The first was a drum cake. This was a simple two layer round cake with buttercream frosting. I looked up which colors would help me make brown icing and amazingly enough, I got the color I wanted on the first try. JW loves drums and singing. He caught on to drumming the moment he picked up a drumstick.

The second cake was a two layer square cake, also with buttercream frosting. The design was a starquilt star.

The cakes were absolutely delicious! The buttercream frosting was so good.

I am in the beginning stages of planning birthday parties for Alice and Jake now. We are probably moving this summer so they will have their birthday’s in June with friends. We have preliminary guest lists made up and I picked out a theme for each of them – which I’m sure they’ll love but we’ll see once I talk to them about it.

Birthday Party Planning is a post from: me being crafty

I’m working on planning his first birthday party. Of course this one is all for me, and his brother and sister, and my Mom and stepdad too. JW is just too little to realize what is going on. But plan away I shall!

Last summer my friend’s first birthday was Duke themed. The baby’s Grandma made him a round cake decorating like a blue and white Duke basketball, and he had blue and white cupcakes. A few of the gifts from his parents and family were also related to the team.

Since my family is from South Dakota, I thought I could pick the University of South Dakota for JW’s theme (plus that’s where my Mom attended). I mean, he doesn’t even know right. He will just be like “wow you are really letting me eat this sweet stuff? All of it? And I get to make a mess??!” He won’t care what the cake looks like before.

Or what about a soccer cake! He loves going to the older kids’ games. This one looks easy.

photo credit: mags20_eb

But I haven’t decided. I did find what looks like an easy recipe for rolled fondant and I think I’d like to try that. It would just be easy decor. Maybe the rolled fondant in a color and then I write with icing on top.

I don’t do themes so I’m stumped!

First Birthday Party Planning is a post from: me being crafty

I did make a mistake at first – the tutorial says to cut 2 – 12 inch circles, I cut 2 – 10 inch circles. After re-cutting and working on Jake’s hat, I realized I could use the smaller circles for a hat for JW! His costume was quickly changed from a star to a Baby Luigi.

We went trick or treating in Fairhaven. The shops there are fun and one of the best bookstores I’ve ever been to is also there, Village Books. We trick or treated there, ran to the store for a few last minute things, and went home to make chili (a yearly tradition for me) and take the kids out in the neighborhood. They ended up going out with my Mom’s husband while she, JW, and I stayed home.

I loved the boys being Luigi, there were a few other Luigi’s in the crowd but I was proud that ours were two of four that were homemade.

Two Luigis & a Fairy Witch is a post from: me being crafty

My friend Andrea is hosting this week’s Friend Makin’ Monday. I’m glad she is because I’ve wanted to participate for ages now!

What are your holiday traditions?

Halloween

Since I’ve had kids, I love making their costumes. The first year Alice went as a caterpillar. And by “went” I mean I made her costume and took pictures of her. We lived in an apartment complex and didn’t even take her anywhere. A couple of years ago they were a boiled egg and she was a black fairy. Last year it was Fancy Nancy and a mouse.

I can’t wait for Halloween this year because their costumes are so cute!

I also love seeing other costumes and admit I get disappointed when I see so many people picking the wear the plastic costumes you can buy. I know not everyone feels like they can make a costume, but I wish a little more effort was put into it. I love passing candy out so I can see kids dressed up. I think back to being a kid and while I liked going out trick or treating, once I got a little older I liked seeing the costumes more then anything.

Thanksgiving

I lived in the same town (or one town away) from most of my family growing up, and so we always spent Thanksgiving eating. All day long. We would start out at Grandma’s house, but not officially, just having a snack or a few bites. She always ate earlier then we did at our own house. Then we would eat at home. After lounging around, we would go to my Uncle and Aunt’s house and either eat again or at least have a snack of some sort.

Since being married I try to invite people over for Thanksgiving. It always made it easier to be away from my family if we had friends over as well. When we lived in SC we had 20+ people! It was awesome. Now that we are closer to my Mom, we spend Thanksgiving with her.

