Well, Well, Well. Fancy Meeting You Here.

So, it's been a while since I last blogged, huh? There's just something about being a working mom that sucks the time and energy out of your day. It feels good to have a 3 week break only beginning today. It feels like the possibilities for these next 3 weeks are endless. But we all know I will "squander" away the time playing with Shannon and trifling around the house. I suppose sometime around the beginning of January, when the 11th is looming closer, I will get a bug up my butt at actually grade those writing assessments, redo my math wall, organize my math sponge worksheets, et cetera. But for now, I'm taking full advantage of my time off. Know what I did today? I took S to Irene's, went to the commissary, then dropped off some rental DVDs, popped into the Post Office to mail out most of my Christmas cards, wrote MORE Christmas cards to the people I forgot about but sent us cards, returned a sweater at T.J. Maxx (and consequently spent 3 times as much on stuff for myself. What's that you say? Christmas is a mere 4 days away? Whaaaa?), then marched on over to Michaels to pick up some gingerbread house essential, worked on some forms for BTSA, picked up the munchkin, put her down for a nap, piddled around on FB, picked up dinner at Quizno's, and took it to the boat to have dinner with Mikey. I was a busy little beaver! But it was a good day to get all that done. The water was shut off from 7am to 6pm for water main repairs (completely necessary for San Diego's infamously exploding water pipes!).

Last night, we took a trip down to Chula Vista to the new church site, where I was *ahem* the lead angel in our living nativity. Yes, that's right, the lead angel. Jealous, aren't you? I got to stand on a "platform" (also known as the top of a ladder) above the stable, looking angelic and statuesque, as the preschool childeren acted out the story of Christ's birth. It was pretty fun. Especially when one of the preschoolers looked up after I had been up there for 20 minutes, and yelled "Hey look!! An Angel!! Be good!" {smirk} Shannon got a kick out of the sheep and the donkey. I am pretty sure she thought the donkey was a big dog because she marched on over to pet it and yelled "Go! Go!" at it. Where was it supposed to go? It was tied to the stable!

Speaking of Shannon, it's time for baby brags! She is soooo big and soooo smart! She is flushing the toilet (um, yay?) and giving hugs and kisses of her own volition, and she is even starting to sing. She sings "aaaa, baayyyy" and then I have to finish the rest of the alphabet for her when she yells "MAS!" at me. So, I'm raising a dictator, I guess. Her favorite word now is "no," which I think is hilarious because I know she doesn't mean it, she just says it because it means something. The other morning, I went in to get her up, and she said "Momma, Momma, Momma, Momma, Momma, I pretty!" You sure are!! And yesterday, she woke from her nap, saying "Katie, up!" Kid can call me Katie all she wants. I ain't answering till I get Momma! Though it does make me giggle inside. Irene tells me that Shannon likes to take things from the other kids and run away with them, taunting them to run after her. {giggle} She learned that by playing with Dargan. The only boy, who is over 2, is afraid of her because she is Miss Alpha Dog now, and demands things of everyone there. She and the oldest girl scrap like sisters, but when one is lagging behind on outings, the other runs back to help her keep up. Very sweet! She may be opinionated and stubborn (Um, she gets that from Mike.... {crickets}), but she is extremely loving and gives hugs and kisses and snuggles to everyone she knows. I ask her all the time if she loves so-and-so, and if she can say their name, she does, but if she can't, she just says "yesh."

Picture time!!

Trick-or-Treating on Halloween in Old Town. Mike is Herman Munster, not Frankenstein! "There's a difference! Geez!"















Helping daddy open presents on his 30th birthday!













Taking music lessons from a man with no musical talent whatsoever.
















Loving Aunt Lyz and Uncle David's singing Christmas trees.




















Taking a walk on Thanksgiving.




















My 10-year class reunion, which left much to be desired. Thank god for BFFs!




















Best toy ever: floor-skimming curtains.






















A day at Balboa Park.















Our Christmas card for 2009















Curled up in her favorite chair with a good book, a bottle of warm milk, her blankie, and some Goldfish. Life can't get any better!

