San Antonio is so much nicer than El Paso!

Well this last weekend we went to see Owen. We left last thursday night and I drove all night. That is what I do... It is so much easier than trying to drive any distance that is going to take more than 3 hours with 3 children, all under 5, wide awake! So when I make a long roadtrip... it is generally just me and the long haul truckers on the road.

I digress.... I dont have any great pictures of the trip.My camera battery is dead. It will not hold a charge at all. So no pictures. (There will be pictures later though... Owen had a crappy point and shoot!) Which is a bummer cause I saw some really neat things on the road. There was a truck pulling an antique firetruck on a trailer. There was and armadillo. (I think it was dead...) There was the town of Ozona. The aforementioned town would not have been at all remarkable.... except that some funny things happened while I was there. First of all I stopped at the local gas station because, well I needed gas... and the two youngest children needed new diapers, and Alexander had to pee. So I stopped for gas.... And when I got out of the bathroom (yes we used the bathroom first.. you dont tell a 4 year old that they have to wait just cause you want to be a customer before you use the facilities!) the gas station was oddly busy. Yes it was first thing in the morning so I suppose that some of the people there could have theoretically needed gas.... but I did say oddly busy... and the reason I said that is because only 2 of the customers (other than me of course) was pumping gas. They were all watching me pump gas. Seriously.

Now I know that I do not look particularly mainstream... and I am sure that for the people in that town the sight of a young-ish girl with purple hair, all black clothes, and a pair of really tall boots was a strange sight.... but seriously!? Someone had to have called all their friends and said "come down to the gas station! You are never gonna believe this lady that is pumping gas.... and she wanted to pay before she pumped!!!" (I am from cali... you always pay before you pump there cause if you are a gas station owner and you dont make them pay first... you are gonna be giving out alot of free gas!) Now I suppose that you could argue that perhaps the local townspeople always hang out at the local gas station.... but 1. I am pretty sure that I saw a flash go off... like someone took my picture... and 2. as I pulled out of the gas station.... so did the masses. Seriously. I looked back when I got to THE stoplight and there was nobody at the gas station!!!!!

Now that in and of itself was strange to me... but then I tried to listen to the radio.... There were 4 stations.

1. Retro Country
2. Contemporary Country
3. Christian
4. Oldies

Ok. This is a rural area. I get that. But seriously!? And the oldies station wasn't even playing the good oldies! The only song they played that I recognised for the entire 2 hours I was listening to Ozona's oldies station was "Mr Postman" you know that song that goes "wait mr postman! Look and see! Is there a letter in your bag for me?" Plus even the commercials were weird. They were all about "go eagles!" or "Go Lady Eagles!" with a very small blip at the end that would say something like " brought to you buy Jacks Barn Insurance! Dont forget that if you have a metal roof you will get a discount on your insurance!" I am sure that that is completely normal for rural areas... but I am a city girl... A big city girl.

Well that is enough about Ozona! It took me longer to write about it than it did to pass through it! I have to admitt though... Ozona was beautiful. Green and fresh smelling. And the people that I did talk to were very friendly!

So I continued on to San Antonio. I took the I10 the whole way. San Antonio is more like Hollywood than anywhere else I have been in the state of Texas, with one major exception. I felt safe walking around in downtown San Antonio at night.

After all that driving I was tired. You don't believe me? This is what I looked like a couple of hours after we got there:

Yep. I looked bad. I know. It is ok.

So since I was exhausted and the children were not... we took them to Mc Donalds. This was the only Mc Donalds that I have ever been to that actually closed their playplace at exactly 9pm!!!! (I had already been there for a while by now... I am just cutting out the boring parts... like about how Alexander gave himself a concussion at the Commissary) We were still hungry though... so we ate. Then, as we were leaving Alexander decided to climb the wall.... yep. Just hours after knocking himself unconscious at the store he was climbing brick retainer walls!

Nice.

Then Owen gave us a car tour of Downtown.

The Alamo

Somehow... the picture of the Alamo is the only thing that came out at all decently. Well that and some pictures of our riveting trip to the gas station... where my very handy spouse informed me that I was dangerously low on air in my tires..... so he fixed it!

The price of gas in downtown San Antonio.

My handy hubby filling my tires.... Let's ignore the dirtiness that is my van... Living in El Paso has taught me to not waste water washing it, cause 2 seconds after you do the wind is gonna blow and get your whole car covered in dust again.

Then we went to our hotel... called The Rodeway Inn. It looks nicer than it did in person.... but it was a pretty decent hotel, all things considered....

Then we went to bed. That pretty much concludes the first day of our trip. Saturday was all about Sea World.... and I think it deserves its own post... so once the kidlets go to bed for the night... I will write about that.