Christmas

Since I grew up in a very rural area, we never went Black Friday shopping. I never even knew something like that existed until several years ago! The day after Thanksgiving in our house was always the day to put up the Christmas tree and decorate. Even after I discovered shopping on that Friday, I still set it to be a decorate the house day. It’s always worked out fine because I get up and shop super early, then take a nap, and the decorating gets done in the afternoon.

As a child we usually went to midnight mass and after church we were allowed to open one gift. I loved midnight mass, it helped that we lived literally two houses away from church. It was great going to a packed church, with tons of snow on the ground, and just being able to run up the street minutes before it started and being able to just run home afterward.

I started the tradition of opening two small gifts on Christmas Eve with my kids, and one is always new pajamas. I wonder what it is about Christmas that makes people buy or give new pjs? Why not at Easter or Halloween? Maybe I’ll start that as a new tradition!

For the past few years I’ve made breakfast the night before and had it ready to put in the oven, so it bakes while we open gifts. I love this because of course you are hungry but if you have kids, you know they are anxious to see what Santa brought them and they don’t want to wait for you to cook.

Another thing I’ve bought to my kids from when I was younger was opening the stockings later. As in we do gifts, we have breakfast, we look at what we got, we hang out, etc. – then we open the stockings. They are always fun little things, like candy, lip glosses, lotions, and the like. Last year I put spatulas in my Mom’s stocking because she needed new ones.

Friend Makin’ Monday – Traditions is a post from: me being crafty

JCPenney has an offer from the beginning of September through the month of October for deployed service members. You will get:

*free sitting fees
*one free portrait sheet
*one free portrait sheet sent to the military member’s APO address!

I also made contact with a local photographer through Operation Love ReUnited. I knew this existed, but didn’t think about it until last week. It would have been nice to have pre-deployed photos as well as during and/or after. The website says to bring uniform items, and I’m not sure what (if anything!) we have at the house! Chris took everything with him, but maybe there is a hat in storage. I wonder if it has the right rank on it?

She already contacted me and we are working out the details to do a photo shoot while he is gone, then she will also be there for homecoming. What a fantastic service, check to see if there is a photographer in your area.

Photos While They Are Deployed is a post from: me being crafty

Alice is such a powerful defender – she can go at a ball and kick it about halfway back across the field. I was a few minutes late to her first game because the kids games overlapped. But I was walking by right when she was playing left defender and she ran up and kicked the ball back to the halfway point of the field!

First Soccer Game is a post from: me being crafty

I started him off with baby cereal and after a few weeks he started on baby food. He’s a hungry guy, just like Jake was when he was a baby.

Can you hurry up with this food stuff already?

Hhmm, this is what I wanted? I don’t know…

Oh I think I like this…!

I do! I love this! Thank you for feeding me!

Feeding A Baby is a post from: me being crafty

That’s him with the W on his hat…next time I’m going to bead his cap and gown, the other Native graduates all had simple beadwork on theirs!

He’s so happy.

Baby Brother, Graduate, Me

I bought him a golf club for graduation, just one.

I don’t know if it’s a middle child thing or just a my brother thing, but over the years, when I’ve been able to see the family while on vacation or something, I come home to a picture my brother took of himself.

I’m pretty sure that for Christmas he is getting a scrapbook with all the pictures he’s taken of himself over the years. I have probably six or seven, at least.

My Brother is a post from: me being crafty

In true teenager fashion, I moved out when I got mad. There was an argument about something, probably because my brothers got away with everything but as the oldest I didn’t, who knows (whoa, passive aggressive years later much?). So I grabbed the clothes from my closet, threw them in the trunk of my car and backed down the street (I remember doing this!). Obviously it wasn’t a huge family fight as my Mom didn’t stop me!

We got furniture on sale or clearance and picked up other things along the way. And my Grandma contributed to my house as well. One day when I stopped by she gave me a few things for the kitchen: a measuring cup, set of measuring spoons, an ice cream scoop and an egg slicer.

I’ve never used any of them. Once I got married, I started hanging them up in the kitchen wherever we lived. I like looking at them, they remind me that you don’t really need too many things to get started.

This is them hanging in the current house we are living in. The picture of the bridge is the Cooper River bridge in Charleston, SC. It’s a great picture because it’s the old bridge and the new one.

