Pretty Nails

 Ever since the Army Ball, we girls have had our nails done up quite a bit.  Well just my toes, fingernail polish never stays on my fingernails for that long so it isn't worth the work for me.   The girls LOVE it and feel so fancy whenever their color starts to chip off and then we re do them.

They have even suckered Marcus in on the nail painting.  Olivia begged one night to have him paint her nails.  He told her he doesn't do that and that it is a Mommy Job.  Then she reasoned with him thusly...

"But Daddy, I will put some papers down so it won't matter if you make a mess.  I will let you practice on my nails and then you will be good like Mommy and can do my nails all the time.  It is okay if you make some mistakes."

He told me her reasoning was so sound that he couldn't argue with it and the girls nails were all beautiful when I came home from running errands.  He is such a good Daddy to his girls!

Brave

 We told the girls a few weeks before Brave came out that we would take them to see it in the theater.  They had been looking to it for a long time!

We took them to see it early in the day on Saturday of opening weekend which just happened to be the same day as our date night to see the Avengers, so basically we were watching movies all day.

We got a large popcorn for everyone to share and got it refilled.  We TOTALLY overdosed on popcorn.  The girls were grease bombs from all the butter and I seriously was still stuffed from it all day long.  Like I had a giant butter popcorn pit just sitting in my stomach all day.  But it tasted too good to stop a  reasonable amount!!

I spent a little bit of the movie out with Bianca, who said she had to go potty and tried to pull the "I don't have to go anymore" card once we were out of the theater.  He attention span wasn't the greatest for the movie.

Olivia sat on Marcus' lap for the whole movie, once the bear came onscreen she was a little scared.  Marcus spent the whole movie totally passed out.  Dark theater, warm child sitting on his lap acting as a blanket.  The guy never had a chance.  Good thing we got early bird tickets.  I get so mad when he falls asleep in the movie theater when we paid money for the ticket!  I told him he had to lock it up for the Avengers, no falling asleep shenanigans OR ELSE!  His mid day nap at Brave set up him great for that night and he totally stayed awake for the whole movie.

My Dant

 Bianca has made a special friend since we have been here.  His name is Grant.  He is always referred to by Bianca as "MY Dant!".   They are both in nursery together and Lindsey (Grant's Mom) get the kids together to play a lot.

 Grant is the sweetest little boy and last weekend Lindsey and I did swaps so each couple could go on a date night.  ( I FINALLY saw the Avengers!!).  We had Grant first and we all had so much fun.

 After our spaghetti dinner, Marcus lead a dance party to 50's music.  You can pretty much guarantee that when Marcus is home he has the 50's Pandora station going.  He says it is just happy music to listen to and the girls love to dance to it.

Apparently at Lindsey's house the girls really got into dancing and were doing this whole shake-your-booty-while-slapping-it routine.  I think we need to give them some new dance moves!

After dancing we watched Toy Story (Grant is in love with Buzz) and had popcorn and stayed up late having fun.

To My Kaitlyn

Thank you for posting about this breakfast burrito a few weeks ago.  I have been making them religiously for breakfast for weeks now and it is perfection.  You know me, and my stomach, so well!

If you want to make this little beauty for yourself, here is how I did it.  Whole wheat tortilla (warmed up), laughing cow cheese smeared on the bottom, fresh green onion, fresh cilantro leaves and then one egg and three egg whites scrambled and put on top.  Generously apply cholula hot sauce and enjoy!

Now that June is wrapping up I am getting SO excited for my road trip to Utah with Kaitlyn and then on to Washington for a magical, busy time of Fair, family and friends!  So EXCITED!!!

Little Momma

Bianca thought that Blue Baby would be too cold at night unless she was wrapped up in her shirt.  I don't know how she stayed asleep like this.  Her shirt is pulled tight on her neck and she is sleeping on half of Blue Baby.  Blue Baby cries if you press on it's belly, but because she is so loved the crying noise sounds like a swamp monster or like the baby is possessed.  The sound thing is almost worn out and when it does go off it sounds majorly creepy.  So combined with how uncomfortable this must have been to sleep like this, Blue Baby was also making it's creepy/swamp monster/possessed noises.

