The Longest Halloween Ever

Wheew! It's finally over. Don't get me wrong, me and the girlys had a BLAST!

It started off this morning when Lael woke up and her sister was there. (Daddy picked her up from PA late last night) She was so excited she woke her up and then found out she had a present for her. Who doesn't like to start their day with gifts?

Mommy had to go to work but I left early enough to get home and get the candy monsters ready for tricks and treats.



Meet the green Power Puff Girl (no clue what her name is) and the All-Star Cheerleader!





Isn't she so shy? What ever will I do to get her to come out of that shell of hers??






Don't even ask where they got them from. I'll just say they weren't stolen from someone's yard.


Don't you love when siblings help each other out. I must be doing something right.




Mom's first time EVER attempting to carve pumpkins....how hard can it be without a kit?

When your hand hurts from holding the spoon and leaning over the counter becomes too much....

I worked all day, got off and got them dressed. Walked a few miles in the Halloween Parade. Continued to walk a few miles in the dark to get yummy candy. Came home and spent a few hours butchering a few pumpkins and now my eyes are droopy, I'm losing my voice and still I'm the happiest mom around!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Pumkins and Presents

I think I just now thawed off after being in the FREEZING cold today. I decided to take off of work and chaperon La's field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Last year we had a blast with hay slides, hay rides, rope swings and more! I couldn't wait to go again, you know cuz apparently I'm never going to grow up.

Anywhoo, so I knew we were going to try a different place than last year but still my expectation were still high. Nothing seemed to go right as the day started. With La's birthday being today, I try to take some type of goodies to the class so we can celebrate with her friends. I, of course, didn't buy the cookies last night so I had to get up this morning, walk La to the bus stop, run to the grocery store, buy cookies, bake them and pack them up and get on the Metro and to her school all before 9am. I got there a few minutes after 9 but by then the cookies were destroyed and the small fact that today has to be the coldest day we've had yet. The weather here in DC is really tricky. We can go from 80 degrees one week to 40 the next.

Well with the wind factor and the fact that the land (oh yeah I was NOT a pumpkin patch) had no trees nearby to block the wind it felt like 30 degrees. I was practically near tears. At one point one of the teachers came to check on me because I looked so miserable. The things we do for our kids. While I thought it was too cold for the babies to be out there, not too many of them complained. I guess it's just me.....

Here's Lael with her best friend Charlotte before we ventured into the wind.

When we got off the ride, La insisted on the biggest pumpkin, but of course she couldn't lift it, but it was funny to watch.

The final selection!

After lunch in the barn, she yelled for me to help her. Apparently she had fell and couldn't get up!

After school, our second family presented La with a birthday card and a few presents! Thanks Haskins, we love you guys.

Lael and Riley share a birthday hug, happy 5th guys!

Mommy and Daddy give the baby just watch she wants (yes she is still a baby...hush!)

Birthday Swiss Roll, cuz we're ghetto like that!

And to end the night, my other girlfriend baked cupcakes for La. I know, I know, she's spoiled. Good thing she's mine and you don't have to deal with it! :o)

The 5 Best Years of My Life

5 years ago today at 2:25am an angel was born. She didn't come without a fight. No, she had to be pulled out after 22 hours of labor. She is like that, she won't be forced into anything.

She is her own person. She is the life of a party. She will make you laugh. She is all mine.

I've been pondering all week how to put in words the joy she brings to me. I don't know how to express the happiness that she has brought into my life.

I figured the best way would be to pick my favorite pictures from the past 5 years.

Here she is at 6wks. She had just got her ears pierced and being the trooper that she is, she cried for all of 10 seconds. Drank her bottle and fell asleep.

These were her first Easter pictures at 4mths. She was practically sitting up on her own by then. Always in a rush to grow up.

At 6mths she already had 4 teeth and was crawling and jabbering away. You can tell she really liked to eat because keeping her belly full was not challenge.

