Becoming Army Strong

Happy Birthday Inara

2011-01-23T03:58:00.007-10:00

My little girl is now official four! It's hard to believe that but these kid insist on continuing to grow up!

The Day of Museums

2011-01-16T15:17:00.002-10:00

Jadzia's eyeball!

And Because I took SOOOO many pictures today and had a hard time picking just one - have a slideshow.

Just a few things.

2011-01-15T14:54:00.000-10:00

First off, yesterday we acquired a new family member. I'm pleased to introduce you to Tigerlily.

Taken at PAWS Humane where we adopted her.

My brother and sister-in-law are here visiting.

We checked out the USS DaVinci, the local STARFLEET chapter, today and they were having a Pie Party. Four "pies" of whipped cream met their end and the girls got to help on a couple of them.

Anya trying out Daddy's glasses.

The girls' met a pre-teen friend who let them raid her closet for dress up over and over and over.

The New House

2011-01-13T14:21:00.002-10:00

On borrowed internet (Shhh!) until we get hooked up on the 20th. But here are pics of the house. The furball at the end of the slideshow is our neighbor's little furball. We saw him over the fence.

Hotel Living

2011-01-12T17:21:00.000-10:00

First off, hotel living for us is coming to an end. This will be our last night living in a small room shared with the three little bits (and our dog). Because we will be acquiring the keys to our 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house on base tomorrow!

As far as I know, our furniture has not made it here from Hawaii yet but with any luck it will be along soon. In the mean time we will be chillin' on air mattresses. I don't know how soon we'll be able to have internet hooked up at the house - hoping for sooner rather than later but after the 6 days of no internet in the hotel in Hawaii I might be able to make it...maybe *twitch* I think *twitch*. LOL! If you don't see me on here or the 365 blog it's NOT that I'm not keeping up with my photos - just that I can't post. I will stick with it!

Anywooo! There was more I intended to say but having gone off on the whole internet tangent I've now lost my train of thought so I'll sign off for now! Stay tuned for new house pics :D

Eastern Time Zone

2011-01-10T18:43:00.000-10:00

I dislike it!

I've spent most of my life in the central time zone and I'm accustomed to it. Even in Hawaii, the TV schedule was on Central time zone. It seems minor but the idea of one of the only two shows I watch not being on until TEN is just mind boggling to me! The news is supposed to be on at ten!

Other than that and the fact that it's frakkin' cold (compared to three years in Hawaii anyway) - Georgia is nice. What I've seen of it anyway...which mostly consisted of a bit of the base, the airport and the La Quinta. Maybe I ought to withhold judgment until I get a car in which I might explore a bit more eh?

New Picture Blog

2011-01-10T18:36:00.000-10:00

I have started a separate blog for a 365 picture challenge to myself. I don't know if it will work or if I will flake after awhile but the more people know about it, maybe the more I will feel the push to stay on top of it.

Check it out here and follow if you like! The more followers I have the happier I am. lol
http://camimh365.blogspot.com/

And example of the fine things you could see over there

Ft Benning, GA and the trip that got us here :D

2011-01-06T19:11:00.003-10:00

The day we left Hawaii - which seems like it should be a week ago not just yesterday - we got the new kennel/crate for the dog only to discover that there was no hardware or door for it! So we had to hit up K-Mart to get ANOTHER crate. There were only two lines open and of course I ended up in the line where someone was making an exchange..

We got to the airport about 2 hours pre-flight but because of having to return the one day (more like 4 hour) rental car and check the baggage and get the dog all checked with the flights - we were practically running to the gate. Made it just a few minutes before they started boarding the flight. Of course the military, when booking our flights, didn't pay attention to whether or not our five seats on each flight were close or together! So we get on the first flight and thanks to a lovely Delta flight attendant were able to swap seats with some people.

Halfway through that flight I realize I didn't have my camera bag - the one with my 'spensive, shiny Nikon camera! I went back to the row I was originally in with Anya and found it tucked way under the seat where I must have stowed it and forgotten in the scramble to get switched. We landed in LA and Robby is collecting all the carry ons while I arrange the kids and I noticed one bag missing...our "quick change" bag that had shoes, socks, changes of clothes, etc for when we arrived in the slightly more chilly Georgia. Near as we can figure - during boarding it was accidentally left behind in the gate area in Honolulu Airport. If there was a TSA shut down of the airport as a result of our forgotten bag - I extend my apologies lol.

Anyway, for whatever reason, we're all standing about waiting to off load from the plane and it takes like 30 minutes before they even open the doors (mind you we were already at the gate so it's not like we were still being pulled in or anything). We finally get off the plane and start to hunt down the gate for our next flight since our 2 hour layover is now more like an hour and fifteen minutes. After a couple elevator trips, a LONG walk through the "Steel Curtain Tunnel" of LAX and an escalator trip, we find out new gate and have about 20 minutes to feeds ourselves before boarding. If it were just Robby and I - 20 minutes would be no problem but the girls aren't speedy eaters lol.

On board the next flight (this one from LAX to Atlanta), once again we swap a couple seats with people so Robby is sitting with Jadzia and I'm sitting with Inara and Anya. This particular flight is a red-eye flight and I should note here that Anya has MAJOR motion/spacial issues. She HATES elevators, escalators, etc. Flying was no different. I also suspect she might have slight claustrophobia issues. Every time we boarded a flight she would start freaking out when I tried to get her to move into the row and sit down - just what I want to deal with when trying to stow luggage and get three kids settled. She did this even on the flight from Hawaii to LA and she'd never flown before. Anyway, since it was a red-eye I felt the need to get her calmed as soon as possible - the last thing the sleeping people wanted at midnight was a screaming, crying two year old. With a lot of soothing and holding, she calmed down and clutched onto me through the take off and then conked out.

De-planing from this flight is where we lost another item of marginal importance - one of Anya's Kai-Lan dolls. Now, Anya has a mild Kai-Lan obsession and has what we call the "Kai-Lan Army" of like 6 different stuffed Kai-Lan dolls. All but two of them were snatched by packers before I could rescue them and are currently in a crate somewhere between Hawaii in Georgia. Now one of them is probably sitting in an airport lost and found or something but trying to get back on the plane to retrieve it simply wasn't worth it at that point so she'll have to deal with one for now. (I know, I know - this trip will probably cement her need for like years of therapy lol)

Now in Atlanta, we have about a three hour layover until we are supposed to get on our short hop to Columbus so we take our time getting to our new gate (which requires more escalator trips to traumatize the smallest spawnling and airport train trip). And then we wait...at this point, though it's like 8AM Atlanta time, it's about 3AM Hawaii time and my children are all WIDE AWAKE while Robby and I are desperately trying to keep our eyes open. I was doing great until we stopped moving lol.

So our little 30 minute hop flight is delayed first because of a late flight crew - several flights were delayed for the same reason during our time in the concourse so either the flight crews in Atlanta do not feel the need to be on time - ever - or that's Delta's standardized reply initially lol. After it had been delayed almost an hour they changed the reasoning to maintenance. We finally get boarded...and then we sit. Apparently the radio isn't transmitting or something so we sit and we sit and we sit. Anya spazzes out and eventually falls asleep on my lap while we sit. Another hour or so later, we are de-planed and told to "talk to the gate agents about making arrangements...". Nice plan! The passengers scatter - some jump onto another flight to Columbus, some I suspect go rent a car and just plan to drive from Atlanta to Columbus (it's a couple hours by car). We're waiting for them to work their way through the line and Robby steps up when they announce that they "think" they fixed the issue and will be continuing the flight as planned (a couple hours late). So we reboard and take off. The Fasten Seatbelt sign is off for about 3 minutes before they turn it back on and announce that we are landing! 3 hour layover, 2+ hour delay...for a 30 minute flight!

But finally we're in the tiny little Columbus airport and Robby goes to secure our rental car while I wait with the kids for the baggage to start rolling. Nearly an hour later it finally DOES start rolling and we get everything - except one duffel bag...oh and our DOG!

Thankfully Jasper (the Dog) was NOT lost somewhere between Hawaii and Georgia or taking a mini-break in like Aruba without us. The duffel bag, on the other hand, took a bit longer to track down. Thankfully it was found a while later and finally we were off - only we really had no idea where we were seeing as we'd had no internet for a week and no real means of mapping or familiarizing ourselves with the area lol. It took a couple wrong turns but we found the rather large Ft Benning AND our hotel and then we all fell down lol.

Oh and we saw a few signs for restaurants and such that we have missed during our time in Hawaii so woohoo lol

100 Truths About Me

2010-12-04T11:36:00.000-10:00

100 Truths about Cami

1. Last beverage - water
2. Last phone call - Hubs
3. Last text message - Hubs
4. Last song you listened to - Vanilla Twilight by Owl City
5. Last time you cried - Not really sure; last major time I remember would be when my dog died.

HAVE YOU EVER:
6. Dated someone twice - yes, didn't end well either time lol
7. Been cheated on - no
8. Kissed someone & regretted it - no
9. Lost someone special - yes
10. Been depressed - not exceptional, sad sure but I wouldn't say depressed
11. Been drunk and threw up - no
LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:

12. Purple
13. Blue
14. Red

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU: (2010)
15. Made a new friend - yes
16. Fallen out of love - no
17. Laughed until you cried - yes
18. Met someone who changed you - yes
19. Found out who your true friends were - no
20. Found out someone was talking about you - no
21. Kissed anyone on your fb friend's list - yes, hubs lol

GENERAL:
22. How many people on your Facebook friends list do you know in real life - maybe an eighth of them
24. Do you have any pets - Yes, a dog named Jasper
25. Do you want to change your name - no
26. What did you do for your last birthday - not a whole lot I don't think
27. What time did you wake up today - 7AM (thanx kidlets)
28. What were you doing at midnight last night - watching NUMB3RS
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for - Moving off this island! :D
30. Last time you saw your Mother - a year ago
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life? - location, but that's up to the army lol
32. What song do you love listening to - How to Save a Life by They Fray
33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom - yes
34. What's getting on your nerves right now - my dog lol
35. Most visited webpage - TS3 forums, FB, SiManiacs
37. Nicknames - Cami, Cameo
38. Relationship Status - Married with Children
39. Zodiac Sign - Capricorn
40. He or She? - She
41. Elementary? - 6 of them
42. Middle School? - Strack Intermediate
43. High School? - Cypress Creek HS
44. Hair color - Brownish
45. Long or short - Long
46. Height - 5' 9"
47. Do you have a crush on someone? Does Johnny Depp count? lol
48: What do you like about yourself? Everything! I'm just that awesome ;)

49. Piercings - ears only
50. Tattoos - one, a jeweled crescent moon on my shoulder
51. Righty or lefty - righty

FIRST:
52. First surgery - c-section in January 2007 with 2nd spawnling
53. First piercing - ears when I was too young to remember
54. First real best friend - Michael K. in Kinder ;)
55. First sport you joined - Swimming
56. First vacation - heck if I remember lol

RIGHT NOW:
59. Eating - Nothin
60. Drinking - water
61. I'm about to - tackle an enormous pre-packers list
62. Listening to - Michael Buble
63. Waiting for - Mental Health

YOUR FUTURE :
64. Get Married? - Again? Oh heck no! lol Once it enough for me
65. Want Kids? - More than I already have - no thank ya!
66. Career? - I already have like five careers; teacher, photographer, writer, cook, maid, sports coach, nurse - I'm a mom ;)

WHICH IS BETTER :
67. Lips or eyes? - Eyes
68. Hugs or kisses - Hugs
69. Shorter or taller - either or
70. Older or Younger - older
71. Romantic or spontaneous - romantic
73. Sensitive or loud - sensitive
74. Hook-up or relationship - relationship
75. Trouble maker or hesitant - hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER :
76. Kissed a stranger - no
77. Drank hard liquor - yes
78. Lost glasses/contacts - no
79: Broken a bone in your body - yes
80. Broken someone's heart - not that I know of
81. Had your own heart broken - yes
83. Turned someone down - yes
84. Cried when someone died - yes
85. Fallen for a friend - yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
86. Yourself - yes
87. Miracles - sort of
88. Love at first sight - yes
89. Heaven - no
90. Santa Claus - I like to believe in the magic yes
91. Kiss on the first date - yes
92. Fate - yes to some degree

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
93. Had more than one bf/gf? - yes
94. Is there one person you want to be with right now? - yes and I'm with them all
95. Did you sing today? - no
96. Ever cheated on somebody? - no
97. If you could go back in time, how far would you go, and why? - Jane Austen England - just cause I could
98. If you could pick a day from last year and relive it, what would it be? The day Robby came home from his deployment
99. Are you afraid of falling in love? - nope
100. Did you have fun writing 100 truths? - yes

Surgery Week

2010-06-22T16:37:00.000-10:00

It's been like 3 months since I updated here yes? Okay so let me sum up...my left hand, or part of it anyway, has been asleep since just before Christmas. After lots of visits to lots of doctors, a test involving shooting electricity through needles into my arm and an MRI - the conclusion was a case of Cubital Tunnel. What is cubital tunnel you ask? Well it's like carpel tunnel but a different "tunnel" and a different nerve so it effects the other side of the arm/hand.

My left hand has become weaker so there is reason to suggest loss of muscle which all boils down to surgery.

Surgery is on Thursday. It's a day surgery thing so as long as all goes well I should be home that same day nursing a sore arm. Then there will be a range of physical therapy and all that good stuff.

So that's the scoop, wish me luck.

OH! And tomorrow is Anya's second birthday! Good thing she is only 2 and won't realize that we won't really be celebrating her birthday until probably July 23rd lol. I plan to make some cupcakes tonight though so she will have something small on her day at least.

Anya Video

2010-04-05T10:21:00.000-10:00

Rest in Peace Gimli

2010-03-19T08:11:00.001-10:00

Our dear, sweet puppy passed away this morning around six am. He was six and a half years old and very much loved by our family.

