Daddy's Home!!!

Okay, so the night setting on my camera doesn't work the greatest, but this is a fun picture anyway. The Christmas lights were a great addition to the banner I painted 6 years ago, this is the third deployment I have used it for! My sis, McKell flew in to Yuma for a Christmas vacation the same day Roland did. We were so happy to have them both here, especially in time for Christmas.
A Happy Family... together again. Can't wipe the smiles from these faces and the joy from our hearts!
This little guy doesn't want to let go of Daddy's hand, OR to stop telling Roland, "Daddy, I love you. I missed you when you were on depointment (deployment)" It has been fun to hear him say it just out of the blue in the last few days.
Finally, we made Gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and lots of candy. A little too much candy, so the roofs were falling off the kid's homes and mommy had to help reconstruct.=) We even included crumbled grahams around the homes as sand, after all, we live in the desert.
My sweetheart, I am glad he's home. We had a fun time taking the kids and McKell to the playground today. This is a snapshot I took as we sat and enjoyed their laughter.

"Best Mom Ever"

I am sure to have your attention with that title, right?
After school today (the kids had a half day before the break for Christmas) the girls had a dentist appointment. Then, we came home and decorated sugar cookies. Perhaps it doesn't need mentioning, but afterwards we ate sugar cookies. At dinner time, we were about 1/3 of the way into the movie "Elf", so I spread out our picnic blanket on the floor and we had dinner picnic-style so as to keep watching.
It was during this fun afternoon adventure that Eve turned to me and said, "You are the best mom ever, this day has been so fun!"
Sure, I felt good. The best part was that I hadn't even been trying real hard, but apparently still made the day memorable.

Garden and Life

My little garden. I have a jalapeno plant, cherry tomato plant, a row of dirt that I hope will be daffodils again in the spring, and a row of greenish iris blades. They are trying to acclimate to Yuma, they have been trying for 18 months. However, as long as they continue to shoot up green leaves, I will try to keep them alive. The whole thing is on a table because my dogs won't leave them alone.

I have about 9 jalepenos of varying sizes.
My pride and joy tomato! Yes, it is just a little tomato, but I have taken care of it for almost two months now and it is nearly ready to be picked and savored! (there is only one other red one, the rest are tiny and green, still needing more time.)
WOW! Sammy broke the stick for the pinata at a friend's birthday party. We had to get out a bat at that point, the pinata still wasn't busted.

The girls and I had a fun evening at our Leader/Daughter Craft Night.

This is PROOF that sleeping patterns are inherited! Below you can see three pictures as my evidence for today.

1. Tucker doesn't like to sleep with the blankets, his dad kicks them off too. Those poor bare feet! However, if I put socks on him when he goes to bed, he pulls them off. I can't blame him, I don' t like to sleep with socks either, I just keep them tucked in!

2. Two pics of how Eve was buried in her's. I took a view from each side so that you'd be able to see how she really was burried! Her dad likes to sleep with his face burried under the pillow, close enough to the blanket. I don't like my face burried at all! I must have it clear for fresh air.

Christmas Activities

This is how we look, semi-dressed up, for the Night in Bethlehem activity that the ward had tonight. Mostly tunics for us and strips for belts. We really had a good time. The field behind the church was really transformed into Bethlehem with constructed wooden shops selling cider, fruits, cheese and olives, hummus and pitas, baked goods like date bars and thumbprint cookies. I thought it was only going to be light refreshments, but their was plenty! There were also tailor, gift, and toy shops too.
Tucker is looking at his "money". I think they were fashioned out of playdough and then baked, small circles with an image stamped in.
Samantha inline for the bake shop (she likes the date bars and thumbprint cookies).
Earlier today, we went to the squadron Christmas party also. Tucker spent nearly the whole time in the jumper. The only reason he got out while I waited in line for our picture to be printed, was because they were taking it down for the day.

Eve, working on a craft.

It really is winter, somewhere...

