Motherhood Is...{25}

Laying around

I love that my "job" allows me time to just hang out sometimes. Hunter is learning to roll, so I try to give him time on the floor. Since he's not mobile and moving about I feel like he might get bored. Since I have these feelings I take it upon myself to lay down on the floor and entertain him. I figure if he has something to look at to one side or anther I can try to get him to look and roll. Wishful thinking thus far, but I'm willing to give it a go! I know, twist my arm, I have to lay down on the job and give my back a rest. And best part about it is that my "boss" {well, 1 of my 3 bosses} lays down with me and even laughs at my jokes!!! This can only happen if the other 2 are occupied - Eden would be crawling all over us and Lane would be wondering when I was going to fold the laundry that I'm laying next to! *He would never ask me this, this is an exaggeration! But he will just sit there and stare at the laundry and in my mind I know I should fold it, so it's his fault...right?*

A Day at the Zoo

I've always heard great things about the zoo and I've always wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo because people rave about how great it is! Well, there was no shortage of amazement when we went on Friday. Eden loved it, there were tons of animals {and we didn't even see all of them} so she was in heaven just waiting to see what was around every corner. We only went to about half the exhibits, so I'm really glad we have our membership so we can go many more times and try to see something new each time!

The most special part about going to the zoo for me was that I got to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while - since Virginia actually! The kids were some of my kids at The Little Gym and since there are 3 kids in the family I saw them 3 times a week! It was great because I loved their parents, too, so when I knew we'd be in the same place at the same time again {thank you to the Coast Guard and the Marine Corps!} I knew we'd have to get together. Wow, I can't believe how much has changed with the kids - well, and with my life. I didn't have any kids when I knew the Smiths in Virginia! It was great to see them and it was like yesterday that I saw them last. I can't wait to be able to spend some more time with them while we're both here in Sunny SoCal!

Emma, Charlie, Henry, Hunter {in the stroller}, and Eden

Henry *Taco* on the skyfari at the zoo. He was just a little older than Eden is now when I saw him last. This time, he was reading street signs and reading the map to direct us through the zoo!

Charlie on the skyfari. He was about Henry's age when I saw them in Virginia. I couldn't get over how much they had all grown up!

Cloie, Eden, and Emma rode in the bucket behind us.

Eden wanted to see the giraffe at the safari park earlier in the week, so this was her moment! She waited DAYS to see these guys!

Eden and Charlie. She was trying to give her "cheese" face and look into the sun, all with a stick in her mouth. She's crazy!

Henry as he was leading me through the zoo to meet up with the rest of the clan. We found the zebras so I had to get a picture!

June 17 - Lane's anniversary gift. Since it's our "wooden" anniversary he got a model of his new ride.

The plane in the kitchen on my *awesome* new table. I'm trying to figure out how to finish decorating the table.

June 18 - Eden's first library check out. She has her very own card and was very excited to get books to "share" with the library. She didn't even look at the books she picked, she just grabbed them off the shelf. She picked out Follow the Drinking Gourd, I go Potty, Epossumondas {I had to make sure she picked a book that was written in English!} Willow's Christmas, and Manners at a Friends House.

June 18 - Dancing at story time in her listening circle.

June 18 - Hunter's entertainment! He loves his giraffe on his play mat!

June 19 - Eden playing at the San Diego Children's Discovery Museum. This place is awesome and Eden loves to be able to go and run around from station to station. The museum is even free for military all summer so we'll be going often!

June 20 - Hunter has started sucking on his arm. Ginger was just popping into the picture to make sure he's doing ok!

June 21 - Hunter joined Eden and I at our picnic lunch on the porch today. He loves being a "big boy" and it makes me just a little sad to see him getting so big so fast!

Safari Park

Who would have thought that I would ever live within minutes of a safari park? Well folks, I do. And even better? It was a blast! We met 4 other moms and kids yesterday at the safari park and just took over with all of our strollers and made a morning of the park. There were lots of animals and we found a perfect place to picnic by the water. The ducks wanted to be fed, the kids wanted to feed them, and Eden is still talking about how much fun she had. I'm excited about it because I splurged and got the year pass for the park because it also includes the San Diego Zoo and we had already planned on meeting friends there tomorrow. With the 2 trips in one week and realizing yesterday that it's only about 15 minutes to the safari park the pass was well worth it for sure! {I even got a pass that is good for one guest to get in free with us...and Lane gets in free every time! Come on out to visit...we'll go to the zoo!}

*The pictures aren't that great. I forgot my good camera, so it's only what I could get on my phone.

