Santa!

Here's Evan's santa picture for this year. It was pretty stress free, because at one of the holiday parties we went to they were taking pictures for free. I thought it turned out pretty good. Santa gave Evan two candy canes, and Evan told him that he wanted a Christmas tree for christmas. I'm not sure why--maybe he panicked, like in A Christmas Story when Ralphie tells santa he wants a football. Usually he says he wants toys for Christmas.

I'm a pretty big fan of the patriotic tree--as you can imagine they're pretty popular on base. I've even seen a white artificial tree with all red white and blue ornaments on it. Nice.

Merry Christmas!

Christmastime

Yay! Christmas is in full swing in the Smith household. I finally got all of our christmas cards and presents sent off (today...) and I think our Christmas shopping is finished. Which is very nice, because I'm getting a little sick of the drive to Lancaster/Palmdale. Our tree is up, the few presents I've wrapped are under it, and I have been obsessively baking cookies.

Evan helps.

He ate a lot of sprinkles that day. Pretty much every morning when he gets up he asks me if we're going to "bake cookies today mama?". He's actually a pretty good helper too!

Mike put up lights around the outside of our house, and he says that he "officially" feels like a man now. Not career or fatherhood, but hanging up Christmas lights is what does it, apparently. We didn't have any outlets outside our last house, so he jumped at the chance to decorate this one. He put up 10(!) strings of lights, and sadly, we still have about a 3 foot gap on one side of our house. Oh well, they look awesome anyway!

Evan has met santa about ten times now (seriously!) at various holiday parties and functions, so they're pretty tight now. When he finally got around to talking to him, he told Santa he wanted a Christmas tree, even though we already have one. We picked up an artificial tree this year (pre-lit! Best idea ever) due to our desert environment, so maybe he was hoping for a real one...I'm pretty excited about not having to vacuum up any needles. I don't think a fir tree would have a chance in this dry air! As an Oregonian, I swore I would never have an artificial tree, but:

1) I never planned on living in the Mojave desert (thanks for the adventures, Mikey!)

2) Turns out they're pretty awesome.

At this party Santa arrived on a fire truck, and I can't say I've ever seen Evan so excited. He screamed like a little girl and ran around yelling about Santa, then followed him diligently inside.

On top of that, Santa gave him a train.

Grandma Jean is coming on Tuesday, and we're all pretty excited about that. Unfortunately, (and he's been doing this for a while) Evan has been calling every woman over the age of 40 that he sees "Grandma Jean", which can be slightly embarassing. I mostly ignore it, and hope the poor woman didn't understand what he said. Also unfortunate in this instance is the fact that his speech is really getting good. And usually, he's pretty easy to understand.

His imagination is pretty entertaining too--lately he'll come running up to one of us and say that he's scared. When we ask him why, he usually thinks for a minute and then says something like "elephant right there!" or "helicopter!". Generally, theres no elephant. He's getting pretty good at entertaining himself.

Mike has all of next week off, so we're looking forward to some relaxation. And Christmas. Merry Christmas!

We've Made It!

I can't believe it--we're finally settled at Edwards. Moving out went very smoothly, and everything got packed up and on the truck with no problems.

Evan even got to help!



We arrived Nov. 8, after 7 days of driving and a little bit of time visiting with family, and are very happy to be here. When we got on base and checked in at lodging we were expecting our TLF (temporary living facility) to be just another hotel room, maybe with a kitchenette, but were overjoyed to find that it was more like a two bedroom house--complete with fenced yard, full kitchen and plenty of space to relax. It was such a blessing to be able to be out of hotel rooms!

We only stayed there for a few days, and were able to move into our brand new (literally!) house Nov. 12th. Apparently we're pretty good at moving, because we had everything that needed to be in the house unpacked that day, and as I sit here now, the house is clean (mostly--it's amazing how filthy a house thats never been lived in can be), things are in their places, and the house feels like our home. We are very, very happy.


Mike has slowly been getting acquainted with his job, which is with the 31 TES (Test and Eval Squadron) and does operational testing on aircraft including unmanned aircraft, fighters and bombers. Most likely he'll be working on the B2 bomber , although nobody has really told him yet exactly what he'll be doing, and he's still mostly working on getting his boring inprocessing done.

