More Cakes?

I thought I had other pictures on the camera that weren't cake-related, but wouldn't you know it? That's all that was there!
In spite of my being sick, believe it or not, the world still moves on! Today was the Wilton Annual Instructor Meeting that I was honored to be a part of (in spite of the fact that I haven't actually taught a class yet). This is the cake we all made. Each looked different, of course, but they gave us each some new tools for free. It was a really fun day! Fortunately I have this great loving husband who is willing to watch the kiddos for the day so I could do this. The ruffle on this cake on the top isn't perfect, but not bad since I was just playing around with the tools Phil got me!Then I got home and moved relatively quickly into preparing for the baby shower tomorrow. Logan's cake turned out pretty cute, I think! I love it when people give me liberty to think of something I want to do for them. Lyndsay pretty much told me to do whatever, so this is what I came up with. If you can't see the sides well, it's grass with flowers and clouds. Very Winnie the Pooh-esque.

Getting Ready for a Baby Shower

Our friends Lyndsay and Adam are expecting their 2nd baby. We're throwing a shower to celebrate on Sunday after church at our place. We're so excited for them! Since we are going with the baby Pooh theme, this is what I've come up with to put on the top of her cake. It's another new method I've never done before so I think it turned out pretty cute considering!

My Boys

This is Josh and his friend, Aydrien.

More Cakes and Things

This cake hobby of mine has really started to turn into a real thing for me! Michele's birthday Wednesday, Phil's un-re-enlistment on Friday and now a bridal shower cake today! We got a new fridge this week to replace the one that has been peeing on the floor since before Jeremiah was born and just a random cutie picture I caught of Jeremiah last night. Off to the shower!

You Know You're a Navy Wife If...

I have spent quite some time venting in my head the past couple days about why the military life is less then ideal. Here's my attempt at relieving some of the pressure brought on by our military life...
Adapted from another military wife's blog:

You Know You're a Navy Wife If....

...you can unpack a house and have everything in place 48 hours after your belongings are delivered.
...you have something that resembles non-skid somewhere in your house.
...your husband's work and dress clothes cost more than yours do.
....you've changed more oil and mowed more lawns than your husband because he's never there to do it himself.
....your children say "aye aye" or "roger that" instead of "ok."
....you only write in pencil because EVERYTHING is subject to change.
....you need a translator to talk to your civilian friends, because they have no idea what DFAS, LSRB, NEX, OHA, PSD, PCS, and duty mean.
....you have a larger selection of curtains than Wal-Mart does.
....you can remember where you kept the Scotch tape in your last house, but unfortunately, not in this one.
....you mark time in duty stations, not years.
....you refer to friends not only by name but by the state that they live in.
....you know that "back home" doesn't mean at the house you live in now.
....you know that a 2 month separation IS short, no matter what your civilian friends say.
....you ALWAYS know when payday is and get ticked off if there are more than 2 weekends during that pay period.
....you've spent at least 3 years in Norfolk or San Diego.
....you know better than to go to the NEX or commissary between 11:30 and 1:30 unless it's a life or death emergency.
....you show your military ID to the greeter at Wal-Mart.
....you know that any reference to "sand" or a "box" has nothing to do with your kid's backyard toys.
....you find yourself explaining your husband's LES to him.
....you don't have to think about what time 21:30 is.
.... you know that a bosun's pipe isn't actually a pipe.
....no matter how hard you try, you still can't understand a word they say over the 1MC.
....you start ripping open MREs and looking for the M&Ms when you run out of Halloween candy.
....you know to respect his detailer... no matter how much you secretly hate him.
....you can't remember the last time you saw a doctor who wasn't wearing khaki.
....the local dry cleaner knows you by your first name.
....it only cost you $25 to have a child.
....you find that a large number of your clothes and household items are dark blue or light blue, even though you never planned it that way.
....you pick apart uniforms on TV and in the movies, even though you used to yell at your husband for doing the same thing.
....you know to leave Jodi well enough alone.
....you've learned to sleep through the sounds of planes, helicopters, foghorns and jets.
....you can hate military life but be terrified to leave it all in the same breath.
....you defend your lifestyle no matter how bad things get because you know there's no other life for you!

