Happy Birthday Nathan!

He's almost as old as that big guy behind him!

Flight Suit Party

Nathan's squadron is hosting a Flight Suit party in August where wives/husbands can dress up in their husband's (we'll just assume from here on out that those dressing up will be the wives - I can't imagine the one husband I know wanting to wear his wife's flightsuit to a party) uniform.

A lot of the girls are talking about cutting up the flight suit to make a fun little party dress to wear. Basically going from:


I don't know who this guy is, but he looks HOTT!


to this:

Imagine this with more coverage up on top, in a dark green color with more of a shirt waist and I think its what I want. I like the bit of netting underskirt there.

Here are some more dresses I found when searching for "shirtwaist dress"

Maybe more of a shirtwaist dress


Aren't these cute?


another cute one!


So is it possible to perform this kind of magic? I don't know. I think I need mom's expert help.

The more I think about it, the more I think I should probably just go in the flightsuit and skip trying to make a dress - it could be a miserably embarrassing flop!

I do get to have my own velcro name tag - black background with my name stitched in Pink!

Today's Run - 3.5 miles
This week - 22 miles
July total - 42 miles

It is 7:30pm and we are watching "She's the Man" and trying to keep quiet so Nathan can sleep. We have been waiting for She's the Man to come out on video since Sydney saw it at the movies with Auntie Erin last summer. It is a pretty cute movie. Some kissing that would make watching it with dad a little embarrassing, and some bad words, and... Okay, maybe not a great movie, but we have enjoyed it - 3 times so far!

We had a great time at the pool today, even though I didn't want to go. This was our Activity Day Girls' activity for July, and since I have been running the Activity Day program this summer - I had to be there. We had 11 girls come, and a few of their families stayed to swim, too!

I took a nap when I got home. I did NOT stop at Taco Bell on the way home, but I may still go after I put the kids to bed. Shhhhh!

++++++++

In other news, my most favorite watch is breaking. I love this watch. Nathan gave it to me for my birthday 2 years ago and I think it may be near the end of its life. I got the battery replaced in May, and a week ago the Indiglo light stopped working, and today the little sliding latch thing that keeps the band in place broke. I put a small rubberband on it to hold the band down, but it keeps grabbing my arm hair.

I really want to go to Taco Bell. I am in need of my Bean Burrito - no onions Fix. But alas, I have to get ready to go to the pool. And I don't have time!

I love our city pools and we go nearly everyday, but I don't want to go today. I want to get a bean burrito, come back home and eat it while watching tv, followed by a nap.

I am getting up from the computer right now. Then I am changing my clothes. Then we are out of here. Ready. Set. Go!

Buttonhole Bag

Isn't it cute! I knit up this little bag in just a few days. It is knit with large needles and two strands of wool yarn. Then it is felted. This is the first time I have felted anything and I was very nervous about ruining it in the wash. But it turned into the cutest little thing!

Doesn't it look just like a little Easter Egg in the grass:


Adorable

Donna at Quiet Life makes these little bags all the time and I have been interested in making one for a while. I found the pattern for the Buttonhole Bag at Mason-Dixon Knitting.

I took my new little bag with me to the eye doctor yesterday (my eye sight is slightly worse than last year - no much but a little - waaa) and it was a nice size for holding my wallet, my contact case and a little bottle of solution, my eye glasses, and my perscription. It would hold one or two small diapers and a baggie of wipes if you have a new babe to keep you company (Laurie and Heather and Mary), or a paperback book and some sunblock and your swim pass, or a camera and a snack, or....

It was so fun to knit that I picked up a little more yarn and have started another one - I should be able to finish it at the park today.

Today's Run: 3 miles
This week: 10
July total: 26




Goal #1 Get My Teeth Cleaned = completed!

I have no new cavities!

Later today I will complete Goal #12 Go Get My Eyes Examined.

I like having this list of goals - it is very motivating. As I am typing this I am also finishing up goal #5 Knit a Buttonhole Bag. It is in the washing machine getting all felted up right now. I wish I had taken a "before" picture, but I will definately take an "after" shot. It is looking so cute!

