Photos of Ice Storm in our backyard

JMS 2 YEAR check up

Statistics:

Height 34 and 3/4 inches (57%)
Weight 29.6 pounds (70%)
Head Circumference 50.5 cm (89%)

Healthy, Happy "big boy" (as he'd tell you)

Eats about as much as a bird.
As energetic as a monkey (so we call him).
And chatters like my dad. :) The doctor said he should have a vocabulary of about 50 words...um try probably 100...and echos anything we say like a parrot!
We'll still keep him...thank you very much!

7 years on Monday

I just wanted to do this before I got distracted with JMS or work....my husband and I celebrate 7 years of marriage (so he reminds me...we've been together for 12) on Monday February 9th! I know this comment probably makes our parents feel old...or our friends wonder where did all the time go? It seems like yesterday.

In seven years we have done so much and I just wanted to tell him that I love him and wouldn't have done all of this with out him!

4 deployments (Kosovo, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq)
2 home purchases
2 cross country moves
7 states (resided in: New York, Virginia, Georgia, Arizona, Kansas, Washington, Kentucky)
1 dog (almost 7 years old, Quincy boy)
1 child (just turned 2 years old, JMS)
4 vehicles (Ford Explorer, VW Jetta, Ford 150, Chevy Trailblazer)
4 careers (Army TC, Army IN/MI, Retailer #1 and Retailer #2)
7 family Christmas get togethers
4 nephews (William, Drew, Eli, Joshua)
1 neice (Faith Ann)
3 vacation cruises (Carribbean, Hawaii, Baja Mexico)
too many friends to count and name without forgetting someone

If you want to contribute to what else we've accomplished in this time...please post a comment.

Pumpkin Bread

As requested by Kim: here is our pumpkin bread recipe.

Grease 2, 9" x 5" loaf pans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine: 3 3/4 c all purpose flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger and 1/2 tsp ground cloves (DRY INGREDIENTS)

Cream: 2 sticks of margarine

Gradually add: 2 cups sugar

Blend in and beat well, 4 eggs

Add dry ingredients to 1 1/2 c pumpkin (alternating, end with dry ingredients)

Bake for 1 hour.

More Snow!!!

We had a southern teaser on Sunday...warm air...melted a good bit of the driveway and back yard. I actually drained the hot tub, cleaned it out, while JMS took his afternoon nap; and, I was wearing a short sleeve shirt. But, yesterday we acquired another 4 inches of snow. Now, the garden hose (that I used to drain the tub) is buried and frozen. So, I won't be refilling the hot tub anytime soon. It always is my luck too. I did quite a bit of manual labor in Cincinnati on Friday and Monday to assist in setting up a new store. So, when I got home I naturally wanted to soak my sore muscles...not going to happen. Unless I want to sit in an empty tub and freeze my muscles in snow. :)

I guess I'll count my blessings. My parents got 9 inches of snow. No thank you.

Abandon Ship

I had Wednesday off from work and I was all ready to settle into a lazy day in the snowbound house. When...

I walked into the laundry room and had a four foot wide puddle of water on the floor. Hmm. Did my washing machine flow over last night? As I leaned down to check I felt something drip on my head. "Are you kidding me?" (I think was the polite version of what I said.) Water was dripping out of the heating register on the ceiling. Where was this coming from? I didn't care. I called the builder (since our house is only 1 year old...actually on this date.) They were going to send someone out to see what was going on. On the phone I was asked the routine questions...is this on the second floor (assuming roof)...NO; is this under a bathroom (assuming a leaky pipe)...NO; (pregnant pause)...okay well we'll get someone out there as soon as they can navigate the snow.
Meanwhile...waiting on the home inspector... "pop, pop....(wait for it)....BAM" the transformer three power poles back from our house exploded. Great, now we don't have any power. (This is going to be a long, cold, wet day.)
Five minutes after the explosion the inspector showed up. Guess what, the flashing on the roof, connecting the garage to the house is leaking icemelt. It is coming in at the joint of our wall and floor in the attic space, leaking along the master bedroom floor, and dripping down into my laundry room!!!!! And, we can't do anything about it until it all melts! GREAT!
They leave...and I'm left with a quiet house minus my almost two year old, and a "Drip, Drip" going on in the laundry room as the ceiling leaks into a bucket.

We've decided that if the power isn't on by dinner time that we are going to my parents house. Well...the sun begins to set...so in the final hours of daylight, I pack up the dog, the kid, and myself...we are ready to go. We ended up staying with them for 2 and a half days!!!! We really appreciated the heat and warm beds and hot showers. THANK YOU!

Summary...don't go grocery shopping before an ice storm b/c you are guaranteed to lose power and all of your groceries...I think I'm two for two on this one!

Break from Chipping Ice

Oh, my arm and wrist are throbbing. I have chipped away the layer of ice from our front walk, enough of the driveway (hopefully) that my husband will be able to park when he gets home from work, and enough in front of my tires for me to slide out to go to work later today. I've thawed my car windshields twice...and they keep layering over again. Hopefully, not too many people will come to the store tonight so we can get the team out safely...and we won't be spending the wee hours of the morning chipping our way out of the store parking lot. The ice/snow combo is so solid that you cannot even make a snow angel if you wanted to. My dad recommended taking JMS out to make snow angels...haha, you'd need to put a 500 lb weight on him just to get an imprint.

Update on the reading habit...I have officially completed reading the Twilight series. ALL FOUR BOOKS! I have to go back and do the math...but those books were thick a.k.a. lots of pages!

STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOKS.

I could have written it like this: "Chick falls in love with vampire." (see I just saved you 500 pages) "Chick gets mad at vampire and falls in love with werewolf." (wow...another 500 pages saved) "Chick falls back in love with vampire, but struggles with werewolf still being in the picture." (I should get a job with cliff notes.) "Chick marries at 18, gets prego, and has vampire mutant. They live happily ever after." (I was hoping for the tragedy ending...but no such luck.)

Now I am reading the Born In series by Nora Roberts, courtesy of Brianna. I miss trading books with her out in WA, but she was grateful enough to ship me the box of novels she read last year.

CAUTION...GRAPHIC GIRLY STUFF

Alright, so last thought for the day. Did you see the headline about the woman who had octuplets? Did you see the comment saying that she was going to breast feed all of them? Ok, cover your eyes if you don't like graphic...but I did the breastfeeding thing with one baby...and felt like he was on me all the time. (it was only like every two hours....but perception is reality right?) So, eight kids...every two hours for each...she is never going to have a moment for herself...to eat, shower, use the toilet...YIKES. I guess its her choice...but lady, I'd recommend getting some help!