When I Moved Out is a post from: me being crafty

How has your summer been?

We went to Montana to see my brother graduate:

Then to Seattle where my Mom received an honorary PhD from Seattle U:

We went to a family reunion in Nevada:

And then JW turned 6 months old!

Lots of other stuff has being going on as well, but this is a nice start.

Summer Catch Up is a post from: me being crafty

It’s been a while I know.

JW Conway

born Jan 18, 8 lbs 15 oz, 20 inches

On Jan 17 in the evening my contractions got regular and the dr told me take a  bath and see what happens. The bath didn’t speed anything up, and I managed to get some sleep. The contractions did wake me up at night, but it wasn’t anything really horrible. When I got up in the morning I told my Mom it was time, and we got to the hospital at about 9:30 or 10. When we got to the hospital, I told the nurse I was there to have my baby – she said “I never got a call about an induction for today, nothing is on the books.” I said “oh no, I mean I’m in labor now and am having him today.” She looked at me like I was crazy. Hahaha

I labored on my own for a handful of hours, until the nurse said we should do pitocin to get me over the hump, to get things kicked up a notch. Once I got the pit, things definitely moved along. I went from being dialated 2/3 to 5 really fast, then on to 9 shortly after that. He was born at 4:27PM, after just a few minutes of pushing. For some reason, I think the actual having him hurt more then with my other kids! I’m not sure why I feel that way.

JW – one month old

We had a rough start to having him here. He lost two pounds over two weeks due to my not producing enough milk, so we started supplementing with formula. He rebounded fast and at a month is almost at ten pounds. He’s doing good now and I’m finally moving on to trying different things to help with my milk. Nursing is important to me and while I still am, I’d like to not have to use formula.

With luck I’ll get better at updating here, this post took several hours due to a combination of my laptop not cooperating, the kids, JW, eating food, etc.

Oh Yeah That Baby is a post from: me being crafty

I woke up yesterday and proceeded to feel really tired despite getting a decent amount of sleep. Then I spent most of the day laying on the couch and drifting in and out of napping. My contractions were sort of regular – every half hour, with a few coming ten minutes after that (so 30, 10, 30, 10) but they never got regular. I wake up today thinking okay this could be it!

Only I’m still home and still pregnant. My 30 minute contractions quit this morning sometime – I slept from 8:30AM-10 and from 10-about 2 I only had five contractions. It was sort of disappointing really. I walked around the house for five minutes every half hour and that didn’t help move things along either. Mom and I went to the dr’s office this afternoon and he says “oh yeah, you are in early labor! It could be tomorrow…or it could be in two weeks.”

I figure maybe the baby is waiting for something – Mom and I both are making him blankets so maybe that’s it. I finished three blocks of the nine I need, and Mom is quilting her blanket now. So we could be done fairly quickly. Maybe once one of us is finished, he’ll decide to arrive!

I’ll be back tomorrow with pictures of all that I’ve finished – the three quilt blocks and four passport covers. Oh and Mom made a coupon organizer too! So we’ve been busy, despite staring at the clock.

Unexpectedly Absent is a post from: me being crafty

See!

But oddly enough, I’ve technically only gained two pounds. That’s because of losing so much weight at the beginning and throughout. But he still grew and is doing great. He constantly moves and I’ve been having Braxton Hicks contractions forever now. A couple of weeks ago, for one day, they were every half hour, but I knew they were nothing. At my dr appointment last week, the dr estimated him to be seven to eight pounds – and said if I go to my due date, I’m looking at a nine pound baby. The kids were with me and I said oh Jake was almost nine pounds, and the dr said “well then!” So that’s a good thing?

I woke up today kind of feeling sick and wondering if that means labor is coming – but really it’s probably the cheese bread and pizza I had for dinner. Either way, today I’m going to pack a bag for the hospital, just to be prepared.

I had a moment the other day where I felt the NEED to clean up this pile of papers next to my laptop. Nesting!? I actually look forward to that. Mom suggested nesting and cleaning my room and closet would be a great nesting thing – too bad you don’t really control what it is you clean or organize. I remember with Jake I took all the plates, dishes, pantry items, etc., out of the cupboards and cleaned everything, then rearranged when I put them back.

