Catching Up with Friends

Andrew's friend, Jon, and Jon's girlfriend Lindsey came to visit today. Jon went to the Naval Academy with Andrew. Right now he is stationed Yokosuka Japan where he met Lindsey when she was studying abroad in Tokyo. We had a great time catching up and Sydney had fun getting to know them too. Andrew and I are looking into going to Japan for an EDO tour after grad school so Jon and Lindsey were perfect to ask questions about what it's like to live there. They showed us pictures on Jon's laptop of his apartment building, Yokosuka and other cities they've been to.
I grew up in the DC area and never imagined living so far away from everything I've known. But after a couple of tours under our belt, living overseas is not as scary to me as it used to be. I like the idea of living outside the US and learning about other cultures. Sydney would be starting kindergarten or first grade in Japan depending on if Andrew went to Monterey or MIT for grad school. So many things are up in the air but I am happy with the choices we are facing right now. No upcoming deployments or trying to figure out if we should get out of the Navy or stay in. Right now the plan is to stay in as long as Andrew enjoys being an EDO. It seems like it will be a pretty exciting career.

Little Picasso

My Mom got Sydney a Melissa and Doug easel for Christmas. Sydney loves to "write" letters and draw so this was a great gift. Today she was drawing with chalk while I was making dinner. She would come over to the kitchen and say "Mama I made a picture!" and want me to take a look at her artwork. The easel is really neat because it adjusts to her height. We have it on the shortest setting right now. You can also get the companion pack that has paper, no spill paint cups, brushes, paint and chalk. Those items are also at the Education Works store at the mall which is convenient. I bought a large splat mat that I lay on the floor by the dinning area and put the easel on it. Sydney brings over her little chair from her table and is ready to draw. She'll make scribbles and say "I make an M" or "I make a circle". It will be neat to see how her drawings change as she grows up.

Dinner Out With Family

My Father-In-Law loves Jimmy Buffet so I thought it fitting to go to the Margaritaville restaurant at the Mohegan Sun while everyone was here visiting for Christmas. There were 10 of us total--my mom, brother, sister and sister's boyfriend, Andrew's parents and sister and of course Andrew, Sydney and I. Andrew's parents had been to Margaritaville before and loved the food so I was very excited about trying it out. For appetizers we ordered volcano nacho chips (I wish I had taken a picture!). It was huge pile (about 12 inches tall) of nachos, cheese, sauce, olives and beans. It was delicious. We passed the plate around a couple of times. For our meals I ordered steak fajitas, Andrew got Jambalaya and Sydney had chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce and mashed potatoes. We had a great time except when the balloon man came over on his stilts and costume. He walked over to Sydney and she freaked out. I had hoped for a hat but her head was too small so he made her a sword. She on the other hand did not want anything to do with him and started screaming "No No No!!!" and tried desperately to get out of her high chair. She sat on my lap while she calmed down and the poor guy left to make balloon hats for other patrons. Oh well. She did get her sword and she had fun carrying it as we walked out of the casino after dinner.

Pajama Party!

The Children's Place had matching pajama sets for adults and children this season. I was very excited about this so as soon as they hit the stores Sydney and I went to the Children's Place at Tanger outlets--they weren't at their regular stores yet--and picked out pj's. There were lots of colors to choose from but I went with blue for winter. I got 18 months for Sydney and hoped they would still fit by Christmas (I tried them on her a couple of times between then and now and they fit great, thankfully). On Christmas morning my sister's boyfriend dressed up as Santa Claus and passed out our PJ's to Andrew, Sydney and I. Andrew wasn't in on the surprise and was so excited about wearing matching pj's with Sydney. We put them on tonight and took pictures. They are way to warm to sleep so we wore our usual pj's to bed. But they were so much fun to wear. When I dressed Sydney up in her pj she kept saying "Oh wow, oh thank you Mama!" She beamed when she saw Mama and Dada were wearing the same pajamas she was!