October 16th, 2003 - March 19th, 2010

We adopted Gimli in December 2003 - he was seven weeks old and could fit in our hands at the time. Of all his litter, he was the calmest when we picked him and the runt of the litter. Boy did he deceive us on both accounts. It soon became apparent that he had quite a bit of energy bundled in that tiny little package and of course he didn't stay tiny for long.

Even though he was a mini-dachshund, when he was full grown he was larger than mini-doxies were supposed to be but not fat at the time.

We found out in February 2004 that we were expecting Jadzia and eventually Gimli transferred the majority of his affection to Robby. Robby was his chosen human and they were very close.

When Robby left for Basic Training - Gimli was darn near depressed and moody but we mustered through it. While in Texas, we had three cats who Gimli loved - mostly chasing them around the apartment and playing with them. Of course the cats didn't always like his particular means of "play". But Rajah and Gimli made friends with each other.

There was never any doubt that we would bring him with us to Hawaii, even with the three month quarantine they have in place here in Hawaii. We visited him at the quarantine station as often as we could and he was well taken care of there and grew chunkier.

When the three months were up, we were thrilled to bring him home. We'd adopted Bluto a couple weeks before then and were expecting Anya a few weeks later so it was a busy start to the summer.

Gimli managed Robby's deployment better than he handled the original training but a couple months after Robby left, Gimli had severe neck pains. We went to the vet and they explained that this was an issue common in dachshunds. I don't remember what it's called, I may have blogged about it about a year ago. But they gave him anti-inflammatory medication and told us to try to keep him from jumping on furniture, rough housing with Bluto, etc. A few weeks on the meds and he was back to his old self and disgruntled that I wouldn't let him jump as much.

In August, Bluto passed away and very shortly after we got Jasper - a beagle puppy. Robby was home on leave at the time thankfully. Jasper and Gimli got along well - better than he did with Bluto I think because Jasper was never very much larger than Gimli.

A week ago, Gimli began to limp and by the following morning he was not using his back legs at all. We rushed him to the vet, who rushed us to another vet. They strongly recommended surgery to recover use of his legs. Sadly the surgery was far more than we could begin to afford so they recommended getting him a doggie wheelchair. Chances were he'd never regain back mobility but he would be able to continue leading a happy doggie life. We brought him home and started the process of getting one.

Over the course of the week, Gimli was doing fairly well considering the circumstances but he took a turn for the worse on Wednesday night. He wasn't wanting to eat or drink on his own and simply wasn't himself - even the "himself" he'd been since losing mobility. Yesterday he seemed to improve in some areas and ate and drank so we all hoped he would bounce back but as the night continued, it became clear that it was almost time. I stayed up with him snuggled with me on the couch until he quietly passed away this morning.

He was a great dog and will be sorely missed. Rest in peace puppy and say hi to Bluto for us.

The blog post is brought to you by the word "Wow"

2010-03-08T18:19:00.000-10:00

Oh what a day. My dad is getting married again! I'm happy and thrilled for him but I'm still kind of in the "wow-factor".

Inara, my 3 year old, has ringworm apparently - and sensitive skin.

And my card number was stolen along with a lot of money that we now have to contest.

Good times....

Did I saw wow?

Inara's Green Party

2010-01-23T18:55:00.002-10:00

So about a month ago I asked Inara what she wanted to do for her birthday party. She said she wanted a "Green" party. I attempted to suggest things like Tinkerbell, Shrek, etc - that are green - but she was hooked on "Green". So we had a Green Party today. And can I just say, there isn't enough solid green stuff lol

The Spread
Green juice, green grapes, green apples, green celery, green goldfish (I picked out all the green goldfish from one of the big rainbow boxes lol):

The Green Gifts

Eating time

The birthday Girl

The birthday girl's sister ;)

Gifts!

Doctor Inara ;)

Cake time! This had to be one of the easiest cakes I've made decorating wise lol

The other sister, icing faced ;)

The cake before the candles and cutting. Green icing with green sprinkle shavings. :)

Thanks for looking and thanks for all of Inara's (and Robby's) birthday wishes :)

The Tooth Fairy

2010-01-03T14:04:00.000-10:00

Jadzia lost her first tooth! :)

Eleven Months, Two Weeks and Two Days

2009-12-19T13:41:00.002-10:00

That's how long the deployment lasted, give or take a few hours. But Robby is home now!

Thank you all for reading, commenting, thinking of us during this long deployment. Peace and love to you all this holiday season!

Cami, Robby and the Girls!

Happy Halloween!!

2009-10-28T13:25:00.002-10:00

From the spawn o' Cami ;)

Dorothy

The Tin Man

The cutest cowardly lion EVER

I even got in on it as the Scarecrow

And my dad made these animal masks for their rooms

Totally Random Sim Picture

2009-09-07T19:11:00.002-10:00

I've been creating ghosts (which means I have to kill the sim first). I ALMOST freed this man (known as Mr. Muscles) from the fire but didn't. He's a nice ghost though. Okay that's your randomness for this Labor Day

Two Weeks Gone

2009-09-05T21:52:00.004-10:00

Two weeks of R&R have passed and Robby has left the island on his way back to Iraq now. we had a good time of course but it was all over too quickly. We took him to the airport this afternoon and were able to get security passes to take him to the gate and wait with him until boarding. Anya was very cranky by then and Inara didn't understand why she couldn't go with Daddy but she recovered so far. Tomorrow will really tell - I still think she will take it worst than the other two. Jadzia cried some but I think that was because of my crying mostly.

Anyway, 3.5 months is much shorter than the first 7.5 months and if we have any luck at all he will be home by Christmas. Here's hoping. Between now and then we have Jadzia's actual birthday, Halloween, T-Day, Grandma's visit and then he'll be home hopefully. Lots to keep us busy yes?

Now for some pictures to wrap up this post :)

Random Pictures

2009-09-02T20:39:00.004-10:00

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

2009-08-31T20:57:00.002-10:00

Yesterday was a bittersweet day. For months, I'd been planning to have Jadzia's birthday party while Robby was home on R&R and I wanted it as close the September 1st as I could since that was only a month early. For months she wanted a Wizard of Oz party so I bought all the stuff for it and when we knew Robby's leave dates we planned it for this past weekend. Since it was really only us and our neighbor's family some things got left down to the last minute. But regardless, there was going to be a party. After taking Bluto to the vet Saturday and still feeling confident that he would recover and be a happy, bounding puppy soon, I started making Jadzia's cake. I had a great mental image of a cake in my head and I so hoped I could pull it off.

Following the directions from here, I set about producing a rainbow cake. I got the "bones" (i.e. the cake itself sans frosting) done Saturday night and put it in the fridge over night (if I learned anything from Belle and Cinderella, I learned that the harder a cake gets from being cool, the easier it is to ice properly.

Sunday morning, Bluto still wasn't well but I went ahead with the decorating of the cake as the party was set for that afternoon at 4PM. It didn't all go exactly according to plan but it came out great in my opinion. The lollipops I'd ordered mostly as party favors/decor turned out the go well with the cake.

I finished the cake and was thrilled with the outcome. Jadzia had seen me decorating it and kept telling me how beautiful it was as she danced around in her Ruby Slippers (yes she put them on as soon as she realized it was party day).

It wasn't long after that that I discovered Bluto had passed. We'd been keeping him in the laundry room where it was quiet and dark per the vet's recommendations and checking on him every hour or so to sit with him, pet him, give him some water, etc. I came out sobbing and Inara immediately came to hug me and Jadzia asked me what was wrong. We had to explain a few times to her that Bluto wasn't coming back as she kept saying "it's okay, he'll be back soon" trying to comfort me. I'm still not completely sure she understands but I've gotten off track a bit. We decided to proceed with the party since Jadzia was excited and it was planned. Robby called the vet (who'd given us his cell phone for the weekend and agreed to meet Robby at the office even though it was a Sunday) and took Bluto up there. I got the kids watching something or other and then cried a lot.

I stalled decorating for awhile but finally starting putting up some balloons and streamers and generally preparing for a 5 year old birthday party. It was small but it was fun. Jadzia opened presents (and made out like a bandit due to mommy's amazon addiction) and then it was time for cake.

Singing happy birthday, see Miss Dorothy.

You saw the outside of the finished product - time for the INSIDE.

The party did a great job of distracting the kids (and Robby and I a little) from Bluto's passing and Jadzia had a good time. After it was over she spent the rest of the night making sushi, stir fry and cookies with her array of Melissa and Doug wooden food I ordered for her.

Rest In Peace Bluto

2009-08-31T20:47:00.004-10:00

Born March 18th, 2008
Died August 30th, 2009

I know it's been a few weeks since my last post and now I come back with such somber news but such is life.

Our sweet dog Bluto passed away yesterday. He had a liver disorder and seizures. While the seizures seemed to have been under control, sometime in the early Saturday morning hours he had a seizure (or more than one) while we were sleeping. He had at least 3 more from 7AM until noon that day. The vet put him on various drugs to stop the seizures but he never seemed to recover from the cluster. He was breathing heavily and unable to function Saturday and into Sunday. Then on Sunday he passed away. We don't know if the seizures were the direct cause of his death, if the liver was the cause or if there was some other underlying cause of the seizures which also caused his death.

He will be dearly missed in this family. He was a good, sweet dog and always so great with the kids.

The Spawn

2009-08-07T23:55:00.004-10:00

Wish you a very belated Fourth or July or say "We're ready for Daddy" - whichever you prefer. :)

And showing off their pretty towels :)

Wow! All three looking at the camera at the same time!

How I've Spending My Time

2009-07-22T12:32:00.004-10:00

Ya know when I'm not wrestling with three kids and two crazy dogs...

I am addicted to The Sims 3...in truth, I've been a Sims player from the beginning. I played The Sims back in high school and The Sims 2 in college. Anyway, Sims 3 came out a bit over a month ago and I'm completely and totally hooked. I have two main families going right now.

The Rheyers who have had 10 generations born and now have more money than I know what to do with. It all started with a single simmie I named Elizabeth Rheyer - she's long dead now but her family lives on on the plantation. This is the development of their house:

Elizabeth moved into her husband's Sherman's run down house.

The House and Barn got paint jobs, railing put up, shutters on the windows. And a garden!

As the family grew, the house had to grow. I expanded it a bit but even with that, added a second, small house on the side of the lot to accommodate the family.

Managing two houses like that became a nuisance eventually so I sent everyone off the lot and built a shiny new house!

Now I also have the Tigen family. The third generation of this family are children now so they aren't rolling in dough but they're doing okay. This is the evolution of their house:

This family is for a legacy challenge which means you have to buy the most expensive empty lot. As a result you have about 1,300 simoleons to get started....that doesn't build a house. lol

Eventually they had enough I could build them a small, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house (which housed 2 adults and 6 teenagers at one point! eek!) At least they were inside.

And then they just recently had enough for a real upgrade. The inside is not done and they don't have the money for most of the furniture that will be needed to truly decorate it but it looks so pretty on the outside.

So that's what I've been doing with my time. I'm hooked.

See Cami Blog

2009-07-20T20:53:00.003-10:00

Twice today I was asked about my blog so here I am, blogging.

See Cami blog.

*channeling my inner Yoda* Blog Cami will.

But that begs the question of where to start. I could spend hours trying to update you on every thing thing spawn have done over the last month or more but that's not really exciting to me so I'll save you from that fate.

Today we went to the Commissary. Epic start eh? I avoid going to the Commissary on or around payday, on the weekends or after about 4PM. In truth I avoid going to the Commissary period because I have three kids but the above are the main times I avoid it. As a result, we started getting a little creative with meals around here this weekend as it was the weekend after payday. Peanut butter and jelly tortilla rolls anyone?

So today we went to the Commissary. For weeks I'd been make small runs for as little as possible and it was time to buckle down and do a real shopping trip for meals and such. Three hundred dollars later, my fridge and pantry is stocked and I can return to make small runs for milk and bread (and such) for a bit longer. Yay! For the first time Anya did not start crying the moment we hit the check out and Inara did not try to steal anything from the candy rack. Jadzia, on the other hand, was sullen and snippy. Eh, can't win them all.

When we got home, Inara threw the mother of all tantrums (she's been working on this talent, she could use it in a talent show) which including screaming, thrashing, throwing a toy and smacking and kicking the wall while in time out. I don't know what triggered it, probably related to that toy that learned out to fly today. As I said, this is a quickly developing talent of hers. While part of it is because she's 2 I'm sure; I think a big part of it is missing Daddy and not having the means to communicate with me about it.

And while Inara was kicking the wall, Anya threw a pool party in the dog water dish. She went through three outfits today because she kept getting herself wet. Tomorrow she's going naked all day I think.

I will leave this blog with one parting thought: down with Noggin ;)

Cami and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2009-06-29T20:02:00.002-10:00

I went to bed with a well saved game and now my game is corrupted and Bluto whined and barked until 4AM and when I fed him he jumped and knocked the cup from my hand making it shatter, I cut my thumb on the glass and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Then Jadzia woke me up by telling Inara to get back into bed and Inara woke me up by crying because Jadzia told her to get back into bed and Anya woke me up just by being Anya. I woke up to my cycle.

I think I'll move to Australia.

Inara leaked overnight and Jadzia has apparently decided that wiping is beneath her and Bluto resumed whining and then peed on the floor. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

After breakfast, Jadzia pulled a towel down from the bar - bringing my Nikon D80 camera down with it. It made a scary clunk sound as it landed on the floor but was intake. Jadzia relocated herself to the playroom then. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I could tell because while playing on the floor with the girls, Anya tried to "kiss" me and smashed her rather hard head into my nose. Inara opted to sit on my stomach at the same time. Jadzia stayed in the playroom.

My Dad called to talk to the girls and Jadzia refused to come to the phone and ran away to the playroom crying. Inara buried her head in her blanket and pretend not to see me when I called her to the phone. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

That's what it was, because after Anya's nap, she climbed up on the couch and then proceeded to tumbled off the couch onto a pillow. Even with the softer landing, she was rather upset. Next week, I'm going to Australia.

In attempt to reintegrate Bluto into the household, I let him out after the kids had finished lunch. He spent thirty minutes bounding around the house trying to find scraps. He put his paws on Anya's tray and stole food directly from her tray. Anya didn't like that and started crying. I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. The kids didn't seem to notice.

