Halloween

Halloween this year was a bit busy. Last year Thomas wasn't here either, but it was only for the night. I think he had duty, but I don't remember. This year, as you all know, he's in Afghanistan.

Genny was Little Red Riding Hood this year and Glenn was a pea pod. We went to six houses total for Genny to trick or treat and she walked away with a good little bucket full of loot. We completed her trick or treating and walked in the door at about 6:45. I told her to pick one piece of candy to eat while I changed her diaper. Of all the different candies in her bucket, she chose "snack" witch is Genny speak for a Chewy Granola bar. Hmmm... As Thomas said, who's daughter is she? Certainly not mine, for just since she went down, I've had seven mini-packs of nerds candy. Not to mention the constant raiding of the candy bowl this past week.

Glenn and Dillon at Hans's house

Genny eating all the cheese with her cape on

Genny without her cape on

Me with my black wig on (my blackened mole somehow wore off)

Happy baby Glenn and Sweet baby Dillon

Genny trick or treating with her cape on

baby Glenn and baby MJ

Genny and MJ trick or treating at Nick and Rosie's house

Painting Baby Glenn's Room With Him...

I thought baby Glenn would fall asleep today, so I could paint his room. The room was primed, waiting for the baby blue I picked to be applied. But he did not want to fall asleep, so I had to figure out how to paint with him. I ended up putting him in the Moby, and then, not wanting to get paint on the Moby, I took a shirt of Thomas's that already had paint on it, and put it over us. It worked out well and Glenn ended up falling asleep for a little while. I must appologise for the clothes I'm wearing, Thomas HATES those shorts, and they are on their last leg, so I deemed them painting shorts.

Now half of Glenn's room is painted!

2nd Time at Playwerx

Playwerx is a fun place for a youngster. It has a 4 story (kid size stories) play structure, a room dedicated to coloring on the walls, comfy couches for adults, and a cafe that has good-for-you choices.

We made a day out of going, arriving just after they opened at 10am and staying until just after 1pm.

The car ride there was a perfect example of a two year old: Genny cried and screamed the whole way wanting everything I couldn't give her or unable to make up her mind. It all started with a jacket. A wonderful, purple, downy jacket we got last year as a hand me down from Aaralynne. Genny never ended up wearing it, but lately since the weather has been chilly I brought it out to be used. Genny just loves it. I don't know if it's because it's purple, or has a fun fur-lined hood, or that it's so puffy. But if she remembers it exists, she wants to wear it. So after wearing two other coast first, she decided she wanted to wear the purple coat today. Let me just tell you that it's was a chilly 60 degrees when we went to get in the car, a balmy 76 in the car. I made up the temps, but you get the picture. So after Genny was in the car for a few minutes, sweating it up, I asked if she wanted to take her coat off while she was in the car. She agreed. Then we got on the road. It was, "Genny purple jacket ON?!" the whole way there (about a 20 minute ride) and when she wasn't asking for the jacket, she was undecided about which to watch: Nemo or Strawberry Shortcake. I say 'undecided', but it started with me trying to distract her from the jacket situation with a movie. I asked if she wanted to watch Nemo. She agreed. After Nemo started, she wanted Strawberry Shortcake. So I changed it. Then she wanted Nemo. Then Strawberry Shortcake. I stopped there. I told her that she could watch Strawberry Shortcake or nothing at all. She was not a happy camper.

The good news was that as soon as we got to Playwerx, she was able to put on her purple jacket. So that made her blotchy-faced self happy. You'll notice her in this non-weather-appropriate jacket in the first few pictures. I was able to convince her to take it off after about an hour. Ah yes, we are living with a two year old.

Glenn had a good time playing

Genny "jumping"

mmmmm ice blended mocha

Genny coloring






Glenn trying to get his toes

Genny pretending to sleep

Family Pics for Tommy Tom-Tom

Baby Glenn's fun spot to be when I'm in the kitchen

Genny's saying, "Hi Dada"

My current make-out partner

Thomas called me again this morning, it was after he had left work, then worked out at the gym. It was before he went back to his temporary home for the night to sleep. He joked that the only reason why he called me was to criticize my blog pictures. Apparently he wants to see pictures of me. I told him I wasn't sure I had taken any pictures of myself since he left.

Here you go, babe.

First Halloween Part of the Year

Yesterday Genny, Glenn and I went to Dawn's community park for a MeetUp. It was called Costumes and Crafts, although Genny didn't end up doing the craft because she was so focused on the other kids and the play structure. They had a great teeter-todder that she enjoyed playing on. This blog is mostly for my husband, Thomas who, as you all know is deployed.

This year Genny is Little Red Riding Hood, and Glenn is a pea pod.

My (made up) Lasagna

Yesterday I...

Went to the comissary
Gave baby Glenn baby food peaches for the first time
Washed my leather couches (for the first time)
Steam cleaned the carpet around the couches (it's amazing how quickly that carpet gets dirty!)
Did some laundry (like that's something I don't do every day...)
Made lasagna (with a baby on my hip)

When I talked to my brother and then my sister about lasagna, they seemed nonchalant about how easy it was to make. Not the case in my situation. I've made lasagna probably a half a dozen times before, using a recipe each time, finding that it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. I've never used the same recipe twice. Since I've started my path towards vegetarianism, I'm looking for recipes that I can make to fill my family. Ones that can be a main dish, and act like a main dish. I think my husband's idea of vegetarianism is salads and beans. When he comes home he's going to want meat. A lot of meat. Before he left we were eating meat with almost every meal. That's what he'll probably expect when he comes home. And if I don't make these vegetarian dishes with some bulk, he's going to start asking where's the meat.

