Warner Family Blog

The County Fair

2011-09-21T12:43:00.013-04:00

As I am sure most who still read my blog know, my kids participate in a local 4H Club. It is not what you probably think of when you think of a 4H club, but 4H it is. As a result, they've been exposed to entering things in our local County Fair. We didn't enter last year, but friends in our club did. This year, Ashley was determined to enter something in the Fair. Her original plan for cross stitching an owl design and turning it into a pillow fell through early in the summer when she ended up to busy to get it done. At the end of July, however, she went off to a week of art mini camp. One of the middle school art teachers, who also happens to live around the corner from us and go to church with us, holds mini art camps in her home during the summer. Ashley attended one last year and loved it. Therefore, when Mrs. B offered to let Ashley attend a class that several of her friends from school were doing at the outrageous "super good neighbor discount," of $40, we sent her right over. The class usually costs 3 times that much. Anyhow, for 5 days, Ashley rode her bike or scooter around the corner for 2 hours each afternoon. By the time she was done, she had created lots of great things, two of which she decided to enter in the Fair. She chose the batik pillow she painted and sewed and the acrylic painting she made of an ice cream sundae.

When it came time for 4H entries, Ashley was sick, and I didn't get everything together and to the 4H office in time. As a result, she entered in open class, which as the name suggests is open to anyone in the county. It turns out that putting her painting in a frame was not preparation enough. It wasn't wired, so the fine arts section was not going to take it. I knew Ashley would be disappointed but a good sport about it. Indeed she was, but thanks to very good and quick thinking friends, we determined it could qualify in a handicrafts category, and one of my friends took it back to the Fair and entered it when she took her boys for their 4H entries.

Wednesday was an early dismissal day from school, so we took the kids out to the fair just to the exhibition tent to see how everyone did. I have to say that our little 4H club did well. Everyone who entered something won a ribbon of some kind, and we had 2 champions and 2 reserve champions included in that. Ashley won a second place ribbon for her painting and a first place ribbon and reserve champion for her pillow. She was so excited about the ribbons. The $8 dollars that came with them was truly an after thought. The kids already have plans for their entries next year.

Painting on display at Fair

Pillow on display with ribbons

Hee hee. Reminds me of the Wizard of Oz.

A little time for goofing around

The gang at the Fair on Wednesday

Better pictures of the painting and pillow

We went back as a family on Saturday so that the kids could see the rest of the Fair and so that Trent could see Ashley's entries on display. At the last minute, Ashley decided to enter the 4H junior archery competition with her friend Leonora who was there for that competition. She hadn't shot her bow in quite a while, so I was weary of this plan, but she assured me it would be good practice. You can't say that girl didn't have a great attitude about it. The kids shot 3 arrows each from 5, 10 and 15 feet. The targets were low, which was a bit difficult. At 15 feet, Ashley sunk her last arrow into the inner blue ring (6 point ring). I am sure it counted for more points considering the distance, but I am not sure how many. There were 30 kids shooting, and we had other things to do, so we left and had lunch, rode a couple of rides and left. We figured there was nothing to find out. When I returned Monday to pick up Ashley's items, ribbons, and check, I noticed the check was for $9. Confused, I looked over the itemized list at the bottom. It turns out, Ashley placed 6th in the youth archery competition and won $1. Guess who wants to practice her shooting more and enter the 4H shoot at the end of October?

That shot with the target is the arrow that won her 6th place.

Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Floods oh my!

2011-09-08T11:20:00.008-04:00

First of all, I want to thank everyone who checked in on us to make sure we were o.k. during Hurricane Irene. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. It is nice to know we have people looking out for us.

We started school off with an earthquake. That first weekend brought Hurricane Irene, and now we are dealing with some flooded roads as it has been raining pretty steadily for 3 days now. It really is quite a collection of weather and geographical phenomenon we've experienced.

It would seem that we are back to normal routine (well, mostly normal). Last week, we only had one day of school as the school was in one of the areas that lost power. The school regained power around 5:00 Wednesday evening, but they had already called the day of school and did not want to mess around with parents' child care arrangements, so the kids had four days off last week courtesy of Hurricane Irene. I am still of the opinion that they should have had school Thursday, but that is a different blog post perhaps.

On day two of our hurricane sponsored mini-break, we joined some friends for a day at the National Zoo. I love the National Zoo. It isn't as big and grand as many other zoos, but it is really fun, has something for everyone, and because it is part of the Smithsonian, is free. Jon got to see his beloved giant pacific octopus. Ashley and her friend Abby were able to go up to the bird house (a part of the zoo we have previously neglected), and Sammy got to visit the great ape house. In fact, when we left the great ape house, the orangutans were crossing the wires built for them from their outdoor area all the way to the Think Tank. I'd never seen this on previous trips. My friend Stefanie has been to the National Zoo many times and had not previously seen this, but what a fun sight for all. I am only sorry my nephews who were here for a visit in late June didn't get to see this.

So, by the end we were all very ready for school to come back. Sammy said it felt like first grade had never really happened. It really almost felt like first day of school take two on Tuesday sending them back for almost an entire week. It has been an entire week of indoor recess though as it has been raining since Monday afternoon. We were glad for the break but are very glad to be back.

In above pictures, you can see the alligator hanging out in the grass outside the reptile house, the whole gang of kids from that day, and the male lion. Behind him are the lion cubs born earlier this year. You can see that they are starting to resemble full grown lions more than cubs.

"...It All Starts With an Earthquake"

2011-08-29T11:57:00.008-04:00

As I am sure you know, because it has been all over the news, Tuesday brought not only the first day of school, but a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in VA, which was felt loud and clear here in MD. Other than shaking Owen awake and knocking some things off of shelves, the only damage we experienced was the loss of Ashley's prized sand dollar that she found whole in Myrtle Beach, cleaned up and preserved. She had it up on her bookshelf, and it fell with several books on top of it.

The following Thursday and Friday we spent preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Irene. Saturday night was really windy, and there was plenty of rain, but we did not lose power, and we had very little yard debris compared to the area at large around us. Therefore, I am glad to report that we weathered both natural disasters this past week well and really have no story to tell.

We do, however, have our own little disaster creator in our house. This week has seen the onset of the nickname Hurricane Owen. Since he could crawl, he has gotten into anything he possibly could. That of course escalated with his ability to climb, cruise and now walk. It is a constant adventure to see what he will get into or onto or take apart. He creates havoc with piles of laundry and loves to empty the silverware from the dishwasher. As a fun example, take this picture. One day this past summer, the kids had fries with their lunch, and Jon left his on the coffee table complete with the ketchup he had with them. I went in to check on the kids. Owen was in with them, which isn't unusual as he loves to be where they are. I found him pleased as he could be with himself, sitting in a pile of fries and ketchup with ketchup everywhere. They were within his reach, so he went exploring. This is just an example of how things are with our little hurricane. He sure is a cute little mess maker though, and it is a good thing he LOVES a bath as he needs one frequently.

New Blog

2011-08-26T17:15:00.002-04:00

I am seriously thinking of renaming this blog so it is less or our information right in the url address. I realize this may be a very bad time as I've been so bad at posting that few even look here anymore. If I do, I will post new address in advance of moving to new blog address. Thanks all.

Back to School

2011-08-23T09:54:00.009-04:00

Hey, I'm doing something on time on this blog. Perhaps I really am getting back to it.

Today was the first day back to school. It almost seemed to come in a rush. We were all prepared. It just seemed to all of a sudden be here.

This year, Ashley is in 5th grade, so she can ride her bike to school. She is also a safety, which means she has to be to school a little bit early so that she can get her stuff inside and get to her post, which happens to be one of the crosswalks. Therefore, she now leaves us early. She gets on her bike and rides to her friend Abby's house, and they ride to school together since they are both safetys. It felt a little strange just sending her off this morning, but I guess it is a peek at what is to come as next year she will be in middle school and not even going to the same school with the others.

Sammy is so excited to be a 1st grader, and Jon is excited to, "finally be in second grade," and to have one of his very best friends in his class. I couldn't be happier about how Jon's class looks and about what teacher he got. Hopefully that will stay the same all year.

Hey, how about some pictures?

Last first day of Elementary School

Off she goes

My friend Marnea got this when Ashley stopped to join Abby.

She is so excited to go back to school.

My second grader.

The walking group. We've gained a couple and lost a few.

Jon and his best friend Mason

Ashley in her crosswalk. Tomorrow she gets her safety belt. Maybe I will get another picture.

Oh, and here are pictures from back to school last year, which I shamefully never posted. I am including these for those of you who, like me, enjoy seeing how much the kids have or haven't changed.

The kindergartners actually meet their teachers the first two days and then do staggered starts the rest of the week. They then all go together the following Monday. This was Sammy on her first official day of Kindergarten.

With her teacher after she told me to "GO!"

Our walking group

At school.

The Jersey Shore

2011-08-19T09:52:00.022-04:00

In mid July, we took some good friends up on a long standing invitation and spent a long weekend at the Jersey Shore. We joined other families that we are friends with and made a crowded but really fun time of it. Until they retire and turn their Jersey home into their forever home, it is just a perfectly lovely little beach house. As a result, 4 families made for a crowd. Therefore, the Warners (Trent, myself and the boys) pitched a tent in the back yard, the Shamblen and Rehanek boys pitched two tents in the side yard, and the Shamblen and Rehanek adults stayed in the Shamblen's pop-up camper. The girls had a fabulous time in the house. How do I know this? I know, because I could hear the 3 ten year old girls giggling and talking through the open window until close to midnight.

Saturday was a fun day spent at the beach. We were staying in Pine Beach, New Jersey, which is on the Toms River. The river flows into Barnegat Bay. There is a long thin barrier island which separates the Bay from the Atlantic. We went to the ocean side of the island to Island Beach State Park. It was fabulous. The weather was perfect, and the kids (of every age) were having a blast. It was Owen's first time at the beach, and in true Owen form, he did not stay on a blanket. He was fine trying to crawl into the sand and even ate a bit. Yuck. Fortunately, it was NOT April's first time to the beach nor her first time taking little ones to the beach. She brought a small blow up pool along. The kids filled it with water from the ocean and a little sand, and Owen had his own contained personal ocean, which he loved. Ashley spent the day boogie boarding. Jon, after learning there had been a shark spotted off that beach earlier in the summer, spent time jumping in the waves and eagerly hoping to see a shark. Four and half hours later we were ready for a shower and some food and, in Owen’s case, a nap finally. He refused to nap at the beach. We went up to the bath house and showered, which was so much easier than 20 people trying to shower at the house. We then took a short drive up the beach to Seaside where those who wanted to could see the Jersey Shore house (from the television show). We then returned for a quiet and fun evening with friends.

The next day, there was just enough time before packing up and heading back to Maryland to go over to the Pine Beach Yacht Club on the Toms River and pull out the kayaks and small sail boats. The first time Jon took a kayak out by himself, I thought one of us was going to need to go in and steer him back to shore. Not only was this not the case, he went out successfully another 4 times. I love it when they find things that they love to do. Our New Jersey friends who are planning a big camping trip out West to visit when we are all retired from Coast Guard life joked that we would have to plan on visiting them as they were turning our children into East Coasters. I don’t know that that is true, but I can say that after this weekend, my kids do love New Jersey. We had no fist bumping, no drama, no Snooki and company (thankfully), just a perfectly lovely weekend at the Jersey Shore.

Owen's personal ocean

Plenty of friends to play with

Sammy enjoyed the sand and surf equally

Playing in the waves

Lots of boogie boarding for Ashley

Back from the beach. Just hanging around.

Ashley and her friend Leonora. Who knows what adventures came out of this bit of reading.

Sammy found a jellyfish

Ashley and her friend Abby

Owen finally decided it was o.k. to nap while we were out and about

My handsome little kayaker

Trent tried out the paddle board. He didn't fall in once. Trent has great balance.

All the kids at the Toms River

My very favorite picture from that weekend.

Let Them Eat Cake

2011-08-17T16:23:00.006-04:00

Back in June for bookclub, we read Beach Trip. I decided to try this recipe for coconut lime cake, because it sounded beachy and summery, and I like lime a lot and coconut too. It was super yummy. It takes some prep time, but it was worth it. The only change I made was to pour a tiny amount of coconut extract into the coconut milk for a tiny bit of extra flavor. I will also note that after about day 3, it wasn't quite as good as it was on day 1 or 2.

Just this weekend, I tried the following cake because we've had the most gorgeous cherries in season and because it sounded good. I got the recipe out of a cookbook called Colorado Colore. I really love this cookbook. I find myself trying more and more recipes from it. The recipe for baked potato soup is now my go to recipe as is the recipe for chicken tortilla soup. Anyhow, the recipe calls for black cherries. I used fresh Rainier cherries, and I don't think anything was hurt for the substitution. The filling soaks into the cake and creates a moist cake with a bit of a cream cheese ribbon in it that contains almonds and cherries. It is not too sweet, which makes the sweet icing taste great with it.

Black Cherry Almond Cake

Cherry Filling

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup fresh or frozen black cherries, cut into halves

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

2 eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Icing

2 cups confectioners' icing

1/4 to 1/2 cup cream (I used 5 to 6 Tbsp). See pictures to see how drippy that makes icing

2 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

For the Filling: beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg in a mixing bowl until smooth. Fold in the cherries and almonds.

For the cake: sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl and mix well. Beat the sour cream, butter, eggs and flavorings in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture and mix well.

Spoon half of the batter into a greased and lightly floured bundt pan or tub pan. Spread with the filling and top with the remaining cake batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes or until the cake tests done. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing: combine the confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup cream, butter and flavorings in a mixing bowl. Beat until smooth, adding additional cream if needed for the desired consistency. Spread the icing over the top and side of the cake.

Summer Updating

2011-08-08T15:36:00.010-04:00

Those of you who know me know that summer isn't my favorite. I don't hate it by any means, but I don't love it either. However, I was determined to try and make this a fun summer for the kids and not a waste of 2 months. My kids make summer fun for me and the challenges that come with it enjoyable. We'd only been out of school a week when Jon went off to cub scout day camp for the first time. Jon LOVES cub scouts. He looks forward to every scouting activity. His enthusiasm makes me so happy. After the first day (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), he was fairly exhausted. He'd had a great time but told me that he was ready to be done. It took some explaining to help him realize that he still had 4 more days to go. In the end, he had a great time and won a medal for bee bee gun shooting. Among the kids working on their wolf, he scored the best on the bee bee guns. He was so pleased with himself, and we admit to being awfully proud ourselves. I wish I had a single picture of Jon at day camp. Alas I do not.

That same week my brother and his family came out to visit. What a great time we all had! No wonder Jon was a little grumpy about going to all of day camp; his cousins were here for 3 days of it. Again, I don't have any pictures. Why is it that just because I live here I don't take my camera into DC? There are opportunities missed that way. I think one of my biggest lessons learned this summer is BRING THE CAMERA!

Later in the week of July 4, we packed up and headed out for the Coast Guard JAG family picnic. I had seen the e-mail that said there would be a bounce house and face painting etc., so I felt free to tell the kids, and they were excited to partake of it ALL! When we got there, there was plenty to eat and drink and a playground and a bounce house, which they made a bee line for. As for the rest of it, there was no evidence of any such activities. Still, being who they are, they played hard and could barely be bothered to eat something. Eventually, the Coast Guard's Judge Advocate General said a few words. During this, Sammy noticed out of the corner of her eye a lady setting up a table for face painting. Before the Admiral had finished speaking, she was in the seat first and having her face painted. By the time we left, the kids had done absolutely everything there was to do. They had a great time doing it and perhaps the three of them alone justified doing it all again next year.

All ready to go!

What a face. She wouldn't run through the sprinkler later that day even though it was hot, because she didn't want to wash off her face paint

The shark's mouth moved when Jon moved his. He was pretty pleased with that.

Ashley. We wondered at her not making a new friend at the picnic. She generally does when we go different places. Turns out she did; it just happened to be the Assistant Judge Advocate General.

Tired out. Time to go.

The Rest of the Story

2011-08-05T10:14:00.008-04:00

You know those pictures you look at and they turn out fine, but you know the whole story behind it? Trent took these pictures on the 4th of July before we headed off for a BBQ and fireworks. Not only did he get the picture.........

He got the story behind the picture. Namely, Ashley was telling some crazy story or other, and Sammy was reacting. At the same time, Owen was participating in one of his top ten favorite activities, pulling hair. This time it was Jon's. Anymore when we have family prayer, Owen crawls around, picks his prey for the evening, pulls himself up on their shirt and pulls their hair. We always know who he picked by the giggling followed by the word ow! Anyhow, here is the behind the scenes picture.

And a picture of Owen and I on his first 4th of July, because I keep hearing I don't post many pictures of me.

Staying Put

2011-02-23T22:44:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update to let you know that we received Trent's orders today, and we are staying here for the next few years. I am so happy that the kids will be in the same school for a little while longer and that we will be in this community and that we don't have to try and sell our house yet!

So.......... if you were planning a visit to DC, you still have a few years in which to catch the Warners. :)

Speaking of Young Women....

2011-02-15T09:31:00.003-05:00

At our activity night just before school started this past August, the girls made locker pockets. We solicited for worn out jeans and got plenty. We cut the pockets out and provided the girls with sharpies, fabric paint, jewels etc., hot glue and fabric scraps. They did such a great job decorating them. We glued magnets on the back and put a small size For the Strength of Youth card in each one. They could then use them to hold lip gloss, pencils etc. inside their lockers.

I am a great thief of ideas. I got this one from The Idea Door. It turned out better than I imagined.

Look What I Made

2011-02-14T13:59:00.003-05:00

I am currently the Young Women's President in our ward at church. That makes me specifically the advisor to the Laurels (the girls who are 16-18). Last year, I was looking for an idea for a little something to make for my girls when they leave young women, and I fell in love with this bag pattern from Heather Bailey. I love that it gave me options for my don't come anywhere near me with a bow type girls to my very girly girls. Last summer, I made three as I had one girl graduate and go off to college and two leave to go live in England for three years.

I was at the fabric store last week getting fabric for a couple of projects I am working on, and I remembered these bags that I never blogged about. I looked briefly at fabric options for my two Laurels who will graduate this spring and who are awaiting college acceptance letters right now. I have found a few other things I like since last year, but I still love this bag best, so I will be doing two more sometime this Spring.

