In which I made sweet love to Lysol for 10 days straight.

March 5, 2010 | Filed Under Eliza Dove, Life Stuff, New Mexico, Photos | 10 Comments

Miss Eliza Dove has been sick since last Thursday. As in, nothing stayed in her stomach. She never got a fever, never acted lethargic or irritable. Her poor stomach would just randomly dispose of everything she ate. And not in convenient places either. (Like my hair. gag.)

{I do have to stop here and give her some major points. Eliza maintained being potty trained throughout the entire ordeal. And if girlfriend can handle telling me when she has to go to the bathroom whilst her intestines are hatin’… I’m thinking that we are golden on the diaper-free front.}

Judah had been sick a couple of days before Eliza. But he was sick for one evening and then was done with it. Eve never got it. I was sick for three days. Daniel was queasy for one evening. Weird, huh. Weird and very exhausting.

I am usually envious of large families. Until my family is sick. And then I realize sickness traveling through five people is way more than enough for me. I’m not sure that my washing machine could have handled much more. And I know that I was beyond my breaking point. It wasn’t as if I could have laid on my bed all day like I certainly longed to do while I was sick. Nope, mama had to be mama and carry on. That’s life.

Thankfully, today everyone felt back to normal. And it was a gloriously beautiful day… outside too! The kids and I ventured out of the house to visited one of our favorite playgrounds. We had a wonderful time in the fresh, soft, warm breezes. I completely relished not being surrounded by walls; I loved feeling the sun warming my body, listening to my kids play (and fight, of course!).

I took some photos of Eliza enjoying her freedom from the house. I could tell that she was just as happy as I was to be outside. She made sure to bring her full personality along…

Do you see the smirk?

We lovingly call her an old lady. She groans and grunts and acts likes she’s 97 years old. Here she gives you her best grumpy old lady face. She’s absolutely fascinating. And completely addictive.

She happily wore her glasses (”eyes” as she calls them) cocked off to the side. No worries. No cares. It didn’t matter that they left a red dent on her face before Mama realized and fixed ‘em. She’s totally chill.

And she looks great in polka dots.

Hope your day was great and your house is germ-free!!

The Weekend.

February 22, 2010 | Filed Under Andrea, Daniel, Eve, It's What's For Dinner, Judah, New Mexico, Photos, Texas | 16 Comments

It was fun.

It was busy.

It was supremely tasty.

Friday night we ran lots of errands and then Daniel took our family to a local Mexican restaurant. So fun! We ate our dinner while listening to live music. Loved that.

The food was mouth-watering delicious and authentically New Mexican.

We had a wonderful time until Judah melted down in the parking lot. Such is life.

Saturday we headed out to the Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo. Amazing. Seriously breathtaking. It’s a wild sensation to be driving across the plains, surrounded by enormous fields and stinky cows, and then BOOM. A huge canyon. Red walls, massive rocks… a refreshing change of scenery.

The kids had a fantastic time “trailing.” Daniel and I realized that I don’t do so well with “off-trailing.” I’m not so adventurous, apparently. Along the trail we saw some interesting animal tracks; some that struck large amounts of fear into my heart. Like, the fresh ones that looked like them belonged to a large cat. I got the chills looking at those! Yikes! Good thing Judah brought his “trusty ‘ol gun,” as he fondly calls it.

Daniel explored a cave and took the kids up the side of a cliff. Fun times in the beautiful weather. Unfortunately, because the trail was so low, we lost the sun and warmth fast. Brrr! I couldn’t get back to the truck fast enough. Eliza and I were popsicles! Daniel and I took a second before leaving to take a couple of photos, proof that we were actually at the canyon with our kids. I live with a goof-ball. A mean goof-ball. These photos were right before he stuck his ice-cold hands onto my back!

Since we were so close to Amarillo, and Target (!), we headed into town. Hiking made us very hungry so we stopped at Blue Sky for some burgers. Daniel had heard it was great and indeed, it was! I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of grease.

And the Anaheim chili sticks… awesome!! Wowza. I wanted to lick the bottom of the basket. I refrained. It was touch and go, though.