Shoe Fetish

I have never met a child as obsessed with shoes as mine is. She must have shoes on at all times, otherwise, she screams bloody murder. Take this morning for instance. She began flinging burp cloths onto the floor to try to get to the shoes she has never even seen that are on a shelf much higher than she should be able to see. And when she couldn't get them, she threw a tantrum of epic proportions, pointing to the closet the entire time. As soon as I realized what she wanted and put them on her feet (over her feety-pajamas, mind you), she was a happy camper again. That is why I leave at least one pair on the floor. That way, she can walk around with them in her hands until we can get a chance to put them on her feet.
When we drop her off at daycare, the first thing she does when she sees Irene is check out her feet, just to make sure she's wearing shoes. Irene has started wearing shoes every day just to make Shannon happy. Hilarious!

Party Time!

Now that Daddy is home, we were able to have S's birthday party yesterday. Most of the family and friends came, and it was awesome to see everyone. I was really happy to see everyone that came, because I know that most of them had a long, crappy drive to get here! We decorated with a picnic theme in "Middle Earth," (fenced-off portion of the front yard) and I know S had a really good time. She bounced from person to person to person, and I don't think I saw her for more than 2 minutes the whole time! She is such a social butterfly! But 2 hours of partying was plenty. She was exhausted by 6:30, and was spacing out in her backyard swing. After she went to bed, Mommy & Daddy got to play with all of the new gadgets. Like her V-Tech doggie and Cozy Coupe. She made out like a bandit with the gifts. Lots of books, movies, and interactive toys. A friend of my dad's gave her a Tickle Me Elmo Extreme. I'm not sure what's Extreme about it, other than being extremely annoying. But, she likes it. yay.

Today, we went to Sea World with Mike's brother and his family. I remember now why I don't go more often. It wasn't terrible. but it would have been more fun if we had been able to teach S to sleep in a stroller. I think she would have enjoyed it 10 times more if she weren't exhausted from the party yesterday and had taken more than an hour-long nap. She melted down like I had never seen. Wow. I can't imagine being one of those parents whose kid does that on a regular basis. I'd end up institutionalized. Anywho, the other reason I'm not a Sea World Season Pass holder is that it really doesn't take long to see everything worth getting the kid out of the stroller for, so being there for more than 3 horus is pointless. The one thing that saved it was the Shamu show. As soon as we sat down (and got our food. (Mmm... dry chicken sandwiches and mini cheesecakes... only half sarcastic), S could not take her eyes off the stage. She was so into the show! I have never seen her so enthralled with a non-toy. She loved it! That made the whole trip worth it!

Picture time!
The cake. Mike is very lucky to be alive after causing the frosting on the cupcakes to melt overnight. I had to fix them as well as I could. Men...














Pretty flowers sent from Mommy's godparents, Leigh & Karen. Thank you!















Fernando and Auntie Shannon (where's Uncle Josh? Always working!)

































Yum.







































Picking up candy from the pinata because the big kids were doing it.
















Lazy Sunday morning in the new rocker. One of two toys she is obsessed with.















The other toy she is obsessed with. Mommy did good! And yes, that is a sock monkey sticking out the side!




















At Sea World with Cousin Austin.






















Could NOT take her eyes off of the Shamu show!!
















Still enraptured, even at the end! Um, Austin, you're missing it....
















Having fun with Daddy.

Daddy's Home!!!

YAY!!! Daddy's home! He came home yesterday, and hopefully, this will be his last patrol ever! We picked him up at the Naval base yesterday around 3, and Shannon had a good time walking around the parking lot with the other kids. Daddy finally got to leave the boat just before 5. Shannon couldn't see him when he was still on the boat, but he came down to run some cables, and when she saw him, she had a huge grin on her face. and when he finally got to leave the boat, her arms and legs started kicking and waving like crazy as soon as she saw him. It was adorable!

Before I post the pics, here's another Shannon update:
She has been walking all over the place, and is saying several new words. Apparently, -ish means Goldfish crackers and yelling "Gada.... Gada.... Gada!!!" out the back door means "Dargan, come inside and share my apple with me!" She also says hi, which sounds more like "aye." The other day, she pointed to the bee on her pool, so I said "bee" a couple of times, and she repeated it. When I asked where the bee was, she pointed to it and said "bee." Smarty pants! She also likes to turn the light switch off when we leave a room and push the button to close the garage door. And last weekend, I caught her trying to "lock" the door with her toy keys. She is learning so much!!!

Pictures!!


Shannon's Halloween costume














Helping Mommy set up the tent to get used to camping.
















Here comes Daddy's boat!!





















haha, trying to get a picture of Daddy and S at the same time. he's on the lower deck.






















Here he is!!!

