I am not a huge sports fan, but I do enjoy college football, especially when Alabama plays! Hubby and I watch the Iron Bowl every year, I am an Alabama fan and he is an Auburn fan, so our house is divided. I have Monkey on my side, she’ll yell “Roll Tide” and wears her Bama cheerleader dress with pride! So, the last few football seasons have been a bit of a disappointment for me since my beloved Crimson Tide has, well, sucked. This year however, they have turned things around, an undefeated season. Today my team ended Auburn’s six year winning streak! That’s right, we beat the Tigers 36-0! It really wasn’t even a game, we just walked all over Auburn! Oh, it feels good to have bragging rights back! On the downside, I finally agreed that our new baby could wear Auburn colors, so that hubby has somebody in his corner! ROLL TIDE!!!
Iron Bowl 2008: Roll Tide
November 29, 2008 at 7:23 pm (Family)
An Army Thanksgiving
November 29, 2008 at 7:09 pm (Holidays)
Since it’s the three of us living so far from family we decided to go to the Army dining facility for Thanksgiving lunch this year. I was a little worried about what the food would be like and if Monkey would eat anything, but I soon found I had worried for nothing. The building was filled with the colors of fall, tables were decorated with fall tablecloths and place mats, colorful napkins, and cards featuring a Thanksgiving message from the installation commander and the menu. We were served by the higher ranking officers all handsome in their dress blues. We had turkey, ham, roast beef, and all the trimmings. There were tables of desserts, fruit, mixed nuts, pretty much anything you could want, they had. The food was really good and I was surprised that my picky little Monkey ate roast beef! We were all stuffed when we left.
As is our tradition, when we got home we put up our Christmas tree. I would love to have a real tree. I love the way they smell and the way they look. I can even handle the shedding of the needles, but I settle for the artificial, pre-lit tree. I have some sort of issue with a pre-lit tree. I can’t explain it, I don’t know why they bother me, but they do. When I was pregnant with Monkey, my hubby was at school, and my sweet brother was trying to help me with my tree. After a hour or so, he decided he was done with me, my lights, and my need for lighting perfection. A very unflattering holiday nickname and a trip to Wal-Mart later I had a pre-lit tree. Oh shutter. Apparently, it’s not just my brother that I drive completely insane with my unnatural need for holiday decoration perfection, Hubby gets a little aggravated with me too. This year Monkey helped decorate the tree. It took a lot of restraint on my part to not dictate where she put every ornament and bow. Hubby had to remind me a couple of times that she is only three after all and it was OK if she hung all the balls in a big clump at the bottom of the tree!
Now, we are on the countdown to Christmas. I am looking forward to all the shopping and hoping it will be done before our baby makes her much anticipated entrance into the world! I have to take a picture of Monkey in front of the tree for Christmas cards too. Oh, there is so much to do, but I LOVE this time of year!! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!
Our Tree
My New Toy
November 23, 2008 at 9:10 pm (Miscellaneous)
We had our cell phone service through T Mobile, unfortunately, TMobile doesn’t cover Alaska. Basically it just switched us to AT&T, which was fine until recently when calls kept getting dropped, voice mails arrived six hours after they were sent, and text messages were left floating in space. Hubby and I discussed these problems and decided that switching to AT&T was the best option. So we went to the At&T store today and purchased new iPhones. One for me and one for him. Normally, I could care less about technology. I know how to operate my computer and iPod and really that’s all I need. But this iPhone, it’s awesome! I have spent all afternoon sitting around playing with it. Downloading play lists, adding applications that I’ll probably never use, but look cool, so I had to have them, and trying to figure out how to make ring tones out of my already purchased iTunes music. So, if you have an iPhone and know how to do this, please help me!
36 Weeks
November 23, 2008 at 8:49 pm (Pregnancy)
I am so ready for this baby to be born! I went to the doctor Monday and what an interesting visit it was! I am measuring exactly where I should be and I’ve only gained a couple of pounds. The baby is head down (which makes me hopeful that she will make her appearance early) and she has an excellent heart rate. All good news! I finally got my ultrasound scheduled so they can get a look at my placenta and I did my glucose test. It seemed sort of pointless since I only have four weeks left, but it’s done and hopefully it’ll be alright. I have to go in twice a week for non stress tests (NST’s) because my uterus isn’t resting like it’s supposed to be, I’ve had some bleeding, and sometimes when I have a contraction the baby doesn’t handle it so well. I keep hoping they will decide to induce me early or that nature will take it’s course and she’ll just decide she’s ready. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can barely walk, and I feel lousy the majority of the time. Tonight however would probably not be the night to go into labor, since my hubby, who has been up for over 30 hours has crashed on the couch and Monkey has passed out in our bed! Tomorrow, however, well, that would be fine!
