Sunday Slidin'

This weekend was awesome because it lacked the usual rainfall and it was in the lower 50s (i.e. warm). Landon spent a lot of time outside and he especially has a great time with his compadre next door, Vivian. He also tried out the hiking trails on his own two feet when Erik let him out of the backpack for a bit... he did great! Or so I was told. I was at home, too fat to hike.

Here are some pics of our cutie enjoying the slide!

A Friday Morning with My Little Love

Landon Party Rocks

I leave my husband for 45 minutes and task him with feeding Landon dinner. They ate chicken nuggets, tater tots and watched the Party Rock video a few dozen times. I think Landon is intently studying the two step dance moves for someday down the road. Someday, buddy. Someday. Until then, you got the whole "sway your arms thing" down pat.

Winging Pics (...*ahem* a few months late)

For what it's worth, I stumbled across the "official" photos from Erik's winging in December. And by "official" I mean "taken by standard base photographer guy at end of program when everyone is tired and ready to eat"... in which I really mean "awkward and forced."

I am still so proud of the hubster everyday. His career thus far has taken us on a fantastic ride and I count my blessings to be part of it all.

Another plaque for the wall!

Pinning his pilot wings on. Landon was no help, but didn't interfere at least :o)

Time for the wives to get their "appreciation" awards.

Erik gets a Commodore's List award ... again! Smarty smarty smarty.

The rest of the VT-22 winging class (both Marines and Navy ... and one Indian Navy exchange student)

Here you can see the two sets of wings! Meep.

First Haircut: All Ears Accounted For

So we finally had to give in and give Landon his first haircut.

I always had this random memory in the back of my head of a Full House episode in which coiffure-obsessed Uncle Jesse experiences anxiety when the twins get their first trim. They find this cute little kids' haircut place where the chairs are plastic dinosaurs and the barber is a quirky old man (aka Dave Coulier in a bad bald cap and bad accent). Anyone else seen it? Anyone? Just me, then. Moving on...

Well places like that don't exist here. So it was up to the hubs and I - with the help of prerecorded Oswald show and a confining high chair - to roll up our sleeves. It turned out as well as it could given the small hands wacking us out of the way while he weaved and bobbed - all while maintaining direct eye contact with his favorite show.

I don't have any good photos since we were so focused on not pulling a Picasso on Landon's ear, but I have a video of his from a couple weeks ago at the play gym versus his new 'do while working on his stair moves. And yes, I did keep a few locks... I loved those little curls in the back and am looking forward to them growing back! 

Before:

Shaggy McGee

After:

Clean Cuts McGee

22 Weeks

Well I'm on a roll this evening with the blog posts now that I've been reunited with my computer and downloaded a few hundred photos. So let's keep this update train rolling, shall we?

I think this photo was taken around the 22 week mark while we were staying in the rental. I didn't plan to color coordinate my gray shirt with Landon's gray paints against the gray wall - some things just happen that way. It was probably gray outside, too.

The nickname for this baby has been Piglet since I've been eating so much and constantly have food on the brain. Do you know what it's like to be awoken at 2am every night by your bladder and then you finally get comfy only to find that your tummy is requesting a ham and chee around 3am? Well I guess there were some nights in college like that...

Landon and Piglet.

My doctor has assured me I seem to be on the pound-a-week track, so I guess it's all a mind game for now. I'm sure running after Landon and using the new stairs in our house is helping maintain some sort of caloric balance. Thanks, buddy.

Sa-weeet Find

One of the perks of living in a town like Anacortes is the number of thrift shops, junk shops and antique stores. I think more there are more here versus South Texas because the ability to plan a yard sale in the rainy Northwest is a challenge (i.e. is it appropriate to have a rain date for three weekends straight?). I guess this is the way people have found to put their used goods on display. Adaptation at its finest.

My favorite find last week was an RCA Victor AM/FM stereo console. You know I'm a sucker for the clean lines of the 60s, so I basically honed in on this beaut immediately upon setting foot in the store. Plus I had a coupon so it went from the grand asking price of $25 to $20, thank you very much. It is in fairly good condition for its age - nothing that furniture markers can't fix, at least. 

This will actually be the console for our TV in the family room. Given the stereo doesn't work so hot these days, the components will be removed (*moment of silence*) and things like our cable box and PS3 will go in there instead. Turns out you can buy an IR system for like 40 bucks which allows you to hide the components and then use a small nondescript central signal. This appeals to my anti-clutter sensibilities, but as a mom, I LOVE the fact that our curious little monkey won't be getting his crusty fingers on the components.

Before

Here are some photos of what the house has looked like the past couple weeks. There were a lot of nails, splintered wood chunks, exposed mold, etc... you know, all that fun stuff that a toddler loves to be around.

The carpet and worn wood comes up.

"Why won't you let me help?!?!"

Because everyone needs a stove in the middle of their family room.

"Okay, I'll help you prime, but I don't know why you guys want to get rid of the red. I happen to like the color red."

So what does it look like now? Well wouldn't you like to know. Me, too. It's a work in progress - the vision will come together within the next month or so. Buuuut don't hold your breath.

Home Sweet Home

In my heart, I longed for a mid century fixer upper. Or an early 1900's craftsman that needed to be restored to its full charming woodworking glory. So what did we buy? A vanilla house built in 1999 in a cul de sac. 

So did we take the lame way out? Naah. Our abode with our cranberry door is pretty darn cute.

I'm ecstatic it is perfect for us and our growing family right now. And realistically we won't be there more than five or six years so we had to consider the short term investment plan. There was a larger home available with 2500 square feet but everything was just so spread out (perfect for teenagers!); I happen to enjoy the proximity of my family so this 1900 square footer will work out just dandy. Four bedroom, two and half bath. It backs up to protected forest land. Enter other generic description here.

What ultimately drove our decision in buying the home was the neighborhood, the safety (keeping in mind the hubs is gone on deployments for good chunks of time), and the fact we could put in just enough updates to freshen it up and make it our own without creeping into the territory of rebuilding things and "accidentally" hitting each other with two by fours. [Name that quote: "My shoulder doesn't hurt very much, but my face does. Right here. Not here or here so much. Right here."] We'll save the major renos and marriage tests for a longer term house down the road.

In the week since we have closed, all of the downstairs carpets and tired hardwoods were removed by the hubster and replaced with kid-friendly laminate that looks like hand-scraped hardwood. We painted three of the bedrooms, had the carpets cleaned, Landon tested the stairs (a few hundred times) and I think he is starting to devise blueprints to conquer the new baby gates he has never encountered before. What's left? New appliances and new countertops, but those can wait for months to come. Let's just move in first, shall we?

Arf Arf in the Sky

It is so awfully hard to say goodbye to our pets - they often become much more to us than we could ever imagine. It is with heavy hearts that we say a fantastic duo was reunited today as Pequena was laid to rest and greeted Tiny Dog in the great big backyard in the sky. Actually, pep-in-the-step Tiny was probably like, "Oh, it's...you" as she scurried off to find a b-a-l-l. Presumably, lovable oddball Pequena probably found a corner to chill in right away. 

xoxo.