Favorites

Peter's favorite this week:  Star Wars (I think it is going to be his favorite for a while...) combine that with Lego's, and the kid is in heaven.  And he doesn't even OWN either.  Its been the best tool to help me teach him how to read.  We discovered the Star Wars Lego Books at the library, and he is OBSESSED with them.  He pours over a pile of books for hours trying to figure out who all the characters are.  They have "Level 1" readers in the Lego series, so we checked out a very large pile and it isn't work anymore to try to get him to want to read!  We can sit on the couch for 30 minutes at a time to practice.

And that means I am in heaven because I have found something to occupy the quiet hours of the afternoon when the other two are napping!

Brooke's favorite this week: Water Color.  She even water colored her face.  Its a great motivator too.  She will do her chores and take naps so she can get out the paints.  She has filled up a whole water color book in 3 days!

Heath's favorite this week: Having his fingernails cut.  He holds his hands out flat so I can trim them and seems to find the clippers to bring me so I can cut them 'again'!

My favorite this week: Grapefruit.  I bought 2 giant bags last week and have been eating them for breakfast every day.  Yum.

Bryan's favorite this week:  finishing Part 1 of officer training!  They changed the curriculum so after graduation he won't be at 'officer training' for 6 weeks, but for 3.  Consequently they gave him this massive workload that they supposedly taught during the first 3 weeks on an online course.  It was super time consuming and somewhat of a pain, so I am glad he is done. 

Anticipation and Reflection

Its an exciting time in our house.  We FINALLY got a list of bases we could get sent to.  Finally.  It seems like we have been waiting 4 years.  Now that it is here, I feel like the time is flying by.  Here is our top 10. (In Alphabetical Order)
- Europe (Germany/Italy/Belgium)
- Ft. Eustis (Virginia Beach)
- Ft. Gordon (Augusta, GA)
- Hawaii
- Ft. Hood (Waco,TX)
- Japan
- Korea
- Ft. Lewis (Tacoma WA)
- Ft. Sam Houston (San Antonio, TX)
- Ft Stewart (Savannah GA)

We should know in about a month where we are going.

We have also been reminiscing about what an awesome 4 years it has been here in the 'burgh! (I could make a list of things I dislike too, but I am going with the positive vibe for this post)
 Favorite things here:
1. The great friends I have made.  I have never met a better group of girls in my life.  They have changed me and uplifted me and help me be a better me.  Thank you girls SO much.  You know who you are.

 2. Running on the trails around here.  I heart Schenley Park.  And Frick.  And South Park.  And the GAP trail, especially at the Waterfront.  I have so many great memories of running with Jessica, and Cori, Rachael, and Ashley.  Memories being drenched in sweat, and soaking wet from the rain.  Memories of me pushing all the kids up icy hills and memories of stopping to watch the deer in my path.  I have memories of running that damn er, darn 2 mile loop 4x in a row training for half marathons.  I have memories of Bryan pushing the kids and me with a baby bump, or a new born taking a nap while we stay on the paved paths and enjoy the gorgeous scenery around us.

3. Bike riding.  BEST purchase as a couple ever!  Our 330 mile bike trip to DC will forever live in my memory as one of my all-time favorite vacations.

4. Game nights with Jessica and Adam.  The only thing better than having a game night is beating Bryan and Adam.  At ANY game.

5. Bike riding with the Gniegtings.  What could be more fun than hauling 5 kids behind us in trailers and bringing enough food to feed an army?  Answer:  Doing this on a weekly basis!

6. PNC Park.  I am a Pirate fan, just because of the stadium.

7. PPG Steps and the Fountain, and the splash parks.  Awesome summer fun. Even though I got shot at, it still stays on my top 10. (yes. for reals.  Gunshots, and bullets. You can read about it HERE)
     7.1 The Zoo
     7.2 The Children's Museums and Science Center
     7.3 The Library system.  It rocks.

8. Having four seasons.  Did you know in places outside of Arizona, the blossoms have flowers and don't freeze off?  Or get blown away in 100 mph winds?  It is amazing.  And in the fall, the leaves change colors.  Like, LOTS of colors.  Reds, oranges, yellows, golds, pinks.  And it lasts for a couple months.   Breathtaking.

9. The view coming out of the Fort Pitt tunnels of the city. And the entire downtown area at night.  I don't think there is a cooler city at night.  And the Bridges.  And the view from Mt. Washington.

10. I couldn't leave being entertained by the bizarre people that live here off my list.  Seriously.  People wear sweatpants to weddings, and as long as it has a Steelers logo them, it is entirely exceptable.  There is such a sub-culture here.  They have a set of driving laws, dress codes, and speech that is completely unique to Pittsburgh.

11.  I have to add Ballet to my list.  I know it isn't unique to Pittsburgh, but it has been one of the things I LOVE about living here.  Being able to take an advanced dance class doesn't come around often as an adult.  To do it with a very talented instructor and live pianist just takes the cake.

Yinzers like my list?

Finally, in true Pittsburgh fashion, I am posting our Christmas picture. Gotta love the auto-timer feature.  Merry Christmas in February!  (my neighbors haven't taken their Christmas lights down yet and there is a giant abominable snowman around the block from me, so I don't feel like this is bad timing at all.)

All you need is Love

I stole this cute little idea.  And I LOVE the way they turned out!

Prescott, Az

When we went back to Arizona (way back in November!) we got together with Bryan's family and took some pictures.  I purposely didn't post them because they were being put into a photobook for my MIL and I wanted them to be seen first by her, and not on my blog.

 Old family friends, the Peacocks.  We somehow managed to talk them into taking the group shots of us!

I love a good book. This wasn't it.

I read a book this month called Flunking Sainthood.  The book wasn't great by any means, but it did get me thinking, so I guess it wasn't a total waste of time.  The book is pretty much about a girl who decided to set a different (and sort of outrageous) spiritual goal and do it for an entire month for a whole year.  After reading it I got to thinking about my life and ways to improve it, in both temporal and spiritual aspects.  So, I set a goal to set some goals.
Pretty ambitious aren't I?

I have no desire to fast from Sun-up to Sun-down or to observe an Orthodox Sabbath, but I do want to improve my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  I have set a couple of goals.

1. Read my scriptures every day this month  (notice I didn't impose a set time or length...I gotta start small, so if I get 3 verses in, it counts!)
2. Add a family prayer in the morning to our usual routine of evening prayer. 

(Most of you reading this probably already do this...but I really struggle with both of these spiritual basics)

To help, I made a 'chore chart' for the kids and added 'morning' and 'evening' prayers to check off to the list.  Charts are awesome.  Peter will do ANYTHING for a sticker on that chart.  And the kid never forgets.  He is my biggest motivator for my new goals! 

The second part to my goal setting are these

1. Go to bed every night this month with a clean kitchen- including the floors.
2. Just for the heck of it, I am boycotting shopping for the ENTIRE month.  Which means, no purchases of anything other than food, diapers, and maybe toilet paper.  Maybe. 

I decided that the second goal up there was so huge (for me) that I needed to ease into it, so I started this 2 weeks ago in the middle of January.  I did  great until I found a HUGE frame at Micheal's on clearance for 8 bucks...(I am gonna need some serious will power to make it to March!)

I have been lax on setting goals this winter and it feels great to have some direction and motivation for self-improvement.  All I needed was to actually sit down and take the time to write it down to make it real.  I am somewhat like Peter too.  I will do about ANYTHING to check something off a list.  Wish me luck!