In comes the lasagna. Since I have made it so many times before, I knew the routine. Noodles, cheese, veggies, tomato sauce. Layered. So I bought some ricotta cheese, no-boil lasagna noodles, a can of Hunts tomato sauce, some spinach, and I already had some frozen breaded eggplant. I layered accordingly, making sure to put sauce in the bottom of the pan as well as with each layer. I also used my sister's trick of pouring extra water in the dish after I was done to give it more moisture. I topped it off with some shredded motzrella, covered with foil and baked at 350 for 45 minutes, took off the foil and then baked for another 15 minutes.

Voila! A lasagna I actually like!

Grape Juice and Limeaid

I was in the commissary one day and the thought occurred to me to mix grape juice and Limeaid. So I did. And it was wonderful. So try it! Mix 3 parts grape juice to 1 part Limeaid. It's a wonderful and easy to make punch.

Hello Rain [oops, I forgot we were in Oceanside- I mean 'mist']

It's a rare rainy [misty] day here in Oceanside. We started off the morning by trying to make it to the 8am yoga class at the YMCA. I got there on time, but as I was trying to drop off the kids at the child watch, I realized I left my member ID in the car. So back to the car for the ID. Then Glenn gave me a dirty diaper, and it turns out I have to change dirty diapers in the locker room. So after all of that, I was about ten minutes late for the yoga class. I joined in and didn't find this class as relaxing as the one I took last week. I guess I'll stick to that instructor so that I get more stretching instead of toning which is what I got today.

Genny is in love with her flower jammies that KrisB gave her for her birthday. I hadn't broken them out yet, so last night I thought it would be fun for her to wear them under her regular fleece footed jammies that she wears every night. But once those flowered jammies went on, there was no negotiations that they would be her only jammies that night. I put an extra blanket on her to try to keep her warm since she wasn't wearing the fleece jammies. This morning when I did my usual routine of changing her diaper, then taking off her jammies, there was a whole lot of tears and exclamations of "Flower jammies ON! No flower jammies off!!" So on they stayed. Yup, I took my children to the YMCA in their jammies. I didn't bother changing Glenn because if Genny was going to wear her jammies, and I was wearing my jammies, then we may as well be uniform in our lazy attire.

Today we will be enjoying several indoor activities. I will be completing the taping of Glenn's room so I can prime it during Genny's nap, Genny will be coloring and maybe using the left over supplies from our morning hosting preschool (green felt, pom-poms, google eyes and glitter glue), we may end up getting a toy out from hiding in the hopes that it's 'new' or I'm thinking of getting a Little People construction truck from the garage where it's been sitting, purchased last year for Brad-Lee, but I never sent it, partly because I don't have his address, and partly because I'm lazy. In any event, it's probably too young a toy for him now, and I had been thinking I would give it to Glenn for Christmas, but depending on how today goes, I may just bring it out.

What do you do on rainy days?

Fruit Flat

I was at my sister's house the first time I saw a fruit flat. It seemed like a fruit roll up, but thicker and tastier. Since then I've purchased them a few times from Henry's, but at about fifty cents each (for a flat a little over half the size of a deck of cards) it's hard for me to validate the purchase. Plus it's a sticky snack, and I'm not fond of sticky snacks unless it's a controlled environment like in a high chair where I can clean the hands before Genny touches anything in the house.

One day while reading a soulemama blog post I came across a recipe for a fruit flat. I was amazed how easy it seemed and decided that one day I would make one. Well today was the day! I used three pears (I would have used four, but Mister Man was too hungry to wait) plus I wasn't very confident that this first batch would work out too well, so I'd rather not waste too many pears.

I got the recipe from here

But here's what I did differently... Since I still have yet to order a new pitcher for my blender, I didn't puree the pears. I used a fork to get them as close as mushed as possible. And my oven's lowest setting is 250, so that's what setting I put it on. I added about a tablespoon of sugar and a splash of lemon juice (from the bottle) when I was simmering the pears.

Like I said, n I baked it at 250 for about four hours. Apparently it was too long...


Oh well, I'll try again. Maybe I'll try a different was of drying it out. We'll see what the future brings...

San Marcos Fire Station #3

Yesterday we went to the San Marcos Fire Station #3 for a tour since it's fire safety month in the US. It was Genny's and Glenn's (obviously) first time to a fire station. Their uncle Chris has been a volunteer firefighter since he was 18, so it was no surprise that they felt right at home.

Genny loved sitting in the fire engine and she even made sure to put on her seat belt for safety! Both kids got hats, but Genny took on the responsibility of holding both of them. :)

As a side note, it's 4pm. I love you Thomas.

Crocheting a Hat for Mister Man

When my besti Kate bought a loom to make hats, I said to myself, "Goodness, that looks simple enough!" So I set out to make a hat for my little man who accompanies me to play laser with Gus-Gus in the cul de sac in the dark of night. I've always gone a bit overboard with making sure my kids are warm, so the idea of being able to make hats has always caught my fancy, even though I never thought I could. But after seeing how easy it looked, I made a hat. I made a bad hat. I added 'ears' that looked like horns to this poor hat that is now sitting in the basket of shoes, mittens and hats, probably never to be worn again. *sigh*

Then I bought some more yarn. And I made another hat. One that would fit, and look GREAT with his beautiful eyes. Success! It's a tad big, but all the better for bringing with us to Michigan in a few [six] weeks. Yes, I love crafting!!