Sydney Angels

Sydney's gift for family this Christmas is handprinted angels. They are simple to make but take a couple days because you have to let the paint dry in between steps. You also have to have a willing toddler to sit and make all of those handprints. We had seven angels to make for grandparents, aunts, uncles and one for us to keep. I used 9x12 inch canvas boards, yellow paint for the body and pink paint for the wings. If I had a boy I would have used blue paint instead. Yesterday I painted Sydney's hand yellow and pressed it in the middle of the board. We did 10 total just in case we had a couple of mess ups along the way. This morning I painted her right hand pink and pressed it on the left side of her yellow handprint for one wing. Tonight I painted her left hand pink and pressed it on the right side for the other wing. After it dried I turned the picture around so the handprints were upside down. I painted a circle between the tops of the pink handprints for the face then added two black dots for eyes and a smile. Then I made a halo with yellow paint above the face. I wrote Sydney's name on top with a black permanent marker. I'm very excited to hear what everyone will say when they see their angels. They turned out so cute and it's a wonderful keepsake.

A snow day...FINALLY!

We finally had our first good snowfall of the season. Not the wet stuff, or the inch or two that melts by midday, but several inches of the good, powdery snow. It started around 1:00 in the afternoon and kept going after dark. Sydney woke

up to the snowfall after her nap. Andrew pulled her curtains back in her room and opened the blinds for

her to see snow. She looked out and whispered "ohhhhh...wooooow" taking it all in. We bundled her up to go play in the snow but as soon as it was time to put on her snow boots she refused to put them on. Andrew put on his coat, boots, gloves and hat to show Sydney he was getting ready to play in the snow too. I had to practically push her feet into her boots telling her it was a good thing and she was going to have fun. Andrew held her hand as they stepped out onto the porch and from that point on she was smiling and playing. It was so fun to see her in the snow because it was like she was seeing it for the first time all over again. Andrew showed her how to throw her first snowball and she squealed when he picked up the snow and let it fall on them. While they were playing I took pictures and had cookies baking in the oven (Kris Kringle cookies with dried cranberries, white chocolate chips and chopped pecans--minus the pecans for Sydney). When they came back in they were covered in snow. Sydney's hands were warm but her nose and cheeks were cold and pink. Andrew made her hot cocoa and I gave her a warm cookie. I am so happy we finally had a real snowfall. It will be here for a few days so we'll get to enjoy it again tomorrow.

Family Calendars

I am so excited! We made family calendars for our gift to everyone this Christmas and our order arrived today. They look so BEAUTIFUL! We have been working on them for several weeks and I was worried that we might not even get them finished in time. We created them with IPhoto on our Mac which we just got a couple weeks ago. Before getting the Mac I had been struggling with Shutterfly, Kodak and Walmart trying to find the site with the best colors for borders and the best picture layouts. It was taking forever to pick pictures, upload them to the photo sites and then onto the calendar. During this time our Mac arrived and when Andrew was learning how to use it he found IPhoto. No uploading pictures. Just pick and drag any picture straight into the calendar. It was awesome! That gave me more time to play with pictures because I didn't have to wait for them to upload. We'll save the calendars for the end on Christmas morning and let everyone open them together. That way it's a surprise for everyone. I can't wait!!!

Cinnamon Ornaments

Today Sydney and I made Cinnamon Ornaments. I used to make these with my preschoolers and I was excited that this year I could make them with Sydney. The recipe usually calls for cinnamon, applesauce and Elmer's glue which helps bind the cinnamon and applesauce together. This year I found a recipe from McCormick (I got the site off the cinnamon bottle) that calls for just the cinnamon and applesauce. This worked out great because I didn't have to worry when Sydney would lick her fingers and say "Mmm yummy". I wondered how they would turn out without the glue, if they would crack and break easily but they turned out super. At the top of each one I made a hole with a straw so I could thread ribbon through to hang on our tree. We made gingerbread men, christmas trees, stars and stockings. Sydney poured the ingredients in the bowl and helped push the cookie cutters down into the dough. I followed the directions for the first batch and made them 1/4 inch thick but I thought they looked to thin. So I made a second batch 1/2 inch thick and they look really nice. I also let the dough sit for a couple of hours before handling because it was just too crumbly to cut up right away. The house smelled so good too. I took pictures of Sydney putting one of the ornaments on the tree. She said "more pictures" and tried to pose with her ornament as she smiled at the camera and shook the ornament vigorously. At least she got the smile down :) We put half of the ornaments on our tree and the other half we will give to friends along with the recipe. 

