Happy Halloween!!

I was gone this weekend. We went to the annual Celebrate Freedom Festival in Camden, SC. Celebrate Freedom is where Ryan and I met in 2001 and it’s always nice to go back. Not to mention that it’s his biggest living history event of the year!! He went on Thursday and then Robbie and I went on Friday after work. The Celebrate Freedom Foundation paid for a hotel room for me and Robbie and that was nice. Ryan could have stayed there, too, but he slept out in the field. BRRR – it got down into the low 30’s each night and there was frost. But he survived!! The air show on Saturday was pretty good – not as good as last year, but it was still good. Robbie and I were out there pretty much all day. We stopped at McDonald’s for dinner on our way back to the hotel and Robbie ate almost a whole hamburger and then he went and played in the play area for a while. Sunday morning was a service at the field and Robbie and I went to that. We stayed for a little while, but headed home several hours before Ryan did. It was nice to be all home together again!

Today was a comp day for me, and I’m glad. Robbie’s daycare class had a Halloween party and I was able to go since I didn’t have to work! Robbie dressed up as a lion (click the picture for a bigger view):
All the kids looked so cute, and they went trick-or-treating to the other classrooms. For lunch they had little sandwiches, cheetos, chex mix, fruit, cupcakes, and cookies. I think Robbie ate more than any of the other kids. At least he ate his sandwich and wanted more. Some of the kids just ate the cupcake (mini ones) and the cookie.
Then after Ryan got home from work and had gotten changed, we put Robbie’s costume back on him and took him to a few of our neighbors’ houses. They all thought he was so cute (well, we do too, but that’s a given!) and he got some candy from them. After he was out of his costume, I let him have a sucker. He seemed to like it – even after he had set it on the floor and it picked up a little cat hair (boy am I glad I vacuumed yesterday). After about 5 minutes or so it was getting too fuzzy so I took it from him. Then he needed a bath – he had sucker sticky in his hair and all over. He had a fun 1/2 hour in the bathtub!! Ryan had bowling so he missed all that.
Well, I’m going to finish up my ice cream and get to bed. I’m tired.

He’s gone :-(

Well, my run this morning didn’t happen. My alarm went off at 5:30 and I just rolled over and snuggled up with Ryan and went back to sleep. We finally woke up at 7. I guess we needed the extra sleep. I got myself ready and ate breakfast and checked my e-mail and stuff and then got Robbie up and ready for daycare. Ryan headed to Camden, SC, today for the annual Celebrate Freedom Festival. After dropping Robbie off at daycare, I headed out to work. We had concert band sectionals for an hour this morning and then full concert band. After lunch we had a class on Jazz Improvisation (woohoo. fun.) and then my squad leader gave me my quarterly NCO counseling that was supposed to be done last month. We just talked about what I’ve done and some goals for the next few months. No practice time today as the counseling took over an hour – we talked about other stuff, too. On my way to get Robbie, I stopped for gas and to pick up my uniforms from the cleaners. After getting Robbie (who didn’t want to leave daycare), we drove and found where my job is tomorrow – I’m driving so I can bring Robbie to daycare a little later than 0630. I decided that I didn’t want to cook dinner, so we went out on a date to O’Charley’s. Our whole bill was less than $10!! I had water to drink, but paid for Robbie’s milk. And then kids eat for free, so his mac & cheese was free and I just had to pay for my soup & salad. It was really good and he had a good time feeding himself his mac & cheese. It’s not exactly finger food, but I guess at Robbie’s age anything can be finger food! Once we got home, we played with (I think) all his toys for about 1/2 hour and then I got him ready for bed. He about climbed out of my arms into his crib again after we said our prayers. I hope this keeps up. Once he was asleep, I sat down and worked on my Thursday stitching project and watched a couple of my Tivo shows. I’m sure not looking forward to not having anyone to snuggle with in bed tonight – and the extra body heat. But I know he’s going to have a great time this weekend!

Wednesday

No fancy title today – I’m too tired to think of one. But I did decide I needed to post something (anything) before I headed off to dreamland.

