it's no red rider, but it will poke your eye out!

we've gotten a lot of snow this holiday, and that wasn't all. we also got quite a bit of ice. i took the trash out after cleaning up from the present opening, and i was almost gouged in the neck by this...

for reference, emma is a little over 4 feet tall.

Drama King

Pictures of the Kids

just a few pictures of them from tonight.

*deleted the pictures, as the links were broken*

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

tomorrow is spencer's 2nd birthday. i decided to go ahead and do the celebration tonight, bc by giving him his toys a wee bit early, it guarantees that the kids have something to do for the remainder of the weekend. while ken is gone, i jump at every chance to get some quiet alone time.



he is still quite the beautiful boy, if a bit more mischievous now. happy birthday, sweet boy.

It's been a while.

let's see...

emma lost another tooth. she lost it at school, in both ways you think when you hear the word lost. someone threw it away by mistake at lunch. she loves that she can stick her tongue where the 2 bottom teeth used to be. she says she has a tiny tongue now. lol

spencer is sick. we're not sure exactly what he has. he has been congested for about a little over a month now. runny nose, some coughing, sneezing. he got worse a few days ago, so i took him in. he's on antibiotics and benadryl. hopefully this will help. he's been sleeping with me every night for almost 2 months, but the past few nights have been bad, as he coughs all night. neither of us has slept for more than a few hours. *yawn*

ken comes home next month!!! there are no words to describe how ready i am for him to be home again.

oh, and spencer will be 2 in less than a week. how crazy is that?! i just had him. :(

8 Years

happy anniversary to me.

miss you, ken!

Tooth Tango

emma left for school this morning and returned a few minutes later, yelling "look, mommy...I'M SOOOO LUCKY!" she was holding up her tooth with the biggest smile on her face. she took a tissue and headed back out the door. lol

and then there is spencer...his poor mouth. he's gaining more than emma's losing.

Emma is a Peacebuilder

yesterday, emma won an award at school. her school has a program called peacebuilders. if a child is "caught" doing something right, they get their name put into a drawing, and one child wins each month. emma won!!

emma took it upon herself sometime in the last month to organize all of the books in her classroom. some of the books were leaning, falling, faced the wrong way, etc.

this is also one of the things she is really great at at home. spencer has a bookshelf in his room above his toy box. in typical spencer fashion, he likes to displace the books and steer them more towards the floor and toy box. emma organizes his, and she is even able to get him to help her with it.

i'm so proud of her, and i will hopefully have a picture soon, as she got to have her picture taken with the acting principal yesterday (actual principal was out on business.) she had her name announced over the intercom as well.

well done, emma! xoxo

Canine School

we had emma's first parent teacher meeting tonight, and it went well. emma's first term "report card" came home this past week. everything is done from 1-4. 4 being excellent.

on her listening/behaviour/effort, she got a 2.5. this isn't surprising to me mostly bc she acts up more when ken is gone, and it's also a problem we're having at home. however, the reason for the 2.5 was a little more interesting than just your average child not listening in school.

she keeps acting like a dog. panting. sniffing. and i assume some willy nilly barking thrown in for good measure. she does stay in character. the kids get excited and pet her. she actually had a boy recently kiss her on the forehead while she was doing the dog thing. lol

so, we had a talk about how she cannot be a dog at school. but if she feels as though she must be a dog with all her heart, she must start using the bathroom outside, sleeping on the floor, and eating and drinking from a bowl. oh, and she can't go to school anymore, bc dogs do not go to kindergarten.

i guess she is content with being a human, bc she wasn't too keen on that idea. lol

she also gets all the children worked up with hand chants at the table.

her teacher did say that she's a very bright kid, and she is incredibly helpful to all the other kids. she helps others tie their shoes. she also organizes items in the classroom. so, that was wonderful to hear.

and her teacher also mentioned that emma is quite the leader. we just need to work on how she uses that.

overall, she's doing really well in school. minus the dog bit.

School Hair

despite my best efforts to protect emma from the school hair that seems to plague us all...i guess i failed.

she's still incredibly cute and spunky...but i think it might be one of those photos that i have to explain and apologize for when she's older.

sorry, emma darling. i tried to make it straight. i even took you to a salon to have them take a stab at it. picture day hair nirvana just wasn't meant to be. it doesn't mean that i don't love you. look at the bright side, my dear...your next school picture will be worse. you'll have school hair AND missing teeth.