At 8mths, she was standing and pulling herself up. I tried to make her sit, but she's stubborn. I don't think she got that from me.....She was walking by 9mths and by 10mths she could full out sprint.

This pictures was the hardest for me. She was 18mths and I took her to get these right before I deployed to Iraq. I slept with this picture every night and it brings back painful memories of when I wasn't sure I would see her again.

When she was 2 she wouldn't stop talking. Actually, that hasn't changed much. She laughed often and in return kept us laughing.

In this picture she was 3 and G-O-O-F-Y. This is how she posed for most of her pictures at this age. I couldn't get her to relax her face and it was hilarious.

This is her 4yr picture from last year when she had just started Pre-K. To look at how much she has changed over the past is AMAZING.

My Dearest Lael,

You have changed my life for the better. You are the sweetest child I've ever known. At the same time you have to be the most stubborn. You sing, dance, read and write with joy. You are your teacher's helper in class. You refuse to sleep without a hug and kiss EVERY night. You adore your sister. You worship your father. Your Nana and MahMah can do no wrong in your eyes. But more importantly you are my child. I can't remember my life before you and can't see my future without you.

Happy Birthday Angel Cake!

Awards

Ok, so guess how excited I am??? Very. I received my first blog award from Melissa! You rock! Thank you so much for the recognition! :0)

I am shocked because I really just started getting my blogging underway. I love it and I'm glad that anyone reads it at all. Take a look at it...go on!

Isn't she a beauty?? Yup, she's mine. Ok now comes the hard part. I have to list 6 things I value and 6 things I do not value. After all that work, I have to give this award to 6 other people. Yeah, they definitely make you earn your winnings around here!

Here my list.....

Value:

1/God

2/My daughter

3/My family

4/My career

5/My health

6/My husband

Of course not it any particular order.

Don't Value:

1/Liars

2/Child Abusers

3/Debt

4/Death

5/Greed

6/Ill Mannered Children

That one was easy. Ok, so here are my 6 winners!

Lara

Dusty

Flssgrl

Heather

Angie

MckMama

Great blogs yall!!

Beef and Bubbles

UPDATE: I mistakingly put that Lael birthday was today but it's Wednesday which is today's tomorrow...you know what I mean...the 29th! ;o)

Sometimes when you are so angry you just have to laugh. Working here in the Pentagon is a different kind of experience. There is a CVS, a cleaners, jewelry store and more. In addition to that there are plenty of eating places. Subway, McDonald's, KFC, Panda Express and more. Well today my stomach gravitated me to Panda to get some of their yummy Beijing Beef. I try not to get a platter because my greediness will force me to eat every. last. piece.




So in an effort to avoid stomach aching I get Panda Bowls. I asked the lady for a bowl with fried rice and picked my entree of Beijing Beef. Now, we all know how chinchy they can be at restaurants so of course I wasn't surprised when she stuffed the bowl with rice and gave me about half a scoop of beefy goodness. Well damn, that's not fair. She was quick to push my bowl down to the lady who bags it up but I was determined to get my fair share of cow.



I stopped the lady and made the mistake of asking for a little bit more chicken. "This is not Chicken!" she yelled at me. "Chicken/Beef whatever, can I have a little more please" I asked.



She then proceeded to breath hard, give me the stank eye (because I was messing up the flow) and took the top off my bowl. I watched her scoop another spoonful of the beef mix and just when she was about to drop it in my bowl, she decided that it was too much and shook it out. All of it, except one piece of beef. No more, no less. Just one. No onions or peppers just the one piece.



She then put the top back on and gave me the "I dare you to say something" look. Me and my coworker couldn't stop laughing. I didn't know what else to do. I was so pissed but I wasn't going to fight the lady. I made sure when I paid for my food I grabbed a few extra fortune cookies because it made me feel better.



I will not tell you about how I got full before I finished all of my bowl. I ate all of my rice but guess how much beef I left in the bowl??? One piece. Yup. I think it was evil. Or maybe the ladies at Panda Express know how much a single serving should be. Either way I won't challenge them again.