In an attempt to improve my day, I decided to make rice crispy treats but the marshmallows somehow got burned a bit. So the kids ate slightly burned tasting rice crispy treats for dinner because I was afraid to cook anything - I'd probably burn my hand.

Then Jadzia was so absorbed in something she started to pee before going to the bathroom. She burst out crying and doing the pee pee dance. I asked her if she still needed to potty and she said no but then changed her mind. While trying to clean that up, Bluto got super excited and plowed Anya to the ground and then was dancing right over her with no regard for her screaming presence. Bluto returned to the laundry room, Jadzia good changed, Anya settled down and started pulling books off the shelves. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Anya tried to eat my books after she pulled them off the shelf, I didn't like that.

Inara tripped into the counter, she didn't like that.

Jadzia tried to tell Inara what she couldn't play with, Inara didn't like that.

Anya likes the dog water and the dog food. Anya has decided that playing in the toilet water is fun. She pinched her finger under the toilet seat in the process.

When I put the kids to bed, Inara left her blanket downstairs, Jadzia didn't want to go potty before bed and Anya woke up five seconds after I put her down because Bluto was barking.

It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Some days are like that.

Even in Australia.

(layout courtesy of Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; plot courtesy of my spawn)

Grandpa's Visit, State Fair and Party!

2009-06-26T00:31:00.000-10:00

On Saturday, we went to the Hawaii State Fair and planned a little party for Anya while Grandpa was here. The State Fair was nice but it ain't a Texas State Fair (but then I suspect few equate in my mind). The kid's had fun! Daddy would be so proud of Jadzia, when she saw the roller coaster they had, THAT is what she said she wanted to go on. She wasn't tall enough for it but we did find a smaller one that she just barely squeaked by on that she could ride and she had fun. Mommy got good and squished because the cars were not meant for larger people. ;) Oh, you came here for pictures didn't you?

Ahhh! A Giraffe ate Jadzia

Have you noticed a trend here? Inara always seems to be in Grandpa's arms. She actually cried when we dropped him off at the airport. It was very sad!

At the Fair

Birthday Party! Be warned, there are massive amounts of smash cake pictures ahead - messy messy baby...

she tried to grab the flame at one point...

Hmm, let's try this out...

Not bad, not bad

I wonder if anyone will see if I just take a little more...

Ah well, guess I'm caught!

Don't throw a baby birthday party when baby is even a little tired...eventually they rub their eyes.

It's MINE! Mine! MINE!

Wha? It wasn't me...*shifty eyes*

I'm one and I'm stuffed.

Where did that cake go?

All clean and playing with a new toy (thanks grandpa!)

Grandpa's Visit, Dell Plantation

2009-06-25T07:29:00.001-10:00

Since there were no kid pictures with the PCC post, here's a second one all about the munchkins. Jadzia was not cooperating really and neither was Inara but Inara's results were funnier. These were at the Dell Plantation for our pineapple ice cream pit stop on the way out to North Shore.

This is what we found when we came out of Walmart that same day. The original, unedited picture didn't show the second rainbow as well as I'd like so I played with it alot. Applied some saturation and filters and just had some photoshop fun.

Grandpa's Visit, The Polynesian Culture Center

2009-06-25T07:12:00.000-10:00

The Luau Entertainment

The Horizons Evening Show

Grandpa's Visit, The Zoo

2009-06-24T00:06:00.000-10:00

At the end of the day, back home relaxing with a good book

First a little catch up

2009-06-23T21:37:00.005-10:00

It's been awhile since I shared pictures, I could totally overload y'all all at once with 2.5 months worth of pictures OR I can spread it out over the week. So this will be a picture week - I hope. Tonight I will share some catch up pics from BEFORE my dad came to visit.

Mmmmm, blue M&M - thanks Inara....

North Shore Visit

More tomorrow :)

Blockbuster Summer

2009-06-02T22:16:00.002-10:00

As the summer months come, many new releases pop up. It seems to be the season for new things. Like summer blockbusters in the theaters, computer games come out. New books release. It's just the season. I suppose it's because people tend to have more free time.

Today was a big day for new releases in my little corner of the world. First off, the much anticipated Sims 3 arrived in stores today. If you've never played the Sims, it's a never really ending simulation. You can create sims in the likeness of anyone you want (or not in anyone's likeness) and then you play their lives. They grow up and marry, have kids, careers, die - all in good computer simulated fun. It's a little unnerving just how addictive the game can be. I've been playing the Sims games since high school at least; back when it was just plain "The Sims". The game has come a long way since then and it seems like EA has taken many consumer opinions to heart in the development as well as continually advancing the game play. No doubt, the many expansion packs to come will find their way into my house, as they always do. Anyway, the new game is pretty cool from what I've seen and I look forward to playing more of it.

Also released was the new Queen Betsy book, Undead and Unwelcome by MaryJanice Davidson. Now I love the Betsy books and I love the character of Betsy, despite the fact that she's completely self-absorbed; or maybe because she is complete self-absorbed. In the last book, Betsy seemed to be maturing a bit as the novels took a slight turn. Her path to becoming a true Queen of the Undead (as opposed to a shiny object at Sinclair's side) seemed to continue in this novel so yay Queen Betsy. Anyway, I got the book a day early in the mail yesterday (I love Amazon.com) and finished it last night.

There are about a dozen other new paranormal books coming out this summer that I want as well and now that I am recovered from the reading challenge which sent my brain into overload and my eyeballs into a fuzzy haze - I'm back in the reading groove. Well I was, until I got Sims 3.

The Case of the Doggy Bag

2009-06-01T20:45:00.003-10:00

Last night I ordered pizza for dinner and there was still some left over. I hadn't tossed the box yet and it was sitting on top of the stove. There was also a box from breadsticks on top of the pizza box and some Trek toys from a cereal box I opened today (all on TOP of the pizza box). I went next door for a bit tonight and when I came back the Trek toys were no longer on top of the pizza box, they'd been knocked to the floor. (Mind you the breadstick box was still on top of the pizza box) Confused, I picked them up and set them on the counter. I picked up the pizza box intending to toss it out and it felt too light considering there should be slices left in the box. Moving the breadstick box, I opened the pizza box....no pizza. No trace of pizza aside from the greasy stains on the box.

Meanwhile, Bluto is wagging his big dog butt next to me like he was the best dog in the world. Near as I can figure, Bluto got up, used his nose to open the pizza box enough to devour the pizza. The toys easily scattered due to being small and light but the breadstick box still had breadsticks in it (I guess he wasn't interested in those) so the box was heavy enough not to fall off as Bluto sneak attacked the pizza. When he was done and removed his big head from the box, the breadstick box assisted in closing the lid of the pizza box leaving very little evidence of his super stealth pizza theft.

Either that or someone came in, stole the pizza slices and nothing else and left. I tend to favor the dog in this case. My dog has mad, stealth skills...and will probably throw up the evidence by morning...

Shiny

2009-05-16T22:48:00.002-10:00

I have a shiny new desktop computer with a super large monitor. It's really strange to view everything this large actually. But, all that being said - shiny new computer. Pretty!

This new computer, while for everyone in the family, was partially a Mother's Day gift picked out by Robby. The old desktop will be cleaned up and set up for Jadzia (and eventually Inara and Anya as they get older) in the playroom. Since I've been set up on the desktop for awhile due to the unfortunate liquid meets laptop episode, Jadzia hasn't really been able to play on her keyboard which I know she likes so I look forward to setting it up for her. First I need to get a desk of some sort for it.

Shiny new computer....

A Three Hour Tour...

2009-05-08T22:39:00.004-10:00

*humming the Gilligan tune*

Today I wanted to go to Costco, that was honestly my only goal. Because we needed a couple things...

I felt the urge to take my camera with me because I haven't been using it much lately. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to take a picture of but I knew I wanted to take a picture (or several). Since there isn't much between the base and the nearest Costco, I decided to head in the direction of the other one on the island, hoping I'd figure out what I wanted to take pictures of in between.

I took the wrong exit for the Costco and ended up driving through Waikiki and Honolulu a bit and eventually ended up at the Bishop Museum after a series of turns. While I do want to return to the Museum on another day, today I didn't figure it would be worth the money given Anya was on the edge of meltdown. If I kept moving, I figured she'd fall asleep after awhile.

Once again I found myself not entirely sure where I was but it's an island, eventually you have to turn or you end up in the ocean, and I was on a major road. So I kept driving. I found myself wedged between the mountains and eventually passed through one of the tunnels (where I got no radio signal by the way) and on the eastern side of the island.

By this point, it seemed a little foolish to turn around and back track - it would take just as long to get back to Honolulu and loop up to base as it would (probably) to take the coastal route. So we kept on driving along the coast...

The coast of Hawaii...it was one of those days where I thought "I live in Hawaii! How did this happen?!" Yes, over a year later and I still think like that. It's completely baffling to me some days. At this point I still hadn't taken any pictures because I was too busy trying to figure out where exactly we were. I pulled over a few times to take pictures though once I was oriented.

Almost four hours after we left the house to go to Costco, we got home - never having gone to Costco. Oh well, another day perhaps.

These first two are actually from a trip to North Shore a couple weeks ago.

The rest are from today.

Viking Vampires

2009-05-04T18:14:00.003-10:00

I love them. Well one in particular, Eric - oh yummy Eric.

Of course now those of you not in the "know" are shaking your head in befuddlement thinking I've gone off the deep end I suppose.

Tomorrow, the 5th, the ninth installment of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris releases. Being the good, Eric (and Sookie) loving fan that I am, I preordered Dead and Gone from Amazon.com. To my great surprise and happiness it arrived TODAY - a day early! Woohoo!

I checked the mail around 11:30AM and found my very pretty new book waiting for me. I hurried to put Anya down for her nap (no I didn't put her down earlier than normal - it was time). And settled in to read while Jadzia and Inara watched Gummi Bears and ignored me for the most part. I don't always get time to read during the day but I must have put off a vibe to Jadzia and Inara because they found plenty of enjoyment in each other. Around 230, Anya woke up from her nap so I had to put Sookie aside for a few to feed her and tend to all the kids. Then, I resumed reading - although I was interrupted more often now that Anya was awake. Can't fault her too much, she is only 10 months old - I dare say she doesn't understand the draw of a good book (particularly the newest release of a favorite series) yet.

In spite of kidlet interuptions, I finished the book just about 5PM. So not only did I get it in my little hands before it's official release; I finished it before then too. It was a good installment and by no means lacking in my favorite Viking Vampire. As with so many things, the long wait was rewarded but I still can't wait for the next book! Which is some ways a way I think. But it's not like I don't have some 200 other books on my TBR to read.

I won't give away any plot here since I know at least a couple of my readers are Sookie fans.

Reading Challenge Week 2

2009-05-03T18:25:00.002-10:00

Week 2 of my reading challenge has concluded and I read the following this week:

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
Damsel Under Stress by Shanna Swendson
Don't Hex With Texas by Shanna Swendson

Did you notice a bit of a trend there? This past week was Sookie week in prep for Dead and Gone. I wanted to refresh my memory on all things Sookie for the new book. Then I finished those early enough in the week to finish off the Katie Chandler series by Swendson. All good books!

So my totals came out to 10 books and roughly 3.4 lbs read for the week. Rock on!

Four Months

2009-05-02T18:28:00.001-10:00

It's hard to believe that it's been four months since Robby deployed. It hasn't been as bad as I expected really. I will be happy when it's over though. Going anywhere beyond the base with three kids is just plain exhausting at this point so I'll be happy to have him home when he gets home.

Yay!

2009-04-30T17:40:00.001-10:00

Anya has figured out how to use a straw sippy cup!! Woot! Now she can get liquid from a source that isn't me!

That's all! :)

I'm Still Here

2009-04-29T23:42:00.002-10:00

I know it's been quite on the blog front this week but I wanted to at least pop in and let you all know I'm still here. Deep in "Sookie Week" as I call it. Book 9 of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books releases May 5th and in preparation, I'm rereading books 1-8 to refresh my memory a bit. So this week is all about reading lots and lots of Sookie.

Love y'all and will catch up soon!

Biggest Loser Reading Challenge

2009-04-26T21:43:00.002-10:00

As I mentioned previously, I signed up for a reading challenge to try to slim down my massive to-be-read pile. Today was the "Weigh in" for the first week.

Individually I read 8 books equaling 4.2 pounds according to Amazon.com weights! In an average week I normally read 3-4 books so this is an awesome week for me! I can only hope I can keep it up through the rest of the challenge.

My team (4 people) read a total of 21 books equaling 12.59 pounds and we came in second for the week out of 10 teams. I'm thrilled with the results and look forward to the rest of the challenge.

The books I read this past week were:
An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan
Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan
These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan
Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky
Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz
White is for Magic by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Silver is for Secrets by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

The Pamela Aidan books have already been received by a new reader (shockingly enough given the fact that they were sent Media Mail) and at least 3 others will be mailed out this week I hope.

8 down...180 some odd books to go...

New Words

2009-04-25T23:09:00.002-10:00

About a month ago, I was starting to really wonder about Inara in terms of speech. I knew she understood pretty much everything I was telling her but was just quiet and not particularly expressive. So I started watching and listening to her more to try and get an idea of her vocabulary (this is not a particularly telling exercise but everyone always says "oh little Jimmy says XX number of words..." so I figured I'd try). I didn't last long at actually counting but decided to just keep listening. Then just in the last few weeks she's suddenly stringing words together to make small phrases and has embraced a few choice words.

"Me!" - This one is accompanied usually by her pointing to herself or thumping her chest like Tarzan. It generally follows one of her sisters being given something by me or me doing something with them (i.e. someone other than her). Today I was covering Anya's head with a blanket and playing Peek-a-boo and Inara came over with her blanket and shoved it in my face and proclaimed "Me!" Then when I didn't immediately transfer the game to her, she said "Me! Up" and held the blanket over her head.