I am interested in him hanging out until his due date though! I have a thing with numbers and his due date works. Hahaha

Baby Update is a post from: me being crafty

Last year my words were: Just Breathe. Be Strong. Be Generous.

I didn’t try to actively do any of these things, like doing something and then realize oh I should be generous. Instead I tried to just live my life that way. I tried to be strong because living at our last duty station was horrible, I tried to be generous when we moved and were on the road for so long, and in times of anger or sadness (or anything in between) I reminded myself to just breathe.

I want to pick new words for this year. I think these went along together nicely and maybe I’ll keep one or two of them. We are facing another year of challenges – a new baby, public school woes (there is a bully who just won’t leave my daughter alone!), sports, traveling, being apart from Chris, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things!

We’ve been in the military for 11 years now, married for 9 of those, and the past couple of years have been the hardest so far. I didn’t think it would get easier, I didn’t think that him going from enlisted to officer would mean it would be easier either, but I certainly didn’t think it would get this much harder. Somedays I just focus on taking care of the kids and myself, and just breathe and be strong to get through the day. Being separated by over 14 hours and who knows how many miles and hardly getting to see each other – it’s a test of a relationship for sure.

So the quest to find my 2010 words is on! I have several blank notebooks that I plan on journaling in this year and am thinking I’ll devote one to my words.

2010 Plans is a post from: me being crafty

It’s a good secret! It’s one that I didn’t want to share because I was scared. I was just scared out of sheer being scared. Nothing is wrong.

First – check out my kids on Halloween – Jake was a mouse and Alice was Fancy Nancy!

They got great reception from the houses we stopped at on Halloween. Jake’s class also had a party Friday afternoon and everyone loved his costume. I love that he picks outside the box costumes, remember the egg from last year?

I even dressed up for his party though I didn’t on Halloween. All I did was drive them around the neighborhood, I probably would have if I was walking.

Mom made me the M&M costume.

But it wasn’t really my costume.

It was the baby’s first Halloween costume.

See, I told you it was a good secret!

We are having a baby at the end of January. I’m feeling really good, I lost weight at first and have yet to gain it all back – but he’s growing, moving, kicking and doing back flips. I was worried at first, considering that George died that’s normal I suppose. Mom went with me to the big ultrasound, the one where the baby is checked out, measured, etc., and everything was/is fine. That was a big relief for me, though this time getting pregnant did not involve already being on birth control.

And yep, I said he. Another boy! With the babies my brothers have and my (now) two boys – we can have a football team. Amazing! Who would have thought my Mom would have that many grandkids.

I Haven’t Shared is a post from: me being crafty

We have gone the route of buying the various legos for the kids, especially last year at Christmas. We spent so much time putting together this set or that one – Alice got the pink legos that come with a girl and a horse, and Jake got a big Sponge Bob one – then what happened: they all got mixed up together. Ah well, at least we did them once to see what they looked like!

Fast forward to living with Mom and trying to think of what to bring with us. I didn’t plan very well when it came to that! I didn’t bring all of my clothes so don’t have any sweaters or winter jackets, and did bring some toys but it seems like I left the things they really wanted in storage.

We do have legos with us though. Hence the creation of a lego parts store:

From the top you can see there is a leg section, a hair section (the brown spot above the heads), a head section and then the body section. I’m not sure why the bodies have their arms up like they were first captured by the police, before going to the store. The ones laying down on the side are the ones just made.

Next up on my list – the Lego Advent Calendar!

I wanted one last year and never bought it because I wanted to make one for us to use. Well I feel the same way this year, I want to make one but I am also going to buy this one. It looks so fun.

I figure this will be the one that’s left out for the kids and the one I make will be full of treats for the grown ups – either candy or sewing/crafting supplies!

Lego Parts Store is a post from: me being crafty

Beading

Sewing

Crocheting

Soccer

Jake #22

Alice – the defender for the team

And in the midst of it all

Jake’s first lost tooth!

What I’ve Been Doing is a post from: me being crafty

First Day of School!

Alice is in 3rd and Jake is in 1st grade.

