Skipper and the lawn, naturally.

Lauren and I drove to Austin on Sunday and met up with Charity. We picked up Skipper at his hotel and then went to dinner at Papasito's. It was delicious. After dinner we said good-bye to Charity and then headed back to the house. Skipper spent two days working on things in the yard. He rebuilt our fence on the side of the house.

It had been so tilted that I couldn't open it because the bottom corner would just dig into the ground. He also mowed and edged the yard and put down weed n feed with ant killer. Yay! Thank you so much, Skipper! He also fixed my car since my check engine light came on the day before he got here. There was a hose that had split and he replaced it. My car was getting only about 14 miles to the gallon with that broken hose, I'm so glad I barely drove it and had Ben's car to drive instead. Now I'm back up to my nearly 30 mpg.

Yesterday the weather here was bad, rainy and really really cold. One of the branches on a dead tree on the side of our house broke off and hit the roof. Only one shingle was damaged, but it still is not fun to deal with. I'm trying to get recommendations from our realtor and friends and neighbors of someone to come remove the trees. Last time we got an estimate it was somwhere around $1000 per tree. Ouch. That's pretty expensive, but replacing the roof would be expensive too. Thank goodness no one was parked in my driveway when the branch fell.

This morning Lauren and I got up and found snow on the ground. It's melted already, but it was neat to see. I'm ready for warmer weather, though.

And a picture of Lauren just because I want to post it:

The Zoo, The Oscars and Happy Birthday, Ema!

We have been keeping busy! There's the home improvement project we did (I'll post pictures on here in April after Ben sees it) and that took up a lot of days. We've gone to dinner and lunch quite a bit, too.

This weekend we went to the Waco Zoo with my friend Mandy and her son, Will. Lauren had a good time. She likes looking at the animals. I think she liked the giraffes the best. She got new sunglasses on Friday that she wore during her ride through the zoo.

Last night we went to an Oscar's party at my friend Katherine's house. I made sugar cookies and decorated them like the Oscar winner envelopes. We had a lot of food and a good time.

The weather has been really nice here in Texas, it's been getting into the high 70's all week. We've been in t-shirts and sandals already.

Ben's still doing well. He said right now he's a little bit bored, but he's getting some down time which he hadn't been getting in the last few months. He's catching up on movies and getting in to the gym again. And we can cross another week off! Only five more weeks or so until he comes home!

And Happy Birthday, Ema!

1 AM and I can't sleep

This week Lauren and I both finally felt better from our colds. Tuesday we went to lunch with Megan and then hit up a good scrapbooking sale at Hobby Lobby. Wednesday I went back to the dentist to have him file down a filling that was messing with my bite. It was an easy appointment. I was in and out in about fifteen minutes. I never expected that one of the best visits to the dentist would involve a drill and not being numb. But it was great, my bite is back like it should be and I haven't woken up with a sore jaw since. We went to lunch again on Wednesday, this time with Megan, Katrina, Katherine and her son Ethan who is 9 months old. I don't know why I don't go to Bennigan's more often, I love their potato soup.

Tonight we had Mark and Megan over to join us for dinner and to watch "Lost". I made my shredded beef enchiladas and Mark brought over his new camera so I could show him some photography stuff on it.

Tomorrow our only plan is to go to the mall in the morning with Katherine and Ethan. I also need to put up a new toilet paper holder that I bought for the hall bathroom. I got the new towel rack up today before Mark and Megan got here. I think the bathroom is going to look really nice when it's done.

I upgraded my cell phone to the RAZR. I even got it in pink. So far I really like this phone, it's pretty easy to use, and I haven't had a fun phone in a while. The best part is that it was free since it was time to renew our contract anyway.

Ben is doing well, he's on a night schedule now. We're waiting to hear the days for his R&R. We should find them out about 30 days before he comes home, so we should know by the first week of March. I'm very excited that it's only about 6 weeks away! Which also means Lauren will be 2 in 6 weeks!!! I can't believe it. She counts to about 14 now, and she's always singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".... sometimes with the real words, and sometimes with completely made up lyrics that include 'Dora', 'Mommy', 'Water', 'Bear' or 'Kitty'. Hahahaha. She is a lot of fun.