Evan loves his new house. He seems to really like having so much more space to run around in, (much, much more--I think we've upgraded from having around 700 sq. ft. to a little over 2000 sq. ft!) and he really likes to be able to go off and be by himself. Ithink we all do! Our yard has some grass and a lot of sand, and he has been playing out there quite a bit with all his diggers and dump trucks. I like that it is completely fenced, and I can see him from inside so I know he's safe out there. Cody is enjoying the yard as well!




Edwards is a little remote, but not as bad as everyone made it out to be! There is quite a bit of open desert, but we can see mountains off in the distance which is really nice. To get to the freeway we have to drive for about 30 minutes across desert and a dry lake bed, which is a little weird because there is literally nothing out there. From our house to the kind of things that we might want to get to off-base (Costco, Target, etc.) takes only around 45 minutes, which to us is not bad at all! I don't see why everyone was telling us that everything is so far away (with dramatic emphasis), especially because once you've driven that 45 minutes there are more stores and restaraunts than we even had access to in Massachusetts. Plus, it only takes about two minutes to drive to the commissary and BX on base, so you won't hear me complaining!

All in all, we are pretty excited to be here, and for the most part, Edwards has exceeded our expectations. And yeah, it is exceptionally sunny here and the sky is blue beyond belief. Ha!


So, all is beyond well here. On another exciting note, we are planning on driving to the Corvallis area for Thanksgiving, and we can't wait to be home for a bit! We haven't figured out what days we'll be there yet, but we are definitely coming! Yay!


Also, I'll send out change of address cards as soon as I have the time to sit down and do it. :)

busy busy busy

Note: I don't feel like writing about these pictures, but want to put them on here anyway, so I'm just going to place random pictures throughout this post. Enjoy!

Hello! We are in a whirlwind of activity in the Smith household. The other day we were driving from errand to errand in the car and Evan was in the backseat telling me that we were "busy busy". With only about a week and a half before our big move, we certainly are!

We have a lot to do, but we are really looking forward to our move to Edwards. Especially since it snowed here yesterday, and I think it's still in the 70's and 80's there. Ha! See ya New England!

We are very thankful that movers are coming to pack up and take all of our things, and are mainly focusing on cleaning, organizing, and getting rid of things that don't need to move 3,000 miles with us. While trying to keep life as normal as possible for Evan. The movers will come on the 28th and 29th, and then we will stay on base until the 1st, so Evan can go trick-or-treating. He's going to be a construction worker, and he is very excited. On the 1st, we head out on our road trip! We are planning on taking 7 or 8 days to drive out to California, and hopefully they'll be short ones--around 6 hours.

We haven't been assigned housing yet, so the most challenging thing right now is deciding what we need to bring with us. We could be living in military lodging for a while (I have our room booked for a month-- hopefully we won't need it nearly that long), and even when we do get housing, you can never be quite sure when you'll get your household goods delivered. Needless to say, we need to make sure we pack lightly, but have everything we need to keep us sane for a month or so. I'm feeling optimistic that it won't be that long.

Because of all of this craziness, and the fact that we won't have our computer or a lot of internet access for the forseeable future, I have to warn you that I will not be blogging for awhile. Once we get moved into our house and settled, I'll be back! See you in a month or so. (hopefully less than two!)

By the way, everything is going great with the baby! She's moving around and kicking like crazy, and I am feeling pretty darn good.

Also, it's snowing again.

Guess what...

We're having a girl! I knew it.

Obviously we would've been perfectly happy either way, but we're pretty excited for a girl. Now I can start knitting.

Yay for promotions!

Congratulations Captain Smith!

You've paid your dues as an LT--and we're so proud!

In other news...

We finally found out when and where we are moving! We will be moving to Edwards AFB, California November 1st. We can't wait!
Edwards is in the Mojave desert, about 100 miles NE of LA. It will be hot and dry, and we are looking forward to the different landscape, climate and--we imagine--culture. We've enjoyed our stay in Massachusetts, but we are definitely ready to experience another part of the country.

