Good Courage - 2010 Mutual Theme

(Let me preface this with : I'm sorry, Mom, about the lack of photos. They're on Andreas camera. And I failed to take any today. I know, I know, bad daughter. I'm sorry. I'll try harder next time :))

Happy Birthday to ME! ROFL! SO, I was woken up at 8am by fighting kids. Through the door. Through my "noise reducing fan". Through the snores of my tired husband. 5 fighting kids. For 45 minutes I tried to block it all out, but to no avail. By the time I went out at 8:45am, the house was trashed.

How do they do it? Is it a talent that they have? I wonder if it's a marketable skill? Destroy a room in 3 minutes or less? Surely a movie/tv set would hire them to do the "after" scenes for crimes? Or natural disaster movies? SO, if you hear of anyone looking, I've got their demolition crew. Just putting it out there....

I was really tired, and a bit crabby. I think it was from all the food yesterday. All the "yummy to the taste but bad for the body" food. Why? Why do I do this to myself? I felt really good, nutrition wise, the past 10 days when I was eating on my menu. And I go and blow it. Well, after my birthday, I'm getting "back on the wagon". I feel so much better when I eat what I should, not what I want.

Anyway, I moved myself out to the couch, and got on the laptop. I wasn't really feeling like doing much else. The house was trashed. Captain America was asleep. The kids were loud. But then, they're always loud. I think I must be PMS-y, because I was feeling a bit emotion. Either that, or I was just coming down off of a very large sugar high.

By the time that I really woke up, and was functioning, it was almost 10am. I hopped in the shower, and started to get ready. Captain America woke up at around that same time, and we both got ready, and organized the house a bit. It wasn't "company worthy" by any means, but it was better than when I woke up - hehehe.

At 11:30am, Captain America and I left on our date. I gave Jacob detailed directions about what to do with the kids. How to entertain them. What to feed them. The works. They should be fine....

Captain America and I headed out to the Olive Garden. Dang, it was chilly in the restaurant. We were seated in a BIG booth, across from each other. But after we got our drinks, I moved to his side so we could snuggle for warmth. ROFL!

We both got the soup and salad. I got the spicy sausage and potato one, and Captain America go the beans and beef one. Next time around, he got the chicken and dumplins one, and I got the minestrone. I just LOVE soup. And bread sticks dipped inside of it? YUMMY! We also got an appetizer. Spinach and Artichoke dip. SO yummy. It didn't really have very much, but what it did have was tasty.

After lunch, we went to the mall to walk around for a while. Old Navy was supposed to have fleeces for $5 on Saturday only. But of course, they were gone. We got to the back of the store, and found a $5 rack, though. BUT, I noticed some people milling around off to the side in the back of the store, and finally realized that that was the LINE to check out? Are you kidding me???? Yeah, I was like, Captain America, we're leaving - LOL! I didn't have time to wait in a line that big!

So we wandered around to a few more shops. We went to Game Stop, but it was so packed that we left. I decided that I wasn't really "mall people". The stores all sold things that were over my comfort level, money wise. I can't imagine paying $30 for a shirt. Or $50 for a pair of pants. Or more, which is the crazy part. Yeah, I'm more of a Walmart (as much as I HATE them lately), GoodWill, Big Lots, Fallas Paredas, Family Dollar kind of gal.

Anyway, it was getting to be time to go, so we headed off to the Battalion Commanders Christmas Party. I called to check on the kids at about this time. Jake said that Eme and Tom were fighting with each other. After talking with both of them, twice, I finally sent them both to their rooms, and told them to no come out until I got home. Sigh. There was a lot of screaming and yelling going on on the other end of the phone. Poor Jake. At least with them both in their rooms, it should be easier for him.

We met outside of his house about 15 minutes before time to start with all of the leadership in Captain Americas battery. About 10 people. We all went in at the right time. 2pm. We went through the reception line, then went to the food. Again with the food. They had an horderve (yes, I know it's spelled wrong, but spell check isn't touching this one.....) table, and a dessert table. They had some good stuff!

We ate and chatted for 45 minutes, then the commander gave a toast, and we all headed out. I wasn't quite sure what to do when the little cups of alcohol were passed out for the toast. I felt obligated to take one, but then just left it on the table. I guess, I should have just said no thanks. It was silly to take it and not do anything with it. (Because I don't drink, you know). Next time, I'm just gonna say "No Thank You". Sigh. At least I usually don't have to worry about such things.

So, we all headed home after that. Back through the reception line, and out the door. Yeah, the house was slightly trashed. Not as bad as it could have been, but not as good as I'd hoped. We spent the next 45 minutes cleaning up, and getting it back to almost normal. The living room looked good, at least.

Captain America went to wash the rigs (and even the neighbors car), and I got the kids ready. We were going to the Movies. The On Post theater was showing "A Christmas Carol", and I thought it would be fun to take the family. Especially since they didn't get to go with us to the Christmas Party.

