Christmas 2011

For Christmas this year we got to stay home (mainly b/c the Army said we couldn't leave our home) and it was not to bad. Our chapel did a Christmas Eve service and I volunteered Jon to be in a play. I don't recommend doing that unless you are ready to participate yourself as they turned the tables on me and said they thought Joseph and Mary should be a married couple so they could practice their lines at home. So Molly and Riley got to hang out with the Long family during most of the service as we prepared and participated in the play Joseph doubted. Jon did get Molly towards the middle of the service. And as he was supposed to be helping light the candles for the candle lite portion she let him know she needed to use the restroom so he ran her out to the bathroom, came in and lite the first few rows and then ran back out to get her. I was in charge of the lights and thought maybe he had dropped Molly off with Riley and Ch. Long who were out in the hallway eating all the Christmas cookies until he told me the story afterwards:) We had a dessert party after chapel at a friends house and I told Molly if she ate her dinner of pizza she could eat as many cookies as she wanted. I guess when you give a kid that kind of freedom they don't know what to do because she just kept begging for an apple and didn't eat any cookies - if only I could take after her:)
Christmas day we slept in, ate monkey bread, finished our Jesse Advent Tree, read the Christmas story and opened presents and ate some more! Molly loved everything and was in toy overload trying to figure out how to play with it all. The funniest reaction was to buzz lightyear that she got from her cousin. She really likes Toy story and Buzz is her favorite character and kept saying she wanted one so when her young boy cousin drew her name I recommended that and it was pretty funny!! Riley loved all her toys and enjoys playing with them when Molly doesn't walk off with them. She got a few stuffed animals. One was LeapFrog's Scout dog who you can personalize and she loves that he talks to her - she gives him lots of hugs and kisses until of course Molly grabs him and moves him! Jon got the ever exciting boots and head light from me but at least he still got me an awesome present - a Kitchen Aide mixer!!! In the afternoon we took a walk to the park and played for awhile then came home for some french dip sandwiches and both girls were so tired from no naps and an exciting day that they went to bed at 6:45!!
The day after Christmas we took Molly to Barnes and Noble to play with the train table and then went to our friends the Morken's for a post Christmas party - which had the most amazing finger food!!!! Queso! Hummus! Buffalo chicken dip! Bacon, ranch, chicken pizza!! Cayenne candied bacon!!!! Needless to say I enjoyed the food and so did everyone else:) Afterwards we went to see the Fireantz hockey game with the 3 BDE UMT. We tried to explain it to Molly but in the end she thought we were going to see princess hockey. The game was a little rough - no fights and the other team was leading 6 -1 when we left at 10pm.
Now for the fun part - PICTURES! Please note Molly is in many outfits b/c she feels the need to change ALL THE TIME.
Molly getting to open her Christmas eve present - A set of bears you get to dress up!!! Their first outfit of choice is pj's and then whatever else she can find.
So I threw together Riley's Christmas pj's on Christmas eve and then threw them over the ones she already had on.
Molly drinking her "coffee" or hot chocolate but she thinks all hot drinks are coffee.
Riley with her dino popper a much more enjoyable toy when Molly isn't around to turn it off and on over and over.
Molly surrounded by Christmas present explosion - Jon was trying to clean up.
Jon and Riley enjoying a moment with Scout.
Riley and her stocking - she got some stacking cups that will be great for our road trip!
Walking to the park - Rapunzel had to make the trip and her long hair is going to be fun to say the least!
Riley cheering on the FireAntz!
Molly wondering where the princess are.
Group shot.

Xmas lights

First I need to publicly apologize to my secretary - the camera was found in the carrier tonight. I guess I have not taken a hike since Nov and it has stayed buried away for the past month with me not believing that its whereabouts were not hidden by my faithful helper.

Tonight we dressed up in our Christmas PJ's (Riley is wearing Molly's from last year b/c I got lazy and never finished hers) and went to what I thought would be a drive through Festival of Lights. After driving 1 hour we pulled up and noticed lots of people out of their cars and then no way for a car to drive through the lights. That is when I realized it was not a drive through!! The reason it is free is because you park your car then have to get out and go pay to ride their train through the light show. I stood in line to buy the tickets and after a few minutes Jon came back and pointed to the line that had at least 200 people in it and said at 8pm do we want to wait for all those people with Molly and Riley?? So we skipped the train, carousel and santa and went straight to the candy! Molly got a pack of m&m's and was happy - with a promise of course to go see the trains at Barnes and Nobles tomorrow and ride the carousel at the mall instead of waiting in the crazy lines.

