it's a process

Just like everything in our lives.... it's a process.  It's a process getting the kid up and out the door for school.  It's even a process to convince her to eat breakfast.  It's a process living a military life.  It's a process owning your own business.  It's all a process.  And while I had good intentions to get my new website/blog up and running by tomorrow.... the process is slow.  It's been difficult focusing but rest assure that a new website and blog will be up by next week.  I promise.

This week brought lazy days and errands.  The sun has been out which warms the body and the soul.  It's so much better than coffee! We spent afternoons outside, playing in the dirt, eating lunches and enjoying our family time.  It's awesome!



 This week I had a good ugly cry.  The kind where your shirt is soaked because you can't stop the waterworks.  There is a few back stories that built up to the ugly cry but I will share just  a couple...

One:  Remember our best friends from San Diego that moved in right next door to us? Well their landlord is a total d-bag and they had to move out down to military housing.  It makes me furious to know a military family was treated with such dishonor.  It makes me even more mad because it's very rare that you get to share a fence with your good friends after a duty station.  I always joke about punching people in the face, well I really, for real, want to punch their landlord in the face.  Just saying.

Two:  My friend Amanda is about to give birth to her newest little one in just a few days.  While the story is long, that baby needs everyone's prayers, hopes, fingers crossed, wishing on a star, or what ever you do to bring luck.  Without getting into too much detail, Baby Gabby has a heart defect.  Doctors are confident they can build her a new heart.  We are confident in the doctors.

I totally blame the ugly cry on Amanda.  She wrote me a card that was amazing.  It was so amazing, I had not even read what was inside that the words on the front made me ball.

 

  The words on the front are sooooo true. We wish we lived next door to them.  We wished we lived next door to a lot of people.  We would have to have a dodecahedron house so we could have all the next door neighbors we wanted.  I won't mention what was on the inside because it might make you ugly cry too.

I would like to tell you all about potty training but I don't want to jinx anything so I will leave you with this weeks iPhone fun.

PS.  Sorry for the lack of pictures this week.  My new camera is intimidating and I'm not sure what is holding me back.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

confessions

I am night owl.  The darkness calls to me and makes me believe that if I got out of bed I could finish cleaning my house, finish my website, finish a lot of things that I start but never find the time or energy to finish.  I'm not allowed to be a night owl though for reasons that come inside a 3 foot tall child.  I couldn't function in the afternoons if I decided to accept the evenings invitation to party.  There wouldn't be afternoons of crafts, make believe and outings.  So I force myself into my bed at night and make my eyes close until sleep takes over my body.  I am thankful for it in the morning when duty calls.  I truly wonder if I would get everything done if I just stayed up one night.  Probably not because Facebook would lure me in and projects on Pinterest would call my name.  Of course, I would listen because I would hate to clean, make some noise and then wake the beast.


 





This is the infamous orange inside an upside down pepper shaker (aka. orange ice cream).  It's all the rage in our house.  If you haven't tried it, you should come over.  Obviously it's Izzy's favorite.





My darling husband playing Food Network with Miss Izzy.  He fits well in that kitchen.




So I've come to a conclusion... I can't do it all.  I know, it's crazy to admit but I just can't.  Some people blog everyday and every other day.  Me, I cannot.  So I have a new goal each week.  Friday will be my blogging days.  It will contain pictures from the week's adventures as well as my iPhone photos.  This way I can keep my house clean and do my job as a mother, wife and photographer.




PS. I got a new camera and it is freakin' awesome!!  I cannot wait to take more photos with this bad boy.

back at it

So here is what you missed after our Christmas....

New Years::

Totally enjoyed the day with Chris, Uncle Brian, Aunt Donna,Tag, Cody, Garrett and 25,000 Auburn fans at the Georgia Dome for the Chick-fil-a Bowl!  It was totally rockin' and it was nice to spend some quality time with my husband "alone".  We rang in the new year with a kiss and a glimpse of the Peach Drop.

