O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Before I dive into Christmas, I have a wee confession to make.  I let myself get waaaaaaaaaay behind in my blogging (like  I do) and so to catch up, I got a little tricksy.  Rather than cram a bunch of posts in back-toback-to-back (which makes my OCD twitch, for some reason) I slipped a few back-logged entries in between the others, around the times that they would have been posted had I been more on my game.  So, in case you missed them, the Halloween post is here, and the visit-to-the-dentist post is here.  Now, on to Christmas!

Brandon's command Christmas party was a two-for-one this year: they had a party for the adults in one of the smaller hotel ballrooms, and at the same time, had childcare a party for the kids in one of the nearby hotel conference rooms.  And, before they officially kicked things off, the kids got a surprise visit from Santa.  He spoke to each of the children, and "brought" a special toy for each one (supplied by the parents earlier in the week).  Elora had no problem saying hi to Santa, but miss Kaylie wanted nothing whatsoever to do with him.  When it was her turn, she wouldn't even look at him--until we told her that he had a present for her.  Even then, she held on to me even as she reached with the other hand to take the gift from Santa.

Once Santa was gone, the DJ played about 20 minutes' worth of kid-friendly music and let the kids dance on the dance floor before sending them all back to their room for their own banquet: fruit punch, chicken nuggets and french fries.  :)  I'd been a bit worried that they wouldn't handle it well when Brandon and I left, because it was a strange place and strange people, but they were fine.  In fact, Elora burst into tears when we came to pick them up at the end of the night.  

The adult party was pretty standard: catered dinner, raffle prizes (Brandon won a fancy-schmancy knife), and loud fun music.  I enjoyed myself, but spent most of the evening sitting still, chatting just with the people who happened to be near me.  Brandon was much more social, and had a great time.  We stayed until about 11, when I'd had as much as I could handle.  I hated to drag him away, but well, I wilt pretty early these days.

We went one afternoon the following week to pick out our Christmas tree.  They had candy canes for the kids, which the girls loved.  Both girls wandered around, though Elora was the only one really looking at the trees.  She kept going from one tree to another, saying things like "Ooh, what about this one?!"  I ended up choosing a small, but well-shaped tree, and Elora gave her full approval.  :)

We got it set up that evening, but waited until the next day to decorate it.  Brandon helped me get the lights on the tree, then set about capturing the evening's events on camera.  The girls, for their part, were excited to help decorate and anxious for their turn to participate.  And the poor things had to wait for me to do the lights twice, because I wasn't happy with the placement the first time around.

Elora did help me with the garland, and she "helped" me with keeping Kaylie out of trouble.  Any cautionary comment that I made to either of them, Elora repeated.  It was adorable, and a little exasperating.  The imp.

When we finally got the the ornaments, the girls were almost rabid to get started.  We did some of the generic glass ornaments first, and then moved on to their ornaments.  (You'd be surprised how many they've managed to acquire in only a few years!)  They loved everything about it.  Except, perhaps, for the waiting as I unwrapped the ornaments.  Elora seemed to be taking some care with where she put hers, but Kaylie had just 2 branches that she'd deemed acceptable and all of her ornaments went on one of those 2 branches.  And though they could reach higher up the tree, neither one put any higher than about the second row of branches.

We got about a third of the way through when I called it a night--for them.  I went back to it after they'd been tucked in for the night, and not only finished the tree, but put out the rest of our Christmas decorations as well.

Ta-da!  Perfect.  :)

Hail to the CHIEF!!

We survived the Selectee Season!  It was a rough 6 weeks, but we survived and now...he's a CHIEF!!  His pinning ceremony was this past Friday.  It was all a little crazy.  He'd had to stay on base the night before for the Final Night, so it was just us girls.  We got up and out of the house with plenty of time to make it to the ceremony on time.  Early, even.  I went right there without making any wrong turns (it's quite a ways away, and I've been there only a few times), and pulled in to the parking lot with 15 minutes to spare.  I was feeling rather pleased with myself, until I realized that the parking lot was packed.  After asking one of the base security personnel, I further realized that I would have to park across the street fully a block away from the chapel.  Suddenly, I had no extra time.  At all.  By the time we walked into the chapel, they were ready to start.  Thank goodness his sponsor had had the foresight to save seats for us; otherwise we would have been standing along the back wall of the chapel.  As it was, the line of Selectees was filing into the chapel singing "Anchors Aweigh" as I was getting us settled into our seats.  Ugh.  I really, really hate feeling rushed and flustered.  But we made it, and that's the important thing.

The Selectees, lined up across the front of the chapel, singing the last bit of "Anchors Aweigh".

The girls had been excited to go see Daddy in theory, but the reality was not at all to their tastes.  Kaylie spent the first bit of the ceremony playing with her mini magnadoodle and wasn't too fidgety, but Elora had left hers in the car and was quite, quite bored.  As she reminded me approximately every 2 minutes, throughout all the speakers, and the pinning of the few people who were ahead of Brandon.

Elora kept saying "Mama, this is too boring."

