Nana Time

Mom survived her first flight ever and landed safely on Monday. There were hugs, kisses, turkey sandwiches with gingerale, and lots and lots of Nana time.

Whether it's drinking coffee together (at least 3 times a day), watching the boys play from the shade of the carport, or staying up late watching crazy documentaries...I'm loving every second.

We've hit up the splash pad at Destin Commons, gained a pound or two at Johnny Rockets, soaked up the sun at Marler Park (where my grandma phone met it's death) and even managed a short antiquing trip. Dear Mom, could you please come visit once a month?

 Cooling off at the splash pad in Destin                                                

 Cheerios at Johnny Rockets 

Pimiento cheese at Marler Park

On the hunt

"Catching" seashells

The last seconds of my phone's life

Making veggie pizza

Duty Calls...On Mother's Day

I usually hate having the tv on in the background, but when Andrew isn't home at night, I find comfort in the noise. I can't watch anything remotely scary though so I usually keep it on HGTV (or Army Wives).

Andrew left this morning on his first ever TDY to Virginia Beach - and of all days, on Mother's Day! At 11:30, I received the text: "Here we come!"

Maddox and I ran outside into the front yard and waited. This is the cool thing about living on an air force base. Every day, we see all kinds of planes, from military fighters to heavies to commercial jets, take off. Today was extra special. We heard the loud roar of the C130 and then watched that big clunky plane rise into the sky and fly out of view. We waved and Maddox yelled, "Hey daddy!"

The big, bad C130

So what did we do special on Mother's Day? Well...I cleaned (my mom is coming to spend a whole week with me starting tomorrow!!) and took the boys not once, but TWICE to the grocery store. You have no idea what kind of task that is unless you have ever taken a 2-yr-old and a 7-month-old on a grocery shopping trip. Thankfully, we survived and everything got checked off the list except for those stupid pimientos.

For dinner, we had chicken and rice soup. Andrew sent me a text and said they were going to eat dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Jealous much? Oh yes. They ended up at Macaroni Grill because of long lines but I don't care, anything has got to be better than Campbell's soup.

We sure do miss our TaTa when he isn't home. However...the thought of Nana arriving tomorrow is pretty exciting. (!!!)

Happy Mother's Day to all the great mothers out there and especially to mine. We can't wait to see you (and hear about your first flying experience)!

Sugar Highs and Fondue...Til 2am

Friday night is a good thing in itself, BUT...lastnight was extra good (until my kids indulged in cotton candy). And not just any cotton candy. This was hot pink cotton candy. It ended up on their hands, clothes, face.... Since when does a trip to Old Navy involve a live DJ, Jones Sparkling Soda and yes, cotton candy? Either Old Navy is desperate to draw in customers or they just wanted to have a good time. Regardless, my kids loved it, and the sugar rush they got afterwards was quite impressing. It lasted all the way until 10 pm.

I do not have any photos of the boys covered in cotton candy, so this photo of them in their kiddie pool will have to do. 

(By the way, I did not feed Jude cotton candy on purpose. One minute it was in my hand, the next minute it was gone. He's a darn good thief.)

While Andrew and I didn't get excited over cotton candy, we did get excited over buying cheese to make our very first fondue in our brand new fondue pot. (Yes, we are dorks!) Last week's trip to the Melting Pot has both of us a little fondue crazy. So...we went to Publix. Maddox knows that Publix has racecar shopping carts and he is OBSESSED (did I say obsessed?) with them. The only bad thing is that on the last two trips to Publix another kid has claimed the racecar literally seconds before we approached it. These things are in high demand, I tell you. I breathed a sigh of relief lastnight because when we parked I spotted two racecars at the front of the store. Those are good odds!

 Ten feet from the cars, however, a group of tourist kids and their grandparents swarmed them. Tourist kids!

Maddox was heartbreaken, but mostly ticked off. He cried in the store and told me, "Those kids took my racecar! I'm gonna hit those kids!"

It was kind of funny, but I had to be a good parent and talk about the whole sharing thing. He caught on fast. "Well they need to share with me."