We went yesterday to drop off their school supplies – Jake didn’t have too many but Alice, wow her backpack was heavy! – and luckily caught the teachers still there getting things ready. Today when we went they each knew where their desks were and were SO excited to go.

I made it a point to say (on facebook) that I didn’t cry when I left the schools – but I admit I got teary eyed because Jake hugged me twice and said bye. Alice on the other hand, she knew where her desk was and just walked over and sat down. She didn’t even say bye to me! I felt emotional so just walked out of the room, but had to go back to say where I would meet her after school.

Next week they probably will ride the bus. I’m nervous about that because it seems our neighbor kids are bullies. I don’t want my kids picked on the bus, I’m doing good keeping them apart the past few days. School for me starts in a couple of weeks so they will have to do some after school care, but I haven’t decided where yet.

Overall a completely fantastic first day for them. I am SO happy about that, and also amazed that I have an 8 and 6 year old now. Wow.

First Day of School is a post from: me being crafty

We swam a few days in a row while being at the hotel, it was hot and of course you can’t hang out in your hotel room the entire time!

The base is closing and I’m not sure if they’ll leave the sign or not, but it’s a huge sign on the edge of town. I didn’t stop to take a picture until we were about to move – I haven’t seen a sign like this anywhere else we have lived.

We stopped in San Antonio and walked along the Riverwalk, saw the Alamo and stopped at both the Wax Museum and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. It rained while we were there, starting out as just a little drizzle but by the time we were walking back to our car, it was a full on downpour. Our time in SA was extended because of car problems, but after a couple of days we finally got on the road.

Alamo

w/ Tom Hanks

Oprah!

& a sub officer

Last Days In TX is a post from: me being crafty

The trip ended up lasting longer then initially planned because my brother’s mother in law unexpectedly died. She has been sick for years, but I didn’t realize how bad she had gotten recently. I am glad we were able to be there for my brother, for my nephews and for his mil’s daughters.

We left town right before a really bad rain and wind storm, so bad we barely got out of town and stopped at the new grocery store to wait it out. The storms while we were home were AWESOME! There is nothing like a thunderstorm on the plains. I’m glad there were some while we were there, the storms out on the west coast – well, wait – there aren’t storms out here! When it rains, it just comes out of the sky. Thunderstorms are loud, throwing rain and lightening at the ground and hard wind. People sometimes don’t believe you when you say you miss those storms.

Taken when we first got into South Dakota. Huge storm and thunderheads.

Overall the visit was great. I was happy to be able to see my friends and family and Grandma’s Memorial was nice. There was a tiny bit of drama, but I got over it fast. There never feels like there is enough time to see everyone you want to or visit for them as long as you want to.

Summer is coming to an end, I feel like mine was full. We moved, got settled in, went home for my father in law’s funeral, sent Chris off again, went home to SD again and then some.

Two weeks in SD is a post from: me being crafty

Here’s the rules:
Copy and paste the questionnaire, and post with your answers on your blog.
Refer and link back to me.
Tag four bloggers and leave them comments to let them know they have been tagged.
Answer honestly!

What is your blogger name?

I typically stick with my real name on my blogs. It’s just easier to be me then try to keep up anything else!

When is your birthday?

June 12

photo credit: Riggzy

How long have you been blogging?

I started blogging in September 2004.

Who tagged you?

Holly – she’s also at Inka Dinka Doodle

Tell me your five most favorite body parts.

Mine? Eyes, legs, nose (that’s five, technically I could stop now!) pinky’s and feet.

What do you wish most for your birthday?

For more family time – Chris missed my birthday last year, missed it again this year, that’s life but it still sucks.

What color are you nails right now?

Regular fingernail color – I do have clear polish on though.

photo credit: dead redhead

Have you had any depressing thoughts lately?

I find friendships confusing sometimes and that depresses, and annoys, me. I’m 31, I don’t need drama, I wish it were easier and I am glad we got to move.

What’s your plan for the next month?

Finish a couple more quilts, make sure the tops already done are finished all the way, make travel plans to go to South Dakota.

photo credit: bl▲ckm◉th

At what age did you have your first crush?

In talking to Mom I must have been in second grade. I don’t remember anything until I was a teenager though.

