Merry Christmas From Our Home to Yours!

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch of their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

- Luke 2:8-11

T'was the week before Christmas

We took Hunter to see the Christmas lights in a neighborhood in nearby Santee last night. He loved it. The entire neighborhood participates and each house sells things for a charity of their choice. Some houses had cookies, some had glow sticks, there were even some that had fried chocolate pies--amazing! The "fee" for coming in the neighborhood was a can of food per person to donate to the food bank in Santee. It's a great deal!

Well, today--exhausted me. To say the very least. We woke up bright and early to hit the mall, and had a list of things to accomplish today. Ha! I did manage to get my haircut, a much needed one, since I haven't had it cut since June and it was looking pretty rough. Better pictures to come. I like it a lot, it's very textured with heavy swoop bangs and feels and looks so much healthier!
We planned on taking Hunter to see Santa today, but there were pushy people who cut in an already outrageously long line and were very rude if you spoke up for yourself. We're going to try Monday morning, when hopefully, people will be working--since Kiefer is on leave now until after the new year!
After this photo was taken, we pulled into our garage--which was a disaster in itself. Kiefer and I were engaged in conversation and not paying attention, when we both shut our doors on the car. Well, apparently if you have the car off and you shut the front two doors, open the back "gate" door and shut that, it auto locks so your car is "safe." Well, whoever came up with this concept, does not have children. Hunter, poor baby, was locked in the backseat (thankfully asleep, otherwise the tantrum would have been super). Of course, my keys were in my purse and Kiefers keys were in the car, so I went to get my purse. Until I realized it was in the car. As was my cell phone. Luckily, Kiefer had his phone and we called our apartment complex's 24 hour hot line and they provided (FREE!) a guy to come out and slimjim the window. Luckily, the car was off, we were safe in the garage and Hunter didn't even wake up until the guy unlocked the doors! What luck! Thank you Lincoln Housing (and I don't say that very often!!)

**Sorry for the terrible quality of the photos, they're from my phone**

Happy Birthday Hunter! (A belated post)

I announce, once again, I have not abandoned this blog. I have, however, had absolutely nothing to talk about until now! Hunter turned 1 this Sunday, the 13th and his party was Saturday, the 5th. Okay, so maybe I could have blogged about these things when they happened but, I wanted to wait until I had Hunter's growth information and I didn't have that until today. Not to mention I was too lazy to find my cable to upload Hunter's party pictures until today.

Oh Hunter Scott, how cute you are, Dorito face and all. What are you up to these days?
You weigh 25 lbs. and 6 oz. and are 32 1/2 inches long!
You wear anywhere from 12 months to 2T size clothing, depending on the brand!
You also wear a size 5 shoe! Mommy has started you out right in life, by making sure you already have tons of shoes!
You rarely crawl anymore and love walking. You haven't taken off in a sprint yet, but you do waddle pretty quickly!
You babble constantly but we know you mean it when you say "Dada" to Daddy. When you hear the garage door open you waddle over to the gate as fast as possible and point down the stairs "Dadadadada" until you see your daddy and then you squeal. "Mama" is still used to describe a wide range of things, from Mommy to the couch. You also say "hey" when you want to get our attention!
You recently decided you like talking on the phone. And by phone, I mean anything that is square, you put up to your ear and say "hey babble babble babble."
You are finally off the bottle and on the sippy cup. You even kinda hold the sippy cup. You don't tilt it to get anything out, but you do put it in your mouth when you want Mommy to tilt it for you so you can have a drink.
What are you drinking these days, you may ask? Whole milk, water and a daily cup of half juice, half water. You do still have a bottle of formula 30 minutes before bed just to give you that extra bit of nutrients.
You no longer eat jarred baby foods, except the Gerber oatmeals for breakfast. You love feeding yourself but haven't quite mastered the spoon. So you get to feed yourself any finger foods in your meal and Mommy takes over the rest.
You love to throw things down to Gemma (our cat) and she waits patiently under your highchair during your meals for her treats.
You sleep about 10-12 hours a night and wake up once, but you aren't hungry you're just lonely and need to put back down and patted on the back until you're drowsy again. We're working on "sleep training" but you're really not feeling it.
You're into everything and keep Mommy and Daddy on their toes all of the time! We wouldn't have it any other way, we love you!!!!
Oh and how was Hunter's birthday party, you ask?