Christy's Birthday Party

Our friends Cathy and Gary had a birthday party today for their daughter Christy who is turning two. Miss Anna, Christy's teacher from her "Music Together" class, came for entertainment. She brought her guitar and sang and danced with the kids (and grownups) for 45 minutes. The kids loved it. Sydney loved jumping, turning, clapping, etc. I hadn't heard most of these songs before as they are "music together" songs which made it even more fun. At the end of the session Miss Anna gave all of the kids two egg shakers to take home from Cathy and Christy. It was a very thoughtful gift.
After the music session we had lunch--macaroni and cheese with croutons and melted swiss cheese on top...so good..., cold pasta in a pesto that Sydney called "green beans", slices of chicken and a salad. Afterward we had cupcakes that Cathy made with the best lemon icing and strawberry filling inside. They were displayed in a Wilton cupcake stand with silicone flower cupcake molds. So pretty. We each got our own little cups of ice cream with vanilla and chocolate to go with the cupcakes. It was great to see Cathy, Gary and Christy. Everyone had a great time!
I put a slide show up to the side of this blog with pictures of the party. The video is of Sydney dancing to Miss Anna's music.

Festival of Lights

This morning I got two nice surprises--Sydney slept in late and Andrew came back from work to stay home for the day. The base lost power early this morning and all subschool classes were cancelled. They were cancelled at 9:00 and the power came back on at 9:30. What a treat! This gave me time to go out and get some errands done while Andrew stayed with Sydney. I set up fingerpaint and paper for them to do together while I was gone. At first I thought it might have been a bad idea to give Andrew fingerpainting duty, but they had fun squishing the paint in their fingers and on the paper. Sydney's been asking to paint for a while and she enjoyed it.

Tonight we went to the Festival of Lights at the Mystic Aquarium. Sydney was very excited to go saying she'd see "dolphins, whales and fish" and saying "Sydney car" because we take the car to get there. We went with our friends the Qin's, the Vanderweeles and the Steeles. Admission was free with the donation of a canned food item. The aquarium was packed with people pushing and squishing past each other. Even the line to get in stretched back all the way to the entrance of the parking lot. It was not at all what we expected as there were no festive lights in the aquarium. Just the normal lights you see all year. They did have a high school band and choir performing and there were Christmas trees all around the aquarium. Near the manta ray and seal exhibits was a table set up for face painting. Sydney and I got candy canes painted on our cheeks. She smiled when she saw mine saying "I like it". Afterward we all went to Friendly's for dinner. It was so much fun. Sydney enjoyed mini burgers, applesauce and steamed broccoli. I haven't been to friendly's in a long time. Andrew and I used to go all the time in college after our Campus Crusade meetings on Thursday nights. That was a very long time ago. Now we have a little one to share new memories with.

Breakfast for Dinner

Growing up I always loved when my Mom would make breakfast at dinner time. It wasn't often, but there was something special about having pancakes for dinner. I whip this up for my family too, usually when I'm overdue for a grocery trip. Tonight was such a night so I opted to make breakfast rather than going out in the freezing downpour we've had all day. I made chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs and canadian bacon. Instead of using the griddle for the pancakes I used my puff pancake pan. Or "baby pancake" pan as Sydney calls them. The pan was a gift from my mother-in-law from Williams-Sonoma. It's pretty neat. You heat the pan right on the burner on your stove. Then make your usual batter and put about a tablespoon of batter in each little cup. Then you add your filling (jam, fruit, ham/cheese, etc) and then flip them over to cook on the other side. It takes about a minute for each puff to cook so it's pretty quick. They were so yummy! Last time I made the puffs I used Nutella but it took so long to get it off the spoon and into the center of the puffs that they started to burn. This time I used chocolate chips. For the last batch I had only enough batter for four puffs. I poured the batter in and when I flipped them I realized I had forgotten the chips. Sydney had the last two puffs which happened to be the plain ones. She took a bite out of one, pouted, took a bite out of the other one, pouted. Then said "Chocolate chips...where aaaaaaare youuuuu???" Andrew and I started laughing. I got extra chips from the bag and added them in her puffs. It wasn't the same but better than plain I guess. .