Bianca's love for Blue Baby knows no end and she loves her dearly.  I am just rooting for the sound to go completely out and then she will be a silent Blue Baby.

San Angelo's Finest

We have really been loving spending time with the friends we have made at church.  There is always at least three people we know and that have kids the girls age when we go to story time on Thursdays. 

This picture cracks me up because the girls LOVE story time, I mean look at those stools?!?? Aren't they the coolest?  But when I took this picture they are frozen faced.  They normally stamp the kids hands or give them a sticker or something after story time but now that it is summer they have started handing out these little figurines every week.  At the end you can go up and pick out a little animal figurine and they are different colors.  

These have become the girls favorite little toys and they are so concerned where they are all the time.  They now have three different little figurines each.  Olivia is collecting only pink colored ones so right now she has a pig, a flamingo and today she got a pink duck.  I don't know what she is going to do when she runs out of pink choices!  

Bianca just grabs whatever looks cool to her, she has a brown monkey, a green little guy and a green frog.  

The girls love our park day on Monday's.  We have been so blessed to have friends that come and pick us up to go to the park as we don't have a car on Monday's.  It is so fun for the girls to get out of the house and run around before it gets ungodly hot out.

I was hopeful I would make friends when we got here but I also kept telling myself that under the short time span we had here that it might not happen as good as I had hoped.  It has be SO awesome because there is a really great group of gals I have become friends with.  We get together for potluck dinners with the whole family, get together during the day to let the kids play.  Parks, library time, kiddie pool swimming, lunch at Sonic or McDonald's.  Such amazing women that are such great examples to me in faith and friendship!  I am one lucky gal indeed!

Flip Side

 Yesterday was a rough day.  The girls were feeling whiney and extra emotional and everything I said or did was the wrong thing.  I really struggled and was really hard on myself.  Last night I was the presenter at a Relief Society night, and the theme was a PJ'S Party (Prayer, Journal and Scripture's... get it PJ'S?).  

After a disastrous morning I got the girls down for their quiet time and rest time.  I then sat down to prepare my lesson for the Relief Society Activity.  As I read the scriptures and conference talks I wanted to share, I could feel all the stress and worries from my day just melt away.  My mind was put to an eternal perspective and I was able to see more clearly all the wonderful blessings we have in our life.

 When the kids woke up I felt calm and felt an extra measure of patience and love for them.  I was able to see the sweet desires of their little hearts, just some quiet time with Momma and once I was able to really fill that need our day went SO much better.

When I am feeling frustrated or down it seems like the LAST thing I want to do is pray and read my scriptures, when really that is the most important thing I should do.  Even if it is only a verse or two, even if my prayer is just to tell my Heavenly Father how much I feel like I am failing.   Just taking a moment or two to do this helps me more or faster than anything else.  Taking that time for myself is so vital to me being the best Mom I can be, the best Vashti I can be.  The simplest answers are usually the best answers and just what we need.

Today has been a 180 degree turn around from yesterday.  We are at home today without the car which is normally a REALLY long feeling day for us.  Plus I woke up with a headache, but taking time for myself really helped the feel in our home.  Greater feelings of love and kindness to each other.

The girls are "camping" right now in the living room.  Roasting marshmallows, hot dogs and sausages. We are going to paint nails in a little bit and before the camping the girls had a dance party in the living room.

Lunch Time with Daddy

 After we go to story time on Thursday's, we head to base to eat lunch with Marcus.  We find a table or booth in the dining hall and then I hold down the fort with the girls while Marcus grabs us some lunch.

 The girls love it!  They love spending the time with Daddy and they love seeing all the Air Force and Army guys.  They especially love it if MP's sit beside us because they are in full gear with their guns and everything and the girls are just in awe of that.

 It is a really fun tradition that Thursday is our Daddy Day for lunch time.

The manager of the dining hall will also almost ALWAYS walk up to us and ask if it is alright if the girls get a treat and then he comes back with two peanut butter cookies for the girls.  He has a really thick southern accent and he ALWAYS tells the girls, with a drawl

"Now girls, you can have this here special treat just as long as y'all eat your food all gone-gone first.  Okay?  Eat your food all gone-gone".

