Busy, busy, busy!

It seems I can't get moving on the blog ever since Little Joe Man started, well... MOVING!  He's crawling and learning to stand up, and I'm learning to keep up.  Also we had a fabulously fun trip to visit Grandma, Grandpa, and Nana in California!  Then we went to visit some cousins in Baltimore for the weekend!  What can I say, we're movers and shakers over here in Virginia these days...

Below are some professional shot my mom had done while we were there.  These are just the teasers and I CAN'T WAIT to see all of them.  They were done by Scott Mosher Photography for anyone that lives in CA and needs a photographer, he is the best!

This was Joes first time seeing where I grew up, and his first time on an airplane!  He did soooooo well. We nursed during take off and landing, and everyone on the airplane complimented his big blue eyes and his content disposition.  Here he is on the airplane, a little tired looking.  The flight left at 6am and so we had already been up since 4am!

And can I just say that the USO lounge in Terminal B at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport rocked my socks off!  It was amazing!  They had tons of wonderful food for us, wi-fi, a little play room for kiddos, a little locker room for my bags (under surveillance and completely secure), cozy arm chairs, and a very friendly staff.  They even watched and played with JoeJoe for a few minutes so I could pee in peace!  Bless their hearts!  Oh, and fabulous cinnamon rolls.  I don't think others realize how much we all appreciate the USO, it is one of the best moral boosters for all servicemen and their families.  With a USO lounge, we always are home.  Check them out HERE if you want to get involved.  I actually met a soldier there who was on his way home and had a baby about 2 months younger than Joe he hadn't met yet.  He was thrilled to see and play with a little one, and show me pictures of his son.

Baltimore was a quick, less full, trip, but very relaxing.  We went to go visit my cousin and her husband. We needed to take a day of leave to go up to Richmond because the Coast Guard decided they would like a copy of Joe's birth certificate... NOW!  So, off we went, and decided that if we already needed to take leave, and we were already gonna be halfway there, AND it was little Bennets birthday weekend, why not go see the Wilson family in their new digs?!  So, we did, and hit up the biggest Bass Pro I've ever seen in my life on the way home.  Was I a good girl and take a bunch of pictures of Joe with his cousin?  NOPE!  Not a one, very badly done on my part.  But I did get this shot of little man in front of the VDH with his daddy and birth certificate.

So, that's what's happening around here these days, and now we have a 3 week break from the chaos.  Stay tuned as I prepare for JoeJoe's first Halloween!  Oh boy!  I should be a good little blogger until we travel again :-)

Want more reading material?  I'm participating in Mosaic Monday, go check out what other bloggers are up to... and don't forget to comment!  We LOVE comments!

The Bunker

So, in case you live under a rock, there's a hurricane making it's way up the East Coast.

With the husband going on lock down at the base about 8 hours before dear ol' Irene graces us with her presence here in Virginia Beach I'll be riding it out on my own with the boy and two dogs.  We spent the week getting supplies, setting up evacuation plans, and in general making sure we were ahead of the panic and civil unrest that always manages to ensue on the heels of the media circus that always serves as a prelude to every natural disaster.

Complete with it's own theme music.

Anyway... That left today free to set up the bunker.  We rent, and our landlords don't feel the need to protect their assets by, say, boarding the windows for a CAT 2 hurricane.  We decided to just board up 4 windows upstairs in our bedrooms and bathrooms to create a place for us to ride it out upstairs, complete with food and entertainment.  It should hold us through just fine.

We boarded the windows from the inside because, quite frankly, it's easier and we're not worried about protecting the window (that was our landlords job, harsh but true) we just want to protect the stuff and people inside should a window break due to flying objects or high winds.  Set up the pack 'n' play for Joe to sleep in, we're expecting the storm to hang around for about 6 to 10 hours so he'll need a place to nap at least.  We also have everything set aside in case we do end up having to leave but we have food and water for three days... 

And here we have the puppy bunker :-) Sadie and Chester will probably like getting to drink from the toilet!

Who knows, maybe the silver lining to this whole thing will be that with no power I can finally master my pearl stitch.

Blue Monday ~ Please Return To Tiffany

As a new mommy I'm starting to realize just how easy it would be to blog about nothing but my baby.  How cute the baby is, what the baby did, what the baby won't do, where be took the baby....

...as much as I'm sure everyone would Oooo and Ahhh and tolerate my exclamations of my child's cuteness, I think my blog ought to be a little bit more well rounded than that.

So today for Blue Monday, hosted over at Smiling Sally, I'm doing my best to go baby free.  I have some pictures from my birthday in 2010, it was a Tiffany & Co. theme :-)

Now if only next time I can get something in a little blue box... 

Husband, are you listening? :-)

Look what I made!!

Yesterday was my first venture into the realm of sewing, and it was really fun and successful!  I went over to a friends house for some much needed tutoring and after a couple of hours at her sewing machine was able to produce a baby sling!

I'm feeling very proud of myself, and am pretty hooked on sewing too!  Now to acquire my own sewing machine....  I also saw a friends craft room and I have twice as much space to work with!  I'm feeling incredibly inspired!  Now if only I had unlimited resources :-)

Foodie Friday

Today I'm participating in Foodie Friday, hosted by Designs By Gollum, be sure to stop by and check out all of the other yummy posts!

Not blogging something I made this week, but instead, am blogging the menu for a brunch I plan on hosting for several of the Coast Guard wives in the area in October.  I'm still working on gathering some great ideas for it, maybe a few of my fellow Foodie Friday participants have some good ideas?

