Thankful

(I meant to do a thankful post each week, then I missed the second week. oops.)

I am thankful for veterans.
I am thankful for footie pajamas. Even a 4 year old looks like a baby in them.
I am thankful for help in the kitchen.

I am thankful for two kids who love me and each other.

Recipes

My favorite fall recipes:

Pumpkin soup I recommend more than 4 cups of pumpkin puree, though. And, I used allspice rather than cardamom, because that's what I had.

Pumpkin muffins These are actually chocolate pumpkin, but are good without the chocolate chips as well. I made them for Ashlyn's preschool without the chocolate chips, but frosted with cream cheese frosting, so not healthier. I recommend less than half a bag of chips or they overwhelm the pumpkin.

Apple Pie You MUST make this apple pie. I love it, and I don't like apple pie.

Molasses cookies I've actually never tried this one, but I'm making it this week. It looks fairly similar (or better) to the one I usually make, which is from Better Homes and Garden cookbook 1997ish version. Ginger snaps or ginger crinkles. I'd just type it out, but I don't have that cookbook with me.

oops, almost forgot
Pecan Bars Again, I don't have my recipe with me, but these look pretty similar.

Now I want to go cook or bake. Perhaps we will have pumpkin soup with molasses cookies for dessert.

Happy Halloween!

Ashlyn was so excited about Halloween! She has been talking about it to EVERYONE. "I'm going to be a beagle doggie, like my doggie, Ranger."

Ashlyn painted our pumpkins. She started crying after she painted the mouth, because it was "scary." (The eyes are black, the mouth blue.) She then got over it, as she continued to paint the entire pumpkin. And, the little ones, too.

Christopher looks a bit goth with his first painting experience.

Christopher's tail kept dragging, so he would carry it.

Rather than go from house to house at night, we opted to trick or treat downtown Martinez. This was Ashlyn's third trick or treating this week. We'd already been to the parade at Todos Santos last Sunday, and her preschool class went to the city offices on Friday, where she got a huge stash of candy! (Allen has now organized Ashlyn's candy into "candy that he wants to eat" and "candy he doesn't want to eat.)

The kids also sang some Halloween songs in English and Spanish that they've been learning this month. (Notice Ashlyn is the only little girl not wearing a dress.)

Christopher probably should have dressed as a hockey player this year. Week before last was a bit rough for him. First he chipped his two front teeth. Before the week was out, he had also swallowed what we believed to be a magnet (turned out to be a penny,) and had a black eye from falling off of the bathroom counter. I'll be accepting my mother of the year award next week.

The left eye is more swollen in this picture than black.

Allen celebrated his 34th birthday last week. Ashlyn decided that he should have an eye cake. Usually he has a birthday pie, but we went with the eye cake this year.

Rainy Day

Grandma Vicki and PawPaw bought raincoats for the kids, and they were so excited to actually get to wear them last week.

They continued to wear the boots as much possible when it wasn't raining. I had to hide the boots!

Thankful for Real Life

With life in the military, everything is temporary. If you like a duty station or not, you won't live there more than a few years. The jobs you have, churches you attend, social life, etc.-all temporary. When things are really bad(deployments) or more short term (1 year duty stations) things have the feeling of being not quite real. As if life is on vacation, and I am waiting for my "real life to begin." I think this is kind of the way school is treated as well. When you graduate from high school, "welcome to the real world!" Except then you go to college, where again, graduation is also "the real world." Which, I get that part of the exits from high school and college is an end to reliance on your parents' support. I think I've just kind of carried this with me into the rest of my life. Most of the time I've felt like this when Allen and I have been separated. For the most part, it's a coping mechanism. Job stinks? Lonely? Just wait, when we move/are reunited/whatever things will be better.

I definitely feel this way now. We will only be here for a year, and I don't love it. I'm not crazy about living in an apartment. I'm slow to make friends, so haven't really bothered doing it because we won't live here that long. I've been telling myself that it is just until the spring, then "real life can began." Part of my problem is that I set myself up for failure. We wanted to move close to family, so I went about 5 steps too far with dreaming. I thought about having family for birthday parties and seeing grandparents for the weekend. I've been feeling sorry for myself too long, and that's silly. That isn't to be right now, and that is ok. This IS real life, even if it isn't the life that I'd imagined for myself. I am going to focus on what is great right now, instead of just getting through life and thinking about all I am missing.

One way that I'm planning to do that is to write about the many things for which I am thankful. So, to begin:

• Allen has a good job that enables me to stay home with my children for another year.
• My daughter loves her preschool, both her teachers and her friends. I am grateful to have a place to take her which she loves.
• My husband understood the importance of a good sewing machine. And, because I am home, I have time to quilt.
  
• Autumn. My son is walking through crunchy leaves. We all are wearing jackets. Pumpkin soup (and muffins and pancakes,) molasses cookies, apple pie, and pecan bars.
  

More Cousins

We were also able to get the 8 cousins from the other side together a couple of times. They were SO cooperative for photos.

Visiting Auntie Amy

While we were in Arkansas, we drove down to visit my sister and her family for a couple of days.

Katie and Christopher

Cousins

JD, Jacob's Dog

JD was quite comfy on Christopher's blanket