Here is the first one I did for my super cute tomboy of a girl:

Here is a slightly different option for her sister:

Here is the final one I made with the bow and everything. Experience paid off as I think it turned out the best of the three:

Ashley is modeling this one. Isn't she cute? :)

I have never been super crafty. I wish I was and that I had more natural talent for decorating. I would like to be able to make my house look more put together that way, but I can follow a pattern, and I enjoy it. Need a super cute idea for a gift? May I suggest this pattern or several others from Heather Bailey.

Cautiously Optimistic

2011-02-07T21:09:00.002-05:00

As you likely know, we are currently at the end of a job shopping year. For us that means that Trent will change jobs this summer. He had to put together what is called a shopping list in October. That is a list of jobs he would like orders for that are on the list of available / open jobs. He then ranks them from what he wants the most on down. We ignored many jobs that would generally be appealing this time around, because we really wanted to stay in this area for a few more years. It looks like we will be getting our wish. Trent's detailer called Friday and said he would be getting orders for a job at headquarters. I am still cautiously optimistic, because Trent was told the same thing two years ago only to have the job change two days later. Still, we are cautiously optimistic that we will be here in our little old house in our little old neighborhood for a while longer. Hooray!!

Living in Pleasantville - The Travels of a Garmin Nuvi

2011-01-25T18:53:00.004-05:00

Our friends who first told us about Crofton refer to Crofton as Pleasantville. Whenever things happen that don't seem likely to happen many other places (at least not places around here), people will say things like, "that's Crofton for you," or "welcome to Pleasantville."

The truth is that we have enjoyed many of the places we've lived very much and have met great people in all of those places. In fact, if we end up stationed in some of the same places again, we know exactly where we will be looking for a house.

Still, we had our own living in Pleasantville experience over the Christmas holiday.

Trent brought our Garmin nuvi in and updated the maps etc. It was a day off from school over the Thanksgiving break I believe, and Ashley asked if she could go for a walk with the nuvi and check it out with the updated maps. I let her. She came back complaining that the maps wouldn't come up for her. I did something to the nuvi for her, and she put it in her coat pocket and went out. We didn't think anything of it afterward until Thanksgiving when we went looking for it and couldn't find it. Over the next week, we looked for it everywhere certain that Ashley had brought it back in etc. etc. Then, in early December, Trent received an e-mail from Garmin. It stated simply that our nuvi was found on the side of a road in Maryland and that the person who picked it up wanted it returned to its rightful owner.

At first, I was completely confused and wondering what road and how it possibly got there. That is when I started going through what I knew about the last time we had seen it and figured out that Ashley must have unwittingly dropped it and that it was somewhere in our own neighborhood. Trent has it password protected, so the individual who picked it up wouldn't have been able to figure out where its home was to return it to us. They took the huge step of returning it to Garmin though. I really do think that is impressive. Garmin later called, but by the time we got the message and called back, they had shipped the nuvi to the address they had on record, the house we lived in in Virginia. Sigh. At least we registered it, and there was a record of who it belonged to etc. The man who owns that house is currently stationed in Korea, so getting a hold of the current tenants was going to be tricky. Turns out we didn't need to. When the package arrived in VA, they figured out how to get a hold of us. He called and got our current address, and the nuvi is now home. Garmin restored its original settings or something like that. It thinks home is in VA again, but we can easily update it.

I truly believe that there are far more good people out there than bad. However, when what you hear the majority of the time are the bad stories, it becomes amazing to hear of people caring enough about getting a GPS device to its rightful owner that they mail it into the company with those express orders. Furthermore, getting our nuvi back instead of having to replace it meant that many people went out of their way to be good and helpful. I would like to think if I ever find myself in that position that I would also take the extra time to try and ensure a similar ending.

Lemon Drop Cookies

2011-01-24T18:05:00.002-05:00

What better way to come back where I am than to share a recipe?

I made these for a cookie exchange in December. Owen didn't leave me a lot of time to do anything complicated, and these looked great to me since I love lemon (citrus in general actually). They did not disappoint. They were popular at the exchange, and I really like them. They are light (in texture, not necessarily calorically). They come from the Better Homes and Gardens 100 Best Cookies magazine that Trent's Aunt Dee bought me several years ago. I swear that magazine is a regular go to for me. Anyhow, here is the recipe. Give a try. You will glad you did.

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream (I used light because that is what I by unless I stop and think not to. It did not seem to adversely affect the texture)
1/3 cup lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed for what it is worth)
2 cups all purpose flour
Lemon Glaze (stir together 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
Coarse Sugar
Yellow gum drops, chopped (I did not use these. They sounded texturally unappealing to me)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 3/4 cup sugar, lemon peel, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, sour cream, and lemon juice until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.

2. Drop dough by slightly rounded tablespoons 3 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake about 8 minutes or until tops are firm. Transfer cookies to a wire rack. Brush the tops of warm cookies with Lemon Glaze. Sprinkle with coarse sugar and decorate with chopped gumdrops (or not). Let cookies cool. Makes about 3 dozen

I am Back

2011-01-24T16:57:00.001-05:00

I'm back to blogging. I simply got overwhelmed by how far behind I was. However, I've missed my blog, and so I plan on picking up where we are and blogging away. Hope I haven't been so neglectful that I've no readers anymore.

Field Trip Palooza Part 2 - Arlington Echo

2010-07-09T14:04:00.008-04:00

At back to school night when they announced an overnight field trip in the Spring for the 3rd grade, I wrote my name down to help. I just thought that sounded young for an overnight field trip, so I wanted to tag along. I am sure Ashley could have handled it just fine, but I am still glad that I went and shared the experience. It was an incredible time too. It was really well organized, and the kids had a fabulous experience.

They go to a local camp, which the school district owns called Arlington Echo. It is along the Severn River, which is one of the major tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay. The water in the Severn is brackish (a combination of fresh water and the sea that flows in with the tides). The school broke the 4 third grade classes into two groups of two. The first group left on Monday and came back Tuesday. We left Tuesday and returned Wednesday. The whole thing was scheduled out brilliantly. It would not work without parent volunteers, but we had plenty of those, and it was fabulous. Parents mainly taught the lessons at the various stations, they were the group leaders and assistant leaders (I was our group leader), they planned and provided for the snack and supervised what little sleeping actually went on in the cabins. The program there falls within their science unit and deals in detail with the Chesapeake Bay environment in which they live. They learned a lot about the bay and what affects the Bay in many ways. They learned a lot about ecology and taking care of the Earth. Save the food, it was just a fabulous time.

All ready to go. Ashley wanted to carry that pack to school. Everything for both of us save one sleeping bag is in that pack.

We packed up and went to school as usual on Tuesday morning. This time, however, I went in with Ashley, and Trent went back home with Samantha. He was so awesome to take off those two days. There was some teasing about the pages of instructions about when Sammy needed to be to preschool and when she would be home and what time he needed to be where to get Jon to and from school, but the truth is that he asked for all of that to be written down. In a small bit of confession time, I had a minor panic moment going into that school with Ashley. It was strange and discomfiting not to return home with Sammy. That is a totally strange reaction I know, but it only lasted a few minutes and off we went.

When we got to the classrooms, I was given my full schedule of events and lists of which kids were in which group. They had 7 or 8 groups of about 6 to 7 kids each. We also had a schedule or when we would attend each activity etc. Like I said, it was fabulously organized. We got on the buses, went off to Arlington Echo, went into our assigned cabins where Ashley and I set up some basic stuff on our bunk. She was on top, and I slept under her. We then took off for the flag pole area for our orientation speech followed by lunch.

View from flag pole area across the Severn River. The Severn River is a beautiful area to be sure.

At meals, our table assignments weren't necessarily the same as our groups. Everyone at our table was in our group with the addition of a couple of dads. Two of the girls in our group sat at different tables at meal time. For every meal, each table had a hopper. It was the same thing we used to do at Camp Cherry Valley only we called them waiters. Yes, my handy dandy pack of papers let me know which kids I needed to send in a few minutes early to get ready for hopper duty. Ashley was our lunch hopper on the first day, and she swears it was a ton of fun. Her job was to get our table set and the food on it and then to run for seconds etc. as people needed them. She then needed to clear and clean the table. The trick with clearing is that at Arlington Echo, part of their conservation lesson was that their waste was measured after each meal. Recycling went to recycling. Any produce or bread that didn't have dressing or butter etc. on it could be put in compost. Everything else was weighed. We were challenged to not take more than we were going to eat and then if we wanted more to take seconds so that our waste would be minimal. You get the idea. Really, if they wanted less waste, they should consider the food. Thank goodness they had a good salad bar. Whew. We had hot dogs for lunch the first day, which was o.k. I guess. The coleslaw side was not good, and the congealed beef-a-roni just looked completely unappetizing. They had some chicken stew at dinner that even the dads at my table confessed that they ate because they were hungry but not because it was good. Breakfast was awesome. There was lots of fresh fruit and yogurt and cereal options, and the pancakes and bacon were fine. Lunch the next day was pizza french bread and some kind of chicken sandwich. The second day, the group did really well with their cumulative waste. The whole group only had 1 pound of waste at breakfast. This was down from 3.5 pounds at dinner. I also think hearing that any milk they had in their glasses but didn't drink counted toward waste (and liquid is heavy), helped them adjust. I smuggled in contraband snacks, and Ashley and I hid on my bottom bunk and had trail mix later that night. It is funny thinking about it in retrospect now.

Ashley on hopper duty.

The campfire that night was amazing with activities and a guest speaker from the Iroquois Nation. He taught them all some Native American dances and the meanings behind them. It was fabulous. I wish I had pictures from the camp fire, but I don't. 10 girls in a cabin meant little sleep, of course, but the next day was still great.

When we returned in the early afternoon, I took Ashley home with me, and we just chilled out. That Wednesday I will never forget. Trent had had a blast with Sammy the day before. He and some of the other dads all went up to Bass Pro Shop and then had lunch and went out to the archery range all before picking up the school aged kids. That Wednesday was more quiet, but Sammy got off to and returned from pre-school, and everything was calm. I went to pick Jon up from school, and when I got back home, Trent was on the phone with his office. That is right. It was April 29, and the Deep Water Horizon rig had sunk, the pipe broken, and the spill discovered to be far worse than they originally thought. Trent's work hasn't been the same since then. Whenever I want an idea of how long the oil spill has been going on, I think how far back Arlington Echo was. Sheesh.

It was a fabulous field trip though, and Ashley still talks about it.

Some of the activities we participated in:

Each group did one hour doing team building games and exercises. Our group worked really well together and looked out for each other the whole time. I think doing this first may have helped with that.

Trying to find the queen bee after learning all about bees.

Unfortunately, this did not stop Ashley from freaking out about bees.

For one activity, the kids took samples of pond water and of the Severn River and compared the different organisms that live there.

A white cottonwood tree. They are indigenous trees that have been choked out. After walking around and learning about these, the kids planted saplings that will be replanted after they get bigger.

Learning about the salinity and such in the river that allow oysters to live in the Severn River.

Our last activity was wading into the river and fishing out critters and learning about them. Ashley and Joanna got a few shrimp here, which Ashley thought was fabulous. Every group but one had someone fall in the river. I was hoping for none because by the time we did this activity all their gear was up in the bowery for loading buses. One of our girls did slip and get her entire sleeve wet, but otherwise, we made it. Whew!

Field Trip Palooza Part 1 - Nasa Goddard

2010-07-06T13:38:00.006-04:00

Time to start catching up.

On Friday, April 23, we began what I like to call Field Trip Palooza. I say this because the kids all had at least one field trip from this time through the end of May. I did not accompany them for all of them, but I did actually attend quite a few this time, and it was crazy!

On Friday, April 23rd, Sammy's preschool class along with the 3 year old class that her preschool teacher has on Tuesdays and Thursdays went to the NASA Goddard space station. Miss Debbie tried scheduling this back in March, so it was exciting when the kids were finally able to go. It turned out to be a really fun time too. They started out with a movie, which I thought was going to be awful because it would be over their heads and leave them restless and roaming. I was very wrong. It was funny and basic about astronauts and living in space. It contained lots of zero gravity somersaults and eating globs of food and doing tricks with orange juice. The kids loved it.

Afterward, all the kids who wanted to got to try on the top portion of a space suit the astronauts use when they are outside the shuttle and in space. The suit was huge on these little kids. Sammy was, of course, first up, because she is always eager (sometimes too eager quite frankly) to volunteer and have a turn.

Afterward, the kids got to go into another small theater like room. There was a white globe suspended from wires in that room. The NASA scientist helping us with our tour explained what it was. For me, this was the coolest part of the tour. There are digital projectors in four corners around the globe. They use those projectors to project our planet or any other onto the globe. They can look at it real time with weather patterns or many other views from space. They included night shots. The person running the computer projections used a wii remote and could rotate the globe and show the kids the poles and different continents. I wanted a turn to play with that thing. It was awesome. I took lots of pictures. Unfortunately, I could not get the combination of flash etc. down, and the pictures don't do it much justice.

Earth

Satellite view of the weather radar over South America

As Mars

As Jupiter

As the sun

Next came some free discovery time in an area they have for kids. Sammy went straight for the helmets and into the shuttle cockpit.

Finally, before turning us loose outside and to the gift shop if desired, they did a demonstration for the kids with pop rockets. They are decorated film canisters launched with the power of water and alkaseltzer tablets. The kids had a great time with it and with predicting whether the larger or smaller pop rocket would shoot higher. This was a really fun field trip and would be worth taking all the kids out to for a morning this summer.

It was extra fun for Sammy later as we have a friend down the street who works out at NASA Goddard. She filled him in on all the things she learned about space at the space center, and he was so impressed, he brought her home some extra stickers. Currently, Sammy thinks being an astronaut is the way to go. Trent loves that idea.

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-05T10:24:00.003-04:00

I have neglected my blog for the past couple of months. The combination of being busy with the end of school and meetings regarding Jon's future, the natural busy that comes with the summer and my church calling and the fact that my laptop (which, let's face it makes it SOOO much more convenient) has spent more days away from home than here, has created a sad neglect. I actually miss blogging, so I will make large backward data dumps in the next few days.

For now, I wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July. I have to admit that I am not Summer's biggest fan. However, I have learned over the years that it is what you make of it, and I am looking forward to large parts of this summer. Still, I do love the 4th of July. After our crazy whirlwind of a 4th last year, we decided to keep it simple this year. Add to that the fact that Trent has contracted this summer virus we've all been sharing since school got out, and the stick around home decision was an easy one.

The kids and I made patriotic luminaries this year. It was a lot of fun and turned out pretty. The kids are already excited to try some for Halloween. We had a great Sunday at church, and didn't the kids look super cute for the 4th? :)

It is too bad that the flash doesn't allow you to see how nicely the bags looked with the candles glowing inside of them. Oh well.

We arrived home to Trent on the phone with work. Yes, even on the 4th of July, the oil spill doesn't take a break. That was short lived though, and we had a quiet afternoon and then barbecued and joined several neighborhood families for fireworks out on the sidewalk. It was really fun. Even Jon, who is not a big fan of the noise the fireworks make, loosened up and sat with the other kids and clapped for the amature fireworks show. It turns out that somewhere in the area, someone actually has a cannon and does the big fireworks, many of which we could see through the trees in our backyard, so that was a fun bonus. Trent and I participated in our annual viewing of the musical, 1776, which, while not completely historically accurate, is really funny.

I hope you all enjoyed your 4th and that I haven't been so neglectful that you won't check back in from time to time.

Busch Gardens - Spring Break Part 2

2010-04-15T07:08:00.007-04:00

It's about time I get around to this. Yikes.

After we left Myrtle Beach (see below), we stopped in Williamsburg on the way home for our yearly trip to Busch Gardens. Anheiser Busch is very good to the military. Once a year we can go to one of their parks (Sesame World, Busch Gardens or Sea World) for free. This year, we cashed in some of Trent's accumulated hotel points from his trips to London, and we not only got our admission for free, we got our hotel for free. Hooray for that! That is why we don't have a problem paying for parking or for the over priced food in the park.

The last couple of years we went to Busch Gardens, it ended up being a cloudy and chilly day, and there was hardly anyone at the park. This time, it was warm, the sun was out, and there were more people. We still didn't wait horribly for anything though, so that was nice.

New as of last year, one of our first stops in the park is now the Forest of Fun which is designed for the little people and has a sesame street theme. The kids love the Grover roller coaster there and like the other rides as well. All three of them can and will ride them, so I didn't have to go on the Oscar ride or the Elmo spire, which was nice.

Ashley worked to make sure Sammy and Jon were buckled in and then found herself without an open seat.

She rode the next time around.

The girls on Oscar's whirly twirly ride. Jon tends to opt for more mellow things for the most part.

I love this bush. I think I should have one in my yard. No?

Among the characters we met were Cookie Monster, who at Busch Gardens is still the cookie monster and not the veggie monster.

and Grover

Zoe

and Abby Cadabby.

This year, Sammy finally hit the magic over 42 inch mark and had a purple bracelet. That opened up so many more options for her, and she has been long awaiting many of these options. Last year she was 41 inches and change. It was a disappointing blow for her and for Trent. This year, she put that purple wrist band on, and Trent finally has a roller coaster partner. She can't go on the really big ones yet, but she got right on Escape from Pompeii with her dad and loved every minute of it.

Going up

Coming down.

When we went into Ireland, we had an episode of tear inducing disappointment. Ashley's favorite ride at Busch Gardens was always Corkscrew Hill. It is one of those rides where you wear 3-D glasses and sit in a box type thing and they play a movie, and that the box shakes and moves around. The story that goes along with it is that you shrunk to the size of a leprechaun, and two boys pick up a box of little people and shake it around and take it up to the witch at the top of the hill etc. etc. Though I don't necessarily love it, it was Ashley's favorite. We went to that ride only to find it has been permanently closed. They are now using that space for a 3-D tour of Europe type ride. I think that sounds fun, but the experience made Ashley cry and then mope for the next 20 to 30 minutes. She kept explaining that Ireland was the wrong place to put that ride. They should put it in the England or France of Germany section. She repeatedly talked of writing a very angry letter to the manager etc. Trent took her on a similar 3-D motion ride called the Curse of Darkastle. That was enough to get rid of the moping. She did continue to talk about writing that letter though.

