Tornado!!!

So while Joe and I are in Tampa trying to get our future housing taken care of, we stopped in to the BX on MacDill to get Joe some sandals (his had a mold infestation that we can't quite explain since he never uses them ... or maybe that's why?)  then we decided to eat some lunch while there.  In the midst of eating my "Archer" sandwhich from the almost Subway shop called Robin Hood Sandwiches, the lovely Aussie that was speaking over the loud speaker announced that the base was under a tornado warning and to please gather our things and move to the back of the store to Customer service.  We kind of laughed and gather our stuff and moved back to where the crowd was being herded.  After a short while, they announced we would be stuck there for about 30 minutes.  So we made ourselves as comfortable as we could on the hard linoleum tiled floor right in front of the very new and impressive Sony 3D TV to watch the ending of a little film called AVATAR.  I do have to say it was very impressive to watch that movie on a 3D screen.  I was almost entertained!  But my fun couldn't last as long as that movie.  After just 15 minutes the storm passed and we were cleared to go.  As we exited and got in the car, we noticed it had dropped a lot of rain, but not too much damage to the immediate area.  So we set off on our adventure of finding my dream home.  We got the Nav. all set up to tell us where to go and we left the base.  But after about a mile we saw just how much damage was done.  There were tree's down and roads washed out.  We had to turn around and find an alternate route to our location.  I wish I had thought of taking pictures of the guard rail that was torn up and in the middle of the road, but I was not so quick.  But we did get a picture of the road that we drove on that was flooded. :)  I will add it to my post when I can figure out how to get it off my phone.  Yes once again I forgot to bring my camera.  :(   As our adventures continue on our quest to finding our dream home I will keep you updated and I am sure we will have plenty to share with all of you!

When is a month too long?

I'm going to back up even longer than a month because that's when everything started.  We got a phone call in mid October letting us know that Joe's Grandma Beth passed away.  This came as a shock at first but it was a relief as well since she suffered from Alzheimer disease.  We decided we needed to be there.  See Grandma Beth was very special and a wonderful woman.  I want to be the kind of grandma she was.  But then we looked at just how much it will cost for us to go to the funeral then turn around and come home just to turn back and go to my family's place for Thanksgiving.  So we decided we would take the kids out of school for the month and take our time visiting our loved ones.


At first this seemed like a great idea.  Then we actually had to do it.  Taking the kids out of school for that amount of time required a lot of work on the teachers and the principal.  They worked miracles and let us do it.  Then came the hard part... Independent Study.  I do not suggest doing this if you are not willing to be hard nosed with your kids.  My kids don't like me trying to be their teacher when I am helping them with homework, so I.S. was less than super fun.  But we made it through and they got all their hard work done.  While we visited family we were able to help redecorate my niece's bedroom, play in the snow, have three bouts of the stomach flu and still make it back!

  The worst part was the stomach flu on Thanksgiving.  I don't suggest this method of weight management to anyone.  ;)  We did have fun and by the time we got back home we were ready to get back to our normal lives. 

 The boys are back in school and they LOVE their teachers.  I was informed that I am not as good or nice of a teacher as their teachers are.  I am glad they love their teachers and I am glad I am no longer in charge of teaching them things I, myself, am not very proficient in

Tragedy while at Walmart

So today Ian and I ran to wally-world for a few odds and ends for our camping trip tonight.  I thought it would be fun to get the small cans of A&W root beer for the boys along with stuff to make s'mores and just general goodies to munch on.  While I was in the camping isle looking for a charcoal chimney, Ian discovered how to open a can of soda by popping the lid using his teeth!  So exciting... I know.  So after we had that discovery, he discovered just how wet you can get by pouring soda on yourself!  Isn't this fascinating?  So being the good mom that I am I decided to strap him in, take away the soda and head to the checkout line.  I spotted the perfect line: One lady checking out and no one else there yet.  So I dashed to the line and piled my treasure up on the conveyor belt and all the while Ian is intent with trying to escape.  The checker was doing a wonderful job at getting our stuff scanned and taken care of, but she wasn't quite fast enough, Ian figured out how to get himself unbuckled.  Oh the horror.  Oh the tragedy.  Now I have no way to keep my child securely fastened in the cart.  What am I to do?  Any suggestions would be helpful!

ooops!

So my hubby is a pretty good handy man and even a decent computer dude, but I believe he found his match today.  Here is the story from the beginning:


A few weeks ago my wonderful hubby was able to go on a trip to Portugal for a conference.  Lucky I know.  He took my camera to take pictures for me and they are amazing!  When I get the chance I will post some of them.  Anywho, he tried to download some pictures on to his computer by utilizing it's card reader not realizing he needed to have the little adapter card reader with my card because it's smaller than others.  So needless to say, it got stuck inside the computer.  Well, tonight he dared to open the laptop up and get the card out.  The down side to this?  Now he can't get his laptop to start up.  Hmmm.... what to do in this time of crisis.  Three things come to mind: 1) We could take it to a real computer dude to get it fixed.  2) We could go buy a new one.  3) My wonderful hubby could attempt to fix it again.  The out come to all of the above, I am afraid, will result in a new laptop.  But alas we shall see.  Only time and a few hours of silent reflection on my part will bring this dilemma to an end.  Good luck MWH.  I love you and hopefully you will come out of this unscathed. 

New Hair Style

My youngest is such a cutie.  He has these fabulous curls that just about anyone would love.  He reminded me of a little Hobbit.

After his birthday I realized I have never cut his hair.  I have fought with the tangles and snarls only to realize it was time for a trim.  So here is the evidence of how my baby turned into a little man.

Breakfast?

Friday morning was eventful.  We were out of milk so I made pancakes only to find we were out of syrup.  But that didn't stop my kids from loving it.  We had a partial traditional breakfast.  Usually we have pancakes, sour cream, mashed frozen strawberries, with syrup, we didn't have most of these... in fact we only could come up with two of the items, pancakes and sour cream.  So that is what we had. 

Hard to say "No" to this goodness! 

Glitter Hands

So as we were trying to get the boys homework done the glitter hand bandit struck.  If any one of you have ever had this mennis attack, you know the chaos that can ensue.  But in the end, the glitter bug fled the scene of the crime only to have a trail of glitter and we caught him.  Here is what we found...

I love my kids... :)

Party Time... Almost

So our littlest one turns 2 on Sunday!!!  We are celebrating tomorrow though and in honor of his new favorite movie, Cars, I made him a "car car" cake.  I think it turned out pretty good... you'll have to tell me what you think!

  Yes it is a 3D cake.  I think i did pretty awesome!

Bagel Recipe

Here is the recipe for anyone who wants it.  I just googled bagel recipe and this is one that popped up!

Don't freak out, it's not hard, just a little time consuming.

Homemade bagel recipe
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsps instant yeast
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.
Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
Pre heat your oven to 425.
Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!
Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.
After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!
Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!

You can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.

Peek-a-boo!

So we had some friends come over to play and Ian had so much fun with his little buddy.  Here is how they spent a good portion of the day...