Brandon was, I think, the fourth of fifth person (of twelve) to be pinned.  I'd assumed that his sponsor, or perhaps his commanding officer would be the one to actually pin the anchors to his collar, but I saw from those first few that it was actually the families of the new Chiefs who did the pinning.  I passed my camera off to  the lady sitting in front of me, with the request that she take pictures for us, right before it was his turn.  But we were to the side and slightly behind where he was standing, and she was unfamiliar with the camera, so we didn't get much in the way of pictures.  

There was a Navy photographer there, though, and we were told that all the families would receive a photo disk with all the pictures from the ceremony.  Let me just tell you, I cannot wait to get my hands on that CD!!

They took pictures not only of the pinning process, but snapped a few family shots immediately after that I am just dying to have.  After the pictures, Brandon's sponsor placed his new cover--the last piece of his new uniform--on his head.

No more white hats for this guy.  :)

After that, both girls had officially lost patience with sitting still and being quiet.  Kaylie had gotten bored with the magnadoodle, and naturally, as soon as she set it down, Elora picked it up.  And just as naturally, as soon as Elora picked it up, Kaylie wanted it back.  I had a little bit of white model magic (it's kind of like a light weight play-dough) in the diaper bag, so I got it out for Kaylie.  But when Elora saw what Kaylie had, she was no longer interested in the magnadoodle either.  I ended up splitting it between the two girls, and it  successfully kept them occupied for the rest of the ceremony.  All I had to do was to keep Elora from trying to appropriate bits from Kaylie's half, and to remind them that they still needed to be quiet.  Oy.   

All in all, they were quite good.  The ceremony last for about an hour, and by the time it was done, neither one wanted anything to do with being still or quiet, or in Elora's case, even remotely cooperative.  We tried to do our own family photo, but well, like I said.  "Still" and "cooperative" were out.  This was the best we got.  Honestly, I kind of like it.  Every time I look at it, I will always remember that Elora wanted to hide and Kaylie wanted to run and I was just so proud that I didn't care.  This picture will always make me smile.  :)

Reenlistment, the Fourth of July, and a Time-Warp

Back at the beginning of July, Brandon signed on for another 6 years with the US Navy, which is a pretty big deal.  Since they're drawing down the military, they're being really choosy about the people that they allow to reenlist.  The fact that they not only re-upped his contract, but that they signed him for another 6 years (the maximum, by the way), really speaks to how awesome he is.  I, for one, really just could not be any more proud of him for doing what he does, and for doing it so incredibly well.

The girls and I drove out to the command for the little reenlistment ceremony.  It was very quick--the drive down there took longer than the ceremony did.  But not only was it a major thing for his career, but it's a big deal for our family.  On the one hand, the Navy kind of owns us for another 6 years.  We'll be moving soon, because he's up for new orders, and he'll be going back to a boat for the first time in 6 years, for the first time since we had children.  It's inevitable that he's going to have to go out to sea, and I'd be lying if I tried to tell you that I'm not terrified of being left alone.  But, to balance that, the Navy has been very, very good to us and it's reassuring to know that we are going to have a steady income and health care for the next 6 years.  So yes, it was good to be there, to witness this commitment being made, and to show our support.

They also gave me an award, which I was definitely not expecting.  It 's an achievement award,  recognizing and thanking me for my support as the one standing behind Brandon and his work in the Navy.  I was pleasantly surprised, though I also felt a little put on the spot...there were actually a lot of people there, and I'd met only a handful of them a handful of times.  Still, I thought it was pretty cool.  :)

So, that was July third.  I thought it was an appropriate way to celebrate the Fourth, especially since we didn't actually do any celebrating on the Fourth.  Saturday we went out to Virginia Beach for some Fourth of July family fun.  We tried out one of the local seafood places for dinner, then headed on over to the strip to have some old time photos done.  This was not done on a whim.  I've actually been planning that very photo session, at that very location, for a year or two.  You see, Brandon was stationed here back in 2003 for his C-school training, and he flew me up to see him a couple of times.  One of those times was over the July 4th holiday weekend, and while wandering around in Virginia Beach, we had some old time photos done then.  So how could we not go back and do it again, exactly 10 years later?  I couldn't resist, and even Brandon said that it pretty much had to be done.
 I didn't want to take the original photos with us, since we have only the one copy, so we snapped a picture of it with Brandon's phone, to show it to the people at the studio.  Of course they were all over it, and perfectly happy to help us try to recreate the original:

How awesome is that?  10 years, 3 duty stations, and 2 kids later, and neither of has changed much at all.  How's that for a time warp?  Here's the rest of the shoot (because of course I had to have the CD with all the digital images on it...) :

The girls LOVED getting all dressed up, and playing with the props.  Heck, so did I, for that matter.

Elora looks unhappy in the first one, because the photographer had handed her a gun, and told her to hold it up for the picture.  "But, guns are dangerous!"  And she continued to look worried until he took away the gun, and handed her the fan.  She was much more comfortable with the fan.  Kaylie, on the other hand, was in 100% dress-up-loving-toddler heaven.