In other news, I am plotting ways I can steal this bubble wrap from work. Think of the things I could do with it! Fun Fun Fun.


















Wednesday is Lael's 5th birthday. Yup. I'm officially getting old, cause it's all about me right?

Musicals and Cats

So this weekend was nice and quiet for the most part. I feel bad for my Pedometer because I completely ignored the Step Challenge because being curled up in my room with Eclipse was much more important than burning calories.


I did however, venture out enough to take my darling to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year on Saturday afternoon. Yeah, I know she's barely 5 but she is obsessed. The movie was rated G and the first two were pretty harmless with a bunch of singing and dancing so I saw no harm in taking her. She was really excited and even dressed herself in her "Troy and Gabriella" shirt which was fitting for the occasion. I thought the movie was cute. A little corny how they broke out into song at the weirdest points. I thought the other two movies did a better job with that transition. I giggled out loud every time they broke out into song and La would say "What...what mommy?" I would just shake my head and tell her how much I loved this movie and she would nod in agreement but clearly annoyed I interrupted her concentration.


I think the only things that were weird to me was how when Troy and Gabriella danced she had on this little dress and I didn't really like that you were exposed to too much skin than we should have been but I'm sure only my critical eye caught that. The other was the "kiss" between Troy and Gabriella, it pretty much grossed out all the kids (mine included) and they "eewwwed" and giggled. I thought they could have left that out but no harm done. Overall I was pleased and so was she and she's already talking about going to see it again. Really? Anyone wanna take her?


Sunday was a veg out day. I caught up on my Edward and Bella lovin' and let La play and eat junk until she couldn't take it anymore. I know, I'm such a great mom. At one point she was came in my room and crawled on my futon next to me with a cupcake. I gave her the stank eye because she was clearly playing me knowing that I was too distracted with my reading to yell at her not to bring food upstairs. I let it slide but then she started getting crumbs all over the place.


I said:


"La, can you please pay attention to what you're doing, Princess (our dog) will get sick if you leave too much chocolate laying around."


She looked at me, and we stared at each other for what had to have been a full minute. I then raised my eyebrows waiting for her to acknowledge that she heard me and then she finally opened her mouth and said:


"Meow."


I can't make this stuff up. Of course I fell out into a fit of laughter with her. I cleaned up the crumbs and we were both happy. Me and my kitty.

She Keeps Me Laughing

La's watching i Carly when one of the characters starts screaming and jumping up and down.

She then yells out: "Oh my gosh, that girl is freakin'!"

When I asked her what that meant, she says "That means she excited because she got money."

Thanks for clearing that up baby.

She then decides it was time for math class. She hold up two fingers but this it what she asks:



"Mom guess what's 2 plus 1.........2!" No baby, but good guess.

So after that a new episode of i Carly comes on and I know she loves to sing it so I decided to catch it. Look how she starts dancing! Too funny. Of course towards the end she catches on to me and gets goofy but it made me laugh till my sides ached.




Thanks for keeping mommy laughing girlfriend!

My First Tag!!

Whoo Hoo!! Tuesday I got my first Tag from Flssgrl at Life as We Know It but I had been too engrossed in my Edward affair to post my own. But now I'm taking a break and fulfilling my bloggy duties.

Now that I'm it, get ready to run cause I'm taggin' you next!

Here are rules:

1/Link to the person who tagged you

2/Post the rules

3/Share 7 random or weird facts about yourself

4/Tag 7 random people at the end or your post and link to their blogs

5/Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

Ok, not too hard right. Yeah, you go ahead and try to come up with 7 random facts...go ahead.

Alright here goes:

1/I am always cold. I have a heater at my desk and sleep with a separate comforter on my bed.

2/My desk at work looks like a shrine for my daughter, seriously, I need help.

3/I can't drink soda without burping after each sip.