Uh oh. I'm pretty sure he has it out for all kids now. Maybe when he sees Andrew with the leaf blower today he will forget about the stolen racecars and start talking nonstop about the leaf blower. Maybe. (But I doubt it.)

Anyway, back to the fondue. Andrew didn't break the fondue pot this time. Now, it wasn't Melting Pot fondue, but it wasn't bad either, especially for a first try. We plugged the pot up in the living room to keep the fondue warm and we gathered around it with a bag of chips and Andrew's unbeatable sweet tea. Like idiots, we forgot we had children that like to wake up at 6am and we watched Dexter until 2 am. We still do not know who the Ice Truck Killer is. I looked over at Andrew as the episode wrapped up and he was dead asleep in the wingback.

We are a little too old for 2 am....

Jude's favorite part about the pool is trying to climb out of it and eat the leaves on the ground. At one point he succeeded and did a complete flip over the side. 

A whole post about the best store on earth

A lot of people say they love Target, but I really mean it. I love that store. Bigtime. Clothes for me, clothes for the kids, toys, housewares (my favorite), and a built-in Starbucks.

We are now farther from that beloved store since our move on base. This is good for the wallet, but...not good for my frequent Target cravings. Just walking around the store makes me happy (weird?).

Yesterday I made the 30-minute trip. It turned into a 40-min trip because traffic in Ft. Walton Beach is insane. On top of that, Jude screamed the whole way. There are two things that throw Jude into an automatic temper tantrum: riding in the car and getting dressed. Even to change his diaper, you have to lock his arms down with your legs or else he will fight you and roll over every single second.

I doubted my  decision to take Jude as soon as the screaming started. Andrew had asked me to take one kid with me and he would keep the other (I think keeping them both at the same time terrifies him more than anything else sometimes).

But...it worked out. Jude's fellow infant friend Ava was there with her mom, my friend Erika. It was girl time (plus 2 babies) and Target time. Double win. When Erika and I were pregnant last summer we would go to Target together, walk around with our Starbucks and have girl talk. It's like a tradition now.

As always, we laughed and had a great time. Our crabby babies were pretty darn good for 1 1/2 hours of shopping, too, thanks to lots of baby snacks and squishy toys.

It's a relief to have a great friend in a new (not so new anymore, but still kinda) place. Erika is the first friend I made here - I met her in a facebook group before the big move and picked her up for pregnant yoga class. We can buy "women of color" hair products together and it's totally ok...and hilarious. Too bad the shampoo did not help my hopeless hair.

And now I will wrap up this very long post about Target. The end.

The top tooth that has ruined my sleep and nearly ruined my patience has come in!

By the way, the corned beef turned out yummy (Maddox ate more than Andrew!) and we actually fit the pool into Andrew's Celica. That...along with great girl time and a package in the mail from my Mom...made my Wednesday a darn good day. 

It's St. Pat's at My House Today

I'm cooking corned beef -that delicious Irish treat- for the the first time today. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right or not. There are so many ways you can cook that big hunk of meat. I'm trying the crock pot. My house smells good, but the meat isn't red like it is supposed to be. Hmmm. I guess we'll see if this is a good idea or not when dinner rolls around.

I've been trying to cook more...it's hard with a demanding toddler and teething baby, but it's worth it. So far I've accomplished all the meals I've wanted to cook this week and now I'm onto my next goal: get a toddler pool for the boys.

This is a big deal. The boys want to spend all day outside, but in the Florida sun? No thank you. A toddler pool will be a refreshing break for ALL of us (yes I'm pretty sure my behind can still fit in a toddler pool...let's hope). I want one of those hard plastic ones with the built-in little slide. End of story. The problem is...we don't have a truck to haul it. Determined to the end, I visited Home Depot and Lowes (I had heard you can rent trucks from them) but nope, that was a dead end. None of our good friends have trucks either. I started considering Uhaul (yes, crazy BUT determined!) and then I found the perfect solution: a smaller version of my dream toddler pool at the BX on base. Can we fit it in Andrew's Celica? (Hey don't laugh. We've gotten two Adirondack chairs in there and a dresser!) We shall see tonight.