We got done with the photos just before 10, when the fireworks were supposed to start, so we just headed across the street to the beach walk. We waited patiently there by the beach, but I couldn't help noticing that there wasn't anyone else standing around, looking expectantly at the sky out over the water.  Sure enough, there were no fireworks that night.  As it turns out, I'd misread the schedule.  They weren't Saturday night at 10, but Sunday night at 10.  Oops.  Thank goodness for smartphones!  Since Brandon was able to double check the schedule, we didn't wait around too long, but got the girls loaded up and headed home.  Poor Elora was heartbroken.  She'd been so excited to see the fire works!  We kept telling her that we'd go back the next night, that she would still get to see them, but she was so tired and so disappointed that she whimpered the whole way home.

We did go back, and she did get to see them.  Elora loved them.  This is the only picture I was able to get of her once they started, because she was so excited that she kept jumping up and down.  Apparently, holding still also meant that she had to stop grinning, but at least I got a picture!

Kaylie was not so impressed.  She didn't like the noise, but kept peeking through her fingers to watch them anyway.  She spent part of the show in the stroller, and part of it with Brandon.

I hope everyone had a happy Fourth of July!

My 2011 Scrapbook is Done!

Oh man, it feels good to be done with my 2011 book!  Of course, I haven't even started on 2012...but I'll worry about that after Christmas.  :)

I love Disney.

found here: http://theconvictionsofalionsheart.tumblr.com/post/12018304442

Completely random, I know, but prom night at Disney?  What's not to love?

Springy Things

We went to the park.

The girls got a visit from the Easter bunny. (Tutus and white bunny ears courtesy of Papa & Gigi; they were part of Elora's Christmas 2 years ago.  They just now fit!)

And we've taken on a family project.  As you can see, our yard is in pretty sad shape.  

We've done little more than push a lawn mower through it and rip out a few weeds since we moved in.  A gentle nudge from our POA about the unsightly weeds in the front planter spawned a discussion about our lawn, and we decided to take it in hand.  We went this past weekend to scout out materials, make plans, and acquire some new toys tools for Brandon.

So far, we've mowed, trimmed, edged, weeded, put down turf builder, and started the trench for planter edging.  This weekend, we're hoping to finish installing that edging strip, put in some low ever-green bushes between the larger ones along the front foundation line, and put down some new mulch.  Eventually we'll be extending the front planter around the other side of the house, replace the plants along the drive way, get rid of the weeds throughout the lawn and put down grass seed, build a fence, and plant a vegetable garden in the back.
Ambitious, I know.

It'll be a long process, but I'm actually looking forward to it.  I'm excited to have a full, plush yard for the girls to play in, for one thing.  And for another, I like the idea of all of us working together toward a common goal like this.  I like it a lot.  For all that we've been together for so long, Brandon and I don't have a whole lot of common ground.  He provides, I manage the home.  He's into electronics, and I like arts & crafts.  He likes to watch movies, and unless it's something that I specifically want to watch, I have to be coerced, even though I almost always end up liking the movies he chooses for us.  I read (books) whenever I can, while he generally reads (books) only a little before bed. Of course there is overlap, especially with respect to our children. But this is something productive that we can do together, and we can bring the girls out to play while we work.  

Our goal is to put at least a few hours into it every weekend.  (We had better!  After what we spent on his new tools, they had better see some use!)  I'll be posting pictures periodically, to measure our progress.  

The Birthday Party

Elora didn't wear the Jessie pants that I made for her, because the weather has been too hot for pants.  Instead, I broke out my sewing supplies the night before the party and added a cow print ruffle to an existing denim skirt.  (She did wear the pants when it got cooler in the evening, but we didn't get any pictures.)

The first part of the party was spent outside, because the day was gorgeous.  There were two other children at the party (Gracie, who is nearly two, and Sydney, nearly five) and they made good use of  the sunshine and toys while the grown-ups sat around chatting, munching, and refereeing disputes. 

You might notice that Kaylie isn't in any of these pictures; she went down for a nap shortly after the party got started, due to poor planning on my part.

  Then Elora got to open her gifts.  There were a lot of them.

 

And then Kaylie was awake and it was time for decadent, sugary overload cake.  Elora had a carrot cake covered in cow print and topped with her miniature Toy Story character figurines and three giant candles.  For Kaylie, a chocolate cupcake with a pretty pink candle. 

 

Elora, after going on and on for months about carrot cake, ate very little of her cake and all of her frosting. (The black frosting turned a few tongues black--oops!)  At first, Kaylie wanted nothing more to do with her cupcake than to squish it between her fingers, and smear it on her seat.  Then Papa managed to get a little taste of it in her mouth and suddenly those gooey, chocolatey fingers were getting stuffed in her mouth.

By the time she was done, everything within her reach needed to be cleaned: the chair, the chair cover, her bib, her dress, her head band, her hair...even Gigi's shirt.

So it wasn't until after a bath that we tackled the second mound of gifts in the living room.

Did I mention that there were a lot of gifts??  We were all rather overwhelmed.

Elora's favorite was either the Buzz Lightyear or the pretend play doctor's set, and Kaylie's was the sweet little baby doll.

Whew!  I think it's safe to say that the party was a rousing success.  Thanks to everyone who came!  A HUGE thanks to everyone who helped!  You know who you are.  :)