I want it to be all breakfast tapas, with a few breakfast cocktails.  So far I'm planning on making the following:

Mini Pancake Stacks
Bacon and Egg Tartlets
Fruit Skewers
French Toasted Angel Food Cake w/ Fresh Whipped Cream and Strawberries
A pitcher of Bloody Mary and a pitcher of White Sangria
Coffee and Tea

True to the theme of the whole thing there will be Blue and Orange (Coast Guard colors) decor.  Below is a mosaic of pictures of some of the recipes I have found.  I have them all on my Pintrest board linked to the recipes if you want to check it out there as well :-)

Outdoor Wednesday

Today I'm participating in Outdoor Wednesday hosted by A Southern Daydreamer.  Be sure to stop over and check out all the other beautiful photos by our fellow bloggers.  Today I have pictures from a visit my husband I I took to a Napa Winery with our friends Derek and Angelle a couple of years ago.  It was such a fun day, we really want to do it again!

 Derek and Angelle by the rose garden at the winery

 Derek and I with all of the yummy wine and cheese we got from the shop

This classic truck was parked outside of the olive oil and vinegar company.

 More of the rose garden, it was beautiful.

 All four of us on the green by the vineyard, enjoying our wine.

 Rob and I by the fountain at the entrance of the vineyard

A parting shot of the vineyard, on a beautiful summer day in Napa Valley.  Can't get back there soon enough!

Is it too early to go overboard...

I'm going to turn into one of those parents, I can already tell.  You know like this:

OK... I won't be this bad, I promise! Maybe that will be more because I can't afford it than because I wouldn't want to do it, but I won't be that bad.  I can't help it, I'm an event planner.  So with Joe's 1st birthday in a short four months, I'm starting to gather ideas.  As a true Disney fanatic, I want to go with nothing less than the timeless Mickey Mouse!  Not just Mickey Mouse though, and not Mickey Mouse Clubhouse either, everybody has done that.  I wanted to put a twist on it and make it really unique and special.  So here is my theme:

That's right we're goin' all out RETRO!  A black and white, old school, Disney party.  The color scheme will be all black, white, and silver.  We'll have the black and white cartoons going on the tv, and my Pintrest board is starting to overflow with different ideas, and I've put some in a mosaic below.  Because they're just a gathering of ideas, you'll see lots of different colors, but I'll do everything in black and white.  We're even going to ask the guests to wrap his presents in black and white newspaper comics or black and white wrapping paper to add to the theme!

I thought I could make a Black and White 1 out of pictures from Joe's first year and hang it from the ceiling in front of our fireplace.  To make it easier I'm going to cut the 1 out of butcher paper and attach the pics so that it's just one piece to hang.  I'm also going to throw in a few black and white pics of the original Mickey.

We have two tables, I want to do the upside down balloons over the kitchen table and do the pom poms over the dining table.  All in black, white, and silver of course.  And I love the idea of decorating the high chair!  Let's face it, the boy eating cake will be one of the main attractions.  I thought I could put "Joe is 1" on little black Mickey Ear cut outs

I thought I could dip the mickey Oreos in white chocolate and put black buttons on them.  And I think I'm skilled enough in baking to use the cake as inspiration for my own 2 tier.  I can use fondant and a circle cutter to do the ears easy enough, and then do the piping in black with the little edible silver beads as accents.  I'll have to keep an eye out for a black and white Mickey figure lightweight enough to put on top.

Other ideas I've had include asking guests to help us contribute to a time capsule for Joe to open on his 18th birthday, and if we have snow putting a Mickey shaped snowman in the front yard.  The only thing I'm still stumped on is favors... I thought about putting Mickey shaped cookies in little bags that say Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company.  Em Eye See, See ya real soon! Kay Eee Why, Why because we like you! Em Oh You Ess Eee.

I'm sure I will have more updates on this one as it develops :-)

Blue Monday ~ Father and Son

Today I'm participating in Blue Monday, hosted by Smiling Sally.  Be sure to check out her blog and see some of the other fabulous blue posts.

Joe's 6 month pictures fell right near 4th of July, so we decided to theme the whole set around my husbands uniform.  Below is one of my favorites:

It was a lucky shot, but kudos to the amazing photographer at Sears for catching it!  Seriously, we have been so impressed by Sears Photos, both in value and quality.  I highly recommend them.  They thought this one was so great they also gave it to us with an effect, blue tint!

I loved the way it turned out so much I got this one in an 8x10!  Another amazing "luck shot" we got in an 8x10 is this one

Sir, Yes Sir!

It was a fun day, and little man did so well throughout the session to get lots more great shots!

 

Semper Gumby

Semper Paratus, Always Ready.  It's the motto of the US Coast Guard, and therefore something we're expected to live by (seeing as my husband is IN the Coast Guard).   In the two years we've been married we've moved across the country, had a baby in a place where we knew two people, and my husband's schedule has changed 7 times (6 of them in the last year!).  We don't "plan" on anything, or for anything, we are just ready for everything.  It makes raising a child interesting, heck, it makes planning dinner interesting!  Oh, and don't bother asking what my husband does for The Coast Guard, because I have no idea!

We work with what we've got.  We bloom where we're planted, which right now is in VA.  We LIVE for our shopping lists and transfers.  We hope for land stations, and decent housing arrangements.  But most of all, we are flexible.  Semper Paratus may be the Coast Guard motto, but the military wife's motto is Semper Gumby!