Have a great day!

This week's cleaning focus (a al Flylady) for me is The Kitchen. So I spent 15 minutes this morning cleaning out some cupboards and found 3 boxes of All Bran. Three? No one here actually eats All Bran. Must have meant to make muffins. I put buttermilk on my shopping list - maybe this week I will actually mix up a batch of Mom's bran muffins.

I also found 4 plastic storage containers that are just the right size for holding a container of cereal. I never use these here, and my first thought was - I will put these in the Goodwill box. Then I remembered why I bought those containers.

Florida.

Big Bugs.

Humidity.

In Florida you don't just roll down the top of your cereal bag and close the box. You use a plastic storage container to keep the cereal crisp in the humidity, and out of reach of the animal life.

I forgot all about that.

I will need to keep those containers for Hawaii. Yuck.

Combined Priesthood and Relief Society Meeting

Today was a special combined Priesthood Relief Society meeting in our ward. (Usually these meetings fall on the 5 Sunday of the month, but because of a Stake meeting on the 30th, our ward decided to combine this week) As Primary President I feel a little bad that our Primary teachers don't get to go to these meetings since they are "stuck" teaching the children. This week I decided that we would combine all the kids for Sharing Time and let the teachers go to the meeting. Waaaaa.

We had all the teachers teach their lessons during the Sunday School hour, and all the kids came together for the last hour. I was very tense about this, but it worked out okay. The music leader did a great job reviewing our program songs, and it was nice to hear all the kids singing together. Then the children acted out the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den. It was nice, especially because I wasn't the one teaching today!

The children did suprisingly well with just 4 adults in the room. Several families were on vacation, so we had just 45 kids in Primary, not our usual 60, and I think that helped. I felt like a yard duty lady, though, as I stood in the back and walked forward to shush any loud children. Maybe I need to get a whistle.

We also had some visitors that were unfamiliar with Primary and not very interested in being there or participating. Their parents wanted them to stay with us, but it was a little uncomfortable for them (and me.) I don't know what the best thing to do in that situation is. Take them to their parents? Make them stay even though they are making it hard for the other children to hear? Try to engage them? Let them wander the halls and splash in the drinking fountain? Invite their parents to sit with them? We will see how things go next week.

I didn't make any special arrangements for our nurseries, simply because I couldn't think of a way to keep the children in our 3 nurseries safe while their teachers attended the combined meeting. It turned out that only 1 of our usual 6 nursery teachers actually sat with his class, though, anyway.

Things got a little crazy in our nurseries. First, one man who team teaches in the downstairs class was gone as his wife had a baby last week - I was prepared for that and had arranged for a sub.

Then, both men who teach one of the upstairs classes were called into the Elder's Quorum Presidency, and were then unable to be in their class, and will need to be replaced. I knew about one of them, but the other was a suprise - I am really excited for him in his new calling, but I don't know how we will be able to replace him.

And last, the couple that teach the other upstairs nursery class had to go to the combined meeting for some reason.

This is the kind of week that makes me a little loonie - even without the added stress of that combined meeting. In the end we were able to find some good nursery helpers to fill in, and divided up the children from the one class into the other two. I guess everything was okay, not splendid, but okay.

I'm glad these meetings only happen quarterly. It all worked out - the kids were safe, we taught our lessons and sang our songs, but I didn't really have fun. I hope that the teachers enjoyed the special meeting (darn it), but I'm not sure if we will try this again next time. How does your ward do Primary during a combined RS/Priesthood meeting?

Miles today: 4
Miles this week: 16

Goal #14 is to jog along all of our city's 13 1/2 mile bike path. It is a nice little paved trail that follows Rapid Creek through the center of town. The path goes around ponds, next to playgrounds, under roads, and over the river. It also has several water fountains and restrooms nearby.

So far I have been on about 7 miles of the path. My favorite thing is seeing all the people out walking dogs and biking and jogging along the way.

