Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day Weekend



This past Saturday we went to Waco, TX. I had a dress fitting scheduled and we decided to head up early and check out some of the attractions. We ended up at the Texas Ranger Museum first. It was cool...it had lots of guns and rifles which Michael was pretty pumped about it. We saw who shot Bonnie & Clyde. Then we went to Buzzard Billy's for lunch. The food was nothing to write home about-- but the view was delightful. We sat outside on the elevated deck overlooking the Brazos River. For texas, this was prime waterfront real estate. In the rive below there were probably a couple hundred turtles waiting for scraps. We threw down some french fries which excited Gabe. He enjoyed drinking pink lemondae and flirting with the waitresses!

Today we celebrated Nulkie's second Father's day. It was fun to spoil him in person this time! I made him the apron he's modeling. It was my first attempt at sewing with a pattern...i'm not ecstatic with the results but Nulkie is so i guess that's all that matters. My lines look a bit like I have parkinsons..but i think i'm improving. Yes i did whip up those chili-pepper napkins in honor of father's day. Just call me Martha Stewart.

Gabe LOVES his Daddy!! I'm chopped liver when he's around! Gabe gave him a #1 Dad cup to prove it! :)
We hit up the pool and Gabe had a great time splashing around..and stealing Daddy's sunglasses!

Yesssss...more birds! We found this baby bird on the patio when we got back from the pool. It thought Michael was it's mother and kept opening it's beak for food. He put it up in the gutter so Bella wouldn't destroy it. I'm telling you we are bird magnets this summer!

Thursday, June 17, 2010


Gabe was particularly whiny and unhappy the other night. Usually Daddy coming home is the trick (mommy's lame by dinner time/ she's done) but alas that didn't work either. He continued to cry over the littlest of problems (tripping, dogs evading him, not being allowed to chew the remote or bang his toys on the tv...) so finally i made him a paper air plane. genius. Let me tell you, that entertained him till bath time/bedtime!! Of course, in typical Nulkie fashion..he had to make a better faster airplane. But mine was totally better anyway. Besides Gabe doesn't care..he's going to eat it whether it flies well or not!

In other news, this is apparently the month of baby birds! In our new yard i was letting the dogs out and saw two birds trying to dive bomb their heads. This in itself was pretty amusing, but i figured there must be something on the ground they didn't want the dogs after. So i carefully peeked in the grass ( i didn't want to get pecked!) and there were two baby birds. I thought both were already dead so i herded everyone inside and decided to let Nulkie clean up the birdies mess. Turns out only one was dead..the other was in shock..but recovered and was moving around the grass. Michael picked it up and put it in the gutter. The next morning he found it in the dogs water bowl..so he put it up in the gutter again. We suspect it was very close to learning how to fly..because it's gone now! So are the attack parents. I snapped some pics of baby bird..it's a pretty little thing!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Wedding Season


Last night began the first of 5 weddings we will be attending this summer. It was Mike & Rachael's big day...Mike Neel was a fellow XO with Michael in 2-8. The couple seemed really happy and the whole event was very laid back. It took place in a vineyard in Florence, TX and was a beautiful day, albeit hotter than hades!! We had a great night and are looking forward to McGregor & TZ's wedding next!!
Gabe stayed with our babysitter, and no he did not go to sleep for her. Again!
We took some pics under the wedding pagoda thing since it was good lighting. Who knew this gorgeous place existed 30 mins away from Killeen? Part of the drive is a bit like texas chainsaw massacre..but then all of the sudden there's a stunning vineyard with grapes and ponds, horses...huge estates. Way to go Florence!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Hot Date


Last night was a great night..why? Because we went out on date..with NO BABY! We left Gabe with a new babysitter, Sarah. We had hibachi, saw robin hood and enjoyed each other's company. We both agree that if Robin hood wants to be considered a legit war film, it should have been rated R and had a bit more gore. You just didn't feel the brutality of the times. I know it's the history major that comes out in me..but i found the move over-long and a wanna-be gladiator/braveheart/patriot type movie. Russel Crowe plays the same role. I kept calling him Spaniard (which annoyed Michael). Anyhow that fact that this was the first movie we've seen since February and my other option was Iron Man 2 (no thanks), it was good. And now Nulkie owes me Eclipse.
And how was Gabe with the new sitter you might be wondering? Fine, minus the little fact that we wouldn't go to sleep for her. We walked in the door around 10 and find smiling Chubbo sitting in front of the TV. Apparently he screamed bloody murder when she tried to get him to go to sleep. I suspect he was having too much fun with her and didn't want to go to bed! Oh well...no harm done. Other than that they did fine together which eases my mind since she's watching him for a few weddings we have coming up!

Gabe did something cute yesterday. A maintenance guy came to repair the kitchen sink..so he was working in there for awhile. Gabe got out his tool box and carried it over to the baby gate and watched the guy while holding his toolbox. Genius!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

3 Years!


Why this day rocks:
1). It's our 3 year anniversary today and we get to celebrate together in the same geographic location!! It's been 3 fabulous years...can wait for the next!
2). We got ORDERS!!! Hallelujah! Amen..(insert the Hallelujah choir)!!! We are outta fort hood in prob 5 weeks!!
3). The maintenance guy finally came to fix the kitchen sink and hallway tub.

