Uninspired

I've been slacking on the blogs lately, but (steaing a line from mari) I've just been uninspired. Work has picked up a little lately, but not so much that I've ever had to stay late. It's good, I like feeling like I'm doing something. Even better - Kurt has spent a record three weeks at home lately. If you take away the reasons for him staying - car trouble, Micaela getting sent home for being sick (not really sick though, just a mouth ulcer), bad weather in PA, our trip to California, and now Kurt's sick with something (too much baking soda?) - it's actually been nice having him around the house. Not only does he clean occasionally, but it's just nice that I have someone older than 7 to talk to at dinner. One of the weekends he was home we went out and got a Christmas tree. It was fun decorating, we really haven't ever had a tree before, but luckily Kurt had all the necessary decorations from when he lived in Alabama. Here are the pictures, but it looks better in real life:

Oh, and one more thing I forgot to blog about back when mom and dad were visiting - the Sock Hop. I got the flyer for Micaela's Sock Hop a while before the dance and threw it away knowing that we wouldn't be going. Then the Thursday that mom and dad arrived, Micaela came home begging to go to the sock hop the next day. My instinct was to say no, but mom convinced me otherwise, so we all went to the Sock Hop together. I kind of forgot what a Sock Hop was and told Micaela it was a great idea to where her Cinco de Mayo dress, but she didn't really care that she was dressed differently. It took her a while to get over her shyness, but once she found her little gang, they had a great time. I'm dreading her high school dances, she already looks too grown up.

A New Kid

Despite being a little concerned about Micaela missing a lot of school, we decided to let her go with Grandma and Grandpa down to Aunt Weezy's house for all of last week. When we got down there Grandma said she had been perfect the whole week (probably mostly true since she is usually good), but I witnessed a lot of attitude in those last few days. I was a little concerned that she had been spoiled, but when we got home on Sunday it was like we had a new kid. She woke up on Sunday and let the dogs out and fed them, got herself breakfast, let the dogs back inside but shut the gate so they couldn't go upstairs and wake us. Then she started cleaning the downstairs all on her own. It was great. And she never forgot her manners or gave us lip. As a reward we took her and a friend to see Enchanted, which was actually pretty funny. Could it possibly be a fluke? Nope, she was this weird new kid again today. She came home from school with a sore throat and a slight temperature and helped Kurt swiffer, her new favorite activity. And she didn't complain once about her homework. I guess we should send her out to see Grandma Ginny more often :)

Now on to pregnancy news since Mari was complaining about me neglecting Alfred(a). I need new pants. I'm not really that big, but the old ones just don't fit and the two that do are getting worn out. I have to wear my Class A uniform on Thursday and my Dress Blues on Sunday, wish me luck fitting into those. So far, that's been the only bad part. I never really got sick and I can eat and sleep more and exercise less without feeling guilty, it's great. Four months from now I'm going to read this and laugh, but for now I don't mind. Although it's been easy so far, don't expect a Duggal, Druggars (whatever their name is) type family from the Weavers, after one screaming baby and nights with no sleep we'll be done!

Pictures

I just downloaded pictures off Mom's camera so here they are-

Kurt's flyover at Heinz stadium (he's the one on the left):

For those of you who haven't seen Kurt's new computer, it's the big monster to the left of the desk:

Finally, Mom and Dad went grocery shopping for me and did a great job:

1000+ miles in 4 days

For someone who hates driving, I sure do a lot of it. Last weekend I drove from Williamsburg to State College on Saturday afternoon, Pittsburg on Sunday morning, back to State College and then on to Elysburg on Monday, and back to Williamsburg on Tuesday. It was a lot of driving, especially when Micaela and the dogs were in the car, but they were good travelers for the most part. It was an exhausting weekend, but I saw everyone and did everything I was supposed to, and I didn't even wreck the car. Kurt's steelers flyover was pretty cool. Once I get mom's camera I'll put some pictures up. Gram seemed to be in a good mood and told us all about her days as an ER nurse. I have to tell you, for an old lady, you'd be surprised with the stories she can come up with. She definitely doesn't have a weak stomach. I was able to clean up the Elysburg house before mom and dad showed up and despite all the ladybugs, it was pretty comfortable staying there. Now that I'm home, I'm sleeping a lot better, but still going full speed. With Kurt gone, my only real free time is the half hour after I put Micaela to bed before I fall asleep myself (which is why I'm blogging at 7:30am). Micaela and I are both very excited to have Grandma Ginny and Grandpa Dennis come visit today, maybe I'll even get a chance to sit down and watch TV tonight.

