10 Years...

Disclaimer: The following is probably headed in the direction of a sappy, sentimental post, marking our ten year anniversary. Just so you know what you are getting into...

TEN YEARS! Wow! It was ten years ago today that I married my best friend. What a ceremony! What a reception! What a party!

The wedding day included a huge blizzard, the limo forgetting to pick up the gentlemen (groom and all) from the hotel to take them to the church, limos doing doughnuts in the K-Mart parking lot, being surrounded by our most special family and friends, Hail to the Victors, great toasts ("Don't eat the mistletoe-" JC Morgan), dinner, dancing, noisemakers, New Year's Hats, Dr. Chicken, two French foreign exchange students really getting down, my darling sister-in-law demanding that the DJ play "Pour Some Sugar on Me," and lots and lots of fun. But most of all, it meant a couple of "I do's" from some youngsters crazy in love.

Since then, it has been a whirlwind ten years, including living in Texas, Arizona, Korea, Utah, Florida, and now South Carolina. It has also included trips across the country, Hawaii, Korea, China, Japan, Thailand, Jamaica, and Europe. We've skied. We've attended an Olympic Winter Games. We've waterskied and wakebaorded. We've lived ten years of Air Force life, with Air Force friends, who have become lifelong friends no matter where we all live. And, of course, ten years has produced the hooligans.

Even though we are busier than ever, and not nearly as much of "youngsters" as we once were, I like to think that we are still two crazy kids in love.

Thanks, Mike, for a wonderful ten years of adventures, miracles, and joy. Looking forward to the next ten.

Christmas, by the numbers

1880...the approximate number of miles we drove over the holidays

80 bazillion...how many miles it really seemed like

12...the number of hours it took us to drive from South Carolina to Michigan

2...the number of stops we made on the way there. The kids were incredible! It was all that Christmas, road-trip excitement! We can hardly believe we only had to stop twice. That's what great gas mileage and pre-emptively dehydrating your children can do for you!

1...the temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit, when we arrived.

-20...the wind chill when we arrived. Oh yeah, that's negative, baby.

61....the temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit, two days after Christmas. Only in Michigan. Only in Michigan.

almost 14...the number of hours it took us to drive back from Michigan. A freaky traffic jam north of Charlotte combined with a Matthew breakdown that only could only be solved with a doughnut caused us to move a little slower on the way home. Oh, and also this incident slowed us down...

18...the number of times I have burst out laughing since the following happened yesterday. Mike says, while at a stop and switching drivers, "OK. Now I'm driving. Time to really lay down some tracks. Yup, I'm behind the wheel. Time for some speed. Oh- no way to turn left here. We'll I'm just a clever enough cat to be able to figure out a way around it. Yessiree, I'll just go here and there, and then we are off! Here we go, onto the freeway. Oh, am I getting on the freeway the wrong direction? Oh, we're heading north. Oops." Way to lay down the tracks, Mario Andretti.

27 trazillion....the approximate number of calories I have eaten in the past week. The treadmill and I are going to be having quite the relationship in the new year.

9...the number of homemade pans of cinnamon rolls I have delivered to neighbors and teachers in the past month

5...the number of pans in the freezer that I forgot to bring to Michigan that will be calling my name every time I walk past them. The little jerks. Maple frosting covered jerks.

1...the number of cameras we forgot on our trip. You'll just have to use your imagination. Think little angels, all dressed up for Christmas. Joy on their faces. Playing together peacefully and remembering the real reason for the season. Then, remember whose blog you are actually reading and picture snotty noses and drool, all green clothing, and totally uncooperative hooligans.

A boatload...the number of completely ridiculous arguments we heard from the backseat. Here is an example. While driving near Detroit.
Matty: "Wook. A mountain."
Mitch: "No, Matty. It's a factory."
Matty: "A mountain."
Mitch: "A factory."
Matty: "A mmm-ooouuunnnn-ttttt-aaaaiiiiiinnnnnn!"
Mitch: "A ffffaaaaaaccccc-tttttt-ooooooorrrrrrryyyyyyy!"
Repeat about thirty thousand times.