"Mine!" - This one is fairly new on the scene and hasn't taken firm ground yet but I fear it will soon. It's pretty self-explanatory.

"No" - Now normally, I don't particularly like it when my kids tell me no. Today, however, I asked Inara to do something small. It wasn't particularly important but I asked her to do whatever it was (I don't remember now) and she just looked at me, grinned, shook her head and said "no". It wasn't a strong, attitude-y "NO!" - it was a sweet and comical and light. Carefree almost. If she knew to shrug her shoulders with it, it would have been perfect. I couldn't stop myself from laughing which I'm sure will diminish my authoritative power in the future but it was funny!

She's a funny little kid...

Jane Austen

2009-04-23T18:25:00.002-10:00

Jane Austen is where I turn when I've had a particularly harrowing day/night. I either pick up one the books and read a few chapters or I put in one of the movies to watch and just relax. There is something about Jane Austen's writing and stories that seems to bring me back to center.

Last night was one of those nights. Bluto and Gimli were rampaging around the house - possibly stirred up by the rain that was in the air. Anya was screaming bloody murder and pushing away from my arms even as I held her (because she was screaming bloody murder on the floor too). Jadzia kept wandering over to see what I was doing instead of cleaning up before bed and Inara kept trying to climb in my lap as I was trying to keep Anya from flinging herself into the wall or something in her fit. I would have collapsed right then if I didn't think that I'd be assaulted by two dogs and three kids right from the start.

Already on a thin thread, Jadzia finally comes to say she's done cleaning and I immediately see she's left a half dozen toys laying the living room. Done...uh huh, RIGHT! As I'm pointing out things to clean up, my neighbor rings the doorbell thus setting off the dogs and restarting the screams of Baby Spawn. She looks as harrassed as I feel so the meeting is thankfully brief and I return to the Spawn and dogs. Jadzia picks up the rest of the stuff and we head upstairs for the bedtime routine. Inara thinks it would be AWESOME to run up and down the hall while I'm attempting to get her ready for bed and Anya thinks screaming will make it all go faster.

I finally get the older two to bed and then set about getting Anya down for the night. This would have been easier if the dogs weren't still a little wound from the door bell previously. So in addition to their hallway races, they are occasionally letting out yips and barks just to make my night extra special. Finally I get Anya asleep and down, I give Bluto some food, attention and then let him outside and fall into the couch with my copy of Pride and Prejudice firmly in hand. After about 45 minutes of reading, I feel re-centered and less likely to strangle the first living thing in sight (namely Bluto probably).

Jane Austen is the new yoga - at least for me.

Crawling Video

2009-04-21T19:17:00.003-10:00

Crawling

2009-04-21T09:27:00.002-10:00

Well, kinda. She's trying - she's REALLY trying to crawl. I think the slick floors are somewhat challenging in that respect as she can slide around. I have a couple videos I will try to upload later.

Meanwhile you can just imagine the increased number of "Anya! No!" that is heard in our house. Both from me and Jadzia. Apparently Anya has a penchant for dog food and Inara and Jadzia's sippy cups (yes she has her own - she's not interested!)

Inara - the puppy?!

2009-04-20T08:48:00.001-10:00

Yesterday I was TRYING to read and Inara came up with Gimli's food dish (empty) and some mardi gras beads. She forced the beads into my hand, put the bowl in my lap and moved my hand over the bowl and then waited for me to drop the beads in it. When I didn't she started prying my fingers open until the beads dropped. Then she put them back in my hands, moved the hand away and then back over the bowl and repeated, over and over and over. She also will take my hand and put it to her face or head and then lean into it kinda like when a puppy nudges at your hand until it's resting on his head.

When she wants me to do something to play with her and am not immediately accommodating, she finds a way to make me do it if it's in her powers.

Reading Challenge

2009-04-19T20:45:00.001-10:00

I joined a reading challenge on Paperbackswap to read as many paperbacks as possible over the next 5-6 weeks so if I'm a little sparse in posts - that's why. After the kids go to bed (which is when I typically blog), I now jump right into reading to get as much time as possible. I fully intend to come back and post and then go to bed reading without thinking about it. :)

It's no wonder ya know...

2009-04-18T22:02:00.003-10:00

That Anya, at nearly 10 months (and can she really be almost 10 months?!), still doesn't crawl. Over the last week or so she seems to be getting SOOOO close. She gets in the position and rocks, and focuses on what she wants and then will put one arm forward a bit, plop on her belly and scoot. Then get back into the position and repeats. It's actually rather funny to watch. And she can get anywhere she wants by this method and rolling due to the wood floors downstairs. It's easy for her to just slide around on her belly like a penguin.

Anyway, the reason it's no wonder is because of Jadzia and Inara! Tonight I was trying to entice Anya to crawl to get something and put it just enough out of reach that she'd have to crawl.

So she got in the position, looked at the toy, looked at me, grinned, looked at the toy, rocked...

And Inara picked it up and put it in front of her.

I snatched it away cheerfully and placed it back where it belonged as the crawling bait and continued to encourage Anya.

So she got in the position, looked at the toy, looked at me, grinned, looked at the toy, rocked...

And Jadzia, laughing, picked it up and put it in front of her.

Grr! Argh!

Again I tried to remain cheerful as I moved the toy back so as not to upset Anya at removing her ill-gotten prize. Again my attempts were foiled by Inara who seemed convinced that I was placing it too far away for Anya to reach.

When I took the toy back AGAIN and placed it out of reach, Inara - cunning little pixie that she is - picked a different toy and put it right in front of Anya. Anya then happily took up the new prize and ignored the bait.

And so I conceded defeat and have realized Anya has no need to crawl because Jadzia and Inara will happily retrieve any toy she wants. What's more is that when she starts to fuss and is on the floor, they both run off to get toys, blankets, etc to pile around her to try and make her happy. Why crawl when you have such service?!

One should never...

2009-04-17T21:43:00.002-10:00

1) Go to the grocery store without a list - or at the very least knowing what you have and do not have in your house already. We went to the commissary yesterday and did so without a list. I came home and realized that I already had some of the items I just bought so now I have extras.

2) Take 3 kids to the beach without a plan or an additional adult. It was a good theory. I wanted to get out of the house and off the base. I remembered my mom wanted a couple shirts from North Shore so I figured we'd drive up and the kids could splash around for a few, play in the sand - then we'd shop and come home for lunch. Living in Hawaii, it's not really a waste to only spend an hour at the beach because...well we can go anytime we want really. Anyway, I packed up the kids, filled a couple of water bottles, grabbed the towels and we drove on up. Anya was happy to gnaw on rocks and eat sand while Jadzia and Inara wanted to play in the water. Being one adult with only two hands, I couldn't just leave Anya sitting alone in the sand and wade out with the other two but I still wanted them to have SOME fun. I let them walk along the edge while I stayed somewhat in the middle of Anya and them. They were happy tossing rocks in the water but every once in awhile Jadzia would start to walk further in and then Inara would start to follow. After about 45 minutes I realized I obviously didn't have the arms or the eyes for this particular trip at this particular moments. So I let them throw a few more beach rocks in and then we headed back to the car to commence shopping. They DID have fun so, as I said, it wasn't a total bust. I need to recruit a neighbor I think if I want to try again. Or take the play pen tent we have so I at least feel Anya is a little more secure in her location (although I'd still not want to wander too far I suspect lol). Anyway, we shopped and then came home since Anya was ready for a nap. As chance would have it, Anya fell asleep in the car and then was no longer ready for a nap when we got home.

Anyone know where I might get a third arm?

Why is it?

2009-04-15T23:06:00.002-10:00

That when Anya decides to have a "bad" night it involves waking up a half dozen times? I woke up this morning feeling as if I had barely slept given how often I was getting up. So alas I am tired and not particularly witty or full of blog-worthy tales. Do not despair, I will come up with something entertaining for tomorrow I dare say.

Night night now...

Mommy Jadzia

2009-04-14T07:31:00.000-10:00

While playing yesterday, Inara started to whine about something or other. This isn't totally unusual as Jadzia, the dogs, Anya, Bob the ghost, etc interrupt her peace by some means or another. She usually is over it fairly quickly and the whining stops.

This time, however, almost as soon as she started whining Jadzia said in the sternest voice possible (which is impressive given her soft voice) "Inara Elizabeth Houser!!".

And Inara stopped.

Of course she may have stopped because I was suddenly laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. But she stopped.

Anatomy Lesson

2009-04-13T16:20:00.004-10:00

While I was writing the blog about Anya's teeth, Jadzia and Inara were coloring in the living room. Jadzia was drawing a picture of Mommy and Daddy and when she finished she showed it to Inara (or so I gathered from her conversation). Inara, I gather, pointed to the stick figure that was supposed to represent Daddy and said "Mommy!"

Jadzia corrected her and said "That's Daddy! Boy's have a penis!" *giggle*

Inara, undaunted by the reproof, "Mommy!"

Jadzia, still giggling, "No mommy has a vagina! Daddy is a boy, boy's have a penis!"

At this point I was in a fit of giggles myself and did not hear if Inara learned the lesson or not.

A few minutes later, when I'd recovered my breath, Inara randomly interjects a "Daddy?" into the conversation.

To which Jadzia replied "No, Daddy's in Iraq with his penis."

And so started the giggles again!

Teeth!

2009-04-13T16:09:00.002-10:00

Last week I noticed the tell-tale white line of a tooth under Anya's top gum. As my children almost always cut teeth in pairs, I expected the second to follow soon. Yesterday, while checking on the tooth progress, I noticed not only the partner to the first tooth but another pair coming in as well - making four teeth at once! Egads!

So today, while she was eating I noticed something on her bottom gum. I hoped it was just a bit of cracker or something but realized it was, in fact, ANOTHER tooth.

In case you are too tired or have forgotten elementary math - that's 5....five teeth coming in together!

And lest we get the pairs thing! While it's no guarentee - I certainly expect to see tooth 5's partner soon as well.

She'll go from a 2 tooth girl to 8 within a couple weeks!

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

2009-04-12T14:36:00.003-10:00

And don't judge a person by their looks...

Susan Boyle <----Link, click it! ;)

Hard Boiled Eggs

2009-04-11T22:12:00.003-10:00

Ya know what I love about Easter? An excuse to make lots and lots of hard boiled eggs. Of course I don't end up eating most of the now pink green, orange, blue eggs BUT I like the idea of having them available to be eaten. Mostly I eat the left overs - ya know the ones that just don't pass the Easter Bunny muster - yeah I eat those.

We made cake and cupcakes today for the Easter Bunny. No it's not like the cookies for santa thing really but it seemed like as good and excuse as any to make cupcakes (and then eat them). Did I mentioned that I like Easter?

Oh and the chocolate! The chocolate in my fridge waiting for the kidlets to wake up and have a mini-Easter egg hunt and for mommy to eat the chocolate. I love Easter.

I love holidays in general - especially with little kids. It's like a built in excuse to buy and eat junk. Is that the BEST attitude to have? Probably not - but I'm still eating the chocolate and the cupcakes. I think next year we'll continue the cupcakes for the Bunny tradition...I like that idea. Now I'm gonna go hunt down my Bunny ears *wink*

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2009-04-10T23:25:00.003-10:00

Rainy season in Hawaii generally lasts from November/December until March or so. I had thought the rain was done and we were on to pleasant, dryer time but today of all days it rained, and rained, and rained. Today I meant to run a few errands but due to the rain I only accomplished one of the three - and that was with getting soaked enough. It was not coming down SO hard when we left the house. Of course it seemed to get worse while we were out and then proceeded to slow down AFTER we got home.

As a result of the rain, the yard is a muddy swamp which means I'm loathe to let the dogs out for too long. Bluto, in particular, enjoys a good romp in the mud. He then tracks the mud back into my house and bounds all over the place trying to get the water droplets off him (and onto the kids, the couch, the floor, etc). Unfortunately, I have never made a point of taking him out on the leash much and as a result, when I do, he is a little crazy and often pulls at it trying to slip from his collar. I attempted to let him out front on a leash this afternoon to prevent the mud bath but he just yanked and twisted about until I brought him back inside.

On a side note, today was the 100th day of the year. Random factoid for you.

Eight Hours!

2009-04-09T22:36:00.002-10:00

While I didn't go to sleep RIGHT after I posted last night, I did go to sleep before midnight - which is rather early for me as of late. I got to sleep until 8AM so I ended up with eight hours of sleep, totally uninterrupted by the kids! My back, however, was sore most of the night make it not the most perfect sleep but still - eight hours! OMG! I woke up feeling rather refreshed. It's amazing how sleep can do that to you.

The girls got a package from grandpa today which contained finger puppets and Mardi Gras beads. They were very interested in the idea of the finger puppets until they saw the beads. Then the puppets were put aside and the beads were used to make a lot of noise. Eventually they realized they could play with the puppets AND wear the beads at the same time making it all so much better.

Sleep, need sleep

2009-04-08T22:51:00.002-10:00

The long nights of kids waking up constantly are catching up to me so I am going to try to go the bed early...like right after I post this. I don't know if I'll succeed but if I'm in a super mood in the morning, hopefully that means I did.

After all the chaos of the last couple days - today was actually pretty calm. The kids and I sat around and watched DVDs all day mostly. And read Dick and Jane over and over and over again.

Those short 2-3 word sentences really start to grate on the nerves after awhile.

Look Jane. Read Jane. Cami sleep. Read Jane. Read. Read. Read.

Oh What a Circus!

2009-04-07T19:58:00.001-10:00

I should have known. I just should have known today was going to be one of those days. So, I mentioned my kids being sick right? Did I mention that they're out to get me? Cause I think they are! Last night they took turns waking up because of the sicks.

First it was Anya (not sick, just hungry). Feed Anya, put Anya down, go to bed.

Then it was Jadzia. She's thirsty and feverish. Give drink of water, give medicine. Go back to bed.

Next it was Inara. She's feverish. Give medicine. Go back to bed

Then it was Jadzia again. With a sore throat - she needs more water. Stumble back to bed, try not to crash into wall.

