Trick-or-Treat!

Happy Halloween! I've been waiting all day to be able to post...but of course, I had to wait for the trick-or-treating to actually take place first :) Alana wanted to be Tinkerbell for Halloween this year...We had to do some improvising, thanks to cold weather and short hair...but I think that she turned out looking like quite the cute fairy myself!

Posing with her Cinderella pumpkin and her pumpkin basket!

Sweetness.

This year was Alana's first year ever going trick-or-treating. Last year we had the big to-do for our community and the years before that she was too little...While I was hesitant about how she would react to knocking on strangers doors...She did AMAZINGly well. We went with the McKinneys to their friends' house and hit up their neighborhood for candy. Here's an idea of how the night went...

Jalen was the cutest Elmo ever!

Me and Alana

Trick-or-treating is fun, Mommy!

The guy at this house told us the witch was inside (referring to his wife)

Getting that pumpkin nice and full!

Doesn't this kid look thrilled to be handing out candy?

This one might be my favorite of all...
The evidence is in Justin's teeth :)

Portas family!

Alana and Justin checkin' out the goods.

Jalen sharing his candy with Justin.

Mmm...Chocolate!

And a lollipop for the ride home!

Being the nerd that I am...I videoed the first house we stopped at. This was Alana's first try at the "trick-or-treat". By the end of the night (others will back me on this), Alana was running full speed ahead across people's lawns by herself. She's a natural. Not even the scary dude who answered the door dressed in a Scream costume freaked her out. She didn't bat an eye, just looked back to the road at Justin and me like "what in the world is up with this guy"?



Oh, and the highlight of our night may have been the gas we got on the way home for 2.07 a gallon! We filled up the car for $30...Glorious!

Peace, Love and the Best Halloween Yet!

She turned into a Pumpkin!

Remember in Cinderella when the Fairy Godmother said "Bibbidee Bobbidee Boo" and the pumpkin turned into a stagecoach? Well, we decided to take it a step further and turn our second pumpkin of the Halloween season into Cinderella herself.

It was WAY too cold outside to carve pumpkins...so we did it inside. Risky, I know.

But what's life without risks?
And besides, you have to wear pants outside!

Ewww Cinderella brains.

Alana took a picture of me working away...
She may have a future in photography :)

It never looks quite right until nighttime!

Ta-dum!

Yes, she's wearing a winter coat and flip flops.
She was also born in TN which gives her the right to be a hillbilly if she wants.

Peace, Love and Two Princesses.

Fun with Nature

What do you do when there's no cool kids to play with on the playground? Why go on a scavenger hunt of course! Alana and I collected lots of pieces of nature outside this evening and then we came in and turned it into our own piece of art :) This is our interpretation of Virginia in the fall...

With the exception of the cotton ball clouds and crayon-drawn butterfly...
All of these things are the treasures we found.

Cotton in her hair :)

Silly girl!

Peace, Love and Playing with Nature

Goin' to Angie's

I am alive. I have not run away or fallen ill with the electionitis I previously wrote about. I am just lazy. I admit it. That, and I have become addicted to One Tree Hill and spend all of my free moments watching that :) I do not claim to be cool...but I am honest! I am heading out to Angie's to get Season 3 and eat some chili...but I wanted to post. So here's one our trips to Angie's that took place previously in the week! (Alana got her bike for her birthday, but this is the first time we've ventured this far on it).






The video is way out of order, but blogger is irking me right now...I guess that's what happens when you don't blog for a while :) And also, I don't know what's up with the line on the video. Enjoy!

The Two Week Wait

Two weeks from today our country will learn it's fate. I have settled down a bit, understanding and truly knowing that it's out of my hands. And like Justin told me...God is our true leader anyway!

Peace, Love and Keeping it Simple.

The Verdict is In...

I'm guilty on all counts. There's no need for me to hire a lawyer and chance this being taken to the grand jury or even the Supreme Court. The truth is, I will admit to all the charges...in fact, I will even present you with evidence to further sink my chances of getting off easy. Actually, I am not going to take full blame...I am going to bring Angie down with me. Because quite frankly, she is responsible for BOTH of these things which have ultimately imprisoned me.

I now present you with exhibit #1.

For the love of television! One Tree Hill! Where have you been all my life? I am holding Season 1, but will soon be trading it in for number 2. I have watched this entire season, *clears throat* all 22 episodes of it, since Friday night. If you notice dark circles and/or bags under my eyes...this is why. I give up one show to take on another. Angie is borderline obsessed with this show...I finally gave in and agreed to watch it thinking that a) I wouldn't like it that much and would stop watching it as soon as I started and b) that it was on like the 3rd season. WRONG! It is now on season 6...so what can I say? I have a lot of catching up to do...

And now on to exhibit #2.

Ok, so who knew ice cream could get any better? Then the people at Edy's go and mix in my favorite girl scout cookies into it...The only saving grace here is the fact that it's "light"...thank goodness it has 1/2 the fat because it's so delish that I want to eat twice as much! Can't you see the desperation in Alana as she tries to make me stop? She's like...Mommy, step away from the Samoas...

And last but certainly not least...Exhibit #3

I'm guilty of loving this little girl more than any television series or ice cream flavor. The first of those says little, but man...saying I love her more than that Samoa ice cream...that's a statement! All kidding aside, I couldn't ask for a sweeter, more beautiful daughter. I am so thankful to have her in my life, and even more so to Justin for making it possible :)

Peace, Love and Nancy Grace

Gay's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy has been one of my favorite shows since it started...I have awaited Thursday nights with all sorts of anticipation. I think I decided last night that I do not want to watch it anymore. I am in no way being judgmental, but I have absolutely zero desire to watch Callie and Erica Hahn in a relationship. Why, in order to be 'politically correct' does every single show on tv have to include a homosexual relationship? While I do not look down upon people that are gay, I absolutely do not condone it. Sorry if I step on any toes here...I just had to vent that one.