And here comes the cheesy part:

Infinity...the joy we all received from spending the holidays with all of our loved ones.

Happy New Year!

Hey Ya'll-

I just returned from a neighborhood Holiday Brunch and Ornament Exchange. I really liked the ladies in the neighborhood.

Oh, and I had shrimp and grits. And it was delicious.

Hooligans + Zoo = Zooligans!

We love our zoo. I mean, we really LOVE our zoo. Just on a normal, random Tuesday, it is great. Clean. Organized. Easy to navigate. The animals seem to live in niced sized enclosures and seem to be fairly content with their lot in life. But, on a holiday, such as Halloween or Christmas, our zoo becomes fantastic. We went on Monday night to the Lights Before Christmas. We saw the zebras and the elephants (Matty's favorites) and all the green Christmas lights (Mitch's favorites) and waited in a very short line to see Santa.

Both boys rushed him. Matty actually did some excited skippy, hoppy sort of thing...all the while yelling "I want trains! I want trains!" Mitch hopped right up and proceeded to talk Santa's beard off, all about how Bruder toys are made in Germany and the plastic is heated and shot into heavy duty molds (Thanks, Bruder, for the informational DVD with the last order). Santa was a very nice Santa. He did not rush them. Did not mind me taking pictures. And acted like he cared a whole bunch about where Bruder toys are made.

Are we there yet?

Are the boxes all gone? Is there a place for everything and every thing is in its place? In a word...No. In two words. Heck, no! In four words...are you kidding me? But we can now get both cars in the garage, we have hung up a few pictures, and I know where most everything is. Here are a few photos of the new digs, in no particular order.

Here is Mitch's room. Note please the window. This is a new blue canvas Roman shade. We went a bit out on a limb picking these for the boys' rooms, but I really like them.

Matty's room.

These are the aforementioned pictures that are hung.

You will find me here.

This would have been nice to have posted first. Oh well. Here is the front entryway. And that's a vacuum cleaner hose in the bottom of the picture. My floor obsession lives on.

Dining room.

Here is our entryway from the garage. Laundry room is to the right of the picture. I love this area.

That's all for now. I will clean up some more rooms and take some more photos later!

Why Christmas Makes Me Drink...

My darling hubby is working this weekend, participating in a super-high-anxiety inspection that makes normally laid back Guard slackers all fidgety and uptight. Yuck. Anyway, I thought that our "life lessons" have been a little lacking lately with the hooligans, what with all of the moving and all. Sooooo...perfect idea. I will take the hooligans to a toy store. Let them select some toys for disadvantaged children, and we will donate them. Passing on the Christmas spirit. Check. Helping others. Check. Generosity. Love. Selflessness. Check. Check. Check.

It started with a big lecture. "Some kids have parents who love them very much, but they do not have enough money for Christmas presents...blah blah blah." We jump in the car, head to Toys R Us. On a Saturday. Before Christmas. While they were having some sort of Door Buster nonsense that meant that every single person within the greater Columbia should converge upon Toys R Us right now. DO IT! Let the giant giraffe be your guide. Get in 50 million car accidents on the freeway on your way there! Take up all the parking places! Let your children generally run amok in the store! Door Busters, people!

Well, needless to say, my plan was flawed. Severely flawed. We were nearly rear-ended on the freeway. We could not park. Trying to keep an eye on both children without backup was darn-near impossible. Actually selecting thoughtful presents was impossible, but we managed to just grab some things. Like tons of sidewalk chalk. No idea why, but Mitch latched onto getting the kids sidewalk chalk.

By the time we made it to the checkout, my kids had had it, I had had it, they both wanted to drive the stupid carousel car thing at the same time, causing them to argue, scream, try to bean each other senseless, and me to pretend I did not know them as all the parents turned to stare at the fighting hooligans. I finally paid, claimed the hooligans as my own, and took our prizes and sidewalk chalk to the customer service counter, so the hooligans could present their donations, be filled with the joy of Christmas, and I could call it a day. "Oh, sorry ma'am. The Marines already picked up the donations for the year." Despite the giant Toys for Tots signs adorning the front windows (along with Door Busters! Run Amok! signs)? Oh, Hell.