Have you attended any school reunions?

No but I enjoy seeing my old friends. We sort of stay in touch and it’s nice to see each other when I’m back, which isn’t often. I know there wasn’t a 10 year reunion but a group of people did go out together, it looked like fun! This is why facebook is a good thing.

Have you ever passed gas in public and pretended like you didn’t smell anything?

No.

Are you a clean freak?

Not really, I do like to be organized and even if it looks like that’s just a pile of papers I know I can tell you what is in that exact pile.

What era do you wish you were born in?

Chris says I should have been born so I could grow up during the 70s.

Are you a vegetarian?

Nope.

How many pillows do you sleep with at night?

One really good one, maybe two depending, but really just one.

Are you a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper?

It depends on how tired I am!

photo credit: marymactavish

Do you secretly wear granny panties when your man is not around?

Ha, as if that has to be a secret. No though.

What is your ultimate dream job?

Still to teach at a tribal college/university.

What does your husband do that annoys you the most?

Shaved his head. But at least I don’t have to look at it every day! Then again I don’t have to look at it every day. Annoying.

What is your dream car?

Right now it is a Dodge Charger. The new one.

Do you wake up easily in the morning?

Yep.

Do you like hairy men?

No, And I’m blessed that my husband is not hairy and never will be.

How about a man with a goatee?

Um, probably not.

Which would you prefer: a two-hour spa massage, a two-hour Thai massage, or a two-
hour foot massage?

2 hr spa

Have you ever wished you had a different name? If so, what name?

Nope, my name is awesome.

What is the most extreme sport you have ever done?

Navigating the Tricare system or maybe PCS’ing across the US in five days or PCS’ing across half the US in two. Any of those count I’m sure.

Do you prefer traveling in Europe or Asia?

Asia right now.

What is your favorite food?

Indian Tacos. Or Chinese. Or Mexican.

What is your most embarrassing moment while out on a date?

How about in relation to a date – a friend and I went shopping. We were gone for hours and finally her husband called to say the baby was crying a lot, I said oh he can handle it let’s stop at another place. She kept acting like she wanted to leave but we went anyway. When we finally got to her house Chris and the kids were there because as  a surprise he arranged for them to watch the kids while we went to dinner for our anniversary! I was embarrassed that I didn’t realize what was going on, even though as a surprise I wasn’t supposed to know.

I’ll take the easy way out and tag you! If you haven’t filled this one out, feel free, and be sure to let me know.

Questionnaire Tag is a post from: me being crafty

After our quick stop in San Antonio turned into a two day event, we had to change plans. What was to be San Antonio – Albuquerque – Las Vegas – San Diego – San Francisco – Seattle turned into kicking Las Vegas out of the lineup. Which was disappointing because we had planned on meeting friends for a day or two.

We didn’t spend very long in any place until we got to San Diego – where we spent a very busy week – and then another week in San Francisco. We stopped in Oregon to have a fantastic dinner with friends and then made it to Seattle the next night, where we had another awesome dinner.

Considering Chris has been in the military for over ten years, the few places we’ve lived and the handful plus of times we’ve moved you’d think we’ve been on vacation before. But we just never had the time! We had to meet our stuff (HHG or household goods for those not in the military) or we only had a matter of days to report somewhere, and a vacation just never made the list.

So this time we did. We stopped at more then a dozen places along the way and while I thought we did such a great job at not spending a lot of money, looking back I can see other ways to save. I’ll be sharing my tips as I share our adventures.

Technorati Tags: vacation tips, travel

Quick Vacation Recap is a post from: me being crafty

I should have bought it last week when it was a bit cheaper! As it is, the countdown has started. He’ll be leaving soon and then a new countdown will begin – of course the new one won’t really have a purpose. We don’t know what happens next – how long he’ll be gone or if we’ll be able to live together soon.

I have so much to share! The typical vacation season is almost here and I have so many tips for people traveling to San Diego!

For now we are just about settled in. We’ve unpacked most of what we have here with us and will need to get more from the storage units. With luck we’ll be down to one unit by the time Chris leaves. I don’t need a lot but we packed the pantry and my fabric and that didn’t make it to the house.