Edwards is tasked with flight testing, among other things, and sometimes the space shuttle lands there when it needs to. Mike will (most likely) be with the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron, which, um, tests bombers or something. Maybe. I would love to be able to say that I'm not allowed to tell you what he'll be doing, but really I just don't know.

They have a really cool patch though. Skull and crossbones--can't beat that!

So we are pleased. The timing of the move couldn't be better, with the baby due in February, and we're glad that Evan will get to go trick-or-treating with his friends and neighbors one more time before we leave. Now we just sit back and wait for the movers to come. Acutally I will be obsessively cleaning and getting rid of things, but other than that, just waiting!

Make it go away...

So, last night Cody got sprayed by a skunk. What a terrible experience. I'll tell you what--in close proximity, fresh skunk spray does not smell like what you think it smells like. It smells much, much, worse. Much worse. Unfortunately, the skunk sprayed directly underneath our bedroom window, so the smell simultaneously entered the house through the front door (thank you Cody) and the back windows.

Mike did a wonderful job of washing Cody with laundry detergent--which apparently works really well because Cody smells very pleasantly of Dreft now. I think the skunk might have sprayed more at him than on him, but he absolutely brought it into the house with him. I left all the doors and windows open today, and have been obsessively spraying febreeze in the air, but I think we're just going to have to be patient.

Did I mention that this happened around 12:30 last night? Or that it's really hard to sleep in a house that smells like fresh skunk ick? Yep. Good times in the Smith house. Luckily, Evan slept peacefully through it all, and his room is odorless. Maybe we should've slept in there!

Also, I know I'm being overly dramatic...but keep in mind that I am pregnant and

1) am allowed to be dramatic, and

2) everything smells terrible to me anyway, let alone things that actually do smell terrible. Of which I am keenly aware of.

I wish I had taken a picture of Cody and his pathetic self during his rigorous 30 minute bath last night, but I couldn't find the camera. Of course!

Now broadcasting from...

...our new computer! Oh i'm so happy. Right now, I am typing on a keyboard that has all of it's keys. Crazy, I know. We were a little worried about getting a new computer, with Evan's grabby little fingers around, but our setup seems to be safe and mildly Evan-proof so we are quite pleased with ourselves.

More importantly, a lot has been going on around here! First, we had Evan's 2nd birthday, during which great fun was had by all. We had some friends over, and Evan had some friends over, and we ate lots of cake.

mmm. Hot dogs and strawberries. Best birthday ever!

When we asked Evan what his favorite part of the day was, he said blowing out the candles (more or less).

Mike got him a little tool set, which he has been playing with non-stop since he got it. He especially likes to "fix" all his tractors and trucks, and he even knows which tool is which! Daddy's little helper. He is pretty much over the moon with all his new birthday toys.

Also, my girlfriend Jeanine came to visit and we had a blast. We got fabulous haircuts and spent a lot of time shopping, so it was a good trip. We (and Evan) spent a wonderful day at the beach, and the water was warm enough to swim in--Evan loved jumping in the waves and he made a bunch of friends there. I think we're getting spoiled with this warm beach business.

In other news...we're going to have another baby! It's due February 24, and Evan says he wants a baby sister. I don't think he knows what that means though, because when we ask him if he wants a girl or a boy he says "boy". We will be happy with whatever we have, but we are definitely excited to find out--we have an ultrasound scheduled for September 25. I'm feeling like myself again (although slightly larger), and things are good in the Smith Household!

Probably only mildy amusing to others...

This morning Evan and I had to bring Mike's gas mask to work for him because he had forgotten it. I think that's hilarious. I would imagine most non-military wives occasionally have to deliver a forgotten lunch or paperwork or something, but not me. Nope, my husband forgets his gas mask. I love it!

Potty time?

The other day, this innocent looking little boy took off his diaper and pooped on the floor. It was pretty funny, mostly because it wasn't messy, but I think it's time to work on this potty training business. He refuses to sit on the potty most of the time, but yesterday I let him run around diaper-less in the backyard until he peed on himself. He seemed pretty concerned about it and was all about sitting on the potty--for a little bit. I don't see this going well, but I figure if he knows when he has to go, it's worth a try, right? Wish us luck.

Hello!

