He's the Music Man

Oh, no, wait. This guy is the real music man...

Stupid Stomach Flu

Today was the day of my first 5K race. I went to bed early last night after dutifully studying the race route (since the story of my life dictates that the race is in a town I've never set foot in before). After a horrible night enduring a rumbling, sick stomach, I got up promptly at 4:00 this morning so that I could leave by 4:30 and make it there in time for check-in and a 7:35 start. I got out of bed, walked to the bathroom and promptly threw up. But that's alright! I'm tough! I can work through the misery. I finished getting ready, got in the car and just started feeling like all the energy had drained from me. It's a fairly long drive to get off base, so I gave myself until then to turn around and go home. I was about a half mile from the gate when I decided I better not risk the two and a half hour drive plus a race when I was feeling the way I felt. Auugghhh! I am so bummed I could almost cry, but I feel like I made the right decision because I went home and got back into bed and haven't felt any better since.

So there you go. The story of my first 5K race that will never be. I have two more chances to race in the coming weeks, so hopefully I will have better luck then.

Gwen Stefani is the Coolest Mom on the Planet!

No, seriously. I want to be her. I had tickets to see her Wednesday night in Bakersfield and the show was awesome!! She was just this really cool, punk chick with a rockin' bod singing her awesome songs and then she stops in the middle of all this to tell us about her little boy Kingston and that he was out in the tour bus taking a snooze! My heart just melted knowing that it really is possible to have it all and do it well. Here are some pictures from the show.

You Know It's Laundry Day Around Here When...

...the shorty p.j.'s get busted out. I'm a little leery of putting him in these right now because he still refuses to sleep with a blanket on him (he will only sleep with his blankie, which he is too busy giving squeezies to all night, so it lays beside him) and I'm afraid that he'll get too cold. But how cute does he look in them? We all must suffer for fashion, yes?

Those are Some Pretty Big Shoes to Fill, Dude

Doesn't It Seem Like He's Got Something to Say?

The Many Faces of Aaron

Silly...
Bashful...
Secure...

Irritated (a.k.a. stop taking pictures of me, woman!)...

Why He's Getting into Trouble this Week

Perhaps this picture warrants a small explanation. Aaron has figured out how to open the fridge. His favorite thing to do is get into the dairy drawer, get the shredded cheese out and "feed" Reagan by sprinkling it on her. All I did was go to the bathroom, people! And when I came back, I was greeted by this! Aaron is not in the picture because I immediately scooped him up and put him into time-out. Did you noticed the cheese ON REAGAN'S BACK? Auugghhhh! And, of course, in my white hot fury I was not thinking so clearly, so my first instinct was to get the vacuum cleaner out to clean it up. Well, guess what? Finely shredded cheese and a vacuum cleaner that runs very hot DO NOT MIX. So now I have little melted cheese spots all over the hard wood floors in the foyer and on the tile in the kitchen. I should have just let my little puppy vacuum cleaner finish the job!

Happy Birthday, Wendy!

Today is my cousin Wendy's birthday. She is literally two days older than me. That's right - my mom and her mom were in the hospital having babies at the same time! What fun for my Granny and Poppy! This also means she gets to try out this whole 30 business for two days before I have to face it.

Wendy, Me and our Great Grandpa Campbell

Happy Birthday, Wen! We love you!

I Tried to Spare You...

...but I have had a couple requests for the final product of March Mustache Madness. I had planned on doing weekly updates but then Aaron and I went to Texas and the month was already half gone went we got back; then, frankly people, I was just too embarassed. But I'm relenting, with the soothing knowledge that the mustache is now gone. Gone, I tell you! Here is a picture of the mustache my husband grew:

It's just not right.

Horrible, horrible, horrible...

At least 31 dead in Va. Tech shooting rampage

Can You Say "Cheeseball"?

The Sweet One

"Go away, silly woman. I'm giving my daddy some love right now!"

"Alright, I guess I'll give you some love too."

Garage Sales Rock!

So I'm getting ready to admit something to you that really isn't all that attractive - I am not a thrifty person. It really has to do with my laziness and just not having the energy to try to find a better deal. But oh man. Every once in a while, one just happens to fall into my lap and I think this is what keeps my wonderful husband from killing me or divorcing me or whatever because, as he puts it, "I blow through his money like it grows on trees" (wait, you mean our money, right?).

Anyway, my neighbor up the street just happened to be having a garage sale today and I just happened to be walking by last night while she was setting everything up and luckily she let me go ahead and purchase these things early:

$5.00!

