For her Dada

This video was so cute I had to share it. Enjoy!

Patriotism

I have been racking my brain on what to post this week for Brenda's Photo Challenge. It's not really hard to post about Patriotism, just to find the pictures to go along with what I have to say. The first picture is of the cake I made for the 4th of July. I had all intentions of it looking wonderful, dressed in red, white, and blue (there is supposed to be a star on the top). It was going great until I started putting the second layer and then it all fell apart. But the only thing that mattered was I tried. I tried showing my patriotism with a cake. To show my pride for the red, white, and blue. I can't tell you how much you start to appreciate the USA after living in a foreign land. It makes you realize just how wonderful we have it. What a great place we have to call home. Home of the free and the brave.
The next picture is of one of the crews my husband deployed with a few years ago. These are just a few of the many men and women out there fighting for our country. How lucky we are to have people like them willing to sacrifice their lives for our freedom. They have the most selfless job you could ever possibly have. They put their lives on the line for you and me. I am so thankful for these people and I couldn't be prouder to call one of them my husband (pictured on the far left). Thank you to all our service members for what you do. We can never thank you enough.
And for my last picture, the most precious one for me, my husband and daughter on the 4th of July. This was taken just 2 days before we had to send him on a plane to join the fight once again. I have to tell you that was the most patriotic thing I have ever seen; watching my husband tell our daughter goodbye. It was truly heartbreaking watching a grown man cry because he was going to miss out on a few months of his newborns life. (He will hate I blogged that!) To make it even more special, he volunteered for it. Yes I know I through a fit about it, but through it all I am proud. He always says he would rather go himself than see someone else go. That is true patriotism.

She thinks she's the baby!

Just a few minutes ago I decide to put Kara in her bouncy seat that is upstairs. I go in the room and this is what I saw:

Chloe is something else. She is always wanting to find a comfortable place to lay. Silly Cat!!!

I went early Christmas shopping!!!!

Okay so maybe I am early. Heck who am I kidding, I always shop early for Christmas. Otherwise I would never get it all done, especially with the limited things here in Okinawa. I found the cutest clothes for Kara and Maddy (and myself, hee hee)! It was a pink/brown/blue/purple (my favorites) explosion in the BX today. It was a lot of stuff but I managed to spend just under $200 on it all. (Nick if you are reading this remember they are Christmas presents not me just going crazy or maybe I should remind you of all those boxes I have been getting in the mail, LOL ) So here's what I got:

These are some blue jeans with little purple flowers on them and a little dress for Kara both in 12 month sizes. I love the little dress it has both brown and blue, which I think is adorable together!!

Next is a set of 2 onesies and a sleeper all in pink/brown combinations. I love them. On the onesie on the back side it has two little elephants in brown and says "true love". How sweet is that? Pink and brown together is so beautiful. I am not sure why I didn't come up with that combination sooner. Jana, you have to find these clothes for Autumn Faith they are all Carters brand. This has to be the cutest outfit. I paid an ungodly amount ($27) for it, but I HAD to get it. It is purple and brown my two all time favorite colors. The pants are corduroy with purple accents. The little onesie has a little brunette girl with pigtails and the sweater has cute little pockets lined in purple. This picture doesn't do it justice. I can't wait to put her in this outfit. Wouldn't it be cute if I dressed her in this and put her hair in pigtails?? I will have to remember that. So adorable! It will be just the size for her around Christmas time. These onesies are really cute. Both are baby blue with brown. My new addiction. I want to do both my bedroom and living room in these color combinations (I can't believe I am wanting to get rid of my purple stuff ). But I think I may want turquoise blue for my bedroom instead of the baby blue. The onesie on the back side has little brown heart shapes all over it and says "so pretty"

On to Maddy's stuff. I couldn't resist these two shirts. I love them both. I was tempted to get them in extra large for myself. I know that's crazy, I talked myself out of it. I am not ashamed to admit that I sometimes buy clothes out of the kids department for myself. On a happier note, I am trying to break that habit. I may go back and get her a few other shirts with these colors after I make sure she's still in size 10/12.

Next is a little blue panty/tank set. Maddy loves these things. She is so desperate to wear a bra. I can't bring myself to buy her anything like that so I bought the closest thing to it. I think she will still like it. She looks really good in this blue anyway. The other shirt is of course brown with little monkeys on the white shirt. Click to make the picture larger. I wish they had it in Kara's size. I will have to ask them to save it for when Kara gets older. They are both our monkeys. Maddy will love it!