Then it was Inara again. Thirsty this time I think (it was about 430AM and she doesn't use many words - I took a guess). Water Inara, contemplate sleeping in hall -return to bed.

Around 6AM, Jadzia wakes up AGAIN. The fever is back and she's thirsty. Of course I didn't get this out of her right away. I must have looked mean because when I opened the door this time all she did was look at me and lay back down. When I asked her what was wrong she started crying. I asked if she was hot or thirsty and finally got out of her that she was so I watered her and medicated her and got back to bed.

Then Anya woke up for the morning. I turned the monitor down on her morning chatter and buried my head with a pillow. I suspect she started crying not long after that but I was still buried for a bit.

And that was all BEFORE we got up for the day. My goal for today was to go to the commissary because we were out of lots of things. Anya, due to my tuning her out in the morning, was ready for an early nap a little after 10AM so I figured we'd go after she got up. Shortly there after, Inara acts like she's pooping, this is not a blog worthy event in and of itself as she poops daily but the fact that I had to help extract the blockage of rock like poop is. Well maybe it's not but it all leads into my grand chaos of a day.

Around 1130, I decided to lay down on the couch to rest since the yo-yo sleep of the night before was killing me. Naturally, she woke up about 30 minutes later. So we all got up, got dressed and ready. I fed Anya and put the dogs up.

Thinking myself smart, I went out to try the car first before loading up everyone. (If I was REALLY smart I would have tried the car before doing everything else but I digress). Naturally the car was dead.

Click. Click. Click. Nada....

Grr! Argh!

So back inside we go. I call my neighbor to bitch about the car. I figure I can push off the commissary another day and maybe borrow her car tomorrow for a trip and to get a new battery. I don't wanna bug her husband at work.

I decide to walk up and check the mail and just let the kids play on the playground there while I re-evaluate my plans for the week sans car (not that I had anything grand planned).

My neighbor has her own plans and sets a whole plan in motion before I've even contemplated how to blow up the car. Her husband came home briefly to give us use of their car, she took him back while I watched the collective monsters (i.e. our children). Then I took their car to the commissary to do my shopping with just Anya. When I got back and unloaded Anya was cranky and my mom was video calling me. Then I get the information on the battery over to her and take the monsters back to my house so she can go get a battery without us having to try and rearrange all the carseats (4 kids 4 and under between us so all in carseats).

She gets the battery for me, her husband installs said battery for me and poof - the car is alive. Again! It's ALIVE!!! *cue music and thunder and lightening*

By the thim this is all said and done, Anya is ready for bed (truth be told so am I) and darkness is creeping up on us. While I normally choose to put Anya down AFTER the other two, she's losing it so I get her asleep and down, get the clean up started, get THEM put to bed and here I sit.

It's worse than that, it's dead Jim! AGAIN!

2009-04-06T23:44:00.003-10:00

Yes folks, that's right! I went out to the car, loaded the kids and no vroom vroom! This time the car at least seemed to TRY to start. It made noise at least...sort of. So we decided to take a walk to the PX. We really didn't need anything bad enough to make the walk BUT I needed out of the house - in spite of the sickie kids. So walk we did. It's not that long of a walk really and it was a nice breezy day so cool without being too cold.

Tonight my neighbor's husband once again came to my rescue. The car gave some resistance this time but it did eventually come back to life. If this happens again, I can't be held responsible for what happens to the car. (I say with jest).

Anyway, the kiddos are still feverish and sickish but they seem to have their ups and downs (that seems to reconcile with when they have been recently medicated). Anya is, thankfully, unaffected thus far.

My kiddos are sick again

2009-04-06T09:14:00.002-10:00

Jadzia and Inara are running fevers and Jadzia complained about a sore throat last night. This morning she walked up to me and choked out "Mommmmmy, I don't feeeel betttter!". Poor kid. Inara, though feverish, is not nearly as cranky. Of course now they are medicated and are laughing so I guess they'll survive. More later.

Three Months

2009-04-04T21:57:00.007-10:00

As of yesterday, it's been three months since Robby left. Some days I can well believe it - particularly when the kids are extra crazy. Other times, I actually feel surprise to think it's been three months. I suspect, like with pregnancy, most of the year will go by with alarming speed but the last couple months will drag on and on and never seem to end.

Today we went over to my neighbors for dinner and a movie. Her husband wanted to watch Twilight - which we own - so we took it over. Jadzia and Inara had a good time playing with their son. Besides each other, they don't often get a chance to play with other kids so it's good to let them socialize. Inara, growing more tired and clumsy toward the end of the movie, fell down half the stairs twice before we left. I suspect she'll have a shiny little bruise in the morning. Other than a few minutes of crying, though, she seemed okay once her boo-boos were all kissed. Oddly enough she had boo-boos everywhere - or so she claimed. I suspect she just wanted me to keep kissing her.

Anya, true to form, cried almost every time I put her down. She did, however, allow herself to be held by someone that wasn't me for a couple minutes - until I walked into the room when she started crying for me again. The child is all too attached to me. She has also recently discovered the fun of screaming for the sake of screaming. This is not a "I'm pissed" scream I'm refering too but a "let's make a lot of noise" scream. She does it quite well and manages to make her sisters laugh at her antics.

While the neighbors' son was over here for a little bit earlier in the day, I took the opportunity of having a boy to take pictures off - isn't he a cutie?! He wasn't really all that cooperative but he's two and two year olds rarely are cooperative.

They Melt in Your Mouth...

2009-04-03T07:54:00.001-10:00

Not in your hand! Okay so that doesn't really apply to the kids but it suits their shirts. Enjoy the pictures! And in case you're desperate for actual written blog posts, I suspect I'll be out of pictures to share after this and will have more antics from the spawn soon.

Jadzia says:

2009-04-02T11:42:00.000-10:00

I'm ready for my close up Mr. Deville! (Okay so she doesn't really say that). She's such a little model sometimes!

And now for Inara's moment!

2009-04-01T21:20:00.004-10:00

She was really more interested in playing with her dress than actually smiling. Nevertheless, the play made for some fun pictures and is very Inara. And here are a couple in another outfit I got for her since she's not always a "dress" girly girl.

Anya Easter Pictures

2009-03-31T23:27:00.003-10:00

I am still not done editing all the pictures from the aforementioned torture session, but here are a few of Anya to keep y'all happy.

Stay tuned for Inara pictures tomorrow and Jadzia's after that!

40 Books!

2009-03-31T23:24:00.003-10:00

At the beginning of the year, I set my goal to read 80 books in 2009. Tonight, 3 months into the years, I've completed 40! I'm already halfway to my goal. I suspect I will have to reconsider the goal as I get closer to reaching 80.

In January, I completed 12 books.
In February, I completed 14 books.
In March, I completed 14 books.

Well done me :)

Easter Picture Torture

2009-03-30T23:06:00.003-10:00

Today I tortured the kiddos some to try and get pictures of them in their Easter dresses that my mom sent and the ones we bought. I haven't edited most of them but wanted to share one at least. It was the only clear picture I got where all three were looking in the general direction of the camera at the right time.

Monkey Butt

2009-03-29T23:04:00.002-10:00

Jadzia and I have a "playlist" of songs we will sing on any given day at any given time. Some she sings along and some she just "requests" from me. Tonight she asked me to sing "monkey butt" - or at least that's what it sounded like she was saying to me.

Huh!?

I start racking my brain trying to determine 1) where she would have heard the phrase "monkey butt" to begin with and 2) what song it could possibly refer too. After asking her to repeat herself and again being asked to sing "monkey butt", I'm frustrated at this point. Then I ask HER to sing some of it. I listen closely to fragments of the mysterious "monkey butt" song such as "little baby" and "diamond ring".

Have you figured it out yet?

Well I did!

Monkey Butt = Mocking Bird

From the song "Hush little baby...". I'm not entirely sure I make the connection between Monkey Butt and Mocking Bird but at least I figured it out for future reference.

It's a Dog Gone World

2009-03-28T22:24:00.002-10:00

Just when Gimli seems to be on the mend and a happy, bouncy pup again; partially thanks to his happy pain pills; Bluto is a new medical mystery. Today Bluto scared me by having a doggie seizure. After a minute or so he was a little confused looking but no longer seizing and then he was back to normal. I'm not sure why it happened but as long as it doesn't happen again this weekend, I'll wait to call the vet until Monday and then consult with them. That was the only thing that happened of any interest today.

I had "I Love Lucy" on all day in the background though. A couple weeks ago, I saw season one on sale on Amazon for like 16$, so I ordered it. Well then the next day or the day after they had the complete series as the deal of the day for only 85$. It was one of those too good to pass up deals so I ordered it as well and gifted season 1 to my neighbors.

Up with the Sun

2009-03-27T23:04:00.002-10:00

In spite of dark curtains, Anya still thinks waking up with the sun is fun. Once again she woke up around 630AM - and I just don't do 630AM. There's something about it being at least in the 7 o'clock hour that seems to make all the difference to me.

As a result of the extra early wake up calls, I'm exhausted today. When Anya took her first nap, I laid down on the couch to relax. I had no intention of falling asleep and yet I woke up about an hour later to Inara poking me in the face and Anya waking up over the monitor. Thankfully I have fairly well behaved older kids that I can get away with that sometimes but I don't like to do it. One time I'll wake up and Inara will have painted the house or something.

As soon as the laundry dries, I'm going to bed - at least that's my intention.

It's worse than that, it's dead Jim!

2009-03-26T23:47:00.002-10:00

So today I wanted to go to the Post Office and the PX for a few things. I put away the dogs so they didn't destroy the house in my absence. I loaded the kids into their carseats, I got in, and turned the key....and nothing. No noise, no engine starting. Big fat dead car.

I tried again, which naturally resulted in nothing. And again...but you get the idea. So I UN-loaded the kids, went back inside and released the hounds.

A little later I called my neighbor to vent about my big, fat, dead car. Her husband came over on his lunch break to give it a jump!

IT'S ALIVE!! *cue Frankenstein scene here*

By then Anya was napping so errands had to be put on hold for a bit but that was the both the highlight and lowlight of my day.

Pokemon Platinum

2009-03-25T23:49:00.002-10:00

Among my many other geeky tendencies, I am totally hooked on the Pokemon games for the various Nintendo handhelds. I've played them all the way back to Gold and Silver (and have bought Red/Blue used just so I could play it too). I have no interest in watch the show or collecting the cards - only the Gameboy games.

Anyway, I preordered two copies of the new game a few weeks ago from Amazon and they came today. One will be going in the mail with a new DS Lite for Robby (who is also hooked). The other I've been playing for the last 7 hours or so (on and off as the kids occasionally drew me away).

Gotta catch 'em all!

Operation Mousetrap was a Success

2009-03-24T22:15:00.002-10:00

While not nearly as cool as the old game, modern day mouse traps are surprisingly effective. The mouse guy came out this morning and laid down some of the sticky traps in the areas most likely to see mouse activity. He put a small bit of peanut butter on each trap to attract the mouse and then put them down. Since I share a wall with my neighbor, he did the same to both sides. So all day I hear nothing and see nothing. The traps were placed under the sink, behind the stove and behind the fridge (which also led to the recovery of many wayward toys). Then tonight, the kids were all asleep and I hear the first squeak. I wasn't sure if I heard what I thought I did then. A few minutes later more squeaks. Then I hear rattling under one of the appliances (not sure which). I assume the mouse was struggling on the sticky trap.

One one hand, the curious side of me wants to whip out the stove and fridge too investigate the noises. I also want to avoid the stench that would come with dead mouse eventually. The way too girly side of me knew that I would scream like a little girl and be jumping away if I saw the very stuck but alive mouse struggling on the trap. The two sides battled for a bit before I called my neighbor and had her husband come over to take care of it. I'm really not this girly and yet...I am. He came and pulled out the fridge which is where he found the mouse, very stuck and slowly dying on the trap. Oddly enough, the trap is not toxic but I guess all the struggling causes death faster than starvation? Anyway, he retrieved and bagged the mouse and trap and took it outside to the trash. We all decided to leave the remaining traps for a few days to see if there's more than one (just in case). Hopefully there's not but I'd rather leave them if there is even a possibility.

As he was finishing up, Robby called on Dell Video Chat so they said hi before heading home and I got to chat with Robby for a few minutes. But now I'm tired and I'm gonna try to turn in early which probably won't work but I'm gonna give it a shot.

There's a mouse in my house

2009-03-23T21:56:00.005-10:00

First off, thanks for the comments on yesterday's particularly depressing post. Going home to visit is not really an option - well it is but it would probably be more of a headache than enjoyable. Aside from having to travel alone with 3 young children, there would the dog kenneling and ultimately I think I'd come back more crazy than when I left. Thankfully, my parents come to me at least. It's not the same as stepping foot in Texas but it's nice. My dad is coming in June and I think my mom is going to try come this winter but I'm not sure yet. Robby's leave will be in August or September sometime so I have things to look forward to. I was feeling particularly nostalgic last night which helped trigger the homesickness to a degree I think.

------------------------------

Last week, my neighbor said her husband saw a mouse in their house. Well seeing as we live in a duplex style house and share a wall - if there was in fact a mouse, it makes sense that said mouse might make it's way over to our house as well. Nevertheless, neither she nor I saw any mouse or any indication of a mouse (such as droppings, gnawing, etc). Well this morning, I saw the mouse. I saw a bit of gray out of the corner of my eye and it moved. At first I thought it was a dog hair tumbleweed that Bluto is nice enough to shed all over the house. I glanced over and focused on it and realized it was not in fact a dog hair tumbleweed, but a little gray mouse. Now I don't have any particular qualms about rodents in general. I don't like rats exactly but mice don't really bother me - or they wouldn't if they were running on a little wheel in a cage or out in a field. This mouse is loose. In my house. I don't like the mouse. Gimli was outside when I spotted the mouse, otherwise I suspect our mouse problem would have been over before it started. As it is, when I let him inside, he instantly smelled the mouse and was all over the area I'd seen the little fella. I suspect the mouse scurried under the dishwasher once he moved but I didn't see where he went. I haven't seen him since this morning but everytime a feel something brush against my leg (like a dog, a kid, a light breeze) I nearly jump out of my skin. Anyway, pest people are coming tomorrow.