Spencer's Sick Season

he has croup again, so he got a steroid shot today. i asked the dr if it is common for children to become little incredible hulks for a few days following the steroid shot. apparently, there is a term for it: steroid induced psychosis. the dr said it is very real, and boy is it! the last time spencer had a shot, he was a crazy boy for a few days. hitting, screaming, running, etc. it was...well, i don't have the word for it.

also, spencer started limping yesterday afternoon. his knee would buckled and he'd fall down. i thought it might be one of his weird little things, so i watched him when he didn't realize i was watching. he continued to do it. he didn't sleep well at all last night...tossing, flailing his body, crying every half hour. he "slept" in my bed. i think it was a combination of the croup and the leg/foot pain.

this morning, he continued to limp, only it kept getting worse. i called to make an appt to have him checked out, and as the day went on, it didn't get better at all. he wasn't able to walk without crying, and i showed him how to crawl instead.

at his appt, they took x-rays. everything looks fine. the radiologist will read the films tomorrow to make sure the dr didn't miss anything. the dr did say that there is a term called a toddler fracture...it is very common, and quite often, they do not even put a cast on for it. it's in the lower leg. however, even that didn't show up on film. so, the dr said to watch him for any changes. if it gets worse, take him in. and if in 2 days, he's still limping and crying, take him in to be splinted.

i feel so sorry for him. he doesn't understand all the things that are happening to him. his one leg is sore, and to add insult to injury, he got the shot in the other leg. oy.

Early Christmas Shopping

this is the first time ever that i've had most of my shopping done this early. i usually wait until literally the last minute.

i now know why this is the best course of action for me. i want to give the kids their gifts now. i already gave them their meet the robinsons movie. that's it, though. i am making myself behave. it's just that it was a perfect opportunity for family movie night. it really was.

now that i think about it, ken and i have almost never given our gifts to each other on the "right" day. we pretty much give the gift as soon as we've purchased it. occasionally, we come home and wrap it, trying to pretend that we're going to wait. maybe i should put the tree and decorations up right now and just do christmas today??

Glad it's OVER

last night was fun, but i am so thrilled to not have to do it again for another year. and if ken is home next year, HE is taking them. lol

i ended up getting stuck with some neighbor's kids. they were smart to just send their young children outside without asking, bc if they'd asked, i'd have said no. one of them only wore a thin dress (we're in utah. it's cold.) and she cried for the last 10-15 minutes. full on loud sobbing. oy.

anyway, the kids mostly had fun. spencer got to to go a door once. he did end up eating 3 suckers during his stroller ride. he officially knows what candy is and what it looks like.

emma got scared at one of the houses. the people who live there set up a facade over their carport. chainsaw sounds, blood on his apron, butcher knife, screams from inside, woman in a cage. she ran from the house screaming and crying.

it was interesting watching her this year. this is the first year she has been absolutely obsessed with the actual house to house thing. every other year, she enjoyed it, but this year she and her friends were running from door to door. it was tiring just watching them.

The Great Pumpkin Carving!

so, i'm a newbie at the whole pumpkin carving thing. it is ken's job around here to do it, bc it makes me gag to smell the insides of the pumpkin, and having to use my hands to clean it out is just disgusting. i can take real blood and guts, but this is gross.

so, i figured that bc ken is not here, i wanted the kids to have a great time with pumpkins. we didn't do anything last year when he was gone.

i also have learned a very valuable lesson for future halloweens...don't use markers. use paint. spencer is a wee bit coloured now.

Sliding at Festival

Fall Festival

so it's been a couple of weeks since i last updated.

mimi and poppy came out the 20th-24th, and we had a great time.

we went to the black island farms festival. it's our 4th time going, and i'm going to miss it next year. there are slides made from hay. well, with a large rubbery plastic slide coming off the hay. large pumpkin bounce house. small maze for the little kids...spencer's age. corn maze for everyone. an area to pet the farm animals...watch out, the small goats bite. lol rides. hayride.

you get the point. lol

last year, spencer was only about 10 months old, and it was in the 30s, so we did not stay long at all. this year, the temp was perfect, and emma and spencer had a blast.

