Like Mother, Like Daughter

Finding out you’re going to have kids is an amazing thing. You spend so much time wondering about everything - like who they're going to look like and what does their future hold. And sometimes there's this tiny voice in the back of your head that starts thinking back on all the stupid things you did as a kid and wondering if your new child is going to do that to. (Wait...do you have tiny voices too?? Or am I the only one? Maybe we shouldn't talk about this on the internet.)

When Kierstin was born, I could see both Brian and I in her but the older she gets the more I realize just how much like me she is. (That's kind of scary, huh?) She makes a lot of Brian's facial expressions and has a lot of his mannerisms but some of the.....weirder (??) aspects of her personality are definitely from me. She was so gracious as to remind me of this again a few days ago.

But let me back up a second. Way back in 2004, I had an unfortunate run in with some stairs.

See my arm there? Yeahhhh. That's what happened when I tried to go upstairs (quickly) in flip flops. Explaining to the doctors that I tripped going up the stairs - because, yes, I am that clumsy - was really interesting.


Fastforward back to now. 

So Sunday afternoon the girls had a Girl Scout party at the base skating rink. Brian and I dropped them off and then took Hayden for some parent-son shopping time. When we got back, I found out that Kierstin had fallen earlier but they gave her an ice pack for her wrist and she seemed ok. I kind of brushed it off because she did look ok and falls happen, especially when skating. But over the last 2 days her wrist wasn't getting any better so I got her in to see her pediatrician, completely convinced that I was probably overreacting.

After the 3rd time I had to explain that she fell while playing limbo on rollerblades, I was starting to get flashbacks. And for good reason...

She has almost the same break I did 9 years ago. Like mother, like daughter, huh? Of all the things she could have inherited from me, my clumsiness was one I could have done without. She's probably thinking the same thing right about now. For the moment though, the only thing she's worried about is how she's going to wear her jacket, which, in the grand scheme of life, isn't too bad. :) And she is super excited that they could make her cast pink so that was a huge plus!

We'll see how she feels about it in a couple days. Lol 

I hope you're having a wonderful day! I'm going to go enjoy the last hour before the other kids come home and I actually have to be a productive adult. Happy Wednesday! Much love!

Freedom Week

Today is the first day of my spring break from school. Woo hoo! I guess, technically, Saturday was the first day since I was finished with all of my assignments by Friday. But today is my first official day to realize it's spring break. Lol I got the kids off to school, went to check what assignments I needed to work on and then realized "oh yeah. I have a whole week off!!!" ((insert me dancing around here))

Here's the issue: I have no idea what to do. Normally my days are busy busy busy. Between cleaning the house, and doing my homework, cooking, and then helping small(ish) children with their homework, I don't really get too many moments to just sit and do nothing. I'm cool with that. I enjoy not being bored. But this morning, the kids left, and I had breakfast, and then I just sat here. What the crap am I going to do for a whole week?!

There is of course the responsible adult option.

I have a to do list that seriously needs attention. It's not big stuff really. Just a bunch of little things that tends to get ignored or pushed to the side when I'm in school because it's not as important as something else. So yes. I could be the responsible adult and actually work on that. And probably knock every single thing off of it.

Oooorrrrrr.....

I could totally veg out and read and catch up on the 50 bajillion tv shows I've recorded and not gotten around to watching. (As long as everyone pinkie promises not to tell Brian that I'm being totally lazy.)

Is it bad that I'm leaning towards the sloth option? I do have some "mom guilt" about that. But we're supposed to be getting some really pretty weather this week and I kind of want to enjoy it. You know, by laying around outside and reading or something. Not being productive out there. That negates the whole sloth thing. I don't know. Maybe I'll come up with some kind of hybrid option - half sloth, half adult. Lol

You know what's really going to happen though? I'll be bored out of my mind by tomorrow and start reading ahead in my textbooks for next term. I'm just like that. It's sad, I know, but that's what's going to end up happening. I'm sure of it.

