Detoxing

29 December 2013

One week has flashed by already. We've surrounded ourselves with good friends, dabbled in delicious food and spent plenty of nights doing absolutely nothing. This is what winter breaks are made of! Even the B-boy has thoroughly enjoyed the late nights, eating chocolate and drinking juice. 

Today Lindsey and I decided to  do a little detoxifying at the spa. My friend Jo     and her boyfriend, Aaron treated us to an afternoon at  the Aqua Sauna Spa at
Elveden Centre Parcs. We  sat in 15 different experience rooms-each one with different scents and humidity levels to give the body a little sweat sesh. There was also an outdoor pool with different water massage features. 
Afterwards we walked through the holiday village and  treated ourselves to some Bella Italia followed by lattes at Starbucks. 

 Best. Day. Ever!

Winter Solstice

21 December 2013

Mr. and Mrs. Weatherford-still getting used to that one!

Happy Winter Solstice from England where the sun set at 3:46 PM.  It's dark and dreary, a little rainy, but not at all cold. I've had the windows open because Darren cranked the heat up last night! We stocked the fridge in preparation for our good friends, Ross and Lindsey, whom we introduced 5 years ago in Alaska. And as the saying goes- the rest is history. The newlyweds fly in on Monday morning and we plan to stay a couple nights in London and then drive back Christmas day to make dinner and entertain  several of our friends.
Time to pack an over night bag, which should be pretty easy since I'm a pro at packing for an overnight-and not just for me-for my son and hubby too. I always keep a small make-up bag ready to go with my essentials. When it comes to clothes, I grab some sweats and a t for sleep and lounging, 2 tops and a tank and a couple pairs of jeans. I try to use the same color scheme so I only need to wear one pair of shoes. Right now my go to boots are my brown Bare Traps with an sole insert. Lame yes, but necessary since I'm a teacher on her toes all days and because the five of us we will be hoofin' it around London. (Well, maybe just the four of us. Bradyn will be loungin' like royalty in his stroller!) My boots are cuter than this picture shows, trust me. I snagged them up for $50 at the BXtra.  My other fave boots are my Nine West Motos  (pictured). Oh, and I have these beauties arriving any day now from AEO. Thanks for the early Christmas prezzie, Mom and Dad! I'm excited to take some updated pics with my girl and always look forward to having Lindsey around because she likes to do my hair-something I never have time for anymore. Sigh. Plus it always looks better when someone else does it. Stay tuned for pics!

Weekend Duty

15 December 2013

Last week I reconnected with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, Heidi. She was a student intern at Liberty Intermediate last year and unbeknownst to me, her husband is also "Weapons". I walked into the their Christmas party last night and found Heidi grabbing some 'nibbles' at the buffet table.  This lady loves food- her words, not mine. She has even started up a food blog called, Military Spouse Dishes.  After our chat last night, she inspired me to post more often and include some posts on fashion, which is MY guilty obsession. I feel as if I can commit to posting at least once a week since Darren will be deploying to Lithuania in a couple weeks. I will make it my "weekend duty", Heidi! 

Filling up on good times...Heidi, Me and Fil

Fil and I-I've known this Weapons spouse for 8 years now!

 My flirty party dress-which looks more blue in the second pic. 

Gotta love iPhones and photo editing....

Floral Lace Skater-New Look
Envelope clutch-New Look, Watch-Michael Kors (Birthday present from the hubs)

 Crazy last minute purchase. The mail is slowwwwww this time of year!

Copycat

8 December 2013

We have a copycat on our hands.  The day has come when Bradyn says words we want him to repeat, luckily none we don't.  When he wants fruit snacks-the character themed ones:  Thomas is T-T and Spongebob sounds something like Ponbob.  Last night he repeated some family names-Olly=Holly, Adda=Addy, Ewa=Evan. Every time I say Mommy, he grins and says, "Daddy". Little stinker! 

This picture was taken in June while visiting Darren at Ramstein AFB.

2-2

22 November 2013  

 Here we are at month 22 and 2 months shy of 2 years old.  Bradyn grew another couple of inches and weighs a hefty 34 pounds. Most likely all that growing has something to do with how much this kid eats! He loves bread and anything bread-like.  Tonight Bradyn's daycare had an Art Auction to raise money for the food bank, followed by Thanksgiving dinner.  Bradyn couldn't stop eating the stuffing! Who needs a fork when you have chubby fingers?