So now on to what I bought myself. It seems every time I shouldn't be buying stuff I find the cutest clothes. It's hard to tell but there's a brown halter dress in the pic with this white top. I love the dress. It is so cute and so comfortable. The shirt is one of those you wear with shorts and it almost covers them. I never thought I could pull that look off (which maybe I was right) but I think it looked really cute on in the store. I had on blue jean shorts today and it looked so good together. It's a nice top for the hot weather we have been having. Finally to end the shopping trip some pink shirts. Sorry Sissy, I know we were just discussing how there are no pink shirts and then I go out and find three. If only I could have known what color you wanted of pink, I may have found you one too. Let me know and I'll look! I love all of these shirts. I think that pink may be my new obsession. Who would have thunk it?? Maybe Kara brought out my girly side, I just don't know!!

Job offer???

So I go to the bank today to make a deposit and get a teller that was really nice. She first commented on how much Kara looks like me, which of course makes me smile. Who wouldn't want to be told their beautiful baby looks like them? We got to talking and she was surprised that I signed my check correctly (they were written to Jodie rather than my real name). I told her I was a teller for 3 1/2 years at a credit union. She got all excited asking me if I was interested in a job? I told her I wasn't because I would rather stay home with my baby. She was like well if you change your mind we have some openings and have a big turn around here. They would hire you on the spot! So I got to thinking about how much I really enjoyed being a teller (not enough to not stay with my baby, but overall I liked it a lot). Remember my previous post saying I wanted to be a teacher? Well, I think I do, but I am not so sure anymore. I think dealing with the kids would be fun, but I am not so sure how well I would deal with the parents. You know people get crazy over their kids, which I understand being a parent myself, but sometimes I think it might be really hard to do. So anyway, I was thinking about how much I liked being a teller. I had really great hours, holidays, nights, and weekends off, and I like dealing with money. I like counting money, rolling coin, and dealing with computers (for banking anyway). However, I feel so guilty that I am not using my degree. I mean it's pretty bad when you make more money as a teller than you would using your actual degree. That was the problem I kept running into years ago. It was like any job I found either paid crappy or you had to have experience to get hired. I have never understood that. How do you get experience with it if no one will hire you without experience?? It boggles my mind. So anyway, I feel bad for not using my degree, but I realize that it wasn't the best degree to get. At the time it sounded so wonderful. Health Education-you can use it in so many jobs(so I was told)!!! Notsomuch people! I wanted to work at the American Cancer Society (where I did my internship) but they only have 6 people (in each office) who actually get paid to work there, everyone else is a volunteer. Which is nice but you gotta get paid to be able to afford life, you know. I told myself my last year of college that I had messed up. I should have just got a business degree, they are so universal. I could have used that at so many jobs. Don't get me wrong, I loved the classes associated with my degree. If I could have a job with the Cancer Society that would be awesome, but they are hard to get. Therefore making my job possibilities limited. So here I am thinking that when I do return to work, I may want to be a teller again. I know that doesn't sound too ambitious. Tellers make decent pay, not great, but decent. I feel like I should do more with myself, but overall isn't whatever make you happy what really counts? I am still debating the whole teacher thing. Luckily I have a few more years before I have to decide. Right now being a mother is my job and I think that's the best job in the world. I wouldn't even refer to it as a job, but as a privilege. I can't of anything I would rather be doing right now. Especially when I look in to those big beautiful blue eyes. Thank you Nick for supporting my decision to be a stay at home mom. I appreciate it so much. I love you baby!

Pretty in pink

My grandmother used to make this face, I swear! It is really weird!
My sweet girl!
Having some tummy time. She's babbling in this one.
I am so proud of this pic. I think it is just awesome.

Her and her pink teddy bear. It's almost as big as her!
She loves her bear!
A slight pouty face.
What a cute pose and she did it all on her own.

Apparently she had enough pictures after half an hour, who can blame her.

Another video, gotta keep them coming for her daddy!

I had a better one, but it wouldn't load so here's this one.

4th of July pics

The morning of the 4th. Kara asleep in her crib. Don't you love the outfit? Kara and Mommy Kara and mommy with the fireworks in the background. They weren't as close as we hoped they would be to our house. Oh well!
Daddy and Kara watching the fireworks, don't you love her expression? She obviously wasn't too impressed.

Our family getting ready for the fireworks. We were all matching!! Red, White, and Blue!!!
Kara after the fireworks, she was happy to have some attention on her.
Kara wasn't too happy in this one. Aww!

Mad at her monkey

This picture just cracks me up. Truth is she wasn't mad at the monkey, just mad in general, but the pic made it look like she was angry with her. That monkey is her new build-a-bear(chimp) from her granny and grandpa. Her name is Missy Monkey. She has earned the nickname "monkey" from them because of her toes and funny faces. So when they were on a trip a few weeks ago they found her this chimp. It is really cute. The shirt it's wearing says "Just monkeying around", too cute. I love it. Just thought I would share a laugh today.

Her and the puppy