Well, in the spirit of not being a sloth, I think I should at least go to the grocery store. My family would probably appreciate some food. :) I do hope your Monday is starting off very well. Much love my sweeties!

Yes, We Are From America

When Brian and I found this house a year ago, the fact that it's not in any of the towns around the base was a huge check in the plus column. We fell in love with the area before we even made it to the house. It's the whole English countryside thing.

It's gorgeous! There are definitely some drawbacks (like how long it takes us to get to the bases) but it kind of just evens itself out. Not to mention, we really liked how small the village is - small = quiet. We just didn't realize exactly how small it is until last night.

This couple was driving down the road (which is really more like a highway), doing their little British thing, and see a dog that's gotten out. They don't want it to get hit by a car (because it was getting pretty dark at this point) so they stop to get it. Apparently someone in the village told them it belonged to the American family. So what did they do? They came straight to our house. (What???) 

For all our talk about "blending in" we might as well have a neon sign outside that says "Hey Y'all! Americans live here!!" I mean, I know it's pretty obvious sometimes. Like when we talk. Lol There's no hiding that we're not British the moment we open our mouths. Plus, there's the whole van thing. Every time I drive around here, people stop to look at the van because I'm sitting on the wrong side of the car. Oh, and because the van might as well be a tank compared with their cars. (It's just huge over here!) But seriously, I didn't realize they knew where we lived. Like they've for serious been paying attention. To be honest, it's kind of creepy. I kind of feel like a circus attraction....."what are the crazy Americans gonna do next? Find out tomorrow!" (Ha!)

In other news, (before I freak myself out even more), I thought I'd share some pictures with you really quickly.

Apparently, 50 degree weather is perfect for ice cream here. I was a bit shocked to see the ice cream man at the park yesterday. But there he was. I just laughed and laughed. The temperature hit 50 and people were coming out of their houses in shorts and heading to get ice cream. (Sometimes I just don't understand things here. lol)

So that's it for now I think. Happy Friday y'all! I hope you have an awesome weekend in store. I think we're going to try to take the kids to the Space Center - they are super excited! Hayden and I may have to leave the others there because I just can't see them ever wanting to leave. It should be quite an adventure. 

Much love!!

I've Said it Before, But...

I know I've said this before but there are so many times I am pretty much 100% certain that the universe is laughing at me. It's just sitting back with a huge bowl of snacks and having a great big laugh at my expense. 

I'm the girl who drives an hour to the base before I realize that I left my purse (with all forms of ID) at home & has a 4-pack of beer explode on me on the way back to the house. The one who has ended up on crutches after a case of sodas broke and all of them came crashing down on my foot. I'm also the one who ended up with my arm in a sling for about a month after I partially tore my rotator cuff when I made the silly mistake of adjusting the shower head from kid-height to Dondi-height. (And let's not talk about what happens when I try to use stairs. That's just not kosher.)

I've been chased down my stairs by spiders, and out of my storage room by a rat. Had a frog fall out of my umbrella onto my shoulder and another that jumped on my arm and then peed on me. (How rude was that?!) And then there was the time I pulled back the blinds on our back door to find a 400+ pound bear staring back at me. (That was a really fun heart attack.)

So yeah. The universe finds my life entertaining. I'm really ok with it. Really. Well, most of the time. It keeps things interesting & I do hate to be bored. 

But see today. Well. The universe and I apparently need to have a talk about what is appropriate and what is not. 

I am in the last week of this school term - finals week. (Ugh!) But I had everything planned perfectly. I studied my butt off for my Victimology final so that I could knock it out today & spend the rest of the week studying for my American Lit final on Friday. Really, I just wanted Victimology out of the way. It is the hardest test I've ever taken (except Bio. Those sucked!) and I wanted it over with. I was three questions away from the end....THREE. Starting to breath a deep sigh of "I'm almost done with this sh*t!" 

And then my internet shut off. 

Now I have to start all over. 