6 Years!

Today is our 6 year anniversary. It should be the last one we spend apart! Sweet! We have spent 1/2 of our anniversaries apart, but after this year, never again! Mwhahahahahahaha! :0)

That's right, Mike has signed his paperwork to get out of the Coast Guard! Of course, paperwork can be torn up, should something go horribly wrong. But it won't. And Mike has an orientation meeting when he gets home with the SD County Sheriff's Dept. He is also keeping his options open because during the TAPS class (debriefing), there are usually several recruiters for companies Mike has been looking into. With his record and skills, I think the hardest thing about getting out will be deciding which job to accept.

So.... What is the traditional gift for 6 years? Candy and iron. WTH?? Iron?? So, I take that as a bunch of candy in an iron dish? I clicked on the link for "candy/iron" and the first gift suggestion was a branding iron. Damn, that is tempting!

Shannon's First Steps!

Shannon officially started walking today. Just 3 days after her 1st birthday, too! She took 3 steps at the photography studio yesterday (a whole story in and of itself) from the pillar to me. Nada during daycare today, but as soon as we got home, she grabbed her doll stroller and went to town. When the stroller got stuck, she took about 10 steps to the coffee table. I was so thrilled!! And annoyed that the video camera is a piece of crap. So, I set her back up by the hall and she walked from there, around the high chair in the kitchen, and to the back sliding door! I took some poor-quality video with my phone, since that was close at hand. I'll get some better video asap.




In addition to walking (!!!!!) she has also learned to shake her head "no," which she thinks is the funniest thing in the world, and it looks pretty cute.... For now. At least she smiles when she does it. Haha.


Shannon's birthday was on Friday. Irene had a little party for her at daycare, complete with party hats, cupcakes, and a kiddie pool. Our friend, Le Amber came over in the afternoon, and Jim came down to see Shannon, but unfortunately, he got here about 30 minutes before Shannon needed to go to bed. So, I sent Jim to the store for dinner, since none of us had eaten recently and were all famished. He gave S a plush panda bear that unfolds into a pillow. I want it. Maybe I will use it when Shannon isn't looking.

My dad came down the next day with Cynthia. I woke up when he got here (4:30 am), and worked on lessons and theme tests all morning for work while he played with Shannon. I invited Colleen and Carol Ann (CA is 7 days older than S.) over for a mini birthday party for the girls. I baked carrot cake cupcakes, and the girls LOVED them. y dad gave her a heart-shaped music box and a toy MP3 player (that she loves!), Cynthia gave her a bilingual cell phone (which she loves), Colleen gave her a pair of hot pink shoes (which Mommy LOVES) and some madras shorts (again, Mommy loves them!). Auntie Sarah sent her a Care Bear and Mommy bought her some new clothes (which is probably more for Mommy).

So, back to the photography session... Our appointment was for 12:20, and being who I am, we got there 30 minutes early. We were finally seen over an hour after our appointment time. During that hour, I had to feed S and chase her around the store to keep her entertained, plus try to keep her new toys out of the hands of some annoying little girl who kept trying to steal them. This same girl's cousins were also trying to flirt with my photographer as she was working with Shannon. Ugh!

So, needless to say, Shannon was not thrilled about having to sit still (what? Shannon sit still??) and ended up having a meltdown 20 minutes into the shoot. gee, really? You're over an hour late, and you wonder why my kid is pissed off? she's tired of looking at the muted colors and gaudy portraits of strange-looking kids! So, the portraits we got were not the best. I could have done better with my own camera, but I wanted something special. I was definitely special, all right!

Proofs are available to view here:
https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0085115588JCP

Busy, Busy, Busy!

So, I sort of have the job. I signed my letter of intent on Friday, and as soon as the district gets the results from my physical and my (7th) set of fingerprints, my position will be put on the agenda for the board meeting sometime in Oct. I have 22 students right now, and only 6 of those are girls. I should be getting 2 more girls soon, though. We group homogeneously, and I have the "basics." They seem to be a really good group of kids, and there is only one boy that I consider my challenge.
Between working and planning, Shannon, and trying to keep up with the house, something must suffer, and that has been the condition of my house. It's actually not too bad right now, since it is a 3-day weekend, but usually, it's pretty pathetic and embarrassing.

Shannon update: No more walking (Mike should be thrilled with that), but she has a couple of new words. She is actually finishing "uh oh" with a real "oh," rather than just "uh-" On Saturday, she mangled "tickle," which she pronounces as "tickah," into "Tecate." I am so proud. She has also been hugging when I pick her up, or my legs. I love it!