The girls die every time he says "gone-gone" and they bust up laughing over it.  Marcus will bust it out to them when they are eating dinner at night and every time it puts them in howls of laughter.  I can even hear them using the phrase during their play if they are making pretend food for each other.

Time Killer

 On the days we don't have the car, the girls almost always spend a portion of it in the tub.  We try to hit the pool either first thing in the morning or later after dinner.  Mid day it is just too hot, even with playing in the pool.  There were a couple of days the girls had too much sun and just felt wretched, as did I, so I have been trying to be selective about the times of day we go (this week we are between 100-109.  ROASTING).

So if it is almost lunch and the girls are bored with their toys then they will easily kill an hour in the tub playing with their toys.  I normally give them a snack of a frozen Gogurt and they LOVE that.  It is a great way for them to keep playing and having fun without having a heat stroke!

Shopper Girls

We love shopping at HEB.  It is the most magical grocery store I have ever been in.  Great produce selections, awesome prices, I can find everything I need there and the staff is ALWAYS so helpful!  There isn't a Costco here, which made me sad, but this HEB place is totally making up for it!  They even have the double seater carts so both the girls can ride and I can do a big load while keeping them contained!  

It is so funny because they love shopping there too and if they see the sign from far away, they will shout it out!  "LOOK MOM!! IT'S HEB!!" .

I seriously look forward to shopping there all week and I will be so sad to move away from that magical store!

Army Ball

 On Friday we were able to attend the Army Ball.  We missed the chance to go to one when we were in CA and although I was nervous about going to this one here (where was I going to get a dress?!?!!), we decided to go.

We have a fb page for the women in our congregation at church here and I put out the SOS if anyone knew where I could get a formal dress at.  Little did I know there is a lady in our congregation who runs a formal dress lending closet out of her house and she didn't charge anything for members of the church and there is just nominal fee for non members.

 I went a month before the ball and tried on probably 7 different dresses until I found this black one with matching jacket.  She even had a necklace and bracelets I could borrow, so the only thing I needed was my shoes!  I can't tell you enough how comfortable this dress was, I loved the cut.  So flow-y and elegant.   I truly felt beautiful, plus it wasn't super tight so I wasn't worried about going easy on eating my dinner (you guys know how much I love to eat!).

 The table set up was gorgeous!  It was so fun to see just a sea of Army guys and gals all in their finest!  I was kinda surprised at some of the dresses that were there.  Some barely covered up their bits and pieces and seeing one girl bend over at her table put me in a cold sweat, her dress was so short and I was sure she was going to have a wardrobe malfunction.  Some were so revealing that it was hard for me to concentrate at first on what was going on because I couldn't believe they wore it to the ball.  I am not talking bare shoulders here because there were tons of really elegant dresses that were classy and weren't as covered up as mine, but there were some real SHOCKERS that probably only had a yard of fabric total.

I was the most covered up person there, no joke.  At first I was kinda self conscious that I was the only one without bare shoulders or plunging neckline but then I just reminded myself of how comfortable I felt and I knew Marcus loved my dress so that was all that mattered.

 We had SUCH a wonderful night!  It was our first date out in months and we cherished every moment.  The traditions of the Army Ball are so wonderful and awe inspiring.  They did a thing called presenting the colors where soldiers walked to the front carrying ribbons from each war the US has been in and they were wearing the Army issued uniform of their era.

I was seriously just drinking in every moment.  We got to sit at a table with friends from Marcus' class and we had so much fun talking to them throughout the dinner.

After the dinner and program we met up with Murphy and Jacobson and their dates and we decided we were still hungry so we went out in our spiffies to outback for some appetizers.  The dinner was really good but smaller portions and we were still all kinda hungry!

The girls were with a great sitter that painted their nails for them and they had so much fun.  They were looking forward to us going as much as we were and they had a blast.  I am so glad that we went and took part in something so amazing and that we also took the time for ourselves to be out and away from the girls.