4/I can't stand the feeling of cotton balls. I can't hold them, they make me cringe.

5/I've only had one "partner" (my husband) ever. Such a goodie goodie huh?

6/I had a mini stroke when I was 15. Bells Phalsy I think it's called. I'm all good now.

7/I have always secretly wished I wore glasses. I think they are cute. I know, strange.

Man, I sound really off when I put it in writing.

Tag! Guess who's it?

Dusty

Heather

Melissa

Chris

Kathryn

Big Mama

Boo Mama

Ok, some of yall don't know me but I follow your blogs (stalkishly, yeah I know it's not a real word) and I would like to see your responses. So, blog away friends!

Reading Till My Eyes Hurt and Other Stuff

I know I've been neglecting my blog the past few days but it's been for a good cause. I recently discovered Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series. I am.....well....obsessed. I can't put it down. I am pathetic I know. I've even managed to drag a few co-workers into the "book club".

I know I'm late to the game, but better late then never right? I want to be done with the last 2 before the movie comes out on November 21st. It's like Harry Potter all over again...but with a darker twist.

In other news, because of the reading I have completely ignored my "training" and have not worked out since I ran the 5K on Friday. I feel myself getting fatter as I type.

So at work, in an effort to get the Air Force fatties back into shape, they have launched a 10,000 step challenge. They had this extra cool machine that measured our height, weight, BMI and body fat percentage all in a few seconds. Yeah. I don't know if that was such a good idea for me. I mean, yeah it is cool to get the pedometer and challenge each other at work to see who can get the most steps in a day (I'm totally winning with yesterday totalling 12, 239 steps) but I really really didn't need to know that my BMI is 1 number away from being overweight and my body fat % is not excellent, not good, not even average, but POOR. WTF! I can't believe this shit! I knew I needed to get into better shape but damn! They also were nice enough to point out that out of my weight (which I am so not going to put on the Internet) 43.2 of them are fat pounds. Ugh!

So, maybe what I need to be doing is taking my apparently fat ass to the gym and dragging my book with me.

In motherly news, La is still struggling at school the week. While she dared not get another "blue" card, she has proceeded to bring her happy tail home with 2 "pink" cards in a row. Yup. I have become the wicked witch because this mama isn't going to budge. Apparently she is trying to break the world record on how long a 5 year old can be punished. Way to go La....NOT.

Tough Love...for both of us

Tonight was really hard for me. With La turning 5 next week I've set my mind on giving her "real" punishment when she acts up especially in school. At the beginning of the school year I laid down the rules and swore to stay consistent.

A few months into the school year and she's been doing great. There have been 1 or 2 "pink" cards but a long stretch of "green". I figured she has matured alot and we were going to have a good year. La is a really good girl but I know with her if I give her an inch she'll take a mile.

All last year she got mostly "green" but surely had her share of "pinks" but never "blue" or "yellow". She hasn't had anything worse than "pink" this year either. Until today.

I came home from work and she met me at the door with the news. She got....a....BLUE card today. WTH! I couldn't believe it. My baby had never had to be warned more than a few times but never lost recess time. I didn't know what to do. I have a really hard time disciplining her because she's mah baby!

Today was different. I knew I had let it slide too many times and she was testing the water. I was invited to my girlfriends house for dinner where me and La frequent. She loves playing with her kids and asks everyday to go there. Originally I had planned to grab La and run over for dinner before I went grocery shopping. But once I got word of her behavior of the day I knew I had to make it known that I mean business.

I explained to her that I wasn't going to reward her for bad behavior and I left. Yup, mom that never goes anywhere but work and the gym without her sidekick left her home with dad. She couldn't believe it and fell out crying. I almost cried myself and had to close the door behind me before I gave in. I don't know if anyone else understands but I have such a connection with my baby and when she's upset if physically pains me. To have her crying out for me was excruciating. I had a good dinner and talked it out with my friend who gave me lots of encouragement.

