Happy, Happy

Our girl is on her last year of the 2's. Hard to believe. It seems like just yesterday you made our twosome a threesome and now here you are a mom yourself with a nearly 4 year old. Unreal. We love you and your little family.

You are a great mom. You continue to grow in your role as a homemaker. You are the maker of the memories for your little crew. Memories are good, keep making them. Don't get sidetracked, those two are your world, your responsibility; keep making it happen. You will not regret any efforts in that department, promise.

You make us proud. You keep doing you. Somedays may be messy but it's your you so do it as best you can,

Enjoy your day, your year. We love you!

No more Wild & Three Thursday!

Oh, goodness, it's ANOTHER new year and as the saying goes it sure flew by. Unbelievable in many ways that this year will mark 7 years since military retirement began and the Daughter graduated from college and married. It will also beTrigger's FOURTH birthday next month. Sadly, it has also been 5 years since we lost MiRVs brother. 

It's hard to believe it's really 2020. When I was younger that seemed like a date that was sooooo far away into a future that was hard to imagine I would ever see and yet here we are. I am not a big resolutions advocate as I think fresh starts can be made at any time but hey go for it if you need extra motivation to jump into something because it is after all a new year! Clean slate so to speak. 

It will be interesting to see what this year brings. We are certainly, according to MiRV, planning to get in more traveling in as we have completed many of our house projects. Of course as is the way with homeownership, "there is always something". Our yard is still a work in progress but I fear that will be the case as long as we own this place! Otherwise it's pretty much minor tweaks and keeping the place up. I have always said home ownership is NOT for the faint of heart and I stand by that. Last year we put on the patio cover and it cost waaaaaay more then we planned. ROHO is still being finished when the mood strikes. Since we have it enclosed and have the electricity hooked up we have slowed our work pace.

Many blessings to you and yours as you begin another year. While I will miss our weekly connections on Wild and Three Thursday I will still try to make semi regular postings until I figure out what is next for regular blogging motivation!

Wild & Three Thursday!

Oh heavens so much. It is the day after the hoopla of the what I considered an over the top commercialized holiday. I am thankful that we personally have worked VERY hard to keep it in check over the years. It is hard. But when you just give it a hard look you should easily be able to see that less is more.

Not long after our daughter was born we started the three gift rule patterned after the number of gifts provided to baby Jesus. We did not "do" Santa Claus, yep, crazy I know. Don't judge us and we won't judge you. It's all about choices and we made the one to go without the Christmas clown eons ago. Our daughter now has chosen not to bring the jolly old man in on a large scale role in her daughters life. They make reference to "the farmer" and tackle discussions as they come without much fanfare. I like it. Whatever and however you celebrate the Christmas season is your choice but we do take the Jesus's Birthday approach with emphasis on the age old story of the Savior's birth in a manger when there was no room at the inn.

We started on Christmas Eve with our traditional pizza dinner along with a drive around town to look at Christmas lights. There were lots of "smiley's" which are snowmen in our world and the little one loved it. A new thing we did this year was decorate a gingerbread house and sugar cookies. It was lots of fun and everyone got in on the action. We will try to keep this up next year. We ended with playing several rounds of Farkle. This has become a nightly ritual; playing several rounds of Farkle after the little one is in bed.

Christmas Day started with cinnamon rolls and stockings! It was all good and filled with lots of laughter. My what a little one can do for your perspective. She is a hoot. Next was the opening of the "snowmen". Then a concentrated effort on a ham dinner with all the fixings and a pumpkin pie to boot.

 Her own SMILEY!

All ready and waiting. The snowmen are their gifts...three just like baby Jesus received. 

Throughout the day gifts from the rest of the family were opened in spurts. Taking time out to play with what was received helped not to get to wrapped up in the plentiful packages. We actually "reloaded" the tree. Christmas Eve was set with the Grands from LaLa's side and Christmas PJs to wear that night. Christmas morning was stockings, her Christmas from her parents and their snowmen from us. Christmas afternoon and evening were from her other Grands, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Whew, what a full, fun day we had. Tomorrow we head back to MO as impending weather moving in make it the best travel day.

Wild & Three Thursday!

Brrrrr....first snow day was Tuesday and we are still feeling the effects. Hmmm hope this isn't the way it's gonna be or I may have to be outta here! Guess it is nearly winter so shouldn't be complaining.

We are trying to tie up loose ends and finish last minute wrapping so we can make our way North to be with the Daughter for Christmas. So far, so good. Still trying to find a few stocking stuffers but otherwise done with that whole gift buying thing. Have a few cards to get in the mail and that's it. Not going overboard here. It's truly sad how much we are all guilty of overdoing. I really, REALLY try not to do that.

