How I spent my 34th!

"Is there Chili in my teeth?"

Which one is Jason? :)

From 9-3 I participated in "Wahine Warrior" Day (a.k.a Jane Wayne Day), where you get to be GI Jane for a day! We get to dress up in cammies, paint our faces, shoot at the rifle range, go into many of the different tanks and perform a physical fitness test on a course. Basically I pretended to be Jason all day and played in the dirt! :) Ethan and Jason showed up at the end and took some lovely pics of me doing the drills! It was pretty hilarious! At 5 pm. we went to the kid's school for a Chili Cookoff contest (Jacole won! WOO HOO!) Then my friends surprised me with a cake and gifts! Awwwwwwwwwww THANKS GUYS! :) LYLAS!

Next b-day I'm finding a spa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHLOE CAKES!!!!

I got to spend 4 wonderful days with my new "niece", Chloe! She is sooooooo unbelievably beautiful! Her little features are just perfect! She has the best temper and never cries! She's so sweet and loves to smile and babble (we had many conversations)! It was so exciting to present her with a check from Sockittomebaby.com for $385! Thank you so much to everyone that placed sock orders and/or just wanted to donate! It was a very fun and rewarding fundraiser (also kept me super busy) and they were so grateful and happy for it! Kelly and I had a blast, as usual and I was able to get my baby fix in (although I kinda have the itch still! AHHHHH!!!!!) You wouldn't believe the set up they have there - it seems like a mini hospital room with the pack-n-play on an incline, oxygen tanks, a monitor and feeding tube assembly. Kelly makes it look effortless though and has everything down to a science! It's amazing to watch and there's no doubt Chloe is in the BEST hands! You would never know she's a "heart baby" awaiting surgery. She's just soooooo good and after a while you don't even see all the tubes when you look at her. All you can see are her big blue eyes, really LONG lashes, rosebud lips and adorable smile! I miss you Chloe Cakes! Thanks for a great time Kel! Love and miss you too! :)

Brownies Ceremony!

Ava had her big ceremony for Brownies this week (a.k.a Investiture) where she was awarded MANY patches that she has earned! She was also pinned by her Dad! Unfortunately, I wasn't there, but my great friend Renee went along as ME (good thing we have the same hair! lol) and took lots of pics! THANKS RENEE!!!

Worn Out!

Too much playing with Daddy and looking at his pics (over and over) from training, makes for a TIRED boy (Marine) lol!

Lil' Diddy, 'bout Jack and E-thaaaaan................

..........................two American kids growin' up, in Marine land!!! If Jason and Russ were friends 27 years ago, it would look like this :) GET SOME! OOH RAH!

I can be crafty (sometimes)!!!!!!

I wish I was more like my Grandma or friend Amy, but sometimes I get lucky with my ideas :) I made Ava's name out of carboard block letters from Michaels. Ava actually picked out the "Amy Butler" scrapbook paper! I cut out pieces of each paper and kind of made them fit like a puzzle using Mod Podge (when I asked the Michaels associate where the "Hodge Podge" was, she kindly corrected me! LOL) After 3-4 coats and letting it dry, I put a different small embellishment on each letter to give it a little pop or dimension. It's hard to see due to the glare, but the 'V' has rick rack with rhinestones across it. Then I hot-glued the ribbon on the back and bought vinatge crystal drawer pulls to hang them on and.................... PRESTO!

The bedspread I made about 5 years ago, but am JUST NOW letting her use it! It's a patchwork quilt made out of ALL her baby clothes and crib bedding! From the tiny hat they put on her after birth, to her first holiday outfits, bibs, etc. With the help of my friend, Renae, we made different size square templates out of cardboard and proceeded to cut up all of her baby clothes! I borrowed a sewing machine, learned how to sew a straight line and randomly sewed squares together to form long rows. After sewing the long rows together, I took it to a quilt shop and had them quilt the top to a plain (hot pink) queen sized sheet for the back! Then they binded it with a cute fabric I picked out for the edges! I LOVE IT and so does she! I felt a little guilty about cutting up perfectly good baby clothes, but I couldn't part with them and I knew I wasn't going to open up bins every few years to look at them, so now we get to see them every day! I didn't do the same for Ethan, but did keep a few of my VERY favorites!

The pics on Ava's wall are a few of my Mom's AWESOME flower photographs! I don't really love the white frames on the white wall, so I may paint the frames pink to match the pink accent wall in her room!

In our room, we don't have a headboard, so I bought this grille to act as one (kinda) I like the look though!

The small green table by the front door was my vision, but not my work. I had it made! hee hee

In Ethan's room we just painted an accent wall in blue! We painted the whole house when we moved in, but by the time we got to the bedrooms, we were OVER IT so we just did accent walls :)

We're so glad when Daddy comes home!!!! :)

As you can imagine, the kids were beside themselves (and it was only a month!) I was a little happy too :) Ethan is crying (not actually, but almost) because the pack he is wearing is about 50 lbs! He only weighs 33 lbs and Ava weighs 43lbs which is why she fits into his backpack! LOL