------------------------------

And now for something slightly more cheery, the musical stylings of Jadzia (I hope this works!)

Homesick

2009-03-22T21:57:00.002-10:00

I miss Texas.

Hawaii is beautiful but it's not home, it's not Texas. Right now vivid bluebonnets have sprouted over fields and on the sides of the highways during the grass into a beautiful sea of bright blue flowers. When I was a kid, my dad would take us out to take pictures in bluebonnets and I did it with the girls. It was a Texas tradition. And I miss it this year. I missed them last year too but moving to Hawaii was still so new at that point I didn't think as much of it. This year, however, I miss everything.

I miss Austin.

I love Texas in general and should it decide to secede from the Union I would have a hard time not returning and publicly declaring myself a citizen of the Republic of Texas. But Austin, Austin is the heart for me. It is weird, Austin is Weird. And proud of their Weirdness. So much so, they embrace it and live by the motto of "Keep Austin Weird". What makes Austin weird exactly? Leslie - the cross-dressing mayoral candidate - for one. Austin is an artistic, indie haven for culture and free-thinking. It's full of art, music, literature and history. While it continues to expand and sadly loses some of that, it is still home for me. It's a small bastion of liberalism against a great state of conservatives.

And my friends are there.

Mind you I have friends here - well I have one friend here at least - but most of my friends are in Austin or in Texas somewhere. I miss my friends. I miss hanging out with them and rolling dice to create characters for a game we'll play once if that. I miss watching Jeff go into the purple zone and laugh at everything regardless of how funny or may not be.

And I miss my family.

Pretty much everyone is somewhere in Texas. We used to meet to have lunch with Dad in Giddings once a month. It was just a couple hours on a Sunday but it was nice to see him regularly. I miss seeing my mom, even though she came with her own annoyances. No matter how much her actions or words might annoy me, I know how much she loves us all. And I think we reached a new level of our relationship shortly before we moved here.

So I miss home. I'm thrilled to get a chance to see places that aren't Texas but there's a small part of me that aches for home I think. And Texas is home to me. Growing up, I couldn't wait to leave Texas. I wanted to move to California and do, I have no idea what exactly, but I wanted to move to California. I had no desire to stay in Texas then. I applied to the University of Texas because my parents encouraged it. As chance would have it, I ended up at UT and met Robby and Jeff and Mary and all my dear friends. I fell in love with Robby and Austin and Texas and now it's home.

I'm feeling rather nostalgic tonight and thinking of friends and family that I haven't seen in awhile. Thus the somewhat depressing ramblings about my homesickness.

Happy Twilight Day

2009-03-21T23:09:00.003-10:00

Today was the release day for the Twilight DVD! I know, some of you are thinking - "oh she's one of those Twilight people" and inwardly groaning. Honestly, I enjoyed the Twilight series. Was it absolute perfection, no - hard to find a book that is. But it's a good read for me and Stephenie Meyer is great at sucking you in before you know how deep you are.

Anyway!

When the movie came out in theaters, I didn't get a chance to see it because of the kiddos - mostly Anya who has been notably attached to me since she was born. Despite having not seen it, I knew I'd want the movie so I pre-ordered it through Amazon. Tracking indicated that it wouldn't be delivered until Monday or Tuesday so when I got an email with a code to watch it on demand at their website I was excited.

It took me three hours to watch a two hour movie thanks to the kids and the dogs and morning routine but I at least got to see it. Then when I checked the mail, I was happily surprised to find the movie had been delivered as well! So I watched it again after the munchkins had gone to bed.

I was pretty happy with the movie outcome. While there are a few changes and some things that didn't make the cut into the movie - it stayed fairly close to the book and certainly the spirit of the book. All that being said, the book is better than the movie - but then I find books almost always are better than their movies!

Happy Twilight Day for my Twilight fans! :)

No Surgery for Gimli

2009-03-20T23:09:00.000-10:00

Yet at least. The vet said that at this point, surgery isn't necessary but if he gets worse then it may be required. For now we have pain meds to give him and should keep him from jumping on furniture, rough housing with Bluto and other such things that might make his neck worse.

He has a partial prolapse of a cervical disc for anyone who is curious. So for now, at least, we don't have to do surgery.

That was the highlight of my day as Inara spent most of the night with a raging fever. She spiked to 104.1 at one point but hovered around 102 most of the night and day. She is surprisingly not cranky really - just clingy and tired. She has no other symptoms really so I have no idea what's actually wrong with her. But 104.1 fever is not a good thing that's for sure!

It's a marathon, not a sprint.

2009-03-19T21:02:00.002-10:00

I try to make it a point to combine errands into one trip because it usually makes my life easier. But I also try not to make more than two or three stops while we're out because the kids usually start getting irritable by the end of stop three. The whole in and out of car seats thing is tough on them and me at that point. Well today I had several tasks to complete to get the whole pet deposit thing taken care of and I opted to pull it all together in one potentially dangerous trip. We needed to go to the post office (unrelated to the pets, just needed to be done), the satellite City Hall for the county registration, get a money order for the housing office, the on-base vet to register them with the office and finally the housing office to put it all together.

Surprisingly, the kids took it all pretty well. Inara started to get fidgety in the stroller while at the City Hall location but was okay getting back in the car. Anya fell asleep between Wal-Mart (where I got the money order) and the on-base bet but woke up okay and was content at least while I waited at the vets' office. She didn't want to get back in the carseat afterwards but calmed down by the time the car was moving so we were able to do the housing office. As luck would have it, none of the places were busy since we started the grand adventure at 930AM in the middle of the week. I guess that's one of the few advantages to utilizing morning hours. I still don't like the morning though.

When we got home, Anya was so ready for a real nap (as opposed to the 10 minute one she took in the car). So I got her down and got the kids some lunch and then collapsed in slump. Despite the kids being (REALLY) good for the trip, I was still tired in the end. I was ready for a nap then!

Speaking of naps, out of the blue, both Inara and Jadzia fell asleep on the couch for a little dose. It was surprising but cute. I think Jadzia only laid down because Inara had fallen asleep and then she fell asleep too. They were both sleeping under the same blanket (which I think was Jadzia's doing). I had to wake them after a little while though otherwise bedtime would have been a beast. But they woke up well enough.

Tomorrow we have to take Gimli in for his X-Rays and will probably hit up the commissary for a few things after we drop him off. He has to be dropped off in the morning and then picked up in the afternoon so at least no waiting around. He's doing really well and is full of energy today which is what keeps throwing me about whatever might be wrong with him. Tuesday he was so obviously in pain and today he'd be jumping on furniture and wrestling with Bluto probably if I let him (which I won't). I just hope whatever it is 1) can be treated and 2) is marginally affordable. He's our dog, and he's family and we'll treat him of course - I would just prefer to deplete less savings than more.

Happy Birthday Bluto

2009-03-18T10:05:00.002-10:00

Today is Bluto's first birthday! Happy birthday you big goofy puppy!

Before we came to Hawaii, we opted to find homes for our cats. As much as I LOVED my cats, the flight and 4-month quarantine would have fundamentally altered the cats. Anya (the cat) probably wouldn't have even survived as she was 15 years old and growing sicker. Hawaii may not have let her come in anyway. Shadow, who is 10, probably would have handled the trip okay but I don't know who she would have dealt with the quarantine. She's a very, in your lap and face, needs attention kind of cat. Finally there was Rajah, who was only a couple years old and probably would have handled it all just fine - but she was also the easiest one to find a new home for given her age, health and temperament. She went to live with friends of ours which is nice for us. Anya passed away before the move and the other two were placed in good homes.

So anyway, after we got to Hawaii, Robby said IF I wanted another pet I could since I gave up my kitties (Anya and Shadow came with me pre-marriage). I decided on a dog because, while I love kitties, I don't love litter boxes. So at 6 months pregnant and brand new to Hawaii, I started looking into dogs. I wanted a puppy because of the kids - I wanted to know the dogs whole background. Also, most of the dogs listed on the shelter website were Pits or mixed Pits. I have no problems with Pits but Housing does. They had some adorable Pit mix puppies listed when we were looking that I oohed and aahed over. I found a website with Hawaii breeders for various dog breeds. I knew I wanted one from Hawaii due to the quarantine thing so after looking into ALL the available breeds and breeders I could find, I decided on an Australian Shepherd and found a breeder on the Big Island who would ship him over to us. As it turned out, her pups were already pregnant when I contacted her. In March the puppies were born and oh so cute!

In May the breeder emailed us updated pictures and we started talking about sending him over to us. Here he is as 6 weeks old:
And then a couple weeks later, I picked him up at the airport. He whined in his carrier the whole way home and he didn't even have his name yet. We had a whole list of possible names for him and when he got here NONE of them seemed quite right for him. It took a couple hours before we picked Bluto.

Dog Tired

2009-03-17T21:37:00.003-10:00

First off, I must say - Walmart is evil. It is a horrible, money sucking place!

Well...Maybe it's not EVIL per say...

But every time I go there in need of one or two things - somehow I walk out with so much more. I went today for the whole dog leash and collar thing. I also got some shorts and tanks for Jadzia to use as play and sleep clothes, a couple new pairs of shoes for Jadzia and Inara, assorted toys for their Easter baskets, a couple of toys for Bluto's birthday, etc and so on. But I got Bluto a new collar which makes him spaz out a bit, a leash which he then proceeded to try and eat and a new harness for Gimli.

Now onto the "Fun" part of the day. Picture this, a woman with frazzled hair, a crying baby on her hip and two dogs with leashes wrapped around her legs. Yeah that was me today.

I got my neighbor to take Jadzia and Inara while we went to the vet otherwise the picture would have been even more insane. I'm so thankful I did because there was enough chaos without having to worry about those two! First there was the getting into the car - Gimli knows how to ride in the car but the last time Bluto rode in the car he was in a crate and a small puppy. He didn't even want to get in the car! Once I managed to get him in it and the doors all closed, he started whining and trying to jump in my lap. Um, no have you ever driven with a 53 pound dog in your lap? Neither have I and I'm not about to try! So he was jittery and whiney the whole trip to the vets' office. Then we get out and he tries to jump out before I'm ready for him to and Gimli is already making his way for the door. Soon I was dodging dogs and leashes while trying to get Anya out of her carseat. Once inside, there are, naturally strangers to Bluto - which means barking, lots and lots of barking. Here I am trying to sign them in and give them Bluto's information for his chart and Bluto is barking at the ladies and particularly frantic about the little cat walking across the desk. Meanwhile, Anya, who hasn't napped is about at her breaking point and she starts crying.

Finally we're all in and we go to the back. First off the room is TINY so I'm glad I didn't have to cram Jadzia and Inara in there with us. Anya is mercifully back in the infant carrier (which I keep in the car for just occasions where she'll need a place to go) and relatively calm. Bluto meets another new stranger and begins barking again. Gimli gets to go first and demonstrates for them his back problems

(actually a neck problem)

for the vet and the vet tech. While I hate to see him in pain, I'm glad they were able to see it instead of me having to try and explain it. It seems to come and go for him which makes it hard for me to understand exactly. The vet suspects he has a cervical disc problem and wants him back in for XRays to try and determine if that's actually the problem or not. If it is, then it will likely need surgery. They gave him his shots and were very very gentle with him. Meanwhile Bluto was still barking at everyone and every noise (particularly the dogs in the back barking), which upset Anya so I was trying to hold her and she was wailing. One of the techs asked if they wanted me to hold her for a minute so I could help with the dogs and I had to explain that that would only make her cry louder.

Bluto kept trying to get away from people when it came his turn to get on the table thus hitting Gimli a lot and setting him off. Finally they got him on the table and the vet tech starts rubbing him and he completely mellows out. I think he was in doggy love with her, she also kept bribing him with treats. He was perfectly calm through the whole exam and the barking had finally ceased. It was probably the calmest part of the visit. I had them microchip him and then we were done in the teeny tiny room. Wrangling the dogs back out into the hall with Anya was a sport in and of itself but we made it to the check out counter at long last.

I tried not to look shell shocked at the total and just paid my bill but I was at the time. Upon further reflection I realize that if I split it in half it was about the same as what I paid for just Gimli's annual visits, shots, tests, etc. So with two dogs it made sense, but it was still hard to hear at first. And I still have to go back for the xrays and possibly surgery...

(I love my dogs, I love my dogs, I love my dogs...)

By the time I got them home and returned Gimli to his doggy confinement, I thought Anya would be fried. She should have been fried since she'd been up since about 12:30PM. But, while she was very cranky she refused to sleep. I managed to even get her to play on the floor for awhile while I fed the older beasties. When bed time rolled around, I still hadn't gotten Anya to sleep even though I knew she had to be exhausted. I'm now convinced she was waiting for the other two to be in bed before she went to sleep because once THEY were asleep, she conked out.

Prelude to Disaster

2009-03-16T20:22:00.004-10:00

Robby was kind enough to point out that no one comments on my blog. To which I first told him neither did he and then told him I usually talked with people about the contents elsewhere anyway. BUT if you're reading this one post, can you comment - just say neener neener neener if you like. Thanks!

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Today I had a few errands to complete. First I needed to go to the housing office to pay our pet deposit (yes I know we've had the dogs long enough it should have been done already but it wasn't so, there.) When I got there first I was told the payment has to bed a money order or bank certified check - OK I didn't have that on me but OK. Then they handed me the form with the necessary documents for the dogs. None of which I have, oh good - more errands. Need current vaccination records - well since neither dog had been seen by a vet since we arrived in Hawaii (well Bluto was seen by the breeder's vet), they definitely need to get shots before getting current vax records. So I called the on base vet because they needed to be registered with that facility anyway - they won't have appointments until April.

Okay, need a new plan there.

When we brought Gimli over, part of his paperwork was being registered with a animal hospital in case it was needed while he was in quarantine so I called them and they have appointments for tomorrow!

That's more like it!