$30.00 for both bar stools!

I'm not exactly sure if the bar stools were all that thrifty of a buy, but, hey, I've been wanting them for a while and they were already here, meaning I didn't have to drive all the way into town to get them. Nice!

The Calm Before the Storm

I took this picture today trying to capture Aaron's new haircut when we stopped for lunch at El Pollo Loco (Awesome name, right? If you don't think so, go grab your Spanish-English dictionary, then get back to me.). After I took the picture, I took the gum container away from him because Daddy had come back to the table with our food and, more importantly, our drinks. Apparently my taking the gum container away was the one thing that was going to cause the end of Aaron's life, because he threw a gigantic fit and what does he do when he throws fits? Knocks things over. This time, it happened to be the cup full of juice that Daddy had brought with no lid on it because his very next move after he sat it down was to fill Aaron's sippy cup with it. As you can imagine, the next few seconds were not pretty. Juice everywhere. Thumps on skulls. "Aaron William!" followed by several expletives. No, not pretty at all.

But his haircut looks nice, right?

I ♥ Holly Hobbie

I just bought some notecards at the BX with this on the front:

I am so in love with the fact that what was old is now new again. I loved Holly Hobbie growing up. I seem to remember I even had a Holly Hobbie birthday cake at one point! I am always on the lookout for pretty nursery ideas for a baby girl. Wouldn't this be adorable?

I know. I'm such a girl.

Couch Potato

Do You See Why I Gripe?

This was from a Public Announcement e-mail sent to all base personnel today:

High wind forecast for Edwards AFB 11 and 12 April
The weather office at Edwards is forecasting surface wind gusts to 45 knots or 52 miles per hour today Wednesday 11 April through tonight. The winds will diminish only slightly tonight and increase again on Thursday. The forecasted surface wind gusts for Thursday 12 Apr will be 50 knots or 58 miles per hour. Winds of this strength can cause areas of blowing dust and sand which will reduce visibility.

I LOVE THE DESERT!!

Sharing a Bedtime Snack with Daddy

Keep Me Honest!

I've added a table to your right with my 5K run times. Hopefully, since I've posted them for all to see, this will motivate me to keep practicing the 5K. I love to run but it's a hobby that usually gets put on the back burner because it's so easy for me to use that time for something else. There are a couple races in the end of April/mid-May time frame that I would like to participate in but there is no way I'm ready to do it in the kind of shape I'm in right now (well, I could but I would probably die of embarassment in the process). So hopefully the accountability will motivate me. Pray for me to have the bravery to actually register for the races!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend with no less than three Easter egg hunts and lots and lots of awesome food!

Yesterday we were invited to an Easter potluck lunch at the home of one of the students in Bill's class. I took my family's famous (or infamous...be quiet, Dad!) potato casserole. After lunch, the kids went hunting for their Easter eggs. Aaron's not so great at it yet, mostly because he's not big enough, fast enough or really interested to be honest with you. But he made out O.K. (with some Mommy/Daddy help)!

Mostly, though, he was only interested in this:


Today we woke up EARLY and went to the 9:00 mass at the chapel on base. Before we went, Daddy and I showed Aaron what the Easter Bunny brought him.





The Easter Bunny also left a few things for Daddy, including this toy, which is the coolest ever:

After mass, we had brunch at the Club on base. The Easter Bunny was there and Aaron participated in his second Easter egg hunt. Again, he didn't really get into it as much as we would have hoped but that's O.K.! He was getting pretty grouchy at this point anyway because he was ready for his nap.

When Aaron woke up from his nap, we held his third Easter egg hunt here at the house, courtesy of Grandma Q and the Easter eggs she sent. This one went a lot better since it was more Easter egg "pickup" rather than hunt. And no other big kids to get in the way! Here is a video:

We Love You Guys

Two Pugs in a Pod

A couple that we have made friends with here on base has a pug, so when we asked them over for dinner last night, we told them to, of course, bring Bower! Last night almost, almost made me want to get another dog (another pug, of course) because Reagan and Bower chased each other around and played, and Reagan was worn out after they left. New little puppies are so much work, though! I'm thinking we really need to save that energy for a new human baby (and that ain't happenin' for a while!).

Full Circle

Well, we've come full circle concerning the taking of Aaron pictures. Now, every time I tell Aaron to smile and that I want to take his picture, I get this:

Notice the super-cheesy grin? Did I mention that he's his father's son? Here's one where he remembered to keep his eyes open:

He's just pretty darn handsome, I must say.