Did I mention one of the nicest parts of the kids being old enough to go on many of the rides themselves? It is not having to ride the teacup ride. :)

Trent made himself sick on the viking ship ride, so it was a nice time for the kids to go on some of the DaVinci kid rides they like so much. Jon was so excited about the flyers. The first time, he and Sammy were just far enough back in line that they had to settle for a sitting flyer. Jon was fine with that, but he got back in line with Ashley so that he could ride again on a laying down flyer. They were mindful of their manners and didn't push, and, as a result, rode in a sit down flyer. Jon spent the entire time with this head in his hands. I got in line with him one last time while the girls went on another ride. This time he didn't push, but he adopted some of the behavior he saw around him and ran as fast as he could through the gate and got on a laying down flyer. He was happy.

It was a great day. We spent 8 hours at Busch Gardens which is far more than we have before. I guess they are all old enough for that now. Ashley still hasn't written her letter, but I am not so sure she still won't.

Myrtle Beach - Spring Break Part 1

2010-04-04T10:10:00.006-04:00

Months ago, we were invited to join other families we are friendly with and go camping in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for part of Spring Break. We looked at all of our options considering Trent was traveling to London the week prior and wouldn't get home until the day the others were traveling down to the Travel Park. Trent is particularly amazing for making it all work. He returned from London at about 4:30 Saturday afternoon to a cab driver who was at departures rather than arrivals. He finally got home shortly after 6:00 and was greeted by a happy family who also informed him we still needed to go out and get a few camping supplies. Throw into that mix the fact that I had the Young Women's General Broadcast that night, and that was a lot to deal with on top of jet lag and everything else. Trent was awesome. He dropped me off for the broadcast and got the rest of the supplies together. We packed up and drove down the next morning. I realized that with the exception of visiting my Dad and Stepmom in Texas and a short layover once in the Atlanta airport, I had never been as far south as we drove on this trip.

When we crossed into South Carolina, we called our friends who told us the night before had been exceptionally windy and who had made plans for us if we didn't beat the storm into camp. We knew from the weather forecast and from our own driving that we were racing a storm into camp. We did beat the storm, and Steve, Jerry, and Jason all helped Trent and I get the tent up right away before the rain started. Afterward, we had some awesome chili (it was the Krajewski's turn for dinner that night). The rain started up in earnest as we put the kids to bed, so we joined them. It rained for awhile, but it wasn't too bad. Jon woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and by that point it was just very very windy. The tent was shaking a bit, but it was obviously secure, so we weren't worried. Around 3:00-3:30 the rains joined with the crazy wind, and the thunderstorms came in. The lightening was close, and the thunder shook the ground. We figured we were fine as we were not on any tree roots and were quite low. Being one of only two tents we saw in the entire travel park also meant that all of the RVs and pop up campers were higher up than we were as well. The rain, however, was now coming down in torrents and was joined by very strong winds. Around 4:00 I told Trent I was getting wet. He told me it was just condensation and not to worry. A few minutes later, I felt a drop on my face and told him again I was getting wet. He reached over and felt my sleeping bag and told me the outside was all wet. The inside was still dry and warm, so I had no idea. We figured out later that what happened was that the wind blew the rain up under the fly of the tent and it would then drip down through the mesh. Our tent was pitched on the flattest part of our campsite which also happened to be the lowest. Water was pooling around the base of the tent in places. Trent and I talked through several options and at around 4:30 or so decided on the option that would get our kids out of the still pouring rain the fastest which meant getting our bags of clothes, pillows, sleeping bags and children and get them quickly into the car. We drove into town and parked in the parking lot of Cracker Barrel where we tried to rest until 6:00 when they opened and we went in for breakfast.

The inside of the Warner tent the following morning. Can you see the puddles?

As we were leaving the restaurant, a gentleman having breakfast gave each of our children a dollar bill and told Trent we had a cute family. Later that morning I wondered if he thought we could use it seeing as how we were sitting in the restaurant in pjs and sweatpants. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. We returned to camp with donuts for the others and got Trent's jet boil out to make hot chocolate. We were surprised we hadn't been missed yet until we got back and saw others in the process of trying to jury rig the Shamblen's shade tent which had partially come down in the wind. The awning on their camper was also victim to the storm.

We took the sleeping bags and the few clothes that got wet up to the laundromat and dried them in the dryers. One lady there asked me, "are you the people in the TENT?!" I thought it was kind of funny. The rain didn't stop until lunch time and then it was cloudy. We hung up the air mattresses and dried out the puddles in the tent, but we were nervous about things getting dry for the next night. We went out and ran a couple of errands. By the time we got back to camp, it wasn't only sunny, it was warm. The kids went down and played at the beach, and Trent and I verified that everything was drying beautifully. We got everything set up again and then noticed rolling dark clouds headed right our way. We moved our tent to a higher grassy area in our camp site and threw a large tarp over all of it and staked it down. The worst of the storm went around us, but we had some strong rain in the middle of the night. The great news is that with no wind, the Warners stayed nice and dry. The Shamblen's shade tent did not fare so well. The weight of the water did it in, and the guys took it down and then bunched it up for trash pick up.

The rain is gone. The sun is out. The tide is out. Let's play on the beach! The tide at Myrtle Beach was fascinating. When the tide was high, there was about 5 to 6 feet of beach. When the tide was out, there were about 30 feet or so of beach.

Tuesday morning dismantling of the Shamblen's destroyed shade tent.

How the frame ended up

Tuesday was gorgeous. The morning was full of beach play and in the afternoon at low tide, Ashley and I joined others for a 3 mile walk down the beach and did some shelling. Ashley collected A LOT of shells but also found 2 fully intact sand dollars. That was impressive. One broke, but one made it home. Now we just have to figure out what to do with all of her shells. Trent took Sam and Jon miniature golfing. We all met up as Tuesday night was the Warners turn to fix dinner. We did BBQ ribs in the dutch oven and a raspberry cobbler. We messed up the cobbler and made a chocolate raspberry cake instead. It still tasted good but wasn't cobbler. The ribs were great. It was funny to see our friends react to dutch oven cooking as they hadn't really seen it done before. We were told we could come camping with all of them again if we brought ribs again.

Sammy's unsuccessful but fun attempt at body boarding

Every sand castle needs a moat

Ashley collecting shells Tuesday afternoon

About half the shells she ended up bringing home

We left the next day for part two of our adventure, but all in all we had a great time. There was lots of fun around the camp fire of course, but most of that doesn't translate if you weren't there. I am sure if you've sat around a fire laughing with friends, you know what I am talking about. I am not sure what all of this does for our "the Warners are hard core campers" reputation, but we had a great time.

A Lamb, A Lion, or a Flash

2010-04-04T09:38:00.008-04:00

We returned from our Spring Break traveling this past Thursday night. As I was unpacking, I was thinking about when to fit in coloring eggs with the kids and it occurred to me; I had not only not made martenitsas with them, I hadn't even THOUGHT about martenitsas until that moment. This really gave me pause to realize how quickly March came and went. Never mind whether it came in like a lamb or a lion. I am not sure I could remember to be honest. It came and went like a flash of lightening. Now that I am thinking back on it, I realize we were busy because we had so much going on, but it all just jumbled together into one busy after another. As a result, before I really realized we had started, it was gone.

Skipping martenitsas is really no big deal. It is something from Bulgaria. Baba Mart and the martenitsas that everyone bought and sold and made and wore were one of my favorite things when Trent and I were living in Bulgaria, and it is something I like to remember still (not this year apparently). What really made me pause wasn't that I didn't make martenitsas this year. It was that I hadn't even thought about it until the 1st of April. We had 4-H twice. Ashley had the MSA exams at school and plenty of girl drama as well (yuck to the latter). I was the guest reader in Ashley's class once this month. I had my first New Beginnings Program as the Young Women's President. Trent went to London for a week for work, so we celebrated my birthday early. I actually ended up celebrating my birthday for nearly a week. (I admit that I love birthdays though.) We had the youth temple trip, the fundraiser for summer camp and all of our regular meetings, and we had Spring Break. In all of that, I somehow kind of forgot that the month of March was happening. I am so good about birthday cards. I like to send them, and I really like remembering family and friends and all of our nieces and nephews particularly because we don't see them that often. I bought cards this month but never mailed one. I guess that means I am not sending cards for this year now. That is sad. O.k., I didn't really forget, but it made it feel like it came and went in a flash before I really realized it.

I hope everyone had a great month. I hope everyone is enjoying Spring. Chestita Baba Mart to you all.

So Let it Be Written...... And Other Rantings

2010-03-21T10:39:00.003-04:00

I had a super cute picture of Jon with his face painted like the Cat in the Hat for a belated Dr. Seuss' birthday celebration. However, I have not yet downloaded the picture from my camera, and as my camera is currently on a layover in Frankfurt on its way to London and I am in the mood to rant a bit anyhow, you get this instead.

I am on my political soap box. If you continue reading, don't say I didn't warn you.

It is Sunday morning, and later today is the big House vote on the Senate Health Care Bill. Yesterday, the House announced that they would not use the controversial deem and pass method to get this bill passed through the House. While I want to believe they chose not to do this, because it is an appallingly bad thing to do, I suspect it is more likely that they made this decision because they have the votes to pass the bill otherwise.

Deem and pass would allow them to deem the bill as passed without actually voting on the bill itself. They would deem it passed pending a vote on the reconciliation bill (those things the House is changing in the Senate Bill). This is a procedure that is used traditionally for more procedural and uncontroversial things. The very idea of using a deem and pass method to pass a bill that is very controversial, that has questionable support among the American people as a whole, that very few members of Congress have actually read in its entirety, and that will have a huge effect on the American populace and the American economy is abhorrent. In my opinion, it shows a blatant disregard for the concept of government by of and for The People and borders on the tyranny of the majority discussed often in The Federalist Papers.

In the late 18th century, while debating the Constitution prior to ratification, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison published several articles under pseudonyms now compiled and known as The Federalist Papers. England was a situation where there was a tyranny of the minority. A minority were in charge and were able to decree anything and everything. Of equal concern was the tyranny of the majority. Majority rules is a sensible concept, however, anyone who has ever given a good look at most mobs probably understands the concern of mob rule or tyranny of the majority. That is why there are rules in place in Congress to allow the minority attempts to debate, to dissuade and to possibly block the passage of legislation. The idea is for legislation passed to have bipartisan support or to at least have passed after whatever dissension was presented. To deem a bill of this importance and magnitude passed without an actual vote on it is appallingly irresponsible to the purposes of our government. We have checks and balances instituted for a reason. Let's operate within those boundaries and NOT try and wiggle around them please.

The biggest reported hurdle for the House Democrats at this moment are the pro-life Democrats who won't vote for this bill because of abortion provisions within it. There is dissent within the majority. When isn't there on something this big and important? The latest proposed answer to placate said pro life democrats is an Executive Order to counteract the abortion legislation in the Senate Bill. So let it be written, so let it be done says President Obama. This President has amazed me with what he thinks can be decreed with an executive order, but this takes the cake. Either he really is ignorant and thinks he has far more power than the Constitution gives him, or he thinks House Democrats (and more likely the American People who would hold said Democrats responsible for their vote) are stupid. An executive order affects the Executive Branch of Government. That is it. It can be revoked at any time by this President or any President that comes into office after him. As it only affects the Executive Branch, it can have little if any effect at all on the legislation passed through the House and Senate. President Obama has shown himself arrogant before, but this is something else. Does he fancy himself Pharaoh able to make anything happen with the quick issuance of an executive order? This is not the kind of accountability this American wants from her elected officials. I wanted better communication than we received during the previous administration. Instead, there have been even more closed doors and less explanation. Furthermore, there has been at times, in my opinion, actual disdain for the checks and balances within our governmental system. They can surely be frustrating, but do we really want to be without them? Do we really want that much power in anyone's hands? This American still believes in a Lockean/Jeffersonian contractual view of sovereignty and government, and I don't want my government to have that much unchecked power. That is my power, and I care how you use it.

It's All Greek To Me

2010-03-16T09:55:00.003-04:00

Back when the trailer for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief came out, I bought the first book for Ashley. I thought for some time that they looked like a series she might like.

It took awhile, but she picked up the Lightening Thief a few weeks ago. She started reading the names of the chapters and thought they were so amusing, that she read the first two chapters to me while I was making dinner. After that, she got tired of waiting for me to have time, and she took to reading her book at bed time. Once again we found ourselves in that place where we had to remind her that it is 9:00 and then 9:30 and to turn out her light and go to sleep. She took her book to school to read during free time and so forth. When she got near the end of the book, she read it while walking home from school and then plopped down on the couch and finished it up. She absolutely raved about it and is now reading the second book in the series.

In typical Ashley fashion, she is so into this series that her books she brings home from the school library on her library day are often about Greek mythology.

I have talked with several people recently whose children loved the series and who have read it and loved it themselves. All decry the movie as awful, which is a shame, because Ashley is looking forward to seeing it with her Dad. That being said, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series gets a major 2 thumbs up from our little reader. I will have to check them out myself when I finish the rest of my reading.

Chicken Lo Mein

2010-02-17T14:33:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday was not only Valentine's Day, it was Chinese New Year. Happy year of the tiger everyone. We had some families over for a celebratory pot luck. In addition to pot stickers and rice, and some plain lo mein (long noodles for a long life), I planned to serve this chicken lo mein. I found the recipe at allrecipes.com. I realized after cutting the chicken and getting it in the marinade, I just hadn't left enough time, so I saved it for dinner the following night. We had plenty of food at the party, so it wasn't missed, but it turned out really good. My kids even all ate it in varying degrees. Ashley picked the red peppers out but ate the rest, Sammy ate the chicken and the noodles, and Jon ate mostly just chicken but said it tasted good. Here is the recipe. It is easy, and is really yummy.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves- cut into think strips (I just used a close to 2 lb. package I had. It was 3 breast halves, but they were large. I didn't want for more chicken in the dish)
5 teaspoons white sugar, divided (I only used 4, and I didn't miss the extra one bit. In fact, you could probably scale it down more if you wanted to)
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce, divided
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2.5 Tbsp cornstarch
1 (12 oz) package uncooked linguine (I used thin spaghetti and only put in about 7-8 oz. Soba noodles would work as well. I thought linguine would be a heavy choice here.)
2 Tbsp. veg oil, divided
2 Tbsp minced fresh ginger root (I grated it, because I am lazy)
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 lb. fresh shitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
6 green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces

I also added one chopped red bell pepper for color and texture etc. Others who commented added broccoli or snow peas. There is a lot of room to play with this if you want to.

1. in a medium, non-reactive bowl, combine the chicken with 2.5 teaspoons of sugar (I used only 2), 1.5 Tbsp. vinegar and 1/4 cup soy sauce. Mix this together and coat the chicken well. cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (because of my timing issue, mine was in there nearly 24 hours. It didn't hurt it)

2. In another medium bowl, combine the chicken broth, water, sesame oil and ground black pepper with the remaining sugar, vinegar and soy sauce. In a separate small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch with some of this mixture and slowly add to the bulk of the mixture, stirring well. Set aside.

3. cook the linguine according to package directions, drain and set aside. Heat 1 Tbsp. veg oil in a wok or large saucepan over high heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 4 to 5 minutes or until browned. Transfer this and all juices to a warm plate.

4. Heat the remaining veg oil. Add ginger, garlic, mushrooms, green onions and stir fry 30 seconds. Add the reserved sauce mixture and then the chicken. Simmer until the sauce begins to thicken, about 2 to 5 minutes. Add the reserved noodles and toss gently, coating everything well with the sauce.

It was very flavorful but not really spicy. If you want to add a kick to it, I would suggest Tabasco sauce, stir frying dried red chili peppers with the chicken, or using a bit of cayenne in the sauce.

Look What I Made....

2010-02-16T09:00:00.005-05:00

I originally saw these apothecary jars on Summer's blog. She is amazingly crafty. (She got the idea and instructions here) I haven't been crafty in a long time, but I loved these and wanted to make them badly. The biggest problem was that the nearest Hobby Lobby is west of Gettysburg, and neither Michaels nor A.C. Moore had the glass canisters. I did a google search of Shanty 2 Chic apothecary jars and found someone who had acquired their glass canisters at Home Goods. Hey, I have one of those close by! My first trip was not as successful as I would like, and after some help and guidance from Summer, I returned the Friday the monster storm came with measuring tape in hand to the pleasant surprise of a new shipment with just the right product. Hooray!!

The search for a snow shovel deterred the procurement of the remainder of my supplies, but I did eventually get there after digging out after the storm and made my jars. One jar is leaning (as you can see). I am not sure if it is the candlestick or the canister, but I still need to figure it out and see about fixing/replacing it, but I couldn't wait to put the pictures up, so here they are flawed and all.

I am still considering putting the jute around the lids, but we are trying them out solid black first.

Snowpocalypse

2010-02-07T15:15:00.010-05:00

Some of you may be waiting to see of these pictures. I appreciate all who have called and e-mailed to check on us. It really has been quite an experience, but we are doing just fine and choosing to enjoy it as much as we can.

We knew last Saturday we were receiving another storm this weekend. While shoveling the 10 inches we received that morning, I was talking with one of our neighbors and noted that I would see him same day, same time for the same purpose next Saturday. Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, we received 4 inches of heavy wet snow. The kids were out of school as a result and enjoyed a neighborhood snowball fight. I was grateful they ran all through our yard, because it packed down and melted a lot of that wet snow before Friday and Saturday. By Thursday, people were hearing the weekend storm would rival the storm we received before Christmas, so grocery stores were hectic. Personally, I wanted a second snow shovel so that Trent and I could shovel at the same time and so that when he left to help dig out some of the families in our ward, I could shovel at home. Thursday, I went to 4 different stores with no luck. I tried two more smaller hardware stores the next morning, and I am glad I did. The 6th and final place I checked had some. Sammy and I stood in line for 30 minutes, but we were fully prepared. Thursday afternoon, the kids brought home notice that due to the early afternoon arrival of said storm, they would come home 2 hours early on Friday. Trent, who is so smart, asked his supervisor at the State Department if he could telecommute on Friday because of the storm coming in. An hour later, this man sent out an e-mail suggesting anyone with the ability to telecommute consider doing so. Even though government offices shut down at 1:00 Friday, getting out of D.C. was going to be difficult. The snow started as flurries around 10:30 but didn't start in earnest until noon. By mid to late afternoon, it was sticking.