When I got home, she was sitting on the floor and her eyes were swollen. She came to me and we talked some more. She cried and cried and cried and I cried with her and I explained that I love her but I want her to grow up following the rules and to be a good honest person. I know she young and it may be hard to understand now but if I don't start while she's young I'm afraid she'll be a spoiled brat and I want her to be spoiled, but within reason.

Maybe I'm going about it all wrong. Once again, I'm new at this. It's like closing pinning the tail on the donkey, close your eyes and hope you hit it on the tail.

5K, Gifts, and Bees

Weird title huh? Sometimes is more amusing to just say whatever comes to mind.

Well so far I've had an interesting weekend. Friday at work was "Sports Day" which means we close the offices and run around like little kids on Field Day...remember that? Yeah I know you do.

So since I'm "training" to run a half-marathon, I thought it would be fitting to run in a 5k. Nothing I hadn't done before and I run 3-4 miles quite often. Well what I didn't take into account was 1/How cold it would be 2/The hills going up and down and 3/When you are in a race sometime a competitive demon comes out.

Long story short, I pushed myself very hard but I'm proud of myself. I ran it in 28 minutes and some change. Pretty good since I usually run 3 miles in 30-31 minutes so to run 3.1 in 28 was a nice personal accomplishment. While I came in as the 4th female it still made me smile inside to know not only did I beat out a handful of other women but a few men as well.

Ok so, after that run I was really exhausted but still had to make my bi-weekly trip to get my step-daughter. I met up with her and her mom and when she got out of the car she announced she had a birthday present for me (it told yall they keep comin'). I thought it was really sweet. She told me to close my eyes and surprised me with....a 20 oz bottle of Deer Park water. Ha! Apparently she was at the gas station with her mom and came to the counter with 2 bottles. When her mom asked her why she had two, she explained that my birthday had passed and I really liked Deer Park water. Love that girl!

Ok so that was yesterday. Today was Gymnastics for La and I got my hair did. Yup, I'm cute like that. But afterwards I met up with my MIL (mother-in-law) and she had bought me a ticket to The Secret Lives of Bees and she got tickets for the girls to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Yeah whatever. But my movie was sooooo goooood. OMG! I cried and laughed and cried some more. Now that I've seen the movie I'm going to read the book. I'm telling you to go and see it. Gone now, get out of here! Get your tickets. Ok maybe tomorrow but go.

Tomorrow....laundry, laundry and more laundry. Wanna have a laundry party? No fun? Yeah, I know.

Mani Pedi Kindergarten Style

It's been about 5 days in a row that Little Lady had been begging me to polish her fingers and toes.

Me being the no-good-why-bother mother I am have been putting her off for, um...5 days in a row.

Today ended up being one of those, if-anything-else-goes-wrong-I'm-going-to-cry days at work so I decided that we would head to the food court on base and I got Subway and she got a slice of cheese pizza.

After getting home I decided to get her in the bath early so I could do her hair and just chill before bedtime. Well after her bath, she went straight for the polish that has been sitting on my desk for the past 5 day. I finally gave in and told her to come and sit so I could make her all shiny and pretty.

Nope. She wasn't having it. Apparently her friend Courtney, who is 8, get to polish her nails ALL BY HERSELF, so of course she's almost 5 which makes her the all knowing and queen of doing things like a "big girl".

My throat closed and I began to sweat at the flashes of nail polish that would end up on my carpet. But then I remembered the post by Lara about things she does good as a mom and letting her kids be creative and not worrying so much about the mess.

So I let it happen. She was so proud of herself and in turn it made me cry. Not because I was sad but because she is growing so fast and I can't seem to keep up.

While I think she polished more skin than nail, I consider it a mission complete.

I love you La La and tomorrow it's mom's turn. Yup. I'm gonna let her give me the Preschool Spa Treatment.

They Keep Comin'

Well, well, well....Guess who is still getting birthday presents in the mail? Not sure? Me!