If all goes well, we will have a yummy dinner and a toddler pool in our backyard before the sun goes down....

He has re-discovered Lady and the Tramp after we finally unpacked our very last box

Hint: Mother's Day is almost here. I am on top of my game this year and both my mom and Andrew's mom have their gifts on the way! Andrew wanted to know my favorite flowers (can you tell he is not a flower-buying kind of guy?) and I quickly assured him I'd rather have a snowcone machine. Really. I crave them this time of year and I always think back to my childhood Charlie Brown snowcone machine with the best of memories....and then I laugh because I remember Mom had to crank it over and over to get the crushed ice out. Thank God for more modern snowcone machines ;)

Dear Blog, I Forgot About You, but I'm Back

I sorta forgot about my blog. Not really, but kinda. Things have been busy, busy and we've been on the go - a lot. But, this blog is not dead, and it will be back in business SOON!

The boys and I survived our flight to and from SC, we had a blast there, and now we are back in Florida enjoying good times with MiMi and Grandpa.

I was laying out by their hotel's pool the other day (about ten minutes from our house) and I felt like I was on vacation. Palms blowing, that beach smell...and then I thought, "Wait, I live here."

That's not a bad deal.

Oh oh! And date nights! It's so nice to go out to a fancy dinner with no babies. I love my babies, but not at The Melting Pot. That was an experience meant for Andrew and me only! What a fabulous place. I have no idea what took us so long to try that place. It is pretty much heaven in a fondue pot.

...

So, other than being on the go nonstop (it seems), what else have the boys been up to? Maddox can recite his ABCs, he is fully potty-trained and the default 2-yr-old answer of "no" to everything has become: "I can do it."

He thinks he can do everything (including pull my hair, crank my car, dress himself, and pick up Jude). 

It's hilarious and annoying at the same time.

He has the biggest heart, though, like tonight when Grandpa shared his chicken noodle soup with him and then Andrew teased him that he had eaten all "Pa's" food. Maddox talked about it until he went to sleep. 

"Pa's sad. He hungry. I ate all his noodles."

I tried my best to convince him Pa was ok and not starving to death but nope, he wouldn't give it up.

And Jude...oh goodness.

He is a grown man trapped in a 7-month-old body. He learned to sit up, crawl and say "dada" in a matter of 3 weeks. He refuses baby food and demands YOUR food. He is the biggest sweetheart and the biggest fireball rolled into one little chunky body.

It's so exciting to see these tiny babies that can't even hold their heads up when you first lay eyes on them growing and constantly changing and becoming little boys with their own personalities... the days are passing quickly and I'm trying my best to hold on.

Maddox is very attached to his sunglasses

Jude and his big bottom chompers

(I'll try to fill in the gaps later with posts about our journey to SC, time there, Easter and of course MiMi and Grandpa's visit.)

TGIF

I  got a good laugh today when I tried on the "miracle push-up" bra at Victoria's Secret. Enough said. But, seriously, I needed some girl time and today I got it. Sometimes that can make all the difference in the world. Andrew kept the boys and by the way - the cat is out the bag: he got the early promotion known as "Senior Airman Below the Zone." This basically means he will go up a rank 6 months early. He is going to look mighty fine in that uniform with another stripe added!

This will probably be the last post for a week (or two). I'm going to be super busy this weekend getting everything ready for my trip home to SC. I fly out Monday (alone with the boys!). Either they are going to cry and scream and I am going to get lots of nasty looks...OR...Jude is going to pass out, Maddox is going to LOVE flying and sit quietly eating his zillions of snacks that I pack and it all goes smooth as butter.

Time will tell.

Anyway, I'm glad it's Friday and I'm really excited to see SC's beautiful face again :)

Jude is a little concerned that Maddox has been let loose in his territory. 

Jude: What is this goofball doing?

Oh no, he's coming for me! Help, Mom!!