When we woke up Saturday morning, it looked like this:

grill and trash cans

front walk

One thing I don't particularly love about my house is that the garage is not attached, and I don't have a pantry in my kitchen. As a result, a lot of our pantry items are in cabinets in the garage. Trent and I have been looking at options to remedy this but haven't found the solution we want yet. Anyhow, I needed to go out to the garage to get syrup for breakfast. I couldn't get the screen door open. We had one of the snow shovels inside, so I used it through the 3 inch crack formed from my attempt to open the door and eventually opened the door enough to squeeze through. I promptly shoveled the path between the garage and the house. At 8:30, that looked like this:

Around 10:00 or so, we decided to get out and start shoveling the walk. It was still snowing. The snow was pretty heavy at this point. The stuff that came later through the day wasn't as heavy, but this stuff was wet heavy snow brick, igloo making snow.

Saturday afternoon, while working on the driveway, we decided to clean off the car and dig out to the street. That was a crazy amount of work, but if we had an emergency and absolutely had to go out we could. Trent took the car around the parkway to check on the situation, and I dug out what drifted under the car during all the wind the night before. Some of our neighbors looked at us like we were crazy at this point, and several remarked that we must be used to this being from Utah. We let them know that 30+ inches of snow in less than 30 hours was a lot anywhere. The snow stopped shortly after 5:00.

Remember those garbage cans and that grill from 8:30? This is what they looked like about half an hour before the snow stopped.

The kids, with help from Trent, built a snow cave. They call it the hobbit hole. How fun.
For the second Sunday in a row we had no church. Next week is Stake Conference for us, so the bishop authorized home sacrament meetings. It was nice to have the sacrament with our little family. We then finished up what was left of the driveway. Isn't this fully dug out driveway beautiful? It feels beautiful having worked so hard to achieve it.
Through all of the predictions and even through part of Saturday morning, I was the crazy optimist. I thought since they would be more ready for the storm and since it was coming a little earlier than the last one etc. etc. that we might be going to school Monday with just a 2 hour delay. Um, yeah, when I finish laughing at myself, I will let you know. The National Weather Service reports the grand total for Crofton was 34 inches. D.C. got less, but the above ground metro service is still down, so there is no school today and no federal government either. We are expecting another storm Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning. I should snow another 4 to 6 inches. That really isn't a lot I know, but on top of the rest it is and coming over night, that much snow would equal a snow day anyhow, so I am fairly certain Wednesday will mean no school. As of yesterday, the school was not at all dug out. No one had even started plowing the parking lots and bus lanes, so I am not confident there will be school tomorrow. We will assume there is until we hear otherwise though. Right now, most predict Thursday will be our first day of school this week. We are already one day over our banked amount of snow days. The Principal petitioned the School Board for a 2 day waiver. Even if they grant it, we are likely to nearly certain to go over it. That would mean school gets out later for the kids. There is an ongoing debate about what happens if those days are taken during a state of emergency. It will be an interesting debate to follow. For now, it is sunny and beautiful, and when Trent gets back from shoveling for one of the families in our ward, I am off to run a few errands. Sometimes it is fun to be a part of these kind of things. It is a big mess, and we will be cleaning up after it for a while. I already broke the screen door on our kitchen. Sigh. However, this is something none of us will ever forget.

How's the Weather

2010-02-03T12:43:00.002-05:00

I am writing this on a beautiful sunny day after shoveling the 4.5 inches of snow we received last night and watching the remainders under what was shoveled melt. I have two children currently inside finding many things to entertain themselves and one still outside throwing snowballs with other gathered neighborhood kids. It is technically the middle of the school week, but it is a snow day. It probably could have been a 2 hour delay today, but I don't make these decisions, so snow day it is.

Yesterday was Groundhogs' Day. Personally, I think Groundhog's Day is a bunch of nonsense. Trent teases me about my attitude and conversely thinks it is a great holiday, one of the top 3 in February easily. Hee hee. I still watched the festivities with the kids yesterday while they got ready for school. At 7:00, the announcer for the Weather Channel said that Phil would emerge from his hole in 30 minutes. I thought to myself, how do they know he will emerge in 30 minutes? Oh, that's right, they know, because they will pull the poor groundhog out of his artificial stump in 30 minutes. In fact, how do they know there is going to be a Punxsutawney Phil in that stump if they don't place it in there earlier? Has anyone been there in the off season and seen Phil out and about? At 7:30, they pulled Phil out of his hole. He didn't want to come out. Imagine that, the groundhog didn't want to come out of the artificial heated stump it is hanging out in and go out in the cold weather where thousands of people are standing around with lights and cameras etc.. Anyhow, Phil's handlers (that is right, Punxsutawney Phil has handlers) placed him on top of this stump, and a bunch of men in black top hats and bow ties gathered around while one looked Phil in the eye and conversed with him. This man then declared (in rather amusing speech I must say) that Phil saw his shadow and there would be 6 more weeks of winter. Phil saw his shadow on a morning where the sun was barely coming up and there was full cloud cover. It is far more likely that the men in black top hats and bow ties (Hey! Men in black..........) knew what the upcoming forecast looked like and therefore made sure Phil said there would be 6 more weeks of winter.

I know, I know. Bah humbug. Well, in further support, the Weather Channel reporter said similar things about the cloud cover and lack of light to provide a shadow after saying she didn't mean to blow the lid off the whole thing? What whole thing? Could she mean the whole concept that a rodent pulled out of an artificial den can't predict the weather?

In addition to the 6 to 8 inches of snow we received Saturday and the 4 or so we received last night, we are expecting a significant storm this weekend. The only question is how much snow we will get out of it at this point. One of the moms at school pick up yesterday mentioned she has a friend at the weather service who said that IF the storm coming up from the South and the building nor' easter converge, we could get at least 3 feet of snow. This is still a hypothetical scenario, but even if it doesn't happen, we are expecting snow again this weekend. Trent said I disrespected the ground hog and now look what is happening. I talked to the neighbor about the expected upcoming storm last Saturday while shoveling snow, so I think the ground hog and my feelings about its ability to predict the weather have nothing to do with the string of snow we are having. You can all decide for yourselves.

I should note that the concept of Ground Hogs day goes back to the middle ages in Germany where people would gather around and pull a groundhog out of its hole to see if it saw its shadow. Now, their torches created enough artificial light that it is hard to know about the whole shadow thing...... O.k., only kidding about the torches and stuff. They did used to have a tradition upon which Ground hog's Day is based, but it involved the groundhog coming out on its own.

An Unexpected Adventure

2010-02-01T17:00:00.003-05:00

Friday evening while watching the weather report for the storm coming in, Trent and I got into a years old discussion about the Mason Dixon line. Ever since moving to Virginia, we occasionally ask each other where exactly the Mason Dixon line runs. Friday, we pulled out the laptop and looked it up once and for all. (I love reliable wireless internet.)

Like most Americans, Trent and I always thought the Mason Dixon line was the line that separated the North from the South. We could just never remember whether it included Maryland or was the border between Maryland and Virginia. While our understanding is not completely incorrect as the Missouri Compromise, drawing the line between slave and free territory, used the Mason Dixon line for a reference, we had no idea of the full history.

The Mason Dixon line goes back to the 17th century in which the King of England (Charles I) gave the first Lord of Baltimore, George Calvert, the colony of Maryland. Fifty years later Charles II gave the colony of Pennsylvania to William Penn. The descriptions of the boundaries in the separate grants did not match, so there was, of course, a land dispute that went to the British Court. In 1750, the court determined the boundary, and a decade later, the families accepted it. There followed a need to survey and mark the boundary. Colonial surveyors not up to the task, they sent for someone from Great Britain. An astronomer and a surveyor (Mason and Dixon) marked out the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland and marked it with limestone markers. Every mile a marker was placed with a P on the Pennsylvania side and an M on the Maryland side. Every 5 miles, the marker had the Penn coat of arms on the Pennsylvania side and the Calvert coat of arms on the Maryland side. There was an ACTUAL Mason Dixon line. The stones are disappearing, but there are some working to preserve it as much as possible.

I used to make a bit of fun of the Maryland state flag. I thought it looked like a race car flag. After Trent's and my discovery, I now know it comes from the Calvert coat of arms, and I have a new appreciation for it and the history behind it. Trent and I were really excited to learn this previously unknown (to us anyhow) bit of history and are really looking forward to heading a little north when it gets warmer to see if we can find the Mason Dixon line. We are looking forward to this unexpected adventure.

Climbing the Tower

2010-01-31T10:17:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with some friends about wanting to visit the National Cathedral. I haven't been there since 1993, and there is some fun history and much beauty there. I got on the website and came across information for the Spring tower climb. Apparently, twice a year at the National Cathedral, they have a tower climb. Those who buy tickets for that specialized event, climb the spiral staircase up to the top of the bell tower. There is a tour explaining the architecture on the way up, a demonstration of ringing the bells, and a spectacular view of Washington D.C. from the top.

I was really excited reading about the tower climb. I have set a goal to get into better shape. I haven't exercised regularly since we left Virginia, and it feels icky. This not only sounded like fun, but it sounded like great incentive. I am not anywhere near the shape I should be in to climb 333 stairs. I thought about it and even asked around. A lot of people thought it sounded cool, but I didn't have any takers to do it with me. The date was March 13th. After much thought, I decided not to shoot for the Spring time but to keep a watch out for dates for the fall climb.

It sounds like I gave up before starting. However, my decision was based upon wanting to really feel like I conquered something while enjoying everything else that goes with it. I don't see climbing that many stairs as ever being easy, but I think that giving myself more than 6 weeks to prepare will allow myself to get to a place where I am fit to face the challenge rather than just fit enough to perhaps make it through. So, if you read this and feel inclined, ask me how my preparation for the fall tower climb is going. I could probably use the reminder to make sure I am ready. If you want to join me, the more the merrier, and I could always use someone to push me when it gets tough.

Concert Interuptus

2010-01-17T14:33:00.002-05:00

Thursday night was the rescheduled winter concert at the elementary school. The kids who are involved in snow in 24 hours we received on the 18th and through the 19th, school on the 21st - 23rd of December were cancelled. All of the activities were also cancelled, and that included the winter concert.

The kids worked hard, and it was so fun to see how excited they were to get dressed up in their black and white and walk into an auditorium full of people. They were smiling and waving and jumping up and down a little bit.

Ashley is in beginning strings. She is one of 13 who play the viola. In the upper grades, there are only 4 violas. There are 40 violins in 3rd grade and 14 in the upper grades. All of Ashley's friends she walks to school with play the violin. It definitely added to the fun for all of these girls to do this together.

Luckily for you who visit here, we went with Flip video in hand. Now, you can't really see anything, because even though a friend who arrived 45 minutes early saved us seats, they are still 4 rows back. It was a packed house, and people arrived early. We were just so glad that Trent could get off work on time to be there. Enjoy some video of the performances anyhow.

First is the beginning strings students playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Next, we have the beginning strings students playing Jingle Bells. They are playing pizzicato (plucking).

Finally, here are ALL of the strings students playing Ode to Joy. You can actually see Ashley here. Look over the right shoulder of red jacket guy and over the left shoulder of the lady in the blue shirt ( I do actually know her). Right behind the green rectangle is Ashley. :)

When we got home, I got some video of Ashley playing her part of Ode to Joy. The beginning strings students played a simple A note harmony during part of the song while the other students played the melody. That is why you hear the repeated same note in the middle. This is Ashley playing after the concert and after ice cream and jumping around with her friends but before it all got to her and she got sick.

Finally, here is Ashley playing the first part of Good King Wensaslas. It wasn't part of the concert, but I love it. You can tell she was playing this for me and was kind of tired by this point, but it is still so fun.

Happy Birthday Trent

2010-01-12T09:33:00.004-05:00

Last week we celebrated Trent's birthday. The fact that his birthday falls right when everyone is going back to school and work combined with the fact that Trent doesn't tend to like making much of his birthday means we usually have a very understated affair. Well, it isn't like we did anything major as far as celebrations go, but we made a real effort this year to take some time and celebrate Trent's day. He is such a great man, and he deserves to celebrate a little even if we have to make him do it.

I made him a german chocolate cake, because it is his favorite. I made the frosting from scratch this year, and I cooked it too long, so it was almost like caramel. It still tasted good, but next time I would cook it less or go back to the canned stuff. The kids and I picked out the Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock figures the week before, and the kids helped me make the cake a little more special by turning it into a scene from the bridge of the Star Ship Enterprise. It was fun.

Trent didn't open any presents early this year. He even waited until he got home from work and enjoyed the dinner he chose so that the kids could watch him and jump and down and get all excited about it.

Trent received a hammock to take camping. Jon wouldn't stop until Trent pulled it out and showed him even though we obviously couldn't set it up in the house. The kids are already demanding a warm weather camping trip to use Dad's hammock. Trent is in complete agreement.

Remember those pictures Al Bean did representing the Apollo Missions? There is a book about the paintings with lots of pictures of the art. Trent was excited to receive that book and a Smithsonian membership. Two words go with that last item, FREE PARKING! There are other great things about it too, but it is great that we can go to the Udvar Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, which is part of Air and Space, and not pay to park.

A few days after his birthday, Trent received these little things. He loves the ability to plug in his MP3 player and listen to music in his office, and these are small but have good sound and are super portable.

We are glad Trent let us make a bigger deal out of his birthday this year. The kids and I really enjoyed making things special for him. Thank you to all of you who helped make his birthday so great as well.

Merry Christmas Part III

2010-01-01T21:03:00.004-05:00

I just loved how "Christmasy" the kids looked all dressed up in their holiday best.

Daddy's Girls

Thumbs up from my sharp looking guys.

Somehow, being dressed up has not discouraged Ashley and Sam from playing around.

Merry Christmas Part II

2010-01-01T19:47:00.006-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our quiet and fun Christmas.

Much of Christmas looked like this:

Trent's dad made Ashley a cradle for her bitty baby several years ago. Now, instead of sharing, Samantha has her own special cradle for her baby doll made by her Papa Jon. Her baby was in pajamas and all bundled up fairly early.

Jon loves legoes and received the lost temple set from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is the one with the rolling boulder. The video shows how much everyone knew Jon would love it as they all shriek with him about the gift. Jon worked with his dad for a while on the project but after Trent received a duty call, Jon did the last half on his own with occasional help. He did a great job. He wouldn't stop until it was all done though. He put in between 2 and 3 hours and wouldn't let me set the table for dinner until he was completely finished and let the boulder make its run a few times.

Still building

Still building but nearly done.

The kids received some Lazy One pajamas and were excited with the pajamas and because they are the "same kind" as my moose pajamas. They really are fun and comfy pajamas. Here are all three crazy kids in their jammies.

The front says "Bear Hug"

The back looks like the bear is giving her a hug

Moose!

After that, Ashley wanted to do the moose as well

Merry Christmas

2009-12-29T20:13:00.004-05:00

Trent and I received a flip video camera for Christmas. It is really fun and easy to take around and takes good video. For an initial installment of Christmas fun, I thought I would try and upload a few short videos from Christmas.

For the last few years, I have told the kids that they can't come down until 6:00. This is the first year it mattered. In the past, they have gone to bed tired enough that they slept until closer to 7:00. This year, I looked at the clock when I heard someone come into our room. It said 5:58. I heard Ashley say, "why does my clock say it is after 6:00 and your clock says it isn't 6:00 yet?" Good morning and Merry Christmas. Ashley was really excited about everything this year and was thrilled that Santa brought her a Nintendo DS. I think you can see that in the video.

Trent tried waking up Jon and Sammy a little before 7:00 to no avail. The second time he went up at 7:15, Jon joined us. Of course, Ashley gets right in the middle of everyone else's discovery process, but it is still fun. (side note: I tried for two days now to upload the whole video clip of Jon. It spins for hours with no luck. I trimmed it down so that it would upload. You miss his complete excitement over a webkinz snake but not much else)

The last video is Trent waking up Sammy the second time. It is really cute to see her reaction this time.

And Yet Another

2009-12-24T09:12:00.002-05:00

Knock knock.......

Who's there?

Yeta.

Yeta who?

Yeta another top tooth is missing from Jon's mouth. He not only wants his two front teeth for Christmas, he wants his four front teeth. He was actually quite happy with the situation. He wiggled that last loose top tooth all day until it came out. Now we really do wonder how he eats.

Deck the .... Doors

2009-12-24T09:01:00.003-05:00

Trent's office was involved in a door decorating contest for the holidays. His office, the office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, cleverly renamed themselves the Office of Ocean and Polar Express. They had both poles featured and a train. Trent volunteered to take pictures of everyone in the office and turn them into elves. In that past, I have asked my dad for so much help with this kind of stuff. We decided to finally get a home edition of Photoshop. We certainly do enough to make use of it. After some much needed and helpful tutorials from my dad, Trent was able to make 20 elves for the door. In the end, they took second place. The door that one was a take on Starry Night. Still, Trent's work was fun, and it really helped make their door. Here a few pictures.

That little elf in on the bottom right is particularly cute if you ask me. :)

The door that won. Notice the star fish in place of the stars, the kelp forest, the sea monkeys.

A White Christmas

2009-12-20T13:48:00.006-05:00

If you have watched any news in the last 36 hours, you know that the East Coast received a significant snow storm Friday evening and all through Saturday. I grew up around a lot of snow, but this (2 feet in about 24 hours) is a lot of snow and not common for this area.

We knew it was coming, so we had everything we needed at home already. Saturday morning was delightful. I stayed in bed and pretended to still be asleep. I heard footsteps come down the stairs and then a big gasp. The fact that I then heard footsteps go back up the stairs was proof that it was Jon. His sisters would have made much more noise. He returned shortly with both sisters in tow, and Trent and I heard many exclamations about how deep the snow was. Little did they know what was coming! There were several rounds of shoveling, and by the time the walk was finished, it was dusted over again. By the time the driveway was clear, it had a good covering where we started. I did most of the last of the shoveling this morning, and I am SO SORE. I will leave my commentary here, however, because Trent is off right now digging out some of our ward members, and he will be far more sore than I've any claim to. Now the sun is shining, and save the fact that we still can't see the road at all, it is gorgeous. It will definitely still be with us for Christmas, which is just wonderful. Save traveling home to Utah at Christmas, we haven't had a white Christmas in 7 years.

