Snowmageddon

I. Love. Snow.

However, I think I'd be pretty disenchanted with it had I been living back home in DC.  Then again, a week off with Sean & the kids...sounds pretty nice.  Unless you don't have electricity and suffer from cabin fever and Sean & the kids start driving you crazy.  Thank goodness we live down here.  ;o)

Just kidding.

We did get to experience the white stuff last weekend and our snow-loving pooch was in heaven.  The roads were still a mess but I'm sure waaaaaaaaaay better than a week prior.  Case in point, almost missing our hair appointment because streets of Bethesda were being plowed so entire streets were blocked off due to snow removal...because there is so much of the white stuff there is also nowhere to put it.  So, the whole weekend I saw dump trucks from WV & NC that apparently were contracted to haul the snow away.

While in Bethesda...Kaia accomplished her goal of this past year.  Donating her hair.  Donations required at least 10 inches of hair.  She donated 14 and wanted to go longer...but A-yi and I were a little concerned what if she freaked having such short hair.  Danggit...we actually could've gone shorter. Anyhoo...

Before:

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

After:

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

Oh yeah...A-yi & I also jumped on the bandwagon...with 12 inches & 10 inches respectively (my stylist didn't want to go shorter):

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

Pardon the fact that I look a wee bit sleepy or boracha (en espanol...look it up).  I promise it's just a bad photo.


The Lee Ladies donated 36 inches of hair. 

Also...some snow fun:

This little cutie stayed inside and tried on her V-day gift from the kids (although a certain overprotective uncle REALLY did not approve...at least it was a one piece!!):

Kids

This is the same post from my blog...laziness, I tell you...puuuuuure laziness.

My kids are a trip.  They are silly and cool and I want to be like them when I grow up.

I was getting Jaron (my 4YO son) into the car yesterday and he was talking about how he was going to keep his babies safe and take really good care of them.  I didn't want to ask him who was going to have his babies and instead phrased it as such "Where will you babies come from?"

His reply.

Your uterus.

Oh my little Oed(ipus)...you are so darn cute.

Later that night, Kaia (my 6YO daughter) was reading a book to me before she went to bed.  It was about a bunny who wasn't happy with her burrow and went searching for other homes.  The last home she went to look at had a fox lurking around it...so it scared her silly all the way back to her home.

To which Kaia replies...That's what she gets for not appreciating what she has!

Oy...these kids...man I love them.

One year ago...

A year ago today we were apparently in DC at my mom's. Notice the adult supervision of our children. My brother J is asleep with Pablo the Monkey (courtesy of Jaron) and Sean is also asleep with Cupcake the dog (courtesy of Kaia). At least I know the guys were well-taken care of...by my kids. ;o)

Thank goodness my children aren't pyromaniacs or have many destructive tendencies.

What would you do?

We look forward to the days when Sean stands duty...not because we can't wait to get rid of him for 36 hours, but because that's when Mommy reads TONS of stories for bedtime. It's actually our reverse psychology to get the kids excited about Daddy not coming home instead of upset. Military fam survival 101.

Anyhoo...fresh from our library outing last night before bed and the 60 books we literally checked out (oops...sorry Princess Anne Library...we'll be back next week)...one of the books I read was "Alexander's Pretending Day" by Bunny Crumpacker. Basically, the premise of the story is the little boy Alexander asking his mom how she would react in certain situations if he were different things. One of the things Alexander pretended to be was a lion. So, after Alexander asked his mom "What would you do?" I asked the same question to each child. It was Jaron's turn to answer first. His answer? "I would kill him." Yes, my darling, sweet, cuddly baby mama's boy has a killer instinct to protect himself and his family...or at least himself. Kaia's answer (which would've been mine too) was to RUN....FAST.

However, I wanted to steer him away from the generic killing statement but asked him how he was going to do that...have him really think out his answer. "With a spear." Well, shoot, you have me there...so much for steering the conversation towards a different solution. But...Mama's got a trick up her sleeve..."What if you didn't have a spear? What would you do?" Please oh please let's have a different answer (especially since when Alexander was going to be a mouse, Kaia's first answer was to stomp on him...collllllllllllld-blooded assasins, I tell you!).

My sweet, sweet, darling, cuddly baby mama's boy's answer?

"I would go to the spear shop and buy a spear...buy a LOT of spears and kill the lion with the spears."

*sigh*

Hopefully there isn't a blue light special at the spear shop or that lion is done for.

Giving

My daughter has a very giving heart. In fact, the last time Po-po, Talia, & A-yi were here Kaia tried to give A-yi the Father's Day card she had made for Ba-ba...except it was that, she made it FOR SEAN. She knew how much Kim liked the card and wanted to give it to her.

We had a pretty good laugh about...although I wouldn't be laughing if Kaia tried to give away my mother's day card...I really love that card.

Still...the innocence of children can warm your heart, make you giggle, or do both.

I'm glad my kids' innocence does both.