Do you identify with this at all?

I love Dane Cook. I do. It is ok... Owen knows. I love Dane Cook cause he is one of few comedians whose comedy I really identify with. Right now my personal favorite is this little skit called B&E.... Watch it!!!!!



I can totally identify with this! I thought once apon a time that I wanted to be a criminal.... but I really just wanted a little blue collar mayhem! I just thought I would share that with you.

So on a completely different front.... Aeddon has the cutest vocabulary.... He likes to use big words... the best part is that he uses them correctly... even if he doesn't quite pronounce them correctly.... For instance he loves to say "Thats fantastic!" But he says "that's furdtastic!" He also asks me "are you frusterated?" But he says "are you fudderdaded?" So cute!

On the crafting front... I have been making soakers for Mikaela. Her skin is so sensitive that she can't handle the PUL in some of her diapers.... so I am switching her to all wool. With wool she hasnt had a rash at all in over a week... So I have been knitting as fast as I can... considering... I have finished 2 soakers already and am about 1/2 done with a third one. I will probably need about 6 or 7 in her current size... then I think I will start making her some XL ones so that I wont have to scramble to make them when she needs them! Here are the ones I have done so far.....

This is the first one I made!


Here is the second one...

I know they are not that pretty... but they catch poop... so I am really not that worried about it. Once I finish the 3rd one (that will make 4 total cause I have one that I bought...) then I am going to take a small break from soakers and knit Katja for Mikaela in the super pretty Noro Yarn that I talked about here I think that the blend of cotton and wool in that will make a great little shirt for Mikeala! Plus I think I can adapt the pattern to knit it in the round so that it is faster to make.(Plus I totally suck at seaming...) If I end up liking it I forsee a future for Mikaela of summer wardrobes consisting entirely of katja shirts and the Summerlin dress/shirt by Kathryn Ivy.... So Cute!!!! I can just see it now... anyways...

On the homebaked goods front... I decided to try my hand at making sourdough from scratch... I used the sourdough starter recipe I found online... then I used the Berkeley Sourdough recipe.... I might have to adjust the recipe for the Berkeley sourdough though... cause it just did not rise as much as it is supposed to and I have a feeling that the bread is going to end up significantly more heavy than it is supposed to! I followed the recipe exactly... but the bread dough didnt feel stretchy enough... so it didnt rise for crap. I am gonna bake it anyways and see what happens. worst case senario I wasted some time and about 2.5 cups of flour. It will be worth it if I can figure out how to make my own bread. I get tired of buying 2 loaves a week for 3 bucks a peice when I could make twice that much for half the money! I will post about the bread some more latter... I need to go make it now.....

Anyone have a spare couch in the El Paso area?

My life is an adventure! I know I have said this before... but sometimes I really mean it. Take today for example.....

I decided to make the kids a good lunch for once and not just a PB&J..... Pan cooked Quesadillas to be exact. So anyways... I am just taking the last Quesadilla out of the pan when Alexander comes running up to the kitchen gate (yes my kitchen is gated off.... I found Aeddon "hiding" in the oven one to many times....) and screams "MOMMY!!! MOMMY!! AEDDON MADE A BIG MESS! COME QUICK!" so I do what any good mom does... I finish serving the Quessadillas onto their plates and make my way to the livingroom.... And this is what I see....



Yep. That is Aeddon covered in peanut butter. He had taken a full 18oz jar of peanut butter out of the cabinet while I was cooking (the food cabinet is a stand alone thingy in the dining room... it didnt fit in the kitchen...) and proceeded to rub it all over himself... and all over my couch.

After I took a deep breath I asked him what the heck he thought he was doing... and his response????? Go ahead. Try to guess......

"OOOOOOOOO smooth skin! SO SOFT!"

Seriously.... where do kids come up with this stuff???? Do they go to crazy idea college when you are not looking? He actually thought that the peanut butter would work like lotion! AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Aeddon was easily cleaned up. I gave him a bath... and used alot of soap.... and other than the fact that he smells a little like a walking peanut... he is as good as new.

My couch on the other hand......



Is not going to make it. There is just no way to clean that much rubbed in peanut butter out of a loosely woven fabric. So it is sitting out on the curb waiting to be taken out with the trash tomorrow morning.

Of course there is a down side to not keeping the peanut butter couch... I only had the one couch. So now I have no couch... which means that I am sitting on the floor when I sit in the livingroom....

This sucks. Anyone know someone who has a spare couch they wanna give me?

Caffeine Addicts Swap!!!!!

I received my swap package today from my swap partner Muoriska today! I am so excited! She really did an awesome job shopping for me! Here is the box before I opened it!