Yes this is what we left the house in
All the girls had pigtails - only slightly embarrassing when getting out of the car. Of course Molly had to pee really bad and we didn't know where the port-o-jon's were so we busted out our training toilet next to the van to complete the redneck look!
Jon lucked out since I didn't ask him to wear his pj's - I think it would have been a lot more embarrassing if he had them on (for all of us)!!

Blog by pictures

You might have noticed a shortage of posts recently. Well the camera has disappeared - my secretary likes to move things when I leave them on the computer table. She has yet to be able to communicate where she placed it, or I might have lost it on my own but I really think my secretary moved it since it isn't anywhere I normally put it. That being said I realized yesterday there were no December posts even though we have done some fun things and I realized that I blog by pictures - kind of like paint by numbers. Without pictures I have no motivation to write things b/c really I love looking at pictures and the stories that go with them.
However each year we print out our blog into a hardback book so for future reference I am going to do a timeline just so I can look back in 10 years and laugh:) If you are like me at this point you might get bored and decide to look for another blog on the sidebar that is more interesting - I give you full permission!!
*I got to go the Dr. and hear the heartbeat and baby #3
*Riley went to the Dr. and hadn't gained any weight - after a consult with Dr. DeLeon my college roommate to verify what the other Dr. tried to say we started doing everything we could to plump her up b/c if you don't gain weight, you don't grow tall and then your brain gets effected so say the experts. 2 weeks later at a follow-up Riley had gained 2 lbs and grown 1/2 inch we are now back to a normal diet and not a super fat diet. But I am thankful to get to consult a friend who I trust (I know all doctors care but there is something about actually knowing this person and seeing their kids that make them a bit more trustworthy)
*Molly has had tons of playdates with her friends - right now there is a group of us who get along and all like to try and make things. So we get together and hang out and get ideas from each other like making shirt dresses which I am still working myself up to. Each of us has a 2 yr old and then we all have at least 1 more who is older/younger so they all get along!! The last one was at Monkey Joes and for 2 hours straight they jumped and laughed and let the moms mostly alone:)
*We went to Charlotte for a Single Soldier Strong Bond Retreat. Jon got to teach them on being men of character. On the last day they took a field trip to a cemetery and Jon said it was a really great time. The girls and I came with him, we would stay for the first few minutes when they would play minute to win it games and watch a Tim Hawkins clip and then we would go to the pool where Molly made a friend who met us there 2 other times. We loved getting the best of all worlds - getting to see Jon but also giving him some time to hang out with his soldiers while Molly and was playing in the pool. I also hear he did an exercise where he tore into one of the soldiers (which was staged) and they both responded badly and he ended up kicking the guy out. Right as he had 2 other soldiers kick him out of the room he let everyone know it was staged and they discussed how both parties had acted poorly but in the end you are only responsible for your response. They talked about responding when the people in leadership over you are unfair and how to respond when you are the leader with a subordinate acting poorly.
*Tomorrow we have Christmas eve service and I learned my lesson. I volunteered Jon to be part of a play for the service and they said right after that wouldn't it be great if Joseph and Mary where a married couple so they could practice their lines at home - so we are now both in the play.

For Christmas we might be shopping for a new camera if I can't find it by tonight!!! Luckily we have some Christmas money for such a thing:)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year Nene, Papa, Aunt Jenn and Lucky came to visit. We had the big meal with some Army family - the Sieg's and Morken's and everyone enjoyed hanging out, talking and watching come football. Molly and Riley got thoroughly spoiled and loved every minute of it. Jon and I had talked about seeing if they would try indoor skydiving as a joke and threw out the idea and they said YES!! So Black Friday instead of shopping we went to the park, bowling and then watched them fly. We found out the age limit is 3 so I have decided for Molly's 3rd b-day that is what she is going to get to do since she said she wanted to fly. Jon is a little more leery but I think he will see the light:) We also fired up the fire pit and had some smores and heard some funny stories from when Jon and Jenn were growing up - some that his parents heard for the first time. I really hope that Molly and Riley don't do some of the things he and Jenn were joking about around the fire but I guess siblings have to do something to bond them.
Molly eating her marshmallow with Nene and Papa

Riley eying Aunt Jenn's
Riley loves graham crackers!!

Molly acting like a big kid in her chair all by herself - one of the rare moments she was not in someone' lap
Riley demonstrating how to fly in the wind tunnel
The instructors having some fun
Getting ready to fly!! I couldn't figure out the flash so I don't have any good pictures of them flying but they did awesome.