I’ve missed reading blogs and finding out what my online friends have been up to. It’s been a long month.

And So It Begins is a post from: me being crafty

Today is the last day in southern TX! I can’t say TX because we aren’t going that far away tonight and who knows if we’ll leave early enough tomorrow to actually get out of the state. It has been fantastic living in a hotel. No cable bill, no electric bill, no internet bill (and yay, the internet is fairly fast!), and sure we are eating out a lot but we also have a fridge so have veggies to snack on to keep me sane. Oh and the best plus about being away from the stress ball that was military housing – clear skin! Seriously folks, if you live in an environment that crazy (I know I haven’t said much about it, but I will) moving away is awesome for your skin!

We are planning a crazy awesome vacation. Chris is getting a huge amount of leave – which you can look at a couple of different ways. I decided to be positive and happy about the fact that we get to take this crazy amount of leave now despite all the years of never getting to take leave in the past. I guess it all worked out? Yeah.

First stop, San Antonio. If you know where we are, you are laughing because we are a mere couple of hours away from SA. That’s okay, at least we are getting started and will be on the move! We leave tonight after Chris gets off work. On Thurday the plan is to do a walking tour of the Missions and maybe a Riverwalk boat ride and then leave, heading for New Mexico. We have much more planned along the way and I’ll share pictures as we go.

For now, I’m going to attempt to go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

One Last Day is a post from: me being crafty

We decided to wait for Chris to take leave before leaving here. For one, the kitchenette room we have is fairly inepensive (staying here is cheaper then staying in housing) and it would either be a hotel here or a hotel in CA. We nixed the plans to go to South Dakota after the third snowstorm in two weeks made its way through the area. Sure I don’t mind being snowed in there, but Chris has plans and when his plans don’t get to happen when he wants them to, let’s just say he really doesn’t like that. So him and snowed in in SD wouldn’t be a fun combo! We’ll get to SD soon enough – I have two nephews graduating high school and we’ll go back for that.

So here we are in the hotel for a bit longer! We took in the aquarium yesterday and did laundry and some grocery shopping today. Being in a hotel room for very long is never all that fun so we are thinking of things to do each day. Tomorrow we are going shopping and I’m sure we’ll spend a bit of time at the park too.

Chris is gone right now but will be back soon enough. I got a quick text message earlier tonight, which came at the right time because the first few days of him being gone are always the hardest, regardless of how long he’ll be gone. Or I say that now, but we are coming up on a long separation so we’ll see how I do getting through that.

How was your weekend?

Update on Plans is a post from: me being crafty

What is your favorite home memory?

which made me laugh because about a week or so ago Chris, Shannon and I were sitting outside visiting and we talked briefly about this. Now that we are out of the house and living in a hotel I’ve been thinking about my favorite memory here.

When we were sitting in the front of the house, there were cats walking around (we have *way* too many strays and outside cats for my liking here) and humongous bugs were walking on the street. At one point there were two huge bugs not too far away from us and a truck drove by – it went over the bug and the bug popped. Yes, popped. Gross!

Chris said that was definitely one of his favorite memories of the place. He’s odd that way. Me – I loved our get togethers! We had several toward the end of ’08, it seemed like every weekend people were over and we’d have food, drinks and a great time. I love hanging out with friends and those times made me not completely dislike this place. I remember feeling exhausted at the end of the day on Sunday because we had people over Saturday and Sunday, or Friday night and Saturday. But it was a fun, awesome exhausted. Being surrounded by friends at a place that you don’t particularly love, or a place where one person makes your fun times hard to have, is the best. It’s your friends that get you through the rough moments.

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby brother! Okay not the baby baby, but he’s younger then me so he’s one of them. He’s 29 today!

Home Memories is a post from: me being crafty

2. that cash cab is funny and educational.

3. they now think that wife swap is a good show to watch – I swear I only watched two episodes of the show and not even the entire episode of either!

4. that throwing pillows is a fantastic game.

5. how many coins make either .75 or .95 (the cost of the snacks in the vending machine)

6. how to prop a door open with a trash can (okay, doesn’t take a lot to know this, but when do you need that knowledge otherwise?)