Baltimore, MD::
Chris went back to work in Cali and Izzy and I traveled to Maryland to see our long lost friends.  We "lost" them for three years.  It was good getting to see everyone again and meeting all the new babies that arrived while we were gone. There were lots of laughs and some tears but overall my face hurt at the end of the five days because I couldn't stop smiling.  I am sad we live so far apart but I know Chris' job will take us back there someday and we will get to be part of more babies lives.  :)

This is one of the reasons why we loved Maryland.... the diners.  You could go whenever you wanted and get anything you desired.  Wanted breakfast for dinner? Sure.  Wanted steak at 3AM? Not a problem.  Wanted to eat your weight in any kind of dessert you could imagine? Yes please.  

Home::

There is nothing quite like getting on an airplane and knowing your destination is your very own bed.  Some people are scared to fly.... I feel liberated.  I throw on my headphones and turn up my music so I can hear each lyric and word crystal clear.  Somehow my iPod knows my mood and changes each song appropriately to give me even more of a high.  I feel like I can do anything!!  In the short time of being on the plane, I can solve the world's problems, become a better wife, mother and friend, and enjoy some out of body experiences like watching the male flight attendant crawl over seats in a provocative manner while singing Adam Lambert's "Let Me Entertain You".  Flying is so magical. 

 While on our flight I met an amazing girl.  I wish I was like her.  I wish I had the bravery and cool nature she has.  It made me realize how uptight, over protective, non-smiling, cold-bitter soul I have become.  She is 21.  She was 19 when she decided to join the Air Force.  She had a full ride scholarship to become a fourth generation nurse which she promptly walked away from.  She was stationed in Germany for two years after boot camp.  She is slated to be a dental hygienist but there was no work for her in that field in Germany.  Instead, for the first year, she identified soldier's bodies coming from Iraq and Afghanistan on their way to the US.  She told me that she grew up real quick after that job.  I'm thinking "holy shit! I could not do that!!!" I never thought that someone would have to have that job.  I am grateful she is such a strong soul to see such terrible things.  So I digress.... that is not why she is totally cool.  That job made her totally awesome!  The reason why she was totally cool was because she was traveling to Reno to be married on Friday the 13th to her fiance, who she met in Germany.  He is in the Army and stationed there as well.  Her parents have only met him over skype and the only thing she had in her suitcase was her wedding dress.  Her. Wedding. Dress.  I envy her.  I'm proud of her.  I wish her nothing but the best for her and her future. 

So I plugged my headphones back into my ears and reevaluated my bitterness.  What was my new year's resolution?  I had planned on getting out of the house more with my family, not worry about money and spend more time with my family.  I think I need to add one more thing to that list... I will smile more.  I will take more chances, yet still be responsible.  I will live in the moment.  Okay, that is more than one. :)

Here are a few pictures from our first outing, worry-free-day as a family.  A trip to brisk San Francisco for the day to enjoy the sights and sounds the large city had to offer.  I could have punched myself in the face for not bringing my big camera but my iPhone is totally awesome too!


Since being back home I threw together a baby shower for my good friend Amanda.  Little Gabby will be arriving into our world on February 6th.  We cannot wait to meet this sweet girl and see what the world has in store for her.  We are wishing, hoping and praying for Gabby's safe arrival and doctors will be able to mend her heart.

christmas

It happened so fast!!  As I sit here and reflect on the past few days it is a picture of nothing but motion blur in my head.  Christmas tree lights, wrapping paper, tissue paper, toys, food, drinks, games, driving, sleeping, Christmas jammies, Christmas shows, football, and Santa.  It's all in there.  It's a bit overwhelming when I think about having to write it all down but I will try and organize my brain so that you get a clear picture of the pure magicalness that has happened on the east coast....