I started this morning off with a 3.3 mile run in the brisk fall morning air – 40 degrees when I headed out at 5:50 and it was down to 38 when I got back home. My nice warm shower sure felt good! After breakfast and checking e-mail and my message boards, it was time to get Robbie up and ready for daycare. He is such a joy in the morning (and afternoon and evening and all the time). We even had some time to play before we had to leave. I dropped him off at daycare and headed off to work. We had concert band all morning – getting ready for our Christmas concert. Then after lunch I did some work in training for part of the afternoon and then spent the rest of the day in a practice room. After details were done, I left to go get Robbie and we met Ryan at Target. He needed to get a few more things for this weekend that we couldn’t get at the PX yesterday. We also got a couple more pairs of jammies for Robbie. Dinner was pizza from Papa Johns and that was good. Ryan was starting to get his things ready for tomorrow’s departure, and Robbie was “helping” him. He’d open a box lid and put something in and then take it out and then put it back in. It was fun to watch!
Well, I’m off to bed before I fall asleep on my keyboard. Night-night!

Brrr

That’s what I said when I walked outside this morning at 5:30. It was 39 degrees out. I think fall has found it’s way to Georgia! The reason I was leaving so early? I had to help grade a PT test for 3 soldiers (one of which was my running partner and friend Kristin). Everyone did very well on the test, but boy was I cold by the time they finished the 2 mile run. I don’t think the cold would have been so bad if it hadn’t been windy. My cup of hot chocolate sure tasted good when I got home!
After breakfast and my hot chocolate, I spent the morning in the training office – first working on getting some training schedules into the calendar and then I did a good part of an Army correspondence course. I finished that up after lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the practice room working on my scales and solo. Kristin and I did sets of pushups and situps during my practice breaks. We’re going to work together on improving both our scores, and getting her a 270 so she can be on the incentive program as well.
After work I picked Robbie up from daycare and then came home and changed and we all left to go back to post. Ryan’s got a living history event coming up this weekend and he needed to buy a few things and we got Robbie a new pair of pj’s – he’s been sleeping in just his diaper all summer and now that it’s cooler out again, he’s back in jammies. We ate dinner at the food court and then came home for bedtime. Robbie fell asleep in the car on the way home, and was a willing “participant” in the clothes off-diaper change-jammies on routine. After he was asleep, we sat down to watch CSI: Miami from last night and boy was it good! I got some stitching done, too.

Comp Day

Robbie and I slept in this morning – until about 7:40. Breakfast is served a little after 8 at daycare, and I didn’t want Robbie to miss out on French Toast Sticks! We made it there on time – I didn’t have to play chase the baby to get him dressed, and once we pulled in the parking lot and I got him out of his car seat, he all but dragged me to the door! I’m glad he enjoys going to day care.

I came home and ate breakfast and checked my e-mail and message boards and then settled down with Christmas presents. . . I got another one done. I also got caught up on reading newspapers (only 4 days this time) and did an Army Correspondence Course. Only 2 more to go and then I’ll have enough promotion points to add some (you have to have a minimum of 20 to add). After picking Robbie up from daycare, we stopped at the post office to mail a couple of things and then home for the evening. We had lots of fun playing after dinner – scrambled eggs and toast! Robbie ate 1 whole egg and 3/4 of a piece of toast (I stole a 1/4 from him). He also drank a whole sippy cup of milk with it. Right around 7:00, Robbie started yawning and rubbing his eyes – almost as if he could tell time and that it was bedtime. He is such a good boy about going to bed!
Ryan had bowling this evening, so I watched some my tv shows (a triathlon and Wheel of Fortune tonight) and stitched.

Church!!

We finally made it to church again this morning. It’s been over a month since we’ve gone between being sick, me having to work, and us being out of town. Of course, we didn’t get up (even Robbie!) until 10, so we only had 45 minutes to get ready, but at least Robbie wasn’t ready for a nap yet! It was nice being back even though Robbie wanted to go exploring all over the place. After church, we went to McDonald’s for lunch. I had an apple pie shake – YUMMY!!!! Then we did our grocery shopping for the week and came home to watch the NASCAR race. Robbie fell asleep in the car on the way home, and we put him straight into his crib and he napped for 3 hours. I stitched and watched the race. It was a very good race – Jeff Gordon finally won one! I made chicken sandwiches for supper and then after we finished watching the race (20 or so laps to go when supper was ready), we went and played outside. Robbie walked all up and down our neighborhood pushing his toy he got from Gramma & Grampa for his birthday. We ended up at Ruth’s, and Robbie finally petted Miss Lucy (Mr. Bass’ black lab). She’s very friendly and is always licking Robbie – he didn’t mind too much today. At least he didn’t cry when she licked his face!! Ryan helped Ruth change a lightbulb – the glass part had come out but the base was still in the socket. Then we played with all Robbie’s toys for a while and by 7, he was ready for bed. We watched a bit more TV and I stitched more and I also made my weekly phone call to my parents.