Right before we left, we got out my cake, sang Happy Birthday, ate, and loaded up in the truck. Thank you, Andrea, for the WONDERFUL cake. It was SO good :) I may or may not have eaten Jimmys piece ( he only ate 1 bite). Yeah, um, er, well, that's why I go up in weight when I'm not on my plan....

We got to the movies a little late, but didn't miss anything. Some would say PERFECT timing. Jake and Tom wandered off to find their friends, and Emeline spotted on of her girlfriends and went to sit with her.

So it was Captain America and I and Jimmy (sitting on Captain Americas other side) and Joe (sitting on my other side). The movies started, and it was LOUD and scary. Perfect! My kind of movie - LOL!

I noticed that they lifted the script, it seemed, directly from Dickens. I thought that the kids wouldn't like it, because of the "strange" language, but they seemed to be enjoying it. About 5 minutes into the movie, Jimmy fell asleep. Yep, slept through the ENTIRE thing. And it was loud. With dramatic lighting and sound changes. And yet he slept. hehehe.

Joe, on the other hand, was scared. He wanted to sit on my lap. About 30 minutes into the movie, I went and bought popcorn for us. Jake and Tom and Eme were else where, and Jim was asleep, so just Captain America and Joe and I ate. LOL! Joe got to hold it, and I think he really felt that it was just for him. Sweet kid :) Plus, it gave his nervous little fingers something to do.

We gathered up our crew when it was over, and headed home. Jimmy was dazed and sad and crying loud all the way home. Sometimes he doesn't wake up well. He kept asking when we were going to the movies, and if we could get popcorn. Poor kid! He'd missed the whole thing...

We hurried and got some dinner (turkey sandwiches - LOL), then headed back out again. We went to Fallas Paredes, which Captain America had never been to before. He liked it too! I knew he would :)

We found presents for each other, and had TONS to choose from. Tom bought a sword and a nerf-ish gun for Joe, Joe got a Star Trek figure for Tom, Eme got a shirt for Captain America (that he picked out, gave to me, and I showed to her, saying "Hey, I bet Dad would like this), Captain America got 2 shirts with skulls on it for Jake, Jake was supposed to get something for me, but I just realized that I didn't pay for anything for me........, I'd gotten something for Jimmy last time I was at the store, Joe got a "paint it yourself" tea set for Eme (because she showed it to him). I think that was everything.

We found a few Cars toys and some Ninja turtle toys for Jimmy from "The Big Guy", and I got a new skirt. We bought new pants for Joe (long ones) and some new sweat suits for Jimmy. They now wear different sizes. Jimmys waist is SO much bigger than Joes. But Joe is SO much taller than Jim. Why can't all body types be the same?

I had about 4 transactions when I went through the register. I sent Captain America and the kids to Big Lots (just a few stores down in the strip mall). AND, they do a 10% military discounts. So that was good :)

Next, after dropping off my packages at the truck, I went to Big Lots. As I was walking in the door, I found MY WATCH!!! The same one that I have now, but in dark gray. And it was only $8. I think I paid $20 for this one. Mine was falling apart. Missing buttons, the velcro wasn't sticky anymore. It was well over time to get a replacement watch. I was STOKED!

I found the family, in the toy section. Dude, I think we were at Big Lots for like an hour. The kids had fun looking at all the toys. I wandered the store a few times, but mostly was in the toy section.

I found a Shake and Go cars toy, and another car that lighted up and drove on its own and played music, or something like that. Jim will like it. Captain America found quite a few things that he liked, too. A Hot Wheel with SUPER big wheels for the Hot Wheel derby next year, a Hot Wheel version of "The General Lee", from The Dukes of Hazzard. And, a complete season of The Dukes of Hazzard for only $6. He was SO excited.

We headed home at around 9pm. The kids were getting tired. We stopped at the McDonalds drive through for Ice cream, then back through the gate. And guess what? For my b-day present, we got searched. Yep, Andrea, just like you! But these guys weren't as nice.

We asked if we could leave our sleeping kid in the truck, and they said go ahead and leave the kids. After the inspection, the guy was like "Um, really we should have made you get all your kids out". No duh. I realized that. I just wanted to let JOE stay asleep in the back seat. I would have gotten the others out. Whatever. It was cold, and I was glad to get back inside the truck.

So we headed home, brought all the stuff inside, and put the kids to bed. I started blogging/designing, and Captain America sat down and watched 1/2 an episode of the Dukes of Hazzard before bed. Poor thing is always tired these days :)

So all in all it was a great birthday. It started off a little rough, but again, I think that was just a sugar let down. I pepped up as the day progressed :) Thanks so much to everyone who wihed me a Happy Birthday. It worked! My birthday WAS happy :)

So since last week was the 2010 Primary theme, I thought that this week could be the 2010 Mutual theme. Just to be fair - ROFL! I thought it turned out pretty nice :)

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the pNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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