My Baby is 6!

i finally have time to sit down and talk about emma's long birthday weekend.

she received gifts over a few day period, so i was waiting until the whole thing was through. she had the best time, and i have to admit that i did as well.

saturday, the base did 4 hours of free childcare bc ken is deployed. the kids were at the daycare from 9-1. i ran some errands, and both of them had a super time. after i picked them up, we got home, and spencer napped.

neighbor came over to watch spencer that afternoon. i took emma and 3 girls from our neighborhood to see game plan. a disney movie starring the rock. the girls all loved it. afterwards, we went to mcdonalds to get burgers. came home to eat them. the neighbor set up the dining room with the cake i had baked and the tablecloth, cups, plates, etc. we ate dinner. emma opened presents. and then we had cake and ice cream. it was a very long day, but it was a lot of fun spending a good bit of it with emma.

yesterday, her actual birthday, she got to wear a birthday hat at school. exciting stuff for a 6 year old, of course.

her presents included:
digital camera, movie surf's up, and tinkerbell stickers from ken. what i do when he's deployed is box up the stuff, address it to emma, put daddy on it, and then set it outside so she thinks the package came from him. it's worked 2 years in a row. :)

she also got polly pockets stuff from myself and rae. drawing floor mat from friend and a puppy pillow. tinkerbell stuff. boots. drawing stuff.

she did well this year. lol

i will post some pictures here, but you can see all of them on the website on the side that says family pictures. the ones starting with the letters PA are from emma's new camera! she and her friends took over 200 pictures in less than 24 hours. thank goodness for digital, or as emma calls it, the "digiNal."

Product Plug

emma has always been fantastic with eating. she loves salad, broccoli, sushi, and really just about everything. there are very few foods that she refuses. and bc of that, i have never had to worry about getting veggies and fruits into her or about nutrition.

spencer is the opposite. there are even typical kid foods that he will not touch. i have had to squeeze his cheeks and pry his mouth open just to get him to TASTE something. he's picky about cheese. he doesn't like any veggies except for peas. he also has an extremely short list of fruits he'll eat. he is picky about juice, which is fine, but what kid doesn't like all juice?! he is also picky about bread. he doesn't like anything with red sauce. he will occasionally eat alfredo. his pasta cannot have anything on it. the list just goes on.

so, when i heard about jerry seinfeld's wife, jessica, and the book she wrote, i was very very interested.

http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/

and while i'm not one of those people who jumps on every new fad, i am all about this one. i've had recommendations from people i know, and i finally got to see mrs. seinfeld in action on oprah this week.

the show featured a group of school children who despised all the typical disgusting foods like broccoli, spinach, carrots, squash, etc. they were given jessica's foods...baked chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, brownies, and a few other items. the kids devoured the foods and raved about how wonderful each thing was. it was then revealed that all of those foods contained their food nemeses. the kids were shocked, bc the food tasted so great.

so, i am buying the book. i am sold.

Another Change

i've been putting off cutting his hair short for a really long time, bc as soon as you cut a little baby boy's hair, he becomes a BOY. not a baby.

he also has 6 new teeth.

and the big boy bed.

i'm so heartbroken that he's growing up. while i would never have another baby (well, bc ken is "fixed" and just bc i know we are done), it makes me incredibly sad to be saying goodbye to this part of spencer's life. and mine. i know that great things are going to come. but this seems like it's the beginning of him leaving me. (if there were a smiley to put here that was crying, it would be here.)

it was hard when emma went through this, but then i had spencer. this is it. the last time i will put my own baby into a crib. the last time i will look at my children and really see a BABY.

Big Boy Spencer

spencer slept on his own in a bed last night. he decided he'd had enough of the crib, i guess. we put a twin mattress in his room after we bought emma a double loft bed. up until this past week, it only had a sheet on it. it was mostly used as a place to play or a place for myself to lie down if i wanted to nap while he played in his room.

i bought a comforter and pillow and sheets for it last week. he's been very interested in it since then. a couple of times, he has woken from his nap in his crib crying. i could tell he wasn't ready to get up, so i would put him in the twin bed, and lie down with him. he did fine. and then last night, i gave him the choice of the crib or the bed. he chose the bed.

it took about 45 minutes to get him to sleep. at first, he pulled out the night light, crawled around in the dark, climbed behind the glider and got partially under his crib to mess with the baby monitor. i went in and put him in his crib after that. he screamed and screamed for a good 2 minutes. i put him in the bed again, and i could hear him starting to mess with his toys. i yelled for him to go night night. i checked on him about 20 minutes later, and he was asleep across the mattress. he had thrown himself on the bed the last time i told him to go night night. :D

so, i think he might be done with his crib. i'm a little sad. emma was 11 months when she moved to her toddler bed. spencer is 22 months and has been in a crib the whole time. i can't believe he's growing up. :(