The kids are having an absolutely joyous time, and they haven't even dented the back yard yet. Everyone who has lived here for more than a few months tells me that they will likely call school tomorrow because though the main roads are clean, the side roads haven't been touched. That makes it difficult for buses and the children that must ride them. I can already imagine the raucous joy of three children with nothing to do tomorrow but play in all of that snow. I love it. I just hope we are back on track Tuesday as it is Ashley's winter strings concert, and I would hate for her to miss that.

Trent doing the first round of shoveling Saturday morning.

Sammy playing in the snow. (A side note: I love that that hat coat and gloves all used to belong to Ashley. I think I could dig up similar pictures of Ashley if I looked)

Jon. He is near the street not that you can tell the difference at that point.
Ashley who spent hours outside. I can't believe she didn't end up just freezing.

Check out the accumulation of snow on Trent's hat following an hour of shoveling Saturday evening. Trent took Jon to a birthday party that afternoon as I get nervous driving in significant amounts of snow. He did the finishing shovel until this morning when he got back.

We have a sky light in our living room. Our kids call it the Harry Potter ceiling because they can see the sky from inside. Right now, it looks like we are buried in snow.

Ashley doing a face plant in the snow to show off her cardboard snow shoes her dad made for her.

A final look at all the snow. This is the view from the front porch.

And Another One

2009-12-20T13:44:00.002-05:00

Friday night while eating dinner, I noticed the front gap in Jon's grin looked bigger. I asked if he lost another tooth. He proudly pulled the plastic treasure box from his pocket and shook it so that we could hear that that there was a tooth inside. That makes 3 upper teeth and one bottom tooth all missing at the moment. He only has 2 more than will be going anywhere in the next little while, but I am still getting nervous about his ability to eat. He seems unaffected, however, and looks adorable if I do say it myself.

All Jon wants for Christmas..........

2009-12-13T21:11:00.002-05:00

Jon now has both front teeth missing. He decided to lose these teeth with one of his bottom ones as well. In addition to looking a bit like a jack-o-lantern, he may need to stop loosing teeth until some new ones come in. He has lost three teeth since Thanksgiving. I think it is a cute time though.

A Visit with Santa

2009-12-13T18:37:00.003-05:00

We went to our Ward Christmas party this weekend. No dinner (boo) just desserts. Santa made a little visit, which was the main attraction for the Warner children even considering they sang in a primary number during the program. When Santa came in and told the children to come and see him in the Primary room, I had to race to keep up with Samantha who zoomed across the room and out the door to follow him. They had the children fill out lists that had lines for 10 items. The children were then to circle the top 2 items they wanted, and that is what they could share with Santa. Although this was perhaps cute in conception, it lead to some chaos. Sammy has fewer things not on her list than on her list and doesn't really write yet, so she and other like-minded small children, made an immediate bee line for Santa. They knew the one or two things they were going to ask him for anyhow. The older kids all started filling out lists but lost patience with the whole process at some point and recreated a line. Ashley only had two items in the first place so felt put out to have to come up with more. Jon doesn't spell well but insists on writing things correctly so gave up after it took too long to write Star Wars. All in all, they were just happy to finally get to see Santa. Ashley wants to sleep in the living room this year. She is hoping to see Santa come down the chimney. Didn't the tooth fairy episode teach her anything?

Pumpkin Pecan Cookies

2009-12-07T12:02:00.002-05:00

This past Saturday I went to a cookie exchange. We each brought 6 dozen cookies (either 6 of one type or 3 each of 2 types). We pulled 4 out and cut them up for sampling and then chatted and had a great time. We voted on our favorite and then divided up all the cookies. Therefore, we baked one or two types of cookies but brought home 12 different types of cookies and the recipes to make said cookies. One of the two types I brought were pumpkin pecan cookies with brown sugar butter frosting. I got the recipe from the cookie recipe collection Trent's Aunt Dee gave me. I have discovered many a yummy recipe there. They are a little bit different than the usual Christmas cookie, but they are really yummy. No, I didn't win, but these were well received. If you are looking for something a little different that definitely falls in the fall/winter flavors department, give these a try.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped toasted pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and allspice. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Beat in the sugar. Add the egg; beat well. Stir pumpkin and flour mixture into egg mixture. Stir in the chopped pecans.

3. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer to wire rack. When completely cool, frost with Brown Sugar Butter Frosting.

Brown Sugar Butter Frosting

In a medium saucepan heat 6 Tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup packed brown sugar over medium heat until butter melts. Remove mixture from heat. Stir in 2 cups sifted powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add enough hot water (2 to 3 teaspoons) to make a smooth spreadable frosting. Frost cooled cookies immediately after preparing frosting (I put a decorative blob in the middle more than I frost the entire thing). If frosting becomes too grainy, add more drops of hot water and stir until smooth. (I have to do that last part at least twice before I am finished).

There are Games Afoot

2009-12-05T22:24:00.003-05:00

Jon lost another tooth at school on Friday. I should take a picture and post it. He now has one top front tooth gone and one bottom side tooth gone. It is adorable really. That is not really the point though.

He brought his tooth home in a little treasure chest the school nurse supplied. Being Friday, we had movie night, and Jon, as he nearly always does on a Friday night, asked to have a sleepover with his sisters. He either sleeps on the floor between their beds or on the bottom of one of their beds. Last night was the later on Ashley's bed. We made sure he put his tooth under his pillow. After that, Jon and Ashley were talking quietly, and it seemed they were plotting something.

I set my alarm for 11:30 when I went to bed. They should be out by then. When I crept upstairs and peeked in the door, Ashley sat up and started looking around. I went downstairs and set the alarm for another hour and a half later. On the second trip, I was extra quiet but the same thing happened. Needless to say, the tooth fairy did not make a visit last night. Jon is trying for another shot tonight in his own bed. I told Jon that I thought Ashley and I created too much noise for the tooth fairy and that we would have to try again tonight. I also talked to them about trying to catch the tooth fairy, which I suspect is what was going on (you see, the toothfairy can fly you to the North Pole). Jon confessed that Ashley had devised just such a plan. Ashley insists that Jon is just saying that. After the plotting I saw and the uncharacteristic jumpiness last night coupled with the fact that I know Jon regularly tattles on himself, I think they were indeed trying to catch the tooth fairy. I can't say for certain though, because Jon has given a false confession in the past.

We had a good snow fall today, and they played in it this afternoon. That coupled with a long day of fun and all children in their own beds should mean they are all fast asleep and we can try again in another half hour. The games are afoot!

Warner Spooks

2009-11-24T23:54:00.011-05:00

Well, November is almost over, so I am finally getting around to posting Halloween pictures.

This was our first Halloween in Crofton, and what a great time we had (well except for the Trent being not quite well part). Friday before Halloween, the kids wore their costumes to school and had a traditional Halloween parade. I wasn't sure I would make it back in time after dropping Sammy off at preschool for her own party, but I did. Alas, I did so without camera. Perhaps that is a good thing. All the kids were adorable. Some of my favorites were one kid dressed as the Planters peanut and one dressed as a lego figure. The school counselor, the art teacher, the janitor and the music teacher dressed up as the scooby doo gang. It was hilarious and fun. It was a good thing it was an early release day full of mostly parties. Just seeing all the costumes as we walked to school had Jon geeking out.

Indiana Jon(es). I wouldn't let him take his whip to school as they weren't supposed to take any weapons with costumes. Better safe than sorry.

Jo-Jo the clown.

Our wood sprite
Ashley insisted on striking a Spiderwick Field Guide pose rather than smiling. She claimed wood sprites (or sprites in general) don't like to be photographed.

because she wasn't exactly being cooperative, I am glad I snapped this picture of Ashley earlier while she was busy gathering up papers etc.

the whole walk to school gang in their costumes.

On Saturday morning, we braved the drizzle for the Kiwanis sponsored Halloween parade. The kids wait at the church and register. When the parade, which starts at Crofton Woods Elementary, gets to them, they join in the back and walk up the Parkway to Crofton Elementary (about a half mile I think). I thought it was just a little fun community thing. I had no idea it was a small but full on parade complete with the local government and the two local High School bands. They even threw a bit of candy at the kids.

The pre-requisite old car

South River High playing Thriller

Arundel High with the more traditional band thing going on

Ashley and her friend Eowyn. Two pretty little sprites.

This kid's little brother goes to pre-school with Sammy. His mom made this costume. I thought it was incredible, and yes, he definitely won a prize.

ready for trick-or-treaters

It ended with a short party at the school with prizes for costumes. Color this mom shocked when Ashley won second place in the prettiest/cutest category. Ashley told me in September that she wanted to be a wood sprite from the Spiderwick Chronicles. Since this is a fantastical creature that does not exist and is not a popular for sale type of costume, I got as creative as I could which amounted to making her a fairy costume and using fall wood colors and decorations. During the time I should have been making this costume, everyone in the family decided to get sick. By the time I got out to get the fabric and pattern and such, I left myself too little time to get it done and therefore spent a couple of late nights making sure her costume was ready for Friday at school. After she won, my friend April leaned over and told me that is what I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. for. It really wasn't, but I was happy for Ashley all the same.

The night ended with trick or treating of course. The kids talked me into dressing up with them (see picture at top). We went with friends, which ended up being a mob of 21 that narrowed down to 5 by the end. What a great time it was. Trent was right in his early assessment of our new neighborhood; it was great for trick or treating.

one of our new friends and his "scary" costume.

And Ashley Too

2009-11-24T23:41:00.005-05:00

Almost two weeks ago, Ashley had her turn to go to the archery range with her dad. Actually, it was quite the whirl wind of a day. We started out the morning at the Native American festival at the local 4-H club where the kids made crafts, shot bows, and went canoeing. I forgot my camera, but when April takes pity on me and sends pictures, I am sure I will post them. Afterward, we went to a birthday party and then Ashley went to the range with her dad, one of her very best friends (Leonora) and Leonora's dad and sister. For having little experience so far, Ashley is a decent shot I have to say. This past weekend, this same group headed up to Lancaster to an archery store. Ashley shot on Trent's old re curve at the range there and nearly got a bull's eye. She was pretty excited.

This was just two days after her birthday. Our Ashley is now 9. When did that happen? She seems the same to me until I pull older pictures out. What a tall, leggy, imaginative fun girl she is. We, of course, love her immensely. We are not sure we love the alarm clock she received for her birthday though she absolutely does. She insists on setting it every school day, and it sounds like R2-D2 on a major caffeine kick. It rolls away after the first snooze, and I think it is hilarious that she will deliberately wait for it to go off again and roll off of her nightstand. The bottom picture shows the boots she just had to have. I guess she really is getting older. Sigh.

A Little Archer

2009-11-11T14:15:00.004-05:00

I need to post about Halloween, but that will take more time than I have right now.

After some chatting with friends last weekend, Trent got out his compound bow and went and got some arrows etc. for it this past Saturday. It was nice to see him so excited about getting it out. At the same time, he tried to restring his old re curve, but they couldn't restring it anymore. Sooooooo, Trent bought a children's basic re curve for the kids to use.

After coming home, Trent headed out with Jon for the archery range not far from here. It is free (so cool) and very close. Ashley really wanted to go with her dad, but she was still recovering from the 3rd grade plague. Next time. Jon is still a little young for the whole thing, so he needed a lot of help. He is starting to get it though, and, according to Trent, he got at least one arrow off. He had a great time and wants to go again.

I guess we could argue we should have spent last Saturday raking leaves etc. as the weather was so spectacular. I am glad the boys got out to the archery range though. The picture above is the Japanese maple tree in our front yard. It is a late turner. While most trees are dropping their leaves copiously right now, it has just now fully turned and started dropping. I love the colors. When we are done with our time on the East Coast, I will always remember how much I love the fall here. It is a longer season than I remember fall being growing up, and it is just beautiful.

The Great Pumpkin?

2009-11-09T09:59:00.004-05:00

Friday the 23rd, we had Sammy's preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch. The trip was originally scheduled for the 16th, which is a teacher work day for Anne Arundel County. As a result, older siblings could come along. That day turned out to be very cold and very wet. In our case, we wouldn't have been able to attend anyhow, because Sammy was sick at the time. So, though it was a bummer for Ashley and Jon, the trip was rescheduled for the following Friday, and off we went to the Pumpkin Patch.

It was a great little place to visit. They aren't open to the public until the afternoon and evening on weekdays, so it was just the 4year old class and the 3 year old class and their parents etc. It wasn't huge, but it was plenty big, and the kids had such a great time picking out pumpkins and going through the corn maze and just playing around. The prices were good actually, and I picked up some decorations for the porch.

Later that day, we brought Ashley and Jon back to pick out their pumpkins and to run through the corn maze a few times before the farm closed. What a fun place. It is only about 5 miles from where we live, and it was a great time for the kids. I think I know where we are getting pumpkins next October.

We arrived a bit early since the farm is only about 5 miles from our house, so Sammy decided to have an early story time on top of the stack of straw bales

Time for a few songs before picking pumpkins

Time to choose a pumpkin. This looks like a sincere pumpkin patch to me. What do you think?

She found the pumpkin she wanted

Sammy and her friend Claire inside one of the corn stalk teepees

Time to go inside the corn maze

Inside the maze. Sammy and her friend Claire must have gone through this maze at least 4 different ways in about 15 minutes. Ironically, when we brought Ashley and Jon back after 4-H that afternoon, we had a harder time navigating though.

May the Force Be With You

2009-10-25T14:19:00.004-04:00

Our kids have been on a Star Wars kick recently. They've been re watching all the old movies and playing lego Star Wars on the wii as their game of preference. I am proud that their favorites are episodes 4, 5 and 6.

Last Friday, there was no school. It was a district work day of some kind. Samantha was home from pre-school anyhow as she was still ill. On this particular day, she seemed to be improving, but still being ill coupled with a cold rainy day in the middle of a nor'easter meant staying home and inside. There were, however, no Cat in the Hat scenarios on this cold cold wet day. Imaginations prevailed, and the kids turned our small family room (also called the kids room) into a Star Wars extravaganza. They set up a tent at one point and watched one of the movies inside. I don't have a picture of that, but I enjoy their imaginations and how well they entertain themselves and each other.

The young Jedi, Master Jon Warner

Princess Leia and one of her cute cuddly Ewok friends.

The evil slug looking villain, Jabba the Hut.

Here is Master Yoda. His body is drawn on the box, though that is hard to see.

If you look out into the blackness of space that is this chalk board, you will see the Death Star floating ominously. You will also notice that Ashley can't spell Death. She can spell binoculars and suburban and temperature and camouflage but not death. Go figure.

School Girl

2009-10-25T14:14:00.003-04:00

Samantha has attended pre-school 3 days a week for the past two months now, and she loves it. She loves it so much that she is even hoping to get her next round of shots sooner, because that means it is time for kindergarten. We will see how it goes when we actually get there. She is making a lot of friends. She was out for a week when she was sick, and when we arrived Wednesday morning for her fire station field trip, there was a shriek of, "Sammy," followed by a dog pile of 4 year old girls surrounding my daughter. It was really cute. I wished I had brought the camera.

I took a few pictures of her early last week to show off our cute little preschool girl.

Home Improvements

2009-10-18T16:00:00.006-04:00

Wow. These pictures have waited a little while.

We decided to buy the home we are living in currently. We knew that we would be involved in some improvement projects over the next few years. Most will be minor and involve things like paint. Perhaps a few will be on a larger scale.

Our first weekend in the house after our things were delivered, we embarked on our first project. In our master bedroom, the closet was originally a dressing room with a double closet. At some point the closet doors were removed, and a wire shelf ran along the length of the double closet. This shelf was placed in a manner making it a waste of some of the space up toward the ceiling. The wire shelf was also the hanging bar as there was no bar running under it. The shelf was no longer level from holding the weight of everything that was stored on it as well as hung from it. Trent and I decided to make the closet more efficient and bought a kit at Lowes. We thought it would one of those Saturday afternoon projects that would take us most of a Saturday afternoon into the evening, and we would be able to put everything away.

What started as a Saturday afternoon project, involved at least one more trip to Lowes, two to IKEA, a couple of phone calls for estimates from a professional, and 3 days. However, all is well that ends much better than I imagined.

When we started, we took everything out of the closet (some boxes were still not unpacked yet). It turned our room into a disaster in which we could barely get around. We had to hang Trent's suits in the hallway closet so that he could get ready for work that Monday before we finished.

We started pulling the old shelf etc. out and patching and repainting the drywall. When all of that was done and dry, we realized we could not put the new closet system up like we had planned. The result of all the weight on that wire shelf was not only a tipping shelf; it had pulled the dry wall away from the studs slightly. Trent determined there was no way we could put up a new system with dry wall anchors and have any reason to think it would hold up. That meant a trip to Lowes to take back the system we could not use and to look through all their options. This was followed by the first trip to IKEA. We looked at their closet options and even took a pamphlet for the Stolmen system. Everything on display was either too complicated or not what we thought we wanted. We went home discouraged, and this lead to research and phone calls to closet contractor types. I looked at the Stolmen pamphlet again and did a new set of measurements. Afterward, we felt that we really needed to go back to IKEA and give the Stolmen system another look. I designed a typical (and useful I might add) 25/25/50 configuration and figured out what parts we would need to accomplish this and whether the measurements fit. Everything we needed was in stock, and the kids loved the extra trip to IKEA. They have a play center the kids can play at for up to an hour while mom and dad shop. If the center is too full, the kids get coupons for a free ice cream cone. Either way is a win as far as the Warner kids are concerned. We went home and began the process of putting it together. We finished the next evening, and now, two months and some later, I still really love my closet. It has a real walk in closet look and feel. It is so much more useful. No more wasted space. In fact, if Trent would take his Coast Guard legoes into work, I would still have empty shelf space. We went into it thinking that this would at least make it workable. I came out of it really liking it.

Trent took what I conceptualized and made it happen.

I even helped

A Rite of Passage?

2009-10-08T09:05:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, we bought our first full size outdoor grill. That is right. We had a small charcoal grill that we could do a little on (not reliably or always well), but we never had the ability to just go cook up something on the grill. Trent has wanted one for some time, and, because this is the complete wrong season for grilling, they are available for a good price.

