Greetings from the Future!

Bryan and Luci have a photo, too--but here is the one I can access right now. Taken in that "big golf ball," as Luci calls "The Spaceship Earth" at Epcot.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Oh, my! This was FUN! Luci had a ball, but managed to keep a straight face during the process. A Fairy-Godmother-in-Training greets you and gives the special girl a brochure with her name, "Princess.....," on the front. Luci chose her hair-do and was led back for a beauty treatment. Once in the beauty parlor, I was not surprised to see so many moms and dads handing over their credit cards for this special Princess treatment. It really is just too, too special. There were girls up to 12 or 13 years old getting their hair done. I would have absolutely loved this if I ever had the chance.

PS to Buffi--we are having terrific weather--makes me feel a little guilty after all that rain you slogged through! (But not too guilty.)


Luci was a bit hesitant to go with the Fairy-Godmother-in-Training until she was sure I was right behind her.

Getting her nails done...pink, of course!
Special make-up and a jewel. I was astonished at just how Chinese Luci looked after her hair was pulled back. She just looks like a Willingham to me, until this afternoon. :) And for those of you who remember the He Kexin-Olympic scandal, I think this photo shows how much Luci looks like Kexin.
At the end, you get to sign the guest book. Luci took this seriously, as you can tell by her eyebrows! (Note to Julie: Look at that high Buyi or Miao forehead!) And yes, she has hair extensions!
Bryan helping the Princess play a computer game.
Wow, Princess Luci! Nana and Papa--Luci spent some of her birthday money today on a special Cinderella necklace with a locket and a jewelry box. She loves them. Thank you!JT showing us how to defend against Star Wars bad guys. The toy store has a station to build your own light saber. Too cool! The boys spent some of their money on this.

709 Miles to Mickey!

Woo-Hoo!

Luci is finally feeling a little more like seeing a character or two...as long as she doesn't have to talk to them. I think she and I had some sort of 'flu; it didn't last long enough for a cold and certainly was not as long-lasting as fall allergies.

Thanks to my Feingold friend Sharon who told me how to make my own Feingold-safe medicine...it did make me feel a lot like Mamie and Emily Baldwin from The Waltons, who made their own "medicine" out back.

Say It Aint So!

Wouldn't ya know? Luci and I both have COLDS. We leave in a few days for Disney! Luci's been whiny and clingy today, not like herself. (Clingy, yes, it's normal. Whiny, no.) She told me today that she didn't even want to meet the Princesses!

.

This is serious.

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I did finally talk her into a McDonald's Happy Meal at Downtown Disney, and going shopping with her birthday money (thank you, Nana and Papa!). Even when she's sick, she still wants to go shopping for a tiara.

They Finally Figured It Out...

John left this morning on a two-day trip. The boys started arguing (what else is new?) and would not stop. So, the time-honored punishment:

Go to your rooms and don't come out until your father gets home!

That's until late tomorrow night! I had TWO quiet hours until they figured it out!

How Many Times Can Barack Obama Say "Pie" in 1 minute, 43 seconds?

This little video is from a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, I think. Chris Barrett from Powerhouse Pictures did this.

Who Is This for, Really?

We get to go to Disney World very soon! I am so excited. We will celebrate Luci's birthday a few days early, and wow, she is getting the Princess treatment!

We've got an appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for nails, makeup and hair...A birthday lunch at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends...Breakfast with the Princesses in the Norway Pavillion at Epcot...

I am so excited, probably more so that Luci. I got off the phone this morning with our Disney helpers at Disney Vacation Club and jumped for joy at getting the birthday lunch figured out.

(If you look into Disney Vacation Club, tell them we sent you, we'll both get a reward!)

Mickey picture from here.

It Must Be the Global Warming...

Boise gets earliest snow on record

This was a headline in my parents' newspaper on Saturday. Here's a picture from the paper, The Idaho Statesman. They got 1.7 inches of snow on Friday! No big deal to them, but that's enough to shut down schools and churches around here.

Must be something about Boise...on my niece's birthday in June of this year, they had the latest snowfall on record! Wow, I wish we could have some of that cool air. I really miss the cold weather.

Things I've Learned Since Moving to Alabama

Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.

There are 5,000 types of snakes on earth and 4,998 live in Alabama .

There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,0 00 live in Alabama, plus a couple no one's seen before.

If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.

Onced and Twiced are words.

It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.

People actually grow and eat okra.

'Fixinto' is one word.

There is no such thing as 'lunch.' There is only dinner and then supper.

Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!

Backwards and forwards means 'I know everything about you.'

DJeet is actually a phrase meaning 'Did you eat?'

You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH them.

You measure distance in minutes.

You'll probably have to switch from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day.

'Fix' is a verb. Example: 'I'm fixing to go to the store.'

All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.

You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

You carry jumper cables in your car . . . for your OWN car.

There are only four spices: salt, pepper, Tabasco and ketchup.

The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and sports.

The first day of deer season is a national holiday.

100 degrees Fahrenheit is 'a little warm.'

We have four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer and Christmas.

Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time known as 'goin' Wal-martin' or off to 'Wally World.'

A cool snap (below 70 degrees) is good pinto-bean weather.

A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola or pop. . . it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example: 'What kinda coke you want?'

Fried catfish is the other white meat.

We don't need no stinking driver's ed . . . if our mama says we can drive, we can drive.

Just some pics

Playing in the leaves Tuesday night. I think this was the first time ever that Luci has played in a pile of leaves. There weren't many, but John managed to rake a nice little pile for her. War Eagle!