Picnicking on the Deck

Since we're back in our first home and have this amazing view, you'd think we'd be out there all the time. Except, we're not. One word: bugs. Well, two, bugs and SUN. We're east/west facing so we get some crazy sun. Sean's more of the bug-a-phobe (entomophobia for those needing the exact terminology). Maybe he's not so much of a bug-a-phobe, but more of a bug-hater....like he really, really, really does not like bugs.

Anyhoo, I digress...weather was good, deck is freshly painted, and both kids are home...so with grilled cheeses, a fresh juice concoction (spinach, blueberries, red grapes w/seeds, strawberries, ground flax, & water...all whipped up in the Vita-mix), and our picnic blanket (we still need new deck furniture)...we headed outdoors...along with Jax.

It was really nice. The kids loved it and watched the butterflies flying around our bushes. Sean missed out...on all the flies, that is! HAHAHAHA. The kids are so used to disciplining the dogs they were yelling "NO!" to the flies instead of swatting them away!!

The only sad thing is, I realize how fast the kids are growing and that both of them will be in school this September (well Jaron possibly only part-time...we'll see). I feel like I've just missed out on so much even though I've been with them almost everyday of their lives (save a total of 5 days for Kaia and 2 days for Jaron).

Really...where did time go and when did my babies grow up?

Sweet

Sean's standing duty tonight and the kids have been AWESOME! We've been dealing with a bit of sibling rivalry...so much that we think: "Yeah, two's good." Although my ovaries are definitely hurtin' for a third, we'll see with our upcoming moves and life changes if a 3rd is in our cards or not. Right now, we're enjoying our two...even with their little tiffs.

Still, I live for moments like these:

It's Been a While...

...without further ado...our pre-bedtime monkeys and their antics:



Some updates & tidbits:

*Both kids went to the dentist over here and were SOOOOOOOOO good!!! Both were nervous. Jaron went first with me and Kaia the next week. Jaron was really nervous, but the staff was AWESOME and he wanted to go to the dentist everyday! He also calmed Kaia down a bit...who. being older, calms down a lot easier since she listens to our explanations. She was sooooo good and the staff loved having them there. Kaia does have some "sugarbugs" that she'll get "brushed" out starting next week...and she's excited about it! She knows her tooth is going to go to sleep and that she might hear it snoring. Cutie.

*As we were getting ready for Jaron's birthday party up at Mom's. Jaron says good morning to Talia (still in A-yi's uterus) and then tells us he sees Talia's mouth...it's Kim's BELLY BUTTON!! But the funnier part about that...he said that SHE'S WHISTLING!!!! Funny Boy.

*Our Baby Shih/Cousin Watch 2009...Talia's still not out, but we're shooting for Mother's day weekend...;o) I'm going to make sure she runs some laps or whatever while we're up there so we can be there for our baby's birth. Regardless, we WILL be up there for her birth...period.

*I'll post some photos of the party...we're still recovering from it. HOWEVER...we have the BEST FAMILY...hands down!!!! Party preps were amazing and the family who came to celebrate with us...AWESOME!!! We're so blessed!!!

So Much for Being Land-Locked...

So when the sub goes into dry dock, one can still get pulled to go out to sea. Ahhhhhh, the sub life. Still, with this boomer tour we can't complain...it beats fast attack life any day, hands down.

Earlier this month there was a distinct possibility that Sean was supposed to fill in for another WEPS that quit in our old homeport. The fun part of that was that he was going to be gone for 1.5 months...again, that's not too bad but considering he's in the shipyards and the smartest and more practical and most economical decision would've been to pull from the other available WEPS in the area...which they eventually did. Now, he's on this other little underway. It sucks because he'll miss our sister's (that sounds incestuous...so, my sister, his sister-in-law) baby shower...or moreover, I'll miss having him around this week while I am a crazy woman getting ready for a shower in a different state. Still, our BFFs Shirl & Hil (and our wonderful Mom) have a lot covered too up there.

Anyway, we miss having Mr. Muscles around...even though he hasn't been gone for more than a few hours yet. The kids always handle these underways with the easiest of ease. I love it. I used to be disconcerted that they didn't do the "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, DADDY, DON'T GOOOOOOO!" and whole crying bit...but easily adapting to new situations is preferable any day!!! Shoot, I still remember the first time Sean went out on his PWEPS tour and I was a hot mess and Kaia comforted me...at the ripe old age of 3!!!! I guess it hadn't helped that we had some psycho come into our house (who Mr. Muscles punched out) and we were living waaaaaaaaay far from The Fam AND had a new puppy (Jax...thanks to the psycho, we felt the need for a protection dog) AND two toddlers AND I had Sean home for 3 years, so I wasn't used to him going out to sea anymore. Now, it's back to military spouse mentality and my kids are tough too...we'll see you soon, Beb/Ba-ba, but not soon enough!!!

STILL...it's a mini-underway and I can't complain. Becca's in the middle of a move with a toddler and her hubby is on deployment (read: fast attack deployments are the real thing...6 months out and not counting the various underways before they leave and throughout the year...these guys are MAYBE home for a total of 3 months out of the year...spread out throughout the year)...we're talking single married spouses for an entire fast attack tour), Kelly has been home with the 3 kids while her hubby has been in a different state up the coast, and Ellyn had gone through a deployment and then her hubs got sent on a 1 year IA tour in Iraq, and Liza's been holding it down with her 3 cuties while her hubby does a geo-bachelor tour.