By the time we made it home, after traffic and low-blood sugar meltdowns on all of our parts, both kids went to time-out and I was wondering if it was 5 o'clock somewhere. With a trunk still full of toys. And sidewalk chalk.

Out of the Mouths of...well....Hooligans

Us: "Mitch! You had better knock that off. Santa is watching, and if you are not good, he will just bring you a lump of coal for Christmas."

Mitch (thinking): "Oh, that's OK! I could use the coal to make things and power them! I could make a coal train. And a coal powered tractor that has it's own generator. And a truck powered by coal! That would be great!"



Us: "Matty, do you like going to school and playing with your friends?"

Matty: "Yes!"

Us: "What are your friend's names?"

Matty: "Ummmm....Moose!"

Holiday Greetings! I have climbed out from under some boxes to bring you a few photos of our recent family fun-fest. Back in October, when the house hunting was at a stand-still, and we were staring at a lackluster holiday season spent amongst the fellow tenants of the ghetto apartment building, we had a great idea! Let's drive up to the mountains of North Carolina and chop down our own Christmas tree! Let's stay in a log cabin! Let's do it right after Thanksgiving! We won't be busy! It will be perfect!

My, how things changed. The house happened. Closing happened. The movers showed up with ALL of our long lost treasures, which was about 200 boxes more than I remember them packing up. Thanksgiving happened. And then we put the settling in on hold and drove north, landed west of Asheville at the idyllic Boyd Mountain Log Cabins and Christmas Tree Farm, and spent a glorious night in a charming, cozy, and rustic 150 year old log cabin, and then woke up the next morning to a fresh dusting of snow. We then trudged all around to find the perfect Christmas tree. It was awesome. The kids loved it, except for the part when I kept running in front of them and kneeling in the snow and yelling their names, all paparazzi-like, to try to take a photo or two. They were not having it. Simply not having it. Here are some fairly acceptable ones, though it did take me approximately 52,000 tries to even get these lovelies. There were some really horrible ones. Maybe I should just post those in the future!

Please take note of Matty's ever-present drool. (I have asked the doctor and the child dentist about this. Perfectly normal...just not socially acceptable. Let's hope he gets over it and learns to swallow prior to, oh say, 7th grade.) The drool actually froze and turned into an icicle.

Here is Mitch on the first take. Relatively cooperative. It went downhill from here...in a hurry.
Here he is somewhat later in the photo shoot, where I am yelling things like "Pickle Face" and "Spongebob Squarepants!" at him, ala the elementary school creepy school photograph guy, just minus the plastic comb.

And here is the real Mitch, thoroughly over the entire photography thing. I had better get used to this face. I think I may see a good deal of it when he is a teenager.

Happy Holidays from the Hooligans!

Overheard from the tub...

Matthew: "I drive the train. Mitchy...go in the backseat."

We' ve Landed...

Just a quick post to let ya'll know that we are here. The furniture is somewhat in place, the dishes are put away, and not a picture hung on the walls yet, but we are here and we are happy. The kids LOVE the house (as do we!). I have been reunited with my KitchenAid and my Dansko's, though I have yet to find my marbles. Probably in a box marked pots and pans, yet delivered to the guest room by the movers, only to open it up to find a garden hose. Ahhh....Movers. My Air Force friends are nodding right now, I know it.

Mike has also been reunited with his beloved Weber grill, and we have been enjoying it's char-broiled goodness once again. Everything seemed to survive storage fairly well, though our household goods won't tell me where they were kept. They don't want to talk about it.

Pictures and such will follow soon...after we tackle more boxes. That's all for now!

See Ya on the Flip Side!

Hey there!

After a serioulsy long day of packing, Mike is putting the finishing touches on the U-Haul truck, and we are out of the ghetto apartment and into the "Acorn House" as of tomorrow morning! Wish me luck (if you like me. If you don't, wish me sticky fingered movers who helped themselves to some items here and there, a la our last move) on getting in and getting settled.