After I get their shots and the new records I can take those records to the on base vet to register them with the on base vet for housing. I don't need an appointment to register them, they just need their information. So that will be Wednesday's job. Then somewhere in there I'll pay to have them registered with the county (which involves a trip to a city hall office, fun!) and THEN I can go back to housing and give them money too. Yeah, this will be an OH SO FUN week!

I predict a long, long week - particularly tomorrow when I get to take 3 kids and 2 dogs to the vet for shots. That should be exciting - especially as the appointment is near dinner time. I foresee stopping at McDonalds on the way back to make all our lives easier. Oh and I need to go back to the PX to get a leash that fits Bluto so I can actually take him to the vet without having to drag him around by the scruff of his neck. Oh and the last time he was in the car, he was a puppy and fit in a carrying crate...good times ahead for me!

So after the non-payment of pet deposit thing, we went to the PX because I needed packing tape. I try to avoid going to the PX because I always leave with may more than I went in for. I even called my neighbor and asked her if she had any tape - alas she did not have much so to the PX I went. That led me to the kids' clothes area of course to look at the Easter dresses...even though we never actually go anywhere for Easter but I like having a reason to dress them up and torture them with the camera. I immediately found something for Anya and something for Inara. Jadzia, however, is in an awkward size. She is growing out of the toddler sizes but lots of styles in the little girls sizes don't put much out in 5s and a lot of the 5/6s are just a little on the big side. But 4s are too small usually. It's a challenge. I found non-Easter stuff for her first - stuff that gave me mild flashbacks to my own child hood in the 80s and early 90s.

I left that store with leggings - leggings with lace at the bottom.

Why oh why?!

Do I need to buy her 17 colors of slouch socks she can mix and match now??

*shudders*

But I did find a charming dress that Jadzia loved. As she was trying on the jacket that comes with the dress, an older lady stopped to mention how beautiful she was and then chatting about having three girls. Which led to the inevitable question of if we were going to try for a boy now?

Uh, no. Did I say no? I mean NO, with a capital N and a capital O.

Don't get me wrong, I love my spawn and I love children. Once upon a time I actually wanted four of them. And every once in awhile, for a fraction of a second, I think about what it would be like to have a little baby boy in the mix. Then Inara throws something that hits Anya and knocks her over and Bluto charges over to "help" and knocks into Jadzia in the process and pandemonium ensues and the moment is over. Shattered. Nope, can't do it. Besides, as I've joked before - we'd manage to end up with fluke twin girls and have five girls.

Anya, true to form, finally decided that the nice old lady was, in fact, evil or something and started wailing which meant it was time to make our escape. We darted for the check out and headed back to the car. The whole point of going was to get the packing tape so I could tape up some books and mail them - so I sat in the car with the munchkins and taped up my books. Thankfully, Anya had calmed down not long after we were away from the would-be-evil nice old lady.

Anya has serious stranger/separation issues. Last night, our neighbors came over for a couple minutes and both attempted to hold Anya - she was perfectly happy in my lap and I was sitting right next to them but the moment she left my arms, she totally flipped out.

The line at the post office was long but Jadzia and Inara found two young boys to run around with - weaving in and out of people momentarily before I could stop them and get them rounded to an area with fewer people in. When I finally got to the window it was a new person so I actually had to give instructions for mailing this time, the others all know my routines.

Somehow we made it all the way home with Anya still calm and it was way past time for her to nap so I got her to sleep and put her down, where she slept for THREE hours! It was crazy but nice.

The rest of the day was uneventful really. Inara brought me her baby doll to change its diaper a few dozen times before I'd had enough. Jadzia kept insisting that her baby doll was pooping and peeing so she NEEDED a diaper change, which is why Inara thought her doll needed a change and so on and so forth.

Like Mommy, Like Daughter, Like Sister

2009-03-15T23:02:00.002-10:00

Today, Jadzia wrapped her baby doll up in a blanket, then lifted her shirt to feed the baby with her "boobie" (yeah, yeah - no comments from the gallery about the vocab choices around here! ;)) After that, she put the baby doll in the cradle in their Rose Petal Cottage and told me all about what she had done. Jadzia wants to be just like mommy.

Then, Inara did the same thing with a stuffed animal. Now she's done this before, back when Anya was a newborn but hasn't done it in awhile. Today, I could tell it was specifically because of Jadzia doing it. She likes to do everything Jadzia does.

It's a bird, it's a plane...no it's...

2009-03-14T18:34:00.003-10:00

Cami! In a picture...OMG!
And now for a few others of the munchkins...

Bribary or Allowance?

2009-03-13T22:21:00.002-10:00

If 4 years old too young for an "allowance"? Or am I just bribing her? As I've mentioned before, Jadzia's "chore" each day is cleaning up the play room at the end of the day. She always does it but often with some reluctance or painstakingly slowly. But she does it. When my dad sent her 5$ for Valentines Day she was so thrilled to have this money and so excited to "spend" it. She made sure to give it to me when we checked out and everything. It was awesome.

So today I decided to "encourage" her to clean up the playroom fairly quickly and well. I told her if she cleaned it up really well and quickly, she'd get a star or check or happy face for the day and if at the end of the week she had at least 5 stars (etc), she'd get 2$. Then I added that if she had them for all 7 days she'd get 3$. She was very excited about this prospect and she cleaned up the playroom so well tonight. It wasn't super fast but she did a good job. So she got a star. I made a little chart for her to see her progress and everything. It is a chore so she deserves a reward for it I think. Is 4 too young for such an allowance? :) Oh well, it worked for now so onward, now I guess I need to get cash out of an ATM so I have dollars to give her.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

2009-03-12T22:01:00.002-10:00

But oh it's so delightful...

Well it's raining, again. It does that a lot lately. I'd say the island was going to float out into the Pacific but we're already there so it doesn't really work here. It's actually somewhat chilly out - chilly for Hawaii that is. I mean, it's Hawaii - there's only so cold it can get before it's some sign of the apocalypse. After we went to the post office to mail Robby his snack bar, I came home and opened up all the windows since the rain had stopped but the wind was blowing. I like to do this every few weeks to air out the house. It was a great day for it until it started to just be cold inside. Even after I shut all the windows, there was still a major chill in the house.

While I was cooking dinner, the girls were running around driving me batty so I sent them (Jadzia and Inara) out into the back yard to run around some. Aside from the dog barking at them at the window, it was a lot of fun and got them out from under my feet. Well when dinner was ready, they weren't ready to come in yet so I made sure their table and chairs outside were clean and let them eat outside. They got a kick out of it and actually sat still long enough to eat almost everything - I think because it was something totally new and different. Then they resumed running around. When I finally brought them in they were chilly little child-pops but they weren't as wild anymore so I figured it was a good experience.

Meanwhile Anya has some serious seperation anxiety issues going on right now. If I even leave the room at the wrong moment or am out of her sight, she totally freaks out on me. Have I mentioned that this kid is weird? Yeah she's so different from the other two I feel like I'm stumbling through each day sometimes with her.

GA: "I Will Follow You Into The Dark"

2009-03-12T21:24:00.003-10:00

Kisha (or anyone else), if you're reading this right now and haven't watched this episode, turn around and walk away. Seriously, stop reading, right now! Go read Cake Wrecks or something. Yes, go, I see you looking back - don't do it - you'll hate yourself. You don't want the spoilers! You. Must. Look. Away.

Are you gone now?

Echo...echo...echo...

Okay, now that that's taken care of I will proceed with the blog full of spoilers about the episode. So don't read this if you haven't watched it. You've been warned - a lot.

Living in Hawaii, I am tragically hours behind everyone else in terms of prime time television hours. Eight PM on the east coast is like 2 in the afternoon here. So it's easy for things to get spoiled for me. Thankfully I'm not really adverse to spoilers. I'm the person who will "accidentally" read last couple pages of a book first just to make sure it all turns out okay and then read the book. I don't always do it, but it's been known to happen. Anyway, I know I spew about Grey's Anatomy a lot lately - I'm in a Grey's place. It's my comfort food sometimes - well that and chocolate. So for those that don't watch Grey's Anatomy - well you just have to deal.

So Derek is dark right now. I don't like Dark Derek. He's angry and he's drunk and all full of self-loathing. He's supposed to be the shiny one - Mer's Knight in Shining Whatever. All that being said, I get it. I get the storyline and I get the character development and I know we all have darkness in us somewhere. Derek has shone his darkness before - he called Mer a whore. But I still don't like it. What I did like was Meredith. She used to be the dark and twisty one. She was full of doubt and self-loathing and wanting to please mommy (both alive and dead). She had issues - lots of issues. Like a library full of issues. But she's grown! Five seasons later and instead of collapsing into a puddle of misery or running away when Derek verbally assaulted her, she stayed because that's what he needed - even if he doesn't realize it or want to accept it because he angry and drunk. He needs her to be there when he's slightly less dark and sober. And because she's all whole and healed - she gets that he needs to follow the cycle. The episode leaves you screaming and with a great feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach after just watching him hit the ring with bat! Seriously?! His mother's ring? Yeah, five minutes later while Private Practice is gearing up, you're still looking at the TV dumbfounded. But it's all gonna be good - okay is seems horrid and bad - bad, real bad - but it's gonna be okay because they BOTH have to heal and be each others' Knight in Shining Whatever.

Onto someone else. When I saw Christina approaching Hunt while he was sleeping - I totally knew what was coming. I knew he was gonna react that way and I hurt inside when I saw it. When they brought Hunt on the show, given his background, I wasn't sure I'd be able to watch once Robby deployed and I was sort of right. I can still watch but Hunt's issues - yeah they give me the ache in the stomach too. But he and Christina fit together. They compliment each other in a weird way. I love that she seems to understand him but she doesn't push for him to talk, she's just there and not going anywhere.

Izzy. Poor Izzy. I love Izzy. Her bright and shiny and puppies and rainbows can bug me sometimes but the others need that. They need Christmas shoved down their throats and they need the happiness infused into their lives. They need Izzy so I really hope Izzy doesn't die. Because that would suck for the show and the characters. I think she's developed a lot over the last season. After Denny died, she said she wasn't a surgeon and maybe she's not really but she is a doctor and she is a teacher and she found a good niche with the interns. When the Intern exam came up and they all got their own interns, I wondered how the show would flow because it went from being primarily focused on one resident and the fab five to the fab five trying to go their own way with a bunch of followers. There's only so much surgery to go around after all. On the other hand, they couldn't stay interns forever. So they've all been trying to find their place. Mer with the clinical trial, George with his struggle to be better and so on. So I hope Izzy doesn't die. I want her to be the miracle terminal patient that helps Derek get whole and healed or something. I liked when Izzy went to Christina in the end - she needed to tell someone and couldn't "infect the happy people". Even though George is her person and Alex is her boyfriend - they were happy and Christina is a rock who approaches things medically. The final scene in the boiler room was awesome - I've always noticed how much they can "say" on the show just with eyes. In surgery, all you can see is the eyes so you can learn a lot by watching their eyes. It was great! And Alex is becoming a rock star - slowly but he's working on it. I hope Izzy lives for him too because after the breakdown with Rebecca/Ava - I think Izzy dying would break him. Utterly and completely. He's just starting to become less of a complete jerk, let's not screw up his progress - please?

And then there's George, poor forgotten George. I miss George - that's all there really is to say because George was pretty much a non-entity. Poor forgotten George.

Stalling and other such Musings

2009-03-11T21:08:00.002-10:00

As I've mentioned before, Jadzia's one "chore" is to clean up the play room every night. Inara attempts to help and I attempt to get her to help but she's not really all that good at it. Previously the problem with project clean up seemed to be distraction by the toys and such. It took forever, I'd get frustrated and so on and so forth. Well now Jadzia has discovered the fine are of stalling. She knows that clean up time means bedtime so maybe that's the catch? Anyway part of the evening routine is to go upstairs (after the grand clean up) and she's goes to the bathroom one last time, baths, teeth brushing, etc. But for the last few nights, within a few minutes of me saying it's time to clean up the play room Jadzia says she has to go potty. Okay - she's four, I'm not going to make her wait if she really needs to go. So she goes to the bathroom, shuts the door and five minutes later I go check to make sure she didn't fall in and she's sitting in there doing nothing. Sometimes she says she's going other times I can see her start to scramble off the toilet like she's be caught. While she may go to the bathroom a little, I'm 90% she doesn't REALLY have to go, she's just delaying the whole bedtime routine. Even when she gets upstairs she still goes again.

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Yesterday at some point Bluto got locked in the bathroom. I assume Inara shut him in there as she is apt to do. So I when Jadzia alerted me to this fact, she was the one who let him out of the bathroom. I specifically asked her then if Bluto had made a mess or gotten into the trash. She said no. I asked again just to double check because she'll often say no without really thinking about the question. She actually went to the bathroom to check it seemed. She came back and still said no. So I was happy and went about the day. A couple hours later when I went back there, I opened the door (we usually keep it closed to keep Inara from flushing the toilet over and over and over and over) and stepped into a mess of torn up trash from the bathroom trashcan! So I called Jadzia over and asked her as calmly as I could why she'd told me there was no mess. I didn't even get a chance to raise my voice before she burst into tears. I guess she knew she was in trouble? While I was annoyed with Inara for closing the dog in there in the first place and annoyed at the dog for tearing up the trash, I was most annoyed at Jadzia for lying to me. After she cleaned it up as punishment and she calmed down (and I was calm), I explained to her that she had lied and tried to express the idea of truths and lies. Not sure if she got it exactly but we'll see.

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Today we went to the Commissary for just about everything. When we got there, all the kids were perfectly happy and I managed to get through all the shopping with no major meltdowns (although I had to grab a random package of Beef Jerky sticks for Anya to chew on before she turned a box into a great big slobbery goo). Robby had asked for just a couple of little things to be sent to him, specifically the singles packets that can be added to a bottle of water (like Kool aid, crystal light, etc). We had some still around the house but I wanted to grab some more. Then I start snack shopping for him. I had intended to fill one large flat rate priority box with goodies to mail out tomorrow. But somehow the whole "this looks good" *toss in cart* mentality took over and soon half the cart was filled with stuff potentially for Robby. When I got home and unpacked everything, I got a box ready to fill and filled it with A LOT left over. So I got the second box and filled it too. Sooooo tomorrow I get to take two boxes of goodies to the Post Office to mail off for Robby.

