November 24 = Zachary's Birthday!

Today Zachary turns 28!  I've known him since we were 12- crazy!  So we met him for lunch today and brought chickfila- no birthday is complete in this house without chickfila.  And right after that I headed to target to get some supplies to make him a legitimate cake.  I've never made a cake that involves more than a box, some eggs and some vegetable oil so this was an experiment that I was hoping would go well. 

Here's how the cake turned out; there are 28 strawberries instead of candles :)

Here's the whole dinner spread... we tried this chicken mozzarella pasta a few weeks back and Zachary loved it so he requested it for his birthday.

However- the dinner and the cake, as delicious as they were, were not the highlights of Zachary's day.  I finally gave in and let the man get a dog.  Instead of sitting down and savoring dinner, we ate a few bites between him texting people and me chasing the kids but one of Zachary's dreams came true so it was worth it.  

Meet Daisy!

We had asked the property company to call the owner of our townhouse and ask if we could get a dog and he said no.  So Zachary responded and asked if the property company guy could call the owner again and see if there were any stipulations we could follow.  A couple hours later we got a call from the property manager guy and he said that if we got a dog, the owner would never find out about it as long as we take her away from the house during the two inspections they do a year.  I had told Zachary he could get a dog as long as we had clear permission from Annapolis Property.  I should have said from the owner but he got me so... we got the dog.  Originally I wanted to wait until we moved next because we're planning on buying a house- we wouldn't have to worry so much about breeds and sizes and deposits, etc.  But Zachary had a good point- when we move, he could immediately have to meet a ship on deployment or leave for a deployment soon after we get there so he wouldn't have the opportunity to bond with the dog.  So now they get to bond.  She is such a sweetheart- stay tuned to see how this situation progresses- I have a feeling it's going to be a mix of stressful and rewarding!

November 22 = First Birthday Present Day

So, I've probably mentioned it before but Zachary and I are terrible about saving gifts for the day for which they are intended.  Also, Zachary mentioned, as we were planning Christmas gifts, that I am a unique gift giver.  Not that my gifts are unique, but that I am very, very practical.  I like to get people things that I know they need or that I know they'll use.  My favorite thing to do is when I hear someone mention that they need something to make a mental note of it and grab it.  So after he pointed this out, I decided to get him something with no practical use at all to show I'm flexible.  I had seen this ball in a yoga magazine- it has little knobs on it that make it bounce in unpredictable ways- it's good for baseball players to quicken their reaction times for fielding ground balls but I thought Zachary would have fun with it- I pictured him taking it into work and bouncing it through their really long hall.  He had a beer or two when we were playing with it which made him determined to "field" every throw I made and one of them bounced way out his way but that didn't stop him.  He dove for it, putting all of his weight on his pinky and it's not going to be great tomorrow.  I think I'll go back to my practical gifts for Christmas.

Here's Malia with the ball- hopefully she keeps it and doesn't let her Daddy play with it anymore.

And here are two random things I saw on facebook today that I feel like sharing.

November 19 = Meet Santa Day

Today is Thursday which means another CDC day for Liam.  I noticed yesterday when I went grocery shopping that Santa was going to be at the commissary today so after dropping Liam off, I took Malia over to meet Santa.  She was not amused.

So the maintenance people have been amazing with this washing machine situation.  They sent out an appliance guy who looked at the washer today and said the sensor that tells the machine it's full of water malfunctioned and that when that happens, it means it's on its way out.  He said, "so I wouldn't do any laundry unless you can stand there with it the whole time..." and I said, "oh so it still works?" excitedly because with two kids and a husband who works out every day, going a lengthy amount of time without a washer is not going to work.  And he said, "oh well... I mean no..." but I took that to mean that it's really, really important that I stand there the whole time to ensure the water stops when it's supposed to.  So today I was downstairs listening to a whole cycle of laundry and Zachary was upstairs with the kids.  He sent me this to entertain me during this riveting time:

Also, I just want to mention that Liam's vocabulary is growing every day it seems!  Today, on the way home from the CDC he said "almost home."  He continued to say it the whole way home and it's so very cute!

November 18 = Silly Facebook Link Day

I have no pictures from today but I did take a screenshot of this, my most used words on Facebook: Liam, Malia, Zachary and happy.  I like it!

