Hem & Hah

Hey everybody! Aren’t those cute cupcakes? I thought I’d throw the picture up because I was really proud of them. Our Family Readiness Group makes cupcakes for single soldiers on their birthday since they are away from home and don’t have anyone to celebrate with (in a non-alcoholic format anyway). I really enjoy volunteering for it, but mostly for selfish reasons!

I’ve been trying to perfect a cupcake/chocolate cake recipe and it’s been tricky. Plus, in my opinion, it’s hard to make cupcakes look cute. So this is practice for me.  For this batch, the Captain said they looked professional. Too bad I cheated and used store-bought frosting *GASP*. And too bad they were pink…kind of girly huh? He he he he….oh well.

This has been one of those quiet weeks; nothing going on and not a lot ahead of us. It’s on odd week because usually I have M.O.P.s every other Tuesday, but April has an extra Tuesday in there. It’s kind of weird to have things moving so slow, but it’s nice. Next week will pick back up again.

May will be a welcomed change in weather around here. I know I gripe about it a lot, but it’s killer how much I miss the sun. Not because it doesn’t shine; but mostly beause it isn’t intensly warm. Seasons are slow to change out west and it’s been hard to get used to. It’s a far cry from snow one day and then high 80’s the next like in St. louis! HA HA HA HA! My mind sees the sunshine and thinks it’s warm, but nope…it’s barely 50 outside. I’m ready to shed my sweaters and my closed-toe shoes….I know it’ll come soon.

Next week, Jeremy has this thing that’s called something like I-Corps Pride Week. (That means infantry) They (the infantrymen) are having competitions in marksmanship, running, combatives (which is like wrestling), weightlifting, etc, and the families can watch. Our FRG is doing some snack fundraisers a couple days next week; so that’ll be fun to help with. Then we’re having a potluck BBQ on Thursday, probably just with our company. Jeremy is actually participating in the marksmanship competition. I think he’s really excited. He’s a pretty good shot actually. (Of course, he DOES have his expert marskmanship badge and his expert infantry badge.)

Plus, for me, M.O.P.s starts up again on Tuesday, not to mention all the usual stuff like Coop’s gymnastics class. Did I mention that yet? Grandma Richards sponsored Cooper for a gymnastics class. It’s been great to see him trying it. I never would have realized how much children learn from an organized and structured class environment if we wouldn’t have tried this class. It’s pretty great to watch him learn to challenge himself and his own strength and stamina. Last week he wasn’t getting something right in his class and the teacher and I kept trying to correct him. He wailed, “It’s too hard! I can’t do it!” at me. I laughed so hard. It was hopping like a frog from one end of a matt to the other. It was a treasured moment. (Then I told him yes you can, keep trying.)

My heart is anticipating all the fun things that come with the slooooooowly approaching summer out here; festivals and parades, etc. I’ll be home in June for a couple weeks and that should give me my heat fix, he he he, and Cooper his Grandparents and cousins fix. It’s still hard to explain to a 2 & a 1/2 year old the concept of long-distances.

Well, I could Hem & Hah with you guys a bit more but I have some FRG stuff to do! TTFN…

“AAAAAll Aboard!”

 

This weekend, we got out and about a bit with Mr. C. It was good times! A model train show was held at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. Cooper really likes trains (and anything else that moves), so we thought he’d really enjoy the show.

We told him about the show on Monday…which was probably a mistake. He asked us every day, multiple times a day, if we were going to the train show today. So Friday, when we told him that the train show was TOMORROW, the anticipation was more than he could handle. He couldn’t fall asleep. (We thought of that cute kid on the Disney commercials who says “we’re too excited to sleep!”) This situation would have been really annoying if it wasn’t the first time we experienced this with him and if he wasn’t so stinking cute. Once he finally did fall asleep, I laughed and told Jeremy that Coop would probably wake up at the crack of dawn ready to go to the train show.

….and he did. At 6:00 am I felt little eyes starring at me (which is always creepy) and heard little kid breaths as he eagerly stood next to our bed. Then I heard in a high pitched whisper, “Moooooooommmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy! I’m ready to go to the traiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn showwwww!”

I told him the trains weren’t ready and it wasn’t time to get up yet. Much to no avail…He just squirmed in bed with us until I finally gave up 45 minutes later and made some coffee.

We also told him we would be going to Gertie’s for breakfast. To Cooper, Gertie’s is “the green place” because the building is painted a teal green. But since pancakes and sausage are high on his list of favorite foods to eat, we knew he’d be excited about the stop. If those of you who live out this way haven’t stopped in to eat there, we highly recommend it-for breakfast anyway. (Only because we haven’t tried anything else!) He was very affectionate while we ate breakfast and kept hugging and kissing both of us. I think he was pretty excited!

For this occasion, we dressed Cooper in his Thomas the Train overalls (thanks Amy!) and he wore his new Thomas the Train watch that he got from G-ma and G-pa Richards. Jeremy said he was borderline nerd in the outfit, so he fixed Cooper’s hair in a faux hawk so he’d be less dorky…I just said he’s a little kid-not a nerd or a dork. You can see pictures of all our fun and Cooper’s cuteness on the flickr site.

Both Gertie’s and the Train Show were a big hit with Mr. C; but all 3 of us had a BLAST. I was in awe of the amount of time that had to go into the trains and the models we saw. It was unbelievable all the tiny details each exhibit had! Model trains is definitly an all-or-nothing hobby. It’s so expensive. We saw trains for sale that cost $500.00 for one car! Sure, they did cool things though, like blew smoke and whistled and lit up, etc. The show had all kinds of exhibits and replicas of Mt. Rainier, Disneyland, etc. They even had workshops to learn how to paint/make rocks and trees and rivers etc. It was just so interesting!

The best part-there were hands on things for the kids to do too. They could run some of the trains and there was a train table for them to play with.

I could say lots more, but you’d probably rather see pictures! Here are just a few-go to the flickr site for the full gament.

Birthday Girl!

Today is our niece, Cora Ellen’s, birthday! HOORAY! She is a whopping two-years old today. Just thought a little tribute was needed for one of the cute ones in our family.

Love you sugar,

Auntie Tiffany, Uncle Jeremy and Cousin Cooper

Happy, Sun Shiney Thoughts Anybody?

Blah.

I think I actually have a post titled that not too long ago. I don’t know if it’s the Frog and Toad Chronicles I keep reading to Cooper (they are so his favorite), or the weather, or some kind of combination. But BLAH! I’m just going to rant…this slow seasons changing thing BITES. I miss the phsycho weather of St. Louis. It’s cold and cloudy here and I’m ready to see the sun and some flowers and go play. This is stinky.

GO AWAY CLOUDS! GO AWAY RAIN!

I’m ready for barbeques and swimming, camping and smores, using the grill 3 times a week, opening the windows, turning off the radiators, shorts, short sleeved shirts, no more jackets, sunglasses, flip flops, driving with the windows down, smelling the ocean/mountain air, parties, watergun wars, Otis Redding, fireworks, festivals, carnivals, parades, loud crackling summer thunderstorms with eerie clouds, people driving with their music in their cars way too loud, lemonade, citronade! ….. 

Somebody send me some happy, sun shiny thoughts! What do you love about summer?