Not sure when our new internet and all will be up and running, but the next broadcast should be from the natural beauty of our office, overlooking the lovely trees changing color and the running stream in the backyard, as opposed to sitting on the couch, with one eye on the computer and the other on the apartment nieghbor's dog to see if it poops and the neighbor leaves it on the grass. Hey, a $25 reward for catching a non-poop-scooper in the act! That's a dinner at Rob Robin!

Because One Just Isn't Enough

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Because You Just Might Need a Little Christmas Spirit...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

So...

During clean up time last evening:

Mike: "Mitch! Over here! Please come put the Lego's away. All hands! All hands!"

Mitch: "Dad! These are little hands making a big difference!"

Headlock or Hug? Vote now!

So, whaddya think? Brotherly love or WWF in the making? Register your vote to the right-By the way- I took this photo this morning in our new backyard!

Communication Breakdown...

Please forgive me for a slightly prolonged absence, but I have been in a cave. An absolutely pitch black cave. You see, because someone must have a sense of humor, our computer and my cell phone died. During the exact same day! Maybe I was harboring rampant electrons that day (or some other scientific lingo that would cause me to be at fault for virtually every electonic device imploding in upon itself when I drew near. I was like a King Midas, except everything I touched turned to junk).

Anyway- I am so excited to be back in action! The computer is up and running, and I have a new cell phone, so I am back, baby-

Here are just some random snippets that I was not able to post during my blackout.

Matty, when presented with a LifeSaver candy from the very nice appliance salesman (who was really nice about having a rabid two year old unleashed in his fancy-dancy appliance showroom) proceeded to look at the LifeSaver, look up at me, and ask :"Is it is candy donut?"

Mitch will, at any given time, yell: "Activate! Activate! Activate!!!" and then carry on with his usual shenanigans. Hmmm...this seems about right.

Mitch is a builder at heart. Always creating, building, tweaking, wrecking, and rebuilding. Here is his latest creation: I give you the "Dancy Bed 3000." It contains a "Sprinkle Sprocket (blue)" and has bunk beds for Mitch and Matty to sleep on. Then, when you fall asleep, the bed starts dancing all around.

Ahhhh...it's good to be back.

Have you read the NY Times lately?

Check out my little sis! Proud of you, Melissa!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/education/edlife/guidance.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Trick or Treat

Halloween, 2008-

Started with the Boo at the Zoo. It was GREAT! Very well done, lots of nice people, and fun animals. The elephants were even running! (Mitch believes it is becuase he roared at them and scared them.)

Here are some photos from the big night.

Mitch was a "meat eater dinosaur" despite the "Dragon" label that the costume may or may not have come with. He corrected several people throughout the evening pertaining to his "meat eater" status. Get it right, people!

Matty wanted to be something green also. So, he was an ebay special.

Here they are- all business- with their friend Logan. Mike and I were on the sidewalk, yelling, "Use your manners!" for approximately the ka-zillionth time that evening.

Who Knew?

Who knew when I purchased It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, that I should have pre-screened it for content? Mitch has been running around the past two days calling us all blockheads!

Good grief!

Roots.

After almost a year of scouring the MLS on the internet nightly, 6 months of living out of a U-Haul in our cheesy apartment, constant reassurances to the hooligans that the movers, in fact, were taking very good care of all of our worldly possessions as opposed to their notion that they had stolen them and that their things were never to be heard from again, and numerous promises to our children that one day we would get them a real house with a real backyard, we have decided, offered, and negotiated. Here are our new digs, moving in one month.

It really meets our needs. Great schools. Wooded yard for hooliganizing. Sidewalks. Lots of kids running around everywhere in packs. There is also a third car garage area, that Mitch and Mike have already termed the "Man Room." They plan to have a workshop there. I am not sure yet if I am allowed in it. I do not know the secret password.

But do not fret. For me, it has this....
And this...
I'll keep you all apprised of the trials and tribulations that occur between now and closing. There are sure to be some doozies!

More Time Upstate

Last weekend- New day, new pumpkin patch. This time, it also include apple picking! Our little farmers were in Heaven!

That's a really weird looking lady. And why is she sporting a bee-hive hairdo? Someone should tell her it is not 1952.

Oh.

