Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

What a busy, but nice day. It all started with a holiday breakfast of sausage cheese balls (that I made and froze the night before- we now have plenty to make it through Christmas!) and mini cinnamon rolls. Yum! Then Mary and I started work on making the side dishes. She was a great helper with peeling potatoes. It was a fun mother/daughter moment and I made Doug get the camera. I just love how Mary will see me doing something in the kitchen and she'll run back to her room to get her step stool so she can see/help. Doug was a humongous help by cleaning both bathrooms, sweeping, vacuuming, setting up the table and getting the turkey from our neighbor's fridge (so glad Nicole gave us a key to their house when they went out of town- thanks!). We had our other friend, Nicole and her son Jaiden, over for dinner. Her husband recently deployed to Afghanistan. Prayers for him and the family. This is their first deployment and I know how hard it can be, esp during the holidays. We also had a nice couple and their 20 mo. old daughter join us. Paul, is also an industrial hygienist, but works on another base. His wife is an active duty Navy nurse and was deployed with Doug on the USNS Mercy many years ago when we were in Hawaii. Small world. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the adults. Sorry. Too busy eating, socializing and watching over the kiddos. It was a great day. I am so Thankful for my family and friends, but most especially for my wonderful husband who I couldn't live without, my funny, smart, amazing, and yes, sometimes frustrating 2 yr old daughter, and for the baby in my belly that kicks me constantly as his way of saying "get ready, I'm coming soon and your life will never be the same." Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

My sous chef peeling her first potato

Carving the bird

The spread. Did you spot the Metamucil in the picture? Ha,ha. Strange that no one put any on their plate.

The kids enjoying their apple pie and ice cream. Yum!!

It's cooking my eyes!!!!!

We have a strange design to our house. We have a tiny bathroom located right next to our larger bathroom. I have no idea why they didn't just build one BIG bathroom, but strangely, it's worked out well for us. The tiny one has been turned into "Mary's special bathroom." This way, we can have it all set up with her step stools and potty seat and not have to worry about moving them each time we need to go. The one down side to this design is that there is NO electrical outlet in there. How strange is that? It makes it hard to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, since we don't turn the light on for her (it's too bright). Yesterday, I bought a battery operated nightlight that you push to activate. I thought she'd have fun turning it on/off. I attached it to the wall at a height she could reach and placed it out of direct line of sight so it wouldn't blind her. We tried it for the first time today and she HATED it. She kept screaming, "It's cooking my eyes!!!!!" I told her not to look directly at it, but she wouldn't listen. She wouldn't calm down until I turned it off and flipped back on the overhead light. Oh well, I've wasted more than $8 in the past. Maybe she'll grow accustomed to it when she gets older.

The pimp mobile

So for the past few months, my car has been bouncing up and and down as I drive. It was more noticeable when going slow on base. I felt like I was in one of those souped up cars that bounce, but without paying extra for it. I told Doug I felt like a pimp. Ha, ha, the pimp in the station wagon. Doug looked under the car and didn't see anything wrong with the shocks, but I was getting worried that something might happen when I have Mary by myself (and I don't own a cell phone). It's been getting progressively worse, so we decided to try a local garage that was recommended by a co-worker. You'll never believe what was wrong. Apparently, the tires were overinflated for so long that they actually became un-round and that's why I bounced. All I needed were 4 new tires. I'm sure the Japanese men at the auto shop had a good laugh over the dumb Americans. Oh well, it was cheaper than we had expected (much better than new shocks) and now it's smooth driving for me.

Luau

November is the month of the military family. This year, our base held a Luau at the field house and had plenty of booths to see what activities are offered for the family. This was an entirely FREE event. Mary and I went this morning while Doug was mowing the lawn. We had a great time looking at the different booths, getting to bowl for a teddy bear, hula-ing for a special prize (Mary picked sunglasses), making a flower bracelet, jumping in the bouncy house and watching the clown make animal balloons. They even took our picture and

printed it for free. What a nice event. (Doug said I don't even look pregnant in this photo. Amazing.)

Unfortunately, I had committed Mary to the Hula before I knew that I would have to participate as well. Good grief, I looked like a whale! She's lucky I love her so much...and the sunglasses were so cute...and that we arrived early enough that there weren't many people around.

And here she is walking back to the car with all her loot. What a nice day!

Mary's new habit

Mary has suddenly started singing while she's going poo-poo. It is so funny listening to her. Sometimes she makes up songs and other times we can figure out what she's singing. I know it's not much to look at, but enjoy the song!

Another funny potty story: Her potty seat makes it impossible to wipe her properly after going number 2, so I always have her stand on her step stool and bend over. So now, I say to her," Ok, time to wipe" and she bends over, touches her toes (or grabs on to my legs) and replies, "take a bow!" I have no idea where that came from but I always get a chuckle. Yes, Ta-Da! You pooped!