Gabe's OBSESSED with this video. Everytime i go on the computer he comes over andsay's "hippo" and then says "peas" (please). So i have to play it for him because he said please. So we hear it a lot here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E8xMcXmI9E

Gabe & I have been a little under the weather, but were finally feeling human again today. I'm trying to bake as much as i can today, and finish up cleaning tasks. Sorry no pics this time. I'll update again after Turkey Day!

OCC

We just started going to a new church and lo and behold they sponsor OCC ( my mom's first question). So we did a shoebox with Gabe, he wasn't too keen on giving away the trucks, but he managed. He liked trying to carry or sit on the finished project. Mom, these pics are for you ;)

 this is pretty heavy

 sitting on the box is cool

 Gorilla howl again :)

I think he looks pretty cute with his little back pack on. He loves wearing it! Makes me feel like he's ready for kindergarten!

You can click on the pics to make them bigger. I changed up the blog again!

here's Gabe doing the gorilla chest pound. sorry the other pic was cut off.. I'm still learning at this whole blog business so be patient!

All the RAGE

So this weekend was awesome. Aside from one teensy weensy detail: the fence. Specifically fence removal. The combo of socialism and evil neighbors led to two warnings left on our doorstep, 2 angry phone-calls and 2 confrontations with the housing association. Needless to say we lost battle and had to take down the dog's glorious outdoor haven. Only chain-link fences are allowed. Were we told this when we moved in? NO. Will they compensate us for the fence they let us keep up for 4 months and now can't return? NO. Will they admit they wrongfully commicated fencing law to us? NO. Army community house stinks. Unprofessional and ridiculous. The kicker is they wouldn't have even known if not for some other angry neighbor who went around and turned in 5 addresses that had "improper" fencing. RUDE!
 So that's all the rage. Here are some cute pics of Gabe helping daddy remove his pretty fence. It was cold that day so he built me a fire in our new chimminea. 

building cold little me a fire.



I may or may not have been sitting here warming myself as my hubby slaved away removing the fence. But hey, i'm a good cheerleader. And i did rake leaves out of his way. A kept Gabers from playing with dog dumps or touching the fire.


He's pounding his chest like a gorilla here.


ah, the pity. The last of the fence being rolled up to sit uselessly on the side of the house. dang socialist army butt heads!

In other exciting news, Michael had a 4-day. So on veteran's day we had dinner out with neighbors at Ruby Tuesdays. Service was not exceptional but the food was good, as was Gabers. Friday we relaxed, went to the park, took a jog/walk together and then nulkie worked on his paper a bit. Saturday we went to see a movie, thanks to our glorious new babysitter. She lives down the road and is awesome! We booked her for this Saturday, to go see harry potter, obviously.

 This week Gabe & i have been busy socializing. It's been fun! We do story time at the library on Tuesdays. Today was a mom's pray & play group and tomorrow is MOPS. Should be fun. What I've learned  with all this playgroup business, is that while Gabe is happy to share his toys with me, that is NOT the case with other children. He wants to take whatever toy they have out of their hand, which usually results in tears and weeping and gnashing of teeth. SO, we are starting to work on SHARING! Yay.

sapper pics

Kiss a Soldier

Happy Veteran's Day! Go kiss (or hug) a soldier! Or at least give them a high five. I'm always proud of my hubby, but especially on days when vets are recognized. We certainly know how hard they work and how much they have sacrificed. Michael's my fav vet! He's the best husband, dad, friend and solider i know :) Good job Nulkie! Also thanks to my two beastly bro-in-laws. Both have or are serving. The Nulk bros are basically team America, so keep it up guys (neither will probably read this)! That's okay though. Keep supporting the troops...home of the free because of the brave.

In other exciting news, my mom sent us a delightful box of Dakin Farm goodies. GLORIOUS! Usually ever summer we make the hour trip from the cabin over to VT and eat ourselves into oblivion (the have free samples) and spend a small fortune on maple-smoked spiral ham, maple bbq ribs and smoked cheddar cheese. They like to smoke stuff there. Or mix it with maple syrup. Both are excellent ideas. The package that arrived was filled with smoked meats and cheeses, buttermilk pancake mix, REAL maple syrup (not to be mistaken with the poor excuse for it at the commissary), jams and spreads. We couldn't wait for b-fast the next day so Michael made pancakes and bacon for dinner. It was DELISH. If you haven't been to dakin farms in vermont, shame on you. Your taste buds are missin' out. Then we headed out to the CG (commanding general) Mixer where bringing your spouse was "optional". Yeah out of the hundreds of captains and lts roaming around, there were about a dozen wives. oh well, it was free childcare, so yay! It lasted about an hour, then we came back and had a fire and s'mores. Good stuff.

Tuesday Gabe & I went to story time at the library. The theme was "royalty" so the craft was making a crown. It was really cute, were excited for next week, which is "thanksgiving". I hope they give out free turkey.

I FINALLY got the boots i'd been waiting 6 mths for! I love'm and wear them alll the time. They're comfy, cute, and match almost anything i wear. I'm ready to do some two-steppin'!

we tried throwing Gabe in a pile of leaves. Didn't go over very well. Gabe acted like we threw him in a pile of snakes. He lightened up when Michael jumped in with Gabe.





riding your truck backwards is what all the cool kids are doing these days...right?

Anyhow, that's all that's new with us. We've been busy socializing and loving life. Michael has a 4-day so were hoping just to relax. He already got 18 holes and a nap in. Poor thing is dreading his 5 page (so horrible) info paper on the battle of saratoga. And He won't let me write it for him. lame. But i get to edit it! Hope you're all having a good november!

Sapper Graduation/ Halloween

After 28 days of grueling physical and metal challenges, Michael completed Sapper school. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's like Ranger school for engineers. It's very hard to tab (pass), in his class only 22 out of 42 did. It's an elite tab to get, basically making you a BA of the engineer world. They deprive you of food and sleep while giving you extremely difficult tasks like a 12 mile ruck march at 0200 with 50 lbs of gear on. real fun stuff. Anyways Michael did so well that he was #1 in the class...aka the honor grad. He's the only one who found out how many points he received (903) and he was awarded a sapper spirit award and recognized by the top brass at the graduation. It was really cool; Nulkie's flyin' high right now! We're all SUPER proud of him!

Today he started his Engineer Captain's Career course. We thought he'd end up being deferred to the Jan. class, but he just made it into the November one. So he'll have 5 mths of engineer/military leadership training, and then go on to complete his master's in some type of engineering degree (that's still TBD).


Michael leading the sappers in the sapper creed

Tabbing! He also got a coin, sweatshirt and bragging rights for being the honor grad. well i'll brag for him at least :)



After the ceremony Michael presented a gift to the guest speaker, LTC Drew



In awe of the sapper tab


The proud parents


happy to have daddy back. He called "dada" most of the graduation.


For Halloween we decided to dress up Gabers as a hunter. He was hands down the cutest baby out there. No competition




check out my gun








hesitant at first

then he went for it

'We had a blast trick-or-treating with Gabe. It was an actual "first" we got to all do as a family! Gabe loved petting all the dogs people had dressed up for the occasion. He also scored us some sweet candy. Our friend said they had 93 trick or treators. welcome to family friendlyville!! Enjoy the pics. 7 weeks till our Colorado Christmas extravaganza!!