I guess I should just be glad the kids weren't home when it happened. I'll go ahead and tell you that what came out of my mouth was not even a little appropriate for children's ears. It might not have been appropriate for my ears. But really? 3 questions?? That was just rude. Lol

So thank you, dear universe-people, for letting me entertain you once again. But really, next time I'd like to just finish the damn test. And then I promise you can shut off the power and the internet and whatever else you like (knock on wood!!). 

The Random Makes the World Go Round

...or at least makes my house go round. It's the random things that pop up in our everyday conversations that always keep things interesting around here. (Like when Brian and I are discussing British schools vs. the base schools and Makenzie jumps in to tell us a knock knock joke.)

So here's your dose of random for today...

- I have decided I need to hire someone to sort our socks. I did a load of laundry today that was 90% socks. It took me over an hour to sort through that mess. Did you see that? An HOUR. That is an hour of my life that I will never get back. And it was spent...on socks.

- The mister and I have decided to dive head first back into clean eating. We used to be really good about this, but not so much anymore. I don't know what happened. (Life maybe?) The issue (because of course there's an issue) is that buying groceries over here is a huge pain in the booty, and is most definitely not conducive to eating clean. ((Wow. Did I just use the word "conducive"? I'm spending too much time with my textbooks. Although I am amused that used "conducive" and "booty" in the same sentence. I am easily amused - what can I say.))

- Speaking of textbooks. In a week and a half I will officially be done with this term. And! I will officially be classified as a junior. Woot! Halfway through this crazy degree!

- I went and got my hair cut last week and it turned out to be a rather enlightening experience. First off, I had no idea how long my hair had gotten because I was putting it up every day & even wore it up while I slept. (Yes, I know that's bad. And yes, I did it anyway. And yes. My hair stylist lectured me about it.) But I had 3 inches cut off my hair and it's still halfway down my back. (Just wow.) Second, did you know my hair is semi-curly?? I sure as hell didn't. Not super curly, but more than wavy. It's a thing. But really, 32 years with this hair and I had no idea. (That should probably strike me as odd...but it doesn't.) And I'll show you a picture someday (maybe) whenever I get around to having someone else take a picture of it. 

- We split up the girls last weekend and they are no longer sharing a room (again). This is one happy mama over here. I don't have to listen to any more arguments about whose ideas on toy organization are better or that someone left their clothes/shoes/towel/insert random object here on someone else's side of the room. But. There's been a small hiccup with the separation - their alarms don't want to go off anymore. Do alarm clocks get separation anxiety? What about separation depression? I don't know what the issue is, but something strange has happened.

- YouTube is evil. I mean, maybe there's some good things about it, but really it's just evil. Every single time I get on there to watch some video for school or whatever I'm pretty sure some crazy universal force is hitting the fast-forward button on my life. (You know, like in that Adam Sandler movie.) One minute I'm watching the video for my class and the next thing I know an hour has gone by and I'm watching a video about dancing animals or giraffe noises or how to organize something. Does this happen to anyone else? 

Ok well that's enough random for you today. So I'm off to bed. 9:00 has apparently become my 30-something year old bedtime. I'm not sure what this is about or what happened to the me who used to go to bed at 3 am, but come 9:00 I start getting very tired and must go up to bed. 

Goodnight lovelies! Much love!

Sunday Funday

Have you been having a fabulous Sunday? We have. And I hope you have too. It was a nice recovery after the room organizing madness yesterday. We moved so much stuff around upstairs that by dinner time I felt like I'd been run over by a bus. I was exhausted. And what sucks is that we're not done. ((Boo!)) Right now the upstairs kind of looks like it did when we moved in which means I will be finishing it alone sometime soon. (You know, before it drives me crazy and I run screaming down the street. I'm sure my neighbors would not appreciate that.)

Today though, we got to have lunch with some of our fave people. It took us awhile to find a restaurant that was open for lunch on a Sunday, but we did...eventually. It paid off though - we ate some fabulous Indian food. Not only was the food so super yummy, but we had a great time just sitting there hanging out & chatting. 

