Christmas Time

Dec 5, my birthday... Turning the big 2-6 felt like just another day. I always anticipate the day I turn a year older however, I've been aging the whole time I've been waiting. You don't just turn a year older over night. Why do I freak out on my birthday then??! I wish I could just stop worrying about time flying by, aging, and one day that my boys will be grown. :( But it's tough. Better said then done. It's a special day though so I try to enjoy the day I came into this world. After all, I wouldn't have these handsome men if I didn't. ;] The Hubs surprised me by sending a letter that I indeed received on my birthday! Glad that turned out well! I also received some birthday cards. Can you tell I'm a sucker for the old fashioned mail? :]] I always try my best to let others know I'm thinking of them via good ol' snail mail. I'm old school. Wait, what? I keep saying old... Ha Also collected many birthday wishes that truly mean a lot to me. Who'd of known that something that small touches somebody? I had also been eyeing a MK watch so my sweet, charming, handsome hubby sent me one all the way from Afghanistan. Ok, it didn't originate from there but his idea did. ;] I LOVE it! Thanks Baby Love!

Christmas is my ABSOLUTE utter favorite! Just to explain, I purchased all our Christmas decor back in 2004. I was a senior in high school.

Our first Christmas together as a family without the Hubs. It's difficult being away from your spouse during the holidays. I decided to put our tree up although we are leaving for Utah this year during Christmas. D was ecstatic about it of course. Last year he helped place every single ornament on the tree. Caught it all on video, it was cute! This year he even tried to help pull the tree box in the house. He's such a great big helper. He played with T whilst I pieced it together, Christmas music in the background... Following all the not so fun part, it was time for decor! By then D&T were pooped. D wanted to relax and watch a movie so I decorated by myself. :( Took four hours to put together, start to finish. Subsequently I was tired also.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

3/7 Christmas Party

On Dec 3 we had our 3/7 Christmas party. We arrived and they had a blown up castle that the kids could jump in. I tried to steer clear of that because I knew I'd never get D out of there and there were some other activities going on. We stopped off at the craft table where all the kiddos were making ornaments, cards or snowmen. We decided to make some snowmen.

Again I forgot to take photos of the process because I hate making people wait longer than they need to so I was just trying to hurry and get out of the way. Not to mention we were running late for the awesome magic show. This photo was taken just before we left. T's is the camo one and D wanted red so that one is his along with a gift for the bigger kids.

T sitting at the magic show. I eventually took him out and all of us enjoyed a good twenty minutes of it. A memorable trick was when the Magician took out a new coloring book, and then when he flipped the pages they were all colored neatly, then when he flipped the pages again they were clean black and white pages. He also took some large rings and made them into a chain all at once and of course was able to unlink them effortlessly as if they just did so in thin air. They didn't have any slits where they could pass through so I'm still amazed. He also provided one child a huge blown up wand and another child a balloon to help assist him. They helped him switch peanut butter and jelly from there own designated spots to the other. For example, jelly was under a container and peanut butter was under the other. He then had them wave there objects, the balloon or wand, and showed us that jelly was where peanut butter was and vice versa. Not to mention the empty brown bag that another assistant was holding when he asked the child to pull out what was inside it was a PB&J sandwich! At the finale he made a bird appear. The magic word for the night was SANTA CLAUSE instead of abracadabra. I wish I could of snapped some more photos but it's tough with the little men.

D is petting him. :]

Afterwards we waited in line for Santa! I think he must of heard all the kiddos yelling his name. ;]

Here's D showing me the candy he received from the Magician and an award for fun. The other kids obtained one if they actually helped assist him but he just offered D one. 

We then had dinner. It was BBQ chicken that just fell off the bone. It was so good with baked beans and potato salad. D didn't even want to eat his desert because he wanted to see Santa first. He ended up enjoying it afterwards. 