A Busy Wednesday

This morning we had a playdate at Laura's home. The morning goes by so fast when we're together. I wish so much I had known Laura and Mary better while Andrew was on his IA. But at least now we are friends and we'll have much to do together before moving in May. It's starting to feel a little like the countdown. It will really hit me when we find out where we're moving to.
On our way back home Andrew called saying he was going to Pizza Hut for their Military Appreciation lunch. Sydney and I went last year so I asked if we could tag along again. Andrew, Sydney and I love Pizza Hut's buffet. Sydney ate a garlic breadstick, cinnamon breadstick and ham/pineapple pizza. Their dessert pizza is so yummy too. I split a slice with Sydney but she loved her breadsticks more. It was nice to see Andrew's friends again. Being on shore duty there aren't any get togethers with the subschool command like there were with Andrew's boat during his sea tour. It was very weird to get used to at first. Especially when Andrew was in Liberia there weren't any other wives going through the same thing. I felt like I was kind of in my own little world. On the flip side I could talk to Andrew almost daily where I wouldn't have been able to if he were deployed on a sub. Either way it's tough.
Tonight I will be celebrating my friend/neighbor, Crystal's, birthday. It's actually not until next week but this is the last get together before my friend Jessica leaves for FL to stay with her family while her husband is deployed on his sub. Girl's night out doesn't work as well a night in so we will be celebrating at her home. Can't wait!

Dinner with the Qins

Our friends, Laura and Q, invited us over for dinner tonight at their home. I was very excited to spend the evening with them and their children, Andrew and Ada. Sydney has playdates twice a week with Andrew so they know each other pretty well...for toddlers :) Laura and Q are also Chinese so we were in for a real treat with Laura's authentic Chinese cooking. Andrew and I have always LOVED Chinese food and tonight was no exception. I asked Laura if I could take pictures of her dishes to share and she kindly said yes.

Here are dumplings (pot stickers) with chicken. They were so yummy! Sydney saw Andrew and I try them before dinner and quickly came over saying "some please".

This dish is Ma Po Tofu. I had never had it before. It has cubes of tofu and ground pork in a spicy sauce. Sydney loved this dish. I think it was her favorite along with the white rice.

This is eggplant stir-fry with ground pork. I like eggplant in my mom's ratatouille recipe but I'd never had it in a stir-fry. It was very good.

Sydney and I had made christmas cookies to bring over for dessert, but somehow they burned in the oven. I didn't even leave them long in the oven. I am not a baker or cook I've said this before!!! So we picked up an assorted cheesecake pan at the grocery store. There were four different cakes - chocolate cheesecake, raspberry, walnut, and plain. Everyone enjoyed the slice they picked. I can't wait for my baking pan from Pampered Chef to come in. Then I'll try to make the cookies again.


We all had a great time chatting and getting to know each other better. When I first met Q last Easter, Andrew was in Liberia, and I kept telling him that he and Q would hit it off really well because they have so many similar interests. Andrew is a sci-fi fan and so are Q and Laura so we spent most of the evening chatting about sci-fi books, games and tv shows. I am not a fan but I still had a blast. It was a wonderful evening out with great food and great friends!

Breakfast With Santa

This morning at 8:00 we had breakfast with Santa Claus. The breakfast was held at the Reunions Deli next to the bowling lanes on base. We ate our breakfast first then went to where Santa was sitting for pictures. The breakfast was buffet-style with scrambled eggs, french toast sticks, hash brown stars, sausages, bacon and danishes. Sydney loved her scrambled eggs and french toast sticks. Afterward we went and had our picture taken with Santa. Sydney was afraid to stand with him all by herself but was ok when I posed with her. Santa gave her a little goody bag and a candy cane. She was very excited because we've been reading this book about candy canes "Christmas Candy Canes" at home and now she had her very own candy cane to hold. While waiting for our pictures we walked over to the bowling area where they had set up stations where you could decorate your own gingerbread man. Sydney and I decorate a cookie and brought him home with us. Overall it was a fun morning. It was just $5 each for Andrew and I and our Santa picture was free. It's nice that the military has events like this for families.