Then it was time to shop! ((Yay!)) Brian and I finally went mattress shopping. And let me tell you. We are a little obnoxious when shopping for mattresses. Did you ever see the movie Two Weeks Notice? (I love that movie!) Well there's a scene in it that was totally us today. And I have tried every way possible to embed the clip of them buying mattresses but it's not letting me. So if you get a chance, go watch the movie and truly appreciate the mattress buying scene. But that was absolutely what we looked like today. Thankfully the kids tolerated our antics and waited semi-patiently for us to find one. And now we're just waiting on it to get shipped here & I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't take long.

We did take the kids to get some new clothes too because my dear sweet little Hayden won't stop growing. (Do you know a remedy for this? Please share it if you do!) He just keeps getting taller and taller - ridiculousness! He's almost as tall as I am (as in, he's only about 4 inches shorter than me) - sheer blasphemy! But we got him some new clothes. And of course the kids managed to convince us to let them get some toys while we were there too. I'm not sure how that happened but I'm going to blame Brian (because it's easier that way).

********

Ok I am going to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to tell you about what just happened when I went upstairs to change. It was Florida all over again. In fact, I am slightly convinced that Florida misses me so much it is sending me little reminders of our adventures there every chance it gets. Did I ever tell you about the night a few months ago when there was a spider stalking me in my room at like 1 in the morning? And I got so freaked out I started throwing bottles of hair products at it?...No? Well that happened. And then there was the time I woke up to a (large!!) spider crawling up my arm in the middle of the night too. I'd tell you more about that but I really don't want to relive it. But I went upstairs to change really quick and this is what happened....

Do you see what that arrow is pointing at? (No I don't have arrows on my wall, and yes, please excuse my messed up bed skirt)

That is a spider. On the wall. Next to MY side of the bed. What in the name of crap is that about?! That is just not ok! Not even a little.

Ok but now that I've been sufficiently freaked out I think I'm going to go veg out on my couch & try not to fall asleep before the kids do. I hope your day was awesome and spider-free! Much love!

I Promise I Haven't Started Raising Zoo Animals

So first, I have to tell you that last night was our monthly special needs families support group meeting. I am proud to say that I remembered my purse this time! (Yay me!) Of course, I may not ever live it down that I forgot it last time. Like ever. On the way out the door yesterday, Brian and the girls probably asked me 20 times if I had my purse and my ID. 

Yes. I remembered to grab them. Thanks. (lol) The meeting was amazing though and I'm so glad we made it out there. And I really can't wait for next month's. 

Keeping up with our usual crazy tho....Hayden got to stay home with me today. There was a situation with his normal transportation and they couldn't get here. And since I had a proctored exam for Lit class scheduled for 9:30 (meaning there was no way I could make it to his school and back in time for my test) he got to stay here. You'd think I took away all of his toys too. He was not happy about not being able to go to school. Despite his grouchiness, he's entertaining me and that's always fun. When I told him it was his snack time this morning, he ran over and grabbed the snack he packed for school. This is what I heard coming from my utility room...

Snack time! Lunchbox...check. Fruitcup...check. Spoon...check. Crackers....crackers? Where are my crackers?! Oh. Crackers...check. Juice...check. Napkin...check. Yes! Snack time!

I could not quit giggling. He's just such a funny kid. (Don't tell him that though. He doesn't like to be funny anymore.) And seriously. Having him home during my exam was interesting. I was so distracted with him that when my alarm went off telling me I had 10 minutes until my exam, I kind of panicked. I was still in my pj's and my hair pretty much looked like I lost a fight with a blow dryer. It was mad dash to change my shirt and attempt to pull my hair up into a semi-decent something or other so I didn't look like I'd been sleeping in a tree. (ha!) Hopefully it wasn't obvious. 

And my poor proctor. He was either highly entertained by listening to Hayden while I was testing...or severely traumatized. I thought it would be a good idea to turn on Avengers for Hayden - keep him occupied for at least part of my exam before he got bored with the movie and decided to come in and talk to me. That is not what happened. He did get bored. And then decided it was a brilliant idea to jump around the living room. It sounded like a herd of elephants were trying to escape. 

