Can I relax?? Really?

So... great news today. And no, not about Michael Jackson. Although I do think the world is a better place with one fewer child molesters in it. No! The great news is that the cleaning lady is free for the week of our move!!! When we booked her, she only had one day available, and since it takes two days to clean a house, we could only get her for the kitchen. But her other job cancelled, so she's free to do our house!!!!! Bad news? (Because nothing can just be perfectly good) we have to be out a day early. But it's OK. I called the moving company and they are going to drop the truck off sooner, without an extra charge!, and pick it up sooner. So, yay! I feel much less stressed knowing that I don't have to clean. Cause I was seriously begining to lose it. That's why I haven't been updating the blog, because with everything going on, I just couldn't put it all into words.

I'm just ready to get out of here.

So, on the nickname front, Dave doesn't like Jonty. Go fig. He like's JJ, which I think is lame. So we've come to a standoff. I call the boy Jonty and he calls him JJ. And we'll see which on sticks. Since I'm home all day, smart money's on Jonty. And I don't care if others think it's retarded, I like it. ;) He'll probably end up calling himself Scooter or something like that. Scooter would be a cool nickname, except for the whole outing a CIA agent thing. I'm much to liberal to call my son after a member of the Bush Administration. I'm just sayin'.

So... I found an IKEA in Cinncinatti. WOOT. This is great news. I heart IKEA. And it's not even the big stuff I heart, it's the little things. Like cups. I heart IKEA cups. And any store that has day-care is alright by me. Seriously. I could live at IKEA. Like this guy. That's pretty awesome. And not only is there an IKEA in Ohio, they also have Aldi. I'm a sucker for European stores that come to the US. Between Aldi and IKEA, I might never shop anywhere else again. If they combined, it'd be like Buy-n-Large. The one thing California has on Ohio is In-n-Out. Which might just be the best burger I've EVER had. But they do have 5 Guys. Which is just about as good. Almost. It'll have to do until we come back for TPS.

Well, I may not be around much for the next few months as the truck gets delivered NEXT FRIDAY (*insert PANIC here*), but I'll try to give updates as I can!

Ohio awaits!!

Nickname for Jonathyn

What do you all think of Jonty as a nickname for the boy? I kind of like it...

Only at Edwards

I went land sailing today. And it was just about the best thing ever. I highly recommend it. It's one of those things that you can only do at Edwards. I am all banged up and bruised, and my foot hurts like nothing else (I didn't wear my boot, shut up) but it was certainly fun. I'm really glad we did it before we left. I need to put together a list of things to do for people who get sent to Edwards. I'll call it my "Only at Edwards" list. There are things that make living out here fun, you just have to find them!

Anyway. My house looks like a storage unit. Darn near everything is in boxes. Which is good, except that we're still 2 weeks out from truck delivery. We haven't packed up the computer and the TV yet so Dave and I aren't sitting around staring at each other after the kids are in bed, but we're close. And it's just going to get worse. We couldn't get into TLF (Temporary Living Facility, basically a fully furnished/stocked apartment for people moving in and out of the base, yeah, the military takes care of us) so we decided we're just going to camp for the week between when our truck gets delivered and when we actually leave. I think we're insane. We rented a travel trailer and are going to live at FamCamp (a campground on base) for a week. With three kids under 4. I really think we're insane. But we did hire someone to clean the kitchen. We would have hired her to do the entire house but since we only have one day, the kitchen it was. That is the hardest part, but we still have to clean everything else, with a broken foot and a nursing baby. fun.

Screw it. I'm just gonna torch the place.

It's great when you get to the part of moving where you hate everything you own and just want to take a match to the entire bloody business. And we chose this as our life? What were we thinking. Join the military, see the world!! Should be, join the military drag your stuff from one corner of nowhere to the other for 20 years just to get the healthcare!!

Mama is frustrated.

New topic. The baby is getting fat!! His cheeks are so chubby, it's so cute. That boy has got me wrapped around his finger! I could snuggle all day with him. And he smiles!! I love his smiles. It always amazes me how much you love your own babies. Someone you've only known for a few months and he totally has your heart. Gives me the warm fuzzies. I can't wait to get him out to ArKanHoma (Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma) so his extended family can see him. BTW- if anyone has a better way to combine those states into one word, I'm all for it, my attempt is admittedly lame. I would post pictures of the little guy, but blogspot is also being lame and I don't feel like dealing with it.

Anyway. It's bedtime. Maybe I'll be more positive in the morning. Or maybe I'll go buy some marshmellows. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Sooo....