The last one cracked me up because at first I was thinking, "AW you can't even see Talon." Not a good first impression via Santa. :(

Holiday Family Fun Festival

Tonight the Main Exchange (PX, or mall type store on base) held an event with which the kids were able to see Santa! This is the second time the boys have seen Santa this year. The first visit didn't go over so well when Santa visited our 3/7 Christmas party. :( D has been telling me more frequently lately that he's scared. He'll say it to just about anything, for example the dinosaur on tv, going potty in a different potty, without his potty, or Santa. Once T saw D's uneasiness he started to cry. I had to get in the picture to get them to stay calm. T almost ripped off Santa's beard too! That would have hurt! ;] Everyone behind us were really understanding and the photographer took as many pictures as she could to get a good one. Thank you everyone that was patient! Anyway we went to the mall on base today because Santa was here again. He must like 29 Palms. *wink* They had a magician, face painting, caricature drawing, and drawings for prizes. Little did we know that Frosty wanted to visit along with Elmo! Our first stop was the Magician. Now let me tell a little secret, I'm still baffled at Magicians and their ability to baffle me... I think I'm a kid trapped in a 26 year old body. I could watch him all day. Or any magician for that matter. I loved seeing D's reaction after he helped the Magician with his trick. He was just looking at him like "Ok, what just happened??" 

Our second stop was to see Santa. I know how long those lines can get. I wasn't about to make a disastrous decision. D is 3 and he's a little monster when we're out and about. He kept mopping the floor with himself. Just scooted along the floor on his belly. Finally the kind lady behind me said, "You can go get him, I'll watch him." I was equally hesitant to let some stranger watch my little 7 month as I was about D vanishing into this mall. Not to mention his tantrums. Let's just say they're a 10 on the Richter scale. Everyone will know when my child isn't happy. It's tough doing things when you have a temper tantrum throwing 3 year old and a 7 month old. I don't know how to contain D when I have to watch and take care of T also. My Love, please come home now. :] As everyone knows this is typical 3 year old behavior so I'm glad I get the understanding looks from strangers. BTW no one warned me about the Terrible 3's, I've just heard of the Terrible 2's and let me tell you that those don't even start on time. They start around 1 1/2 years old. Don't say I didn't warn you. 'Cause I just did. ;] So standing in this line was eventful, however, worth it. Pictures are worth so many words and very sentimental to me.  D actually sat on his lap and T did as well. The only problem was getting both of them to look at the camera AND smile at the same time. One would look and smile while the other was looking off. Thankfully these people were just as great as the last group. They were patient and the photographer tried her best to get a good picture. I eventually had to lend a hand and shake T's rattle. It worked. I even offered it up to them if they wanted to borrow it. They just laughed. A lot of poor kids were tired though and cranky. Maybe if they had the event earlier next year?

See what I mean? ;]

After we picked up our picture I was looking at the books and realized Elmo was standing right in front of us. Of course a line had already formed but it wasn't nearly as long as Santa's. Elmo was making balloons. D was in awe. While we waited to visit Elmo, Frosty stopped by. He's a little skinny if you ask me. I think he needs more rolls, junk in the trunk... Living in Mojave Desert is basically killing him. He looks Ethiopian.

When he first saw Elmo. In awe.

D said bye to Elmo and we were off to get dinner. His favorite place, McDonalds. I figured he did pretty well for standing in those lines for so long. Anyone would be antsy. 

D mentioned to Santa that he wants a truck. We shall see... ;]

LOVE these faces. Make life worth it. <3

Thanksgiving

This year was our first year having Thanksgiving as our own little family, minus one. :( I had no plans on making anything that day since I basically eat dinner by myself most of the time. D is at that stage where he just wants a sandwich, toast, cereal, banana, or cheese, and crackers for example. Of course I still encourage him to eat more to no avail. T is just barely eating baby food but boy when all my boys are grown and together I'm going to be eaten out of house and home. I'm not prepared.

Prior to Thanksgiving our FRO threw a potluck so all the wives met up to have a Thanksgiving dinner together. All the kids did a fingerpainting on one huge banner and we sent it off to Afghanistan. It was a great idea!

Anyway the Hubs mentioned that if we didn't have plans on actual Thanksgiving day that he got an invite from one of his buddies to go to his house with his wife and son to celebrate there. I thought about it and decided that I'd like to branch out and meet her. Some weird facts that we both figured out during our visit:

1) Her name is Nicole and that's my middle name
2) We have the same birthday, December 5.
3) Her grandmother's last name is Underwood!

That was a little W-E-I-R-D to me. However, also really cool. I've never met anyone with the same birthday as me or same last name.

Fall Photos

I love Fall and Christmas - - so what better idea then to incorporate the two! We created Fall-esque Christmas cards. :]] In November I found a photographer that I liked and decided to do a photo shoot. I also wanted to incorporate my husband somehow and I love how they turned out. The photographer, Nataly is excellent- You should check out her Facebook page! MemoriesForDave Photography