He played.
He laughed.
He opened presents.
He conked out!
It was a terrific party and Hunter had tons of fun with awesome people! We sure miss our Texas family and friends, but are glad Hunter is making friends here and enjoys the company of other kids very well!

It's been how long?

So I totally haven't forgotten to blog lately. I've just been super busy. Ha. (Oh and that photo--his shirt totally says "1" but looks like a "3" instead!)
I just recently recovered from my double kidney infection, which I made 2 trips to the emergency room for. My doctor still hasn't gotten back to me with the results on what caused it, but said that I will probably start to be prescribed medicine that I'll have to take daily. If it keeps the bladder & kidney infections away, I'm just fine with that!

We had Kiefer's squadron's Marine Corps Birthday Ball on Friday night, it was a ton of fun. I even got Kiefer to dance with me for one song, which he doesn't typically go for. Pictures to come soon, I've got to figure out a way to scan it.
We took Hunter to get his birthday photos done on Saturday, and did our holiday photos also. They came out terrific!

Really, really, really sick

This was me, before I got sick.

Well, it was before I admitted I was sick. Kiefer and I got to spend 6 1/2 wonderful hours in the waiting room of Balboa ER, and 4 hours hooked up to an IV with antibiotics, Morphine and fluids. Apparently I have a kidney infection. Which is simply superb, since Kiefer leaves tomorrow morning to go out on the ship, and I can't see straight with the medication I'm taking.
The new house isn't unpacked, the washing machine and dryer aren't hooked up, and poor Hunter really wants Mommy time. I hope I get better soon..
This picture is about a week old, and it's blurry, but it's so darn cute!

What goes vroom?

We've had a heck of a week here in California. We're moving to Lakeside, tomorrow, which I'm so excited about. The housing people pulled through, much to our apartment manager's dismay, and found us a place in a much nicer, safer neighborhood. I pick up the keys at 8:30 AM, yay!

Also, we sold Kiefer's car Tuesday morning. The performance and quality of his 97 Jetta had gone down hill since he got home from deployment. The clutch had to be replaced, the tires/alignment had to be redone, 2 windows stopped working, and the door lock broke, making the security system turn off the ignition switch, so at one point--Kiefer couldn't even drive his car. Well, Kiefer fixed all of those things and put it on Craigslist for just a little more than what we owed on it. Someone bought it Tuesday morning, and we've been looking at SUVs and trucks since last month in anticipation of selling his car.
We test drove quite a few, and couldn't figure out exactly what it is we were looking for. Then yesterday just for giggles, I went on to Cars.com and there was this ad for a pretty little 2008 Jeep Patriot. The price was significantly cut, because it was a car that had been on the lot for 45 days and was about to go to auction if they couldn't sell it, so we drove downtown to test drive it.
Then we bought it!
Her name is Jenny (said with a Forrest Gump accent) the Jeep. We really like her, ha. Hunter has tons of room in the backseat, which he was kind of squished in the Cavalier in his big Britax in that tiny back seat. She gets way better gas mileage than the Cavalier, at 24/29 mpg, compared to the Cavalier's 18/23 mpg. Since Kiefer will be carpooling mostly in the new neighborhood, and I have severe anxiety in the Cavalier since my wreck, she'll be my daily driver and our family vehicle, with Kiefer taking her whenever he needs the backseat (the seats lay down and can hold a kayak if we so choose, lol).
Obviously, we're very excited!
And Hunter? Well, he just wants to watch Mickey Mouse.

Not So Much Fun

I hate this state.

No really, I do.... No more "just give it a chance, you'll begin to love it." Bah humbug.
We had an attempted break in yesterday, and it was probably one of the scariest moments of my life.
Hunter and I were playing in our living room watching the television at 10:42 yesterday morning and Ryker (the boy I babysit) was asleep upstairs, when the alarm system started to sound. I ran upstairs with Hunter and locked the doors, and called 911. The 911 dispatcher had me go downstairs and check the house because the police had another call across town and were too busy to come out unless I could physically spot an intruder (I've complained to La Mesa PD about this) and I looked through the house (locked the boys upstairs), the only thing I could see was the door from the garage was unlocked but not open and the garage door was closed also. The screen door was cracked open but the sliding glass door was still closed in the kitchen. The dispatcher was nice enough to stay on the phone with me while I checked the house and got off the phone and called National Public Safety and they said they were sending a security guard out. After I called them, I hung up and called the apartment's office to let them know what was going on, she blew me off basically telling me it was the "crazy times" we were living in. About 30-35 minutes after, the security guard showed up, and was very polite and nice. He checked the garage and all rooms and closets, and gave me his card, checked my military i.d. and left.. I called Kiefer's squadron to tell him and they were so undermanned that he couldn't come home but he did call the management office and tell them they will be moving us to another site (the same people run all of the military housing in the city). So now we wait, to be told if we can get into different housing that we want, and if not we may be moving on to base. We're trying to avoid that though, because it's full BAH and that's an additional $500 than what we're paying now.
I'm just relieved we're all safe...

