japanese invasion

is that too un-p.c. a title?!?!

lucky for us, the navy decided that the USS kitty hawk needed to retire and at the same time japan decided that it would be OK to have a nuclear (not nu-cu-lar) aircraft carrier stationed in atsugi, japan. so, the kitty hawk got traded in on a new model- the USS george washington.

why are we lucky, you ask? well, because the navy decided that the change over would happen in san diego.

our three good friends- josh thompson, logan ridley and caleb mcdow, who were stationed on the kitty hawk, got to come to SD for a while. so, we didn't have literal japanese visitors, but we did have three japanese residents come to visit.

it was great. these three guys and their wives (minus logan who remains single, girls ;-)) were great friends of ours in pensacola. logan went through OCS with john, we met caleb and his wife our very first sunday at covenant OPC church, and we met josh & sabine soon after moving to p'cola through another good friend matt (now of matt & alayna).

one thing that i loved about p'cola (among many, many things) was the AMAZING friends we made. have you ever had a time in your life where you just felt so good and so blessed to meet and spend time with an amazing group of people? well, for us pensacola was like that. maybe it's the fact that we were all away from home and were all new to the navy thing but it was so wonderful. and though in some cases we only got to spend less than a year with these friends- they are so special. i couldn't gush enough about how much all of them meant to us.

not that i don't like you, dear reader, if you are not one of the p'cola buddies. but you know i love you, because i've known you for so looong.

anyway, we only got to see josh for an evening- when he graciously agreed to attend a squadron function with us. unfortunately we don't have any pictures of us together, because we both forgot our cameras. i know that is probably killing sabine as much as not getting to be there for the mini reunion.

logan and caleb spent the weekend with us (josh got to go and see his sister- who of course outranks friends).

since we're homeless (to be discussed in a future post), the guys stayed with us at john's dad's house. it was so much fun.

we really love these guys.

one small complaint. we never get to see their wives!!!

apparently, this is MUCH more comfortable than a "rack."

and this is much more comfortable than a bed.

and caleb is way more fun than mommy.

and a 5 year old and a naval aviator may be an even match at checkers
(at least at this point in the game).

and sitting between logan and caleb is dreamy when you're five.

not a big shocker, but john's son enjoys beer.

and the claim jumper remains a fun place to bring visitors.

it's fun being one!

as you may have noticed- unless i'm writing this blog and no one is reading it- i haven't managed any posts in a while.

yeah, it's been a bit busy.

i won't go into any of the details of all of that...i've got to leave something for future posts.

this morning, i'd like to talk about our youngest- who is getting older every day and has hit a landmark.

josiah is one.

it seems such a short time ago that i heard his first pitious little cry from the delivery room and this bundle of mucky baby was brought over for my inspection and instant overwhelming love.

i guess it's only fair to include a shot of daddy's first meeting, 6 weeks later.

and of course, big sister's too. well, not their first meeting, but one with fewer tubes and things so she could actually get to see a bit of him.
actually, josiah turned one on july 16th. mommy isn't very on top of things, so josiah's birthday party wasn't until august 21st. i don't even know if you'd call it a "party," it was really just an opportunity to get his picture taken with a face full of cake.

note the speculative sideways glance that says, 'oh, hmmm, what is this?!?!'

followed by a tentative examination

a careful tasting, 'ah...i taste a hint of something sweet. yes, yes, there's also a good deal of fat in there. hmm, interesting i think i like this.'

'oh, by jove, yes. i do like this. quite a lot actually.'

'delicious, mother, really. you've really outdone yourself with the box cupcake recipe.'

'if...i...could...just...reach...that...crumb...there...ah, yes there it is.'

'i LOVE you mommy (not quite as much as i love cake, but you don't need to know that), thank you!'

and, it's bath time.

well, happy birthday little boy. we sure do love this guy, and man is he good looking (got a lot of DiBernardo in that boy!)

fun with grandpa

remember that heat wave we had a couple of weeks ago? you know the one that came on suddenly and reminded us all why we really don't want summer to arrive, even though we've been complaining about how "cold" it is in san diego in the winter? the one that came before the "summer heat" actually arrived? the one where the week before, the average temperatures were in the mid 60s and then one day it was 95 and then the next day it was 65 again?!?

you know what i'm talking about, right?

well, at that same time, i decided to turn on the a/c so josiah could take his nap in relative comfort and discovered that our a/c is broken.

we decided that a much better way to beat the heat would be to travel to "grampa" wagner's house and hang out under the lovely trees in the backyard and sit in the kiddy pool. so, that's exactly what we did.

it was a lovely day, as it always is when we get to spend the day with grampa. he always has interesting stories to tell and will condescend to sit and lounge with us and let kids squeal and splash him.

grampa is fun.

we love grampa.

can't you tell?

i couldn't resist

i just love the way he can crack himself up- and his giggle is contagious!