To California and back

Lauren and I flew out on the 24th. We had an easy flight from Killeen to Dallas, we ate some dinner and found the kids play area at the airport, and then she fell asleep for the first half of the three hour flight to Palm Springs. We got in and got some dinner and went to sleep. We spent the first few days of the trip at Dad and Jessica's house. Lauren got along really well with Jackson and she loved to follow Carson around the house. We went down to Las Casuelas and she danced to her grandpa and the band. Then Wednesday the 30th, we got a rental car and drove to Mom and Joe's house. Lauren liked going up and down the stairs and she liked calling Allie to follow her around. I spent about six hours scanning in old pictures from the late 70's and early 80's. I got a lot of pictures of myself as a baby and toddler, and some of my mom pregnant with me and a bunch of my dad playing in different bands.

After seeing so many pictures of me at this age, I think Lauren looks more like Ben than she does like me. I scanned in around 300 old photos and there's a lot to go through and edit and get prints of, and that was only from the first box we went through. I have a feeling there will be more trips that include a lot of scanning in the future.

Rachelle's birthday was the 3rd. We went out to a Tapas bar in Temecula. The food was so good. There wasn't one thing I tried that I didn't like. Everything was so delicious. I think she had a nice birthday.

We drove back on Monday and returned the rental car and then flew out on Tuesday. The entire day of traveling was very humbling for me as a parent, and a good chance to learn patience. Our flight out of Palm Springs was delayed by quite a bit. Before we boarded we got moved to a later connecting flight. Lauren took her nap and woke up at the airport before the plane was even at the gate. She was squirmy and unhappy for a good portion of the flight and then she threw up all over me about half an hour before we landed. The flight attendants resat the man next to us, and I was able to clean Lauren up and get her in a new outfit, but I was nicely stained for the rest of the day. We landed, got dinner, found our gate and went to the children's play area again. We went back to our gate to board after the flight was delayed several times, and the last half hour before we finally boarded was the worst. Lauren finally had enough traveling, enough of airports and airplanes and just wanted to be home. Her exhaustion got the better of her, and she ended up throwing herself on the floor of the terminal, her face in her hands, and just sobbed. She didn't want me to pick her up, she didn't want anything to do with anyone. Finally she let me pick her up and I took her to the bathroom to wash her face and try to calm her down, and eventually she put her head on my shoulder and went to sleep. She slept through boarding, the flight, the drive home, and the rest of the night. Originally we were supposed to get home at 6:30 pm, but after all the delays due to technical difficulties and bad weather, we didn't get home until after midnight. My checked bag didn't make it on the flight we were on, but it was delivered the next day to the house.

It was a good trip aside from the last day of traveling, and I'm so glad we went, but it is so good to be home!

A video

I took this video on Tuesday of Lauren on her slide.

Last night we had Mandy and Will over for dinner and I made Sarah's chicken pot pie recipe again. Today we are going to go have lunch with our good friend Megan. Megan's husband, Mark was in flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama the same time Ben was, and Megan and I worked at the bank together. They went from Fort Rucker here to Fort Hood, and Mark just got back from his deployment to Iraq.

Tonight, Lauren and I are going to dinner at Katrina's house.

It has been pretty cold here the past two days, down in the 30's. It was raining this morning, so it must have warmed up a bit. I am looking forward to going to California next week and to the warmer weather it will bring.

Movie day

Last night we had Katrina and her girls and Arlie and her son and daughter over to join us for dinner. I made Sarah's chicken pot pie recipe. It was a hit. We ate every last bite, and for dessert I made the chocolate and peanut butter swirl again - also a big hit. It was a nice evening, we hung out until just before midnight.

Today Lauren and I met Katrina and her girls at the theater to see National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets at the theater. Lauren did pretty well in the theater. I could tell she wasn't as interested in it as she was in Enchanted, but that's ok. It's a different kind of movie. Afterwards we went to eat at Chili's and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. We've taken this evening pretty slow and we're about to get her in a bath and pajamas before heading to bed.

We don't have much planned for this week. Saturday we're having our Valentine's Day party for the FRG so we can make cards for the soldiers and send them off so they'll get there by Feb 14.

Less than two weeks before we leave for California!