Magical Movie Night

 On last Friday night we had a family movie night with the girls.  I got the first Cars movie from the library and the girls were so excited to watch it.  We didn't get through the whole thing before the girls fell asleep though.  Bianca actually fell asleep on my lap watching the movie.  This NEVER EVER EVER happens.  For reals.  The last time she fell asleep not in her own bed or her carseat was when she was a baby.  It felt so awesome to have her sleeping on me like that.  I was seriously soaking up every glorious moment!

When we finally put the kids to bed (well Bianca fell asleep on me and then Olivia announced she was way to tired to finish watching the movie and we shouldn't have let her stay up so late) Olivia totally took over the bed.  It was hilarious because every time we would shift her over to her side so she wasn't sleep right on top of Bianca, she would just roll and flip over back to taking up the whole bed.  Marcus switched her five times in a row and she kept flipping around on top of Bianca.  Silly girls!

Swimmer Girls

 Last week was our first week of swimming lessons.  I had Bianca and I signed up for Mommy and Me classes at the same time Olivia was doing her big girl classes.  I quickly figured out that Bianca was WAY too big for Mommy and Me so after some bargaining with the teachers and a trial run to see if Bianca would be okay with the older kids, I got Bianca bumped up.

 The have been doing so good!  Olivia is so timid and afraid of the water, I just want to expose her to it as much as possible to get her to the point where she isn't afraid of it.  I am already thinking I will do private lessons for the girls when we get to Okinawa to help them along more.  I think Olivia would really benefit from one on one training.

 Bianca is a freaking fish.  She would leap off the stairs to her teachers and was excited to go again and again.  Marcus is incredibly comfortable in the water and can swim his brains out, I could save myself....swimming wise.... if I needed to but I am not a comfortable swimmer.  Olivia is like me, Bianca is like her Daddy.  I am determined both of my girls will be proficient in the water and not like me so I plan on keeping this up!

Olivia's teachers were so good with her and knew not to push her too hard.  She gets freaked when water gets on her head so they have been easing her into things, which I really love.

At the end of the last class last week, they got to go down the little water slide.  Bianca, of course, just barreled down that thing and kept pleading for me.  Olivia was scared out of her mind.  The guy teacher at the top was so sweet in helping Olivia.  He told her she will probably feel sad later that she didn't try so he offered to go down the slide with her if she didn't want to go by herself.  She totally did it!  The slide is in the really deep end so he went under but made sure to keep Olivia above the water so she wouldn't be freaked, so it would be a good experience with her.  I am not going to lie, my eyes welled up a little at the thoughtfulness of the teacher, in not wanting to push her too hard but push her just enough to keep going with it.

I am so glad I decided to do this.  It will be fun and keep us busy before he head out on our epic road trip back to WA!

Kirby Park

We found a really super park a couple of weeks ago and we have been loving hitting it up.  It has flush toilets, which are a total plus.  Unidad Park only has port-o-potties and those things gross me out more than anything.  I mean, think about it.... port-o-potties in 90 degree plus weather is like walking into a poop steam room.  SO GROSS.  If the girls have to go potty when we are at Unidad Park I take them behind a tree to go, those bathrooms are that bad.

 Now that you are all throwing up a little, lets get back to Kirby Park.  It is enormous and the sand area has a covering to it so the kids can play in the shade.  They have a lot of fun playing here.

 One downside is there is NO SHADE besides the sand pit.  So you have to go early in the day or in the evening if you don't want to get roasted out.  We are back in the high 90's to 100's around these parts and it is one H-O-T mutha out there.  Like every time you need to get into your car you want to die because it is like climbing into an oven.  I put the girls wet swimsuits on our dash for a sec while I was getting the girls buckled in and those suckers started STEAMING.  I.  KID.  YOU.  NOT.

I really miss my walks with the girls since we got here.  I would go on walks once or twice a day around Ord when we were in Cali.  It was such a great workout and change of pace, I loved it.  You don't walk here unless you have a death wish.