Anti-Death Penalty

i wanted to recommend this movie/website to you all who read this:

http://www.afterinnocence.com/

it is about a select group of men who were wrongfully imprisoned and later set free after dna proved their innocence. some were imprisoned for 6 years, some for more than 2 decades. these are not the only men who have had this done to them. there are many. and beyond that, there are still an unknown number of men (and women?) who are going through this, but have not yet been exonerated.

what is really disgusting is that these men have not been taken care of or compensated for what the government took away from them. they were set "free" one day and told they could leave. the amount of money some of them were given is repulsive...$5.37.

the group, innocent project, has worked to free more than 150 people who were wrongfully imprisoned. there are so many more.

can you imagine how happy you would be to be freed finally? only to also experience the sadness at all that you missed. your life as you once knew it is no longer there. your children are grown. spouse maybe gone. job gone. no home.




on the same note, there is a hollywood movie called, http://www.thelifeofdavidgale.com/, that was in theaters in 2003. i recommend this movie as well.

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Ken's RNLT Date Was Approved!

we are now leaving mid-march, as opposed to mid-february. we have to be there by march 31. very good news. this way, we do not have to rush as soon as he gets home from qatar!!

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Scan Results

so, i apparently do not have a hernia. i'm completely baffled by this. the nurse i spoke with said that the only thing showing up unusual is a swollen lymph node. i have had a swollen node in that region before, and it felt nothing like this.

i am trying to make an appt to get some bloodwork done to find out what is causing this. i obviously have an infection, so we shall see.

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Moose Alien Sighting!

my stomach was hurting friday, and she kept offering suggestions to make it better. one way was to do this move like a belly dancer (get the gas out? i have no clue. ) another suggestion was to go poo, bc that helps her sometimes. she also suggested that i massage my stomach. after i informed her that all of those would actually make it hurt worse, she stopped for a second, and then said, "mommy! i think you have a baby in there!" "emma, i don't think there's a baby in there, bc i can't have any more babies." "why? is it bc you already had 2?" "no. um, it's bc daddy can't help me make anymore." silence. she got this look on her face, and i just asked, "how do you think babies are made?" she started using hand motions, and said, "well, first you have a moose. and then it later turns into a moose alien. after that, it just sort of moves to just being an alien." (i was holding in the laughter and tears. "aaah, and then what happens after that?" "well, then it kind of turns into a baby." "wow, that is very interesting, emma. who taught you that?" "i saw it in the book you got me. the one with the body parts." now, she and i have not had a chance since then to talk, but i offered to sit and talk with her so i could explain that no, women do not have moose aliens in them. apparently, the fallopian tubes look like moose. __________________

Um, Am I Peeing?

i called yesterday afternoon and begged them to find me another provider to do the scan, as i really didn't want to wait an entire week. they worked me in somewhere today. the scan took 15 minutes. however, it took 2 hours to drink their "koolaid enhanced" drink. it was terrible. lol

the referring doctor had it so that i'd not get an iv contrast. the technicians were surprised at this, bc the contrast really helps in seeing exactly what's going on. they decided to do the iv. yay.

my whole body got hot, my mouth tasted funny, the air smelled weird, and then i felt as though i'd peed all over the table. thankfully, all this is normal. lol

it takes about 24 hours for the results to be read. then they are sent to the referring doctor. however, i explained that it is important for me to hear the results as soon as they come in, not AFTER they go to the dr. otherwise, it could be mid next week the way this clinic on base is. hopefully, i will hear something this afternoon or monday.

Duct Tape Anyone?

i found a lump yesterday in my lower abdomen, upper pelvic area. it is tender and sore. it burns and radiates down the top of my thigh. good stuff.

i went to the dr today, and she seems to think it might be a hernia. i have a ct scan planned for next wednesday. i have to admit i'm a little worried. not so much about the hernia itself, but bc ken is gone. i can't NOT lift spencer or anything heavy. it's just how it is. and well, truth be told, i'm a little concerned that my guts are going to fall out of me while i'm in bed. that could put a damper on some things.