Poor proctor guy. I probably should have apologized for the crazy and assured him that there are, in fact, no zoo animals in my house. I didn't. I just acted like everything was normal and maybe I didn't notice what was going on. (It was an awesome parenting moment for me)

In other news, my sweet little Kierstin has her first school dance today. I'm not sure how I feel about this. What I am sure of is that her school is probably thinking I'm insane after I called (possibly more than once) to be absolutely sure that this wasn't any kind of boy-girl situation. They keep reassuring me that it is not. It's more of a school sanctioned party to help the kids relax before standardized tests start. 

I wish I could show you a picture of her this morning because she looked so cute, but I don't have one. She was adamant about not having her picture taken. Apparently the dance is not a big deal and she doesn't need her picture taken. ((And I'd like to know where my 4 year old Kierstin who loved to have her picture taken every single minute of the day has gone??))

So that is it in the world o' us I think. We have exciting plans of organizing some of our rooms this weekend. Aren't you jealous?? I know. I'm not either. :) 

Until next time! Much love!

It's a Random Kind of Day

Happy Valentines Day my sweets! Do you guys have big plans to celebrate the weirdest of all holidays? (I say that because I'm not sure why we need an international holiday to tell people "Hey, you're pretty awesome & I love you" - strange right?) Well, we do not have big plans. Are you surprised? You shouldn't be. The mister and I aren't really "big plans on weird holidays" kind of people. We will probably enjoy an adult-type beverage, some popcorn and a movie. Exciting, huh. LOL

So I actually didn't come here to talk about weird holidays. I just thought I'd pop in and tell you what's going on. Plus I can finally show you my (not so new anymore) desk. I actually got it all cleaned up yesterday and am no longer ashamed to have other people see it. :)

So that's what it looks like for now. There's actually some shelf/drawer things that go over it (you can kind of see the edge of them on the right side of the picture) but, alas, we haven't gotten them attached yet. Maybe one weekend we won't be super extremely busy and we'll find time. 

And I know this is kind of random, but someone did ask me about my post-its. Do I really harbor a deep love for post-its. Well, I guess that just depends of your definition of "deep harbored love", but I'll let you judge for yourself....

That is my post-it collection. LOL So yes, I do in fact really love post-its. If, you know, they ever wanted me to be their spokesperson, I would totally do it. (ha!)

But the really exciting thing that's happened lately? (Because I'm sure you're just dying to know!) My sweet, not-so-little-anymore, Kierstin cut her hair. And now you're thinking "so? Doesn't everyone cut their hair?" Well, duh. LOL But I was not prepared for this. Not at all. She's been growing her hair out for years. It seems like forever. When the movie Tangled came out she decided that's how long her hair should be...well, for about 30 seconds until I explained that sitting on your hair is probably painful, and there are some really gross things that could happen if her hair got too long. 

So anyway. I really thought she and her long hair were destined to be together for all of eternity. She's talked about cutting it in the past but eventually decided against it. Until now.

10 whole inches of her hair...just gone. 

She's happy with it so I'm happy. Plus, it's much easier for her to take care of (which translates into her not spending 30 minutes washing it) which does make me very happy.

So that's it for now folks. I'm off to be productive and do some homework. My computer and I are finally on speaking terms again so I can actually get my homework typed up. It's about time too. Research papers wait for no man...or woman...or something. But it's coming along nicely.

See? Isn't that much prettier? 

But back to work I go. Happy Valentines Day to you & yours! And I will take the opportunity on this very weird holiday to tell you that Hey, you're pretty awesome and I love you (unless for some strange reason I don't know you. Then we won't go there).

Much love <3

Technology and I Cannot Be Friends Anymore

So I thought I'd let you about how technology and I aren't friends right now. Normally we're besties but right now.....no.

