The usuals...

Olivia is REALLY into skirts lately. I have probably 5 pairs of jeans, 3 pairs of khakis and various other comfy pants but she will not wear them. She has this skirt (clearance find at target a few weeks ago) a denim skirt and a longer brown skirt that she wears EVERY SINGLE DAY. She just rotates between the three of them. This one is her favorite because it's bouncy and it sways back and forth when she shakes her hips.

I told the girls to put their hands on their hips to model for me. You can't see as good with Olivia because she is wearing the rad poncho my mom made for her. She has newly discovered it's awesomeness and dubs it her blanket poncho because "Mom if I feew a widdle bit cold then I just cover mine arms wid my bwanket poncho!".

Olivia is giving Bianca's hand a hug. We got all gussied up (well gussied up for Olivia is now a daily occurrence) to go and visit Miss Mary's wonderful, magical garden. I took my camera but the girls were so over the place that the only picture happening that took place was right before we left.
Bianca just started to say "Shhhhhhhh" with the action. It is so flippin' cute it makes my heart burst with pride at her mad skills.

Can she say any sentences? No.

Can she say please or thank you? No.

Can she say any other words besides "Mama", "Dada" and "bye bye"? Definately not.

But this girl can purse her lips and hold her finger to her mouth and tell me it's time to be quiet and I think she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. And rightfully so, wouldn't you agree?
My sweet sassafras girl!
Olivia, having mastered said shushing skill long ago still wanted to demonstrate she still knows her stuff. Accentuated with the hand-up-and-through-the-middle-of-my-poncho move.
Then the morning spontaneously burst into dance with a few rousing renditions of ring around the rosy.

I keep checking Target clearance for more skirts at the risk of the ones that we have turning threadbare. I only buy clothes for my girls if they are on clearance for a REAL good price. What's a Mom to do when she has such a fancy minded girl?

Let me Kindly Introduce you.

Apparently I am computer retarded and have been instructed by one wiser in the ways of the internet as to how I can upload pictures to my blog whilst I am in computer limbo. Et Voila! I am proud to present Stilwell Manor, AKA my humble abode.

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We opted to live in the older housing available here at Ord so we could save some shillings from our housing allowance. I was a little flustered by things when we first got here but have quickly adapted the attitude that I live in Vintage Housing. Like any good piece of vintage accoutrements it does have it's gently worn bits (or mega worn bits) but nothing that a good spit and polish couldn't do to ease the wear. So let us please take a waltz about my fine vintage home...

Firstly, can I just say how I love how much storage we have! Each closet was made to reach it's full storage potential and I love it! These are the his and hers closets of my grand master suite!
Mmmmmm. Nothing more delicious or pleasing to the eye than a straightened and made bed.
A little rental trickery on our part. There is a glorious storage room/pantry that I love. It was the perfect size to house our little deep freeze but lacked the outlet to plug it in. Darrol, with a little ingenuity on his part, replaced the light fixture with this light fixture/outlet combo and just a wee little extension cord later we had a new and improved storage room!

This little beaut is conveniently located off the kitchen area, so whilst my actual kitchen cupboards are limited I can store all of my bakery needs in here!
Kitchen from the side door angle. Directly to the right of where I am standing is where the washer and dryer are. I do my cooking and laundry without having to traipse about my house! Bianca really enjoys taking out all of my silverware. ALL THE TIME.
This is the view of my kitchen from standing right in front of the door to the super pantry. I love the little grove of trees outside this window. I always look out while I am doing dishes and can see little birds flitting about and the sun shining down through the branches. It is so peaceful.
Here is my dining area with the lovely table we acquired from magical Aunt Helen.
The view of my grand dining room from my living area. Do you see that big cushy chair?? (Or the Jayme chair as Olivia calls it, because Wynden and Jayme have the EXACT same style in their house). That chair has single handedly increased my quality of life. Oh the joys of reclined living! Marcus and I fight over it, as in who gets to sit in it first. Although to be quite honest he mostly just lets me sit in it all the time because he knows how I love it so! Also from Helen. I will sing her praises all the days of my life!
Here is my living area. Hide-a-bed just ready and waiting for guests to come and visit! (Olivia kept going room to room with me so she could be in every picture. I kept pretending I didn't notice, but it was so dang cute!).
Bianca's little oasis (plus the top part of Olivia's head).
Finally one of my favorite rooms at Stilwell Manor. Olivia's big girl room! We got the bed set from Kaitlyn's Mom when she got a new one for her guest room. I had the quilt set already and I love how cute her room is! She feels so fancy every time she goes to sleep. And it makes me smile every time I walk past her room and see her cute little bed and all her things in their place. Or to see her little body in such a big bed when she sleeps at night.

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So there you have it folks. The grand tour of our new estate! I will be blogging with pictures again now that I have this debacle figured out on a temporary basis! Coming soon to a post near you... introductions to super park, our front pavilion, evening walks, basketball courts, beach side playing and much, much more!!

21 and then some...

We always try to get out of the house after dinner. Either a walk to the park or to play basketball at one of the outdoor courts or SOMETHING! It has been harder to fit in regular workouts and it is so nice here that we just get outside any chance we can get.