November 17 = Washer Malfunction Day

Today is Tuesday which means Zachary has class and doesn't get home until 9:00.  I had the kids downstairs and was working on some laundry and doing some stuff on the computer.  Liam was going in and out of the downstairs room- he loves opening and closing the door.  Well one time he was going out, he fell and hit his head on the floor.  I went to comfort him and noticed there was a lot of water on the floor.  I had been sitting ten feet away from the washer and didn't even notice it was overflowing.  I turned the washer off and started getting things off the floor because the water was spreading fast.  I got the kids upstairs and called maintenance and they said they were sending someone.  I was trying to get in touch with Zachary but he was in a meeting and didn't have his phone on him.  Thankfully the lady said the maintenance people would come that night and help us out.  Zachary called and I told him what was going on and said, "I was about to ask you to come home but..." and then he started talking about something- I thought he hadn't heard me at all so I didn't finish by saying "...since the maintenance people are coming, I'll be fine."  Well, he went back to his office and emailed his professor explaining what happened and assured him he'd get a makeup assignment in soon.  He called me on his way home and I told him to turn around- that we'd be fine!  It took some convincing but he went back and then, miraculously, the professor let the class out early!  Thank goodness he went because he ended up getting home 30 minutes later than he would have had he skipped class but now he didn't have a makeup assignment to do!  Couldn't have gone better!

While the maintenance people worked on tearing up the carpet and removing the padding and putting fans and dehumidifiers downstairs, Liam, Malia and I played in Liam's room.  Malia found Mr. Potato Head's glasses and decided they were for her.

Also I saw this quote today and it is very true.  And I wouldn't trade parenting for all the nice things in the world.  The snuggling totally makes it worth it.

November 16 = Playground Day

I am so obsessed with this playground.  Well let me back up.  I had an OB appointment today and Monday is Liam's CDC day.  When I went to drop him off I thought it might be a good idea to see if there was room for Malia there too so she didn't have to sit through my appointment.  Thankfully there was so I dropped her off to and came home and did nothing.  Well I watched TV and messed around on my phone.  I so rarely get to do that so that's what I did in my free time.  Then I headed to the OB and thank goodness I didn't have Malia with me because I had to wait in the waiting room for over 45 minutes.  Now back to the playground.  I picked the kids up and decided to stop at the playground instead of heading straight home because I'm aware that this nice weather is going to leave us soon so I need to take advantage of it!

Liam decided to take on the slide backwards today- he thought he was so clever!

And then he helped me push Malia in the swing.  Such a sweet brother!

November 15 = Daddy's Home Day!

In preparation for Zachary getting home this afternoon, I put up a "Happy Birthday Zachary" banner and ordered pizzas and made his favorite cheese dip.  My mom had gotten him a card that she wanted to give him before they left since they won't see him again before his birthday.  He thought he was going to get home around 6:30 so I was going to wait to order the pizzas so they'd be hot when he got home but when it was 6:30 and he wasn't home yet, I made the call to go ahead and get them because the kids were hungry.  Matt and Grace went to pick them up and I made the finishing touches.  But he still wasn't home.  And an hour later... he still wasn't home.  He didn't end up getting home until after 9:00 so the pizza was cold and he had already eaten dinner but he really appreciated the effort and made the comment that pizza is always good leftover.  Let's hope things go better on his actual birthday!  

But I kept the kids up to see him before they went to bed and they were elated to have their Daddy back and even sat still long enough for him to read them a story!

November 14 = Rugby Day

My mom, brother and Grace came in last night.  Zachary's gone this weekend for a marathon- he's not running- just supervising the Naval Academy's marathon team.  But a couple of his guys are on the rugby team and they had a big game today so we decided to represent for him and go cheer them on.  I don't have a clue what's going on but it was fun anyway.  It was really windy- when the wind stopped, the temperature was perfect- but that was rare and with the wind it was really cold so we didn't last very long.

November 13 = Memory Day

I love this Timehop app!  Today it reminded me that we learned I was pregnant with Malia two years ago today!  We had taken Liam to get an EEG and he had to be sleep deprived for it, meaning we had to wake him up at like 5am and keep him up all day so that he would sleep for the EEG.  I remember telling the nurse that called to give us the instructions that when he is sleep deprived, he does not sleep and that he doesn't sleep anywhere but his crib so no matter what we do to him, he's not going to sleep for the EEG but she insisted we follow the rules and we did.  But like I predicted, he didn't sleep during the EEG so it was all for nothing.  We also had a guy that was new to the ship check in and he needed somewhere to stay so instead of giving him a hotel recommendation like he asked for, Zachary told him he was welcome at our house.  We took him to a Mexican restaurant and because I'm not a fan of being up at 5am myself, I decided to have a margarita.  Oops.  We got home that night and I took a pregnancy test and it was positive.  It was so very faint that we took another one out and compared and asked ourselves a million times- is this just wishful thinking?  But I took another one the next day and it was clearly there. 

