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1.30.2010

Snowed In

Umm, ok so we live in Northeastern North Carolina so the title of my post might be a tad overkill :)  We only have a few inches!  But today was one of those days, you know, the kind where the weather is so nasty you just want to curl up on the couch and read a good book or watch your favorite movie.  Instead of running errands(a Saturday family tradition) we hung out and enjoyed the company of one another.  We tickled, chased, tackled and cuddled.  It was awesome.

I love my family.  My boys are beautiful, sweet and funny.  I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday :)

1.26.2010

Something Unexpected...

Right now Ryan is on shore duty getting ready to go back to sea duty.  In order to do so he is require to complete health evaluations to make sure he is fit to return to a ship.  Last week they did all the bloodwork and vaccinations and yesterday he got to sit down with a doctor to review his results.  I didn't think anything of this appoinment- he is very healthy ordinarily- and pretty much forgot about it.  Well, it turns out Ryan has very high cholesterol levels.  Like way high.  Too high for someone his age.  Umm, prediabetic high.  Yeahhhh... 

High cholesterol runs in his family but the doctor ordered follow up tests to be run and informed Ryan that medication may be necessary to lower his cholesterol.  She also said that a change in lifestyle is required.  Which means limiting sugars controlling portions and continuing to exercise.  If you know Ryan than you know his love for all things sweet, yummy and processed.  He also has a love that I think is stronger than his love for me... whole milk.  He has to switch to skim.  Poor baby :)

All kidding aside- I am thankful that we were given the oppurtunity to change these factors, things that can be changed (unlike his genetics- he may always have higher than normal cholesterol).  I am thankful I have a wonderful husband who despite all this overwhelming information came home and wanted to know how I was handling it.  I am thankful to be able to face this challenge together.






(Sorry for the smudges... little fingers had gotten ahold of our camera)

Please keep Ryan in your thoughts in prayers. 

Time for dinner.
Talk to you soon.

1.25.2010

Conversations with Nolan



Nolan is very curious about death and what happens when we go to heaven.  We usually have these conversations on our way to or from school.  This afternoon Nolan asked why some boys and girls don't have mommies and daddies.  He asks in such a way it makes me wonder if he heard this somewhere or is just guessing and wants me to clarify.  For example, today he said, "Mommy, some kids don't have mommies and daddies... Right?"  When I told him that was true he wanted to know why.  The only reasons I can think of are not reasons I want him to dwell on- death and inability to care for the child.  But he asked so I lightly touched on it emphasizing that it gives the children a chance to be cared for by another family.  This led to discuss adoption.  It was easy to describe how Brodie (our dog) had his own mommy and daddy but we had adopted him as a puppy and he was now part of our family.  Somewhere in this conversation Nolan started talking about Heaven and what it would be like there, who we would see and how we would pay for our groceries there.  He thought maybe God had all the money and lent it out to us so we can buy our food.  It was so cute but also difficult.  How do I explain to my four year old what Heaven is like when I've never been there?  The last thing Nolan said to me during this conversation was he hoped he never went to Heaven because he wanted to stay on Earth with me for a long time :) He segued into how much rain we got today... I love my sweet little boy!

Time for lunch.  Talk to you soon.

1.19.2010

Our Weekend

These past few days have been wonderful... I LOVE long weekends :)  Anytime I get to have the hubs at home with me and the boys is perfection.  This past Saturday Hubbie turned 29 so we went out to dinner with some friends at Outback.  That was sooo his choice.  Our family has a tradition that on your birthday you have a special birthday dinner. It's always at home.  The birthday boy or girl can pick the meal, sides and dessert of their choice.  Ryan picked a steak from outback :(  But he was the birthday boy so I went along with it.  I'm so sweet like that.  We also had homemade birthday cake which right now is calling to me from the cake stand in the kitchen... Juuuuliiiieeee, come eeeeaat meeee.... Haha :) It is so yummy. 

Then yesterday we had friends/old neighbors come for lunch and it was so nice to see them again and catch up.  Before we bought our house we lived in military housing and they lived right across the street.  We hung out a whole lot.  There were Friday night dinners together, working out at the Y, playdates, cornhole and more.  It was so nice to catch up and show off our house at the same time :)  My friend can sew so I was showing her the first curtain I made and she couldn't even tell I didn't sew it!!  (I used stitch witchery) It was fun showing a new pair of eyes what we wanted to do in the house- from simple painting to the more complicated moving a doorway :)  Fun times :)