Trent was so excited. We spent Saturday afternoon putting it together, and Sunday, Trent cooked us some hamburgers and hot dogs. Nothing big yet. I guess we need to have some friends over and really break it in. Trent says he has reached passed another rite of manhood. I don't know that I would go that far, but it is fun to be able to cook steaks etc. outside and to cook them without worrying about setting off our very sensitive smoke alarm. :)

Now when we have visitors, we can grill out for you. Now I just have to get Trent some tools so that he stops using my kitchen stuff. ;)

Day Tripping

2009-09-20T21:10:00.009-04:00

It is great being close enough to Washington D.C. to make a very easy day trip of it, which is exactly what we did this past Saturday. We went down to the metro station and took the metro to Foggy Bottom Station and then walked over to the State Department so that we could finally see where Trent works all day. It was nice to see what his trip is like, where he has to walk etc. etc. (Now we just need to get his Coast Guard legoes to his office somehow. ) We did not have the full metro cars he often has though. We had plenty of room to sit etc. Ashley made homemade newspapers, and the kids read them on the ride in. It was really cute.

Sammy and her newspaper

My cute boys on the Metro

Rather than walk back to the station and go to the Smithsonian, we decided exit via the C Street exit and walk down the mall to the Smithsonian. It was an absolutely gorgeous day.

On the way to the mall from the Department of State, we stopped at the Albert Einstein Memorial. I had not previously seen it. For those who want to know, it is across Constitution Ave. from the Vietnam Memorial approximately. It was a pretty cool memorial. One man there to visit showed the kids that if they stand in the middle of the circles at the foot of the statue and talk loudly up, they can hear an echo. I thought about doing the BSA yell to really test out the echo capabilities, but left it to the kids in the end. It turns out that the circles at Einstein's feet make a map of the universe. It is really a great little memorial, and I am glad Trent pointed it out to us. Besides, the kids love Einstein especially after Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Looking back from the Mall. See the white blocky building? See the kind of dingy grey/brown one behind it? That dingy one is the Department of State. It seems to be a running commentary on how ugly that building is.

The kids and I taking a break at the World War II Memorial

After our slow walk up the Mall, we finally arrived at the Air and Space Museum. This July marked the 40th anniversary of man's arrival on the moon. As part of that celebration, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum put Al (Alan) Bean's artwork depicting the Apollo missions on display. Al Bean was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 12 and walked on the moon with Pete Conrad. He was the 4th man to set foot on the moon. I have a certain fondness for Al Bean that comes with watching the HBO documentary series From the Earth to The Moon repeatedly. It really is a fantastically done series. The episode about Apollo 12 is done from Al Bean's perspective and is entitled, That's All There Is. There are so many reasons I love that particular episode, but to keep it short I will note that the point of it was that Al Bean noted in the end that the very best part of that mission was sharing it with the two men who had become his very best friends, Pete Conrad and Dick Gordan. There is so much to relate to in the idea that something amazing becomes even more so when we can share it with those we love.

Anyhow, I wanted to see these paintings since I heard the exhibit was opening in July. I would have wanted to see them regardless. I am so happy I did though and was not at all disappointed. They are impressive art. Al Bean started with aviation ply wood and did a plaster technique over the top which he textured with imprints of moon boots and other tools used on the lunar surface. He then painted over the plaster. It is all very impressive. Some of the paintings even have some moon dust in them that Al Bean found in the folds of his old space suit.

There is a little video presentation they play in which Al Bean talks about what inspired him to do the paintings and such. I listened to bits of it as we walked through the exhibit. I appreciated his note that as far as making a contribution to art, his was contributing the perspective he had as an artist having visited a place that few other men have and being, to date, the only man to draw or paint it. I also like the fact that he has painted far more than just his Apollo 12 mission. He has incorporated all of the Apollo missions in the collection. This makes the paintings general impressions given that he wasn't there for each Apollo moon landing, but his perspective is unique, and it shows in his art. One of the quotes from Al Bean on one of the signs in the exhibit says, "we artists are valuable only in so far as we interpret reality in interesting and beautiful ways, and help the viewer see and feel in ways he or she would not otherwise experience." I am so happy to have shared Al Bean's perspective.

Trent now wants an original Al Bean for the house. That would be amazing, but I don't think they are for sale. :)

I took a few pictures of some of the paintings. The pictures can only show so much obviously. A lot of the texture gets lost, and the flash and reflections in glass distort, but I hope they give an idea of some of the work. You can also look at the various paintings here.

One of my favorites. It is titled The Fantasy. The reason for this is it depicts Pete Conrad, Al Bean and Dick Gordan all together on the moon. This never happened, because the Command Module Pilot (Dick Gordon on Apollo 12) stays behind in the Command Module to rendevous later with the Lunar Module before returning to Earth. I love that Al Bean thinks about how great it would have been for all of them to be there together to share in that experience.

When our exploring was done, we headed back home for some work around the house. In a nearly empty metro train and after walking all that way, the Warner children thought it would be more fun to hold onto a poll and stand for the metro ride home. They are so funny.

Newsworthy

2009-09-16T21:57:00.001-04:00

Ashley made the local paper.

Here is a link to the story with her picture. It is about a project they did at their school on September 11.

Coming Around Again?

2009-09-11T09:52:00.003-04:00

In 5th and 6th grade, I begged and learned to play the viola. I quit after 6th grade. I have regretted quiting and wish I kept it up. I have not mentioned this to my kids though.

Ashley came home from school the first week with a form to fill out and stated that she wanted to be part of the string instruments program and that she wanted to play the viola. I was hesitant at first, but I found her a good starter viola for a good price, and I figure the lessons are free, and I can sale her viola if she decides it is not something she wants to continue. I asked her why she chose the viola when the rest of her girl friends are all playing violin. She said she thought it sounded fun to do something "a little different." Apparently, she almost chose the cello. So, Ashley is now one of 13 3rd graders learning to play viola. There are 58 learning violin.

Her instrument arrived Wednesday. Yesterday was the first day to take the instruments to school. The music teacher tuned them all up and got the bows rosined etc. So far, Ashley loves "practicing," which amounts to dragging her bow randomly across several strings. I am trying to show her how to play twinkle twinkle little star, the only thing I remember how to play. I hope we get there at some point. :)

practicing on her not yet tuned viola. Yikes.

Ready to take it to school.

Road Trip

2009-09-11T09:35:00.004-04:00

I am slow updating the blog lately. I think we are all still settling into what our general schedule looks and feels like.

Anyhow, about 2 weeks ago, Trent suggested a family road trip after church. This is not an uncommon Warner family activity. Our destination - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Trent took an overnight trip there when he was in the Grad Course at the JAG School. He has wanted to take us since then. An afternoon family road trip certainly didn't allow for any in depth examination of Gettysburg, but it was a great drive and a fun time.

Jon at the start of Pickett's Charge looking at the sign and across the field and lining up all the landmarks for the rest of us. He did a great job.

The kids playing around the rocks at Devil's Den

The view from Devil's Den looking up at Little Round Top.

Lt. Commander Warner and his troops in position at the far flank which the 20th Maine infantry defended to prevent the Confederacy from breaking the Union line.
Not scary, but they sure could defeat you with cuteness.

Poor Ashley

2009-09-01T09:25:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday evening, Trent took Ashley and Jon to the Middle School parking lot to ride their bikes. During a race, Ashley hit a bit of a hill that she didn't realize was a hill and lost control of her bike. She crashed and scraped up her chest and knees and an arm. Those were all very surface scratches and not a big deal, but just below her nose, she had a couple small but deep gashes. This meant Ashley's first trip to the emergency room for herself and Tiffany's second for one of her children this year!

Ashley was in a screaming panic over just the thought of getting stitches. We got her calmed down and to the ER. She was anxious every time someone knew examined her until we finally got to the doctor who said definitively they would use glue (dermabond) and not stitches for Ashley's wound. It was a good wound and location for glue, and apparently, the glue will help minimize the scaring.

Ashley is now diligently following the instructions she received in the hospital about not getting the wound wet, not touching or rubbing the area where the glue is, keeping it out of direct sunlight etc. As a result of keeping her upper lip as still as possible for the first day or so, she always looked so sad even when she wasn't. I thought keeping a stiff upper lip meant not looking so sad. I guess not.

The glue should break down and the butterfly strips come off by the weekend. We will then wait for the scab to fall off and start the mederma.

On a funny note, Ashley went back to school yesterday and had P.E. It turns out that another girl in Ashley's class also got stitches AND broke her nose over the weekend. The two of them found companionship and fun in being able to throw balls at anyone, but no one could throw at them because of their injuries. Ashley was so excited about this. She couldn't wait to tell me about it when she got out of school. It sounds almost like cheating to me, but I am glad the two girls could comfort each other and find some fun in their state of injury.

Back to School

2009-08-28T10:49:00.010-04:00

This Tuesday was the first day back to school after what has felt like a very long summer. The kids got out of school on May 22 and since then we have been house hunting, house buying, moving out, going to Utah, moving in, getting unpacked and so forth.

Sammy very much wanted to go to school as well. I think I may have found a preschool for her, but that is another post (hopefully).

After I registered the kids at their new school, I received the supply lists for each grade. I complained in years past, but Ashley's list this year tops it all for me. I am tempted to type the whole thing out, but I think the pictures below give the idea. Jon's list was much more tame.

Jon's supplies labeled and laid out

Jon's supplies close up

The rest of Jon's supplies close up

Ashley's supplies labeled and laid out

Ashley's supplies close up

Rest of Ashley's supplies close up (some overlap with above.)

Look how loaded down she is.

My cute kids ready to go to school

We live just under a mile from the school. This means we are walkers/car riders. Jon was briefly disappointed about not taking the bus, but that left quickly when he learned we got to walk. In fact, because I am fairly certain Sammy couldn't do the full mile each way quite yet, and because it is more fun, we drive and park in front of our friends, the Krajewski's, house and join them and others and walk from there (1/4 mile each way). We are quite a mob, but it is a lot of fun.

Meeting up with the group

Ready to GO!

Sammy and her friend Andy (and JAK in the stroller). Sammy and Andy are both 4 and made fast friends on the way to school. They held hands and told jokes the whole way. It was cute.

The whole group that walked together on the first day. This picture is only missing 2 girls who have joined us. It is a better picture than the ones I took

I have filled out countless forms this week and have a few phone calls to make, but everything seems to be going well. The school is a very good one, and the community seems great. I especially like that there are 4 first grade classes vs. 10 and 4 third grade classes vs. 13.

Frequent Visitors

2009-08-21T20:16:00.007-04:00

I don't think our current neighborhood will be anything like Lake Monticello for various critters wandering through our yard. However, we have noticed some repeat visitors in the past 2 1/2 weeks. The black butterfly actually only came once or twice. The yellow one has been almost a daily visitor. The kids love to go out and "play" with it. It will fly off and come back or fly around their heads. It has been really fun. With the blossoms rapidly shedding to the ground, I think we will soon loose these visitors.

We also have little rabbits who travel through and eat our lawn. Every time I have attempted to get a photo, they get spooked and hop away. The kids LOVE seeing the "bunnies." They are cute, but I worry a bit. I was thinking of trying a small garden next spring. Rabbits will be an interesting obstacle.

Much much later.......

2009-08-21T20:10:00.005-04:00

I promised I would post this picture later. Now that the scanner and Internet are hooked up, I scanned it in. This poor picture has been through a bit this summer, which is unfortunate. I am still going to put it up in our house; I am just so sorry it has scratches over Trent's handsome face. Oh well. Here it is almost 2 months later....

Our click it yourself family picture at the White House on July 4.

Our Summer Adventures at Home

2009-08-17T14:28:00.055-04:00

Isn't it interesting how many different things "home" can mean? Right now, I am sitting in my home. It is my home in more sense than the house we lived in in Virginia or in California before, because we are buying and not renting this home. When Sammy was sick this Saturday and wanted to go home, this house is what she meant. The kids and I spent most of July in Utah this summer. We moved out of our house in Virginia in late June and then after the 4th of July had nothing to do but stay in a hotel or fly to Utah and visit family as we weren't closing on our new home until the 24th and wouldn't be moving in until early August. The choice was easy. We had not been "home" in 2 years. Our only regret is that Trent could not accompany us. We hope that it will be all of us next time. I have not lived in Utah in 6 years and yet, it will always be home. Anyhow, since I have not shared any of these as we went along, this is destined to be a long post. I will try and keep it as short and edited as possible. Here is a bit of a glimpse at our very busy month of July at home.

There was lots of playing with cousins:

and sleepovers with cousins:

and riding the Front Runner train the the Gateway to play in the fountains (with cousins of course.) :)

Periodically, music would come on, and the fountains would burst and such along to the music. Jon thought he could conduct the fountains during these times as you can see above.

We visited the Dinosaur Park. (Thanks so much to Grandma 'Ora for coming along and making it extra fun. We would have never discovered the learning center without her.)

We made sure Grandma Linda had her first EVER (crazy I know) s'more.

We had another wonderful Warner family camp out. This one was up Logan Canyon. There were, of course, more cousins.

What is a camp out up Logan Canyon without a day trip to Bear Lake?

Ashley, due entirely to the efforts of Grandma Linda and Grandpa Norman, learned to ride a bike without training wheels. We are still so proud of Ashley.

We made the trip with my brother, super cute sister-in-law and their boys to Pagosa Springs for a 3 day weekend to see Grandpa Dude (my dad) and Grammy Muriel. All trips to Pagosa Springs are wonderful and all are inevitably to short. No shopping or hiking this time around. Still, I finally had the opportunity to participate in some of the really fun local events that always go on there. The Friday night we arrived, Tony kindly took all of the kids for the night, and Shea, Muriel and I trekked over to the tacky dance. It was a lot of fun. The DJ was amazing, and we were, without a doubt, the tackiest family present, though there were a lot of very funny and tacky outfits there. The bulk of pictures weren't taken on my camera. If you want to see more tacky dance pictures, venture over to M&M's Cool Blog.

The next day was the annual cruise-a-thong, which is a triathlon style race for the average Joe. The point is not to win the race but to come in with the most average time. There are also a lot of costumes etc. The head bands all have random numbers on them. My favorite was 8375309. I didn't see one with NCwhatever numbers the enterprise is, though I did look for it. The race involves a 2 mile(ish) bike cruise, a hundred yard dash in flip flops to the San Juan River, which the contestants then tube down. I took video this year, which is also available at M&M's Cool Blog. The kids played in the river, and we had a lot of fun watching the very average happenings.

I got to share the cabin with my kids. Jon didn't want to leave.

We spent our last night in Utah riding Tink the horse out at my step brother's house.

There were, of course, many things I didn't get pictures of such as a fun day at Cherry Hill etc., but we were very very busy. I never got to the box of crafts I mailed myself. Guess I will have to get to those when I am finished getting our new house together.

We had a most wonderful month at home. 2 years was a long time. Hopefully, it won't be that long before we return again.

Home Sweet Home

2009-08-08T09:30:00.002-04:00

What a very full summer it has been, and I have a lot of updating to do. In the mean time, I wanted to post quickly that we are on to what I call phase 3 of the summer, which means we are now finally and officially in our home. After a fair amount of adventure, we closed on our house on the 24th of July. This is the place? Hmmmm. Anyhow, Trent took off the next day for a business trip to London, and a week later, he was in our house. The next day, the kids and I flew back from Utah and joined him. Our things were delivered Monday. Now we are deep in the process of unpacking ALL those boxes, finding places for everything (a task that is sometimes easy and other times requires some creativity). What a wonderful feeling it is this time to look at our closet and think it is not a particularly efficient use of space and work on fixing it rather than working around it. Our new home has character (is older), is cozy (is small in many ways), but we really like it. Trent is out this morning jogging around the parkway which is a road that forms a loop around the middle of the area we live in. The parkway is exactly a 5K, so it is very popular for walking, jogging, biking etc. I am lounging in my pjs at the laptop pretending for a moment that I don't have dozens of boxes still to unpack and even more reorganizing to go. That moment is quickly coming to an end, however, and I am off to put on some clothes and get to work.

Summer update and pictures to follow later.

Fourth of July

2009-07-13T19:44:00.021-04:00

O.k. I am ten days late posting this, but that means I am catching up!

As mentioned previously, we had the opportunity this past 4th of July, to attend festivities at the White House. The USO sponsored, and the President and First Lady hosted a barbecue and celebration in honor of the troops.

When we first got word that Trent was selected to receive one of the invitation for the Coast Guard, I worried a lot about my kids and their ability to sit still and behave properly and such. No worries. The event was so well planned to cater to families and young children. There were so many activities, that are kids had a great and memorable time, and though they were just fine when the President addressed us, they were far enough away that they could have played through it and been fine. We really had a great time, and we will remember it forever. They had a great photo station set up where we could take pictures with the White House in the background. I can't post the picture right now, because I don't have the ability to scan it in. I might add it later though.

When we initially arrived, our kids thought the wait in line to go through security was an awful thing to endure. It was 15 minutes, and we were in the line of last names that start with U-Z, so our line was considerably shorter than the others. That did not placate my girls though who asked countless times how much longer they had to wait to get in.

Once we got in and grabbed some drinks (Jon was so thirsty at that point), we were off to enjoy the activities. The girls went straight for the face painting.

Jon was not at all interested in getting his face painted, but he was all about the made to order balloon animals and balloon hats. He requested a crocodile hat and wore it with a great deal of pride until one of the eyes popped. We had many pops before the night was out but, surprisingly, not huge freak outs about the pops.

Ashley requested a lightening bug, and Sammy asked for a dragon. If you ask me, Sammy's dragon looks a lot like Jon's crocodile, but that is fine.

I loved the balloon made decorations they had out. Someone has quite an imagination that is for sure.

Me being me, I also love how one can stand on the South Lawn of the White House, look across the National Mall and still see the statue of Jefferson in his memorial. Yes, I'm nerdy like that.

We had hot dogs and hamburgers and salads and watermelon like most of the rest of you I am sure. There wasn't any complaining about the waiting this time. They enjoyed watching Uncle Sam walk around on his stilts though.

I asked Sammy if hot dogs taste better at the White House. She just replied that it is a hot dog. Too true.

After eating, we enjoyed the volleyball and thought about the bean bag toss.