Festival of Lights

Tonight we went to a Festival of Lights show on base at the Dealey Plaza. It began at 5:30 with free hot cocoa and cookies and at 6:00 Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus arrived for the lighting of the Christmas Tree. We got there right at 5:30 and stood in the long line outside for our cocoa and cookies. Sydney stood in line with us as we waited for the 50 people or so in front of us to get their treats. There was quite a crowd. We saw our friends, the Vanderweeles, and chatted with them as we tried to stay warm. I gave Sydney a little hand warmer to hold to keep her fingers warm. At 6:00 a procession of police cars and a firetruck drove up to the plaza and out came Mr. and Mrs. Claus. The kids gathered round to give hugs, or just take a peek. Sydney sat on Andrew's shoulders to get a better view. Mr. and Mrs. Claus didn't stay out for long, heading in to the Dealey Center for pictures. We didn't stay to get pictures with Santa only because we would see him tomorrow at the "Breakfast with Santa." We could get pictures when we would be nice and cozy instead of waiting in line outside. After they went inside, an Admiral said a few words then the Christmas tree was lit and the Festival began. It was pretty neat. Sydney pointed out the decorations as we passed. There were snowmen, a choo-choo train, polar bears, etc. We walked around the plaza and then went home. Overall it was pretty fun. The lights were well done and Sydney had a good time.

Thank you Crystal!

My friend Crystal made pumpkin soup a week ago and posted the recipe on her blog. I am always looking for new recipes so I thought I would give it a try. I went to the commissary to get the items and they were out of pumpkin puree so I got canned sweet potatoes instead. I followed Crystal's recipe (I had the laptop on the kitchen counter) and made oven toasted sandwiches to go with it. The soup was delicious. Sooo good! And a delicious meal makes a very obedient child at the dinner table because Sydney finished two bowls of soup only pausing to repeat "yummy" and "I like it...wow". So Crystal thank you so much for a wonderful meal. Andrew loved it too and finished eating way before Sydney and I were done.

A Welcomed Change

In our family, and as is the case in most, I do the cooking. It's not by choice for me but by the fact that I am home more. I can make really tasty meals as long as I have a recipe to follow but if I try to make something on my own it just never turns out right...or good. Before having Sydney Andrew and I took turns cooking for the week. I loved it because he would make dishes I would never think of and it would taste so good. Lately I've gotten into a little cooking rut so last week he offered to cook a couple meals a week to give me a break. Bless him! I said "sure!" and asked him if he could make one meal on a weeknight and one on the weekend. For dinner tonight he made Jambalaya. I've had it once before and really liked it so I was eager to see how it would turn out. Andrew was worried Sydney wouldn't like it because of the sausage and the spices. We put it in a small bowl for her with cut up broccoli and she really liked it. She took the first bite and she looked up thinking about it as she chewed then said "yummy I like it." That was all Andrew needed to hear.
While Andrew was making dinner, Sydney and I worked on Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. The recipe called for a roll of ready made peanut butter cookies with 1 cup M&M mini's mixed into the batter. Then you add reeses cups in the middle of each cookie right after baking. The grocery store was out of the bite size cups so I used the regular size and cut them in quarters. Sydney poured the M&M mini's into a measuring cup and placed the balls of dough onto the cookie sheet. The recipe said to wait three hours after baking for the reeses cups to set. We are not a family that can wait three hours for cookies so we tasted them after our Jambalaya. They were yummy!

It was nice to do something different tonight. Instead of my fussing and Andrew pacing waiting for dinner we were busy with something new. It was much more exciting for Sydney too. This will be a new weekly routine along with our pizza night!

Tis' the Season

Now that we have our Christmas tree up and decorated we are starting to decorate the rest of the house bit by bit. I could have put everything up this past weekend but then all of the fun of decorating would be over. I bought Sydney some foam Christmas stickers from Walmart that she decorated on clear contact paper. She added Santa, reindeer, wreaths, presents, etc. She used to loved sticking one sticker on top of another and another, but now she sees it's much nicer to spread them out so you can see all of them! She was very pleased that she figured out how to pull backing off each individual sticker. She grouped all the presents together and the reindeer together. It's neat to see how your kids like to do certain things. We hung her new picture above her toy shelf.

The weather today was 54 degrees and sunny making it a beautiful day to go outside after the freezing rain we had over the weekend. Sydney and I took a walk up our street and down Orion looking at all the decorations our neighbors have put up. We saw Santa on a motorcycle, colored lights, candy canes and reindeer. Nothing compares, however, to the decorations in Sun City Arizona where Andrew's parents live. It's a senior citizen community and yet each house looks like the headquarters of the North Pole. You can't even decide which street to drive down first because they are all lit up with every decoration imaginable...and unimaginable actually. We just have pre-lit garlands that we'll put in the front of our house. Nothing fancy but still pretty ;)