The Latest

Monday afternoon Rob and I went up to Hill AFB for the second time. we got temporary id cards so now we could go get lost on any old base that we wanted to. While we were there, we also picked up the rest of his uniform stuff - as well a a little extra that I couldn't resist. ABUs in Guy's size! It's getting so official, it's crazy. Less than one week and we move out. We've still got some of the details to figure out--especially since they changed Rob's orders. Now he's got 2 days to get from Alabama to Ohio. So much for him being able to come home and drive out with us. We're still not sure how all of that is going to work. Right now it looks like my brother might be making the 24+ hour drive with the boys and me. Can I just say DVD player? Hopefully that's a major key to keeping us all stay sane.



Help! . . . Soliciting Ideas

Rob and I are LOUSY at taking vacations. Either we've had the money and no time, or we've had the time and no money. Well, that, and since our families live almost cross country, we've spent EVERY.SINGLE.VACATION. that we've ever taken as a married couple and now as a family visiting the "other" family (the ones we don't live by), or an offshoot - in AZ or CA.

With this whole career change, months back, I told Rob that we NEED to take a vacation--a real one. Not just make a visit to family. He willingly obliged, which might be kind of a big deal because he's always said that he doesn't like taking vacations. I personally think he just hasn't been on the right ones.

I love taking a good vacation. Actually, I think I just love the idea of taking a good vacation. I can't remember when I last took a vacation. I need to get out more. We need to get out more. In August we'll hit four years of marriage. We took a couple trips before we got married - to visit my sister in California and my family in Utah. Lots of family visits.

Anyhow . . . so here's our situation:

Rob's got five days of vacation left. They'll buy it all out if he doesn't use it, but considering that he won't really have any time off for the next year, we know we should use it.

I'd love to go to Arches. Or Zions. Something like that. But I think the best thing I've really thought of so far is to vacation from home. That way, rather than having all be in a hotel room with lights out by around 8 pm, and hoping Cooper doesn't wake Guy up when he wakes up to eat, it would probably be a lot more fun to "vacation" while at home. We could do family things together during the day, and still have our time/space when the boys go down.

So here are my questions:

Does this seem like a good choice?
What activities would you recommend?
What kid-friendly (2 year old kid) vacations have you taken with your family?

We know Guy will be easy to please, so it seems to me the Disneyland-type vacations will be better saved for later years.

Any and all ideas will be welcomed and appreciated, so please share.

Thanks!

Guy, the sponge

Today Guy and I ran a couple of errands. On the way back to the car, I insisted that Guy hold my hand in the parking lot. As he objected, I told him no, because I didn't want him to die. He said, "I want to die." Stubborn kid. I told him that dying isn't fun. It hurts. It's bad. It's sad. You don't want to die. And plenty of other things. As he continually insisted. I changed the subject and asked him what he wanted to eat for lunch when we got home. He momentarily forgot about his petition.

Until we got home (10 min later). First thing he said when Rob came out to the car after we got home was, "I want to die." ?!?!

We both tried telling him it wasn't any good. And distracted him long enough to eat lunch.

Three hours after the subject was initially presented Guy woke up from his nap. The first thing out of his mouth after he came out of his room was again, "I want to die." And this time he was whining about it.

This time, Rob's great idea was to tell him he wouldn't be able to hug us anymore, and he wouldn't be able to have his blanket anymore (which he was still cluthing since waking up). I'm still not sure which one was more important to him (us, or the blanket), but he hasn't mentioned the topic since then.

* the "funny kid" label isn't entirely appropriate, I realize, but it kind of fits there.

OREO Frozen Peanut Butter Dessert

We like this dessert a lot. It's simple, and always a hit. I like to make it a day ahead so that it's one less thing to worry about at meal time. Last time I made it, it was Cooper's blessing day and it went well. I also made hummus from scratch that day and that was a hit as well. I'll share my recipe for that soon, too (I improvised on that one from a bunch of different recipes). And now back to the dessert.

total time: 4 hours 45 min
prep: 15 min
servings: 24 (so says the original recipe, but mine never goes that far) :)

ingredients:
30 OREO cookies finely crushed - WITH FILLING (another use for my food processor)
3 Tbsp Butter (that's what the original recipe called for, but I used about twice that to really make the crust stick together)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 3/4 qt. vanilla ice cream - softened
1 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip (DO NOT THAW)
6 Squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

MIX

mix crushed cookies and the butter. press firmly into a 9x13 pan. stick the crust in the freezer until ready to use. microwave the peanut butter in a microwaveable bowl on HIGH for 1 minute, stir. Swirl peanut butter into ice cream; spread over crust. freeze for 30 min

microwave cool whip and chocolate on HIGH for 1 1/2 to 2 min. until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended (stirring after each minute)

spread cool whip mixture over ice cream. top with peanuts, if desired. freeze for 4 hours. let stand at room temperature to soften slightly before serving.

SUBSTITUTE one cup of caramel ice cream topping for chocolate/cool whip mixture if preferred.

Elsa is going to make me fat

We've got wonderful neighbors. It's a family of four (one 14 year old boy and a 12-13 year old girl). They are great with Guy and Cooper. And they have a cute little dog, Floracita, that Guy LOVES. He calls her Cita because that's all he can manage to say.

Their mom, Elsa, makes the most amazing food. She makes tamales, empanadas, salsa, and other stuff I can't think of right now, but lots of fabulous food. Sometimes she brings it over, and other times she sends the kids over with some. It always looks like it comes from a restaurant - with finely shredded lettuce, some vegetables, and even some guacamole or cut up avocados and a dollop of sour cream all on the side.

On Wednesday, to celebrate Rob's last day of his night job, I let him take care of the boys all night, and I had 7 friends come over and Elsa taught us all how to make tamales. I know this doesn't sound like a great celebration for Rob, but he was more than fine with it. For months he's been asking me to learn to make the tamales before we move away from her.

Three of my friends had never had a tamale before. They all loved it, too. We want to do it again before I leave (our move date is June 30 - Rob goest to COT, and the boys and I will go to Draper for 5 weeks).

Yesterday evening I took her a plate full of homemade cream puffs as a thank you. Her daughter had told me that she really liked the ones I made them at Christmas time. Later that night she returned the plate full of empanadas (bread stuffed with meat and vegetables that is then fried). And they were FABULOUS. I'm thinking we should learn to make those instead of doing more tamales.

We're going to miss our neighbors tremendously, but my body? Not so much. ;)

Still Blue

Cooper's almost four months old. I love that his eyes are still blue. I'm still thinking they will stay that way. He's growing like crazy, still. He's smiley--willingly giving a smile to anybody that makes eye contact. He's getting a little particular about who he's held by, but mostly he's a pleasant and easy baby.

We hear he looks just like Guy, not at all like Guy, just like Dad, and just like me. I wish I knew where my baby pictures are. This photo (below) looks like the spittin' image of one of my baby phots. I might have to hunt it down just to show how close it looks. At the same time, though, there's no doubt his chin comes from Dad.

This kid grabs on to EVERYTHING - from sweatshirt hood strings, to hair, to his own fingers. It's pretty cute.