See. I don't really know what's going on but for whatever reason my internet likes to not work. There's no rhyme or reason. It just decides it doesn't feel like working. (What kind of crap is that?!) To be fair, it doesn't actually stop working, it just decides it's siesta time. So loading a page may take up to, you know, an hour. I don't actually know how long it takes really. I normally get so frustrated I just close the page after 10 minutes. But seriously yall, 10 minutes is a LONG time to wait for one page to load. I just don't have that kind of time (which really means I have the patience of a 2 year old and refuse to wait). 

And yesterday!! Oh! Yesterday my printer decided to only print the top quarter of my stuff. And of course, I reacted like any sane adult would. I walked over to it (because we have to keep it in another room right now. And the fact that it refuses to print in the office really is a story for another day). So I walked over to it, yelled very unkind things, I smacked the top of it, and demanded it start printing correctly.

Now it only prints the top and bottom quarters. Everything in the middle is still missing. 

My printer obviously has a sense of humor.

The problem here is that I have a research paper (a crazy long one) due by this weekend. This is what my paper looks like right now....

Pretty, isn't it?

Because the technology around here has decided to have a mind of its own lately, I'm going old school and writing everything by hand out of fear that my paper will get eaten by my computer. (Which reminds me, you should totally read this story. It's one of my favorite blog posts ever and exactly why I am terrified that I-Robot could happen one day). I'm digressing. 

So yeah, I've gone old school. And now my desk looks something like this....

That's not really my desk. For one thing, anyone who knows me knows that I color code a lot and that I love post-its. My actual desk is covered in color coded post-its. LOL Plus, I would never have a corded phone anywhere near me. Not only do I have the patience of a 2 year old, I also have the attention span of one. I would tangle that cord in about 5 seconds. 

But really, I would never post a real picture of my desk on here. You aren't allowed to know what it looks like right now. You might think I've crossed over into some kind of crazy place. I promise I haven't. 

So here's hoping that all things technological around here sober up and start being cooperative. At some point I'm really going to need to type that paper. And I'm really afraid that if I do it now, and hit save, my computer might interpret that as "delete-forever-into-the-infinite-abyss-that-is-the-matrix"....and I'll never get it back. 

Cross your fingers for me. 

Ponies Are For Little Girls

You know, I think this has been the busiest week I have ever had. I would have sworn that I hadn't been on here in at least 2 or 3 weeks. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was only a week ago yesterday. But it was midterm week for school so I have been buried in school work. Maybe that's why I didn't realize it's only been a week.

Anyway, so last weekend was a fabulous weekend for my tiny little Kenzie-bug. Thanks to her Girl Scout troop she had the opportunity to spend the day at the horse stables nearby. She got to ride a pony, although if you ask her it was not a pony. No no no. She rode a horse. In fact, she will argue this with you until the cows come home (and you feel like you need a stiff drink). Ponies are for little girls, horses are for big girls -- duh! (lol) But anyway she got to ride one for a little bit and even got to spend time cleaning the horse/ponies (and their stalls). She was in Kenzie-bug heaven!

I'm going to take this opportunity and point out that, yes, it is a pony. Not a horse.

Just don't tell her I said that.

And! Earlier this week Brian got my bookcase from Ikea put together. Remember when I told you we were going to Ikea? Well, we did. And it's taking us forever to get everything set up. We're just way too busy. :) But the bookcase is done. I finally have a home for all of my books (that doesn't include piles on the floor). I even have room for some more! You have no idea how happy that makes me!!

I would show you pictures of my desk...but...it's not done yet. We still have to add the last piece to it. It's kinda done, for the most part. But I'm still not going to show you what it looks like. Again - it was midterms week this week. I had a lot of homework so my desk currently looks like a giant mess. It's kind of driving me crazy but I have been convinced all week that there was a method to the messiness and didn't want to clean it. I was sure that if I moved anything or cleaned anything up I would never find it again and I would live to regret it. LOL And I just finished all of my homework about an hour ago so it's still not cleaned up. I'll work on it soon though and get you a picture as soon as I get around to it. Or something like that.

But alas, I am now off to make dinner for my family before they start a picket line outside my office. I hope you are doing well and enjoying your weekend. 

<3 Much love!