Eden {holding on and looking under the fence} and Cael watching "the cat" jump and play as they were talking about it. 

Jenna and Eden in the egg/nest. This was across from "Timon" from the Lion King. Eden just started watching this movie this past weekend and asks to watch it every day. I was excited to be able to show her some of the animals in person at just the right time!

The gorillas were out. This was the Daddy? and the baby. The baby is standing at the base of the log almost directly under the ball {I told you, I only had my phone for pictures...this was the best I could get}. The baby kept jumping up and grabbing onto that ball and swinging from it.

The elephants. The little baby was just too cute! I loved that there were so many baby animals out.

16 Weeks Old

This week Hunter is turning into the old man that he sometimes looks like. He's starting to get really gassy and they're worse than his old mans! He can clear a room that's for sure. I don't remember Eden being gassy like this and boy does he know how to make me say "he's all boy" already. I never thought my cute cuddly little boy could stink so bad! On a more serious note, he's starting to show interest in rolling back to belly. Though this may not seem like much to the average reader, this means that I might start sleeping again! If he can learn how to get back onto his belly when he rolls at night he might start staying asleep or just not fussing about the initial roll. *I can dream can't I?* He's rolling to his side, but can't quite figure out how to get over the hump of his arm to make it all the way to his belly. When it comes to sleep, he can be such a tease. He slept all night 2 nights in a row and then last night he woke up at 2:30, 7, and then at 10 for the day {because 7 is just too early for this momma to function well! If he starts wanting to make this a habit anyways}.

 And onto the out takes for the week. There are a ton. That's what I get for waiting until bed time to take the pictures. He was over it before we started and he let me know!

 And then we have the attack of the big sister. She wanted to take his picture too, but this camera doesn't have any film left on it unfortunately.

It looks like a mean face, but she's saying cheese and this is her new camera face right now.

 Then the camera hog decided to end the night for the weekly pictures since Hunter had had enough...

Flight Suit Formal

Every summer, Lane's squadron's officers wives group {did you follow all of that?!} has a Flight Suit Formal. The ladies take old flight suits that have been retired and alter them to make them fun and feminine. I'm really excited about this for many reasons: 1, I've not met a more fun group of women in a long time! 2, I love to get the chance to be creative. 3, I'm loving getting to use my sewing machine and learn more about it and this is a fun way to expand my horizons! 4, I'm always up for a fun party!

So, as I'm getting ready to make my flight suit, I started with a back piece for the flight suit. I mimicked the patch that the squadron wears and I made it "bling" with rhinestones! Who can complain about sparkling?!

In the works. I had no idea how much bling I would need and I ran out!

All done and ready to be cut out and sewn on the flight suit...whenever I get that altered and ready to be embellished!

My flight suit with the "patch" on the back. Take note that the sleeves have been cut and hemmed! I cut the sleeves and the pant legs to make them more feminine. I've also cropped the pants to just below the knee! {Please note that this my first EVER alteration to any clothing!}

I re-purposed the sleeves of the flight suits that I cut and made them into koozies.

Angie and Dana with the Raiders flag at the Flight Suit Formal.

My call sign

The ladies who hosted the evening even went above and beyond to get us our very own challenge coin! It's military tradition to have challenge coins and I was excited to get my very own coin! Lane has a lot of coins and we usually get one for each command that he's been a part of, but now I have one of my own. The coins are collectables and they're also ways of on-the-spot-recognition at times. When Lane was in primary for flight school he "earned" the Commanders Coin because of a flight that he had that ended up being more challenging than it was supposed to be because of weather. They adapted to the weather and landed the planes with everyone being safe {it was a formation flight and 3 pilots were involved}, so they got a coin for recognition. I might not have done anything that cool, but I'm a proud coin-holder of the very first "Raiders Spouse" coin!

 The night ended up being a great night. Angie and I had a designated driver, so we made sure to take advantage of not having the kids for the evening and being able to get home safely! All in all, we had a fabulous time and I look forward to being able to enjoy the event again next year!