Clearing Up Confusion

a couple of people have wondered why ken left for qatar if we had orders to alaska.

he is going to be gone for about 4.5 months. he will return just in time (hopefully) for us to pack up the house and then leave for alaska. we still have not heard whether or not his extended date is approved. it would be ideal if it were, so that we are not so rushed right when he's walking through the door.

he called last night from qatar. i think he said it was about 16 hours on the planes, not including layover times. he sounded good. i pray this deployment is easier than last year's. it was rough on all 4 of us.

Spencer and Scarlet

spencer learned rather quickly that scarlet has a love for charlie's food. he carries little bits in his hands, and they play together for quite a long time. it's become our evening movie. lol

The Military Strikes Again

so, ken just informed me that he is leaving tuesday. not tomorrow, but next tuesday.

the military is horrible at this stuff.

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Ken Is Leaving Early

we thought he was leaving next monday, the 17th. however, he now leaves this coming weekend. we're not sure if it's saturday or sunday. i feel as though this deployment sneaked up on us. it's going to be easier in some ways, but much harder in others.

spencer is older now and not as dependent on me for each little thing. for the most part, he sleeps better than he did last year. he is teething, so that has put some kinks in his sleep pattern. and emma is in full-day school, so she will stay very busy.

but, bc ken just got back in january, it will be harder to let him go again. i'm just not ready. and i know that emma isn't. spencer is going to have a harder time this time, bc he notices when people are gone now.

i am pretty sure that i will have to do a lot of the preparations for our move in february. as of today, he still hasn't gotten his request for a pushed back rnlt date approved. it may be that ken gets off the plane and moves in to the temporary lodging, as we will have moved out of this house right before he gets home. i pray that doesn't happen.

i admit i'm getting stressed out over all the details. if i were a non-obsessive person, i would tell myself to calm down and take it day by day. but i'm not that person. i obsess over details until the wee hours of the morning. i like to be prepared and know every little thing i can.

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Emma's First Day of School

obviously, i slacked a little. Emma started kindergarten last thursday. she had the most amazing time, and while i'm absolutely thrilled that she's there, i do have some twinges of sadness while she's gone all day. thankfully, spencer keeps me busy enough that the day goes by quickly.

This is the last 4 month deployment for Ken's career field

they will be going to 6 month deployments after this cycle.  so, while i am not happy that he has to leave again so soon, i am so thankful that he is getting this deployment, bc i just know he would be deploying after getting to alaska.  and then he would be gone for at least 6 months.

still no word on the report no later than date.  apparently, the colonel the request was sent to is just sitting on it at this time.  he has pushed other requests through.  ken's shirt (first sergeant) is now trying to get it pushed through.  hopefully we will know something soon...before he deploys. 

we had our "physical" today.  which doesn't mean what it implies.  no doctor asking ken to turn and cough.  no listening to our chests.  no ear checks. 

the 4 of us sat in front of 3 people.  this is protocol for anyone pcsing (military word for moving) to an overseas assignment (which alaska is.)  i forgot that we went through this when we got our orders to misawa, japan back in 05. 

they ask us questions concerning our health.  ask us to go and get all medical records from the facilities we have each been seen at.  none of this applies to ken, really, bc he is seen on base for his needs almost always. 

due to the "medical" issues i had in 04 (no need to go into detail), i was put on the EFMP (exceptional family member program...hey, i knew i was exceptional.)  i was taken off this past year.

however, bc of the circumstances involving those medical issues, we had to fill out more paperwork today.  the doctor overseeing this meeting has zero doubt that this will affect our orders.  it's just something he had to do.  the paperwork, that is.  we will wait for up to 2 weeks to find out the results of it. 

for those of you who i've not explained it to, the EFMP has information about a special need for the family member on the program.  we lost our orders to misawa, japan bc of this.  they did not have the facilities to treat me.  however, where we are going in alaska is anchorage.  they are well equipped to handle anything.  but, it's just part of the process.  take for instance, if a child has spina bifida, that child would need to be within a certain proximity of a facility that can treat anything relating to that condition.  whether it is just for routine checkups or for problems due to the condition.  it is to protect the person on the EFMP. 


on a different note, emma starts kindergarten next week.  she has to go in this friday for an assessment, but next thursday, the 6th, is her first official day.  she is so excited.  thankfully, ken will be here to see her first week of school.  he left the day before she started preschool last year.  we're all happy he will get to be a part of this big milestone!