Pumpkin Patch Poky

Yesterday we took Hunter to Oma's Oldtime Pumpkin Patch. We had a blast, and he really seemed to enjoy himself. He got to ride a tractor (well, daddy held on), a milk truck, a (fake) cow, and pick out his own personal pumpkin.
We also had some friends and their brand new baby over last night. She's tinier than Hunter ever was, for sure! So cute. Hunter just looked at her like "what are you???" Haha. It was a nice night, the guys grilled steaks and then we played Marine Corps Monopoly. I lost terribly. I'm not good at that game at all. Kiefer won, which he has been bragging about all day.
Today we're off to the commissary as soon as Hunter is up from his nap (he's been down for an 1 1/2 hours now, which is terrific for him). The rest of the day I'll be cleaning, and Kiefer is going to change my oil and fix his window regulator in his car. Pretty boring day. :)
I'll wrap this up with more of my favorite pictures from the patch!

You are my sunshine

Hunter turned 10 months old Wednesday, and I cannot believe how fast these months have gone by. I found a video on my computer of him cooing when he was around 3 months old and my heart just melted. It seems like it was just yesterday...

And then this one this morning after his nap....

I cleaned out his closet and dresser this afternoon, boxing up all of the clothes that do not fit anymore and hanging up the new series of outfits. Anyhow, I was hanging up all his new 12-18 month clothes, and comparing it to some of his newborn stuff that was still laying around, of course I cried. I don't know when he grew, but he did! So I'm borrowing this idea from Kelly's Korner to give a bit of a run down of what Hunter's been up to lately!
So Mr. Hunter Scott:

• You weigh 23 lbs and 3 oz. (99 percentile)
  
• You measure around 31 1/2 inches, but I can't get the real length myself because you squirm so much! (80 percentile)
• You aren't allergic to anything, so far, and have tried all of the Gerber foods stages 1-3, and have started eating table foods more and more. You love to feed yourself, even though it's super messy for Mommy to clean up.
• You like foods we don't expect you to like. You love pickles, lemons and sauerkraut. You don't like bananas or applesauce.
  
• You're shaking your head "no" when you don't want something!
  
• You crawl fast enough to catch the cat and walk along the furniture. You stand on your own and clap your hands, too. You've tried taking a couple of steps, and have gotten to 3 steps, then you sit down and shake your head "no."
  
• When you're across the room and doing something Mommy or Daddy don't like and we say "Hunter, no." you simply wave at us and go back to what you were doing.
  
• You've started napping 1.5 hours twice a day, instead of your 3, 15 minute catnaps that you have been doing the last 10 months.
• You give high fives and low fives like no other.
• You love playing catch with Mommy and Daddy with your Fisher Price Roll-Around Balls. You throw it to us, we roll it to you, you throw it back.
• Oh, the Marines at Daddy's squadron taught you how to throw. It was nice of them. You like to throw. You throw your toys over the gate and down our stairs. You throw your pacifier at the cat and your food at the walls. You also threw a pickle at Daddy as he was coming up the stairs a couple of weeks ago, and that was pretty funny.
• You love your Mr. Bear that your Grandpa Paul got you and your stars blankey. You carry them with you and they go everywhere with you.
• You have more toys than an FAO Schwarz it seems somedays, but you really do seem to play with every one of them. You take each one out of your toy box, play with it for 2-3 minutes and move on to the next one, until the box is empty.
  
• Last night you learned how to climb on to the couch. Mommy is glad you learned how to climb down last month, otherwise we'd be in trouble.
• You climbed into your stroller this morning and you were jumping in it when Mommy caught you and put the stroller away. That's scary, you shouldn't do that!
  
• You love to chase the cat. You also play catch with her. Some days she takes naps with you, but only if Mommy is working in your room so she can watch. She slept with you a lot in the pack-and-play downstairs during the day, but now that it's not downstairs anymore, she can only sleep with you supervised.
• You chit chat as much as you can. We don't know what you're saying, but you mean do, and you mean it! You say dada when you're upset or in the car, mama when you're excited or bored and everything in between all the other times!
  
