Brotherly Love

Since Sgt. Major was trying to take the bottle away from Jamie, this picture is obviously sweeter than the reality of it, but I love it anyway.

Celebrating Baby Jamie (*** Warning: Long Post)

Well, it has been a busy 8 months to say the least and the last two seem to have completely disappeared within the blink of an eye. I am now 34-weeks and staring at the quickly approaching due date. We've barely even touched Jamie's room, so that is the goal for this weekend.

However, I do have some news to share on the preparation schedule. The baby shower in Houston in November was great fun. I enjoyed seeing family and friends even if the thought of a party just for me was a little ... unusual. I don't usually get to be the center of attention and kept trying to help, but Jamie's Fairy Godmother would not hear of it. We did have a lot of fun finishing his baby book for the shower though and I'll have to post pictures of it.

Here is a preview of the baby shower ...





















When we got home, George decided to put together some of the gifts we'd gotten. I thought you might want to see how Sgt. Major helped ...





Until our next cup of tea ...

The ongoing love/hate saga of Sgt. Major and the Ducks

O.k. So I know that I have a lot of catching up to do blogging-wise and I still haven't gotten around to photographing the house and stuff, but I just HAD to share these pictures of Sgt. Major and the ducks who reside in the pond that is behind our backyard.

From the start I didn't like them for the simple fact that despite housing rules, neighbors on either side of us feed them, so as soon as they see you they head right fo you and fears be damned, they flock you. I hate cleaning the duck poop off the porch, I'm sure it can't be good for Sgt. Major or in the future the baby to be walking around in it, and they tend to stop traffic because they wander about the neighborhood looking for food and pestering everyone. I'm sure it can't be healthy for me to be breathing their scattered feces right now either.

Well in the beginning Sgt. Major just watched them from one of our two french doors as they wander about tearing up the yard looking for worms or who knows what. For all I know the previous tenants fed them too. Well, one day he watched as his new BFF, a female bulldog a month younger than him who lives next door chased them into the pond She followed them into the pond, something she likes to do often. Well he thought it was fun until he saw her go into the water, and then he loooked at us like, "That girl is C-R-A-Z-Y!!!"

Well a few days later I'd let him out in the front to do his business and he was on the right side of the house, when the ducks came up on the otherside. Since I was facing his direction I didn't see them until they we a foot or so behind me and I heard a rustling. I turned and yelped, because they startled me. Well, he came tearing from around the house, caught sight of the ducks and went sailing past me. About the time he got to where I was the ducks noticed him and took off in low flight, back around the left side of the house towards the pond. He chased them all the way back and stopped at the edge of the pond, daring them to get out. The ducks settled down and the face-off began. It was about 20 minutes before I could get him to leave the edge of the pond where he was watching every move the ducks made. After that it was on.

Now he sits by the french doors in the breakfast room while I sew or stitch and growls at the ducks. When I let him out he tears after them to either the edge of the back yard (where the slight slope to the pond starts)or if I go out with him, to the edge of the pond. Sometimes he and George chase them together. Whoever said the best things in life are free, must've been watching these two one day!

So here he is, co-existing with the ducks ...







The funny part is that he doesn't know what to do once he gets cose to them, so he just stops and lets them run further ahead, then goes after them again. He doesn't want to catch them, its just the thrill of the chase I guess!

Until our next cup of tea ...

Silly puppy, you make us laugh!

So I know that its been a while since Sgt. Major's fans have gotten an update on him, so here are just some of his antics from yesterday ...



At the announcement of "bath-time" Sgt. Major plopped down "dead" ... his form of a non-violent protest I guess.



Sgt. Major got a new toy ... a battery operated ball that rolls around like crazy ...



It took him a while to get used to cornering the toy so he could chew on it.



As a parent I was told sometimes you have to get down to "their" level when dealing with kids ... so George is practicing on Sgt. Major ...



but it soon becomes naptime ... I'd like to practice that one!