The park has this enormous open air shelter that has 6 full basket ball courts under it.  Every time I see the courts it really makes me miss playing.  But we didn't bring our basketball so I am out of luck for while we are here.  The big A frame building does provide shade around the edges of the park so I can sit and watch the girls play in the shaded sandpit while I am in the shade as well.   We drink water almost continually while we are out and if it is too hot then our park trips stay real short with Sonic slushees after for a cool down.

Going to Utah after this will be like a breath of fresh air, heat wise.  Never thought I would feel that way, but I guess being in Texas changes your perspective about what is HOT.

Close Quarters

We are in an apartment, which isn't the biggest ever but totally fits our needs just fine.  The kitchen is probably the smallest thing I have ever worked in.  Our kitchen in Cali wasn't HUGE, but I had all the work space that I needed for my cooking shenanigans.

I have one little counter "work space" right above those drawers of spoons and it just fits a cutting board, so I am cutting food up to put in a bowl I have to have the cutting board diagonal with the bowl teetering on the edge of the counter.

I will say it is convenient for putting away dishes from the dishwasher because I can stand right in front of it (like how I took this picture) and not have to shift my feet to put anything away.

It is NOT convenient for me to have anyone else in this space with me.  If Marcus tries to step in this domain while I am cooking, he gets an earful from me!  I feel okay if it is just me in there, but if anyone else comes in there I get super claustrophobic REAL fast.

Marcus, being the little trickster that he is, will come up to me while I am cooking and get all lovey dovey with me which having him in there at all while I am cooking puts me over the edge let alone someone trying to hug me and cuddle me.  He knows it drives me crazy so he only does it to bug me until I am about to blow and then he will vacate.

It is funny because the girls know I don't like anyone else in there with me so if they see him come in they yell "Dad!  You know you are gonna get in trouble!".  Well Olivia says that and Bianca just yells out "Daddy NAUGHTY!" which just kills me every time.  I trained those girls well!

Voldemort, Beetle of Doom

 This is one of the reasons I will be happy to bid this fair state adieu!   This beetle I named Voldemort.  He is the beetle of Doom.  He is enormous and disgusting and stinks like nothing I have ever smelt before.  I am positive he is plotting world domination and I ran away from the sucker as fast as my little legs would carry me.

Then I realized no one would believe I had met such a monstrosity so I grabbed my camera from my purse, you know... for when I come across uniquely Texas things... and swallowed back the bile rising in my throat to document him.  Shudder.

Just so you can understand TRULY how enormous Voldy is, I held my finger as close as I could without making me hyperventilate so you would have a size comparison.  Looking back on it I don't really think clearly in high stress and fearful situations because it would have been loads easier to take any one of the millions of coins I have in my purse and toss it in the ground beside him.

He is terrifying, he is enormous and he reeks.  Luckily we saw Voldemort at a park on the OPPOSITE end of town from our house so I just keep telling myself that the truly hideous bugs only live on that side of town.  Please do not tell me otherwise because I will just yell at you that you are wrong.  There is no reasoning with a person stricken with fear over the beetle Voldemort.

For my Momma

 We were driving around town the other day and came across this really nice neighborhood.  Had that typical deep south feel.  Sprawling ramblers, big gorgeous oak trees shading all the beautiful houses.  Some really beautiful houses with the columns and shutters and red front door.  It was so nice to just and admire it all.  Then we drove past this one house and I about crapped my pants.

This, my friends, is the Mother of all Magnolia trees!  Do you see how enormous that is!  The house itself is a pretty decent size and that sucker of a tree makes it look like a doll house!  I have never seen a Magnolia tree that massive.

 It was so gorgeous, with all it's glossy leaves and it's clean, white flowers.  As soon as I saw it, I thought of my Mom.  The Master Gardner.  She would love and appreciate this tree even more than me, who is not a gardener at all and kills about every plant I have ever had.

I made Marcus pull over the car so I could take pictures of that gorgeous, beautiful tree in all it's glory so I could post it for my Momma.  I love you so much Momma, and it makes my heart so happy that even though I am so far away I can still be floored with something that just screams your name.   One gigantic Mother of all Magnolia tree's for my Wonderful, Amazing Momma.