:: Izzy's Cookie Party
My mom is a brave soul.  I could see me doing this in the future but it would never go off like it did at mom's house.  She bravely and successfully had four toddlers make frosting, frost cookies and eat lunch together.  All with handmade aprons and chef hats on.  Each child went home with their decorated cookies on a plate, wrapped with delightful holiday saran wrap for them to enjoy later.  Watch out Martha Stewart!





:: Cutout Cookie Decorating
An annual tradition that we continue to do each year.  Several people have sat at this table and decorated masterpieces through the years.  This year was no different as the intense display of Christmas cookie decorating commenced in our kitchen.  There were moments of silence when the intensity was heightened  with each stroke of the icing coated knife.  Several cookies were produced that should have made it into a museum but only a few were worthy of the cutout cookie hall of fame.



I could possibly have the camera in Izzy's face too much.  What do you think?




 :: My Third Favorite Place

You've read about my favorite place (aka my happy place) and you probably can guess my second favorite place... my mom's house but my third favorite place is also so incredibley awesome!! It's a place where there are no rules, there is always commotion, there is a magical beer refrigerator in the garage, people think it's cool to wear blue and orange and the company is some of the finest people in Auburn, AL.  Yes, it's my Aunt Donna's house.  We traveled the two hour car ride to her home to celebrate Christmas a couple days early with her, my uncle, three cousins, grandparents, one dog, two puppies, one cat and a partridge in a pear tree!! As always, we had a blast!!  We feasted on ham, hash brown casserole, green beans and rolls as well as a variety of other snacks.  We drank and the magical fridge replenished itself with beer and our glasses were always full.  It was fun!!



Providing us with another awesome portrait by "Donna the Great".




The next morning while my daughter stalked the kitty.....



This amazing man, my uncle, was creating a masterpiece called Chipped Beef.  His is the best.  Hands down.  Think yours is better? I'll punch you in the face.  He only used to make it on Sundays but since we travel afar to see them, we get that pot of gold whenever we want!!  That's how the BoFines roll in Alabama!!



Okay, we know.  Auburn won some kind of championship or something.  (If you have not seen the game or would like to re-watch the championship game, they still have it on their DVR. They won't make you chipped beef though.)



:: Christmas Eve

We always spend Christmas Eve with Chris' family.  We open all our gifts over at Aunt Mary and Uncle Darrell's house with Darrell and Lynda as well.  Again, we ate.  :)  Isn't that what you do for the holidays?  We opened gifts as soon as Darrell Sr. arrived home from work.  Isabelle was more interested in helping everyone open their gifts then she was opening hers.  It was a late night for all as we made our way home in hopes that Santa hadn't fallen asleep and missed our house completely.



Our first Christmas with Lynda and Darrell's dog Murphy.  He is awesome too!



 :: Christmas Day

As usual, Santa didn't forget or disappoint.  We started opening presents at 9AM and the house was destroyed by 10.  We stayed in our pajamas all day and that is just how I wanted it.

This is the Jesus drawer.  This is were all the Jesuses are stored during December.  Emily and I found them and we put them out while mom went to bed.  It was an honor!!  (Please ignore the chili pepper in red.  He watches over and takes care of those little babies each year.)



Rocker face.




Christmas was fun this year but it wasn't what I was expecting out of Izzy.  Her lack of understanding of Santa, him coming at night and her being good didn't make for a huge magical Christmas morning.  She didn't tear through her presents with excitement and surprise.  She was tired and cranky and very overwhelmed.  However, at the end of the day she picked out her favorite gifts and played until 11:30PM.  It was an exhausting day but it was fun.  It was definitely more fun having a young child to share it with.  I can't wait for next Christmas when she is three and half and she will truly know the meaning of Christmas and also the magic of Santa Clause.

Thank you to Santa Mosholder's, Santa Bells, Santa Bonine, Santa Gollihers, Santa Lewis, Santa Campbell and Santa Walkowicz for spoiling Izzy.  We are truly blessed to have such an awesome and giving family.