Last week I set my timer to go off after 15 minutes, so that I would have a 3 mile round trip. Just as my alarm went off signaling me to head back to the car, a police car pulled up near me and parked his car in a parking area along the trail. I wondered if he would think it was odd if I just turned right around and ran away. So I kept on jogging a little further - to the next bridge, then turned around and went passed him as his police dog was out getting some exercise.

Today I started at that parking spot and went about 20 minutes further along the trail. I went around a couple of nice ponds and got a drink at two different drinking fountains. I also passed some lovely city gardens, and ran along side a train (John would have loved it!)

On my way back I noticed a police car driving slowly on the road near a part of the path. I lost sight of him as I ran under a road. I heard the crunch of a tire on the path, and looked back thinking that a bike was getting close to passing me, but it was the police man driving right behind me under the bridge. Yikes! I didn't even realize the path was big enough for a car to use! Isn't that strange? He then turned off the path and drove across the grass to the road and stopped to talk to a man that was laying on the grass. I imagine he was just checking to make sure the path was safe, etc. But it kind of freaked me out.

I enjoyed the last mile of my jog - back around a pond, another stop at a drinking fountain, and under one last road. I didn't have any more police sightings. I can't decide if it is a good thing that the police make sure that the trail is safe, or if it is a scary thing that the police need to patrol the path the keep it safe. I think I will bring Sam with me next time as I jog up near The Chapel in the Hills and the Fish Hatchery.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Wend - a - Roo


And here's a little July 6th trivia:



You Say It's Your Birthday......


It's My Birthday, too!

30 Things to Do the Summer I turn 30

Tomorrow is the big day! The big 30!

In honor of this momentous occasion I have been compiling a list of 30 things to do this summer. 30 things I want to do, or need to do, or should do, or have been thinking about doing.

Here goes - in no particular order:

1. Get my teeth cleaned
2. Try 10 new recipes
3. Send ducky towels to new neices and nephew
4. Run a 10 K race
5. Knit a button-hole bag
6. Post 30 notes on my blog
7. Climb Harney Peak (the highest peak east of the Rockies)
8. Go see Devil's Tower
9. Canoe
10. Plant petunias
11. Go see Devil's Bathtub
12. Get my eyes checked
13. Go to the concert in the park
14. Bike ride/jog all of the city trail
15. Do cooking school with Sydney
16. Identify 10 local wildflowers
17. Buy a new swim suit
18. Track my miles run
19. Go to a rodeo
20. Take Emily in for her Kindergarten immunizations
21. Pan up a little gold
22. Have a garage sale
23. Renew my temple recommend
24. Go to the Olympic National Park
25. Bike ride on the Mickelson Trail
26. Write the Primary Program
27. Take in my neglected dry cleaning
28. Keep a reading log
29. Sleep under the stars
30. Watch the sunset

If I just blog about each item, then I will have my 30 notes! On tomorrow's list of things to do: call for eye, teeth, and temple recommend appointments...

4th of July

Happy Independence Day

I love the 4th of July. Probably because it is right before my birthday, and I secretly think all the hoopla is just for ME!

The 4th of July is a big dang deal in Rapid City South Dakota, and so far we have already gone to a parade, watched 2 B-1 fly-by's and one B-52 fly-by, watched the city fireworks show from our back porch, celebrated with hundreds up at Mt Rushmore, listened to a marching band and other groups perform, and watched a huge fireworks display. And that was all before today!

Today we are recooperating from the 2.5 mile hike up to Mt. Rushmore in the driving rain, a day spent sitting on damp sheets in a field, strained neck muscles from watching the 29 minutes of fireworks above the heads of Washington and Lincoln, and the 2.5 mile hike back to the car with sleepy kids who needed to be carried all the way down. Later, when we are all rested, we are going to go to a neighborhood BBQ, eat lots of good food, and light up a few more fireworks.

What a great way to prepare for my 30th birthday!!!!

