Happy Birthday Josh!

Josh had his birthday on August 28th. He was on call that night so we had a little party for him the day before. We went out to eat at the Texas Road House, and then ate cake at home and unwrapped presents. Josh is now 31!

The girls were so excited about Daddy's birthday, so I tried to include them in everything. They helped make the cake, an Italian cream cake. The first thing I let them do is unwrap the butter. Ally got one end opened, and then took a lick! The cake baking pretty much continued on that way, I said "Don't Eat That!" a lot. Then I let them help wrap the presents, and make cards for Daddy. They had so much fun, but honestly, I had a huge headache! Here's a video of the girls singing Happy Birthday (sorry my camera doesn't take very good videos).

Shanty Town

Residency

We survived the first month of Josh's residency! It went really well. The worst part was Josh not having any time to help with the moving in stuff, which is still not done. Oh well! The days are long with the girls, but they have been good for the most part. Anya misses Daddy at dinner time, and told me once that Daddy should teach me how to make money so that he could stay home. I wasn't sure how to take that suggestion. It will be nice when she starts preschool and gets a little more social interaction with someone other than mommy. This month Josh is on OB inpatient with call every 4 days, same schedule as last month. He has to deliver 30 babies by the end of his first year - so far he's got 4. He wanted some Crocs before he got started with OB, so he would be able to hose his shoes off if needed. Gross!

I love cooking...not really, but I'm trying

Our budget has gotten a lot smaller with his last move, so we've been trying to cook more and eat out less. It's been really hard not eating out as much, and we're still not very good at it. It is getting better though. I have found that cooking dinner for my family more often does make me feel like a better mother/wife. I have also been planning meals, which has made grocery shopping much more productive. With that said here is my meal plan for the week......yes I know it's Tuesday :)

Sunday - Mexican casserole, black beans, chips & homemade guacamole

Monday - Josh is on call, so it's girl's choice - usually mac & cheese with fish sticks or pancakes & scrambled eggs

Tuesday - smothered steak, buttery potatoes, green beans

Wednesday - chicken stir fry w/ rice - we might make fortune cookies if I can find the recipe

Thursday - Josh's birthday a day early - his choice eating out

Friday - on call night - frozen pizza


Saturday - grilled chicken, corn on the cob, couscous


Sunday - sweet & sour meatballs with rice & sugar snap peas

Anya's New Do

Anya got her haircut on Tuesday after her shots. I told the lady to even up the back to match the sides, like a bob I said. Well when it was done it was wedged up short in the back, and then angled down longer in the front. A very big girl hair cut! I was in shock for most of the afternoon, and could not stop gawking. Josh's mouth hit the floor when he got home, but I think he's recovered. It is very cute, and she seems to really like it.

Poor Babies

Tuesday I took Anya to get her immunizations up to date before she starts preschool. She got 2 combo shots, one in each leg. She did excellent and did not even flinch. Wednesday we met some friends at Chuck E Cheese, and she was still going strong, no sign that she had even gotten shots. By late that afternoon her left leg had a red swollen spot, and she was complaining that it itched. Today the spot was huge taking up a good portion of her thigh; it was red, swollen, and hot to the touch. Of course I couldn't get an appointment on base so I had to get a referral for the urgent care clinic.

Today I really missed my doctor's wife privileges I had gotten accustomed to at McConnell. At McConnell Josh could have just looked at it, and had another doc put in the prescription. Then he could have just brought the medicine home with him.

Back to reality, she was prescribed two antibiotics, one in case of a staph infection, and another to cover all other infections. Then we had to go to base to get the prescriptions filled. It was a long afternoon.

This all wouldn't have been so bad, except for Ally is coming down with a cold, and woke up with a low temp. She was very whiny, and needed to be home taking a nap. I could barely get diner on the table before she crashed. I should have just put her to bed before diner because she only took a couple of bites. Did I mention Josh is on call tonight? I really hope I don't end of taking Ally to the doctor tomorrow, and repeating today.

A whole lot of naked

I was looking through the pictures I took last week, and noticed that Ally & Anya were mostly naked in at least half of the pics. I admit I don't like to dress them until we are ready to leave the house. Ally especially will get her clothes dirty in a matter of minutes.

Ally practicing somersaults, she hasn't made it over yet

Coloring "ON THE PAPER"

I have had to use the magic eraser twice recently for coloring offenses.


Anya helped Ally put on panties, and they were both very proud. I went along and let Ally try panties for the morning, but two puddles later I made her put a diaper on.

My window washers both take their job very seriously.

I give them a spray bottle of water, and they enjoy cleaning lots of things.

It usually looks worse when they're done, but they are so happy I don't mind.

Corn and a Bib

Wrestling -

They are so funny when they wrestle, usually Anya will lie down & tell Ally to wrestle her, and then she just laughs as Ally sits on her head or whatever. I tried to explain to Anya that she is supposed to try to wrestle back and pin Ally down, but that didn't end well, so we're back to the old style.

My Movie Kick

So I've been on a movie kick again. I discovered a Red Box at the grocery store near our house, and it's been aiding my habit. We also have netflix, but I'm more of an instant gratification girl so I prefer Red Box. Netflix is really more of Josh's thing, because he's a blu-ray snob. He's set up a que on netflix for Anya though, and she loves getting movies in the mail! The bad part is she already watches too much t.v., and it's hard to find time for a movie night all together. Plus Ally won't sit still for a minute, and usually is all over me the whole time. Anyway, here's some of the movies I've seen lately.