Nov. 17... it is a nice and warm day in Mesa, AZ. Went to the temple with the Stake Relief Society.
One week later, in Utah... strawberry plants, ready to hibernate. I didn't know that strawberry leaves could be so gorgeous!
The kids with their Aunt McKell and the Mama Kitty. Coats, gloves and scarves needed for us Arizona warm blooded people.
Of course... 4-wheeler rides. Thankfully the weather was sunny enough to have rides on Thanksgiving day and on the Saturday afterward. Grandpa and Daddy have something in common... they both like to smile goofy for the camera. Same look in all three pics.

Tucker, sticking his tongue out to catch snowflakes? Nope, he is a few days early, the snow didn't come until Tuesday, and we were back in Arizona. He sure liked sitting on Uncle Andy's shoulders while we were at Temple Square though.
Beautiful place all year round, extra fun with the Christmas lights. Salt Lake City Temple and Temple Square. The kids really enjoyed the nativity scene and story told with it too.
Cami, Grandma, Grandpa, McKell, Samantha, Andy and Tucker, Eve, Wes and Jeremy, and Melece. The weather was chilly, but we were bundled, after all, is IS WINTER!

Happy Birthday USMC!

Well, today is the Marine Corp Birthday, and since I am a very good Marine Wife (10 month deployment is proving that, right?) I will not let the day pass without acknowledging it.

"Semper Fidelis" is about the best motto you can adhere to. "Always Faithful" If we live our lives, always faithful, to our committments, to Heavenly Father, to ourselves and our family, how much hearthache could we avoid?

Here is a picture of my favorite Marine. I took it last fall and I still love it. The kids each have an individual copy of this picture in a frame while he has been deployed.

To our favorite Marine, "We love you Daddy! and Happy Birthday!"

Girls Scouts again?

We officially invested our Girls Scouts this week. Eve rededicated since she was invested last year. All in all, Girls Scouts is going well.
See how well it is going? I even have put them behind bars!!!

We had a field trip today. We took the girls to the Territorial Prison here in Yuma. A lot of fun for a bunch of silly girls. This finished up the requirements we were working on to earn them their Arizona Try-It Badge.
Eve as a convict, with Samantha below. YIKES!

A little post script: This last picture was taken on the stairs this morning. The kids were acting out the story parts of "Peter Pan". Eve is Tinkerbell, Samantha is Peter Pan, and they each helped Tucker Dress up as Captain Hook. They were having a lot of fun, I hated to have it stop when I did, but I needed to go and donate my blood! Peter Pan and Cars have dominated Tucker's viewing choices for a few weeks.=)

Dentist Visit

Tucke had his first Dentist visit this week. He did wonderfully! He sat on the chair like a big boy and even got to help hold that tube that suck the water out of your mouth. He liked that responsibility.

Hooray Tucker!

Blood Hero

HOORAY! I did it! I haven't been able to donate blood in years because my iron was always low. After all, if you are trying to build your calcium intake, you are inadvertently lowering your iron intake. Did you know that? The opposite is also true. You really can only be trying to absorb one or the other. SO, the key is to work on your iron intake and ignore your calcium boosting for 3-6 days before you want to donate blood.
I went in kind of tenetively, but my face was sure glowing when I found out that I could donate! So, I hope I am back on track to a donating schedule. It will be nice. Next opportunity: after the first week of January.

Halloween

Of course, the kids had a fun Halloween. We have a Maid, a Witch and a Ghost. They each picked what they wanted to be and I did my best to accomodate.

Tucker originally wanted to have his face painted, but it only lasted two minutes before he wanted me to wash it off.=) He had fun twirling and waving his arms. He said he was a wiggly ghost. All the costumes amazed him when we were trick or treating!

Eve had to have rosy cheeks, you can't see it above because we took these pics before dinner and put makeup on after. I don't know why, but a maid needed rosy cheeks.

Samantha opted for no makeup, but insisted on wearing these pink ballet style flats that she has worn for years! I bought them a few sizes too big to be dress up shoes for the girls in North Carolina, probably about 2 years ago. They cost 2 dollars. She had worn them for the last year to school as often as she can. They are getting worn out, but they are still the shoe of choice.