Happy Father's Day!

Jeremiah was so proud of himself this morning. They colored in his class at Church. He went around showing everyone!

We went to the Volo Auto Museum for Father's day today and had a great time!
This is Phil and Josh checking out a Vietnam Army Helo

The Blues Brothers. My idea. I'll claim it!

Herbie.

Where you do park this? Yep. I'm right there with you, buddy.

Happy Father's Day, Phil! We had a great day with you checking out cars and all three of us love you very much!!

The End of a Beautiful Thing

Joshua had his last soccer game this Saturday. He made quite a few little friends from this group. He really grew and developed through the season. He's faster and more assertive. We love soccer and are so glad Joshua had the chance to learn this new sport.

Overwhelmed... In a Different Way

This morning Phil left earlier then me for his physical therapy. I worked on cleaning up a bit, making cupcakes for this weekend, making lunch... the usual stuff. Josh comes running in to me flapping his arms like there was some major thing he needed help with and finally blurts out... "Mom, Mom, Mom! There's a girl in our yard!" Turns out that girl was Lindsey Bycroft... our Senior Associate Pastor's daughter. I had a crew of guys showing up again this morning to work on our garage! Looks like it might storm at some point today, but for now they're out there getting more work done on it. I almost couldn't say anything. What do you say to that?! What a blessing!
I think I might have solved our digging bumblebee problem in the back yard. They had made a home in our play yard and every time I used wood filler to try and keep them out of the holes they dug it out and went right back in! This time I meant business and used nails with big, flat heads. Only one bee tried anything yesterday so hopefully we're done with them for good now!
Still working on finding a new fridge among other miscellaneous projects. We will be able to list this house eventually. In the mean time, it's really nice to feel overwhelmed in a different kind of way today!

Overwhelmed

This seems to be the word of life lately. There are so many things going on to balance. There are all the to-do's that come from just regular life. Renew registration on the car, do the dishes, take out the garbage before the truck gets here. Clean the purple crayon marks off the wall that appeared mysteriously yesterday. Little boys who can't seem to stay well. Then there are work related things like picking up the supplies for the Father's day gift we'll be passing out to the dads on Sunday. For me this goes hand in hand with church commitments... help with the rummage sale this week and K-Town next. There are special fun things like finally getting to go to the new Walmart here in town yesterday. The boys got free t-shirts and are so excited to wear them today! They're from Juicy Juice.

Other fun stuff like working on cake projects coming up...
I'm going to begin teaching Wilton Method classes soon up in Kenosha at Hobby Lobby. I had planned on waiting to pursue this until we moved to Virginia, but the opportunity arose and it makes sense to start it now when I have people I know around me that I can ask for help!

The stuff that is the cherry on this sundae that is always the most overwhelming is the house stuff. We've made some progress lately. We bought a new dryer then it broke so we fixed it (Phil is still definitely my hero, by the way!). Finally got around to finishing the painting project on the hallway floorboards and painted the kitchen ceiling that needed it from when we changed the light fixture in there. There is still so much left until we're ready! Siding on the garage, painting in the basement, a bee issue in the backyard that I only think I've fixed... I guess we'll see later today! There's a fridge that leaks and stairs out front that need to be painted, an oil tank in the basement to remove... the list could go on! We were wanted to list a long time ago but with changing circumstances, we had a bit more time to work with and really needed it!
Things are going just fine. Every time I get this overwhelmed feeling I stop and take a minute to breathe and thank God for all these wonderful things that are in my life right now. I recognize I wouldn't be able to handle all this without His help and take some time to remember that God's strength is made perfect in my weakness. He uses these things that I am certain I can't handle all on my own for His glory if I'd just rely on Him and that wouldn't have it any other way! In the mean time... I need to go take out the garbage.