I have been working on a list of things to do this summer. It is not complete, but one item is to blog 30 times this summer. This is blog #256... stay tuned for tomorrow's blog #257 where I post the incomplete List of 30 Things To Do the Summer I Turned 30 and you can give me a few ideas!

KP Duty

I get to go to Girls Camp with Hannah next week! I am so excited about it - I can't stop singing silly camp songs - Anne Marie loves John Pierre, it's written on the cafe sidewalks everywhere......

Our ward is responsible for making sure there is enough bathroom supplies and for assigning KP duty. (What exactly do the K and the P stand for?) We are going this morning to buy garbage bags and cleaner and toilet paper.

The question is: How much toilet paper will 100 people need for 4 days? I couldn't sleep last night as I was trying to figure that out. If each person uses the bathroom 3 times a day, that is 300 times a day x 4 days = 1200 bathroom uses. If each person needs 5 squares of tp each trip, that makes 6000 squares of TP. So, how many squares are on a roll?




Okay, I just checked our TP, and there are 400 squares per roll (I did not count them, it is listed on the package) 6000 squares needed divided by 400 squares per roll=15 rolls. But what if everyone goes to the bathroom 6 times a day, or what if they use 15 squares instead of 5? I have a feeling 15 rolls is not going to be enough.

I wonder if there is some kind of toilet paper planning page that I can find online. I will check now. No luck. I have been searching for a site that lists the amount of toiletpaper recommended per person per week, but, though I found a Toilet Paper blog and some other interesting things, I cannot find the right formula.

I'll let you know next week if we bought the right amount.

We're in the Army Now

Nathan volunteered for an ALO tour (I'm not really sure what ALO means, but it is something like Army Liason Officer which means he will be working on the ground with the Army) We have been waiting on pins and needles to find out if we were getting this new assignment. Finally, after three weeks, Nathan was called into his commander's office and was given his orders. (To be honest I don't think he actually has printed orders, which means this could still change, but..) We are heading to Hawaii!




Nathan will be working with an Army light infantry division (or something like that) for two years. He'll still be in the Air Force, but we will be living on an Army base. We had hoped to be able to go to Germany, but Hawaii sounds much more exotic than Louisianna.

We don't know when we will move, and it could be a year before we actually go, but it is a relief to finally have an assignment.



Won't Sydney look cute on a surf board?

We went to Storybook Island this morning. It is a free city park with lots of fun nursery rhyme themed buildings and statues. They also offer 3 free plays a day through the summer. We were only there for short time while Hannah was at her flute class, so we weren't able to see a play, but we enjoyed running around the park.


Cinderella at Storybook Island

We went into Peter's Pumpkin, and the 3 Little Pigs' home. We climbed on Little Engine #9 and crossed the bridge to the other side with the 3 Billy Goats Gruff. We climbed a tower and even went down a slide through an ice cream cone.

I noticed a man painting the wheel of the train, and I was suprised to see that he was wearing a bright orange shirt with "INMATE" printed on the back. I saw a few more inmates working around the park to get it in tip-top shape for the summer, and I thought: at least they are easy to spot in their bright orange shirts. Then I looked down and noticed that I, too, was wearing a bright orange shirt! Hmmm.

Luckily my orange shirt had a little more style than the inmates', and there was nothing printed on the back, but I still felt a little silly.

12 years old

2 years old


4 years old


5 years old


7 years old


8 years old -eating the same cake she had this year!


9 year old cow girl


Han and Sam


Grampie and Han (10)


She only wishes she could make the crazy McBride face (11)


Beautiful

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Dandelions

A week ago our front yard looked just fine, and Emily was complaining that we never have any of those pretty yellow flowers. Then, almost overnight, our yard was over-run by those sneaky little weeds. So I went to Walmart and bought 3 dandelion weeding tools and planned a family work project.

I prepared all the kids, and Nathan, for our family work evening - everyone seems to need a little forewarning to be able to handle the stress of family-only-time. After dinner (meatloaf and mashed potatoes - I can't remember the last time I made meatloaf, but it was very tasty) Nathan headed out quick and mowed the lawn while we finished dinner clean up. Nathan is always really careful to mow when none of the kids are around because a kid he knew lost his eye when he was hit by a rock thrown from a mower - be careful!