Our Adoable Baby ...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sgt. Major. Since moving to the new house and discovering that the windows are actually at his viewing level, he has found this to be a favorite spot. He watches for Daddy's truck in the afternoon and get all excited and starts "dancing" when he sees him pull up in front. If George takes too much time getting to the door, Sgt. Major will start barking for him to hurry up. Its really funny to watch. Sometimes he even lets Daddy join him at the window ... on this night they were watching the storm roll in.



Until our next cup of tea ...

A little 'face time" with Sgt. Major

I'm slowly by surely getting my long list of reading done so I can graduate with my master's this May, but I took some pics of the pup on a hurried trip to Houston at the beginning of the month and wanted to share ...









Until our next cup of tea ...

The Story of a Puppy and his Daddy

Greetings all! Its a peacefully rainy day here in the deep south and I am sitting here blogging to keep busy while my husband plays games on the XBox and the puppy snores peacfully at my feet. With this in mind, I wanted to share with you a picture of "my two boys".



George is always complaining that the puppy doesn't love him as much, but Sgt. Major is a momma's boy and as anyone with a clingy kid can tell you, sometimes it gets overwhelming. He is always under foot when I am home. When I do dishes, he sits on my feet! Well, one night last week I came into the livingroom to see why they hadn't come to bed yet and this is what I saw.

Sgt. Major had actually fallen asleep on George and he didn't want to move for fear of waking him up. Too funny!

On another note, a few of my craft/teacup readers have asked about posts of those topics. I have created a blog that is dedicated to those. Please visit my Teacup Collector's Cottage blog.

Until our next cup of tea ...

Our First Christmas ...

Well maybe it wasn't our first Christmas, but it was our first Christmas at home. For the past 7 years we've been together, we've spent our holidays traipsing from one Family event to another. Usually 3 a day. It was so exhausting and left us very cranky and lacking any holiday cheer.

This year we stayed home. Christmas Eve we had a candlelight dinner. George had marinated some steaks and I cooked some veggies and we had a nice bottle of wine before watching a movie. I had to wait for him to fall asleep so that the neighbor could bring over the Craftsman tool chest I'd gotten him. It seemed like it took forver to get it across the street and every noise sounded like a cannon. He was alseep in the livingroom so I was sure he'd hear the garage door. But I got it safety tucked in the garage and then woke him up to go to bed.

Christmas morning we woke up and I made pancakes. Actually first I prepared the ham by marinating it in Bourbon before cooking it in a brown sugar and Bourbon glaze. As you may imagine, Sgt. Major was VERY helpful ... all the way to the fridge ... as seen here ...



Then we opened presents. Puppy first ... we got him this oversized bone and a stuffed animal with squeaker. That damn bone turned him into Cujo and now, two days later we still cannot walk into whatever room he is in without him growling an lunging at us. {sigh} He was such a nice boy before that bone turned him eveil. George and I have decided to take it to the garage. We try this every few months. but those stupid bones turn him into an evil pup. Here he is guarding his treasures ...



What a rotten dog, But I digress.

Next it was our turn to exchange gifts. George got me an 80G Zune and new cell phone, both the same color as my computer. I am so excited that all my electronic toys match! (I know, I'm a total dork, but whatever!) I'll post a pic as soon as I am willing to put them down long enough. He also got me 3 of my top 5 holiday movies ... White Christmas (ultimate favorite, I love Bing Crosby!), Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life. I grew up without a TV and my stepmother never let us help with any decorations, she'd put up the stockings and IF we had a tree while we were all sleeping. So when I grew I kind of reverted to trying to recreate those Christmas memories that most people get when they are children.

George got a BlueRay player, two movies to go with it (something about Star Wars Clones and Tropical Thunder), the Craftsman tool chest, a hat from our college to replace the one he lost and a Texas hitchcover for his new truck (Oh, yeah, I'll have to post a picture of that soon too!)

