Little Cheeks

Tristan has been fighting me tooth and nail most days lately when it comes to taking a nap. I usually have to go to his room several times and lay down the law. Today was no different... I did hear him get up and go potty, but heard nothing further, so just let him be. Just a little while ago, I noticed that his jeans and underwear were on the floor of the bathroom, so I decided to go check on him...

This is what I found:

I know, I know, I'm a terrible mother and he's gonna hate me for this later, and I'm sure he'll be scarred for life - but I just couldn't resist!

The Baker and the Repairman

Just a few cute moments from the kids...

Grace, with little help from me, made Rice Krispy treats the other day. She started out by counting out all the marshmallows, and did a great job following directions when it came to adding the marshmallows and keeping them stirred. The only time I helped was when it was time to stir in the cereal (as anyone who has ever made these knows that a 4 year old just isn't quite capable of doing that). She had a great time, and was proud to tell her daddy about what she made when he got home.

We had some strawberry marshmallows so we decided to try those, and they turned out much better than we expected.

The best part of making anything...

This is "Spike", my repairman:

After Tristan took a nap today, he took Grace to school:

They did this for a good hour, and then again after supper, all the while taking turns. I love days like this...

Workin' at the car wash...

We have had some beautiful weather recently (as I am typing this, it is 7:30 PM and I'm sitting outside in short sleeves drinking a margarita), so I decided to wash my car Saturday afternoon. I asked the kiddos if they would like to "help" and they were more than willing to oblige (since they knew that they would get wet if they helped).

Much to my surprise, Grace was quite thorough and did a pretty good job, and really got into it. Tristan, on the other hand, did a panel of the car and decided it would be more fun to just get wet... Oh well, I did end up with a clean car and we all had fun.

A Little Trip

David and I decided that we were missing El Paso a bit, so we loaded up the kids last Friday and spent a weekend with friends in El Paso. The "long" weekend went by very quickly so we weren't able to see everyone that we wanted to (Grace was especially upset that we didn't get to see our old neighbors), but we know we will go back again before too long.


When we first arrived, we had some time to kill before meeting friends for lunch, so we drove by our house to see how it is being kept up. We slowed way down and told Grace to look out her window... we got no response. When we turned the corner however, Grace said "Mommy! That's the house that we walked by when we crossed the steeet to go to the park with Leah!" I don't get it - she recognizes a stranger's house, but doesn't recognize her own house... We then drove by her old day care and had her and Tristan look out the window and both of them yelled "My school!"


We spent the weekend with one of my best friends, Angie, and her family (they are always kind enough to find a spot in their home to allow us to rest our weary bones, and cook us some delicious food). Our kids call them Aunt and Uncle (I have known Angie since 7th grade, and we grew up 4 houses apart), and consider Alex and Sidney their cousins. Needless to say, we had a great time, and it was great to finally get some good Mexican food that I didn't have to cook!










The kids had a blast playing with their "cousins" - and I had a blast not having to worry about them!





Six months ago, Tristan was terrified of even crawling on a trampoline, and now he yells "I do it by myself" if anyone tries to help him jump!







I did manage to remember to bring their Valentine's gifts...

Happy Valentine's Day

Grace had her Valentine's exchange on Wednesday as this is a long weekend for us. In the spirit of being frugal, and Grace loving to do crafts, we made our own this year.

Making sure it's just right...

Signing her name.

She did a fabulous job, and had fun doing it... made 36 in all, so I'm very proud of her! All I helped with was the glue after we ran out of glue sticks.

All of her loot from school

We hope you all have a wonderful day and are able to spend it with those you love!

Snow Day

Okay, it was more like a snow half-day, but we woke up to a couple of inches of snow on Tuesday! So, we finally got our "taste" of winter.


The mountains closest to us don't normally have snow on them , but they have been pretty well covered since Sunday, and it finally landed on us very early Tuesday morning (how do I know this?? Tristan wouldn't sleep, so I know it started snowing sometime between 2 and 4 AM).



















David didn't have to go in until 9:30 that morning (we have to laugh that a couple inches of snow shut down school and caused a late start to everything else, even though the roads were clear), so he made us biscuits and gravy, and then we shoved the kids out the door for a little fun in the snow - before it melted.

Does he look mischevious or what???

Most of the snow was gone by noon, but they sure had fun playing in it while it lasted!

A night of entertainment

The Danish Performance team was on post Wednesday night so the kids and I (and David for a little while until he had to go to work) went over to the gymnasium to watch their show. They are a Danish National team that is touring the world, and this was the first U.S. Military installation that they visited. They had a fun performance full of dancing, tumbling, and some humorous skits. The kids really enjoyed it.