The U.S. Army Field Band

Today was a good day. We all slept in – I got up about 8 and Robbie just shortly after that. I had enough time to feed him breakfast before Kristin showed up at 8:30. We had planned to run together this morning, and it was sure good to get back out there again. I haven’t run since my PT test a week and a half ago. And now that I’m on the PT incentive program, I’ve missed running with Kristin in the mornings. We went 2.7 miles around my neighborhood.

After showering and relaxing for a while, we left for the fairgrounds downtown to bring my entries for the Georgia-Carolina State Fair. I’ve got 8 things entered. We won’t be going until 4 November, so I won’t know until then how I did.

When we got home from the fairgrounds and auto parts store (Ryan had to get a new alternator for his car), Robbie laid down and took a nice long 3 hour nap. I got a bit of stitching done, and finished my project I had been working on – January Flip It by Lizzie*Kate:

I also got a good start on February, but I won’t be finishing it until next month.

This evening we went to Aiken to see the U.S. Army Field Band from Washington, D.C., in concert. The place was almost full – maybe 50 or seats still empty throughout. It was an excellent concert and Robbie was a good boy for most of it. Near the end he started getting a little fussy, but it was way past his bedtime. If any of the military bands from Washington, D.C. are playing near you, I highly encourage you to attend the concert. You won’t be disappointed!

Back for one day.

I went back today after being on quarters yesterday. Most everyone missed me, but there was one person that didn’t even notice I was not there yesterday. That’s ok though. It was a pretty easy day – ceremony this morning and then a little bit of training work (only had about 20 minutes before lunch after the ceremony). After lunch I did some more training work (we’ve got the rifle range coming up next week so we’re prepping for that) and then we (E-5’s and below) did the weekly outside details – mowing, edging, raking, etc. I raked today. After that was done, I practiced for about 1/2 hour. I think I’ve finally settled on what solo I’m going to play for BNCOC, and that’s a good thing since my 30-days-prior to school audition will be the beginning of December.

After I picked Robbie up from day care, we came home and got Ryan and then left to get him a new battery for his car. Stopped at Fazoli’s for dinner on our way home. Ryan got the new battery in, and turns out it wasn’t the battery that was giving him problems – it’s the alternator. His battery was kind of old anyways, so it’s good we replaced it, but now we get to shell out another $100 for an alternator. Hopefully he’ll be able to get it in by himself.

I got a cross stitch project almost done while we watched TV tonight. I’ve got 2 small areas left to work on, and then it’ll be done. I’ll finish it up during Robbie’s nap tomorrow.

Quarters again. . .

Well, I went back to the doctor this morning. My throat is really sore and it hurts to swallow. And I’m still coughing – week 3 of this. Doc did a strep test and the quickie one he did came up negative, but he still sent a regular one to the lab. He did prescribe me an antibiotic and some different cough stuff – looks like little craft beads! LOL And he put me on quarters until Friday so I can try and get some extra sleep. I napped a little off and on this afternoon, but my coughing kept waking me up so I got caught up on some of my newspapers. I’m only a week behind now.

Other than that, there’s not a whole lot going on here right now except the usual – pick Robbie up from daycare, play until Daddy gets home, walk and get the mail, cook and eat dinner, play until 7 which is Robbie’s bedtime. Then after he’s asleep, stitch and watch TV. Except on Wednesdays – those are my crochet days!

CQ

The band had a comp day today as they worked on Saturday. Since I couldn’t have a 5 day weekend, I had volunteered for CQ! I had a very nice day of stitching and I got a lot accomplished. I got another Christmas present done.
Robbie and I had a good evening together. Ryan had bowling. Of course, Robbie went to bed at 6:30 because he didn’t take a nap today, but that’s ok. We still had fun!
I’m off to bed now. . .