It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. . .

We promised Sunshine a tree for her room. I don't know when the trend of putting trees in kids rooms, but we've jumped on the band wagon. Sunshine's tree is a 3' artificial & has Barbie & Disney Princess ornaments. We decorated it on Sunday & she's loving it.





I caved & bought "The Elf On The Shelf" last week. Some friends got theirs last year & raved about the behavior changes in their children. Our elf is named Go-go & if Sunshine's had a good day, she brings back a small chocolate or some sort of treat from Santa. Here's Go-go enjoying some quality time with the snowmen at the fireplace. I know. Snowmen? Fireplace? Yeah.

Lastly, the red & gold snowflakes that adorn the window to the left of the fireplace. Hunter's aunt has a very large bay window in her kitchen that she decorates with different snowflakes so I can't take the credit for this idea. I'm kicking myself for only buying 1 box of each color.

We're getting our tree for the living room this weekend & I think we'll hang our stockings then as well. We're also going to Callaway Gardens on Sunday with friends to see their Fantasy in Lights. We're unsure whether we'll go see The Polar Express at the Imax theater @ the Infantry Museum on Saturday or next Sunday when MIL/FIL are here. December is a very busy month!

Sunshine's very excited & honestly, I am too. While I'm a little sad that we won't be with my family in VT for the holidays, I am happy that we're having our first Christmas in our new home. MIL & FIL will be with us for a week & we're looking forward to having them here with us.

7 year itch?

I think not! 7 years ago Hunter & I were married. In true Army fashion, it was in between deployments and in true Ft. Benning fashion, it was done across the river in Alabama at the Justice of the Peace.

Last night when I talked to MIL she asked about the 7 year itch. I told her that while we've been married 7 years, we've spent 4 anniversaries together & have only lived together for probably 3 1/2 yrs if you count deployments, field time, etc.

My Mom sent us a beautiful card & the present of dinner out at the restaurant of our choice. We'll be dining in "The Room" @ Meritage tonight. Sans Sunshine! She'll be playing with a friend's 2 girls. I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to wear!

When I look at this picture, I remember the excitement of that day & how much in love we were. I'm happy to say that I still feel that excitement & am possibly more in love w/ Hunter than I was then.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Two of the people I'm thankful to have in my life! Count yourselves in the list of the thankful as well!

I'm thankful for the time I had to knit yesterday. The scarf for Sunshine's teacher is coming along nicely & I'm kicking myself for not using the yarn (Classic Elite Imagine) sooner! It's been in my stash for at least 2 years, is very soft & knits up nicely!

Mish Mosh

I was pretty organized in packing & moving but somehow somethings were missing. The charger for my camera that I usually keep in my purse for instance. Last night I found it (along w/ the contents of our "kitchen junk drawer" & decided to see what was on the memory card in the camera.

My Cotton Kisses Baby Cardigan from September (slacker much?!). I decided not to knit in the button holes as I couldn't find any buttons that I really liked for it. I also thought that putting ribbon ties on it would take away from the collar, so there. I loved this yarn & think I need to make a bonnet to go with. I may pick up more to make a sweater for Sunshine.



This was the dishcloth I received during Dish Rag Tag II. Like a dork, I didn't take pics of mine. Oh well! Our team came in around 13th place but we had a good time!


Among the other things I found in the drawer was the power cord for our video camera. The video that's still in the camera is from Nov. 06. Sunshine was 2 1/2 & was playing with a puzzle. So cute! Hard to believe 3 yrs have passed & she's now a very talkative 5 yr old!

Mother Nature reads my blog! Did you know this? The weather here has gotten cooler & we're experiencing beautiful fall weather. Sunshine's enjoyed lots of outdoor time the past few afternoons which has been great. I'm hoping next week is nice as she is off for Thanksgiving Break. How is it all the schools are off for a week? Craziness!

An open letter to Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature~

I wanted thank you for the beautiful foliage I'm seeing around our new neighborhood. I've loved watching my next door neighbor's maple turn a brilliant shade of crimson before Tropical Storm Ida sent the leaves down to the ground. I've loved the yellows, golds, oranges that I've seen on the walking trail in the Botanical Garden. And I really, REALLY appreciated being on the walking path in Heath Park in brilliant sunshine while leaves have gently rained down on us while the 4 of us were walking & playing. Sunshine loved that best of all too!

My only problem is this weather. Don't get me wrong---I really appreciate the beautiful sunshine-filled days we've had (TS Ida aside), but 78 degrees? In mid-November? Come on. My legs have lost any color they had this summer (and they really did have a lot of color courtesy of the weather you provided us with when we were on Anna Maria Island!), so shorts aren't an option. I don't like waking up to 40 degree weather & putting on my fleece jacket to go walking after Sunshine is at school, only to have to take it off mid-way through my walk or else risking heat stroke.

I'm sure there is someone else who would love this weather---feel free to send it to them. I'd personally like some highs in say, the low 60's? I'm used to chillier weather in November, despite being here for 7 years (Is it so?!). I don't want my new hydrangea to freeze but I'd really love some cooler days.

And snow on Christmas if you can swing it. Even flurries would make me happy!

Kthanksbye!!

Weekend Update

Sorry, it's not going to be like SNL's Weekend Update (I'd never call Jane Curtin an ignorant you-know-what!).

By mid-week my cold had settled into my chest & Tropical Storm Ida had hit Columbus. Our backyard was already puddle-ridden by 11 am.



We've started painting in the kitchen! I got the area below the chair rail done on Friday. Very pleased w/ the color & as soon as we treat the area where we peeled/steamed the wallpaper, we'll start painting above the chair rail.








Sunshine's 2 loose bottom teeth are threatening to come out so a letter from the Tooth Fairy & a special tooth box came last month (I kept forgetting to upload the pics!)


The weather is beautiful & I'm feeling less icky than earlier in the week so I am off! Have a fantastic weekend!

Veterans Day 2009

This is one of my favorite pics of Hunter & Sunshine. It was taken in the ATL airport in Sept. '07 when we picked him up for the start of R & R during his 3rd tour in Iraq. What the picture doesn't convey is the giggles. She wouldn't stop giggling--she was so happy to see her daddy after 6 mos. apart. It would be another 8 months until we saw him again.

Today is Veterans Day. Originally it was known as Armistice Day & signified the end of WWI (My paternal grandfather served as a teenager). After WWII it became known as Veterans Day & became a day to honor all Veterans. We're honoring ours today. We're so lucky to have him home & whole!

What is a Veteran?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang. He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs. He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand. He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by. He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep. He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come. He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known. So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded. Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU". "It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag." Father Denis Edward O'Brien/USMC