Plus, this weekend we made a major breakthrough in our fabric/paint selection for the kitchen.  Makes me sooo happy (sung like an angel)!!  The scoop? Ok here it is because I am desperate to share I know how much you want to know. We painted our downstairs half bath Olympic's Misty Surf. Yes, we picked our paint for the half bath AND the dining room without picking fabric.  Let's just say YIKES! We are having a bit of an issue with that... Well, the first fabric I picked out was a brown and misty surf-y color paisley.  Which I had picked out at Joann's after walking through the fabric section, holding paint chips and muttering to myself for about an hour.  All the while Kyler was pulling bolts of fabric off the shelves.  He only looks sweet and innocent.  Anyhoo, once I got the fabric home Ryan told me it looked too dark in the space and more formal than what we were looking for.  POP!  My bubble deflated pretty quickly.  But instead of hanging it, I let the fabric sit in the window for a month bit and realized the Hubs was right.  We went to Joann's again over the weekend and picked out a gorgeous fabric for the half bath.  Don't worry I will show you when the curtain is finished.
What does this have to do with the kitchen you wonder?  Well, we decided to use the same fabric in the kitchen.  I know, I know it could be too much but I really don't think so.  The fabric is just so beautiful.  And the spaces will have different colors on the walls so they will feel different, just share the same fabric.  Am I convincing you? I will show you pictures when it is finished.  I promise :)  Because we picked the fabric we now settled on two colors for the kitchen.  A sandy beige on the main walls and a beautiful green in the breakfast nook.  Again, I will show pictures :)

Side note: Yesterday, I was in the kitchen getting lunch ready for our guests to arrive(homemade Tuscan Chicken Stew) YUMMY.  Ryan had taken Nolan to Walmart to pick up some last minute things and Kyler was at home with me.  Kyler got into the triple paste and smeared it all over his blocks, face and even in his mouth.  This kid is going to be the glue eater in his class I can just tell.  He loves that paste like consistency.  He got into the triple paste yesterday and he has also been into the spackle several times!  We had the covered spackle in the guest room on the floor with the door closed firmly.  He had houdini-ed himself into the room and opened(!!) the spackle and helped himself to a taste.  The first time he did it I thought he had spit up because it was around his mouth.  But when I tried to wipe it up it wouldn't come off with just a bib.  I needed a washcloth to scrub his face.  What a little schnitzel.  :)
Sorry if this post got a little long winded but I had a lot to share :)
Talk to you soon.

1.14.2010

I made a Header!

YAY! I am so proud of myself! When I first created this blog I just used the boring layout that Blogger offered for free but I hated it. I wanted something that had some pizazz. I do not have the money to spend for some computer proficient bloggy designer to get my blog all decked out so I had to make the most of what I had. First and foremost, I had recently read a blog that talked about Scrapblog and how awesome it was.  It's a virtual scrapbooking site where slackers like me can make scrapbook pages for free.  You can opt to spend money on it if you want but I was able to do some cute stuff without spending a dime.  It was super easy.  Beth at The Stories from A to Z gives us the scoop on Scrapblog ANNND has a full tutorial if any of you are interested.  Pretty sweet :) Little ole me is not in the way of giving instructions on anything.. HA!  I had to reference Beth's post like eighty times just to figure out how to use Scrapblog and get it onto my computer. 

Anyhow, that's all done.  I told my husband about this blog and he gave me the crazy eyes.  I have been reading blogs for about a month now and it is starting to border on obsession.  These women are so crafty, so creative and on top of it they are super nice about sharing their ideas.  I will tell you my favorites in another post.  (Beth from above is definately a fave of mine :)  But, hubbie just smiles when I show him all the ideas I want to implement in our house.  God love him.  He puts up with this :)  But after I explained how this could keep him connected to us when he is gone and give our families an oppurtunity to see what it is like down here he agreed it was a good idea.  Can you believe it?  He thought me blogging was a good idea... funny hubbie :)

It's snacktime...

Talk to you soon!

1.12.2010

Intro

Hi Everyone! I'm Julie. I started this blog because I want a way to stay connected to the hubs when he deploys. My husband, Ryan is in the USN and has been on his shore rotation for the past three years and now is headed back to sea. He will be on staff duty come April and is set to deploy before the end of the year. Oh joy.

We have two sons, Nolan, 4, and Kyler, 1, and a dog Brodie. We just purchased our first house in Northeastern North Carolina and are trying to make it our home. You know what that means- we want to paint, furnish and update. Yup, you heard that chorus- money, money, mon-ey... monnneeeeeeeeey! Haha :)

Plus, all our relatives live far away and I hope they can feel like they are a bigger part of our lives.

I am starting the blog now because I am hoping to get into the swing of things now so by the time hubbie leaves it will be second nature to blog about what has been happening in our lives. Also, (and maybe this is wishful thinking) after Ryan is deployed maybe he can look back on the times we spent together when he misses us...

If only hubs was a sentimental pile of mush like me that might happen :)

Talk to you soon.