So, I haven't posted for a while. I know. Two reasons: we've been keeping busy (which is good) and I haven't been taking pictures (which is unfortunate, but goes hand-in-hand with keeping busy). Two things I have taken pictures of recently though, are the things that have been taking up all my free time (a.k.a., when Evan's sleeping).

This is Evan's quilt that I just finished. It's supposed to be twin size, but I think it's probably full--it's huge! This is my first quilt, and I am quite pleased with the outcome. I used Heather Ross' Mendocino, Lizzy House's Red Letter Day, Kona Cotton backing, and Warm & Natural batting. The Kona Cotton is a pretty heavy weight, and with the size of the quilt, it is heavy! I figured out how to use the free-motion foot on my sewing machine and quilted it myself, which was physically exhausting. I don't think i'll be making a quilt this big again any time soon--but I'm so glad I did. Also, since Mike insists on having the AC on full blast and is always hot--and i'm always cold--it has made a good addition to our couch and i've already gotten some use out of it.

This is my February Lady Sweater (not my name, just the name of the pattern) which I knit on size 8 needles with 5 (i think?) hanks of Cascade 220 wool. I had a hard time getting a good picture, and I haven't gotten a picture of me actually wearing it, but thats all that was really hard about the sweater--i loved knitting it. I've even gotten a chance to wear it (in July! Crazy!) and I couldn't have been more pleased. I knit every day, but I've mostly been knitting small things like socks and scarves, etc., so I don't talk about them much. I'm just so pleased with both of these projects that I thought I would take my chance to be publicly proud of myself for a little bit.

Thank you for indulging me.

As for my lack of photos of Evan--good news! I'm taking him to get pictures taken on Thursday. He never slows down for me to take pictures, so hopefully Sears can do the job for me. Wish us luck!

However, I was just looking at some older pictures of Evan, and thought I would share some of him from last year at this time.

Little guy. And here are the only two pictures I've taken in the last month.

Evan loves to get into my closet and tear everything out--usually he comes out with shoes. I was impressed that he was able to get these on and walk around in them!

Revere Beach

We recently went out to the beach, and we all had a wonderful time! It's been hard for us to truly enjoy the beaches here beacause it's hard to find where the good ones are, and many of them are private or run by the cities--some beaches charge $25 just to park there! Ridiculous. Plus, we're used to fabulous Oregon beaches. So, we went to Revere Beach, which is in Boston, and everyone says is dirty. We just wanted to go to the beach.


It was wonderful. We must have picked the perfect day to go! We went on a Monday, so it wasn't crowded at all, and it was 80 degrees and sunny. Beautiful!

Evan loved playing in the sand, naturally, and Mike and I loved laying in the sun. I don't believe i've ever been to a beach where you could actually lay in the sun and be warm and toasty.
The water wasn't warm, but it wasn't numbingly cold either, so we considered that a plus. Evan definitely enjoyed splashing in the water. It was such an enjoyable day. Extra bonuses: free parking and clean bathrooms. Plus, we got to eat lobster rolls.

This only took us about 30 minutes to get to from our house. There are so many day trips to take around here, and we've been really lucky to be able to live here. Not that we want to stay here much longer...we're getting ready to move on! Now if only Mike could get his orders...waiting patiently!

Sun at long last

I'm pretty sure it has been raining here for a month straight, and now it's finally sunny! I am so pleased. It's not humid yet either, which is a big bonus. We've been spending almost all of our time for the last couple days out in the sunshine and I think Evan is really greatful to be able to get out and run off some energy. From our house we can walk all the way to the fence that goes around the base and watch airplanes take off. We went on such a long walk yesterday that we ended up having to carry Evan and his short little legs. It's a long walk for Evan, but he loves those airplanes!

We finally got him to say "plane" yesterday. He's been calling airplanes "goo-goo" for months now, and considering that a plane flies over our house about every five minutes, he's had plenty of opportunities to learn the word. I think he just liked "goo-goo" better. I can't believe how many words he has, and they're getting a lot clearer too. He's pretty fun to have a conversation with.

This morning we went to our favorite playground in Billerica (which is also one of the biggest I've seen) and spent some quality time in the sandbox. This sandbox is huge, and there are Tonka trucks and other sand toys that are always there--needless to say, Evan loves it. Last time we went, he spent two hours straight sitting in the sandbox being industrious with construction equipment. Today wasn't much different, but he took a few breaks to go climb around and go down the slides and whatnot.

