious.   She is adorable from her little monkey toes  up past her dimples!

She is sitting next to me right now, determined to cut a roll with a fork all by herself. 
  
          She takes great joy in wallowing on the dog,  lavishing him in the attention i  dont have time to give him.

when it comes to looks, she is brutally honest.   e.g.- Mommy has pretty eyes.  daddy has stinky boobs..       

She can burst into song and/or dance anywhere!   It doesnt matter if we are in the store, the car, or a funeral.   If the mood strikes, dancing erupts!

She has no qualms about telling me if some food is nasty.  She eats almost everything, so on the rare occasion she says "mommy, this nassy"  I dont make her eat it.               

She is very enthusiastic about chores, and tries to elbow me out of the way so she can vaccum.   

Its hard to find anything in life more exciting than bubbles, kitties, dogs, ducks, fish, dolphins, elephants or birds.   

jammas are by far the most comfortable clothes on earth. if the mood strikes her during the day, she peels off clothes and replaces them with jammas.  And she doesnt care who might come over and see her in pjs.

I think if we all acted a little more like two year olds, we would be a lot happier..

I could keep going all night, but Belle is done with her food,  and she has just informed me that im writing a book.        off to bed we go!  (i hope)

six things

                        
1.    I found out that in my dear husbands deviant youth, he hugged a Mrs. clause yard ornament with his pants down and mooned innocent passersby who though they were only going to see pretty christmas decorations.


2.   While i was busy nursing the baby, Shiloh very quietly took a carton of eggs off the counter and decided to egg her bedroom floor.  


3. Had a great hot dog roast with husbands side of the family.  mostly talked about different funny occasions when we saw grandpa (now dead)   in bed with his girlfriend and/or naked.        Also heard recording of sister in law when she accidentaly got high on paint fumes and mistook a raccoon  for a giant white rabbit.

4.    The price of the house we're buying has dropped ten thousand dollars.


5.  Took the kids to Fall festival and had a BLAST!   they ate junk food, got scared of bunnies in the petting zoo, dipped candles  ect..

6.  finally trapped and relocated one of our many cat "friends"
(we have been finding people who want mousers and NOT friendly cats)

tutu years

I spend the majority of my time with two 2 year olds, my daughter Belle and her cousin susie.       As such, i am witness to some very interesting behavior.           
For example -  the four basic food groups are juice, katchup, bananas, and katchup.      Any food  from hot dogs to cucumbers can be rendered acceptable to the two yr old palate if their is katchup to dip it in.             

Last week i gave Belle mac and cheese (should be a favorite )  but she couldnt stand the taste of it.       
I walk into the kitchen to find her chowing down on previously icky mac and cheese, that she has poured dry cereal into and drizzled with honey.                   


Due to a strange set of circumstances that i wont get into right now, we have approx. 10 cats that live around our house.    The cats hate us and run at the sight of any member of our family.   That does not deter two year olds from spending atleast  half an hour a day looking out the window arguing over whos cat is whos.     

Despite having a real dog in the house to play with, they have a "window dog" .     The window dog belongs to the neighbors, and they spend another half hour calling out the window trying to get his attention.            


They both have  comfort items-  susie has jaggy(aka- jaguar) and a blanket,   Belle has bear and a blanket.            They compete for toys all day,  but never these.   
In fact,  if one sees the others toy lying around, they feel the need to rush it to the poor comfort itemless  toddler like theyre  running from a bull.      calvin (3 months) has a blanket and a paci that they both feel responsible for keeping within his grasp at all times.





Someone elses poopy diaper ALWAYS smells worse.

Whats mine is mine, until what you have looks like more fun.  Then you can have mine so you drop yours, making it mine.

                

                                                         From left- Susie, Calvin,Belle


Thats all for now, its naptime and i need to clean up tornado alley (my living room after being played in for 4 hours)             
                                                                        peace,gumdrops, and fluffy pink clouds.

                                                                                  Luna
                                                                                               

Plaid Pajamas

Every year when i was little, I  wanted plaid pajamas for christmas.      In my young mind, they would make everything picture perfect, like in movies when the kids come bounding down the stairs on christmas morning wearing adorable plaid pj's  and they rip open mounds of presents while the parents sit around in bathrobes smiling.          Sadly, the magical pj's just didnt do the trick for me.    Instead,  my sister and i sat around a scraggly tree (with christmas lights that played the most obnoxious christmas music know to man)  and opened presents while my dad sat on the couch brooding about how much the presents cost, with spurts of making sure the home video clearly  stated that he liked me sooo much more than Lucy (fake name for sister).    Mom hovers nearby, trying to be enthused about christmas but you can tell she knows just how depressing this scene really is.                      That is my past, in a nutshell.   Ive come a LONG way from that, with many stupid mistakes and bad choices along the way.
This  isnt going to be about that.           I am 23 years old,   I have had my dream job as an assistant naturalist in a very popular state park, which i gave up almost three years ago to take care of my other dream job, being a mommy.           I am married to my best friend  and we have two of the most awsome  kids ever!             We are In the process of buying our first house(yay we're all grown up!).     I begin my blog with the proud announcement that I have found my magical pajamas!!!