Back in Texas

Christmas was so nice this year. Everyone got together and spent the day together. Lauren had fun, I think it was much more interesting this year for her to open presents. She got a bunch of cool stuff and she's been having fun playing with all of it.

Christmas Eve day I was sick and spent most of it sleeping or throwing up. Christmas Day Skipper was sick, and the day after Jon was sick. Lissa had it a day before I did, but not nearly as bad as any of the rest of us did. Then Abby got it, then Sarah, and now Evan. Lauren did well, though, she only had a mild fever that would come and go, and although she was a little cranky, it wasn't horrible.

New Year's Eve was uneventful, really. Skipper, Lissa, Lauren and I went to Abby's house and had some Chinese food and played the Wii. We ended up leaving around 11:15 and sat in front of the TV at their house until midnight. I think we were all in bed about 5 seconds later.

We took the advice of a couple different sources and went to Santa Fe to eat at the Bobcat Bite. It is rumored to have one of the best hamburgers in the country, and I have to agree! It was delicious. The place is super tiny and the wait is long, but it was worth it. Then because of something I read in Rachael Ray's magazine, we went and tried the Kakawa chocolate house, also. They were listed as some of the best hot chocolate in the country. And they lied!! It wasn't really good, and their selection of chocolates was not as good as I would have liked. I did get a chili chocolate piece for everyone, and the overall consensus was that it wasn't good. It was like following up a bite of chocolate with a shot of chili powder. Yuck.

But we also tried some great recipes this year. I made my Finnish Christmas stars again. The new recipes we tried were for a Broccoli Corn Bread (that was so delicious!!!), honey nut weiners (I know, it sounds horrible, but it's actually good), and a chocolate and peanut butter swirl candy, which, how can that go wrong?! (it can't!).

Here's the recipe for the Broccoli Corn Bread:


2 sticks of butter, melted
1 10 oz. packages frozen chopped broccoli, cooked and drained
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 eggs
1 small white onion, chopped
2 boxes Jiffy Corn Muffin mix
2 teaspoons salt
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
- Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, adding the broccoli and corn last.
- Pour into greased baking dish (9x13)
- Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
- During last few minutes, sprinkle top with a little extra shredded cheddar.
Yummy.

Here's the recipe for the Honey Nut Weiners:
INGREDIENTS:
1 package small cocktail wieners
2 packages crescent rolls
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup chopped pecans
PREPARATION:Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the honey and brown sugar, stir until melted and smooth.
Add the pecans and stir.
Pour the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.
Unroll crescent rolls.
Cut each crescent roll into thirds, making 3 small, long triangle strips.
Starting at one end, roll hot dogs in crescent.
Place in baking dish, in honey nut mixture
Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

And here's the recipe for the chocolate peanut butter swirl:
What you need:
360 g white chocolate chopped coarsely
½ cup (140g) smooth peanut butter
400 g dark chocolate chopped coarsely
Tip for coarsely chopping chocolate - bash chocolate with a meat mallet while still in its wrapping Melt white chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.
Cool for 5 minutes then add peanut butter, stir until smooth.
Melt the dark chocolate the same way. Cool slightly
Drop alternate spoonfuls of the white chocolate mixture and dark chocolate mixture into a small pan you greased and lined with parchment paper earlier.
Gently shake pan to level mixture.
Then drag a skewer back and forth through the mixture several times for a marbled effect.
Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours or until set, or you can stick it in the fridge.
When it has set, cut into small squares.
Here's what ours looked like still in the pan:


And it was delicious!

On Sunday, Lissa and I loaded up in the car with Lauren and both cats and set out to drive back here to Texas. It was about 11 hours of travel time. I took the first leg, the 3 hour drive to Clovis, she took the second leg - 4 hours to Sweetwater, and I took the last 4 hour leg that got us home. We did have a nice little dinner in the diner at the Sweetwater truck stop. I'd imagine we were there for almost an hour. But it was good, Lauren got to get out of her seat and walk around and stretch for a little while, and then she slept a good portion of the rest of the way home. We got in just before 11 pm. We even got most everything out of the car before we fell in our beds asleep.

I dropped Lissa off at the Killeen airport this morning. It was a really short trip on this side, but a good visit with everyone, and I'm glad we got the chance to do it. Now ther's a little over two weeks before Lauren and I fly off to California to see everyone there.