I Thought Someone Broke In

It's 1 am, and strange noises woke me up. Someone was in the basement--or so it seemed. I was scared! The alarm was not on, the first time ever we've gone to sleep without it being on. A burglar with good timing!

I turned on the alarm...John was fast asleep through it. At least, he looked like he was asleep. Turns out this morning he said he wasn't asleep, why didn't I tell him about the noises? Because he'd get up and check and it would be nothing (it always is).

There was a funny smell--not a bad smell, but nothing I could figure out. I went to Bryan's room to see if it was just him walking around the house, but he was fast asleep, too.

I sat on the couch with Luci, scared stiff, with the telephone right next to me.

This morning, Bryan admits to being awake when I went into his room--he was just playing 'possum. Turns out he found a frozen pizza and cooked it. No wonder I thought the "burglar" was an Italian.

I told Bryan that next time, he'd better wake up and talk to me.

Halloween Treats

Here are two items I found at our Walmart store that have no artificials in them--they are perfect for Feingold Families, who want to give treats to little spooks. I also have a bunch of non-food items from Oriental Trading.com to hand out.

Deploying Again?

This week John got word that he got "Involuntarily Deployed." That means he didn't volunteer for it. You can volunteer and have a tiny bit of control over deploying time. Almost all of his engineer group have been deployed this fall (they are being pulled out of this group to join bigger units). One got word on a Monday and was deployed by Friday. It took about 2 hours to get into John's work email from home and find out just when his deployment is. I even offered to drive John (who was dog-tired) back to work to get into his email there! Finally we had the date: not until January 10. John's retirement date from the Army Reserves is June 2, so either he'll only be deployed about 5 1/2 months or they'll decide to deploy someone else all together. There is an outside chance to keep him for the entire 12 month deployment, but that is extremely unlikely.

5 1/2 months sounds really easy to those of us here at home. We've done a 6-month and a 12-month deployment.


Of course, John's safety is in my mind foremost. But these other things ran through my mind in the 2 minutes following John's phone call:

• JT will get his gerbil (the indoor pet promised if Daddy gets a 2 month or longer trip)
  
  
• The boys need to take their cell phones to Disney World in 2 weeks so they can go on scary rides without having to spend the whole time in line getting Princess autographs with Luci
  
  
• Bryan can get his license and drive Dad's truck while he's gone (Bryan's 16, but hasn't finished his driver's ed materials)
  
  
• I can sleep in the big bed, not in Luci's little bed--still having major sleep/abandonment issues
  
  
• Luci will be completely potty-trained when John gets back
  
  
• No birthdays missed this time!
  
  
• Another Christmas missed-this would be #3 (this was before we knew the Jan 10 date)
  
  
• I'll finally get all the ironing caught up (most of it is John's work shirts)
  
  
• JT's gerbil will have to wait until after Thanksgiving, when we go see John's folks for a couple of days
  
  
• Thought of who I could call at church to give me a "kid-break" once in a while
  
  
• There will be some extra cash to let the boys do all the teen stuff at church--doing everything is just out of the question now
  

It is kind of funny, because I wasn't panicking. We've done this before and know that it just happens. It's a necessary thing. (Now, please don't hit me with politics.)

Something worth fighting for:

Friday at the Park

Renee from DaySpring Academy set up a park day for this morning. It was nice to meet someone else from DaySpring--she's the first mom from there that I've met! She and her kids left for home before I got any photos of her children--two very nice kids about the same age as Bryan and JT.

I did manage to snap my own family. John was in town, so we were lucky and had lunch with him.

Riding a dinosaur with Luci.

Discussing a video game with Bryan. JT flying high.
All three Musketeers.

I love this one, I'm not sure why.
Can you guess? This is JT's gorgeous hair.
A beetle. If you know the type of beetle this is, please let me know. The closest thing I could find is one from Madagascar...I kind of figure it didn't migrate that far.

Grammar, as Learned by a Three Year Old

Luci: I love you!

Mama: I love you, too!

Luci: I love you most.

Mama: I love you most, too.

Luci: I love you most-er!

Grands' Birthdays

John got to celebrate birthdays with the Grands this summer. Sophia is 4, Sara is 1 1/2 and Maggie is 4, too, and Haley is almost 2.


I'm sorry these photos are late...I just got them from John. Also, Audrey--these are what your Dad gave me, I'm sorry they are old photos. At least they show how cute your girls are. :)

When the Chores Don't Get Done....

Bryan's chore for Tuesday is doing his laundry. He was out of pants, so he came to school in this! How funny. And then, Luci and JT wanted to get in on the act. Luci's Batman suit is one I made for Bryan eons ago.

Watch for Luci

If you have a little one who watches Sprout TV (channel 295 on DirecTV), watch for Luci's picture! And send in a photo of your little one in a costume--they are having a contest and showing a "Special Sproutlet" every day in October between 11:30 and noon, ET.

Sprout 's Sprouterrific Costume Contest here.

(You don't have to tell them that this picture of Luci is from last Christmas Day!)

I Thought We Had Made Such Progress...

and then today, John took the kids to town so I could have some time to myself. They had Luci's swim lesson at the YMCA, lunch, then perhaps a visit to the park. I left the house when they did, and told the kids I was going to get groceries and come back before they got home. Luci walked away from me, so sad, and then came back to me...she was worried that I would not come back home to her.

I can't remember ever seeing her this upset with me.

Truly a heart-breaking little face.

QotD--Show Us Your Favorite Person in Uniform

My favorite picture from John's travels with the military. Kabul, Afghanistan. John and his group of engineers aided an orphanage. Here's a little man getting a toy from this kind soldier.