Changeling - Not a bad movie, but not my favorite, the pace was slow

Gran Torino - I was totally surprised by this movie, it rocked

Confessions of a Shopaholic - Very Cute, I could see myself a lot in this movie...scary!

Seven Pounds - I liked it, a bit predictable, but I didn't care.

17 Again - I really liked this one, light hearted, funny, & Zac Efron is HOT. This movie makes me want to watch High School Musical.

Night at the Museum - Very entertaining, not too scary for Anya (I wasn't sure). We're going to watch number 2 when it comes out on DVD.

Faith like Potatoes - Good Movie, I cried a couple of times.

Madagascar 1 & 2 - Funny kid's movie. I love that Josh thinks the penguins are so funny, and I like to Move It, Move It.

Our New Pool

The girls had a fun time this afternoon playing in the water. They filled up the empty sand box with water, and made themselves a little pool. They can spend hours outside just playing with the water hose.

Bubble Trouble

Anya & Ally were outside playing with bubbles this afternoon, so I went out to watch them for awhile. I took some pictures of them playing, then went back inside. A few minutes later I went out to check on them, and Ally had dumped bubbles on her head! I expected a little bit of a mess, but not bubbles in the hair. She says proudly, "I'm washing my hair."

Before -

The playsets in a million pieces!

After-

Thanks to Daddy, the girls can get outside and play!!

(Do I seem a little too excited?)

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit

Grandma Naomi and Grandpa Joe visited over the weekend. We celebrated Naomi's birthday, did some shopping, and took a trip to see the Arch. The girls loved Grandpa Joe, it was the first time they had really spent much time with him. The Arch was cool, but we didn't get to take the trolley to the top. It was pretty busy, and we should have reserved tickets online. We went to the Galleria in St. Louis, I could seriously get into trouble there. They had Gymboree's upscale store, Janie and Jack, like Gymboree isn't expensive enough! There was also a Bare Escentuals store, my all time favorite makeup. We got to have dessert at the Cheesecake Factory too, something I don't think we've done since we lived in Maryland. I don't know if anyone else had fun at the mall, but obviously I did. Anya is already asking when Grandma & Grandpa are coming back.

The Birthday Party!

Grandma & Grandpa

Anya & Ally at the museum under the Arch

Our New House

Lots of people have asked how I like our new place, and most of the time I say it's nice without going into any details. Well, here's what I really think.....

I Like-

• The floor plan - it's been great having the laundry on the same floor as the bedrooms, it's also nice to have the master bedroom completely separated from the girl's rooms -they don't drag their junk into our room, and I like the fact that there's not so many stairs.
  
• The windows - There are lots of windows looking out to the backyard, so I can easily keep an eye on the girls while I do my housework. The blinds on the window are also cool, they can come down from the top to let in light without losing privacy.


• The laundry room - it's an actual room, not a hallway. I'm in love with my new gas dryer, we've had electric for so long I forgot how fast clothes could dry!


• The basement - it's much larger, and finished much nicer than the basement we had in Derby. It has a bathroom, something we didn't have before! Josh is in love with the wet bar, he finally has a place for Mr. Beer. I love the storage space - actually more than we had before which was a lot (we need it though, because the garage stinks).



• The mail box - it's so much fun to have a mail box right in front of our house, the girls go out everyday to check for mail.
  
• The girl's bathroom- bigger with two sinks, no more fighting over who goes first.

I Dislike -

• Bedrooms - smaller sizes overall


• Master Bathroom - our bathroom before was huge, so it's hard to compare, but this one is narrow with a small shower. It also has a not so great blue rose wall paper border, the owners were kind enough to leave the matching shower curtain though.
  
• Master Closet - smaller, no room for my beloved vanity table.
  
• The garage - Also hard to compare because he had an enormous garage before, but this one is a small two car with no shelves for storing anything. Josh's truck won't fit.
  
• The kitchen - it's actually very similar to what we had just not upgraded. The whole house throughout could use some updating with the lights & fixtures. The floor is linoleum, the counters are green laminate, and the whole kitchen including the eating area is wallpapered with an ivy, red daisy, and plaid combination paper.



• The Dining Room - there's not one
  
• The Fireplace - it's electric, just flip a switch
  
• The carpet - on the main level it's pretty dirty looking, and the color is too light for a family with kids and pets.
  
• The backyard - no pool, weird drainage ditch problem running along the fence, small deck with no patio for our lawn furniture
  
• The porch - small, no room for our wicker furniture


• The neighborhood - although nice & quiet on a cul-de-sac, I miss the pond we had in Derby, and there's no community pool.

So that's the list, I think we're pretty lucky to have found this place, even with all the little things I don't like. The location is great, just five minutes from church, five minutes to Anya's new preschool, five minutes to shops & restaurants, 10 minutes to base, and 20 minutes to the hospital. The house is also $200 under our housing allowance, we actually stayed within our budget for once!!

Jon or Kate Plus Eight?

Tonight I watched Jon & Kate Plus Eight, it was the first episode aired since they announced their split. I felt conflicted watching their show. I don't believe they have actually had the kid's best interest in mind, and I was very disappointed in how quickly they chose to divorce. In my opinion they sacrificed their marriage & family, for money & possessions. I bet if they asked the kids which they would rather have, a big house with a pool, or a tiny house with their family all back together, they would chose the latter of the two. Even though I don't agree with the choices they have made, I'll probably still watch the show. I know this is deep stuff. :) I asked Josh what he thought, and he simply said Kate is a B----, and Jon is an immature idiot. Leave it to a man to put it so eloquently.