So my BF who is stationed in Korea right now sent me a cutie pahtootie coin bag that looks similar to this:

Thank Erin. You sure know how to treat a girl! She also included a few pictures of my adorable nephews.

In addition to that I also got a package from my mom. She works part-time in the store called Brighton Collectibles. They have many beautiful things and this is the first of my soon to come pieces. I really wanted this bracelet and guess what? I got it.

Yeay me. It turned out to be a really great week and now I can look forward to planning (with my friend) La's 5th birthday party coming up soon.

+++++++++++++++++

Here is what you would have heard last night at my house.

"Mama, is it my birthday tomorrow?"

"No baby, in 15 more days"

"Oh....ok"

5 minutes later.

"Mama, is it my birthday when I wake up"

"No baby, in 15 more days"

"Oh, ok mama"

Apparently tomorrow and when she wakes up are not the same thing. Silly me. I have a lot to learn and in the meantime I will be using Beth's idea of a chain link calendar for my counting challenged preschooler.

Introductions

Being new to the blogging community is almost like being a High School transfer. All of the kids have known each other for a while and have there own cliques. I am currently the new kid that everyone is trying to get a feel for. I started this blog as a stress reliever and to record silly things my baby does.

I enjoy reading other blogs, especially other mommy blogs and reading funny stories and getting new tips and ideas. So I thought that maybe if everyone got to know me a little better they would leave me a few comments now and then and if I'm really lucky I could get a few followers. You? Come on, come on. (See I've been forced to beg)

OK, so here's a few thing you should know about me.

1. My name is Keyona and I turned 27 last week
2. I was born and raised (for the most part) in Maryland
3. I have been married for 5 years
4. I have a daughter who is about to turn 5 on the 29th
5. I have a step-daughter who will be 7 in December
6. I was adopted by my stepdad when I was 14
7. I have 4 brothers and I am the only girl
8. I have been in the Air Force for 9 years
9. I deployed to Iraq in 2003 and don't really talk about it
10. I am a TV junkie and don't care to help it
11. I love running and am currently training to run my first half-marathon
12. I have a great sense of humor (at least I think so)
13. I don't have many friends but I think it's because I haven't met the right ones yet
14. I love taking photos and hope to take photography classes one day
15. I love this blogging thing and hope to get better and meet new people!

OK, so now that we are familiar let's be friends.

Weekend Ramblins' and Rock Concerts

I found this idea on another blog and thought it would be interesting to see my own outcome. You have to answer questions and google image search those answers and post the first image that comes up (hoping nothing perverted or sick pops up).

Here's what I got....

My name is: Keyona

My middle name is: Rochelle

My favorite vacation spot is: Bermuda

How old am I: 27

Where I'd like to go someday: Africa

Where I grew up: Maryland

Favorite Food: Italian Food

Favorite Treat: Cookies

Where I live right now: Bolling AFB, DC

Favorite Animal: Dogs

Favorite Color: Purple

I'm married to: Hubby

Describe hubby: Crazy

What I do for work: U.S. Air Force

See, now wasn't that fun? Yeah? No? Oh well I liked it.

In other unrelated news. I went to my favorite store on earth Target and found a cool, new, full of awesomeness headband. Yup, only $4.99...I heart Tar-Jay. I figured I could rock a headband now that I am sporting a new look. To make it even better I had dinner at my girlfriends house so I didn't have to slave away at the microwave "making" dinner. Cool cool. I even got a yummy pina colada to top off the evening.

Happening as I type.... My hubby's friend calls the house and asks him to come over. My husband leaves out and comes back with a "toy" his friend got for La. Yeah. Apparently I've done something to piss him off because it's one of the Walmart brand organ/pianos that has no volume level and at 10pm at night it is just what she needed to give her that extra bit of energy.

I'll be plotting all night on ways to sabotage that toy. Jeez, a mother's work is never done.

Check out her jammin':

Check out her doing the "Robot". God I love this kid.