Riley giving Nene some pointers for bowling
Molly loved bowling with her helping hand

The park! It was beautiful weather so we had to spend some time outside
Diet coke bottle and a lap - could life get any better?
Molly pointing out something to her captive audience
Breakfast was fun b/c we all got to talk about the fun we had the day before
Molly sharing Papa and Nene's coffee in her teacup

FIREPIT

My parents unloaded our Christmas present today and needed to know where to put the wood. This was my give away that we got the fire pit - so I said just set it up in the backyard and we can have smores tonight!! Some in the house (Jon) have strong feelings about waiting but some others (ME) don't wait very well. My grandaddy Key had a tradition of opening one present on Christmas eve so this year I will be making a fire that night since I got to open this one tonight. Smores were enjoyed by all and now I can have smore parties!! If you live near Fayetteville feel free to stop by because more than likely I will keep the supplies on hand and it won't take much for me to start up the fire!!!
I busted out our special day plate b/c it is in honor of Christmas so we are celebrating Jesus birthday just one month and 14 days early. He is worth celebrating every day so why not!!!!
Fire starter that had a purchase date of 1997 (Jon and I were both in high school then) - some doubted it but it but it actually saved the fire)

McP family around the fire in our new camp chairs and extending marshmallow roasters
Granny and Riley enjoying the view
Riley watching the roasting and now understanding why it is not in her mouth!!
Don't worry I think Molly ate at least 5 marshmallow's b/c she would just go back to the bag and pull one out - she only wanted one in the fire
BertBurt and Granny with the girls
We all pulled out our fun hats for the night and enjoyed some time around the fire!!

Jane Wayne Day

5-73 had a Jane Wayne Day for the spouses of soldiers. During the day we got to see some of the things the soldiers do in a "typical" day, see how uncomfortable it is to be in jump gear for hours and hang out with 48 ladies from the unit. They divided us into our troops and then made us get in formation and of course sing cadence while marching. Our poor guide thought we would march in formation with no talking but by the end gave up and he and the soldiers sang cadence while the ladies laughed and talked about what we had just done. Jon and the girls came out to watch a few events but in general hung out in his office since it was a rainy cold day.
My favorite was getting into a humvee that had real guns (powered by air and a computer) and a 360 video screen and my team of 4. A lot of ladies got motion sick since the driving was rough and my team drove off a ditch once and killed us all but since it was a game we got to reset and start over. We in the car thought that was a neat experience but never want to be in a real experience like.
Me in jump gear - way lighter than what soldiers had to have but it was probably a good 30 lbs verses their 100 lbs. I made Jon take off the MOLLE (camo bag between my legs) and just kept on the parachute and reserve for later pictures.
The HHT ladies - our motto was Hellcats since we had to make one up. HHT's real one is Headhunters and 5-73 is Panther Recon. The Army is always so nice and loving don't you think:)
On the static line - let's just say we were highly motivated to get it right so we could go back inside out of the cold rain. Still I have no desire to join the Army or become Airborne especially after this day.
My FRG (family readiness group) leaders - these 2 amazing ladies come up with ways for the ladies in HHT to get together and make connections so that if the soldiers leave we have people in town we know. They spend hours updating rosters and helping ladies through hard times and I am glad I get to be apart of their team.

Getting our helmets we had to wear for an hour.
The gun station were the showed us the guns and let us hold them if we wanted.
This is outside a classroom that has an entire wall video screen and 10 M(somethings) lined up. We had to go through 5 different scenarios shooting the screen. Jon brought Molly and Riley in for a few minutes and Molly has now reminded me a few times that mommy shoot the gun.
Riley greeting me after a long cold march back to the office - so glad I packed my raincoat!!
Meeting Jon after check in - everyone ready for a fun 5 hour adventure:) Jon and the girls snacking away and hanging out in his unkid friendly office and me marching around in the rain!

Newest Addition

With the arrival of a new McP June 2012 we found out we couldn't put 3 car seats in the back of the CRV, so after talking to some older and wiser people and prayer we went van shopping. Since 2012 is fast approaching car lots are trying to get rid of 2011's so after a major discount, a great trade in for the CRV and many hours in a car dealership we are now proud owners of a Swagger Wagon aka Sienna mini-van.
Molly loves the new van because she can push the button to close Riley's door and then go and open her door so I can buckle her in. I hope she, Riley and baby X love it because it will probably be what they end up learning to drive in since we won't be getting another car for a long time.
AND - Jon bought us a smore maker. He needed to spend $7 on an Amazon order to get free shipping and this was our surprise:) It works and is fun but I am still holding out for a fire pit so we can actually toast marshmallows not melt them.
Molly enjoying her treat
Not to be left out Riley got some graham cracker and chocolate.

Just in case you are wondering YES I did just casually announce we are going to be having a new baby in the family - arriving June 2012. With the loss of 2 babies we know God is in control and can't wait to see all that He has in store for us as a family of 5.