24 days until wheels up (the day we leave, for those not affliated with airplanes)
18 days until the truck is delivered
12 days until Dave is done with work :D

crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap.

Best day EVER. Period. The End.

Today was the best day EVER. If you couldn't tell by the blog title. My very good friend Angie took all three of my kids (!) all day. If you have kids, you know what a big deal this is. We had worked it out before I broke my foot, and while I thought about cancelling, I realized that this really is the last chance I have for a day off before we move. So I took advantage. I went to an art musuem. The Getty Museum in LA. If you have never been there, I HIGHLY encourage you to go. Not with kids, it's not really a kid friendly place, but just on your own. It was amazing. I love art, and I could have spent all day wandering around, but I do have a broken foot. I hoofed around as much as possible before having to leave due to pain. :(. Totally could have stayed all day.

Here are some pictures of the museum...

Irises by Van Gogh

Monet

I figured out at one point that I could take pictures of myself using the mirrors. Since I was on my own and had no one to take pictures of me... I took quite a few using this technique.

Cezanne (my personal favorite artist)

After the museum, I went to the airport to pick up Dave. He's been in San Francisco for a week and I was VERY happy to have him home. But before picking him up, I hung out in the cell phone waiting lot at LAX. And I was bored. So I took a bunch of pictures of myself. OK, so I know I sound really self-absorbed because I have so many pictures of myself from today, but seriously, I have entire scrapbooks where I appear ONCE. I wanted some pictures of myself. Anyway. Most of them are REALLY bad, but a few turned out kinda good. I will probably make one my new Facebook Profile pic. Remember the days when you had to scan pictures to get them online? Man, those days sucked. Anyway. Here are some of my favorites.

After a dinner of Thai food (another favorite!) we headed home. And all was wonderful in the world. Seriously, art, self-absorbtion, and Thai food? Definately the BEST DAY EVER.

And for my mom (and Ashley) here are some pictures of the kids. It's amazing how many more pictures of them I take now that I have a decent camera!!

Sorry it's not better... getting 3 kids to stand together can be a challenge!! And Layni is wearing underwear, you just can't see it. I always said I wasn't going to be "that" mom who let her kids run around half naked, but I totally am.

Is there a kiddo under that sauce?

Cutest kid ever. Period. The end.

Wait... maybe I spoke too soon. He's pretty cute too.

New Camera!

It came!! And the first picture...

Peanut smiling!! Seems like a good omen to me.

My new toy...

So, we went to San Francisco this weekend. And had a BLAST I might add. Good fun was had visiting with family. However, one thing was lacking. Good pictures. A little background. I have camera issues. I've never had a good camera. Except once. 3 years ago, my aunt gave me her old Canon SLR. And I fell in love. The pictures it took of Nora were (are!) amazing. The prints look great. But that's just the problem. It's 35mm. Which is not cool. Our scanner is great, but it doesn't matter, the scans look horrid. So I don't use it very often, especcially now that I'm all into digital scrapbooking. So I bought a digital camera on eBay for $35. It's been fine, but it's starting to go. There's a reason it was only $35. So, back to San Fran. We took the girls to this children's museum right on the bay. And we had the most AMAZING view of the Golden Gate Bridge. So I took some pictures. The prints from my SLR, they look so good. The pics from my $35 eBay camera, eh. Good, but not great. So I have this problem. And the solution is obvious, buy a digital SLR. But I'm cheap. And dSLRs are expensive. But after this weekend, when I missed out on capturing some of the best pictures I've EVER had the opportunity to take, I decided that enough is enough. So, when we got home, I researched what is a good dSLR for the not-so-serious photographer. Basically, what's going to take great pictures of my kids, and of my vacations. My choice?

The Nikon D40. I bought it for about $400. Which is alot for me to spend on ANYTHING. But I think I got a good deal. And I got it from Amazon, and because I have Amazon Prime, overnight shipping was just $4. So it'll be here on Wednesday!! And I'm selling my old SLR on Craigslist, which will hopefully offset the cost a little. We'll see. And I just want to say, I know it's not a "top-of-the-line" camera, but I trust Nikon to make a good camera, and I don't need a lot of bells and whistles that I honestly have no interest in learning how to use. I have a feeling this will be a good camera for me.

Most of all, I'm excited to use it on our trip across the country!! Finally! A decent camera!! Makes me so happy.

Oh, and I finished all my sewing projects tonight. Dave is TDY, and since I can't sleep well without him anyway, I always stay up wicked late. So, the only project I have left to complete before the move, is that stupid ugly scarf!! I will take pictures of my stupid ugly scarf with my wicked cool new camera!!