This picture's from about a month ago. I think the only pictures I'm going to have of Evan in the near future are when he's playing with this "diggers"--otherwise he doesn't stay still long enough!

By the way, this little girl is our neighbor Riley, whom Evan calls "honey". I think he's smitten. I can see why--she's just as rough and tumble as he is!

Helmet

Evan loves Daddy's motorcylce helmet. He always makes sure that he has it when he is going out to go for a ride. And he especially loves to wear it!

I swear he did this himself. We weren't even paying attention, and Evan walked up like this. It was hiliarious.

Ok. So I added the boots. But the helmet and gloves were all Evan!

It might be one of those "you had to be there" moments, but we enjoy his antics. Plus he reminds me of a bobblehead doll. A Darth Vader bobblehead doll. And he says "helmoy", which is adorable. Oh Evan.

zoo time!

Hello! Our weather here has been crazy lately, and Evan and I have been itching to get outside inbetween rainstorms. Yesterday we went for a walk in the rain, which was fun. But on Saturday we had a legitimately nice day, so we all (including our friends Scott and Anne) went to the zoo, and it was wonderful!

We asked Evan what his favorite part about the zoo was, and he said the gorillas. Well, actually he said "ah ah", which usually means monkey, so I'm assuming thats what he meant. He was especially pleased about the gorillas because one of them was trying to take a nap. He was very excited about that.

This gorilla had it's own blankie that it was laying on. Adorable.

Speaking of adorable, how wonderful is my family? I know.

Evan also got to go on a carousel with daddy. He wasn't too sure about it, but I think he enjoyed it. A little.

He definitely enjoyed riding on this tractor though.

Speaking of tractors, Evan has recently become obsessed with construction equipment.

This is his "digger". He takes it everywhere with him, and yes, he sleeps with it. We have to go into his room later and move it so he doesn't roll over onto it at night. Mike's been playing softball, and luckily there is a random pile of sand that all the kids play in...perfect for digger use. Needless to say, Evan loves going to daddy's softball games. By the way, he calls softball "hit".

The boy can spot a backhoe from a mile away. He's so cute.

Welcome to June

Wonder of wonders, my husband eats sushi. Not only that--he likes it. I'm very proud. He tried it a few weeks ago, and today he suggested we go get sushi for lunch. I am a happy girl. Evan eats Chicken Katsu--basically just the japanese equivalent of chicken nuggets--and he eats a lot of it. Today, he also ate Miso soup! Adventurous just like his daddy.

I think eating with the cool spoon was an extra bonus. I can't believe how big he's getting.

He's even driving already!

Ok, just kidding. Our friendly local firemen had all the trucks out on Memorial Day so we could check them out, and Evan was a big fan.

Speaking of Memorial Day, how many of you can say you have minutemen in your Memorial Day parades? Well, we do. Actually, they're everywhere.

With Lexington Battle Green, Concord, and Minuteman National Park, all within minutes of us, people around here seem really into getting all dressed up like patriots and participating in reenactments. Or parades, for that matter. It's kinda cool.

See? Here's some in April reenacting the march to Concord/Lexington for Patriot's Day. Never heard of Patriot's Day? Me either...it's a Massachusetts thing.

But I digress. Back to Evan.

Here he is yesterday looking nice and clean (if not slightly crazy) with his shirt tucked in and everything. We were on our way to our friend Scott's promotion. (congrats again Scotty!)

He looked nice for about five minutes, and then he started doing donuts in the yard. If you're not dirty, you're not happy, right?

Crazy boy.

I feel like we've done a good job so far teaching him about the world...all except for what sound a horse makes. Poor Evan, he knows all his animal sounds, but somehow "horse" isn't quite right. We try to show him what a horse sounds like, he's seen lots of real horses, and we show him on the TV. But he is determined to put his own spin on it. Check it out:

Now it's turned into some sort of party trick--out friends think it's hilarious, and I think now he knows it makes people laugh so he'll probably just keep doing it forever.

But that's okay.

March to your own drum Evan.