I am glad they had fun, and they are glad they got candy.=)

The only thing that would have made it better would be if Daddy were here to raid the candy or dress goofily and add to the atmosphere of the holiday. Daddy also would have carved the pumpkin that mommy forgot to carve.

Oops. We will have a post Halloween Jack-o-Lantern, I guess.

Pumpkins

I know, the coloring looks like an old photo, but it was just taken this afternoon (polaroid). The kids got to pick a pumpkin from the housing office's pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch was located in their lobby.=) See those big smiles? They just picked the perfect pumpkin, each of them. They are painting them right now, because that is what they wanted to do.

Happy Pumpkin Picking!

Jan Brett

We had the great opportunity to meet Jan Brett last night! She is on tour promoting her new book, The Three Snow Bears, and came to YUMA, AZ!!! We went as a girl scout troop with our families. First, we saw the bus that is painted like the illustrations in her new book. Then, while inside, a giant Hedgehog wandered around (that was Tucker's favorite part!)
There were great freebies handed out too, pencils, little workbooks about her new book, buttons, and more. The kids were able to walk away with a signature and a pre-signed poster too! It was a litte crazy, many people in Yuma were taking advantage of this great opportunity, but worth our time and patience as we waited in line. The girls were bursting with excitement, both when we got there, and still when they left!


Girls with Hedgie.


The awesome bus!

Jan Brett doing a demonstration by illustrating Baby Bear from the new book.

Our girls with Jan Brett. Samantha is the only one you can barely see. Her cheek and part of her eye are peeking out from behind the girl in the blue shirt on the left. Can you see her? I didn't notice until this morning, and the second picture I took, she is completely behind the other girl. This was the best it got!=) Good thing that bus picture was so cute, right?

OH! and check out our 10 seconds of fame in this video taken by a photographer for The Yuma Sun. It isn't easy to catch, watch a few times in the beginning, but you can see both Eve and Samantha amongst the children sitting on the floor. Eve has a white shirt and blue uniform jumper. Samantha is next to her with jeans and a burgundy shirt. Pay no attention to the non-photogenic woman who starts out the into.

http://www.yumasun.com/video/index.php?bcpid=1156002562&bclid=1178176697&bctid=1274013567

Dinner

Tonight we tried something new for dinner. I receive a magazine from Kraft Foods about 5 times a year and from the magazine I pick things that look good to try. We ate Speedy Chicken Stir-Fry, except that I substituted a tender steak, sliced up thin, for the chicken.

I made "yummy" ramen noodles on the side in case the kids didn't like the new dish, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they liked it a lot! I would say that Eve enjoyed it the most of the children, but Samantha had seconds also. Tucker ate the least, maybe 1/4 a cup.

Tucker mostly ate apples and ramen, but he was also falling asleep because he hadn't gotten a nap today. Once I was convinced he'd eaten enough, I washed him up and put him to bed about 6:45.

I prepared half the recipe, just because I wasn't sure about something new. There were no left overs!!! I would say that is one of the more sucessful attempts at trying something new. Those of you who know me already know this, but I will write it again for those who don't know me as well yet. I love to cook, I also love to try new things. Because of this, my children are quite used to being required to try at least one bite of something new at least a few times a month. Some new recipes are yummy and we add them to ones we want to have again, some are mediocre and we don't bother to try them again, and some never even make it into leftover containers in the fridge because what couldn't be choked down was tossed out. Hey, not everything works, or is liked by all, right?

This recipe is definitely getting added to the have again category, and I think we will all be pleased. I can't wait to make it for Roland some day and get his opinion too. I think he will have similar thoughts to what Eve vocalized when getting seconds, "I like the steak the best!" It WAS a tender steak to compliment the brocolli and noodles.

This is a picture from Kraft Foods, but ours looked just as good. I suggest giving it a try if you feel daring. Here is the link for the page with the recipe.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe_display&u1=keyword&u2=stir%20fry&u3=**6*75&wf=9&recipe_id=107263

Pictures for Daddy

Tucker found some sticks to make a fire! Good job. We will be sure not to let you find the matches.=)
Pretty girls wearing the shirts Daddy bought them. Very cute, but a little big. We may need to wait a year or two.=)