Saying Goodbye...Again!

It doesn't get any easier...Every time we get used to Justin being home, he is packing his sea bag to leave again. While I love the Navy and everything it has provided our family, the life we live is a never-ending journey of welcome homes and goodbyes. The past six days have been full of fun and excitement...overflowing with love...reminding me that I would choose quality over quantity any day! The other night, we decided to take a walk and enjoy the fall evening...

Why is Justin taking cover on the playground?

This is why! I have never seen so many birds...
They were coming and going for as far as we could see!

I miss him already.

If only you could feel the breeze and smell the ocean air via blog!

Peace, Love and Autumn walks

Does He Have the Guts?

I admit it. I have electionitis. The whole campaign thing--smears, ads, anything presidential really--has drained me beyond belief. I said I was going to quit watching or reading anything about it, go place my vote and be done with it. Unfortunately, it has been harder for me to do than I expected. I am hoping that tonight's debate will prove what I already know...that McCain has what it takes...And if he wants to show Obama that he has the guts to bring up the Ayers connection to his face, so be it. I think he most definitely will. Will Obama have the class to respond to it truthfully?

My biggest concern right now is that people are not doing their research. Hollywood tells them to vote for Obama, so they register and vote for him. Howard Stern (well, Sal) did a little research and went into Harlem, asking people who they were voting for and why. I would post the clip here, but it has some pretty foul language...If you are interested, just google "Howard Stern Obama Supporters Clip" or something and you will have no problem finding it. The gist is that he asks all of these people who they are voting for, and they immediately respond with "Obama". Then he asks them what it is they agree with most, his stance on keeping the troops in the war or his pro-life stance (both McCain views) and they say they agree with one or both...Or they are asked if they would be ok with Sarah Palin being VP if Obama gets elected, and they say "Of course, oh sure"...People! Come on! You are proving yourselves to be ignorant! (And by "you" I mean anybody voting that doesn't know the facts)

If you do your research and know what Obama stands for...and you still choose to vote for him, then fine. But don't vote for someone you don't know anything about simply because someone tells you to...or because he is charming...or because it will make history. I am not trying to get all up on my high horse here, but there is a LOT riding on this election...like the future of our country and our children...and being married to the military makes it that much more crucial to me. I've said it before but I'll repeat. Whoever is elected will be my husband's boss.

Speaking of my husband, he is leaving in a few hours to go back to his ship for another 15 days or so. Out again to protect this country, that if we as Americans are not careful, will lose everything we have ever stood for.

Peace, Love and Wolves in Sheeps' clothing

Spider Jonah

This post is a bit past due, but there is good reason for it. I've already blogged about how our good friends moved to Washington state while we were in FL...Well, we didn't get to say goodbye. Jonah is not only Alana's "best friend" but also her first friend! So we wanted to do something special for him. We were 700 miles away, but Alana decided to Build-A-Bear for Jonah and send it to him as a special delivery to Washington. I wanted to wait to post this until he had received it...Just in case they might happen upon my blog and the whole anticipation be ruined!

First, she picked the softest bear she could find...

Then she hand-picked a special heart for it.

She rubbed it on her nose so the bear "knows" it's loved.
She also rubbed it on her knee so it would feel "needed".
She rubbed it on her funny bone so it would be funny.
Where do they come up with this stuff?!

Of course, she had to warm it up.

And when it was built, she picked out a special costume for it...
Presenting...
Spider Jonah!!!

As if the bear wasn't sweet enough...Watch the video.



For a translation, in case (Angie) your speakers don't work...
It's a voice recording in the bear that is Alana saying "I love you, Jonah and I miss you. You're my best friend."

Peace, Love and First Loves

SpongeBob Pumpkin Pants

I think that when we have kids, we do one of two things...We pass on all of the traditions that we learned from our own families, or we create new traditions for them. While I had a blessed childhood and have lots of things to pass along to Alana, the one thing I don't remember doing much of (if any) is pumpkin carving. Somewhere in my adulthood, I have learned to love doing this! I think I have Jeff Wilson to thank for the intricate pumpkin design choices...Oh, go big or stay home. I am not sure if we carved any pumpkins last year, but two years ago we did a Dora pumpkin and a Blue's Clues pumpkin. I thought those were hard...Until this year.

Meet our pumpkin, which we adopted at the Hunt Club Farm last night.

Ewww Pumpkin guts.

Or are they brains?!

Poking holes on the template...
Come on, you didn't think I would do this without help did you?

Beginning to think I'm insane for letting her pick this one.

Oh, my aching hands.

Ta-dum. Now we just need some moonlight to test it!

Looks like I got the thumbs up!

Seriously...I am the rockingest pumpkin carver on the block!

And Alana (and her ring pop) agree!

Actually, Alana told me that she thought the pumpkin looked "fantastic". She danced around the backyard, picking flowers and onion grass while I did most of the work...but to see her amazement at the finished product...well, it made it all worth it. I know our pumpkin will probably be rotten before too long--definitely before Halloween, but we wanted to carve it while Justin was actually home. We already have the Cinderella one waiting to be carved. Stay tuned!

Peace, Love and Over-achieving Mommy