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New Picture Site!

i have decided to ditch fotki due to server issues, and i am now using flickr. on the left side of this page, there is a link to the family pictures under "visit frequently."

i am working on moving all of my pictures, so it will be a few days before they are all moved. i need to do all of 2007 now.

Out of the mouths of babes

today, emma was playing salon with me. this involves much patience on my part. and a tough scalp. she was tugging and brushing. over and over. putting my hair up, etc.

spencer joined in. because one child wreaking havoc isn't enough.

after a few minutes of pain, i said, "you guys are killing me."

they continued. i sucked it up.

another few minutes pass, and i made a sound that i assume is because of the trauma i'm enduring.

"i'm NOT killing you!! CALM DOWN!"

the love is almost tangible.

Naps=happy. Not always true.

half of the time, spencer wakes from his naps very groggy and very grumpy. sometimes, it's not even worth putting him down for a nap if we know we might have to deal with the grump immediately after. sometimes the grump that is due to no nap is better than the grump that comes after the nap.

oy.

Emma's school got extra funding!!

sooo, emma is now going to be going to full day kindergarten instead of half day.  ken said that her class was the only one out of 4 classes that would be half day.  they were the more advanced students.  we were really bummed about it, because with ken being deployed, a full day of kindergarten would be wonderful for emma (and for myself.)  it will break up her day and give her so many things to do with friends. 

i am so excited about this.  this means that when she switches from the school system here, it will be so much easier for her when we go to alaska where they have much better schools that are also full day. 

---

also, i am realizing what pull this whole "orders to alaska" thing has.  i called this morning to schedule emma's 6 month checkup at the dentist.  they had nothing available until late september. 

"oh, really?  if you have any cancellations, please call us.  we are moving to alaska, and my husband is deploying, so we need to get her in so he can have the paperwork done."

"how old is she?  let's see if we can squeeze her in."

VOILA!  i should feel bad.  but i don't. ;)

Stitches are out

ken took emma yesterday to have her stitches removed, and he said she was scared at first.  that is because of how traumatic the shot was for her when she got the stitches.  but once she calmed down, she was fine.  she said it tickled.

she came home with a sucker and a smile, so all must have gone well.

---

ken put in for a pushed back rnlt date.  we chose march 31st, because we didn't want to push it so far back that they deny it.  he (and a colonel he spoke with) are pretty confident that it will be approved.  what this means is that ken will deploy.  but like i've said before...better to assume he's deploying than not.  that way we don't get our hopes up for nothing.

march would be a better traveling month, bc the winter there is going to be colder and darker.  it would be nice to be able to travel and not worry so much about the weather. 

This monkey needs a new blog.

because i cannot stop taking pictures of my food. it should come as no surprise, since i like food. and i like my camera. seems quite fitting.

so, i made monkey bread tonight. i've never had it before, and many people had declared it worth trying. they were so right. very sweet. very rich. i ate only a little before the stomach ache came on. ken persevered and had seconds.

here it is in all its glory.
so, i feel as though another blog is in order. if not for you all to read, then so you don't have to look at food pictures on this one.

while not entirely cheap, still better than i originally thought.

Fresh pepperoni bread

while most of you will not be interested in this particular entry, i am doing it mostly for myself.

today, i made pepperoni bread with mozzarella cheese inside. it is pure heaven, and the kids and i have already polished off 1/4 of the loaf in an embarrassingly short period of time. i might have to make another loaf after ken gets home.

i've become obsessed with my bread machine. i used to only bake in it, but i have fallen in love with using it to make dough. i am not completely at ease making dough on my own with the yeast and the kneading, so this is good in the meantime. ken bought me a kitchenaid stand mixer for my birthday, and i hear it is perfect for making dough, so i need to give it a try.

here is the dough after a long rise, and after baking.



if you lived closer, i just might share. or not.