My cell phone is broken. One minute, I looked at the display to see what time it was while running the sack races at Mitch's Pre-school Hoe Down. The next minute, the screen went blank. I can make and receive calls, but the screen is completely blank. I can not see who is calling at all.

Phone rings.

Me: "Hello?"

Mike: "Hello? What's going on? You answered the phone so....nice."

An Answer For Everything...

5 minutes ago...Note Mitch's new nickname for me.


Mitch: "Mom, will you come build me a house out of pillows on the couch?"

Me: "Sure, bud. I'll be right there. I'm putting Matty to bed for his nap."

Mitch: "No, Mom! Right now!"

And then, he did it. He chopped me. He hit me on the leg, while sporting a very frustrated and mean face. Great. He does not hit often, but I really wanted to make a big deal of this and teach him that it is not acceptable. So....I sent him to his room, waited a bit, went in to talk to him, blah blah blah. Well, this is how it went.

Me: "Do you know why you are in time out?"

Mitch: "Yeah. I chopped you on the leg. I wanted to break you into 5 pieces."

Me (wanting to really get my point across): "If you chopped me into 5 pieces, then I would not be alive anymore." Ha- that will show him!

Mitch: "Oh. It's OK. I would then get glue and glue you back together, little buddy."

Me: "No. It wouldn't work. I would not be alive."

Mitch: "OK then. I would go and get the stuff that Jesus used to make you, and then I would use that to put you back together, because if Jesus used it, it will definitely work."

Me (exasperated): "Fine. Just don't hit, OK."

Mitch: "OK, little buddy."

The Cat is Sooo Out of the Bag

Ok. Who told our sweet Matthew that he is, in fact, TWO YEARS OLD? I want names, people! Someone has filled him in about the terrible twos, and, apparently, he was taking notes.

Upstate and Down River

As spacious and leisurely as apartment living is, we decided to go explore our fair state on Saturday. We packed up the kids, their "nature buckets," and maps and headed "Upstate." Here they are enjoying the car ride. Did I mention that their nature buckets are actually their Halloween buckets that I picked up at the dollar store last week? What a bargain- candy bucket, nature bucket, and hat all for one dollar!Here are two of the adventurers in outifts of their own choosing. Aren't they cute? Twinners!

We went to the mountains of Paris Mountain State Park- and it was gorgeous! Fall colors, blue skies, balmy breeze yet autumn was definitely in the air. Oh, and they had cool stairs to climb.


We had a great time. We hiked. We picked up sticks. We picked up rocks. We filled nature buckets with all kinds of twigs and nuts and nature junk. I tried to take their picture toward the end of the day. Matty was willing, but Mitch informed me that he was "too tired to have my picture taken." All in all, it was a wonderful day. We were impressed with the beauty of our new home base and it was very good for an apartment dweller's soul to see the boys....well, being boys.

And because we were on such a roll, we headed to a pumpkin patch the next day. Well, this was another side of South Carolina. The side that makes us call it South Cack-a-lackee. We went to the Hillbilly Farm of America (not the real name, but works well enough). There, we witnessed farm workers shooting pie pumpkins 150 feet into the air from a pumpkin cannon, while cursing loudly in front of our children. We also paid way too much for hayride tickets, and then had to wait forever because Bubba forget that we were waiting and went in to have his lunchtime vittles. However, we did manage to get a few photos. Note, please, Mitch's outfit. He planned it out specifically for the farmers to see. I have no idea how the Disney pins factor in, but he was not to be persuaded otherwise.

Here are some photos while we were waiting.

Please also note the ever present dirt smudges on Matty's face. OK- Bubba has done had the vittles. It took him awhile...what with the three teeth and all. Time to get the tractor going!
OK- Did I tell you that it was a haunted hayride? It was truly frightening, even in broad daylight. Here is just a sneak peek. It was like Freddy meets Jason meets Hillbilly. Hope you do not scare easily!

Here is the dreaded haunted mannequin and the shopping cart of doom.

The haunted oven.And of course, prepare yourselves! Protect the children! Nothing chills you to the bone more than the hideous haunted pink gorilla with a front butt!

This, my friends, is only a mere sampling of the horrors that abounded in the Haunted Forest. It is amazing we made it out in one piece.