The Marine Corps marching band came out and marched and played before the President came out to speak. The President and Mrs. Obama personally visited with 20 of the invitees to honor them for their service. Those men and women joined the President and First Family on the balcony during his remarks. I should have crowded in further for a better picture, but I chose a half way between my kids and the President place. I am sure you can find pictures and video of the President's remarks if you really want to. I have to note that Trent and I both noticed something that few others likely did. It was a little disappointing, but not surprising. While speaking, President Obama mentioned twice the soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and coast guardsmen. However, when he finished his remarks, he noted that the Marine Corps band would play some songs he thought we all knew. They started with the Marine Corps theme song and then went through each theme song. For what it is worth, Semper Paratus was right in the middle. One of the President's daughters asked him a question about it, and he leaned over (but was still completely within microphone range) and explained to her that the band was going to play the FOUR theme songs for each of the FOUR branches of the military. No love for the Coast Guard. So sad.

The ice cream came out at that point and there was more playing before the USO concert took place before the fireworks. The four figures below, who Jon referred to as the gobble heads, came out. They had Washington Nationals jerseys on that said George Tom Teddy and Abe on the back. I think they might have been one of Jon's favorite parts of the evening. Jimmy Fallon hosted, and we heard live performances from Michelle Branch and the Foo Fighters. Watching Jon head bang to the Foo Fighters was hilarious. There was a big influx of more people at this point. We have a few theories about who else came for the fireworks, but we aren't a hundred percent sure we are correct. The fire works were fun. We laid out a couple of our commemorative USO lawn blankets and had a good time. Even though the streets and the metro were packed afterwards, it wasn't too terrible. The traffic getting back was surprisingly easy to negotiate. We had a really great time.

The Day Has Come

2009-07-09T10:14:00.002-04:00

We received news yesterday that the day has finally arrived. Vol. 57 of the Naval Law Review is published, and Trent's article/paper is in it. We will get the hard copies in via mail, but I have it in PDF format. Congratulations again to Trent.

Catching up on Stuff We Have Missed

2009-07-08T09:05:00.005-04:00

In all the craziness that is finding a house, and packing and moving, we have neglected to update the blog for some time. Following are a few pictures and such about our adventures for the last few weeks.

June 15 was Sammy's birthday. Our crazy sweet girl is 4 now. Her birthday was a bit of a whirlwind, but she didn't seem to mind. She opened her presents that morning and was very excited with her haul of littlest pet shop toys and the polli walks sandals she was admiring not too long before. They are admittedly pretty cool.

That morning, Ashley had a dentist appointment and immediately following that, we had to leave for Maryland to go house looking again. We had put in an offer on a house the week before, but they accepted another offer, so though it was Sammy's birthday, we had to find a house. The kids went with us and were pretty good sports about it. While Ashley was at the dentist though, Trent took Sammy to Build a Bear and let her build a stuffed animal for her birthday. Sammy immediately picked a frog and named it Trintra. Here is Sammy giving Trintra her fluff bath.

We found the house we are closing on that day and another that we intended to offer on if our offer wasn't accepted. Surprisingly and wonderfully, it was accepted and we have spent a lot of time going through the efforts to close. We are scheduled to close in late July and will move in the first part of August. It is both stressful and exciting.

With all of that, we moved out of our home in Virginia the week of June 22. Our pack out dates were June 24 and 25. Jon and I spent Monday night and most of Tuesday in the hospital. So, there will be more to get rid of on the unpacking end than I would have liked. Oh well. They loaded the truck on June 26. We camped out and cleaned and left our house for good that Sunday the 28th. We really loved living there and will miss it, but there is nothing like a scrubbed clean empty house to force you into feeling ready to move on.

Jon perched in the dogwood tree. He spent most of Friday in this tree watching the packers load the truck.

Last picture on last day in our house in Virginia

That Sunday that we left our house, Trent's wonderful grandma, Lula Thatcher, passed away. We had originally planned to head up to Pennsylvania and visit Gettysburg and Philadelphia as we were going to be in a hotel all week anyhow, and it didn't much matter where. Our plans changed though, and we found the Best Western at Zions Crossroad to be an excellent place to be. We got Trent on a flight for Wednesday so that he could be to the funeral, and we stayed where we still knew where everything was and had access to the JAG School so that I could secure my Power of Attorney and fax documents as needed for the house. It also had a pool, which was key for the kids who spent at least 2 hours every day playing in the water. They had a great time.

On Friday, we headed to Maryland and stayed at a friend's home there to prepare for our 4th of July at the White House. That is a separate post, and I will get to that soon. I am sure I have mentioned before how wonderful the Krajewski family is, and I will no doubt mention it again. They were in New Jersey for the 4th and kindly loaned us their home, which will be just under a mile from our new home (Ashley is thrilled). It was nice to be out of the hotel and to prepare for our memorable and fun 4th of July.

Data Dump

2009-06-27T12:36:00.002-04:00

Quick check in here. Our house is now empty, and we are working hard to clean it. We pull out tomorrow some time and then kick around for the week. We are planning a few small adventures since we are homeless for now and have no specific obligations until July 4.

On the homeless front, we finally found a home and will be closing at the end of July. We will be moving to yet another state. This time, it is Maryland. We are really excited to be homeowners. Hopefully that will stay exciting and not become awful. :)

On the 6th, Trent is back to work at his new job, and the kids and I are flying out to Utah to see family. We haven't been "home" in 2 years, so we are really looking forward to this. It will be busy with everything Tiffany has to do between keeping up on closing on the house and transferring her state citizenship back to Utah (that is right. No more skipping around from state to state), but we plan on having a great time. It will sure beat living in a hotel for a month.

We have a really great opportunity on the 4th. Trent received an invitation for him and family (that means us) to attend 4th of July celebrations at the White House. We were really torn about it given timing and our move etc., but the way everything worked out, we have decided to go for it. I hope to be able to post pictures but if not I will post anything worth posting.

Off again for now. So much to do in the next 24 hours. Ugh.

The Biggest Gainer

2009-06-02T11:05:00.004-04:00

I am sure most of you have at least heard of the popular television show, The Biggest Loser. When it comes to weight, we are generally focused on weight loss. I went on quite a fitness regimen late last summer and into the fall and early winter. I was extremely frustrated to not loose any weight the first 3 weeks. I nearly gave up out of the frustration of not losing weight. Now, I have gotten really bad about getting my exercise in, and I am feeling it. One thing I am looking forward to after the craziness of moving is over is reestablishing an exercise routine.

While in Iraq, Trent gained weight. However, it is not the typical way we think of weight gain. He is heavier than he was, but he came home very fit and toned up. His pants don't fit the same anymore. In fact, some of his belts won't work properly anymore. He has to tighten them up. Trent is not the biggest loser, but the biggest gainer. He did not just gain weight, he gained increased fitness and muscle tone. I really wanted to post a picture of him doing pull-ups, but he won't allow it, so you will have to take my word for it. He hasn't been able to work out nearly as often as he wants to lately, but he is determined to keep it up as much as he can and to build it into his work schedule when he starts his next assignment in July. He has been a big inspiration to me to get back to business and get fit. He has also been a reminder to me to worry less about what the scale says and concentrate on taking good care of my body. He is a good example to our kids as well, who love to sneak into our room even if it is bed time and exercise with their dad. Thanks for the inspiration Trent.

Note: Jon put his gardening gloves on to exercise because he wanted to match his dad as much as possible. So cute.

Beautiful Surprise

2009-06-02T10:56:00.004-04:00

On Jon's birthday, we received a package in the mail from Trent's aunt Shawna and uncle Mark. The Coast Guard Missions Law ice breaker was that afternoon/evening, so I left the box unopened and raced off to school to deliver birthday cupcakes, pick up my kids, and race to the JAG School to set up for the ice breaker. Trent didn't get to open the box until he got home that night. In retrospect, it is too bad. It would have been wonderful to have put the gift inside in the middle of the buffet table. Sigh. Oh well I guess.

What was in there was a beautiful box that Trent's uncle Mark made as well as this plaque:

Mark carved this replica of the Coast Guard seal. We are fairly sure he burned the letters in. It really is pretty, and the detail is so impressive particularly the stars in the crest and the detail in the anchors. What a delightful surprise that is now and will be on Trent's desk for years and years to come.

An Afternoon At The Lake

2009-05-24T19:48:00.004-04:00

This Saturday was full of chores around the house and in the yard. Trent told the kids that if they got their work done, he would take them to the beach here at the Lake. They created a check list and had me write down all they had to complete. They went to work immediately and actually did a good job on their work. They then had to wait for their parents to complete their own work. I think Jon was in his swimsuit at least 2 hours in advance anticipating a visit to the beach. Eventually, we got out and spent part of our afternoon out on the beach. It was a beautiful day. It was warm without being overly hot, and the humidity is still under 50%, so it wasn't oppressive. There were a lot of people out, but it was still a really fun time. The kids played in the water and in the sand. I think they will miss the beach and the lake.

Getting in the water. Jon is being tough and flexing his muscles for some reason.

Starting to get in now. Jon, strangely enough, is more comfortable in the Lake than he is in the pool.lots of people were out in their boats.

Playing in the sand.

The Critter Report

2009-05-24T19:32:00.004-04:00

I thought that since we are less than a month away from moving out of our house here, we had seen the last new critter to visit our house. This Saturday, however, we added a new critter to the list. While cleaning out the screened in porch, Trent found this little turtle hanging out in the shade under some leaves that blew in. After all the kids checked it out, Ashley and her friend Cassidy put the turtle in a little crate and took it across the street to Cassidy's yard to turn it loose. There is a small creek there, and we thought it would be nice for the turtle to be where there was both water and actual vegetation. This takes our list of critters who have visited while we lived here to deer, squirrel, birds, toads, racoons, a snake, a fox and now a turtle. I think the kids and I will miss the various critters when we move. It has been fun to have so many visit.

Happy Birthday Jon

2009-05-20T11:06:00.005-04:00

Jon celebrated his 6th birthday this week. We are in such a crazy time with the last week of school and Missions Law goings on and trying to find a house to move to etc. etc. Still, we found a little time to celebrate our adorable little man. He had a great birthday filled with lots of the things he loves very best. He got to open his presents before getting ready for school and enjoy the Spiderman video from Grandpa Dude and Muriel/Grammy while eating. Otherwise, the day's activities dictated that Jon had to wait. So, he meticulously stacked up his new toys to wait until he could return and play with them. They have all been out and assembled and played with repeatedly now. I think having Jon's birthday somehow put my kids in summer vacation mode. Now when they get up in the morning, they forget they need to get ready and just want to play.

Opening presents

Hooray. Indiana Jones legoes. Two of Jon's favorite things rolled into one!

Stacking up the toys to wait for later.

As I mentioned earlier, Jon received a Spiderman video from my Dad and Stepmom. In the video, whenever Spiderman has his mask off, it is Jon's head. These videos are of the kids the first time they watched the video. I love hearing them giggle when they see Jon, and I love how Jon points to himself and says, "that's me!"

Happy Camper

2009-05-02T18:55:00.007-04:00

This past weekend, Ashley had her first Girl Scout Camporee. It was a full day of activities and two nights of camping.

A couple of weeks ago her troop had a practice camp out in someone's back yard. Apparently some of the girls had never been outdoor camping at all. Ashley ended up with 2 ticks following this experience and (very briefly) said she didn't want to go to camporee. She changed her mind and off she went.

For them to earn their camporee patch, they had to help pack. She was so cute working with her dad to roll up her clothes and learn how to pack the backpack well. It was hilarious watching her walk around with it. I think these pictures are the straightest she stood with it on.

I was a little worried about her, because we had intermittent thunder storms all afternoon Saturday that turned into steady rain Saturday night and Sunday morning. She had her rain poncho (pink) though and seemed not at all affected by it. Trent told me she would be fine, and he was right. It also gives her a fuller "camp" experience I suppose. She went on nature hikes and learned about local plants. She had to help prepare food and clean up. According to Ashley, their Sunday morning breakfast was called ticks on a toilet. It was bagels with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips. I thought for certain the name alone would stop a lot of those girls from eating it, but I guess not. Ashley made it through dry happy and tick free.

Thanks to everyone who has supported her girl scout / brownie efforts. You helped pay for her to go to camporee, and she had a great time.

Dressed up like Daddy

2009-05-02T15:39:00.002-04:00

I wanted to post this cute picture of our ever creative Jon playing dress up with some of his dad's uniform items. This now doubles for Indiana Jones apparently.

Home Again: Fobbits and Shadows

2009-04-29T13:39:00.005-04:00

Trent is back home, and we are all so very happy. He is still dealing with some Jet Lag, but that should be done with soon.

It is fun going through his pictures and actually hearing more about his time over there. I feel like his stories are his to tell. I hope he will have time to blog a bit, but he is already busy with some work things that have a time issue, and we have all that moving in a month and a half involves, so I don't know if he will get time.

The kids have been so thrilled to have dad home, and it has been funny to watch them all react. Sammy went with me to the airport to pick up Trent. She was very quiet for a while but only wanted to hold Dad's hand and walk with Daddy and be in the same room with Daddy. The quiet is gone now. The shadowing isn't over though. We stopped on our way home to run a couple of errands since they were conveniently on our way home from Richmond. Sammy wasn't about to let dad out of her sight if she could help it. Jon raced into the house as fast as he could along with Ashley when they got home from school that day. Ashley started talking a mile a minute and very loudly as she is wont to do about everything she could think of. Jon, on the other hand, was as excited if not nearly as loud. Jon has taken to being a bit of a minny me. We took Trent out to dinner that night to celebrate, and we had just shown Jon the new shorts we bought for him while we were out (it has been in the 90's here since Saturday until today, and Jon didn't have that many shorts that still fit from last summer). Jon went through all shorts and held them up against his dad until he found the pair that was closest in color. He then found the shirt that was closest in color to what Trent was wearing. He insisted on a belt, because Trent had a belt on and insisted that he wear his sandals, because Trent had on teevas. Last night, when we were laying out clothes for school the next day, Jon only gave the o.k. for the shirt I had after verifying with Trent that Trent would also be wearing a dark blue shirt today.

We have learned that Trent's experience makes him a fobbit. My compliments to you if you do not think that involves the incorporation of a dirty word. If this did not occur to you, you are better than I am, and you are correct. Trent never left the FOB (Foreign Operating Base) he was stationed on while in country. He was going to go down to the oil wells, but it didn't end up happening. Those who don't leave the FOB are referred to as fobbits, because like the hobbits in Lord of the Rings who don't tend to venture out of the shire, they don't leave the FOB. I think it is a rather clever analogy actually.

I'll try and come up with a few stories to post soon perhaps. It isn't the same coming from me, but I know some of you would like to hear anyhow. In the mean time, we are all very happy but busy, and Trent is suffering a bit of jet lag and a lot of pollen exposure but is glad to be home.

Fun things

2009-04-24T18:31:00.003-04:00

I friend of mine recently started selling the hair bows she makes at one of the local craft stores in Castro Valley. They truly are adorable. If you looking for something super cute for your little girls, check out S&S bows.

Also, I happen to be a stationary junkie. When I see note cards in particular that I like, I will often get them and hang onto them. You never know when they come in handy (thank you cards, notes to teachers or speech therapists :) ). Though I use e-mail with regularity and am on facebook and blog and all of that, I still believe there is nothing like a hand written note. Anyhow, a friend recently put me onto this site. She does really cute work and custom makes things as well. Some of my Army friends have used her to make family cards where each member of the family is represented by various hats or shoes etc. I have many many very creative friends. However, check it out just for fun (or ideas).

More Pictures - The Trent Report

2009-04-16T10:38:00.007-04:00

Trent sent another set of pictures, and though I have been posting a lot lately, I had to add these to share. The first three are from when he was training before deploying. The rest are from Iraq.

Trent qualified sharp shooter (on the 9mm) before leaving but had to requalify when he went for pre-deployment training at the CRC. There, he qualified expert, I believe. I wonder which qualification he gets to wear since one is from the Coast Guard and one is from the Army.

Trent's "CHU"

Easter

2009-04-15T18:30:00.004-04:00

We had a quiet but really nice Easter this year, and though they tend to be very cheesy, I wanted to share pictures of how nice the kids all looked in their Easter finery. They all had so much fun dressing up. Jon loves wearing his ties. It is cute.

And All I Got Was......

2009-04-15T09:19:00.004-04:00

I am sure you have all heard a version that ends in, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. Well, those t-shirts aren't always lousy.

Phil Keoghan, the host of The Amazing Race, is doing a cross country bike ride to raise funds for MS. You can check out his site right here. Last week, one of his stops was in the town my dad and step mom live in. Check out his video blog on day 11 for an example of how awesome a little town it is.

Anyhow, they sent me a t-shirt from his ride, and I am so excited. I am wearing it to our Amazing Race Charlottesville coffee later this month. I won't be in any of Phil's stops, but if you are nearby, you might want to consider going out or checking out his site and his cause. He will be in Columbus at the end of April. Hint hint Megan. :)

EDIT: Day 10 blog has Phil's arrival in Pagosa Springs. Check that one out as well.

Thoughts on 24

2009-04-14T09:12:00.004-04:00

AS ALWAYS, DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE EPISODE AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED.

First of all, I have seen a lot of twists coming, but I did not see Tony doing some freelance bad guy thing coming AT ALL! Also, what was up with the slow suffocating? Couldn't he let the other guy shoot him and be done with it? I am not sure I get that at all. I am still so surprised that I don't know whether to applaud the show for some genius or to consider not watching it anymore because Tony is bad.

This leads me to three questions. The first is whether or not Tony really is bad. I guess he has to be. He killed Larry Moss and took a canister of the stuff. The second is are Seaton and Tony working together. Seaton broke Tony out of Starkwood and made it look like he was working against Hodges. It seems to me that Hodges did not plan this with Seaton ahead of time but praised him for it later. Could Tony and Seaton have planned this before? My last question is: will Tony Almeida go the way of Nina Myers when Jack figures it all out?

On another tack. I know Larry Moss was just starting to be almost likable, but I had to laugh at his speech to Tony about how taking him into custody was poor payment for all he had done that day even though Tony had confessed to doing some pretty bad stuff. He spent better than half of this season hating Jack, not trusting Jack, and working against Jack because of what he had done previously. Ironic that the guy he felt so badly about is the one that MURDERED him. It was also kind of ironic that he was o.k. with a covert op against Starkwood all of a sudden though he fought against any and all rule breaking up until now.