A Few Things from Today

Yes, I stole a picture while they were getting the kids together for the more "official" group shot. They were so cute! Our age frame is 4-6. We love these kids! They're so much fun.
A little bit of an artsy pic of Jeremiah patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for Josh.

Watch through the very end of this video. I just happened to be taking it when Josh had one brief shinning moment leading with the ball! He is #13 if that helps. He was so excited today. He actually got to kick the ball! We love our coaches. They've worked so hard to make sure every kid gets to do something to make them feel important even if they aren't so great. We haven't won a single game but Josh has really blossomed under their coaching this season.





Daddy stayed home to catch a nap, but the boys and I headed to the lake for a bit of a relief from the heat today.
I think this was Jeremiah's first beach trip. A little shoulder sunburn to show for it, but he was so excited by the sand. Water, no so much. It is still pretty cold even though it was hot at the house today. When you get close to the water it's cooler here.
For the most part they played independently, but I love when they do stuff like this.

Our New Pool

A Dryer and Our Awesome Neighbors

It's 12:30. The Late Late Show is officially over. I just finished folding the equivalent of 6 loads of laundry... and all of it was completely dry! Last night I won an auction on ebay for a 4/5 year old dryer that was about an hour away for $80. God is good! Everything else I had looked at... even old stuff was over $100! This thing is great and hold 2x what our old dryer would hold! No more clothes in the basement. No more waiting and waiting for clothes to dry during ultra humid, stormy weather. No more worries about having to try and afford a $300 dryer. God is good! Well, He was still good even when my dryer was broken, but you know what I mean.
I thought I'd take a moment to sing the praises of our neighbors as well today. We have the most awesome neighbors anyone could ask for! He has helped with so many projects (I think we still have some of his tools in our garage), she makes the best Mexican food ever, their granddaughter is Joshua's age so they totally understand his less wonderful moments. They love all over Josh and Jeremiah when they see them. So many times they have helped us out in moments when we needed it. They helped bring our new couches in when Jeremiah was dinky and crying all over. They helped Phil get the car out of the snow when I was sick inside with the flu. They watched Josh when I was pregnant with Jeremiah so Phil and I could catch one more movie. Did I mention they make great food?? This is our neighbor and his son-in-law who came to our rescue today when we came home with a truck full of dryer and only one person capable of lifting. Josh went to their house to play with Lizzy for a minute and they came and not only carried our "new" dryer down to our basement, they moved the old one aside and installed the new one so I could use it right away! Don't let the picture mislead you, though. Phil kept getting himself in trouble with everyone trying to do more then he should with his still broken foot. He got up into the truck to try and lift it among other things. He wasn't just sitting back on this trip today. We're so glad he's free of those crutches!
On a side note, what he's wearing is the new Navy PT (physical training) uniform. I think they're pretty cool. Okay, Dr. Phil is on. The line has been drawn in the sand. It's time for bed. Hope you all had as rewarding a day as we did!

The Adventure of Our House

Here we are again with another mini-adventure. Finally are getting Jeremiah's room together more like I'd like to see it. My mom made curtains with ball ribbons and I found rods at Wal-mart for $4 a piece! I'm still working on a picture to replace the big ocean one in there, but we've made some progress toward a big boy room and away from the baby room.

Part of the military wife in me wants to not share this but the boys enjoyed it, so here we go. Our dryer still isn't working and rather then tote 6+ loads of laundry to the laundromat or a friends house just to spend hours frustrated with the boys, we spent $3 at the dollar store and picked up a clothes line and a couple packs of pins and tried to make the best of it. Hopefully the air will do it's thing in our basement and dry our clothes. It's been a few years since I've had to do this, and trust me, I'd MUCH rather be throwing them in the dryer then doing all this.... but it was a brand spankin' new deal for the boys and they loved it. I still have probably 3 or more loads to try and hang before they mold in the baskets, so pray our clothes dry quickly and we're able to figure out a way to afford a working dryer!