Ice Skating
November 20, 2008 at 1:33 pm (Alaska, Monkey)
When you live in Alaska you have to go ice skating. Monkey has been asking to go since we moved up here, so last Saturday we took her to the ice rink on post. She was so excited, all bundled up in her coat, hat, and mittens, and ready to go in her tiny skates. I did not skate, I can not ice skate on a good day, and I could see the disaster if I tried it while pregnant. Hubby, however, can ice skate, so I left them to it. I sat on the bench, watched them go around the rink, and tried to take some pictures. She even let go of her daddy and the wall and tried to do it by herself. Of course, she fell a couple of times, would come and tell me, and then hit the ice for some more skate time. We were there almost two hours, she and hubby were pretty worn out when we left. They both had a good time, it was all she talked about the rest of the day. Now, she wants us to buy her some ice skates!
Santa Claus House
November 8, 2008 at 9:09 pm (Alaska, Monkey)
How cool is it that we live ten minutes away from Santa? How many people can say that they have visited Santa at his house? We are three of those lucky folks! Today we made that ten minute drive to North Pole to visit the Jolly Elf on his own turf. Monkey had been looking forward to this trip for days and was ecstatic this morning because the day had finally arrived! The town is so cute the streetlights look like candy canes, it’s a Christmas lovers dream! Letters from children from all over the world lined the walls of the building. We found Santa and Mrs. Claus, who was busily knitting a sweater. Monkey sat in his lap and went over her Christmas wish list. We went outside to see four of Santa’s reindeer. Monkey thought they were so cute with their “anklers”.
She started crying, screaming really, because her hands were freezing. Hubby and I had tried and tried to get the gloves on, but she wanted no part of them. We went back into Santa’s house and enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate at Santa’s Coffee Cache. Once we were all warmed up we decided to do a little shopping. The Christmas Shop had everything you could want to decorate for the season. We ended up buying some ornaments for our family and ourselves and we bought a t-shirt for Monkey. We all had a good time and created some wonderful memories! 
- Reindeer Games
Monkey’s New Do
November 8, 2008 at 7:44 pm (Monkey)
Monkey put gum in her hair the other night and we tried to get it out using all the tricks in the book, but nothing would take it out. I ended up having to cut the gum out. The bad part was that it wasn’t in just one spot, there were little pieces all in her hair. So after I finished cutting all the gum out her hair was so uneven. We took her to the beauty shop today to have it fixed. The woman cut it up to her shoulders. It hasn’t been that short since she was a year old, but it turned out cute and at it’s all one length! I’m just happy that she didn’t take a pair of scissors to it on her own!
Halloween: Tougher in Alaska
November 2, 2008 at 3:26 pm (Alaska, Monkey)
Little Mermaid
I wondered how in the world Halloween worked in this frozen place and now I know! Friday night we took Monkey to a Halloween carnival. I changed her into her costume at the building because it was SO cold. I tried to convince her it was a good idea to wear her shirt under her costume, but then I decided I’d pick my battle, we were inside anyway. She played some games and won some candy then she painted a small pumpkin. When we got ready to leave I put her jeans back on her and won the shoe battle, though it wasn’t easy. There was trick or treating at the PX too, so we went there. My Hubby assumed that it would be just getting candy at the door, but it was so much cooler than that. We received a map and took Monkey all through the PX and the surrounding mall. I was so proud of her for actually saying “Trick or Treat” and “Thank You”. Once she was done we got a slice of pizza and then headed home. I thought this idea was pretty cool, I mean it’s safe and it’s warm! It was brutally cold Friday night, the temperature in the negatives, and I assumed that people would not have their children out there, but I was wrong. Monkey saw this and decided she needed to be out there too, so Hubby took her to a few houses while I sat in the truck. Then we came home, parked the car, and went to three of our neighbors houses. Monkey then decided she was done, she was freezing, it was time to come home. On the way home, Monkey walked ahead of Hubby and Hubby walked ahead of me. Now, I’m pretty clumsy on a good day, but add ice to the mix and it’s done. I’d been so careful all night, but halfway home, boom, down I went. All I can say is OUCH! Apparently there is something to wearing the snow boots! I’ve learned a valuable and painful lesson about that!
Halloween: It’s Tougher in Alaska!