Sunday, we recuperated.

An awesome weekend! I am so thankful that Daniel is home. Life is so much happier, goofier, tastier, and more adventurous.

P.S. Not so sure about the big photos. I’ve never really cared about them. But, with the (blasted, horrid, I am horrible at making them) blog boards, bigger was better. We’ll see about the bigger photos… I find it annoying to have to scroll down to look at the whole thing.

Eve’s Valentine’s Day Tea Party 2010

February 14, 2010 | Filed Under Andrea, Eliza Dove, Eve, New Mexico, Photos, Valentine's Day | 18 Comments

The Valentine’s Day tea party was a success.

The girls had a wonderful time from what I surmised.

Eve said it was all she had hoped for.

And I lived.

I deem that a success. Hooray!

I kept the party small and simple. I work better that way. I read a line on someone’s blog this last week and while I can’t remember the exact wording it went along the lines of: sometimes simple is not only good enough, it is the best. I took that to heart.

Five little girls and one big girl were invited. A two hour party. Simple. Good.

I bought little princess crowns at Hobby Lobby and heart shaped bracelets at Target. I set those out for the girls to help themselves to. They played for a bit in the beginning. Mozart wafted through the air while the girls decorated sugar cookies with either pink or white frosting and some sprinkles. Consumed. Chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting, chocolate covered strawberries. Fancy tea cups steaming with red berry tea. Consumed.

They played a bit more while I cleaned up the food.

Little girl imaginations crafted their pretty party favor boxes with glitter and glue and candy hearts, a few stickers and some ribbon.

Inside the boxes went homemade chocolate caramels.

That was that. Simple. A bit magical. And good.

I liked it. We’ll do it again next year.

Decorating advice needed!

February 1, 2010 | Filed Under Decorating Ineptness, Life Stuff, Military Life, New Mexico, Photos | 16 Comments

I have these big white walls. Everywhere… well, almost everywhere. And they bother me.

On this particular wall I have finally decided to use one of my rainbow prints to adorn it. I think… if you approve, that is.

Daniel finally took pity on me and cut out a piece of 20×30 cardboard… after watching me hold up the tape measure 87,000 times.

Can you see it? Does it work? Do I need to add anything else or is the photo enough?

On the opposite side of the hallway there is a loooong stretch of white wall. I’ve decided to do a series of 16×24 prints of these four vineyard photos I took this fall.

Are you feeling it? Help? I don’t know what the crap I’m doing…

Did I mention…

January 30, 2010 | Filed Under Andrea, Life Stuff, New Mexico, Photos | 17 Comments

That we painted our livingroom wall blue…

‘Cause, we did. And I love it.

Promise I’ll show you more when I’m all done decorating!

2 Months…

August 17, 2009 | Filed Under Andrea, Daniel, Deployment, Military Life, New Mexico, Photos | 19 Comments

Today marks two months from the day I packed the kids and myself into Ruby the truck and drove away from the man I love.

I headed East with my back facing the beautiful New Mexico sky.

(straight out of the camera except for a simple crop)

Do you know how hard that was? Some of you really do.

I always believed it was harder to be left. I don’t know anymore. It tore my heart out to drive away from Daniel, knowing that there was going to be six months between the moment he last kissed my lips and the moment when I could reach my fingers out and touch his face again.

I still don’t know how a person can walk away from the one they deeply love. I don’t know how I did it… I guess it was simply putting one foot in front of the other. Trying not to let the feelings of sadness overwhelm me.

I don’t remember much from those first few hours.

I know I got to Lubbock to pick up my mom. I know that I made it to New York. I know I moved myself into a new house. I know I made it to one month. I know that I made it to two months.

Every day is a choice. A choice to get out of bed, be happy, to smile, to not cry.

It’s a choice to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Some days are much harder than others. I am praying that this month, the one that takes me from two to three, is a lighter load. I want to smile more and cry less.

For those of you that pray for me… thank you. Thank you, thank you.

I can physically feel them. Your prayers make all the difference.