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!

Tackle Her!!!!!!

I promised Mike before he left that if Shannon started trying to walk on her own, I would tackle her or throw a shoe at her to knock her down. He wants to be there for her first steps. Unfortunately, I was not in the position to tackle her this evening, when she took 3 steps on her own at a friend's 1st birthday party! She walked from my legs to the back door, which amounted to 3 real steps. My bebe is getting so big! I can't believe she will be 1 year in less than 2 weeks! Ack!!!! No! Quick! Someone give her coffee and make her wear a heavy backpack!

Various Updates

Shannon:
She has been taking a couple of steps on her own at daycare. She started on Monday. She lets go of the baby gate, and step, step, sit. I can't get her to do it at home. Possibly because we don't have cool foam tiles for her to walk on.

I am so tired of Mike being gone. Today was the worst example of how much we miss him. When I picked up S at daycare, the father of one of the other girls came to pick his daughter up. He is taller than Mike and wears a firefighter's uniform that is dark blue, and Mike wears a dark blue uniform. As soon as he walked in, S's face lit up and she had this HUGE smile on her face. I knew she thought it was Mike. Then she reached out for him. At that moment, he picked up his daughter, and Shannon looked at him with the most hurt face I have ever seen. Her bottom lip started trembling, and she watched him until we left with a very confused and sad look. As soon as I strapped her into the car, I burst into tears. I felt terrible for her. The look on her face was one of ultimate disappointment. I wish I knew whether she realized it wasn't Mike, and I really hope that she did because I don't want her to think Daddy loves some other little girl more than her.

Me: I interviewed (again) at my favorite school for the 4th grade position. I felt like I did really well, and rightly so! I had just answered the same questions a week & 1/2 ago! But I felt like I gave good answers and was prepared. I got a call today from the principal, who wants me to go in on Friday to teach and be observed, and then teach the entire next week to have the grade level teachers observe me, also. I'm fairly confident that I'll be getting the job.... assuming I don't suddenly develop Tourette Syndrome, that is.

After venting to a lady I work with, I felt much better about the situation. Much less pissed off. And boy, was I pissed. I'm much calmer now. Stupid woman hormones.... They get me every time.