7. playing nintendo ds under the bed in the complete dark is the awesomest thing ever.

What the kids have learned from living in a hotel room is a post from: me being crafty

We don’t have as much stuff to bring along as I thought we would. Of course we aren’t packing for six months like we were last time either! I have a few projects with me, but will be dropping them off along the way of our trip. Somehow we did end up bringing along three clothes baskets.

I’ve managed to finish the secret project for Chris but for the binding (totally giving it away here!) and am almost done with another one I’m making for a friend. K is totally done with hers! And L is almost done with hers. We are having lunch tomorrow on the ship to give everything to everyone, which I am very excited about. I need to remember to bring my camera with me!

Chris has duty (stay overnight at work) tonight and the kids and I are hanging out in the room while I sew, then tonight is Alice’s soccer teams end of season party as well as a final FRG meeting. I think we will be electing a new VP and since I’m going to be late I hope I don’t miss out on voting!

We’d like to go swimming but have so many other things to take care of first! I need to cancel our phone line at the house, call the electric company and tell them we moved out and still need to get a storage unit for our stuff to be dropped off to. How’s your week lining up?

Hotel Living is a post from: me being crafty

~ There is nothing like having a friend help you pack! My friend K has come over twice to help and I feel like we got a lot done in a shorter amount of time (which of course makes sense) and it’s like any other boring chore, having a friend help makes it fun. Okay packing isn’t fun, but you know what I mean. I like being on the phone when I clean – usually it’s the dishes, cleaning the bathroom or sweeping. I’d vacuum if I could but that’s just mean.

~ It’s nice when others realize you are moving. I don’t mean those in your every day lives, obviously they know you are moving. I am talking about online friends. When someone pops up on twitter or facebook and says “wow you are moving again” or “where to this time” I don’t take it in a bad way – I appreciate that they pay enough attention and value my friendship enough to see that yes, we are moving again.

~ Waking up at 3:42 AM then taking a nap at 3:55PM until 6:42PM can really mess with you. That happened yesterday and my day from 6:42 on just felt off. It didn’t help that I missed a rainstorm and when I woke up, I though the clock said 8:42 and I was happy to be awake before 9 – thinking it was AM and not PM. Then I realized it was 6:42PM and thought ugh, I slept for how long?

~ My day is packed. I’d like to pack the bathroom (easy), more of the clothes (also easy, just takes time) but also have to get move boxes from Uhaul, drop Chris’ uniforms on base so they can do one patch on each, pick up the Penske truck, have the truck weighed, then leave after dinner to pick up a friend at the airport.

Word Vomit is a post from: me being crafty

photo credit: juverna

We got a Penske truck the last time we moved and will never use another company again! They are that good and their trucks are so much nicer.

I feel like I’ve been packing and nothing else! I resolved to do no sewing (other then on Chris’ uniforms) until we are out of housing. Well I only have a few more days to wait! I have my work cut out for me once we get to the hotel too – I have to finish one of the secret projects, though the one I’m giving to my DH doesn’t necessarily have to be finished, I can finish it later. The other, yeah that has to be done!

Our travel plans! I’m happy with them. We still have to get the moving truck, load it, clean the house when that’s done, etc. It’s hard to get too excited when you have to finish packing and then clean a house! We did decide that the kids and I would go to South Dakota for a quick visit and then on to Montana.

I called my Aunt and Uncle to tell them we’d be coming through and we will be staying with them once we get that way. I’m undecided as to how many days I’ll stay in the area – sure I have my entire family (minus Mom, Dad, brothers & their families) there, but my Grandma isn’t. Of course things would change once she died, but it is all just so different now. My Aunt tried saying I need to stop and stay for a bit, and I agree on stopping but not the staying. I’d much rather go see my Dad and brothers – and all the nephews, which includes a five month old! (He’s so chubby, he looks just like my brother when he was a baby.)

So we leave housing this weekend, we leave TX next week, we’ll leave Montana a couple of weeks after that and then we’ll have a fantastic family vacation. We wanted to plan our vacation but just haven’t had time!

I just realized we’ll be hitting just about every western state there is. Maybe we should try to hit those other few too? Haha

Travel Plans is a post from: me being crafty