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So we went on a little run to the Hayes Park bball court to get our game on. I always insist on pushing the girls in the stroller whether we walk or run because I feel like it makes any activity we are doing that much more of a workout, however long or short it may be. So running down Monterey Road pushing the double jogger I felt all studly. Clipping along at a good pace, wind breezing through my hair.

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We busted out 4 games of 21 and I actually won one! (In case you have never played with Marcus, he is crazy fast and almost always gets to the rebound first. So winning one felt really good.) There may or may not have been some inappropriate fouling going on. It may or may not have been me doing the said fouling. It may or may not have made no difference whatsoever in the outcome of said game.

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I then insisted on pushing the girls up the hill for the run back. I didn't feel as studly. My legs are still burning! I just made sure I kept running the whole way, no matter how slow I got I made sure that I didn't stop to walk. Marcus was cheering me along right beside me.

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We bring a bunch of little balls for the girls and they run around and play while we get our game on. They were really good tonight so they got Popsicles in the tub when we got home. I was tidying up the rest of the house while Marcus was keeping and eye on the girls and all of a sudden I hear the loudest fart rip. Then everyone starts laughing hysterically. Olivia was tooting one right after the other, in rhythm to her laughter! (Her mothers daughter FOR SURE). Marcus kept calling her Tooty-McGruber. We were all dying it was so funny.

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Now all is quiet and Marcus is watching some Korean drama called Coast Guard. Most of the Korean movies I have seen since we got here have been pretty cheesy but this one has some serious acting going on. I also have some brownies that are calling my name. Running up that big hill tonight.... I feel like I deserve a little treat!

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Also speaking of Korean... not to get all braggy McBraggerson on you guys.... but Marcus had his first semester tests a week or so ago and he is currently at a 4.0! I am so over the moon about all he has accomplished here! He is working so hard and the classes are SO tough and he is still excelling. Anyway I am just so proud of him and wanted to share :)

Accomplishments

So moving to a new place is kinda like the New years all over again. Fresh start, inspiration, invigoration to set up things differently.

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Thus far I have been able to accomplish the following things DAILY.

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Wearing my makeup. Serious accomplishment there. I was not so great about doing that before but it feels good to look good and although I am not garish with my makeup I really feel like my face benefits from some eye shadow and mascara.

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Doing my hair. Which kinda goes hand in hand with the make up thing, but I wash and then style it everyday. Also along with this I have been trying to wear outfits as well. Like not fancy fancy, but just not my yoga pants everyday.

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Preparing dinner. We have been doing sit-down-at-the-table-eating-altogether dinners every day. We didn't do that as much before Marcus left. The kids would eat dinner first, or sometimes the kids and Marcus and then I would eat later when the kids were in bed. But we set the table and have actual meals altogether (when we are feelin' REAL fancy then we bust out the paper napkins... but that is just for fancy dinner night).

DISCLAIMER: It's not like I cook four course meals for dinner all the time. They have been pretty healthy (meat, a couple of sides and salad) but there have been a few tater tots and mac and cheese nights in there too.

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When I am at the Park I try to say hi to someone new each time. Sometimes all it ends up being is a Hi, but just starting with the Hi has also lead to meeting new friends, which is pretty cool.

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Anyway I feel very "domestic goddess" bustling around the house with my hair did and my face on with my sitting down at the table altogether dinners and house all tidied. It might seem like small stuff but I feel really good about it!

Suburbia

So I have never really lived in a suburb before and I have to say I kinda love it. It also helps how family orientated Ft. Ord is, but still!!

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I love walking everywhere with the girls. We go on a walk at least once a day and play at the park. I love walking to the grocery store. I love being less than 5 min drive to Costco and target. It is so convenient!

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Marcus also did a really great job of picking out our housing. I went to Relief Society last night and it was all about planting raised vegetable gardens and what kinds of plants work well for our area. I walked to it (it was held at a persons house) and it was just interesting to see of two other units and also how close they are to their neighbors and location to the freeway etc. It is also crazy how many LDS people live within a 10 minute walk of my house. I love it!

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Besides our next door neighbors (who I never hear and rarely see) I can't really see any of our neighbors from any of my windows. My kitchen sink window faces into a little grove of trees and it is so relaxing doing dishes looking out into that grove. The ground dips down a little past our house so all the next neighbors down are down the slope. The big tree in the front really keeps our house nice and cool (one of the ladies house last night is in full sun all day and it was ROASTING). Our street is a dead end and it is nice and quiet compared to some of the back and forth traffic of some of the other streets.

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Marcus did a great job and looking at all the angles and picking the house that would be the best for us.

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We have our first little friend coming over to play today! The girls are really excited! Plus we are going on a family excursion to Costco tonight to load up on essentials. My fridge is looking pretty sad right now!

Picture-less Memorial Day

So good news....bad news. Bad news is I am still unable to post without pictures because my main computer is officially dead. Good news is we will get a new computer in about a month. Also good/bad is that I will continue to blog without pictures until said new computer is acquired.