I love the butterfly stamps and I am trying to figure out how to save them without ruining them...

The first thing I encountered when I opened my package was bubble wrap... which made Alexander happy!


Then was this really cute print on cloth...


Then there was the card... all the designs on the card are actually stickers! So cool! I unfolded it so I could show off the front and back at the same time!


These are all the beverages I received! There is Vanilla Coffee, Two packets of what... if I am guessing how to read them correctly are Mocha Cappuccino's... (the package says Rommikaakao Cappuccino) And four individual tea bags of assorted flavors.... The green one says White Tea Pear Garden, the purple one says White Tea Blueberry Muffin, the blue one says White Tea Grapefuit Aloe, and the orange one says White Tea Grapeberry.


Next was the yarn! There were 5 skeins total.... one handpainted, worsted weight sock yarn in shades of green, blue and purple..... two in a brightish colorway that consists of shades of pink, yellow, green and orange. The colors in that one makes me think of candy necklaces... There were also two skeins in a pretty purple-y shade....


Then there was the mug. It is cute!



And with the mug came a spoon to stir my coffee with! I believe that the picture on it is two hippos hugging... but I could be wrong....


There were also these super cute little charms that said "hand made" on them....


Of course I can't forget to mention the candy! There was these three "filled" licorice candies.... I think they are coffee flavor filled... but wont know for sure till I try one.... Then there is the packet of chicklets-like gum that is fruit flavored.... and a chocolate bar that apparently has chili flavoring to it... I am waiting to eat that until morning... but I am really looking forward to it!


And last but not least... the cute little stuffed bunny head... which I think is super cute! I think I might attach him to my keychain....


So that was the contents of my package!!!! I couldn't be happier with my package! Here it is all together!

Mikaela's Birthday

So Mikaela's birthday was last week. I can't believe that my little baby girl is 1 already! It seems like only yesterday that she looked like this:


Wait... I have to have a better newborn-ish picture......


Ok... that one is more sad... but she looks prettier!

So anyways.... I can't believe how much she has changed! And I cant believe how much she has learned! Wanna see some milestones?


This is her first day home. That was exactly one year ago today!


This is Mikaela at her own babyshower....


This is her holding her head up while on her belly.... for the first time....


Her first time crawling up on all fours....


Her first time sitting all by herself..... for more than a couple of seconds....


Her first snow.


Her first big girl bath....

And now for the pictures of her first birthday!


The cake.... I made her a personal cake and everyone else cupcakes. I webcam broadcasted the cake so that Owen and our families could watch. I also called everyone who wanted to sing her happy birthday and put them all on speakerphone so we could all sing together!


Birthday cake madness!

Then came the presents! There wasnt much... I had to spend most of her birthday money on food... the army shortchanged us again... so when we get paid she will be getting more presents.... but here is what she did get!


A completely soft pink haired babydoll was first.


Then one of those ring stacker toys came next! She still had cake on her eye! I just noticed that!

Then last but not least:

It is a penguin! It plays music and makes happy noises... and it rocks back and fourth... she can beat it around all she wants... and it almost always pops right back up! So cute!

So that was Mikaela's birthday!

My birthday....

So my birthday was on Sunday.... April 13th. I turned 26. Yep. I got some good stuff for my birthday.

For example I got a surprise party that was only kind of a surprise.... Not their faults.... I just think to much. Here is some of the fun from the party....


This is me opening my present from Heidi. It is a bathset... it smells like honey almond.

This is my favorite part of my birthday dinner:

Eggplant Parmesean! YUMMY! MY FAVORITE!!!!!!!

This is my birthday cake!

It started its life as Elmo.... By the time I got near it.... it was a cool looking chocolate m&m monster on a bed of chocolate ice cream!

And these are a bunch of pictures of us all singing to the PS3 American Idol Karaoke game...... I didn't want to sing... but was informed that as the birthday girl... I had no choice. So I sang too!






(for the ladies featured in my pictures.... that is what you get for making me sing!)

My husband also had a present sent to me! He ordered it online and had it shipped to me......



Thank you Honey! I love Piers Anthony!

My in-laws sent me a card.... a very pretty card... with money. Money that I am going to use to buy these: Boots!

YAY for new boots.

My Mom said she was gonna give me birthday money.... but she hasnt done it yet.... wish she would hurry up and do it.... since I already spent it! I bought yarn! Thanks MOMMY!

Also on my actually birthday Bill and Jessica stopped by..... they brought me a cake... which for some reason I didnt photograph... I do, however, have pictures of the kidlets eating it!




So that was pretty much my birthday...

(oh btw.... if you noticed that I was wearing vinyl in the picture of me singing... that is a long story... I would rather not dicuss it on here if you dont mind!)