The troops decended on the dandelions and we had a blissful 20 minutes where Nathan was mowing the backyard, Hannah Sydney and I were plucking up dandelions, and Emily and John were gathering the weeds into a pile. It felt great to work together.

The attention span of my workers was pretty short, though, and soon Nathan and the kids were playing "monkey-in-the-middle" with Sam while I continued to work on the dandelions. I'm not complaining, we were all having a great time!

It was such a nice evening that several neighbors were out walking and stopped by to visit. It felt great to work, play, and talk - I think the backyard might need a little work tonight!

Being the Mom

Here are some things that I love about being the mom.

I love giving and getting kisses to/from my children - wet sloppy kisses, butterfly kisses, eskimo kiss, embarrassed-in-front-of-your-friend kisses, blowing kisses, owie kisses, goodnight kisses.

I love doing little rhymes - head knocker, Johnny Johnny Johnny Johnny Whoops Johnny, itsy-bitsy spider, wind wind wind the thread...

I love reading stories - even the bigs will let me to read to them.

I love baking with the kids - cookies and cinnamon rolls are our favorite.

I love to see them able to cook on their own - No Bake Cookies made by Hannah are the best!

I like getting hand-picked flowers - Emily is sad that we don't have very many dandylions in our yard, but she is able to find some almost everyday to give me. Sydney gave me some lilacs just last Friday and they have made the kitchen smell so lovely.

I love seeing a grouchy kid trying really hard to stay grouchy - but letting a smile slip out anyway.

I like going on a walk and doing that fun trick of kicking the person next to you with a backward kick, and then watching as that little person tries to do it back to you.

I like hearing all about a good day, or a bad day.

I like playing park-tag. Even though Hannah (and probably Sydney, too) is faster than me and can chase me down and make me "it".

I love family clean-up time around the dinner table - when it works, and everyone is doing a job without crying or pouting, it feels great to all work together.

I love how being a mom has helped me learn more about my own mother and what a great mom she is!

I love watching how quickly these crazies grow from wee little ones into big kids with dreams of their own.

Being a Mom is so fun! Happy Mother's Day to me! And to you, too!

Welcome Home Nathan

Nathan flew in Monday evening after 4 long months in Guam. We are so excited to have him home.

Things were a little crazy around here getting ready for him to come home - lots of laundry and carpet cleaning and yard work - you should have seen me using the weed-wacker (how that string stuff works is a mystery to me.)

Monday afternoons are generally a little wild with track and piano and gymnastics. All that rushing around made the day whiz by, but when we got down to the squadron we found that the planes were arriving a little later than we thought. Not a big deal, but as the only wife there with children, I was worried that my kids would get all wound up and drive everyone crazy. Luckily a few other children came, so we went outside and ran races.

When the guys come home on the B-1's it is not a big production like it is when they come home with the big group (it is still special and exciting, but there are a lot less people.) It is just 2 planes with 4 people in each. So as the planes were approaching we were able to take a little bus out on the flightline and watch them land. Then the bus drove us over to where the planes park and we were able to see them climb down out of the plane.

Nathan was the first guy out of his plane, and while I was trying to get John's earplugs in place and climb out of the bus, Emily jumped out and ran right over to Nathan to give him a big hug! John was just fascinated by Nathan and wouldn't take his eyes off him. He hasn't acted shy around Nathan at all.

So it's like a little honeymoon around here, which can be a little embarrassing! It is awkward to have neighbors ask if it is fun to have Nathan home... And yeah, actually - it's great!

Happy Birthday Emily

5 years old

Please, everybody, look at me!
Today I'm five years old you see!
And after this, I won't be four,
Not ever, ever, anymore!
I won't be three-or two-or one,
For that was when I'd first begun.
Now I'll be five a while, and then
I'll soon be something else again!
(Marie Louise Allen)


Bug Cake


Ladybug Pinata