Pigtails!

What did you think this was going to be about Sally?

Drew has SO much hair right now.

And I'm not cutting it cause Karen's coming for Thanksgiving
and I want her to have a lot to work with.

So in the meantime we cover it up with fireman hats.11/20 - Ward Playgroup at the Monterey Fire Dept.

PS If you want your hair done, too...
Karen is doing some hair here Wednesday AM.
She's the best.

Holler!

There's more where this came from.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LillyMaeDesigns

Just had to give a little shout out to Lindsey
(my header-making BFF).

She just started an Etsy shop with the cutest stinking
(custom) Christmas cards I've ever seen.

That's a Wrap

Yay a winning season!
Especially fun to win the last game.

Owen with his friend Landon at the party afterwards.

Coach handed out patches after each game
based on how they did that day.

We added the dolphin & silver star cause
Owen was bummed he missed a game.

A medal and the "most improved player" patch.
He really did come a long way from day 1.

Next up...golf?
That's what he said he wanted to play cause
he knows how on Wii but wants to know how for real.

Throwing Things

It seems this frisbee golf is becoming a holiday tradition.

First Columbus Day.

Now Veteran's Day.

Family, would you be interested in this for Thanksgiving perhaps?

If so, bring your frisbees.

Or you could bring a kid to throw in like I did.

The Ball

After 6 years in the military we went to our first

Marine Corps Ball last night.

Just so happened to be on our anniversary (#9).

How nice of them to throw us a party!

It was memorable for sure.

Pretty much everything was bad.

But so bad it was funny.

The music...
was like a Saturday night dance from 1995:
The Macarena
(which the DJ was way into and scratching on his little records),
Shaggy, The Electric Slide...etc.

The food...
oh man.
Whoever bought us our tickets put us both down for beef.
It came out this huge nasty slab that was half fat.
So I asked if I could switch for chicken.
They were nice and brought me that...not sure if it was better.
It was a brown hunk filled w/rubbery mushroom stuff.
But by then it was 9 and we were starving so we ate anyway.

Our table...
We were the only ones not drinking.
Some people were very funny and some were offensive.

The ceremony...
That was the part I was most looking forward to.
I was so bummed we had to watch it from the foyer.
I had to leave for a minute to compose myself after talking to the offensive drunk guy and went out at the exact wrong time before it started and we weren't allowed back in until it was over.
We did get to see first-hand the guy who passed out
during the ceremony (a combination of drinking
and standing still too long w/his knees buckled).
He got taken away in an ambulance.

I did love the venue...
it was at a historic hotel at Naval Postgraduate School.

And my date.

Happy Anniversary, Marine Corps Birthday, and Veteran's Day!

Effects of Anesthesia

In case you can't understand, here's some closed captioning:

Nurse: (not sure)
Justin: Maybe I might break dance (I think that's what he said thanks to Sara's clarification)
Nurse: No, not here (laughing)
Justin: I'm pretty good
Nurse: Ya? Okay go ahead and step down for me
Justin: I kind of forgot how

Aaron: Allright say hi
Justin: Hey Fallujah (Iraq). I'll be back.
Aaron: How'd it go?
Justin: What?
Aaron: How are your teeth?
Justin: Uuuhhhhh they're kind of...I think they went surfing.
Aaron: Oh well you don't have them anymore.
Justin: Oh! I guess that explains why.
Aaron: You want to drive?
Justin: Um the hot chick said I ain't supposed to drive.
Aaron: The nurse?
Justin: Yyyah
Aaron: Okay I'll take you back to the det (Marine Corps detachment at DLI). You gonna work today?
Justin: I don't know.
Aaron: Go home and take a nap?
Justin: Moomkin ("maybe" in Arabic)
Aaron: Say, "Hi Shauna I love you!"
Justin: Hey sweetie pie.

Aaron: Is it ringing?
Justin: Dude, phones always ring. Ahhh man I gotta pee bad.
Aaron: She's not there?
Justin: Uh uh I don't know what her problem is...she must not like me that much
Aaron: Yes she does.

(Accidentally left my phone in the van while I was shopping...when I called him back he was still talking the same craziness.)

I'll leave off the video Aaron took from around the corner of him going to the bathroom. But it involved the Nile, a fish coming out, and being hydrated.

There were other funny stories Aaron told...like Justin calling all the Navy guys he saw Devil Dolphins (Marines are called Devil Dogs). And watching him crawl up a ramp on base. They made him do some paperwork there after surgery!

3 days later...he is still puffy, sore, and swolen. But he's back to school and getting better. He got his bottom 2 wisdom teeth taken out before his mission but still had these top 2 that he's wanted to get rid of for awhile. He wanted to do it here so he wouldn't have to go to a military dentist.