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Our Memorial Day was pretty fantastic. Being by an military post there were some pretty cool things going on. We decided to spend the day just with our little family and stayed away from the big activities. We went on a run with the girls and our double jogger (seriously I have used that thing daily since we got here and I LOVE it). We ran up and over and around and down the big hill to our section of the Ord Military Community.

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There are no less than a kabillion parks in our community. They are ALL over! It is almost a rule that you are within site of a park where ever you go. We have played at 4 different ones all within a 10-15 minute walk from our house, and there are SO many more.

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So after our run around yesterday we ended at one of the bigger park/recreation areas. I challenged Marcus to a game of 21 at the basketball court while the girls ran around. After three games of 21 (with Olivia threatening to poop her pants twice) we waltzed passed the game of soccer played by the youth, passed the family playing tennis on the tennis court to the playground where the girls played and played. It was totally magical and so much fun.

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My buns are getting the workout of my life here. We are at the bottom of a pretty steep hill and to get anywhere on foot requires me hiking up that bad boy..... whilst pushing two kids in the stroller with all their snacks and what have you. It is the best bum workout EVER! That combined with all the other walking/running I have been doing I am pretty sure my legs are going to rock this summer. (I just need to remember to work other areas of my body too!).

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So we got home yesterday in time for naps and just spent the rest of the day watching movies and eating BBQ pork and tater tots for dinner.

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I also had Marcus' Army guy friends over for dinner on Sunday (Jacobson and Murphy.... or if you are Olivia it is Jafofsons and Muwphy). I felt like the hostess with the mostest and it was SO wonderful to entertain in my new home. They are such wonderful guys and it really made my heart swell to know that Marcus had surrounded himself with such good people while we were separated. I made ranch cheddar chicken (the recipe off the back of the hidden valley ranch bottle and it was SO FREAKIN' GOOD!). I told the boys it was standing order that they are invited to Sunday dinner every week.

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I also dragged out my dusty Settlers of Catan game and we played it. Jacobson totally beat us. I demanded a rematch at a later date.

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Church was awesome. Our ward is HUMONGOUS. It was the size of my old ward on Sunday and that was with at least half the people out of town for the holiday weekend. I met some REALLY nice ladies and now know of some playgroups and such that happen weekly. I still haven't found out if there are any ladies groups playing basketball, but there are a few outside courts here and I will just have to keep challenging Marcus to 21 to keep my game up.

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It is so sunny, breezy and beautiful here. It feels so good to get out of the house and explore everyday. My cell phone doesn't work very well inside my house, but I try to call people when we are on our walks because that is when I get the best reception.

Home.

I am home. All is quiet. This is the first time I have had a stretch of time and just sit down all by myself since we left on our Army adventure. The drive went way better than I expected. The girls were real big troopers. (Katie--there were no peeing on the side of the road shenanigans this time!).

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Some highlights of the road trip...

-Seeing a Mary Kay pink Cadillac in Portland.

-Taking a REAL long lunch break the first day of driving.

-Eating my first EVER In-N-Out Burger (and animal fries....divine!)

-Having the WORST allergies EVER.

-Belting out the entire Wicked soundtrack with Kaitlyn

-Oooing and Aaaaahing about all the scenery

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Save for 4 boxes or so, I am totally moved in. Kaitlyn and the in laws were the BEST ever and really helped me to bust out the unpacking. I just need to do a little more organizing and finish hanging things on the walls and I am pretty much done.

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It is cool and sunny and breezy here. The wind tastes salty from sweeping in over the bay. Monterey has a small town feel to it and I feel pretty confident that I can make it to all the main places fairly easily. My car is all registered for driving on post, passed the SMOG test (a pre-requisite to getting registered). I have been up to the Presidio to see where Marcus is studying his brains out.

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We have been down to the beach and it is gorgeous. Frothy, white caped waves breaking along a sandy beach as far as you can see. We went to a fabulous Mexican food restaurant RIGHT on the water with sweeping views of the bay (inexpensive and beautiful setting). I have shopped at the Commissary all by myself (well me and the girls), been to some of the playgrounds, shopped at TWO targets, walked along Cannery Row.....whew! No wonder I feel so pooped right now!

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This might just be the most magical place ever.

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It probably helps to be in such a magical place with my magical Marcus. Sigh.

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Olivia is so excited to be with her Daddy again. She hasn't quite got used to all the other Army guys who are here too. Anytime she sees one she thinks it is him. It is pretty fun to watch all of them come home after school, some driving, some walking down the hill to their homes on our street. She thought it was so cool to pick him up from school yesterday. When we stopped at the gate she kept asking who the guards were while I was pulling out my ID.

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Bianca is warming up to him. She didn't really know what to make of Marcus when we first got here, but I think it is starting to sink in that he lives with us now. That he is her Daddy. She calls him Dad and is getting more and more comfortable with him. Those two kinda have to learn who each other are. Get to know each other again. It is so sweet to watch Marcus with his babies. He is doing such a great job and trying so hard to get back in the swing of things.

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Our computer situation is going to be a little dicey for the next few weeks, but I will try to upload some pictures of our new home as soon as I can!