Thanksgiving

Well this years Thanksgiving although small was still very much worthy of being thankful for. This year has really shown us all of the things that we took for granted. We are so thankful that even though money is much tighter than it used to be we are still filled with family, friendships, and our health.

* I am so grateful for having such a supportive family who has really helped us out during the past year to help us get where we are.

* I am so grateful for having the cutest little boy in the world who makes me smile everyday.

* I am grateful for friendships that have lasted so long and new ones that we get to start.

* I have a new found appreciation for all of our military service members (present and past) who sacrifice so much. Not only for our freedoms, but so that we don't have to have a draft. Some of the jobs are no joke!

* I am so thankful that my family is really so healthy! We hardly ever get sick, and when we do it seems to pass quickly

Those are just a few things that I thought that I should share.

So on to Thankgiving...On Wednesday I decided to get a head start and make my pumpkin pie. I was so proud of how beautiful they look and how wonderful they smelled. Lucas and I both tried a little sliver so that we could see how yummy it was. Afterwards I started cleaning everything up and I had put two of the pies away when suddenly I saw Lucas doing the unimaginable...he pulled on my cooling rack and caused my beautiful pie to come flying off the counter and on to the floor, face first. Those of you who have watched Friends and remember the cheesecake episode can somewhat feel the loss that I felt at that moment. For those of you who haven't go to YouTube and see the clip. I did scrape it up off the floor using my crust rolling out plastic sheet, and you can see the results..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98KZNd03l4U

Our thanksgiving dinner was fantastic. I made delicious rolls for the first time! It was exciting to see that I could really make bread. I have a breadmaker back home so I never had to make real bread from scratch and it was a little intimidating but it paid off! Brian made his small turkey and of course we had to have 2 styles of potatoes - mashed for me and baked for Brian. After we ate Brian's mom called and Lucas had a lot of fun talking her ear off. He loves to talk on the phone now (and now he actually talks instead of just listening)!

Big Boy

From Wichita Falls

From Wichita Falls

From Wichita Falls

Well Lucas is such a big boy now! In the past month that we have been here he has become so independent and gotten so much more personality. He loves to help me out around the house. As soon as the dishwasher is opened he wants to help empty it, reguardless of whether the dishes are clean or dirty. He also loves to help sweep. I have the big broom and then a small hand one. When I use the hand one he holds the dust pan and I sweep into it. I have talked about the little boy upstairs before I think but he has a little car that he keeps in the breezeway of our building so Lucas likes to play, or "drive" I should say, it all the time. These pics are actually from a very cold windy day that we had a while ago. That's the thing with the weather here, the sun shines most of the time so you think it should be warm, but the wind blows a lot and it's always a COLD wind.

Lucas 1st Santa Visit

From November 2009

On Saturday we went to Hangar Holiday here at Sheppard AFB and Lucas had his first opportunity to sit on Santa's lap. He was very unsure but he didn't cry or whine or anything like that. I plan on taking him to see Santa a few more times here on base so hopefully we can eventually get a cute pic :)

Our new little apartment

So this is our cute little apartment. It is about 1/2 a mile from the main entrance to Sheppard, and about 1.5 miles from my door to Brian's squadron. That actually makes it pretty nice since we are sharing the truck. If I ever need the truck I just walk there and get it. I really like our area because it is filled with Air Force (and a few army) wives and/or families. The people are really nice and Lucas has fun because there is a little boy (Caleb) his age that lives upstairs from us. Overall we really like it here, the one problem is that our apartment had fleas when we moved in!!! As you can see from the picture, they are eating me alive. Luckily both Brian and Lucas have emerged without hardly a bite (maybe 3 total). I think that after bombing twice we are finally getting rid of them. It just makes us glad that we didn't bring Gus, the poor guy would have a tough time with them.

Crazy Birds!

From November 2009

From November 2009

From November 2009

From November 2009

I thought that this really deserved it's own post. Near Brian's dorm there is a crazy phenomenon that happens every night at dusk. For no apparent reason, as soon as the sun starts to go down I think every bird in the region flocks to the same spot. It is dangerous to walk in this area!! There are power lines and quite a few trees and the floor is LITERALLY COVERED in bird "doo doo". It is really nasty. Brian said that when they march back from school or whatever they were out doing that usually at least one person gets pegged by flying poop.

Since this post I have seen at least one other location on base that has a similar phenomenon. I am not sure what is up with this place! Oh and there are lots of squirrels everywhere on base too...

Veterans Day Parade

Veterans Day Parade

Well I went to my first Veterans Day Parade, and what a good first one. Since Brian was marching in this parade I opted for the parade on base instead of going to the one in town. I was worried that it would be packed with people so we got there really early and Lucas had fun wandering around and of course following everyone in ABU's (camos) saying "Dad... Dada". We were 2 of the probably 10 civilians that ended up coming to watch the parade, the rest of the stands were completely filled with all of the troops that are assigned to Sheppard for school. It was neat because they had 2 other services marching there too, although I didn't catch which branches (thus the Army? and Marines? comments). At the beginning the marching band played the songs of all of the Military branches and then the National Anthem. It was weird because some of the branches songs were actually familiar patriotic songs that I remembered singing as a kid in school. Anyway it was very neat and I am glad that I went.