The Little Rascals

Alfalfa:

Spanky:

and Darla:

Our Halloween consisted of trunk-or-treat at church
and then some good old fashioned trick-or-treating.

We went around Sarah's neighborhood and then a few houses in our own.

It was fun having people be so excited to see us, having had next to no trick-or-treaters all night.

They were way too generous with candy.

I'm really happy with whoever chose to hand out York Patties...the kids don't like and I love.

Now don't get too scared but here's my wisdom tooth patient.
He got his top 2 wisdom teeth removed yesterday and this is him post-op. The anesthesia had worn off and the pain had set in. Working on the video of him still loopy on whatever drugs they gave him.

Even more scary, than that...
I've seen this on a few sites...had to try it for myself for some weird reason. Owen had fun sticking dry noodles in the hot dogs but nobody would touch the cooked end product.

Happy Halloween!

The Real Birthday

I can't wait for Halloween so I can cut that hair!

10/26

Took him out of school to have lunch with Justin and me.
We had the park to ourselves.
And yes, our 6-year-old still likes to be pushed on the swing.

You can stick a candle in anything.

Camp Owen

Invites by Sarah L.
She made those cute letters with a branch from her backyard.

Banner by Owen.
100% by him might I add.
I'm glad I fought the urge to do it myself
and let him go at it in his Tom Sawyer painting get-up.

At the party Owen blew out the candles on 6 cupcakes decorated by him and his friends.

A campfire cupcake by Stephanie S.

Green frosting = grass
Jelly beans = fire ring
(couldn't find the rock candy that was suggested online)
Crushed Oreos = dirt
Pretzel Sticks = Wood
Candle = Fire

The boys had their own interpretations.

River, Owen, Landon, Cal, Gavin, and Drew.

Owen's turned out something like this:

It's not camping without roasted marshmallows.

My new favorite idea (also found online)
is to put together pre-packaged s'mores kits.
Saved so much chaos!

Presents
I want to write, "A blur of excitement" but I won't.

The party-goers.

Owen wanted to go camping again for his birthday
so that turned into the theme of his party.

We had the party at a campsite at Veteran's Memorial Park.
Only 10 minutes away.
After the guests left, Justin stayed to camp with Owen & Drew.

Cell Phone Issues

Derek (my brother) thought he was texting Jason (another brother) but it really went to me .

"I was talking to shauna on the way to school today and she was driving somewhere too and since you can't drive while on the phone in california she pulled over and in the middle of our conversation I hear a cop getting mad at her for pulling over on the freeway to talk haha and just heard her apologize 100 times then she hung up on me."

A) I didn't just hang up on you! I (while trying not to laugh too hard in the cop's face) said I'd call you back later followed by GOOD-BYE.

B) I don't like how in order to avoid a ticket I pulled over to use my phone and got in trouble anyway (no ticket).

C) I do like when I get texts that aren't really supposed to go to me.

D) Do YOU like how I used all our facebook profile pictures? And how my picture is 2 years old? and Sally's getting her first shave via Jason? And how I don't update my facebook, just look at other people's updates?

Book Browsing

I know I just posted a picture of her reading. But this picture makes me happy. This is how I found her in the boys room this morning. She likes her quiet time when they are at school.

P.S. That hat is part of Owen's Halloween costume.

Pumpkins

Drew was fascinated
(and singed his hair from getting so close to the heat)

Sally was scared
(wouldn't get near them)

Owen was indifferent
(into Ichabod and Mr. Crane, our Halloween pumpkin carving movie)

October Break

10/11

Cinnamon rolls finally turning out right
after 2 years of attempting them
(Sally enjoying the frosting)

Frisbee golf
fun but i stink

Thunderstorm
10/13

Power outage due to storm
if this was a test for future emergencies i failed. i need power.

Visiting aquarium during storm

what were we thinking? but hey it had power.

Getting power back 27 hours later
hallelujah.

Then nice weather for the beach

10/15 - Marina State Beach

Playgroup at Earthbound Farms

it was hot

hot and tired don't mix

10/16

"Where the Wild Things Are" date w/Owen & Drew
(doubled w/Sarah & Cal)
way too heavy...but the wild things were awesome

A real date w/Justin.
His pick...Chili's
Surprise surprise!

Now back to the routine.

School Pictures

This is Owen's from kindergarten.

And this is Drew's from preschool:

I actually like a school picture for the first time!

Would it be too much to ask for schools to take pictures outside and get rid of the nasty backgrounds?