Monday, June 7, 2010

patton pool


We found a pool! Only 5 mins away! Patton pool is open only exclusively to officers and their guests...we went Saturday and Sunday! We had a blast and neither of my pale guys were sunburned (two thumbs up)! To top it off..on Saturday night we had home made berry shortcake with fresh sweetened whip cream made by yours truly!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Infestation

(disclaimer: this is not Michael's hand..i googled this image for dramatic effect)

We've had a bit of a cockroach problem since moving into Fort Hood Family housing. Three to be exact. In three days..not a good ratio if you ask me. I found the first one when going to use the hall bathroom...as i sat down nonchalantly to relieve myself i notice a large disgusting bug. Naturally i started screaming for Michael. His response is..."oh no, there must be a bug". He was less than sympathetic, but identified it as a cockroach. So he killed that one and it's friend who he found in the closet. So I think phew, close call, end of story.

Oh contrare, my friends. Yesterday after a nice b-fast with Nulkie & chubbo i go to put away his cereal. And what was staring at me from the top corner of the pantry?? Yes, you guessed it. Another cockroach. And this guy was much bigger than my previous encounter. So of course i squeal, gabe laughs at me, and i slam the pantry door shut. Michael had already left for work. I debated for a good 20 mins whether to call him or not..(i knew he'd just laugh at me and tell me to kill it). So i finally thought, pride be damned, I'm calling Michael. So he laughed and laughed and told me to 'man up". Um ew. gross. First of all the stupid thing was not at a good angle and if i hit it, it would likely fall down into the food in the pantry, which i would have to dig through to find it's disgusting carcass (if you can't tell by now, I'm terrified of bugs bigger than my thumbnail). So anyhow, i searched outside in hopes of a helpful neighbor. My freind Alexis calls, i think, surely she'll help me. No. she says just kill it! AHH. So anyhow, i did not "man up" and i went over to Alexis' and had a play date that was cockroach free.
I promise I'm almost done with the story. So my decision about the roach was wait for Nulkie to get home so he could fulfill his husbandly duties (killing large bugs is a tacit agreement in our marriage vows) and squash it himself. As soon as he walked in the door i flung open the pantry to show him...and...
Yeah it was gone. So now i'm paranoid to use my pantry. I beg and plead with micheal to check every item in that pantry or i won't cook dinner. Apparently he took my threat seriously becaue after a little searching he found that sucker in the hot cocoa! Ha! So he crunched it with his foot and that's a wrap. What have i learned from this experience? I do not enjoy fort hood family housing and need to befriend an exterminator. Also, husbands should always lovingly kill big bugs. Don't judge people,..if it was coming out to attack Gabe or the dogs, i certainly would've killed it. But when you have a big strong husband available...why sweat it? Also, i check all corners and floors before i sit or grab anything anymore. Who knows where I'll find the next? (insert Jaws music).

Anyhow, that was excitement for yesterday. We also have a bazillion flies in our house, outside our house...surrounding us and biting us. I currently have like 20 bites on my legs. I miss our old house!!

On a good note, work is going well for Captain Nulk. Looks like he could have (potentially) only 14 working days left here! Wo hoo! We're pretty pumped to move on to bigger and better things...like Missouri? Haha...we are excited to get the Engineer trail back..the dogs will be ecstatic!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

A little treat for the grandparents


Look at my pretty blue eyes!

For all you grandparents out there who read my blog (i think you may comprise the majority of my readers) here's a little treat for you! I'm sure you've been missin' your little chubbers...so i took a bunch of pics of him. He was looking too gosh darn cute to not snap some pics!

We saw this shirt in REI and HAD to get it for Gabers...it's perfect for him. Especially since he like to make noises that sound like ababy dinosaur (according to my in-laws)!

I have the longest eyelashes ever! Mommy thinks it's totally unfair!

Let me have that camera for a minute...

I'm the cutest!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010


All the LTs lined up (Note the big red head--yes he is indeed the big guy from Michael's USMA class...remember seeing him during Nulkie's graduation parade? He ended up in our battalion...small world.He's 6'9' and makes Michael look small!)

Pinning (velcrow-ing) on captain rank

Captain Nulk! Wooo HOO!!

Likes about yesterday:
Michael was promoted to Captain (which in army wife language = pay raise!)
We got paid the profits of our house sale
Our mortgage said "PAID IN FULL"
We ate dinner at olive garden to celebrate
Gabe was really good in the restaurant and greeted everyone who walked by like he was the mayor

Dislikes:
The power went out for 7 hrs and it was 90+ degrees in our house
Our neighbor's dog starting to bark at 6 am
Gabe bit his lip
The kitchen sink spray hose broke and sprayed water all inside the cabinet below
The hallway bathroom wont stop dripping water no matter how hard you twist the knobs!