Yeah, we miss Mr. Muscles, but we have no complaints.

McDonald's

So, our kids are funny. Given Mommy's training and background, we've tried to instill a big sense of multiculturalism in them...through diverse ideas, people, customs, and FOOD. Yeah, yeah, yeah...so I'm not big on the whole "Let's do a food festival to showcase our culture"-thing, but with stomachs and tastes like ours...our kids NEED to have diverse food tastes.

Now, I miss me some South...esp. the Southern Fried Chicken...*droooool*. But, having to drive an hour-plus to get some Indian, Chinese, Korean, etc. food was re-dunkulous. It's great being back up here with a newly-opened International Supermarket (one of those ginormous Korean-owned supermarkets) right down the street and more diversity in cuisine all within a 30-minute or less drive...we're so happy. STILL...food in the Hampton Roads area (Norfolk, VA Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, etc.) is NOT known for fabulous food. In fact...if you ever see something that's been voted "Best of the Beach/Norfolk"...you might wonder who the voters are and if their tongues are working correctly. Yes, I am a food snob...but if it's voted best...it at least better be GOOD...not "ok".

Anyhoo...I digress...we've posed the option of pizza or some other kind of fast food option to our kids. Often, since we're uber close to our fave Vietnamese location, we throw in Pho as an option as well. For those who don't know, pho is the wonderfully delicious Vietnamese beef noodle soup (which also is available in chicken) that you can top with some fresh herbs & other condiments and is soooooooo addictive!! Funny thing is, no matter what option is stacked against pho...pho always wins!!

Post-Underway Blues?

Well...I was feeling it a little today. But, I know it's definitely because of our upcoming move...whenever that may be. But, watching these two munchkins helps a bunch...this was last night while getting ready for bed...




Seriously...my kids are funny.

Happy Halloween!!

We were lucky enough to have Ba-ba home for Halloween and trick-or-treated in our area for once. Well, not really since we went to our friend's subdivision across the way. Hehehe...but we stayed up north in Fernandina instead of heading down to Jax. After a Halloween buffet at the clubhouse, we headed over to North Hampton to trick-or-treat there. Thank goodness we did since there are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more people that live in that neighborhood and lots of young families. Our neighborhood, as beautiful as it is, is way too spread out and still really new.

Anyhoo...since Sean had duty last night, I carved the kids' pumpkins. Shoot...duty or not, I would've ended up carving these bad boys anyway! hahahaha. Kaia picked a mummy and we made it a Mommy Mummy. Jaron chose some freaky satanic skeleton. They were really excited and loved watching their pumpkins come to fruition while I hacked up a lung (still pretty sick and miserable over here...waah, waah, waaaah). It was actually cool this year so instead of worrying about the kids sweating out all the liquid in their bodies, we had to make sure they were adequately dressed for cool weather (first cool Halloween since we've been down here).

On to photos...Kaia was a Barbie cheerleader (still trying to make up my mind about how I feel about having Barbie in our family) and Jaron was Lightning McQueen. He wanted to be Diego dressed as a Bat but it's slim-pickings when you Halloween shop like the Lee-Espiritus and go the night before or two nights before the big day. Hehehehe. Enough blibber-blabber....photos.

From The Lee-Espiritu Fam

Fay

We've been dealing with Fay and all her loveliness all day long. This morning wasn't too bad as was this afternoon. Tonight the wind is crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrazy and lots o' rain! Normally...ain't nuthin' but a chicken wing, but I'm worried about the poochies!! There was a tiny break where it didn't rain for a hot second...so hopefully they got some "bidness" done during that time. It's just crazy right now hearing all the rain and wind slam against the house. I had packed up just in case we needed to evacuate and still am ready in case we need to leave for any reason...biggest one being the lack of electricity. That should be fun finding a hotel with my 4 kids. ;o) Hehehehe. Like I said, I've been through worse weather, but having the 2 human kiddies & 2 canine kiddies and no braun (well, besides myself...har, har, har) makes things interesting. ;o)

Anyhoo...I'm sure everything will be all good in the morning. Till now, I'll enjoy the sounds of Fay and all the frogs screaming outside....ahhhhh, FL and all its wonderful wildlife! But seriously, I'm trying to watch the finale of "America's Best Dance Crew" and the frogs are drowning out the tv! I can't imagine how it is for los animales outside right now. It's pretty gnarly out there!

Sean's still out to sea, but I'm sure safe & sound! Mom finished up her 2 week stay (well, a little less than 2 weeks) Tuesday evening...just in time to get out of dodge down here. It was a fabulous visit and the kids (and I) were super bummed to see her leave.

I still owe y'all a recap of Kaia's last week at camp. This week, was just seeing Mom off, Kaia NOT having her first day of dance class, and both Kaia & Jaron taking their first Spanish class!

Alrighty...recap's on its way when things die down a bit! Till next time, kiddies!