Happy travels if you are on the road, we hope to arrive a few days early and be all tucked in before the travel frenzy begins. Getting back right now looks like the bigger challenge as a strong storm will be moving in over the weekend after Christmas. We will adjust our return accordingly!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wild & Three Thursday!

It's pretty much been sunrise, sunset, wash and repeat this past week as we continue to try and catch up with all that was left while we were gone. Several chores have been accomplished but there are several more on the list. We are still trying to finish what little Christmas shopping needs to be done as well as just procure some items while there are great sales going on. Honestly, it's pretty much Christmas time any given day of the week. We are a society of abundance and immediate possession. Unfortunately, we have fallen prey to this mindset on many occasions, too many really. Be mindful of the company you keep, I think it has plays a role. No longer do we wait for an event such as a birthday or Christmas for gift receiving or giving. We just get it now. Again, sadly, we are as guilty as anyone else. No excuses we just buy it. We have so much more then ever before and are still accumulating. I feel our clutter level has increased too much, I'm a bit out of sorts about that but yet I have contributed to the issue as well as anyone. Being in a real house again has made it harder. What to do, what to do? I plan to make a better, more concentrated effort to get back into the simpler, need based thought process lifestyle and not get even more sucked into the one of gotta have it now, overabundance and for show thinking. Something to ponder seriously and put more work into for sure. I enjoy the hunt for gently used and bargains and just need to make sure I'm not over buying.

Happy Holidays!

Wild & Three Thursday!

We are safely back at the Meadow. It's time for cleaning and catching up. It was a most wonderful trip. We did just over 5K miles. In fact, ROADA is gonna need new shoes! We were also thrilled to get to make a stop in OKC on our way in to see dear friends. It was so lovely to have a "catch up" dinner with those who are so near and dear to our hearts. AND maybe there might have been some new Sooner gear found :) I know for sure there was a new chocolate shop located that had handmade caramel that was sooooo delicious! Repeat visit needed FOR SURE!

December is shaping up to be quite busy as the holidays approach. We are planning to go North to be with the Daughter and family for Christmas. Bee has already called to see when we are coming. Give us a few days little girl, give us a few days! But until then there will be wrestling matches, band concerts, choir performance, candy making and snuggles with MGM. Along with gift wrapping and shopping.

Wild & Three Thursday!

Happy, happy Thanksgiving. I've said it before and I will say it again My absolute favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. And I don't even like turkey! It's all the food (cause there is ALWAYS lots and not just turkey at our gatherings), family and fun but without the pressure of gifts and the weather is usually mild so everyone can get there. What is NOT to like! This year however, family is limited to just MiRV and I. It's still all good but being with family for this one is a favorite and I certainly do/did miss it.

There is so, so much to be thankful for ANY time but I am especially mindful of how blessed we are during this particular time of the year. We are so fortunate to live in a country where we can have so many freedoms and do not suffer from an oppressive government. We personally do not suffer from war or poverty. Thank a service member for that whydontcha! Cause that whole no war thing on our soil, that's a biggie and everyone should ALWAYS be thankful for that. Not gonna get much deeper but suffice to say we are fully aware of the abundance and liberties that we experience and we are beyond thankful for that.

The Daughter and family are safely back home. We are spending our turkey day in Tucson eating hot off the grill steaks. It's cool, rainy and windy. We decided to just take a three day break before moving on to let the weather settle down. They have closed some roads right behind us so to speak and they are closing roads in the higher elevations all around us. So we will be stationary as this bit of weather moves on. We hope to pull out on Saturday a.m. but we are flexible enough to be respectful if the weather is still an issue we can stay put if needed.

Oh, the zoo trip was a resounding success! What a delightful day with perfectly beautiful weather. We nearly opened and closed it. Saw all kinds of animals. I loved the koala's best. Feeding the giraffe was a hit as well as getting to see the baby gorilla nursing.  Watching the cheetah walking by on a leash right in front of us was a pretty cool bonus, too. And riding the sky tram (twice) as well as the double decker bus was a nice break from all the walking. Oh, and let's not forget the chuckle of seeing "Save the Chubby Unicorn" shirts (rhinoceros, need love, too) Stopping off at In and Out Burger on our way to the hotel was a great ending to our full day; love me an animal style burger!

OH em GEEEEE I would be remiss if I did not mention our visit with ThreeDoorsDown! They were incredible host and we enjoyed sitting round the table catching up. Great to spend time with such good people. And MiRV was so stoked to get wet. He was pretty dry! Be able to to surf with RocketBoy in Redondo on the same board he learned to surf on in Cocoa on he couldn't have been happier. :)