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I finished my Grey's Anatomy marathon. Four seasons of Grey's Anatomy over the course of a week or so - awesome! When it was all said and done, part of me wanted to start right back at the beginning. I love that show.

Packages!

2009-03-10T11:51:00.002-10:00

I love getting packages in the mail. It's like Christmas - in March. Even when I know exactly what is inside - it is still makes me giddy to get packages in the mail. When we first moved to Hawaii, even Amazon didn't ship anything bigger than a postage stamp here (or so it seemed) so the packages were practically non-existent unless I wanted to pay through the nose for shipping. Since then, Amazon has started shipping most things to Hawaii - much to my satisfaction - they even offer the standard free shipping on orders over $25 on qualifying items. Now other online retailers - it can be hit or miss on 1) if they ship here at all and 2) how much it's gonna cost me.

Yesterday was package day here! Major package day in fact. I got three items shipped via UPS (which, by the way, I despise UPS), one box via FedEx and a couple of things via USPS. I knew everything was scheduled to arrive yesterday and given previous UPS dealings, I decided not to go anywhere just in case. So, naturally nothing was delivered until almost 5PM. When I had tracked the UPS packages that morning, only one showed as being on a truck for delivery and the other two actually appeared to have been bumped to the next day. I was bummed and was contemplating how I'd rearrange plans so I could be home for another day of just in case waiting. As chance would have it, when UPS arrived all three of my boxes were on the truck! I signed for everything and sent the man on his way, giddy to open up my new treasures. Just as I finished opening and rearranging what needed to be done, FedEx showed up with more goodies. This was a box of 15 books - yes 15! This was part of my booty from the Coinstar incident. I had to rearrange my To-Be-Read bookshelves (yes that is now plural) AGAIN to get everything on there and I still have more books coming! I have books to read from now to St Swithun's Day (more like St Swithun's Day 2011 at this rate!) And, of course, you know more books will be bought, traded, swapped between now and then to the pile will keep growing faster than my eyes can keep up! But what a thing to complain about right? Ah, sad - I have things to read. Note the sarcasm!

On a side note, Anya slept from about 10pm to 7am this morning! Yay!

My Kids

2009-03-09T12:39:00.000-10:00

Are Weird - that is all :)

Oh the Mother You Become

2009-03-08T22:15:00.004-10:00

When you have your first baby, you research everything you can. You have What to Expect when you're Expecting and What to Expect the First Year and probably even What to Expect the Toddler Years on your book shelf. You call your OB when the baby kicks too hard or too soft. You spend the last half of your pregnancy wondering if you'll know when you're really and labor and even when you are in labor you wonder if you're really in labor. When you have the baby, you call the ped when he has a fever of 98.9 only to be told to calm down. You have the ped's number on speed dial and soon know every nurse by first name. They get sick of seeing you because you're constantly bringing the baby into the office. You write down everything that goes in and out of your baby for the first three months. When he starts sleeping through the night you wake up in a panic for at least a month and rush into his room to check on him - thus waking him up and disturbing his peaceful sleep. When the baby starts crawling, you pad the entire house in rubber - to the point where it would have been cheaper to put him in a rubber room. The first time he bumps his head, you cry more than he does (and you call the ped's office). When he starts walking, you look into toddler sized knee pads and helmets because every rubber padded point in the house looks deadly. At his first birthday, because you read online that he should be saying so many words, you start obsessively listening to every sylabol that comes out of his little mouth and then attempt to interpret it into a word. When you go to the park, you hover so close to him that you'd be better off climbing on the equipment with him - but the equipment isn't built for adults so you'd probably fall off sooner than he would. By the time he's two, you're strung out and tired. You haven't really slept in two years.

And then you find out you're pregnant with your second baby. Because you haven't slept in two years, you've managed to forget most of what happened with your first pregnancy. You do, however, remember the looks the OB nurses gave you when you called in every other day. So you don't call nearly as often. You dig out the What to Expect series again when you have questions instead of pestering your OB as often. You may still over react a little but you're far less of a pest and the nurses don't give you the look anymore. When your baby is about due, you start to have a little freak out about how your toddler is going to handle you being gone for a couple days and the new baby. You start reading about ways to introduce the siblings. You even find a sibling class for your toddler so he is properly prepared. After you have the baby, you once again chart everything that goes in and out of the baby; but this time for only a couple weeks. You now let the fever get to around 100 before you start pestering the peds' office. You only dig out about half the rubber baby proofing and while you hug and kiss your baby when he falls, you don't cry about every fall. You only freak out for a couple weeks when the baby starts sleeping through the night. When you take both your kids to the park you try to flit between your now preschooler and your soon to be toddler but your preschooler gets more and more freedom. When he falls and scratches himself up you kiss it and make it better and send him on his way. It's now been over 4 years since you've really slept, your preschooler is getting ready for Pre-Kindergarten and your "baby" is almost 2.

And then you find out you're pregnant with number three! You call you OB when you're in labor or bleeding. You chart the eating and pooping patterns of your newborn for your stay in the hospital only because the nurses ask you every hour. You call your ped's office when the temperature hits 102. You let your 4 year old change your 2 year olds diaper because you're busy with the baby. You don't bust out any of the rubber padding for the edges or walls. You inwardly celebrate when the baby doesn't start crawling until she's 9 months old because she mostly stays where you put her for so much longer. When you take all three of them to the park, you let the other two do their thing while you hold the baby.

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Okay so some of it's an exaggeration. ;) But you get the general idea.

Terms of Endearment

2009-03-07T22:58:00.002-10:00

Around here, you might ofter hear me call my kiddos any of the following: spawn, munchkins, monsters, demons, monkeys, wee beasties, etc. You get the idea. Some people find these terms funny and endearing, they know I'm just joking around. They recognize that I have three kids, four years and under and realize that these kids might drive me a little more crazy on a daily basis.

But when I go out and refer to them as any of these things in public - I mostly get looks. Not all of them are bad looks; occasionally I get a sympathetic look from a knowing parent. Sometimes it's mostly a raised eyebrow - not so much a bad thing but a curious thing. Then there are the people that look on with blatant disapproval of my endearing term. Never mind that their little angel just pulled down a rack of clothes and is now halfway across the store on a quest to do who knows what while they look at me like I have three heads and just threw a kid into a wall or something. Okay, maybe they aren't ALL like that. Some of them only look at me like I have three heads.

In all honesty, I love my monsters. They drive me crazy at home and going out of the house with them is like a one way trip to the insane asylum but I still love them. I think I'm allowed to call them monsters and demons once in awhile. Or always.

Early Grey's Anatomy

2009-03-06T23:12:00.003-10:00

While I still love Grey's Anatomy even now - there is something to be said for early Grey's Anatomy. MerDer in season 1 was just fun and flirty, then in season 2 it was so easy to hate Addison (which is hard to think about seeing Addison now). I finished season 2 tonight - with the super hot Prom scene (the hotness was marginally ruined by the whole Denny dying thing though). And the first episode of season 3, with Izzy all lying on the floor - lots of awesome character development there. Did I mention that I love this show?

I started watching Grey's Anatomy mid-season in season 2. It was the Bomb in the Body episode I think. I got hooked from the start and quickly netflixed season 1. I ended up buying them all so now I can have my own Grey's Anatomy marathons. Which is what I've been doing lately.

On another note - I have stuff being delivered by UPS, USPS and FedEx on Monday - lots of stuff! And I'm so super excited about it. Anyone else getting deliveries? Gets me excited, even though I know it's coming and what's coming, it's like a mini-Christmas for me. In all of that should be backdrops and a new lens so I look forward to torturing my children next week! The backdrop stand arrived today and is very cool - would be cooler with backdrops though. Look forward to fun fun pictures of the torture sessions.

Tumbling Toddlers

2009-03-05T21:25:00.003-10:00

I've shown Jadzia and Inara the idea of tumbling (like gymnastics) before and every time I do it, they go through a few days of wanting to do it constantly. Today, every time I turned around, Inara was bent over waiting for me to help her get her legs over. It completely cracks her up. By the end of the day she could get herself over on her own about half the time. Jadzia could do it almost every time. It was highly entertaining to watch!

Meanwhile Anya has been a wee cranky little beastie today for unknown reasons.

And the Girl Scout cookies I ordered are en route to me; yeah that'll be good for the healthy eating, fitness thing...*note the sarcasm* BUT, it's Thin Mints - a once a year treat that I embrace happily.

A little bit of Awesome

2009-03-04T20:51:00.002-10:00

To start my day off, Anya slept from 10PM last night until 8AM this morning! While I don't expect repeats of that just yet - it is still awesome! If I'm really, super lucky she might do it again...and again. Maybe it will even become a habit! Wouldn't that be a kick?

After breakfast we ran to the Clothing and Sales store to get something for Robby, which they only had one of the two things we needed so we'll have to go back. While there I found these cute stuffed bears dressed in uniforms. I bought one for Jadzia in a PT uniform (her choice) and one for Inara in ACUs. We hit the Post Office after to mail some books out ("me-ah mail").

So we have had $100+ in change sitting in a jug on top of the refrigerator for awhile now. You see, our bank doesn't have a branch here in Hawaii so I can't take them there to deposit it and the coin counting machines take like 9-10%, plus you have to go through the line and everything else. With three kids, it's just a pain to go to a store I don't usually go to, wait in line and lose $10+ in the process. So I've never bothered and it just keeps growing. Well today I found out that you can get eCertificates for various stores/sites with free counting of the money (no losing 10%). So I looked up the nearest machine and we went - I ended up with a a $122 Amazon certificate! I LOVE Amazon! I intended to get some books, maybe a couple movies, something for the kids maybe but when I went I found a TON of books that I wanted with major bargain prices! I ended up spending $83 of it on 19 books, with free shipping!

After going to the coinstar machine, we popped over to the Goodwill nextdoor just to look around. I didn't really mean to buy anything and yet I walked out with a cute new skirt for Jadzia, a new Boppy pillow, a musical toy for Anya, three princess dolls for the girls (Ariel for Jadzia, Cinderella for Inara and Belle for Anya) and three baskets that I'll use for their Easter baskets. And it was only $15 for it all with a military discount. Have I mentioned that it was a super awesome day?

Yeah, it has been! I got to talk to Robby again who has been away for a couple days. He rocked and impressed people which means he'll have to go out more - that part it less awesome to me. But that's the job I guess.

Still, awesomeness all around. Oh and I'm having a little Grey's Anatomy marathon - old school Grey's! Early Addison is so easy to dislike.

The Wizard of Oz

2009-03-03T22:20:00.002-10:00

I've mentioned Jadzia's obsession with The Wizard of Oz before. When we were at Walmart a few weeks ago, I saw these sparkling red shoes so I bought them. They're a size bigger than what she wears now because they didn't have any in her size. My theory was that she could be Dorothy for Halloween. She has her own opinions on things but I managed to plant the idea in her head and she's totally on board with it right now. Of course Halloween is months away and her opinion could change before then.

But she's gone beyond just her being Dorothy. She things I should be the Scarecrow (um...maybe). Inara should be the Tin Man - easy enough. Anya should be the Cowardly Lion (I can find a baby lion costume easily enough). And she also things we should bring Gimli with us to be Toto (yeah not gonna happen).

Seeing as this will probably be the last year I can follow a theme, I hope she sticks with it. By next year, there's a chance Inara will have her own opinions on her costume that won't mesh with Jadzia's plans.

On another note - it's been raining all day and my yard is a swamp now. I won't let the dogs go outside from more than three minutes to do their business because otherwise they come in covered in mud.

Reading Challenge Update

2009-03-02T14:41:00.001-10:00

Goal 80 books in 2009
January: 12 books
February: 14 books

Total so far: 26

Monday Media Madness!

2009-03-02T08:57:00.000-10:00

Okay so really it's a catch up picture blog; the media are the pictures - I just wanted it to be MMM. I shared the Playground pictures yesterday, now it's time for a few others. :)

Jadzia

Inara

Sisters

Anya

Long Awaited Playground Pictures!

2009-03-01T21:45:00.006-10:00

I know I've mentioned going to the playgrounds around base a few times and I keep mentioning pictures and then not sharing any, well that's because I hadn't edited them. But now I have so here's a collection! This is at least 4 different days over the last couple of weeks! Enjoy!

Okay enough playgrounds! Time to kiss goodnight!

Kids in Candy Stores

2009-02-28T00:17:00.001-10:00

Every year, tax season roll around and thanks to have three kids - we get a nice refund back. This year's was particularly nice due to the taxes paid on Robby's bonus money coming back to us. And when the refund rolls in, Robby and I generally set aside a chunk for savings (or last year it was for the minivan) and then designate a bit of "free-for-all" spending money for each of us. This year I spent mine on photography stuff! I now have a background stand, 6 different colors of backgrounds and a shiny new lens coming my way! I'm so excited! Shopping the B&H site, I was like a kid in a candy shop trying to figure out what colors and what lens I wanted. I can't wait for it all to get here so I can play! Look forward to new pictures in a couple weeks!

I tried to teach the girls (or at least Jadzia) about Hide-and-seek since they were stampeding around my kitchen playing tag or something. I explained the idea of one person counting while the others were supposed to hide and to demonstrate, I started counting and told Jadzia to go hide. When I said "Ready or not, here I come!" Jadzia shrieked and came running back into the kitchen where I was....hmm, I think she missed a vital element of the game. So then she wanted to counted and wanted Inara to go hide. So we started counting and Inara stood there laughing. Then she started running around the living room shrieking and so not hiding. Jadzia finished counting, immediately tagged Inara and apparently had "found her". Yeah, I don't think they really grasped the fundamentals to the game.

Later, we went to Costco because we needed dog food. Dog food was the only real item on my list and yet somehow I still walked out with a basket full of stuff. There's something sinister about that store - it sucks you in.