Turkey Day

I awoke this morning wondering if we were going to make it out of the house.  The snow was coming down nonstop.  I went ahead with my Thanksgiving dinner preparations since it was supposed to stop snowing by afternoon.  Alex and I were going to have dinner at another Navy wife's house.  Since it was supposed to warm up a bit but then dip below freezing at night, we made plans to sleep over if necessary; the roads from our house to hers are pretty steep and scary at night if there is ice on the road.

By noon the snow had stopped and things were beginning to look like we just might be able to get out for dinner.  I was so happy; the thought of spending Thanksgiving alone at home was starting to look a little depressing.  We made it to our friend's house without any trouble and had a wonderful dinner followed by great conversation and the kids having fun playing.  Alex loves playing with Juliette "Juju" and they enjoyed playing in her kitchen and playhouse.

The evening was finished off with a wonderful football game of TAMU vs TU.  A&M kicked some butt as expected; I definitely see a bowl game in their future.  I wonder which one?  Cotton Bowl would be awesome!

Arctic Blast brings Snow and Ice

It's Monday morning and Thanksgiving is only days away.  I am in my office at my desk watching the first snow flakes beginning to fall.  Alex is at school and I am wondering what he is thinking as he sees these first flakes beginning to fall from his classroom window.  What I thought was just going to be a light fall of snow is now being predicted to be heavy snow fall with temperatures as low as the teens.  By late morning the flurries pick up and all I see is a sheet of white from the window.

I left a little early to pick Alex up from school as the roads were starting to look a little icy and the snow fall was heavy.  The evening reports were showing commuters into Seattle stuck in miles and miles of backups due to icy roads and accidents throughout.  I am so glad that Alex and I are in the comfort of our home.

I woke up Tuesday to find 3"-5" of snow.  The roads in our neighborhood are steep and covered with a mixture of ice and snow.  I decided to keep Alex at home since the steep drive out of the neighborhood appeared too much for this inexperienced driver.  Alex was fine with that and spent the morning watching movies and staring out at all the snow.  Just before lunch I took a break from work and bundled us both up for some fun in the snow.  I rigged up one of our laundry baskets to act as a sled for Alex.  He had soooo much fun!

I have tomorrow through Friday off from work and I am hoping that they clear the neighborhood roads so that I can get out and run some errands before Thanksgiving.

Pre-Thanksgiving Weekend

The weather her is definitely getting colder!  Temps are in the 30's with highs in the 40's.  I think the pregnancy is keeping me from feeling too terribly cold; the thermometer says 37 but it feels like 57 to me.  I have to keep that in mind when dressing Alex and make sure he is dressed warm enough.  Snow was predicted starting Friday night, but by Saturday morning we had none and it was absolutely gorgeous!

Too bad I spent the morning baking my family favorite "Granny Taylor" hot rolls for the officer spouses Thanksgiving potluck lunch that afternoon.  They sure turned out good and were a hit at the lunch, though!  The lunch was really nice and Alex had a lot of fun playing with all the other little boys that were there.  I enjoyed talking with the adults while the kiddos entertained themselves; something that is very precious to all the wives while the guys are deployed.

Ok, I hate pregnancy photos of myself, 

but everyone has been requesting them, 

so here you go.  Can you tell she is 

getting BIG and boy oh boy does she move!

Sunday morning we got a call from Dan; a great way to start the morning off.  After getting off the phone, I realized that it had started snowing.  It was short lived and melted shortly after, but it was really nice while it lasted!  I don't mind some snow, it's the ice that I despise.  I got some pics of the snow falling in front of the house, but by the time we were ready to go out and play in it, the snow was gone.  I have been told that this is supposed to be a COLD winter, so I am sure I will get another chance to get some of Alex playing in it.

We finished the day off with a birthday party for another spouse's 1yr old son.  Several of the wives that were at Saturday's lunch were at the birthday party, so it was a nice continuation of conversation.  By Sunday evening, the temps had dropped into the mid 30's again and were supposed to continue to drop to below freezing, so when we got home I decided it was time to shut off the water to the exterior faucets and wrap them.  Alex enjoyed watching the moon (full moon) while I did the work.  He has become fascinated with seeing the moon and loves the fact that the sun sets by 5pm and he can see it before going to bed.  I, on the other hand, hate that the sun starts to set at 4:30 and it makes you feel like you just lost about 2hrs of your day.

Alex being silly after we came in from winterizing the pipes.

Halloween

Well it has been a while since I last posted anything.  Things have been busy since Halloween weekend, which started off with Alex getting congested and me feeling under the weather.  I thought we might end up missing out on the festivities, but after spending the day vegging around the house, we felt well enough to go trick or treating.  This was Alex's first year to go trick or treating.  Last year he was just learning to walk, he was a late walker at 14 months, and it was raining.

After a few houses he began to really get into the whole concept of dressing up and going door to door and getting candy.  He is still not crazy about all the scary decor and was in awe at some of the costumes.  He had a fun time!

Look Dadda, I have candy!

We spent about an hour going door to door before returning home and handing out candy at our house.  Alex had almost half a bucket of candy, which was more than he could eat in a years time.  As I was handing out candy to the trick or treaters he began to panic that I was handing out his own candy.  I quickly showed him his bucket was far from reach in the kitchen and he settled down.  He must have had at least 4 pieces of candy that night; he was soo excited since we do not normally give him candy.  When he wasn't looking I raided his bucket for the candy I do not want him to have and added it to the bucket of candy I was handing out.  Stuff like nerds, taffy, caramels, sour heads, etc he is not capable of eating yet without them posing a chocking hazard.  I am sure he is fine with that so long as he gets to keep the chocolate candy and M&Ms.

The following weekend had a rocky start and had its ups and downs.  Thursday night, Alex got sick at dinner time.  Let's just say we both needed a warm shower afterwards and my carpet required steam cleaning.  I was fearful that he had a stomach virus and that I would miss my dr's appointment the following morning, but things did not seem to progress and he finished the night off eating about two dozen saltines.  The next morning he was feeling great and I went to my 21 week OB appointment.  Everything checked out great.  She is measuring spot on, has a great heartbeat, and is very active.

Saturday morning started off great.  We had a SOALA function to go to later that morning and Alex helped me get pancakes made while I was finishing up some Monkey bread to take with us.  He had so much fun pouring in the ingredients and mixing.  We headed out to the meeting, when I realized half way there that the meeting was a 1/2 hour later than I thought.  No worries, Dan called my cell phone that very moment and I pulled off into a parking lot to take the call.  Alex talked to Dan for a good while; this was surprising because he is just not at the age where he will talk on the phone for long.  After arriving at the meeting he began to get very clingy and would not socialize with the other children; unusual for him as well.  As the meeting got started, he climbed into my lap and fell asleep (very unusual as well).  I noticed that his head was beginning to feel extremely hot and he was now running a fever.  I knew a cold was brewing.  What I didn't know is that this cold would linger for nearly a week and would make getting sleep very challenging for me.  This weekend he was finally on the mend and we had a relatively good weekend.

My little helper.

Sick little Santa (this hat made him feel better)

Getting ready to go back to school after being home sick

for several days; he made sure he grabbed all his favorite 

things to take with.

All ready Mamma!