After than we watched movies and ate luch (ham, green bean casserole and yams) at about 1 p.m. After that we just hung out about the house and played with out new toys while trying to stay out of Cujo's way. For desert we had Port (that is some SWEET tasting stuff) and pumpkin pie. It was an absolutely great day!

Until our next visit ...

Merry Christmas ...

Merry Chistmas and Happy Holidays from our Family and a very disgruntled Santa!

Happy Halloween Memories!

Happy Halloween! Hopefully ghosts, goblins and ghouls will be in full form tonight.

For me this is a new thing. Until my husband and I married 5 years ago, I'd never celebrated Halloween.

When my husband learned I'd never dressed up, trick-or-treated or carved a pumpkin he set about to remedy that. My first pumpkin carving was in 2005. I had so much fun. This (pumpkin on left) was my first attempt.



That year we also dressed up Sgt. Major as ... a Handome Devil! Obviouly that first year he wasn't happy, but he got used to it when he realized he got more treats ... no tricks!



This was last year, Halloween 2007. Much better participation!



This year will will hand out candy, but we are spending the day at the hosptial with my FIL, but we did attend the Texas Ren. Festival last weekend and I found a drunk pumpkin and thought my visitors would love to see him! Click on the picture to see his droopy eyes! I loved it!



Until our next visit ...

One of kind ... like my husband

O.k. I've spent forever looking but cannot find the post I was looking for ... so let me explain. During the first deployment (Afghanistan) I commissioned a piece of art for George, given to him upcon his return. It was entitled, Homefront Guardian, and done by a military spouse artist whom I had interviewed for the newspaper when she did a piece depicting New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. (If you click on it to enlarge, you see that Sgt. Major has the SGM rank on his collar.)



His reaction was much better than I expected. He really loved it and pointed it out to anyone who came to visit over the next year. So this deployment, I wanted to do something that he would enjoy just as much. The spouse of his Battalion's previous commander gave me the name of another military spouse artist who could recreate anything using the person name or a word or phrase. To be more specific she creates a picture by writing a word over and over in different ways to give depth and demension. I had it framed and gave it to George last week, after it was decided that he would be put on the unit's rear detachment to be with his father who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.



Go ahead, click on the picture for a closer look. If you'd like the artist's contact information, just leave your email address and I'll send it to you.

I also had one done with my name using a picture of one of my grandmother's teacups. I'll post it when I get it framed.



Until our next cup of tea ...

At peace again ... for now ...

Ah! Life is back to normal, well as normal as possible in the military world. I am home temporarily, return this weekend for another doctor's appointment and to see George off. This week I am at work trying to get my MP families up-to-date.

On Friday I attended the deployment of the second element in our battalion to leave a it reminded me of when George left. It was a hard time for me having to say goodbye, knowing I'd have to be strong. I made a mental note to take extra care of them as they adjust to the seperation, especially as the holidays draw near. I think for me, the holidays are the hardest.

Today, I went back to the office and spent the day catching up with the Soldiers, family members that stopped by and checked in with FRG Leaders to get updates on how the families did during Ike's visit. Hurricane-wise, post has returned to normal with only powerlines and trees damaged. All in all, we only lost power for a total of three hours over two different outages. The winds were kind of worrisome, but by yesterday, even that had died down.

My favorite part of hurricanes in thisare is the cool front that sometimes follows. It was cool and in the 70s today ... Amazing!

It was hard to go into the office and see that the entire command group was gone. They'd deployed while I was on leave (which my commander though was the best since I was closest to that particular group) and the battalion headquarters was quiet today as I walked the halls.

On a good note I moved into the XO's old office while they are gone so I'll have a little more privacy when dealing with families. It wasn't as necessary with the previous deployed unit, but we have more first-timers this deployment and I want to make sure they feel comfortable talking to me. I am excited to get it set up and will post pics.

Lastly, here are two photos of our "shelter" during the tornado sightings ... Enjoy ...

Up-to-date news is important to the puppy.



Maybe I'll let him be a "guest blogger!"

Until our next cup of tea ...