And fast forward two year and here Liam and Malia are, hiding behind the curtain, looking out the window together.  I'm so grateful that they love each other so much- I can already see the protectiveness and loyalty they feel for each other in their eyes- and the jealousy and the annoyance... but mostly the love!

November 12 = Normal Day

First of all- Joey is such a cool cat- he does the weirdest things sometimes.  He stayed in this position long enough for me to run upstairs to get my phone and come back and get three pictures.
 

But also, we went to the gym today.  I don't think I've ever posted a picture of us at the gym which is odd because we are there all. the. time.  I just thought Malia was so cute walking along behind these two that I decided to snap a picture.  Liam's in his "football shirt," and Malia's not wearing any shoes... normal day!

November 9 = Drive Home Day

It was a pretty uneventful day- we drove home- and Malia actually slept!  It was a miracle!

November 8 = Grandma's Birthday!

Malia started the morning by stealing Pops' slippers and putting them on her hands.  Not sure how she got in his room but she has a thing for shoes.

She tried Daddy's shoes on too...

We headed to church where Zachary and I got to enjoy a service together and the kids were entertained in the nursery.

Then we came home and had a yummy lunch- hamburgers and hotdogs- but Liam wasn't into waiting until they were done so he snacked on some yogurt.  These yogurt cups have Mickey on them so they were a hit.

Then we had naps- I didn't think Liam would sleep but he did and he slept hard.  When it was time for him to get up I found this:

Then it was time for dinner... chili!  But before dinner, there was time for some Grandma birthday snuggles.  Liam went for a kiss.

I got a shirt for Malia that says "It's a nice day for visiting Grandma."  

The birthday cake was delicious- Malia agreed.

Zachary found this as a great opportunity to play around with Malia.  He kept sneaking up on her and she was a huge fan.

And here's a picture of Liam tricking Pops.  Liam ate a bag of fruit snacks and then grabbed another.  He took it to Zachary and Zachary said no.  So he brought it to me and I said, "What did Daddy say?" and he said no.  So then he took it to Pops who had been distracted by the iPad.  Pops immediately opened it and handed it to him while the rest of us looked on and laughed.  Gotta give Liam credit for being resourceful.

November 7 = Hang out with Grandma and Pops Day

Guest Blogger alert!  I was feeling really bad from my shenanigans from the night before so I have no pictures of what our day looked like.  Liam and Malia's day was much more fun and I'm going to let the lady who was there for it all tell you about it!

Well, I am so excited to post on a blog.  This is my first time!

Grandma and Pops were so excited!  Liam and Malia were coming to stay with us while Mama and Dada went down for Homecoming at The Citadel.  So, we tried to plan a fun day on Saturday for Liam and Malia.  It was raining, so we opted for Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh.  We had taken Liam there before, and he loved it!  It is just full of interactive exhibits of all kinds.  So, off we went.  Well, keeping up with two toddlers was a little more interesting than when the two of us grownups just had one to look after when we took Liam before.  But, we started off in the toddler room.

Malia loved the stuffed animals.

Liam was in his element with the little hiding place with the door to open and close.

More stuffed animals for Malia.

And, it ended with a sweet hand-holding of brother and sister!

We went around to other exhibits, but Liam and Malia kept Grandma and Pops too busy to take pictures out there.  Lol.  So, we headed home.  Malia was worn out and went right to sleep.  Liam, had other plans.

He just thought it was the funniest thing to put Gigi up above his head.  He just cackled!

So, we got home and off to nap time it was for these two little ones.  And, while they were sleeping, who came home but Mama and Dada.  It made for nice, happy smiles when the little ones woke up to see Mama and Dada.

We just had such a good time having everyone here, especially since it was Grandma's birthday.  I just love having the family around.  Here are just a few more pictures of our weekend.

Liam loves the outdoors!

Nice cuddle for Mom in the store.

Hamming it up just a little bit!

Good cuddle and story time with Pops!

Well, I'm sorry there are so many pictures, and that this is so long.  But, I just couldn't resist.  I love, love, love, my family.  Just wish that Uncle Matty and Aunt Rachel could have been with us, too.  All of you just brighten up our hearts.