Happy Halloween!!

Aren't we scary! When Micaela asked me what I was going to be for Halloween I immediately said witch thinking that it was the easiest costume. I was shocked when she said she wanted to be a witch too. I was even more shocked when she actually stuck with it and didn't change her mind and want to be a princess at the last minute. One phase down, many, many more to go. We decided we were going to be the Wicked Witches of Williamsburg (and then she changed hers to Matthew Whaley - her elementary school). She even asked the other kids if they had heard of the W.W. of M.W. and a few said yes - liars, we made that up! :) Halloween was good. We went to a neighborhood party where I knew no one but Micaela knew everyone and we found a group to go trick-or-treating with. After eating 2 chicken nuggets for dinner, Micaela was ready to go (no time for real food, there was candy out there). The group took me to a part of the neighborhood I had never been to and we were lucky to find our way home. After a little over an hour, her bucket was full and my back was tired so we called it quits. Nothing like little kids running all over the place to wear you out. I slept like a rock, so did she. I'm proud of myself, except for about 8 or 9 Now-&-Laters (and maybe a few smarties) (and maybe a few sweet tarts) I've kept away from most the candy. Here are the rest of the pictures, sorry they came out blurry, I'm not a good photographer.

Finding something edible

It's been an on and off week for me lately as far as cooking goes. Once Grandma Weaver's left-overs ran out, so did the good food. On Tuesday I decided to go with something that I knew Micaela would eat - Tuna Helper. She loves tuna fish, plain tuna fish, no mayo or dressing or anything- weird kid, huh? She liked the tuna helper (she actually gave me a high-five), but I wasn't up to making a vegetable, so that goes down in our unhealthy catergory. On Wednesday I realized I had a ton of vegetables and that I needed to make up for Tuesday's meal, so I consulted with Kurt and made homemade vegetable soup. I made it early and had some for lunch and it was decent, whether or not Micaela would agree was doubtful. As soon as I picked Micaela up from daycare I warned her - "tonight we are having chicken and also vegetable soup and you WILL eat all your soup and you WILL NOT complain, got it?" We got home and I heated everything up and she stirred the soup around for a little bit asking what everything was and then she took a pretty big spoonful. "Hmmm, not bad. High-five mom!" I actually got a high-five for vegetable soup, definitely a weird kid. It took a little pushing to get her to actually eat the whole bowl, but she did. Definitely healthy. Tonight we regressed. I dropped her off at 7am this morning (an hour before usual) and picked her up at 6pm (an hour after usual). It was just a long and boring (but busy) day. Having no energy I told her that we could go out to eat and of course she picked McDonalds. I can see why it's so addicting, and I'm not just talking about the fatty foods being addicting, but the convenience and the easy cleanup. I picked her up at 6 and we had eaten and cleaned up by 6:30 - a record seeing as how she is a very slow eater. Now it's 6:45 and I have to get on with the normal quick clean of the house and prep for tomorrow. Thank goodness Kurt is coming home tonight or else tomorrow we would be eating microwavable __________ (insert favorite food).

Another week

Well, I didn't get a chance to blog much last week because it was actually pretty busy. Kurt finally came home and all of a sudden our social calendar was filled. He left today for Drill up in PA, so now it's back to watching TV. Funny how opposites attract. I realized that we are also opposites when it comes to cleaning. I was looking forward to Kurt coming home, in part because I was thinking that he would help out with cleaning the house while I was at work. I forgot that Kurt is very similar to Dad in that when he cleans, he'll tear one room apart and spend all day dusting that room and it will be spotless. Meanwhile, the dishes will still be in the sink and the laundry will be piling up. I guess I'm more like Mom, in that having a room look clean is good enough for me. You can get a lot more done that way. I'm glad we're different, but now Kurt is gone again and I still have a house to put back together. Thankfully the Weavers are in town. Sharon is a superstar when it comes to cooking, doing dishes, and laundry. Within 24 hours all of our laundry was washed and folded, I just have to put it away (something I'm not very good at). And at least I know Micaela will eat well until they leave on Monday (I'm getting there).