home improvement project 1B

after walking up to my front door for a total of 790 days (give or take), it finally got to me. it being the planters and general "look" of my walkway. there isn't much to the entrance to our humble abode- but that doesn't mean it has to look so bad.
when we moved in, someone had been using the dirt area under the stairs as a trash dump and had let a spider plant loose in the planter. said spider plant had taken over an area 6 or 7 square feet and had managed to kill a bougainvillea and three jasmine plants. the spider plant had become so invasive that i didn't even know the jasmine existed until i'd cleared 1/2 of it away.
so, a couple of weeks ago, ella and i got our head scarves out, donned our "work clothes" and started tearing away at the spider plant. after 3 or 4 hours of manual labor, we'd managed to clear all of this (please note ella's gardening clogs):

out of this area:

and now it looks like this:






and this:

and the area under the stairs that looked like this:

now looks like this:


although i'm thinking of adding a few finishing touches, home improvement project 1B is now as they say "close enough for government work."
it's made me a much happier person...we'll see what john thinks when he gets home and sees what i've spent money on...

oh, and in case you're wondering- home improvement project 1A was laying a rug in the front room...hey you gotta start somewhere?!? it looks awesome.

what a crock!

i am so excited that it's nearly embarrassing. i've been looking, literally, for years to find the perfect butter crock. it all started in 2004 in pensacola...my friend katie has an enormously talented sister who makes amazing pottery (her grandpa makes amazing wood items too and she grew up on a cattle ranch in idaho- what a life!).

anyway, katie's sister made her a butter crock. for those of you who don't know- a butter crock (according to wikipedia- my students' favorite reference source) is a "...19th century French-designed pottery crock [that] holds the butter packed in its lid (where it is held by surface tension), and water is added to the base. The water creates an airtight seal that keeps oxygen away from the butter so that refrigeration is not needed, and the butter can be used in its soft form."

it's awesome. it alleviates that "goldilocks" dilemma where butter from the fridge is too hard- and destroys the very piece of toast it's supposed to moisten and butter on the counter is too soft- causing you to use at least a half a stick of butter for each piece of toast.

and my butter crock looks cool. which, obviously, is the most important thing. yes, it was $20. was it worth it? you be the judge.

finally!

i've been trying to find a bath faucet cover that will work in our bathroom. this has been problematic because in our bathtub, in order to turn on the shower, you have to pull up on a little plunger at the front of the faucet. this design means that we can't use the typical faucet cover- unless john & i want to relegate ourselves to a life of bathing.

somehow, the thought of "cleaning" myself by floating around in water that contains all of the dead skin and filth that has liberated itself from my body is a little yucky.

enter the boon faucet cover, yay!

it includes two ridiculous "selling points." one, you can add bubble bath to it and the kids can dispense it at their leisure; two, the water pours out in a "gentle waterfall." well, thank the Lord for that- josiah was nearly knocked over last week.

cherry pickin'

while visiting my parents in littlerock (that's one word, small r, within-the-borders-of-california littlerock) we decided to go cherry picking.

first of all, wow. i've never seen cherries on the "vine" as it were. even so, i wasn't expecting this:

pretty, right?

and this ladies and gentlemen is $18.50 worth of U-pick cherries. can anyone say rip-off?

i scream, you scream

...josiah screams for ice cream.

not that he's picky (at all)- that kid will eat nearly anything. in fact, the only thing i've tried that he doesn't like is green beans. i know, ridiculous, right? he'll eat broccoli ground up in plain yogurt like it's going out of style; he'll gobble up spinach and he's got quite a taste for chicken paprikosh (well, i can't fault him there). but green beans, heck no! well, heck no unless you mix a little formula into them- then it's all good.

but i digress...

at first, he's tentative. he thinks to himself, well...grammy's eating it. i always want everything that someone else is eating, so i guess i'll give it a go...

in the words of my daddy "sweet holy goodness", this stuff is AMAZING, gimme more...now!

and we all shine on...

ella has sustained her first "major injury" since her broken arm. she has this not-so-stable chair that i'm forever warning her to sit still in. two nights ago she wiggled herself right out of it and smack dab into a toy that was lying on the living room floor next to it...with her face.

the end result was this:like the arm, this eye has me living in a perpetual state of panic that someone is going to call and report me for child abuse.

the wild, wild west

back in november, ella asked her grammy if she could take her to camp snoopy for her birthday. grammy, of course, said yes. grammy also thought it would be fun to take ALL the grandkids to camp snoopy...she's a very brave grammy.

so, on may 9, the kids and i ventured up to beautiful, scenic buena park and met grammy, grandpa, aunt jenni, uncle mario, gracie, caleb and joshua at the knott's berry farm entrance.

we had lots of fun...

first we rode the stage coach

then we bought light up visors

i'm not sure whether these were more fun for the kids or the adults...

then we rode some rides

then we made sand animalish-thingeemabobbers

all-in-all, the babies weren't impressed

but it sure wore uncle mario out!

finally, we were ready to go home. but not before we memorialized our trip with a pit stop at the old west tin-type photography studio.

thanks, grammy & grandpa for a GREAT day!