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Hurry up and wait. The military way.

ken spoke with the chief this morning. ken has to put in a request for his rnlt date to be pushed back, but we will not know the answer to that for another 2-3 weeks. ken is due to leave in 4 weeks.

so, as of right now, we are just assuming he is deploying. otherwise, we will get our hopes up for nothing. we are also going to go ahead and do what we can before he leaves to prepare for alaska. we'll have a yardsale, get paperwork started, etc.

what this means for visiting south carolina, i'm not sure. bc we are planning as though he is deploying, we are also planning that i will not be flying out with the kids. i guess we can all discuss this later.

on a different note, emma goes in today to get her stitches removed. i'm praying that she doesn't feel anything. or at least nothing that hurts. i will post an update to that later, as i'm sure you're all dying to know. ;)

spencer has croup. it seems as though he always starts the sickness season earlier than other kids. he went to the dr at midnight last night...he wasn't himself, and his breathing was not normal. he got a steroid shot (which he had this past april as well for the same reason), and he is much better. the not so great thing is that he becomes a miniature incredible hulk after these shots. he is short tempered. he hits. he screams. a lot. he gets dark circles under his eyes, and he eats and eats and eats. i'm looking forward to the next couple of days. :-/

Picture Testing

making sure my picture site works properly. here are a couple of emma and spencer.

it was a wet and dirty day. just like it's supposed to be.











one that i really like is this one of ken and spencer. ken accidentally knocked spencer over, and the face is priceless.

to deploy or not to deploy? that is the question.

the question on everyone's mind, more specifically, mine.

ken has a meeting with the chief on monday morning to discuss the orders to alaska, and whether or not that will prevent him from deploying. alaska is considered an overseas tour. and people are usually given 2 months to outprocess for overseas tours. much more needs to be done. the travel time alone will be almost 2 weeks.

if ken deploys, he will return mid to end of january. leaving 2 or so weeks between arriving here in utah and getting in our van to drive to alaska. not very much time at all.

most overseas rnlt (report no later than) dates cannot be pushed further away. if the chief cannot push the dates, ken will probably not have to deploy. however, ken believes that the chief will try to push before canceling the deployment. another thing we have no control over. we aren't sure when we'll find out for sure. it is possible we will find out on monday. or we could have to wait a week or so.

ken is set to leave september 17th, so hopefully we will know something sooner rather than later.

First things first

we have orders. to elmendorf afb in anchorage, alaska. our feelings are mostly all over the place. we are elated at the thought of living somewhere that we would never have lived had it not been for the air force. however, we are definitely saddened by the fact that we will be so far away from friends and family. grandparents. best friends. cousins. siblings. it's difficult. and while we know this is part of the military life, it doesn't make it any easier. just gives us someone to blame. ;)

our report no later than (rnlt) date is february 29th of 2008. you would think that that is a long time from now. it is, and it isn't. it is in the sense that when you find out you are going somewhere, you want to do it that moment. just to get it all over with. to start making friends. set up a home. get adjusted. but it's not that long in another sense. much needs to be done. yard sales. researching. planning. saving money. almost 2 weeks of traveling. outprocessing.

we have lived in utah for 3.5 years. and it has become our home. we actually love it here, despite being among the minority in religious preference. we've grown accustomed to the way of living. the weather. everything.

we have watched so many friends receive orders and leave us. each time got harder, not easier. and we are left with no close friends. everyone is gone. so, that makes it a lot easier to be excited about leaving here. we are ready to start over. even if we are a little scared.

we have done much reading in the past 2 days about what to expect when we get to anchorage. the most pressing issue is the cold. and the hours of sunlight. that is what everyone wants to know about. so, i will tell you what i know.

we will be in a sub-arctic climate. it means what it implies. cold. very cold. in the summer, the average temperatures are in the 60s. the summer isn't very long. in the winter, which is long, the temps range from 30s to double digits below 0. it will definitely be an adjustment for all of us. perhaps God was preparing us for alaska by sending us to utah first. we have cold winters here, dipping into the negatives. but our summers reach triple digits. much wider variation here. if we'd moved from south carolina to alaska, i'm sure it would be a lot more traumatic.

as far as the hours of sunlight? that is where things get crazy. the shortest daylight in the year is about 6ish hours. 6 hours of sunlight. and not always bright sun, either. in fact, there will be a period of time where emma will get on the school bus in the dark. and she will return from school in the dark. there is also the opposite...a period of time in the summer has an amazing number of hours of sunlight. up to almost 20 hours. many websites tell of people being able to read books at midnight outside. in celebration of 4th of july, many people wait until midnight to do fireworks, bc it is just too bright outside before that.

one great thing we have found out is that we will have larger housing than we currently have. 600 sq feet or more than what we have. and basements. heated garages. mudrooms. actual laundry ROOMS. that alone excites me beyond words.

another surprise is that flights from anchorage to charlotte are almost the same as flights from here (utah) to columbia. that is wonderful for those who will be able to visit.