• Your eyes are still blue and we're starting to think they may stay that way. They're not dark, they aren't light, they are a very bright, vibrant blue.
• You are growing a lot of hair lately, and always wake up with it a mess. When we go out, Mommy likes to put it in a faux hawk with BabyRedken 11.
• You typically go to bed every night at 8:30 or 9:00 and sleep through the night most of the time. Lucky for us, you always seem to wake up on weekends, when we don't have to wake up early.
  
• You're working on your 7th and 8th teeth (on the bottom next to your center teeth) and bite HARD!
  
• We love you so much and are so thankful you were put into our lives!
  
  

Missing in Action?

I planned to post I swear! But recently I've been having some computer problems (thanks to Gerber Tiny Juice Bites and Hunter's obsession with my keyboard) and half my keyboard doesn't work right now... So I'm copy and pasting letters to type this. I'll post later.

Drumroll Please

Please, meet the newest member of our family..........
*DRUMROLL*
Chesty the English Bulldog
He is 5 years old and just about the sweetest dog I've ever met. The people who owned him couldn't keep him because of a child's medical issues, so we've taken him in.
Hunter and Chesty get along swell and Chesty rode the entire ride home with his head on Hunter's lap (Hunter was in his car seat and the backseat is pretty small with a big dog and a Britax in the back).
Chesty likes stuffed frogs, linoleum floors and being scratched on the nose.
He is going on a healthy diet though, because the big guy weighs 100 lbs. and is used to getting tons of table scraps. We don't want him to develop hip problems or any other health problems, so no more human food for Chesty.
He did come with a Marine Corps uniform though!
Isn't he darn cute?

I can't wear my sunglasses in traffic

Yep, the title is true. Random fact for you. If traffic gets heavy, the sunglasses go to the top of my head. I also am afraid of freeways. I actually have a lot of qualms associated with being in a car. Kiefer and I are actually on the hunt for a larger, safer vehicle for me. So maybe I'll be able to go to base and get on the freeway, and not take back roads (which is pretty sucky) all the way through San Diego and take and hour or more driving 12 miles.
This was Hunter's reaction to his Halloween skunk costume. That face, is not a happy one. Poor baby. It's the hood that scared him. We'll paint his face for trick-or-treating (going with a couple we know who has older children) that way he doesn't have to wear the hood, and you can still tell he's a skunk.
Not that the stripe down his back and the fuzzy tummy doesn't shout "hey look at me!" However, if we put the hood up, he'll become a real stinker.

I hope I'm not a terrible mother for taking these photos as he was throwing a fit. I was trying to capture the cuteness, since Kiefer was on 24 hour guard duty and. I was trying to get a good photo on my phone to send to him so he could see it.

So now we look forward to a weekend of (hopefully) sleeping in, (hopefully) no work call-ins for Kiefer, and a peaceful, quiet, relaxing home.

Oh and here's my recipe for Kelly's Korner "Show us how you live" go-to dinner recipes. I am new to this housewife gig, but I've definitely been trying and I've made this quite a bit this last month. To give credit, I got it off of cooks.com, I think.
Chicken and Dumplings
*I serve them with simple boiled okra and red potatoes*

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, finely diced
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.
2. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

And the envelope please....

Pet Peeves... Maybe I'm just easily irritated but I have quite a few. Call this a b..ching post if you must, maybe I'm just sleepy. However, I thought this could be fun, no blog hop or anything like that but a few blogs are doing it, and I'm picking up on that too.
*He's not a pet peeve, he's just cute and has learned how to climb stairs!*
1. Standing to close in conversation
I was a hair stylist at one point, I get the whole sometimes you have to invade personal space to do something. However--that is not the case to get your point across. I will not invade your bubble, please do not invade mine.
2. Smacking your gum.
If you're going to chew gum, don't do it like a cow. And for the sake of all etiquette classes--not in my ear on the telephone!
3. Tossing around words in conversation that mean something else, but using them as an insult.
This is probably my top peeve. People do not realize how offensive it is when they call someone "gay" or "a retard." To each their own on opinions on homosexuality, but personally, I have family and friends who are GLBTQ--and I love them just the way they are.
More offensive to me is the term "retard" being thrown around in conversation. Those who use that word have never had a person with a mental special need in your family, or if you have--you're just ignorant.
4. People who call way too early. Self explanatory. The actual reason for this post. :)