Picture Post!

(Clickable Pics)

Who DOESN'T wear snow hats with kimonos? Kairi thinks everyone should. :)


Say Cheese!


Kairi peeled her lips and then ate mustard. This is after the swelling had gone down significantly.




Ladies' Victorian High Tea Party


Kairi and Sarah love each other.














Look -- Alex has a tiny bit of chunk on him!


Sorry it's a bit blurry, but I love his smirk. :)


And finally, the puppy. I swear she's doubled in size since we got her. And she's gone from the sweet calm puppy to a hyperactive bouncing off the walls puppy that doesn't rest until she crashes. At least we know she's happy here, right? :)

Rocky Road

The past few weeks have been rough. We knew that things were going to be tight this payday, but we didn't know that we were going to be scrounging for grocery money. After having an unauthorized debit leave our account -- and cause a few bounced checks -- we were in a panic.

Add that to needing a new place to live. (Have I mentioned that my landlord put my house on the market without informing me first?) And needless to say I've been stressed.







But things are starting to come together again. It looks like bills WILL be paid -- I've never enjoyed paying a bill more than I did this morning. LOL



And we've found a place to live! We're submitting our application today for a condo. It's NICE. And it will save us almost $300/mo! Plus, the kitchen. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Seriously. Here, see for yourself:



I've seen the kitchen of the unit we're moving into, and yes -- it's THAT nice. :D I'm extremely excited about the move.




But here's the best news, Chris' deployment date has been pushed back! Instead of leaving 2 days before Thanksgiving, he'll be leaving sometime in January! We're going to Texas for the holidays and my brother's wedding as a family, thanks to this. It does mean that my grandmother isn't coming out when she planned on it, but I have to say that I'll take the trade. I am so happy that my husband will be home for a little longer!




So during my blogging-absence, things really have been like Rocky Road ice cream for us. Looks rough, but in the end God DOES provide (and has people help provide), and that is the sweetest flavor of all.

Oh, and maybe I should name my blog posts when I'm not fasting. Everything I thought of was related to food somehow........

More Dressup

This morning Kairi wanted to be a princess again. Instead, we're working on the Japanese princess look. Btw, this was supposed to be her Halloween costume last year. Can you see why it wouldn't work? ;)

The Diva Herself

Did a fashion show for me today. :)








Excuse the pirate tattoo -- We all made mistakes in our younger (1 hour ago) pirate days in order to fit well into the pirate life style, right? :D




Later I turned An American Tale on for the kids as Kairi is convinced that the Fivel I gave to brother shouldn't be named "Fivel". She wants to name him MooseyMouse, and I just can't go along with that. So today was the day to educate her. We watched Fivel. But as all emotional things go for the girl, she became near tears within minutes of the movie beginning. I was able to catch these beautiful expressions of sorrow on her face as she mourned for Fivel's lost family.





Of course she was thrilled at the end when he found his daddy. I found that she was much more worried about finding the daddy than the mommy .... hhmmmmm. I'm certain that that's at least in part due to being able to relate to not being able to find her daddy sometimes. Although, she did make me feel better at lunch today. We were eating when she suddenly looked at me and goes "Mommy's da best!". And then she proceeded to tell me that I'm the best at everything. :D She knows how to make my heart feel warm and fuzzy.


(Reminder: Clickable pics)

Today's Second Post -- Kairi's Birthday Party!

(Remember, clickable pics)

Less than one hour before naptime (which ended just as the party started), I found Alex like this. Kairi had not been home and therefore can not be blamed. LOL




He was mad at me for taking his picture, so here he is at the start of a fit.



And it begins!






Kairi picked out her bike and helmet/pads with Daddy that morning. She was so excited that she refused to take the helmet off! The next day I had to bribe her to get it to stay at home instead of her wearing it to church.




My handsome pirate!





















Chris bought "the coolest kiddie pool ever!" for the kids. They seemed to agree. :)






























I love her tongue sticking out here.












He's so cute -- and he knows it.








































No, I didn't clean her face before presents. Yes, I probably should have, but I just didn't think about it.










What a diva!
























More than just a little tired here.


I just love her chubby little feet.



After the party ended, the neighbors continued to hang out, and we did hamburgers and hot dogs. I love their girls. :)