1 year later still shoveling it in!

Bradyn says a few more words now: down, pumpkin, and "Spot" from one of his favorite books.  We've been reading, "Where's Spot?" for a good year now and he never tires of it.  He won't say goodbye, but he'll blow no less than 10 kisses as he leaves. He has a sweet side for sure, but the terrible twos have officially started. Bradyn threw his first temper tantrum this past week and has started to tell us no in his own way. He groans negatively and turns away. He's a little stubborn-he must get that from dad. Last month he showed his rebellious side and crawled out of his crib for the first time. So Darren turned the crib around. I think he's ready for the toddler bed, but I'm just not quite ready to make that transition. My baby is growing too fast!

20 Months

5 October 2013

I've been waiting for the 20 month mark to come. More talking- more personality- more hair! Turns out all we got was more problems. Lil B man slipped and fell in the doorway as I was carrying in groceries. I didn't see him fall, but I heard the painful shriek that quickly followed. Bradyn couldn't get up from the floor and refused to walk. He was on all fours, helpless. As soon as I picked him up I knew he was badly injured because he carried on with a different kind of cry. The kind of cry you can't do anything to stop. The kind of cry that makes you want to cry yourself. The cry that says, "Momma, help. I'm in PAIN!" I quickly applied ice to his tiny foot, which started to swell a little. A small bruise behind his ankle soon followed.

Getting x-rays-oww!

The x-rays showed a blur on the tip his left tibia and nothing was injured in the ankle area at all. The doctor in the ER wanted to be safe so she treated it as a fracture and put a half of a cast on up to his knee. 

 A few days later we were able to take B to see an orthopedic surgeon that said it was badly bruised and he would be able to put weight on it after a week. 

Three weeks later, we have a walker again! 

Last week we had our first dental visit. The dentist said Bradyn had the whitest chompers he's ever seen on a little guy.  So despite our other setback, the kid has healthy teeth. That's something to smile about!

More Pictures From Our Summer

Too good not to share.

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Long Live Summer!

September 13, 2013

Where we spent nearly every single day at the playground.

Tried out new jammies and shades.

Dared to try climbing the really high slide.

 And conquered it!

Took a tour of Dad's work.

Splashed around in our first pool.

Walked around in brand new places.

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin Castle

Sampled some new foods.

Rode on the ferry-three times!

Belfast, Ireland to Cairnryan, Scotland

Long live summer! 

Roadtrip Recap

22 July 2013

We have been quite busy over here entertaining grandparents with driving through three four countries and all.  I was so glad to have an extra set of hands for our second flight to Germany. Thank God for Grannies! I also have to say that the lil B man was an excellent traveler this time around, even throughout the 8 hour car ride back to England. 

NCO Academy Class 2013-5 Grads -Chip and Darren

After the NCO (newly commissioned officer) ceremony, we hit the road and drove though Belgium, past Brussels, stopping for the night in Brugge.

Such a gorgeous medieval city. 

Next time we'll take a ride on the horse and buggy around town!

Church of Our Lady

He's quick!

Our gorgeous apartment-Aragon House at Aragon Hotel just a block from the beautiful market square.

 I didn't take any pictures of the food we ate mostly because it wasn't anything fancy. We paid over 50 Euro for drinks and declined a meal because of the expensive prices on the menu. Instead we opted for some touristy food: hot dogs, frites (fries) and Belgian Waffles with chocolate, bananas and whipped cream. YUM!

 I have some pictures of our ferry ride over the English Channel from Calais, France to Dover UK somewhere. Bradyn just looked out the window of the ferry and said, "wow" for the first part of the trip. It was adorable. There was also a toddler play room to help keep him occupied while the adults sipped on some tasty beverages.

Once we were on good 'ole British soil, I drove us home and accidently detoured through London. Oops! It was nice to see some of the renovations taking place there though.  We drove another three hours and made it home safely with the Tahoe Darren purchased while in Germany. Yeah, I forgot to mention that part. He wasn't exactly sure it was going to make it back. We were relieved to say the least!

Strawberries and Sunshine

7 July 2013

Is there anything better than eating fresh strawberries on a hot sunny day?  The only thing better was Nana and Bumpa being here to help us! 

Alder Carr Farm-Creeting Saint Mary, Suffolk UK

          Lunch at the Greyhound Pub in Lavenham-a medieval wool town nearby.