Final comment: Where the heck is Chloe? Janice is driving me nuts. I want Chloe back.

Book Worm

2009-04-13T09:12:00.014-04:00

Ashley really enjoys reading. So do I of course. Part of the bedtime routine is stories, but for Ashley it more specifically involves grabbing whatever it is she is reading at that moment and climbing into bed. She lays in bed and reads before going to sleep. Before Spring Break, I was wondering if I was going to have to go in and tell her to stop. She was staying up for an hour on more than one occasion just to read. I understand how that is though. I go through times when I just read and read some more. I am afraid I have little self-discipline at times. It would seem that Ashley too wants to finish the story. Some, of course, are more popular than others, and I thought I would share a few favorites around here.

First are the Mercy Watson books. They are chapter books but not difficult. Ashley often reads one straight through in a 40 minute period or breaks it into two nights if she has to. The author is Kate DiCamillo, who Ashley was initially introduced to when she read Because of Winn Dixie. More recently, we have also read The Tale of Desperaux also by Kate DiCamillo. The Mercy Watson books are silly quite frankly. They are about a pig who lives more like a person than a pig. The thing about them though, is that all my kids love them. Ashley will often read them out loud to Jon and Sammy, and both of them can tell you even weeks later what Mercy Watson was for Halloween and that her favorite snack is buttered toast. These books are repeatedly requested and read often, so though they may be silly, they are great around here.

Recently, Ashley has been reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. She has now read the first two and received the third in her Easter basket. She will take these books with her to read on the bus, something she doesn't do that often. She will re-read her favorite parts and laugh out loud while she reads. She also reads some of these books to Jon, who thinks they are funny as well. I have to say that I think some of the jokes are over her head, but she absolutely loves these books and was so grateful each time she received one. Like the Mercy Watson books, she will sit and read these for some time. Unlike the Mercy Watson books, these take her a few days of reading to get through. They are longer and more involved.

The last new series she is interested in lately is the Pirate School books. We purchased the first Pirate School book at a book fair some time back for Jon. I thought we could read it to him and as his reading later developed, he might like to have this one as well as the many Magic Treehouse books. Ashley pulled this out a couple of weeks ago to read to Jon. He listened to the first few chapters and went to sleep. She stayed up and read the entire thing, brought it out to me and told me I should read it because it was really good and then told me she wanted to read the next one in the series. I don't think I realized that it was a series until then. She received the second book in her Easter basket. We will see if she still likes it as well. I still hope Jon might like these books later, but it is always fun to see what Ashley picks up on.

Finally, I have had the book light pictured here for some years. It is called the Fliplite, and I love it. You can buy replacement bulbs for it at Barnes and Noble, but there is no reason, because the little flashlight bulbs work perfectly in it. It is simple and sturdy and travels really well. Ashley commandeered this from me over a year ago, and it is now referred to as hers. I haven't needed to use a book light for some time. I either go out in the living room if I am reading after Trent is asleep or, more recently, just turn on my lamp whenever I need to. Ashley goes to sleep with this nearly every night to just read away. Samantha falls asleep easily with the lights still on now, and lately has requested to fall asleep with them on, so Ashley needs this a little less. She still likes to use it though, and I can't blame her. If you need a book light. I do highly recommend this one.

We keep track of what we are reading on our blog. I am fairly good about keeping it updated, though I am not always as fast as Ashley. We love recommendations for good books as well, so if you have some you love, pass them on.

EDIT:

Samantha likes all kinds of books right now, but she wanted me to put the book she has most recently enjoyed on this post. So, here it is. I am now off to read Priscilla and the Pink Planet to Sammy again. Happy reading.

The Trent Report - Home Soon

2009-04-10T19:32:00.002-04:00

Trent is due home very soon. We are looking forward to seeing him again. In the mean time, I am posting some pictures he e-mailed us. We love pictures. I hope you do as well.

Nothing Gold Can Stay - Musings on Change

2009-04-04T15:15:00.006-04:00

The following is one of my favorite Robert Frost poems and, actually, one of my all time favorites.

"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

I was thinking of this yesterday as Sammy and I were driving the 53 into town to run some errands. Looking up on the hills near Monticello, I could see the yellowish green sign of the trees getting their leaves. The forsythia is out, and the trees here that blossom purple first are all purple. I can't remember what they are called. It occurred to me that it will really only be days until this has all changed much more. I love Spring. I love the sunshine AND the rain. I love that it is both warm and cool. I really like to go out and see everything coming to life and enjoying the warm before it becomes hot. I also look at Spring as the shortest of the seasons both literally and figuratively.

Spring is literally short, because it doesn't take that long for the trees to be in full leaves and the grass to go green and for the sun to get well warm enough for the kids to be in shorts and sandals. If it gets above 70 degrees, my crazy children think about going swimming. I find it figuratively short, I think, because of the life I live. In 1993, 1994, and 1996-1998, I worked at scout camp during this summer. This generally meant moving in late spring and then moving back in somewhere in the late summer, which let's face it, is more like early fall with the start of school. In 1999, Trent moved up to Spokane to start law school. I stayed in Utah until late that year to finish the first semester of my student teaching program. In college, law school for Trent, and now for my kids, school starts back up in August, which feels like the end of summer even if the weather disagrees. Furthermore, Coast Guard life generally brings with it moving duty stations in the early summer. Once again, summer is when things change. Between schools starting anew in the fall and that being when we really get settled into a new location when we move, I tend to personally view Fall as the time for new beginnings even though that is generally associated with Spring. As much as I love Spring, it seems to figuratively go by so quickly because there is always the rush to the end; the rush to get ready for the change. I am as busy as ever this Spring with our upcoming move. In some ways I am more so. I am trying really hard to enjoy the "gold" this time, because like the poems says, nothing gold can stay. Spring used to be my very favorite season. I still like spring clothes and colors the best. :)

One of the less literal interpretations of that poem is the idea that the change occurring is not a bad thing. In each line, the second element is actually a value. It is part of the natural process by which the cycle of fuller life is completed. I have reminded myself of this a lot over the last few weeks as well. Fairly early in March, we received word that we would be going to the Washington D.C. area this summer as Trent would be PCSing (Permanent Change of Station) to Coast Guard Headquarters. We were happy with the job he was going to and started making all the vague outlines of plans. On Sunday the 15th, I got a call at the house and forwarded the message to Trent. It was to verify that job for him so that orders could be cut that next week. On Tuesday the 17th, Trent called. He was wanted for another job. When he called to tell me and to talk about it, I admit that I, who am no stranger to change, did not react well. I ranted and was suspicious. It is fortunate for me that I have a good Coast Guard friend I could call and talk this through with. She was able to understand but also to remind me that I was just reacting to having my mind wrapped around something. It took me at least 24 hours to calm down. I was near tears for that entire evening. I realized later how silly that is. There is every possibility that this is an opportunity we simply haven't had yet. Is it possible that it will be miserable? Sure, I suppose so. That would require our help in being miserable though. We are still going to DC. Trent is simply going to a different job. (For any who read this who I haven't told, Trent will be working at the Department of State in the Office of Polar Affairs for 2 years.) There is no reason to believe that there isn't the possibility for a real opportunity here. There is no reason to assume that the gold isn't subsiding to green and to a fuller part of this adventure we are living. Now, if things are awful in a few months or in a year, someone PLEASE remind me of this. :)

You Say it's Your Birthday

2009-03-27T09:53:00.003-04:00

This past Sunday I had my birthday. I am not posting this for added birthday wishes. I just need to explain to put it all in context. With Trent gone and all of that, I didn't expect an awful day, but I certainly didn't expect it to be anything special. That being said, it was a pretty great day, which was completely unexpected and made it all the better. I talked to so many adults on Saturday and Sunday that by the end of Sunday, I was hoarse. A special thanks goes to everyone who helped make that day so great for me. My dad sent me the prettiest most stylish top and jacket. It is really pretty and is aqua in color which I love. My mom bought me the Fitzwilliam Darcy trilogy books, which is so great. I love all things Pride and Prejudice. I was so surprised that she had heard of these books. Fun! I received cards with money to go spoil myself. :) I received lots and lots of birthday wishes on facebook. That is one great thing about facebook; you become aware of even more birthdays! My friend Chrissy made me two different cakes and brought them to church so that I wouldn't have to make my own birthday cake. They were, of course, soooooo good. She made me some lemon cake, because I love lemon just about anything, and she made a chocolate cake as well. The kids loved the chocolate. I have to say with the lemon and the chocolate it reminded me a bit of the movie Made of Honor. Anyhow, I digress. When I got home from church and got my Sunday call from Trent, I opened the gift he sent. It is a beautiful cartouche necklace with my name in hieroglyphics on one side and in Arabic on the other.

Finally, our friends the Carrolls, invited us for dinner. Dinner was so yummy, and my kids love their kids anyhow, so that was great to let them play. Mandy, who I have bragged about before, put together a little birthday present for me. She is an amazingly talented photographer. She was watching Sammy for me earlier that week and took just a few minutes and took a few shots of her and then made me an accordion style book with about 8 shots of Sammy. It is so great. Sammy is the child I struggle with the most right now, and though Mandy swears that it took no time to put this together, I love the pictures. They show her abundant personality. It helps remind me how much I love her and love about her even when she is driving me certifiably insane. :) I wanted to post a few of my favorites:

A Goofy Tradition

Later this week, some of my girlfriends through the JAG community and I went to lunch for my birthday. We went to Thai 99. Yummy. I think of my dad whenever I go for Thai. I usually order my stuff medium or occasionally hot. He gets his Thai hot/native Thai. Again, I digress. When we went to lunch a month ago for my friend Lisa's birthday, Sherri started something that has become a goofy tradition with us, and I love it, so I am passing it on. It probably sounds so dumb, but somehow, it is so fun. Someone brings a small gift bag or paper bag. We all go through our purses and find something to put in the bag and then give it to the birthday girl. Lisa got half packages of gum and a Wall-E band-aid (yes that was from my purse) hand lotion etc. I got half a container of tic-tacs, a coupon, a whole sheet of coupons to Circuit City as a bit of a joke, gum, hand sanitizer. It is just funny more than anything. Chrissie cheats a bit, because she bought new stuff particularly for the bag, but it was sweet too, because she brought a pack of Mike and Ikes for Sammy. I love this tradition and hope to find friends wacky enough wherever I go to continue it. It really is just a whole lot of fun.

A New Favorite

2009-03-21T15:18:00.003-04:00

Jon has really gotten into Legoes lately. He has a couple of small thing our friends the Krajewskis gave him for his birthday last year, and he has really enjoyed getting them out and carefully following the instructions and building. I recently got him a 3 in one Creator set that makes a snake, a spider, and a bug. He will just sit and work at it and rarely needs too much help. The flip side is that he loves them so much that when necessary, grounding him from his legoes has been quite effective. They are really one of his very favorite things.

The Spider, which is the one he makes most often

The Snake The Bug

A Few More Thoughts on 24

2009-03-17T15:46:00.002-04:00

O.k., so I just have one major thought and a few that don't matter after last night's episode. First of all, I am getting a major Sherri Palmer 2.0 vibe from the daughter. She is sooooooooo up to plotting her way into the inner circle for some reason other than just concern for her mother.

Also, that Janice character is really starting to annoy me.

Next Assignment

2009-03-10T14:33:00.002-04:00

I heard from Trent, and though we don't yet have orders, we have his next assignment. He will be going to work at Coast Guard Headquarters, so this Warner family is headed to the general Washington D.C. area this summer.

Dust Devils / The Trent Report

2009-03-06T10:02:00.002-05:00

Trent e-mailed us this photo and called it the Dust Devils. I thought I would share it. They had just been out in a dust storm and are in the necessary dust storm gear.

Torture Thy Name is Haircut

2009-03-05T16:44:00.003-05:00

I don't know how many of you can relate to this, but Jon absolutely HATES to have his hair cut. We jokingly (well kind of) say that it is time commit torture when it is time to cut his hair. Though I am not great at it, I cut his hair. It is such an ordeal that taking him somewhere to do it seems pointless. When I mentioned that I would be torturing Jon via a hair cut on facebook, I told my dad I would take pictures. I also let Ashley video part of it. She is far enough away, and Sammy is making enough noise, that you can't really hear Jon that much. The steady crying came when I changed from a 6 to a 3 for the sides. For that reason, I don't feel as bad about posting it. In other words, you don't really get the worst of it. He flinched big time as I was contouring around the ear, so he has a gouge on one side. Oh well I guess. He is getting better, but we still have so far to go. I am out of ideas for how to help him with it. He HATES it. He has gotten better about scissor cutting. Maybe we need to move to that.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Snow Day!

2009-03-02T13:36:00.008-05:00

It started snowing yesterday afternoon, and by 7:00, it was sticking to the roads. We finally got the official phone call just before 8:00 to let us know there would be no school today. When the kids woke up, there was a lot more snow than the 1 inch they had when they went to sleep. There was nearly 6 inches of it, which for us here is quite a bit. They were so very very happy to go out and play in real actual snow. I am a bit spoiled for Utah snow. This snow is poor snowman making material, but the kids had a great time all the same.

Ashley was very concerned about one tree from her first look out the window this morning. It was quite burdened with the snow. I was fairly sure that it was just sagging under the snow, but we had to shake off the bulk of it to make sure. Sure enough, the tree is fine.

Playing in the tree a few weeks ago. If it can hold those kids, it can hold 6 inches of snow.

weighed down with snow

Just fine now. It did make a really fun "hide out" for the kids to play in this morning though.

Finally, these pictures were all taken with Ashley's camera she got for Christmas. It actually is a video camera that also takes still shots. She wanted me to take some video of them in the snow and put it with the pictures. Here it is below.

Lost Teeth

2009-03-02T13:24:00.003-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks, Jon has lost his first two teeth. He is the only kid I've ever seen who had loose teeth and didn't sit and wiggle them all the time. He would wiggle them to check on them if asked about them, but he otherwise left them alone.

When he lost his first tooth, he lost it coming home on the bus. He dropped it, thus literally losing it on the bus. He was pretty bummed but was totally o.k. with writing a note for the Tooth Fairy instead. The next day, I drove the kids to school. They were up late, so I let them sleep in a little and drove them rather than put them on the bus. They did ride the bus home though. When he got off the bus 24 hours later, Jon had found his own tooth. What are the chances?

Not quite a week later, Jon lost his other loose front tooth. This time he brought it home in a zip lock bag and was able to put it under his pillow.

Sitting Waiting Wishing / The Trent Report

2009-02-26T10:09:00.002-05:00

Trent has passed the half way point of his time in Iraq. I think if he ends up staying an extra week until his replacement arrives, this is still true, but I could be off by a day or two.

In the last week, job assignment season has kicked in full force. Trent had to put in his "dream sheet" after looking at the "shopping list" last fall. New jobs pop up from time to time of course and then, if interested, you just alter your dream sheet. Early this month the Commander's List (O-5) of job assignments went up. A couple of weeks went by to allow those individuals to say yes, to choose to retire, etc. and now placing the Lt. Commanders (o-4s) is in full force. Late last week, Trent e-mailed me with a list of new job codes that were up. He then talked with his program director and later to his detailer. The fun part of this is getting to hear from Trent even more often. Now, however, comes the sitting waiting and wishing. That is a great Jack Johnson song by the way. Trent has updated his dream sheet for the last time, and we should know in a week give or take where we are headed this summer. We feel fairly confident that we have a good idea what job Trent is getting, but since nothing is final until it is final, I won't speculate on the blog.

Also on the sitting, waiting wishing note, February is almost over, and I still haven't received my two copies of the Naval Law Review. That is right. This is the month in which Trent's paper is supposed to be published, and they are sending us two copies. I have read the paper several times, but I would really like to see the final edit on it. I am not surprised that it is a little slow, but I still wait for it every day.

On a final Trent Report related note, Trent's replacement has been named. I am admittedly biased, but I think it reflects well on Trent that his replacement comes from the Coast Guard. The fact that Trent is in the Coast Guard is not why he is there. He works for CLAMO (the Army's Center of Law and Military Operations) right now, and he is who they got when they asked CLAMO for someone. CLAMO doesn't have someone of the same rank available to replace Trent, because that individual will be in Afghanistan. Instead of looking elsewhere in the Army JAG Corp, they are replacing him with another member of the Coast Guard. There could be several practical reasons for this including the Coast Guard's own desire to be involved with Multi National Forces Iraq. I, however, choose to think that it does, in part, reflect well on the job Trent is doing.

Six more weeks and change.

A 24 Update

2009-02-24T14:31:00.002-05:00

AS BEFORE, IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE OF 24 AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, DON'T READ THE FOLLOWING.

A sincere congratulations goes out to all of you who thought that rotten FBI guy on 24 (I think his name is Sean, but I honestly am not sure) was not alone but working with his girlfriend/mistress. I thought of you all as I watched last night and repeatedly told myself how smart you all are. Sorry, there was no one else around to tell at that hour. Myself is truly impressed at your ability to figure this out though. When they went into the mainframe room to crash the server, I knew he was going to do her in.

Now we are onto round 2 of this season's 24. That certainly is keeping with the old style where they have a break in the middle and the problem changes focus. So smarty pants, what is going to happen next?

By the way, I thought Janeane Garafulo's (Janice's) purple tights were very ugly in last night's episode. Just saying.

How Did I Miss This?

2009-02-18T07:57:00.002-05:00

While driving the kids to the bus stop today, Jon asked me what the ground hog decided about Spring. It is raining today. The rain was snow for about 1.2 minutes. Anyhow, I told Jon the ground hog saw his shadow and the rest. Ashley then told me about this story. I had to come back and google it to see if it was true. I laughed so hard. I feel somewhat vindicated in my Ground Hog's Day theories now.

A few thoughts on 24

2009-02-17T08:25:00.003-05:00

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE OF 24 AND YOU DON'T WANT IT SPOILED, DON'T CONTINUE TO READ.

So, the guy at the FBI who turned out to be the mole/helping the bad guys was so obvious that I thought it would be someone else. He was so obvious that all he needed was a mustache to twirl and Jon's evil laugh. I guess making him so obvious was the way of making him not obvious? There is, of course, the chance that they will pull a season 1 again in which Nina was the ultimate insider but someone else was shown as an insider much earlier in the season/day.

I have two words for what made last night's episode though, Aaron Pierce!! Awesome.